DoodleBug Designs: Some Tips, and a Review.

Dear friends.

I am terrible at routines. Seriously, I can't do routines. I'm not talking about dance, I'm talking about life. I don't get up at the same time everyday. I don't have a specific go-to-bed routine. I don't have a specific routine for anything. I'm trying to fix that. I was doing pretty good at blogging every weekday.. Until like two days ago...

So... This blog post will make up for those two lost days.

I couldn't think of anything to blog about... so I googled it (welcome to the digital native era) (Digital Native: Noun. A creative term used by my Social Media Marketing professor to mean, we were born into technology, and it is a part of us. Synonym: Teenager. Antonym: My mom. See Digital Immigrant.)

{The Tips}

I found this article. It really helped me. So.. check it out.

Anyway, I decided on the review topic for today's blog post.

{The Review}

Today, I am going to review a movie that I saw this last weekend that I have been waiting to see since Christmas.

{Les Miserables}

This is the trailer.

If you haven't seen this movie. GO BUY A TICKET RIGHT NOW!

It was fantastic... No, not fantastic. It was beyond explanation. It was amazing. I've seen several stage productions of this show. I've read the book. I've watched the 1998 version-see film clip below- (and hated it) and I was very ready to be thoroughly disappointed. I had read several reviews that said that Russell Crowe was horrid. But I went because I LOVE Les Mis.

The movie started and with the opening titles and the prisoners performance of Look Down... I was hooked, wide eyed, and awestruck.

This movie is a must see.

If you aren't familiar with the story, I'll fill you in.

Jean Valjean (Hugh Jackman) is a man who was imprisoned for 20 years for stealing a loaf of bread (yeah, talk about cruel and unusual punishment). When he gets out on parole, he knows he will never live a normal life because he will always be a "prisoner." He knows his jailer Javert (Russell Crowe) will be sure that the rest of his life, he is a criminal. He comes to a town where a priest takes him in and feeds him and gives him a place to stay. Jean Valjean steals the man's silver. Leaving only the candlesticks behind. When the police catch him and bring his to the priest to confess. The priest says that he gave Jean Valjean the silver but he forgot to take the candlesticks. All the priest asked for in return was that Jean Valjean use the silver to make a better life for himself. He rips up his parole papers and starts anew. (Illegal, yes, the right thing.. of course!). He becomes the Mayor of a town. This is where Fantine (Anne Hathaway) comes in, she has a daughter, Cosette (Amanda Seyfried), that she left with an inn keeper and his wife so she could go work so that her daughter could have a life. At first Fantine works in a factory, then a dumb lady turns her into the foreman. The foreman fires her. (The mayor didn't save her.) So she has to sell her hair (which was GORGEOUS!!) and turns to prostitution to feed her daughter. She gets VERY sick and Jean Valjean learns about her, and tries to help her. That was until Javert discovered that the Mayor was indeed the escaped convict Jean Valjean. Javert vows to bring Valjean down. Valjean insists to Fantine that he will watch out for Cosette and she will never have to want for a thing in her life. He escapes from the town after Fantine dies, and goes to find where Cosette is living.

Les Misérables (2012), a brilliant movie by Tom Hooper. The cast was crazy good, but I think Anne Hathaway outshone everyone with her ''I Dreamed a Dream'' performance.

Anne Hathaway as Fantine singing "I Dreamed a Dream"

She is staying with Thenardier (Sacha Baron Cohen) and Madame Thenardier (Helen Bonham Carter) and their daughter Eponine (Samantha Barks). They steal all the money that Fantine was sending for Cosette. So Valjean pays them off and takes Cosette and makes her his own daughter and takes excellent care of her. They start a new life. They live in peace until one day, the French Revolution was starting to become a thing. Cosette catches the eye of a handsome rebel, Marius (Eddie Redmayne). Its love at first sight. Except that Javert was also at the square and he thought he recognized Valjean. Thenardier also recognizes him and vows to catch him and take what (they think) is theirs.

Sacha Baron Cohen and Helen Bonham Carter
as Master and Madame Thenardier
"Master of the House"

‎"There is a castle on a cloud, I like to go there in my sleep" - Isabelle Allen as young Cosette in Les Misérables. wahh. crying already.

Young Cosette (super cute) singing Castle on a Cloud

Jean Valjean and Young Cosette

Eponine was in love with Marius but she got friend-zoned. She decided she was okay with Cosette and Marius being in love... but like any normal girl would do, she tucked her hair in a hat and pretended to be a boy and joined the revolution.

Marius and Eponine singing "Fall of Rain"

Jean Valjean finds out that someone has caught onto him, so he tells Cosette they need to leave. Cosette is heart broken to leave Marius. That night (conveniently) the French Revolution starts, and Marius sends Gavroche (Daniel Huttlestone)--CUTEST LITTLE BOY EVER-- to deliver a letter to Cosette but Jean Valjean gets it and reads that Marius is in love with Cosette, he is a little sad (as would be any dad) but decides he won't be around forever so Cosette would need someone to take care of her after he died. So he goes down to the revolution to give Marius his permission. I won't tell you the exact details of this part cause it would ruin it. But Marius gets hurt and Jean Valjean has to rescue him. Carries him through the sewers etc. Anyway.. stuff happens....