Trick or treat, smell my feet, give me something good to eat -by Monica

Vampires, zombies and ghosts – oh my!

Yes, it’s that time of year again. Time to pull out the witch hats and vampire teeth for tomorrow night. Or the princess dresses and miniskirts for you less fiendish souls. Time to watch scary movies and, of course, eat lots and lots of chocolate.

Kristy Lapanowski said she pulls out the Mike Myers’ classics each Halloween (as in Mike Myers from the Halloween movies, not Austin Powers), but she also has a new favorite scary movie this year, trumping Halloween’s number one spot. “My favorite scary movie is Paranormal Activity because it was actually terrifying,” she said.

Paranormal Activity, the low-budget hyped up film this Halloween season, is about a couple who think there’s a demonic presence in their new home. And on the night of October 6, 2006, they set up a surveillance camera in their room, hoping to document this unknown presence. For those of you who don’t like predictable scary movies, this is definitely the scary movie for you. But if you are a scardey cat, as I am, or cherish your nightly sleep, I would recommend picking another movie when you’re at your local movie theatre.

“My one friend [who saw Paranormal Activity] made me stay with her until 1 a.m. because she was so scared. And she actually cried during the movie,” Richelle Payne, 23, said.

Payne likes a different type of scary movie though. She said her favorite scary movie is the original Psycho. “It doesn't hold much fear factor anymore but I love old horror flicks from the 60s. The black and white, the story lines, the bad editing. I can't get enough of it. And Psycho is just twisted for its time. A cross dressing man with his dead mother in the basement? Oh that’s awesome,” Payne said.

Felicia Guest, 21-year-old education major at Oakland University, said her favorite scary movie is Silence of the Lambs. “Anthony Hopkins can really keep you on the edge of your seat. He is an awesome actor,” Guest said.

Daniel Marley, 20, likes a different kind of cannibalistic movie – the kind of movie with the living dead (and no, I’m not talking about Twilight). “The best scary type movie has got to be Dawn of the Dead the remake. I’m sorry but getting chased down by something that just wants to bite you and eat you is really freaky,” Marley said.

Anjelica Jones, who turned 20 years old today on the day before Halloween, said her favorite scary movie is Amityville Horror. She recommends this movie for people who enjoy scary movies but not the gore that so often accompanies them. “It had really good acting and wasn’t so bloody and gory,” Jones said.

Allison Nemeth, 23, said when it comes to Halloween time, Casper, Hocus Pocus, Double Double Toil and Trouble and It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown are the only movies she can handle. “I am proud to admit I am a wimp and scary movies scare me to death. I'd rather enjoy the movie instead of hiding under the blankets!” Nemeth said.

There are also several ghoulish movies in theatres, other than Paranormal Activity, for the 2009 Halloween season:
- Cirque du Freak: the Vampire’s Assistant
- Halloween II
- Saw VI
- The Stepfather
- Zombieland

Now here are some pictures of Halloween decorations from around Michigan:

Ortonville, Mich. photo credit - Marilyn Drake



Oxford, Mich. photo credit - Monica Drake


Waterford, Mich. photo credit - Monica Drake




Armada, Mich. photo credit - Monica Drake



Auburn Hils, Mich. photo credit - Monica Drake

Puppies dressed as cats -by Kristy

Hey everyone! Today I just wanted to share a goofy video that is sure to put a smile on your face, no matter what kind of day you've been having.

"Puppies Dressed As Cats" - from Conan OBrien the tonight show on NBC


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v66dSin5Tlc

just follow the link ^

Teenager with Down Syndrome is crowned homecoming king - by Monica

For my friend Mellissa’s 21st birthday party, Kristy and I, along with our friend Molly, went to Frankenmuth. For all you non-Michiganders out there, Frankenmuth is a touristy town about an hour and a half north of our campus at Oakland University. Frankenmuth is a town known for its cheese, beer, quaint shops and German restaurants (with the waiters and waitresses dressed in old-fashioned attire). We decided to dress up in sequins and high heeled boots for the special occasion and, for all of you newly informed readers, you probably aren’t surprised when I tell you that when we arrived at the bar, filled with locals in their jeans and sweat shirts, people blatantly stopped what they were doing and stared at us…and not in a friendly way either. We stuck out like four sore thumbs.

Saying we felt out-of-place was an understatement.

The local news was set to every TV. And, with not much else to do, we watched.

What was on made me forget completely about the locals, staring us down from head-to-foot with noses upturned, and it showed me that, while some people are rude and make fun of those different than they are, others embrace differences. And it made me feel selfish -- why was I so embarrassed about wearing a dress in a bar, a tangible item I could change as soon as I got back to our room, when there are people who get stared down wherever they go, and it’s not something they can take off.

