Hello to everyone from around the world! We are at the end
of 2015, and my goodness! What a year it has been for everyone! There were of
cause happy times, as well as sad times and also those frustrating times, but
that is what makes it such a good year!
Now to get on with business, here are some highlights of
what happened during 2015 (some highlights are grouped to show what happened at
that time of the year):
- It is with great sadness that we say goodbye to these outstanding and talented people: Scott Weiland, Kevin Corcoran, Christopher Lee and Lemmy.
- Frozen Fever released this year which premiered before the movie Cinderella.
- StarBucks brought out a new flavour for the season fall called Toasted Graham Latte for the first time in years.
- Zayn Malik left One Direction and One Direction announced they are taking an extended hiatus which will start in March 2016 and will last for about 2 years.
- Clearwater Marine Aquarium rehabilitated over 100 animals this year.
- Tina Fey and Amy Poehler hosted the Golden Globe Awards for the final time this year.
- US Supreme Court ruled gay marriage is legal in all 50 states of the USA.
- SeaWorld CEO announces plan to end orca controversial shows at the San Diego park by 2017, after the protests that began after the release of the documentary Blackfish.
- As of January 2016, ABC Family will be renamed to Freeform.
- In June 2015, it was announced that there would be a two-part play titled “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child”, and the play would premiere in the summer of 2016 at London’s Palace Theatre. J.K. Rowling stated though, that this play would not be a prequel. In October 2015, it was confirmed the play would be set 19 years after the conclusion of the 7th novel “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows”. The actors who would play the main characters are the following: Jamie Paker plays Harry Potter; Noma Dumezweni plays Hermione Granger and Paul Thornley plays Ron Weasley.
- The US is upgrading the legal status of lions that stop the hunters from transporting any lion body parts back home after the hunter’s safari trips.
- Cecil the lion was sadly shot by a Walter Palmer, who is an American big-game hunter.
- On November 13th 2015, a series of coordinated terrorist attacks occurred in Paris. There were 3 suicide bombers who struck near the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, which followed by suicide bombings and mass shooting at cafรจs, restaurants and a concert hall.
- Downtown Disney was renamed to Disney Springs.
- A new bakery named Erin McKenna’s Bakery NYC opened in Disney Springs. This bakery serves foods that are gluten free and vegan.
- Walt Disney World has installed new metal detectors due to the Department of Homeland Security identified "public events or places" as potential terrorist targets in a National Terrosim Advisory System bulletin.
- The D23 Expo announced that Walt Disney World plans for an 11-acre Toy Story land which will include 2 new attractions and 1 expanded favourite in the adventurous outdoors of Andy’s backyard at the theme park Hollywood Studios.
- Bob Iger announced that a brand new 14-acre land themed Star Wars will be added to Disneyland, as well as Walt Disney World’s Hollywood Studios.
- Director Jon Favreau introduced a few of the confirmed actors for Disney’s future film, The Jungle Book, which will premier in April 2016. The actors are: Ben Kingley, Lupita Nyong’o, and 11-year-old Neel Sethi. Jon Favreau also introduced some footage from the film, which includes Baloo the bear (who is voiced by Bill Murray).
- It was announced that an upcoming night-time show titled “Rivers of Light” will be held in Walt Disney World’s Animal Kingdom. Another expansion plan will be Pandora – The World of Avatar and a nocturnal version of Kilimanjaro Safaris.
- Toy Story 4 was announced and will be aimed to be released in June 2017.
- It was announced that a new animated movie titled Zootopia will be released in March 2016. A clip from the film was also shown at D23 Expo.
- Star Wars: The Force Awakens came out 10 years after the release of the franchise’s last major instalment. The movie reached $1 billion 12 days after the global release, which was one day earlier than the previous record holder – Jurassic World. The movie has made $544.5 million in the US. 10 Days after the movie release, it became the 4th highest-grossing film for 2015, and also the 9th highest-grossing film of all time. The movie has broken many box office records which include the highest – grossing worldwide opening of all time, and the fastest film to reach $1 billion.
The Disney movie Cinderella premiered in theatres in March
2015. The film grossed $542 million worldwide, and became Branagh’s highest
grossing film.
The Jurassic World film had a grossing of $500 million
worldwide and had a record breaking opening weekend. The film also generated
$1.6 billion in box office revenue, and is the 3rd highest-grossing
film of all time, and the film is the highest-grossing film for 2015.
The movie Goosebumps grossed $78.6 million in North America
as of 20th December, and the movie received generally positive
reviews from critics. The movie also grossed over $119 million on a $58 million
budget.
