My fiancé loves watching documentaries on Netflix. While we were creating our wedding website, my fiancé started playing Challenger: The Final Flight as background noise. Instead of contributing to our wedding website like I should have, I started paying attention to each episode.

Challenger: The Final Flight has only four episodes, with each episode ranging from forty-two to fifty minutes long. The series introduces the astronauts, provides background information before The Challenger launched, footage from The Challenger as it exploded, and the aftermath of the investigation. What happened with the Challenger, and was NASA responsible?

My knowledge of the Challenger explosion was next to none before watching this docuseries. I knew a teacher was on board and the shuttle exploded shortly before take-off, but that was about it. I was crying throughout the series. Families, children, NASA, and the United States all watched what happened to the Challenger. Relatives turned to each other in shock and held each other as they cried. Students were in awe as they weren’t sure what was happening. Hearing the relatives of the seven astronauts speak as they relive this moment was horrifying. Some of the relatives knew their loved ones couldn’t survive, while other relatives tried to deny what had happened.

Christa McAuliffe was a teacher in New Hampshire who was one of 11,000 applicants who applied to board the Challenger. She was the final of ten and was chosen to be the first teacher in space. She took a leave from teaching while she trained to be an astronaut. She had planned to teach two fifteen-minute lessons to students from space. I’m imagining how I would feel if one of my teacher friends were chosen to go into space. I would feel happy for them, but anxious about what could go wrong.

The failure of the O-rings caused the Challenger’s explosion. The docuseries details how NASA knew about the history of the O-Rings’ failure since 1977. That’s nine years before the Challenger launched. Richard Feynman, a scientist on the Manhattan Project, was included in the post-investigation. Feynman demonstrated how the O-rings are more likely to fail in lower temperatures. On the day the Challenger launched, it was 36 degrees.

Challenger: The Final Flight is a heart-wrenching look at what happened with the Challenger. There’s a lot we can learn from this tragedy to make space exploration safer, and the importance of analyzing scientific data. Challenger: The Final Flight can be streamed on Netflix.

Vampires were a trend back in 2008. I used to own a Team Edward t-shirt from Hot Topic back when I read the Twilight series. Twilight showed us sparkling vampires, while The Vampire Diaries was a highlight on The CW. True Blood was the more adult vampire show that aired on HBO for seven seasons. I never finished watching True Blood, so I decided to give the show another chance. True Blood is a sexy and entertaining vampire show.

True Blood stars waitress Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin) in the small Southern town of Bon Temps. True Blood takes place two years after vampires were introduced into society. There’s an invention titled “Tru Blood” which allows vampires to feed off of synthetic human blood. While Sookie is waitressing, she meets Bill Compton (played by Stephen Moyer), a vampire who is compassionate towards humanity. Ultimately, Sookie and Bill begin a romantic relationship and are forced to face off against various supernatural threats.

One of the positives of True Blood is getting to know Bon Temps and the people who live there. Several of the characters go through positive character growth, including Arlene Fowler (played by Carrie Preston) and Andy Bellefleur (played by Chris Bauer). Both Arlene and Andy were prejudiced against vampires at the beginning of the series. As the seasons continued, Arlene and Andy started to recognize that not all vampires are the same. Andy used to be a character I despised in the first season, and is now one of the best characters. Besides Arlene and Andy, Sookie’s brother, Jason (played by Ryan Kwanten), matures throughout the series. Originally portrayed as a playboy, Jason starts to develop feelings for Jessica (played by Deborah Ann Woll, before her Daredevil days). Jason starts to think differently about vampires and treats women with more respect than he did before. I could go on and on about the characters in True Blood. If the characters weren’t as memorable, True Blood would have been canceled a long time ago.

True Blood also had various guest stars, including Christopher Meloni (Detective Elliot Stabler, Law & Order SVU), Fiona Shaw (Aunt Petunia), Rob Kazinsky (Pacific Rim), Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld), Denis O’Hare (American Horror Story), and more. Christopher Meloni played an older vampire who was a spot-on cast. Denis O’Hare played a nasty vampire in season #3 and was one of the best villains of the show.

True Blood started strong. Seasons #1 – #4 were wildly entertaining. Sookie builds a relationship with Bill, has a relationship with Eric (played by Alexander Skarsgård), and fights off witches. Seasons #5 – #7 are where True Blood started to drag on. Season #5 featured Christopher Meloni, but his appearance wasn’t enough, as this season was probably the worst out of the seven.