Many times I hear about cruel kids making fun of those with disorders, students who are different than they are.

But not the kids at Fenton High School.

Tyler Fitzgerald is not your average student. He is so much more than that. He doesn’t let anything bring him down.

Fitzgerald was born with Down Syndrome, and, in October, he was voted homecoming king at Fenton High School. He is, obviously, one of the most popular guys in school and is also on his school’s football team. The homecoming queen had tears in her eyes as she talked about how far Fitzgerald has come and how honored she was to be sharing the court with him. Fitzgerald hopes to be an actor in Hollywood someday.

I don’t think anything can hold Fitzgerald down. He gives hope and inspiration to people everywhere to not let so-called differences hold them back from their dreams.

When many of us feel different, all we want to do is hide in a corner until it all goes away. But not Fitzgerald. He makes the most out of life and doesn’t care what people think. And his fellow classmates love him for it.

I don’t know about you, but I’ll be looking for Fitzgerald on the silver screen someday.

what is happiness? - by Kristy

Generally speaking, what is happiness? Merriam-Webster defines happiness as:

Main Entry: hap·pi·ness
Pronunciation: \ˈha-pē-nəs\
Function: noun
Date: 15th century
1 obsolete : good fortune : prosperity2 a : a state of well-being and contentment : joy b : a pleasurable or satisfying experience3 : felicity, aptness


However; we all have our own specific ideas of what we view as happiness. And we all have our own specific people and things that can make us happy. When you're a little kid you see happiness as one thing: the opposite of sad. Kids usually feel happy or they feel sad. It is not until we grow up that we realize the true complexity of the word. How it's meaning is widely varied across person to person. There is obvious commonality for being happy, but also many variations.

I view happiness as feeling loved. In knowing that you have people there for you no matter what life throws your way. It's a feeling of simplicity. I am most happy when I am not plagued with worry or stress. When I am comfortable and surrounded by friends and family. There are so many different things that make me happy, which could be a whole other entry in itself. :)

And to prove my point that everyone has a different feeling of happiness I asked a couple people to define it and this is what was said (direct quotes) :

• Happiness is family!!!!


• Happiness to me is being secure enough with my life to not let disappointments bother me. Family, also makes me happy, because i know that for the most part, they offer me a kind of security blanket so i know i have something to fall back on, and disappointments can't break me as easily.


• Happiness is someone you love, a cuddly puppy, a warm blanket, financial stability, and sunshine. :-)


• Happiness is that feeling of warmth and comfort when you're with the person who makes it all okay. Happiness is laughing with my niece. Children have true happiness.
  

I encourage everyone to take a second out of their busy day and stop to think about what YOU think happiness is. And I hope you can appreciate that thought and let it put a smile on your face.

Welcome to our blog =]

Willie Nelson said, “Once you replace negative thoughts with positive ones, you’ll start having positive results.”

Both positive and negative things happen every day. It’s a part of life. But why, as humans, do we focus so intently on the bad things that happened during the day instead of the hundred little good things? Most people harbor the mistakes and regrets of their past more than enjoying the moment instead. We’re all guilty of this.

Don’t misunderstand us, we’re not naïve. News isn’t always good. And the purpose of this blog is not to keep you in the dark, thinking we live in a land filled with only rainbows and ponies. The negative is a part of life. But it seems we sometimes forget that the positive is a part of life too. You can hear negative news anywhere, whether on your local television station or through a friend’s gossip. While the negative news seems to greatly overpower the positive, this is not true. The negative news is just, for some reason, reported on more often.

So, we, Monica Drake and Kristy Lapanowski, decided to make this blog, under the alias of “Miss Inspire,” to bring a little bit of “rainbows and ponies” into people’s lives to counteract with the prevalent “black holes” served to us by the rest of the media. The media does a good job at extensively covering the negative aspects of the world. So, we took it upon ourselves to cover the happy and inspirational news. Every Monday and Friday, we’ll give you a dose of “warm-fuzzies,” a feeling you might not have realized the news was possible to give.


About the bloggers:
Monica Drake is 21 years old and currently a senior journalism major with a minor in psychology at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. She interns for the Oakland Post, the campus newspaper, and has previously interned at the Lake Orion Review (Lake Orion's community newspaper) and Tschetter and Associates (a public relations company for hospitals). Her favorite books are The Host by Stephenie Meyer and Message in a Bottle by Nicholas Sparks.

Kristy Lapanowski is 21 years old and a senior at Oakland University. She is a communications major, interested in journalism work. She is currently an intern at the Oakland Post and is public relations co-chair for the sorority Phi Sigma Sigma. Her three favorite things are: iced coffee, her blackberry, and hockey.