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| Movies released in 2015. |
A good couple of music albums were released during the
course of this year. The artists name will be written, along with the title of
their albums that were released this year. Here are the following albums:
Butcher Babies – Take It Like A Man; Papa Roach – F.E.A.R. (Fear Everything and
Rise); Imagine Dragons – Smoke + Mirrors; All That Remains – The Order of
Things; Kelly Clarkson – Piece by Piece; Nightwish – Endless Forms Most
Beautiful; Halestorm – Into the Wild Life; KAMELOT – Haven; Hilary Duff –
Breathe In. Breathe Out; Breaking Benjamin – Dark Before Dawn; Bullet for My
Valentine – Venom; Miley Cyrus – Miley Cyrus & Her Dead Petz; New Years Day - Malevolence; Demi Lovato –
Confident; The Agonist - Eye of Providence; 5 Seconds of Summer – Sounds Good Feels Good; Carrie Underwood –
Storyteller; David Garrett – Explosive; Ellie Goulding – Delirium; Adele – 25
and Ariana Grande – Christmas & Chill and many more albums released this
year.
All these music artists I mentioned are all super talented
and their music is amazing to listen to. These artists are highly recommended
as their voices are really talented. Most of these music artists mentioned
above are songwriters as well, and they have written such emotional songs that
make you either happy or make you feel that sad emotion. Their music is also
very powerful.
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| Music albums released in 2015. |
The Butcher Babies band released their new album “Take It
Like A Man” in August this year. The band has currently released 2 music videos
so far, and they are “Monsters Ball” and “Igniter”. The band has also released
an official album stream which consists of each song from their new album.
You can view their music videos here:
Monster's Ball:Igniter:
Official Album Stream: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLVWT5waYZYnkeiqtrgWwy-Q3WLThVO-hY
Bullet for My Valentine released their 5th studio album “Venom” this year. This was the first album by the band since the departure of bassist player Jason James, which was announced in February 2015. It was announced in May 2015, that Jamie Mathias would be replaced as the new bassist player. The band has released 3 singles which are “No Way Out”, “You Want a Battle? (Here’s a War)” and “Army of Noise”. There have also been 2 music videos off the new album titled “You Want a Battle? (Here’s a War)” and “Venom”.
You can view their music videos here:
You
Want a Battle? (Here’s a War):
Venom:
The German pop and crossover violinist David Garret released
his new album this year, which is titled “Explosive”. Some the songs on this
album were written by David Garrett himself, such as “Adventure Island”,
“Explosive” and “Serenity” feat. Nicole Scherzinger. The song titled “Adventure
Island” was inspired by the Pirates of the Caribbean music, and the song titled
“Serenity” was inspired by Disney music. There has also been a music video for
“Explosive”.
You can view the music video here:
Explosive:
On a more personal note:
This year, for me, has definitely been a great year. I do,
of cause, miss going to Walt Disney World like I did last year, but I know I
will definitely go again soon. I think the one issue most people need to do is
save money. Saving money may not look good now, but in the long run when you do
save money, it will help you so much. Also look at it this way, in the long run,
you would have so much money saved and you can spend it on anything you want,
even if you fill a Coco-Cola tin with R2. You’ll still have that much money for
yourself.
I also met quite a few celebrities this year. Most of the
celebrities I met were at KDay (a music festival which is held in the summer,
and is hosted by the radio show KFM). At KDay, I did get to see celebrities I
have met time and time again, such as the KFM radio hosts, but I unfortunately
did not get to see all of the radio hosts this year at KDay. I know I did not
write about KDay this year, but I will explain to you exactly why I did not
write a blog about KDay, and what I am about to write will be a balance between
positive and negative insight: KDay, this year, was held at Newlands Rugby
Field. KDay, as usual, is always a fantastic music festival where you do get
the opportunity to meet the music artists who perform on this day, but only
after their live performances. The radio hosts where walking around the field,
so if you bumped into them, you could possibly have your photo taken with them.
The location for KDay this year wasn’t so bad, but I would say the field was
much smaller than the other venues where KDay was located. The location where
you went to meet the music artists was at the Musica stand, and when the music
artists came out to meet their fans, they only had 10 – 15 minutes to sign
posters, CD albums and t-shirts. So when you, the fan went to meet the music
artists, you literally had about 10 seconds (if you were lucky) to meet the
music artists, and at times, the Musica staff were a bit mean to the fans as my
one friend did say she wanted a photo with some of the music artists, but was
pushed aside and couldn’t get the photo she wanted, so as I said, at times
during the course of meeting the music artists, the Musica staff were a bit
mean to the fans. KDay was fantastic because you got to meet music artists, see
their live performances, and also buy their music albums. The not-so-good part
of KDay was that the entrance gates were meant to open at a certain time, but
only opened after about 30 – 45 minutes; there weren’t much food choices,
especially for vegans/vegetarians, and the fans who met the music artists did
not have much time to meet the music artists. One more not-so-good part of KDay
with regard to meeting the music artists was when the music artists finished
their live performance, the people would have to wait in such a long queue, and
if they wanted to meet all the music artists, they would have to be in the
queue for the whole day. Overall though, KDay was a great day out: the sun was
shining bright, and there was music that the fans loved and all danced to.
This is why I did not write about KDay as I felt I had too many
negative views on this day.