Overall, True Blood was a fun watch. I’m glad I gave the show a second chance. It’s a perfect show to watch in Quarantine because I could devote the time to watch all the seasons. I have a picture of Eric as my phone background because he’s one of my favorite vampires in the show. If you watched True Blood, let me know in the comments which character was your favorite.

I have a subscription to HBO Max, and there is so much content! My watch list has grown exponentially, even though it takes me some time to watch everything. On HBO Max are the three Blade movies starring Wesley Snipes as the hybrid vampire, Blade. One of the main reasons I started watching the original trilogy is because Marvel relaunched Blade, starring Mahershala Ali. Blade is a well-made movie ahead of its time.

Blade (played by Wesley Snipes) is a vampire hunter while being a hybrid vampire himself. His mother was attacked by a vampire while pregnant with Blade. As a result, Blade has vampire attributes while still being human. Blade is mentored by Abraham Whistler (played by Kris Kristofferson), who assists in Blade’s training regimen. When vampire rebel Deacon Frost (played by Stephen Dorff) wants to capture Blade to resurrect a blood god, that’s when all hell breaks loose.

The Blade opening sequence has to be one of the best openings in an action movie. The film opens with a man being walked through a butcher shop into a vampire rave. Blood is sprinkled among the crowd as the vampires go into a feeding frenzy. This frenzy is stomped on when Blade enters with his sword and kills the vampires while the strobes flash. This opening scene helped keep me invested as the movie unfolded.

Blade also doesn’t force a romance between the protagonists. Assisting Blade with taking down Frost is Karen (played by N’Bushe Wright). Karen is a hematologist who is attacked by another vampire named Quinn (played by Donal Logue). Blade rescues Karen and keeps her safe since she’s been marked after being bitten. It’s clear Blade starts to care for her, but they aren’t romantically entangled when the credits roll. This doesn’t happen in many action movies.

Watching Blade, it doesn’t feel like a movie made in the ’90s. The one exception to this is Deacon Frost’s overall aesthetic. Deacon looks like a former Backstreet Boy who was turned into a vampire. Otherwise, this movie still holds up today.

Blade was a blast to watch. The day after watching Blade, I watched Blade II. I will write a Blade II review soon because I was surprised by how well this holds up as a sequel. Blade is available to stream on HBO Max.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is a movie I had never watched until last weekend. There is a Rocky Horror Picture Show-themed party room at CONvergence every year, but I never knew what the references were. My friend was shocked that I had never seen this movie, and ultimately, she pulled the DVD from her collection and made me watch it. The Rocky Horror Picture Show is the ultimate horror-themed musical.

Throughout the movie, the unnamed narrator tells the story of the newly engaged couple Brad Majors (played by Barry Bostwick) and Janet Weiss (played by Susan Sarandon). They have a flat tire and stumbled upon a massive mansion. Brad and Janet are invited inside and are immediately introduced to Dr. Frank-N-Furter (played spectacularly by Tim Curry), a transvestite from Transylvania. Brad and Janet see Furter create a man named Rocky (played by Peter Hinwood), who becomes Furter’s lover. There’s sex, music, murders, and generic chaos as the story unfolds.

I’m typically not a fan of musicals, but The Rocky Horror Picture Show is an exception. I like the references to various horror films. An example of this would be when Rocky is created as a mad scientist experiment by Furter. The music is catchy, and I didn’t know the rockstar Meat Loaf was in this movie.

The Rocky Horror Picture Show is so fun. I can’t believe I waited so long before watching this. It’s the perfect blend of sexuality, horror movies, and musicals. It’s fitting I watched this right before the Halloween season. I’m going to have the soundtrack on repeat for weeks.

Last weekend, I went to visit my friend for the weekend. Besides playing multiple board games, we like to watch movies together. In college, we would go see a movie once a month, at least? Her DVD collection is massive, and I decided to pick the Ghostbusters re-make for us to watch.

This particular Ghostbusters outing is a remake directed by Paul Feig, who also directed Bridesmaids. The film centers around physicists Abby Yates (played by Melissa McCarthy) and Erin Gilbert (played by Kristin Wiig). Erin is fired from her teaching position at Columbia University after Abby republishes the ghost book they wrote. Since Erin’s been fired from her job, she teams up with Abby and Dr. Jillian Holtzmann (played wonderfully by Kate McKinnon) to hunt ghosts. Eventually, they meet Patty Tolan (played by Leslie Jones), whose expertise in navigating around NYC helps the group locate the ghosts. Ghosts end up being unleashed, and all hell breaks loose.

