“Forgot” to tell you guys that my site is back up now (and has been for a while)! It’s at: https://rejenasmiley.altervista.org 😊
I tried to make it similar to the style that I had my WordPress site in!
By the way, I made a comic for a contest; please check it out, and let me know what you think! https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/a-great-way-to-begin-a-vacation-nekoturrs-realm/list?title_no=795890
The theme was ‘action’, and it had to be at least 60 panels. I would rate it pg-13 just because of trifling topics lol (but it’s on purpose).
Please leave a comment on the page (if you want lol). It will help with audience engagement, which is a factor in the judging. Please share it with others if you like it too. Sorry some of the panels got blurry on bigger screens. Best read on a phone, ironically (though I do have a traditional paper-comic-format version of this). Hope you enjoy, and thank you. 🙏🏼
I don’t like competition. But I realized that contests are not so scary when you are not afraid of rejection. (I should do them more.) I realized that I have been afraid of rejection (while watching an Arnold Schwarzenegger video lol) for a big majority of my life, which has negatively affected my perfectionistic qualities. I could’ve done a better job on this entry too, if I had tried to turn it in a day early to work out any kinks.
In the last 3 hours before the deadline, as I was about to make the thumbnails (thinking I would be on-time, you know), I hit the keyboard shortcut Ctrl-Z in the file explorer (Windows 10), and, it totally deleted my recently created folder, containing ALL of the separated panel images that I took 3 hrs to create. ALL AT ONCE. No warning, no nothing. (If you Google search this issue, you’ll see this is still an ongoing problem with Windows 10 -_-).
Very distraught, I called my husband, because I thought, “No way could I create all of those panel images again in less than 3 hrs,” but luckily, I got a second wind of inspiration, and was able to pull it off within 2 hrs and 10 mins, approx. Thank God.
However, after uploading everything and creating the thumbnails, I saw that some of the smaller and differently-shaped panels were fuzzy/ zoomed in a lot, and there was only 20 minutes left before the contest closed. I was able to replace some of the really bad ones, but not all… This issue would’ve been fine if I encountered the problem before the last day; however I was still editing/coloring the images up till then (and losing sleep over it). So call it bad luck with the Ctrl-Z thing, but whatever.
Maybe I needed to realize that things don’t need to be perfect; my art or myself. And that it’s okay to “draw outside of the lines” a little. And, especially, I learned that I need to seek/show God’s glory in my art, and not my own glory. I think I was very adamant about feeling like I accomplished something with hard work and my own strength. But God is still behind it all; my talents, my life, my ability to have income and create art. He has allowed me to do all of that up till now.
And I also rediscovered my desire to make an emotional/ spiritual/ mental, etc. impact on someone’s life through my art. It’s not just to entertain and make money, but I want someone to be able to say that I was able to encourage them, change their perspective, and bring them understanding, comfort, joy and inspiration. I hope I can serve others with my art, and not just myself, or some company.
Anyway, if you read till the end, good on you, lol. Thanks for still following me if you do! Have a great day! 💫
In the notion of trying to ‘update’ my website into a more user-friendly place (i.e. more responsive, better design, etc.), I tried to convert it into a WordPress site, similar to this one, but I wanted the focus to be on it being a gallery… however… the gallery software which I usually use didn’t work, and… all of the gallery plugins they had never worked for me well, so… it was getting all very frustrating… ;(
Then the final straw was that I couldn’t change the site back into the regular version– it HAD to be the WordPress version from now on!… Welp. I already have one of those… and if there’s no gallery, there’s no need for an extra place, lol. So, I just deleted it. 😅 It was getting on my nerves, lol. But that’s okay. In a way, it’s a relief. I need less things to worry about.
So, I’ll start to converting all my info into this site instead, unless I find a better solution. 🤔 Never say never, right?
What else is new?… Erm… I got married. 😅 Haha. Hope all is well with you guys. 🤗♥😉
Hey, everyone! I’ve made some small changes to the main site (titles and icons– and of course, this blog page is completely different lol). 🙂 Might as well with this pandemic, amirite?
I hope you all are getting the proper rest and resources that you can. Stay healthy, okay?
I’m learning my fair share of spiritual lessons throughout this period of my life. I’m learning to express myself freely, again. Life sometimes makes me think like it’s better to be or copy someone else. But you know– there is only one of you. Be who God created you to be. (I am telling myself this, mostly.) Even besides this pandemic, life is still uncertain and not promised. My goal is to not live (or die) with any regrets. We are all living imperfect lives. Might as well go all out and do our best, since things will never perfectly go our way. But that’s the surprise in life, which makes it not so boring too, I suppose.
“If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.” (Romans 14:8)
Be wise though. Don’t be reckless with your life…
“Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.” (Eph 5:15-17)
Don’t throw away your one, precious life.
Heya! If you haven’t visited my site, rejenasmiley.com, recently, I’ve updated it a bit. 🙂 Still need to fix some outdated links and such, but that’ll be done in due time. Also need to update my portfolio/gallery, lol. But hope you like it, so far! 💓 (It’s not that much of a difference, tbh. Haha)
Warning: Salty review. Possible spoilers ahead.
I don’t typically do movie reviews, but since “Aladdin” (the Disney cartoon version) is my favorite classic Disney movie (fav. non-classic being “A Goofy Movie”), I just felt like I had to say something. (But, I also felt like I was being harshly judging this movie, since I kept comparing it to the original, so take this “review” with a grain of salt?) Maybe if you’d never seen the original, you would like it better.
(P.S. I also saw the live action musical last year. That had its flaws (and good points) too, but it didn’t prompt me/make me angry enough to write a whole review about it, however, lol.)
