All You Need Is An Email

Lights! Camera! What just happened?!

That's most people's reactions to watching magicians. These entertainers are paid to fool every single one of your senses and keep on your toes for x amount of hours. However, not many magicians are well known nowadays. The occupation, as entertaining as it is, is hidden behind actors and musicians. But, I'm sure you'll recognize these names:

Penn & Teller

If you didn't recognize the names, hopefully the included picture helped. If not, you should jokingly feel ashamed and Google them! Penn and Teller are extraordinary magicians that have redefined the world of magic. They even have their own TV show, "Penn And Teller: Fool Us," which you should totally check out in your spare time.

Here's something you might not have heard of: fanmail.biz. Fanmail.biz is a website dedicated to celebrity autographs, supplying you with addresses, instructions, and other stories of success. Through fanmail.biz, I saw a website-THE OFFICIAL website of Penn & Teller. There, was an email address where you could request a 100% authentic autograph. Based on several successor's stories, I decided to give it a go. BONUS: unlike requesting most other autographs, you wouldn't have to waste two or three stamps.

I emailed autographrequests@pennandteller.com requesting an autograph, including my name and address on June 25, 2015. Almost one month later, on July 20, 2015, my mum sent me to the mailbox to send out a bill and letter. Too bad the mailman already came. Most of the mail was bills and junk, but I received a mysterious envelope and some information about college.

Once I was back inside, I looked up the business, Buggs & Rudy Discount Corp, in the yellow pages and followed it to a website, pennandteller.net. IMMEDIATELY, I opened the envelope to see an authentic picture of the two entertainers and their signatures.

(sorry it's a bit blurry and the sun glared over Teller's signature)

I'd like to take a moment to thank Penn, Teller, and their management for this gift. While this summer has been great, it has had it's downs. However, with this gift, no other three month vacation could top it. So, thank you! 

Older Cousin Rights

Every family argues and celebrates with one another. It's what we do. But, there are some things we do out of the goodness of our hearts that's never really recognized. I was just cleaning my room (shocker) and going through some of my clothing items when I came up with a thought.

Being an older cousin with no siblings, my toys and clothes are passed down to my younger relatives. Female relatives. It occurs to me that this is not only a small, friendly tradition, but saves the others money. Now, I know girls can be expensive, but when we hit our puberty years, your money is going right out the door. Based on how our body shape changes, we need more protective undergarments and the sized clothing will strongly vary. Thanks to our older siblings or cousins, however, some of the pain of that shopping is taken away as you now have clothes for these stages of life. Now that hole in your pocket is smaller.

I thought about it. Sometimes a parent will demand a child cleans their room or goes through their stuff, and sometimes the child does it on their own. Either way, the stuff being passed down is in a way donated by the older child. However, does this ever get recognized by society? All the donating we've done, the help we've provided our distant families; it's often overlooked. Just think about it for a moment. What items from your own personal collection have you, not sold, but just given a friend or family member? Think deeper. What impression have you made on them?

Here's an example! My older cousins grew up to love Pokemon. I mean LOVE it. At my Nana's house, thanks to their dedication to the franchise, she has maybe twenty VCR tapes of Pokemon movies and TV shows. One day, when I was visiting with my mum (I don't think my dad was there that day.), the colorful boxes with adorable anime creatures caught my eye. I knew how to work a VCR thanks to my constant watching of The Land Before Time at home, so while my mum caught up with her mom, I snuck away to another room with a small arm load of Pokemon movies. And I've been hooked ever since.

Once my cousins found out I was hooked, they gave me some of their old belongings as they had grown out of Pokemon (sadly :( ). I think, correct me if I'm wrong. I think my cousin Kevin gave me a giant two inch binder full of Pokemon cards he'd collected. Let me tell you now, I'll never forget that. All those Pokemon cards, rare and common alike.

Am I being a hypocrite? Did I ever thank Kevin with genuine feelings of gratitude? I did thank him, and when I see him again, I'll probably try to bring it up. But that gift was ten years ago. MY POINT EXACTLY! You might not realize it, but take a look at your belongings. What have you bought? What have you received on holidays? Most importantly, what items that you treasure were given to you randomly out of the goodness of an older relative's heart?

Think about and remember what friends and family have done for you. Maybe reflect your gratitude in an upcoming gift for a birthday or holiday. If they gave you something Supernatural related some random day of the year because you're a huge fan, think about giving a little more thought to their Christmas present.


Of course, I also wanna hear your stories and thoughts! What have you given to someone or what has someone given to you? Leave your tall tales of family donations in the comments below!

