What is a "New Year's Resolution"?

   At the beginning of every new year, many people want to change something with their life. Whether they want to weight, find love, or quit smoking, everyone wants to something new in their life, not just a change on their calenders. This is what everyone knows as a "New Year's resolution", but what exactly is a New Year's resolution? Is it just a promise people make that they never commit to? Is it an ad campaign where businesses like Jenny Craig, Weight Watchers, and even your local gym can make a quick buck out of your expense, or is it a fun, innocent, sometimes even depressing look at one's own self being in order to evaluate our own life? Well, let's explore what a New Year's resolution is and some statistics that go along with this tradition.
   From our good buddy Wikipedia, a New Year's resolution is a common tradition, typically found in the

Pretend that says 2014 alright? ;)

West but sometimes found in the East, where a person makes a promise to themselves to do something nice for their own well being or for others. The New Year's resolution has its religious origins dating back to the Babylonians, the Romans, the Medieval knights, Christianity, and even Judaism. Each of these groups had their own reasons of course, but how did Americans get so hyped about New Year's resolutions? Maybe it started around the Great Depression? About 25% of Americans made New Year's resolutions by the end of the Great Depression. By the 21st century, that number rose to 40%. Staticsticbrain.com has a bunch of different and interesting facts on New Year's resolutions. The trend, no matter where you look, seems that most people make their resolution, commit on it at first, but then notice that greasy food tastes good and just give up on their New Year's resolution.
   Is a New Year's resolution bad for us as people. Big picture wise, no. There's nothing wrong with people wanting to change their lives if they feel that it needs changing. Are they wasting their valuable money on something that they'll commit on? Most likely so, but that's okay. We live in capitalist society, supply and demand. Let's have people be who they want to be, and let them learn from their mistakes. I'll take the stance saying that New Year's resolutions are fun and innocent things that get us going for every new year. I may be wrong, but who cares, right?

Top 10 Most Anticipated Movies of 2014

Note: This is a list of movies that I can't wait to see. Obviously, everyone has different tastes in movies, so not everyone's list will be the same. Also, not all release dates are set in stone and other movies have not announced their release date so keep that in mind.

   With the start of the New Year, I thought I would talk about the movies that I cannot wait to see in 2014, but first here are some honorable mentions:

•  Dawn of the Planet of the Apes - I haven't seen Rise of the Planet of the Apes yet, but I have it on Blu-ray, just haven't gotten around to it yet. 
•  The Expendables 3 - You pretty much know what you are going to get with this movie, an awesome popcorn action flick.
• The Hobbit: There and Back Again - Again, haven't seen the latest Hobbit movie yet, but am working on watching it.

Now to the top 10 (Movies are in order of release date):

10. Hercules: The Thracian Wars – There is already another Hercules movie, The Legend of Hercules, coming out this month, but this is a different type of movie, from the description of the two movies. Also, for the fact that this movie stars Dwayne Johnson, while the other stars Kellan Lutz, and the release date for the Dwayne Johnson Hercules movie is in July. Odds are that this will be the superior of the Hercules movies and I’m excited to see Dwayne Johnson in movies. Ever since Fast Five has established himself as an up and coming action star, so it will be fun to see him in a summer action movie.

9. Godzilla – Run! It’s Godzilla! Don’t worry this isn’t the Matthew Broderick Godzilla movie, this is a reboot of the Godzilla franchise and it looks pretty good so far. If you are a fan of monster movies, this is definitely the movie for you. This version of Godzilla looks better way better than the 1998 version (most likely due to the better technology of today). This movie also features a stellar cast. Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Elizabeth Olsen play lovers in this movie (they are also Quicksilver and Scarlett Witch in Avengers 2: Age of Ultron, a brother - sister duo) and also feature Bryan Cranston (Heisenberg!) and Ken Watanabe. I’m only hearing good things from this movie so far, so I hope it does pan out.

8. A Million Ways to Die in the West – Now I know you’re asking yourself, what is this movie? I wondered this myself, but I don’t really care because the director of this movie is Seth McFarlane. Yes, the man who brought you Family Guy, Ted, and a wonderful Oscar hosting performance. Essentially, this is a comedic, western. The cast alone should get you into this movie. It stars Charlize Theron, Amanda Seyfried, Liam Neeson, Neil Patrick Harris, Seth McFarlane, and Sarah Silverman. Wow! All I can say is, if you’re a fan of Seth McFarlane (like I am), then you’re going to watch this movie.