This year also marks the second year that I am a vegetarian,
however, I have mostly been living a vegan lifestyle and I have not been eating
egg products, but I do still have dairy products. I am aware that the dairy and
egg industry are cruel, I am trying as much as I can to refrain from using any
milk or egg products. I would myself, rate that I am 80% - 85% vegan.
I actually found out this year that there is a website
called Veganuary, and you can sign up on their website and go vegan for the
whole of January. This is a great way to start your year off by being a vegan,
even if that means you are vegan just for January, and NO! It is not expensive
to be a vegan. I would recommend everyone to sign up, and take on the Veganuary
challenge. The Veganuary website also helps you find the foods and milk
alternative drinks you could have, as well as explain what happens in each
industry (meat, milk, egg, as well as myths etc.). Veganuary is your number one
source in finding out what happens to animals, and what you can do to stop the
animal cruelty.
Something I learnt when I went off meats: I have learnt that
you just look around in your house to see what you have, that is vegan of
cause, and then you put what food you have together and there you go, a vegan
dish (even if the dish is unusual). I have seen meat is much more expensive, an
example would be that the cost of 2 pork chops, could buy you 2 – 3 packets of
apples, maybe even 4 packets of apples. I believe that it is way more expensive
to buy meats than it is to buy vegetables.
This year was also the very first time I got my first
tattoo. I chose to have a Disney Tattoo as I will always and forever remain a
Disney fan. Ever since I can remember, I was brought up watching Disney movies,
owning Disney toys and even started playing Disney games. Walt Disney had a
dream, and he made his dream come true, and he has inspired millions of people
around the world, and I am one of them. I believe that I have a dream that will
come true if I pursue it and make the dream happen.
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| Photo of my Disney tattoo. Picture taken by Maggie Kruger Photography. |
The new music artists I have been listening to, mainly this
year, has been the Butcher Babies. My previous blog post before this one is all
about the Butcher Babies, and I have also written about their new album “Take
It Like A Man” which was released this year. I have mentioned that the Butcher
Babies blog is highly detailed as the blog contains every possible bit of
information about the band. I wanted to include as much information as I can.
The Butcher Babies are seriously a very good band.
I can say this to all of you: My biggest role models for
this year have to be Heidi Shepherd and Carla Harvey. By watching their
interviews, seeing why they write their lyrics the way they do, the meaning
behind their songs and seeing how loyal they are to their fans, both Heidi and
Carla are amazing people. Heidi and Carla’s stage outfits when they are
performing live are very inspirational, and unique. I don’t know if these
ladies realize how much they have inspired their fans to achieve their own
goals. These ladies are fantastic role models and what I find inspiring is that
they take time out of their busy schedule and interact with their fans, where
it be at a live performance show or on social media such as Instagram. Both
Heidi and Carla are super inspirational and have given their fans inspirational
words said by them both, to help their fans follow their own dreams.
On the sad side of this year, it was with great sadness that
my family had to say goodbye to our dog Jessie, who has been with us for over
10 years! He was such a clever dog and was one of the best dogs my family
owned, but unfortunately, he had to go up to dog heaven. I can still remember
when I first found out we have a new dog, and it was when I got into the car
and saw this happy face behind me, licking me and wagging his tail. We will
miss you Jessie!
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| Picture Jessie our dog. |
For those of you who would like to know more about Veganuary,
you can check out their website, as well as their social media sites here:
Website: http://www.veganuary.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Veganuary
Twitter: https://twitter.com/WeAreVeganuary
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/weareveganuary/
Do not forget to sign up to Veganuary. If you didn’t sign up
to take on the Veganuary challenge in January 2016, there is always January in
2017.
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| Go vegan for January and take the Veganuary challenge. |
If you would like to more about Bullet for My Valentine and
David Garrett, you can check out their website, as well as their social media
sites here:
Bullet for My Valentine:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/bfmvofficial
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bfmvofficial/
David Garrett:
Website: http://www.david-garrett.com/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/david_garrett
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidgarrettinsta/
I also had over 2000 page views on my blog page in July this
year!! That is such a huge deal and means so much to me!! Thank you everyone who
has and will continue to view my blogs! I really thank you enough! This was
definitely one of the happiest moments in my life, to see so many people
viewing my blogs! Thank you!
Overall, this year has been a blast!
I do hope everyone else has had a fantastic year and that
you have New Year Resolution’s for 2016!
One of my New Year’s Resolutions would be to blog a lot
more, and maybe put my blog into parts, as they seem to always be quite long.
I also want to leave you with a few tips for next year:
Live your own life, be yourself, do not get influenced by
things you would never do, do not worry about unimportant issues and most of
all, be the person you want to be! Never ever change who you are!
Thank you everyone for reading my blog! It is always and
will forever be appreciated!
Have an amazing and joyful 2016!
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| Goodbye 2015! Was AWESOME! Hello 2016!! I am ready for you!!! Picture taken by Maggie Kruger Photography. |