Buttercup: The Second Most Cliche Cow Name

Living on a farm, you get many unexpected things. Around 8:30 on June 26, 2015, I was in the middle of watching The Briefcase and eating some blueberries. My father, basically the head master of the farm, comes inside and says, "We have an animal missing."

I groaned and asked if I had to go, which was a simple no before Dad walked out. Beginning of summer and being this late at night, there would be bugs and I didn't want to leave my food or comfy spot on the couch. However, after a few minutes of internal debate, I told my mum to guard my berries from our cats and off I went.

Running through one of our pastures, I was easily able to catch up with my dad. In the pasture were a total of seventeen cattle. Three of them were overgrown steers (bulls without their parts) and the rest were pregnant females. However, when counting the cows earlier, dad only counted sixteen by the feed bunks. Whenever one of our critters has a baby, they like the privacy and shelter of the woodland further back. This was where the missing cow was expected to be.

Shortly into the woods, not even ten yards, Dad held up a silencing hand and listened to the deafening silence. You could hear the barn fan in the distance along with one heavily sighed moo, but nothing from the woods. He pointed in a direction and led me around an area so we would come up beside the momma and her baby (if she already had it).

Of course, he predicted correctly. Right where he sniffed out was Lilac, #31 in our books, and her newborn baby girl. Although we don't know the hours of hen she was born, it was between 3 o'clock in the afternoon 'til 8:30. The baby was sparkling clean and running after it's mom like a little mountain bike. Yes, a mountain bike. While herding the two out of the woods, Lilac liked to take the paved route. Her baby, on the other hand, was jumping over rocks and fallen trees. There even came a point where she stood on a rock and "surfed" it down a small rock wall, not even falling. This rightfully earned her the nickname Badass in my books.

Once we got Lilac and little "Badass" to the edge of the pasture, we opened a gate to a smaller one filled with five calves in their "cow teen" years. These little ones were like trained dogs. If you used the right tone of voice and hand motions (which I am the only one to have mastered), they will stay, come, and keep eye contact with you on command. It was easy to keep them distanced while we coaxed Lilac through the fence, but the new mother and baby weren't the only ones. Two other pregnant cows crossed through the gate. One went back to the designated dry cow pasture with a simple wave, but the other was running everywhere. When we finally got #3, Ashley, back to the gate, she made a last minute run for it and tangled a fence wire around her feet. Ashley ran and freed herself, but not before dismantling a part of the fence.

Once Ashley was mildly cursed at and shooed back into her pen and the fence was temporarily thrown together for the night, Lilac and her baby were led through one more pasture and into the barn. The baby, later properly named Butercup (so cliche), was fed with some of her mom's milk and some warmed up, regular milk. Why? Well, Miss. Lilac here didn't produce much milk for the child. That, however, didn't matter as you know how babies are. They will eat when they want to eat, and little Buttercup was not hungry. Drinking a little bit, Buttercup was laid in some hay at her mother's nose and the barn was shut down for the night. I never knew how The Briefcase ended as the whole ordeal ended at 10:32. But we have a new edition to the farm and I got to watch Criminal Minds instead, so it all worked out in the end. :)

App Reviews: The Sims 3 Worlds Adventures

App Reviews: The Sims 3 Worlds Adventures

Many of us have grown up or around this industry, which skyrocketed. Everyone loves the games. However, the most common used machine of Sims, a computer, might not always be available to you. So, why not an app? Smart. The customer does not expect the app t be exactly like the computer version of Sims, but similar enough to be enjoyed. Instead, you are now stuck with

this. In the Apple App Store, this particular application costs $2.99, plus in-app purchases. My only hope is to get people to read this before they confirm the purchase. Although the franchise is thought to be a wonder, this particular game has no worldly purpose.

When creating a character in the beginning of your game, choices are very limited. Most, if not all, of your options revolve around the places "around the world you can visit." 'Course, how would I know? I didn't make it past the tutorial.

Once I made a character, a "Sim" I believe you call it, I continued into the Sim world, ready to make my own little life. Unfortunately, once I started, I didn't have my Sim that I worked oh-so hard on. Instead of having an adventurous female, I had a drowsy male. Immediately given the opportunity, I went to change the gender and start all over to redesign myself (that sounds weird to say.) When there was no button or lever or anything to change the gender. Half of the previous available customize options also disappeared.

I restarted the app and tried again, starting a new game. Once again, I created a female figurine, but she was also traded for the same male. It was the same old sequence of events. I went to change everything about my character and none of the buttons were there. Not only, but it has no free roam mode.

I went into the App Store to write a review, when I saw many other unhappy customers who had the same problem as me. If only I had read the reviews before going off on my own. Moral of the story: CHECK THE REVIEWS BEFORE YOU BUY.