7. Captain America: The Winter Soldier – The sequel to the first Captain America movie brings us sort of a spy, political type of movie, something that suits the character of Captain America. I’m a huge Marvel fan boy (more of the Disney Marvel) so I’m curious to see what’s in store for this movie. Definitely, a lot more character development for Steve Rogers, especially if you know who the Winter Soldier is. I’m hoping we get to see a lot more of S.H.I.E.L.D. because they are important in the Marvel universe and I want to see more of Captain America adjusting to the way things are now. Both of those seem present in the trailer, so it should be a good Marvel movie.

6. 22 Jump Street – 21 Jump Street seemed to take everyone by surprise. It was one of the best comedies of 2012 and gave a lot more hope to the career of Channing Tatum. I think now he has found his niche in movies and is sticking by it. 22 Jump Street just seems to be the same as the first movie, but I find nothing wrong with that. Some story elements have changed, but the chemistry that Channing Tatum and Jonah Hill have is so great to watch on screen.

5. Interstellar – Director Christopher Nolan is back and this time he isn’t doing a super hero movie. Nolan explores space and time and is bringing Matthew McConauhey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Michael Caine, and Topher Grace along with him. Yes, you read that right Topher Grace! I have enjoyed nearly every single film Christopher Nolan has directed so I can only expect greatness from the man.

4. Guardians of the Galaxy – The movie before Avengers 2: Age of Ultron, Guardians of the Galaxy takes us to a world we have never seen in the Marvel cinematic universe. I’ll just give you the round-up of the guardians. Chris Pratt plays the leader, Peter Quill aka Star Lord, and is the main protagonist of the movie, Zoe Saldana plays Gamora, a green alien, Dave Bautista is Drax the Destroyer, pretty obvious who is just by the name, then we have Vin Diesel who will “voice” Groot, a talking alien tree, and finally, we have Bradley Cooper who will voice Rocket Raccoon, yes a real raccoon. I put “voice” for Vin Diesel because in the comics, Groot talks in his native language but to everyone else, he just says “I am Groot”. This just has a wild card feel to it, and it’s mostly just curiosity with this movie. I want to see how this is portrayed in the big screen and whether audiences can buy into these new heroes.

3. X-Men: Days of Future Past – It’s the X-Men Avengers! Fox has combined the original X-Men cast along with the cast of X-Men: First Class in order to create a super movie that will blow everyone away. My worry for this movie was that there wasn't going to be enough screen time for everyone and that this giant cast would not be able to withstand just one movie. We've learned that Anna Paquin (Rogue) has been cut because he didn't play a big role in the movie anyway and that there will be a sequel in 2016 named X-Men: Apocalypse. That has helped ease my tensions about this movie and this will be an awesome movie experience watching the younger X-Men and the older X-Men interact with each other.

2. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 – I read all of the books, enjoyed the 1^st movie, really liked the 2^nd movie, so I’m interested to see how the series will be portrayed especially since the 3^rd book is being brought out into two different movies. Expect to see a ton of character development and more driven out story. Julianne Moore will enter the Hunger Games franchise has President Alma Coin, the ruler of District 13. I can’t wait to get back into this world and see what Francis Lawrence has for us.

1. The Amazing Spider-Man 2 – The first Spider-Man movie was love/hate for most people. I really liked the new portrayal of Spider-Man and think that Andrew Garfield is a superior Peter Parker and Spider-Man than Tobey Maguire. The problems that many people have with The Amazing Spider-Man 2 so far is that number of villains that are present in the trailer. We have The Rhino (Paul Giamatti), Electro (Jamie Foxx), and The Green Goblin (Dane DeHaan). Also, the trailer shows us The Vulture and Doctor Octopus (the wings and the metal tentacles). Comic book fans know this villain group as the Sinister Six. We don’t know who will be the 6^th member of the group will be but there is already talks of a Sinister Six movie coming out. If this movie works, and a possible Sinister Six movie works, then Sony would have set an enormous precedent for future super villain movies. There was always talks of a Joker movie or a Loki movie, but Sony needs to play their cards right if they want to stay successful in the super hero business. Spider-Man has been my favorite super hero since I was a kid, so I can’t wait to watch The Amazing Spider-Man 2 and I’m curious on how this movie plays out for the franchise.