The showstopper in this film is Kate McKinnon. Her facial expressions and lines in this movie were the best. I wish Leslie Jones were more of the main character. She felt sidelined for the movie, which is a shame. I can’t forget to mention Chris Hemsworth playing the dumb secretary. Chris Hemsworth isn’t known for comedy, but his one-liners were great.

Although I liked Ghostbusters, this movie ended up being a box office bomb. There was so much controversy over having a female cast. I remember when the trailer for this movie hit YouTube, there was a remarkable amount of thumbs-down responses. I’m biased in my response because I was a ’90s baby, so I wasn’t alive when the original Ghostbusters was released. It saddens me that fans had such a negative reaction to a movie before it was released.

Ghostbusters wasn’t a perfect film by any means, but it was a campy sci-fi film starring funny women. I want all the Dr. Jillian Holtzmann merch. I saw her Funko pop, and it’s so quirky. Let me know what you think of this movie in my comments section below.

BlacKkKlansman is a movie I have wanted to watch for a while. I couldn’t find BlacKkKlansman on any streaming service I subscribe to. My mom collects DVDs and allowed me to borrow this movie. This movie tells a crucial story, especially with the events that preceded the making of this movie. There was a lot I took away from watching this film.

BlacKkKlansman tells the story of Ron Stallworth (played by John David Washington), who was the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department. During his service, he sets up an undercover operation to have white police detectives infiltrate the KKK. Philip “Flip” Zimmerman (played by Adam Driver) is the white Ron Stallworth who uncovers a planned bombing on the Black Panther Party. It’s a race against time to stop the bombing at all costs.

The real Ron Stallworth wrote a book about his experience, which I have already ordered from my local bookstore. I admire his bravery in becoming a police officer while racism was still rampant. I’m glad his story was told as a film, so others like me can be aware of his story and read his book.

My major takeaway from this film is recognizing the role white women played in the KKK and in keeping systemic racism alive today. In the film, one of the wives of the Klan helped plan the bombing. This level of violence wasn’t unheard of during this time. In today’s society, I think of the white women who call the police on young black kids. I may not have been alive during the Civil Rights movement, but I want to be an ally in fighting racial injustice.

Towards the end of BlacKkKlansman, the film shows real-life footage of the Unite the Night rally in Virginia, along with President Donald Trump’s statements. If we are to truly eliminate these hate groups, we cannot tolerate them in our society. There are no “both sides” with the KKK; their existence is a symbol of hatred and violence.

BlacKkKlansman deserved every single Oscar nomination. It’s a movie with incredible acting and storytelling. Ron Stallworth’s story, along with the history of the Black Panther Party, has inspired me to donate to nonprofits and to learn more about this time in history.

As Pride is coming to a close this year, it’s crucial to support the LGBTQIA+ community all year long. This includes supporting organizations like the Trevor Project or watching media that’s been created by someone from the community. I recently watched the movie, The Normal Heart, and it’s heartwrenching. With the COVID-19 pandemic, The Normal Heart revisits a time when the US didn’t do enough to manage another pandemic.

The Normal Heart is based on a play written by Larry Kramer. The play follows activist, Ned Weeks (played by Mark Ruffalo in the movie), who notices this mysterious disease mostly impacting gay men. As he starts to discuss this disease at length, he’s surprised how he cannot get anyone to listen to him. This is during a prejudiced time where many felt this was “god’s punishment.” Ned falls in love with Felix Turner (played by Matt Bomer), although tragedy strikes when Felix is diagnosed with HIV. The play and the subsequent movie version highlight how the US failed its people by refusing to provide research sooner.

This movie is difficult to watch. It’s graphic in the way it needs to be to show how HIV has taken young, healthy men and turned them into frail human beings. There’s one man as he lies dying, calling out for his dog. I was crying throughout the entire movie because it hurt to know this is real. It’s amazing how far we have come in treating HIV and how many people can live completely normal lives. At the core of this story is the discrimination gay men faced in getting basic care.

For those who feel the US isn’t handling COVID-19 correctly, it seems we can only look to our past for our failures. It wasn’t until 1986 that Ronald Reagan mentioned AIDS while addressing the United States. This is stated in the epilogue of The Normal Heart. This is when discrimination becomes deadly.

The Normal Heart was a well-made movie honoring the brave people who passed away from this awful disease. It’s a movie that shows how media can influence public opinion and how our media can highlight issues before even our government can address them. I would recommend being in a good mental place before watching this because of the difficult nature of the movie. This movie is one of the reasons why Pride still needs to exist, so we never forget how our country failed its community.