Overall movie rating: B-/C+
I even feel like my rating is being semi-soft on them, compared to others I’ve seen. But this was my internal rating before I read any others.
I went to go see this twice, but mostly because a separate group of friends/ family wanted to see it on different days. I judge how much I like a movie by how many times I want to re-watch it.
So, would I go again? Heck no. :0 I had to clean my mind by listening to the original songs on my way back home (the 1st time). But it was more bearable the 2nd time. Still, just… No…
I saw them really trying, and I commend them for that. But to relate that to one of Jasmine’s quotes from the movie, well, them trying too hard was a part of the problem.
Some things just rubbed me the wrong way. It was like they said in a meeting (to a lot of people who were involved), “So what should we add to this movie that you think should be in it?” instead of, “What should we change to make it better than the original?” (if that were possible). Who knows? Maybe they thought they couldn’t improve on “perfection”, and so they figured that every little thing that they added was there “just because” they wanted it, and not to add any real story deepnes. They added unnecessary things and took away the details which gave the original some of its charm and re-watchability in the first place.
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Added +
1. The whole debacle with Jasmine wanting to be the Sultan. Okay… I get it… Women’s empowerment, etc. I’m all for that. I just felt like it was forced and not even a part of her character in the original. Not to mention, all that extra dialogue time could have been used for the other charming things they decided to exclude. I get why they thought it would be cool, but eh… Just wasn’t into it. Doesn’t even seem like the actress, herself, totally believed it either.
2. Unnecessary songs
These just ruined the mood for me and made things more comedic at the times they were supposed to be serious. Aladdin’s extra song wasn’t so bad as Jasmine’s (when she was captured/arrested). Like… That one was just laughable. 🤣🤣 Inappropriately laughable. And the people suddenly disappearing while she was singing, well… It just kind of took you out of the movie experience because it just seemed so random and inappropriate. Again, I can see why they did it, but it ruined the somber mood and tone. Not everyone needs a solo… Twice… (However, that “Speechless” song is currently in my head if that’s some consolation.)
3. Unnecessary relationships
Like… The handmaid… Why does everyone need to be a couple? Was I the only one who thought the whole Genie thing with her was a bit creepy…? He’s like… 10,000 yrs. your senior… Just sayin’…😬😅
4. The slow-mo… Again more comedic than anything… Welp. (The “chair”, anyone?)
5. The thing with the invasion. Not a big deal, but didn’t like how they added that in, but took out other things. See below…
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Took away –
(I’m moreso salty because of what they took away)
1. Comedic bits. Some of this had to do with Robin W.’s original impromptu parts, but c’mon… Let Will S. let loose a little more too. It was supposed to be one of the more funny Disney movies. 
2. Jafar’s end song and overall character. Oh, Jafar. 😢 They were trying so hard to make him a scary jerk that they forgot he was supposed to have a more well-rounded comedic side too. (Like, that the audience was supposed to laugh at.) I missed the Prince Ali (reprise) song. 😥 They also took away his semi-magical abilities, pre-Genie. How did he know Aladdin was the diamond in the rough? Just because Iago told him? Well, how did *he* know?? :0 I missed his crazy, maniacal laughing, and Iago telling him to get a grip, lol. (He did it a couple of times, but it was still too serious!! Lol) Also, no “Prince A-boo-boo?”…:/
3. Iago’s salty relationship with the Sultan. Little details like this made me angry. 😅 Like, where’s his revenge at the end??
4. Abu was supposed to be an Elephant until Jafar changed him back… Also, Rajah… No kitty needed, huh…
5. No plan from Jafar regarding marrying Jasmine to become the Sultan. Sigh. It just became a thing of “revenge”… Boring.
6. Time, itself. Some scenes felt rushed or squished together. (Ex: Cave of Wonders scenes/ Aladdin first meeting Jasmine in the marketplace/ Aladdin getting shunned at the palace gates (btw, he was supposed to get kicked in the mud by the Prince)) Like, they could’ve done it normally if it weren’t for the unnecessary things they decided to add. 🙄 It just took away the emotions & drama in the scenes because they wanted to rush it.
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What I actually liked:
1. That they emphasized the fact that Aladdin was okay with lying to a loved one than telling the truth. As a kid, it had always confused me a little bit why it was such a big deal for him tell them the truth, or rather, why he just couldn’t free the genie and still keep the title of a “prince”, since he was only one in appearance anyway…
2. Aladdin, the actor, himself.
…..😅 He was charming, lol. Unfortunately, he was handed a mixed bag.
3. Great singing voices.
4. The “Jam” scene, lol. (Aladdin first meeting Jasmine as Prince Ali.) Laugh out loud-able.
5. Abu was cute and believable.
6. The scenery and other actors. P.O.C., represent! ✊🏼 Lol
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Neutral:
1. Will Smith as the Genie. He did an okay job, imo. It would be hard to replace the late Robin Williams in any capacity, and especially in one of his most famous roles. So, kudos for him taking on the role. I’m sure it was challenging. Again, a person who was given a mixed bag to work with. Some of the comedy was great; some was hit and miss (again, trying too hard).
2. Carpet was okay too. (But they took away some of its personality as well).
3. Song remixes of the originals. They were okay…🤔
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That’s the summary of my overall feelings– that it was “okay.” (And therefore, “average”, and therefore, a “C”)
I hope you can see why I thought this way. Just my opinion, but it’s because I loved the original version so much, that maybe I’m grading it too harshly, and maybe my opinion is jaded a little by nostalgia. That’s okay though. 🤷
But Disney… Just consider your original source material more and quit rushing your scenes, thinking that cool CGI effects will make up for the lack in story and characters. …It won’t. 😑
Just Dream 
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