Previous reviews by other customers:
jayemery57 says, "Okay,why can't you speed up time like in Sims 3 Ambitions? And when I try to move into someone's house in a different country, they get mad. Even my spouse or best friend gets mad."
I<3Pandas! says, "I like the idea of the game, but I desperately try to make my character certainly but it just shows up as a really weird guy. (What?!?!) and it's not made well. There r no kids and u can't make a girl!!!!!"
Zoe wolfblood says, "Ok so I just got the game and stuff right after valentines day and there was no holiday thing so then I have like no furniture to buy the town is small there is no park or anything much I get married but can not have kids..."

All-in-all folks, this application is full of glitches. The graphics are worse than The Sims Freeplay. I'd much rather have bought Florida Georgia Line's latest single.

Stars: 0/5

Versus: One Direction v. 5 Seconds of Summer

It's safe to say that these two bands are what every teen magazine has to offer. The young British/Irish and Australian boys have taken the world by storm. What does each band have going for them? What's going against them?

One Direction

Let's start off with the boys with more experience on stage. With five members to an all vocal group, the UK has produced a traditional boy band. They gained their fans through hard work shown throughout the TV show "X Factor," which the Directioners look back on more often than you think.

With their fourth album titled "Four" (so original) making it's debut, the 1D boy's music has definitely changed from their first single "What Makes You Beautiful." From what I've heard from this album, it's quite the opposite of "Midnight Memories." The third album was mostly upbeat, while this new one is more slow and calm. In my opinion, not the move you want to make at this point in the game.

Take their AMA performance of 2014. Wonderful job performing "Night Changes," boys, honestly. But, you were no match for 5 Seconds of Summer. I'm afraid the watching the boys in concert nowadays isn't as exhilarating as it used to be. Where are all the midair splits Niall did every ten minutes? Where's the cheeky flirting and tackling? The pranks, the running, the jumping, the joking?

Not to mention the great Leaving of Zayn 2015. WOAH, did that kick up a social media storm or what?! A twitter fight between Zayn and current band member Louis broke out and it was chaos. The fans rioted. However, what's this news about Zayn coming back? He certainly knows how to control the paparazzi, but how do the fans feel? Overwhelmed with emotions: happy, sad, angry, shocked. And the non-fans are even more so. They are sick of TV broadcasts and their peers and friends and relatives crying over this.

5 Seconds of Summer

The Aussies started out like many of the greats, via YouTube. This website brought fame to pop sensations like Justin Beiber, Carly Rae Jepsen, Austin Mahone, and fellow Australian Cody Simpson. There's a lot of dedication and history behind the story of the YouTube network.

Not only, but the 5SOS boys are all about the live streams and Twitcams. Four members is clearly enough. These younger trainees bring a lot more energy than we've previously seen, plus a small twist. If you're a country and pop fan like myself, you can relate to this when I say that 5 Seconds of Summer is turning the tables on the classic boy band image. But, that's the exact thing. THEY ARE NOT A BOY BAND! (Plot twist in life, I know. I just blew your mind.) This group is more about the vocals as each member has a designated instrument. And even with money in their hands, they still jump around without breaking anything (for the most part).  Despite their song "What I Like About You," being a cover, the Australians showed so much energy at the AMA's { https://youtu.be/N27ETuTOEj4 } that has Directioners thinking back to the X Factor days once again, or Big Time Rush's onstage trampolines.

Here's what I don't understand. 5SOS has been around barely half the time 1D has, and although the UK homegrown boys have more albums and several documentaries, the Australians have come up with a LIVE album (available for purchase now) and a fan convention. LIVE albums show your voice without ANY autotune or valid accusations of suh (because it's live). And a fan convention? 5SOS has started their own age of musical, fan conventions mixed with the classic ComiCon style mixed with a small amusement park. Whaaaaaatttttt?

These boys are also more active on social media. All of the members have Twitter and Instagrams and use them often. The fans enjoy the constant communication with this younger band.

Winner

We can respect both groups by all the records they've broken and worldwide acheivements they will be remembered by, but there can only be one winner in a versus. By a score of 9-5 my vote goes to 5 Seconds of Summer. America has had British invasions before with The Beatles, but something Australian? No offense to Cody Simpson, but he didn't exactly click quickly. I don't hear his songs on the radio as often as 5SOS. Plus, these four (Michael Clifford, Ashton Irwin, Luke Hemmings, and Calum Hood) have an unbelievable amount of energy and passion. They're so punk, but they're far from it. This band is such a mix of everything and anything, it's impossible not to gain some sort of respect, awe, or flat out fangirl/fanboy emotions.