It’s been six months, but I finally finished watching New Girl. I always start watching a new show, although I become bored and end up watching something else. I would go through phases with New Girl where I would watch a season in a week and then not watch the show for months. Since I finished New Girl in its entirety, I wanted to list off my favorite episodes of the show.

“Prince” Season #3 Episode 14

As a Minnesotan, it should come as no surprise to anyone that the Prince episode made it to this list. Jess (played by Zooey Deschanel) and Cece (played by Hannah Simone) are invited to a party held by Prince. Nick (played by Jake Johnson), Schmidt (played by Max Greenfield), Winston (played by Lamorne Morris), and Coach (played by Damon Wayans Jr.) all come to crash Prince’s party after Nick blurts out to Jess that he loves her. This episode is so fun. Prince gives the roommates great advice, and I like the episodes in season #3 where Nick and Jess are together. I got a little teary-eyed watching this, especially since Prince is no longer alive. R.I.P. Prince.

“Cooler” Season #2 Episode 15

This episode marks the first kiss between Jess and Nick. This kiss is one of the best on-screen kisses I have ever watched. I was re-watching this scene from various YouTube clips, and it sent chills up my spine. Jess and Nick are perfect together.

“Where the Road Goes” Season #7 Episode #4

As a cat lady, this episode has to be on this list. Winston hosts a funeral for his cat, Ferguson, who passed away from a heart attack. I was crying throughout the whole thing as someone who has lost two kitties in my lifetime. Losing a pet is never easy, and towards the end of the episode, we see Winston express his emotion over his lost furry friend. This episode is relatable.

“Normal” Season #1 Episode 20

I picked this episode because it’s the first episode to feature the drinking game True American. Jess invites her boyfriend, Russell (played by Dermot Mulroney), over to the loft where the roommates play a drinking game. True American is depicted throughout the series as one of the games the roommates play together. All I know about the game is that the “floor is lava” and to start a game by shouting “JFK” and “FDR”.

“Hubbedy Bubby” Season #6 Episode 2

In this episode, Jess and Cece make a bet with Schmidt about signing up voters for the upcoming election. Jess and Cece party at a sorority house to attempt to get them to register to vote. As Jess and Cece triumphantly lead the women to vote, they unanimously shout their support for Trump. I picked this episode because it highlights Jess and Cece’s friendship as they go on this quest together.

Honorable mentions include the pilot episode, Schmidt and Cece’s wedding, and Nick and Jess’s wedding. Let me know in the comments which episode is your favorite.

Recently, I have been getting into watching more horror movies. Typically, I hate horror movies. I’m not a fan of the “gory / over the top” horror. This is why I never got into The Walking Dead, or why I couldn’t watch past Saw II, because it felt a little too gross for me. Ready or Not was recommended to me to watch because of the darker humor, and it wasn’t gory. Ready or Not is an intelligently written, black comedy, horror film.

Grace (played by Samara Weaving) is ecstatic to be marrying her husband, Alex Le Domas (played by Mark O’Brien). The Le Domases are extremely wealthy as they own the “Le Domas Family Games” company. After Grace and Alex get married, they are forced to sit down and play a game. Grace draws the “hide and seek” card, which is the only card that forces the Le Domas family to kill the bride or groom-to-be. Grace doesn’t take hide & seek seriously until she sees a family member murder a maid. Grace has to fight the family and survive the night.

As I mentioned, I’m not into gore. There’s a little bit of gore because it is a horror movie, but not enough that I couldn’t watch the movie. I appreciate the eat the rich message in this movie. The reason why the Le Domas have their money is that they agreed to participate in this game ritual. They don’t care about what they have to do to keep their wealth. Even Samara utters in the movie, “fucking rich people”.

Samara Weaving is amazing in this role. I rooted for her throughout the movie. When Grace sits outside the mansion as it’s up in flames, smoking a cigarette, what an aesthetic. Adam Brody plays Daniel Le Domas, and he was a great character to watch, too. Supporting roles by Andie MacDowell, Henry Czerny, and Melanie Scrofano help make this rich family as evil as they are.

Ready or Not is a great film to play in a horror movie marathon in October. Another recommendation would be to play this movie as background noise during a board game night. Let me know in the comments if you watched Ready or Not and what your thoughts are. Additionally, if you have horror movie recommendations that aren’t super gory, I’m happy to hear those recommendations as well.