I actually did an article on Set It Up (amongst other movies) back in 2018! You can read it here.

Yesterday, 1st February 2021, Netflix issued a challenge to watch a romantic movie every day of February. So I've decided to watch them and do some mini reviews on each film! 

(Today two will go up because I only just thought of doing this!)

So keep on the look out on my Instagram (@niamhs_randomthoughts) and my Twitter (@niamhblogs) for my daily reviews. Happy February!

I hate that saying. It puts so much pressure on us. It makes people think that if they don't achieve with these lifestyle changes they have failed the year. Which is why I hate it.

I, for one, like the way I am. Yes I can work out more, eat better, etc., but if I make it a resolution I will only do it for a week tops and then forget to carry on. Then after a few months I will feel bad about myself because I Failed My Resolution. I have tried it before, and I will not be trying it again.

Now, this is not me saying that people should never change. I just find it ridiculous to set it on the basis of a calendar switch over. If that's how it works for you and if it helps you keep happy then go for it. But it can be a very stressful expectation for many people.

This year, instead of resolutions of what I can do to change myself, I've decided to carry on doing the things that I discovered made me happier and healthier in 2020 - despite it being a terrible year for everyone involved, it did teach me many things.

For one, I stopped making these wild limits for what things are exciting and what things aren't. To have an exciting day I don't have to go out and have a big adventure. I can have an exciting day by my mum saying there's garlic bread for dinner. I love garlic bread, so why shouldn't that be exciting for me? (I've said exciting too many times now)

The point I'm making is that I learned (accidentally, mind you, not much else going on) that by finding these little pockets of joy in my day, I can still feel like something good has happened to me even when I'm stuck at home.

Secondly, 2020 brought me a lot closer to my friends, something I didn't think possible. It really showed me that I can have just as fulfilling a relationship with the people around me through weekly phone calls and quick games nights as I can through holidays and club nights. (I still miss hugging everyone though)

I also absolutely fell in love with mantras, gratuity and affirmations last year. It helped quiet my mind and focus on what was important in my life. It also gave me a positive start to every day, so I plan to carry that with me.

I don't think the New Year should ever be about setting all these crazy goals to improve yourself, it should be about identifying what makes you happy and deciding to take those things forward with you throughout your life.

So I urge you to think - what makes you happy? Is it the glimpse of sunset you can see from your bedroom window at night? Or the first cup of tea or coffee in the morning? Maybe it's playing your favourite video game, or your favourite song/album/artist. Maybe it's that five minutes in the morning that you take to journal.

Whatever it is, I hope you carry it with you throughout this year and live healthier and happier than last year.

Modern feminism is supposed to be about equality and inclusivity. However, what we have ended up with is White Feminism - a battle that only benefits white women and no one else.

What we need is to make modern feminism mean intersectionality. This is defined as:

Instead of putting people into umbrella groups, intersectionality assesses the individual and their personal struggles, taking into account each person's unique experience and using that to acknowledge and uplift people. By taking into account both the social and political struggles of each person, we can better find a way to improve society as a whole.

A lot of people aren't aware that this is a change that needs to be made. Intersectionality can be hard to understand at first, but there is always time to learn, and so many resources out there to help people use intersectionality in their lives. Most of all, we all need to be talking about it. Now more than ever.

Because of this, I am starting a new series! I will be talking to all kinds of women from all kinds of backgrounds and industries about their experiences with intersectionality and how they apply it to their daily lives and practices.

For episode one of Let's Talk Intersectionality, I spoke to Erin Papworth, founder of Nav.it. She has created a financial app that works to build an inclusive narrative around money and finances, teaching those from all walks of life how money works and how it fits into health and wellbeing. They preach empowerment, independence and equality. Erin spoke to me about her upbringing and how it made her realise why intersectionality is so necessary and how she incorporates it into her business model.

You can head to Spotify or SoundCloud and listen to the podcast now!

In the middle of the chaos that was One Direction's 10th anniversary yesterday (23rd July 2020), Taylor Swift emerged with the announcement that she would be dropping her 8th studio album, folklore, at midnight (EST).

Naturally, Twitter became a crazed flurry of posts from fans screaming in excitement, theorising about the tracklist and prepping to stay up to hear the album when it first dropped.

Along with the album, Swift released a music video for her first single off the album "cardigan", and the reveal that eight different designs would be released for the deluxe version of the CD and vinyl. Each version comes with a different photo design with individual exclusive photos inside the lyric booklet.

Swift stated in her reveal that she never expected to be releasing an album this summer, but lockdown provided the perfect opportunity to create and produce new music. She said previously she would have "overthought when to release this music at the 'perfect' time​" but the pandemic has shown her that "if you make something you love, you should put it out into the world".

Whilst I can't comment on all the songs at this point (the deluxe track "the lakes" isn't available on streaming services), I have to say I love the general vibe and message that this album portrays. The songs do sound all very similar - each has a very ballad-like, peaceful melody and calming backing track - but this only forces you to listen to the lyrics. And wow, I can see why she named this record folklore.

As a self-confessed fan of folk music, what draws people to it isn't the melodies, the instruments or even the singer themselves, it's the stories that are told within the songs. The shape of the lyrics and the narrative they follow makes each record more of a lyrical collection of short stories as opposed to a strict musical album.

Taylor Swift does just that. From the sad (though upbeat) musings of a lost relationship, to the maturity of young, teenage love becoming adult, to the story of the woman that previously owned Swift's Rhode Island mansion, finishing with the lilting, weeping tones of a devastating break up, the whole album provides these romantic tidbit stories with the power to draw in the listener over and over again.

Posting on Instagram, Swift revealed some of the storylines for fans to look out for along with one of the 8 album covers.

Part of the fun listening to this album is realising which stories belonged to which song. My personal favourite is the one of "a misfit widow getting gleeful revenge on the town that cast her out". This particular story reaches across three songs (according to fan speculation).

The first of these songs is "the last great american dynasty". Originally thought to be a sequel to the fan-favourite track "Miss Americana and the Heartbreak Prince" from Swift's previous album Lover, it turned out to be the first installment of stories linked back to Rebekah Harkness, an eccentric rich woman who was the previous owner of a Rhode Island mansion Swift purchased in 2013.

Rebekah did many things in her wild life, but is most well known as a composer and founder of the Harkness ballet. Born into a very socially affluent family in Missouri, Rebekah went on to marry William Harkness who was the heir to the Standard Oil fortune. The couple purchased the mansion in Rhode Island and nicknamed it the 'Holiday House', where they entertained a steady cycle of celebrities and politicians. William unfortunately died in 1954 after seven years of marriage, leaving Rebekah to throw lavish parties and blow her fortune on her ballet company (which eventually folded in 1975).

Reportedly hated by her neighbors for her loud and boisterous lifestyle, Rebekah apparently dyed her neighbor's cat lime green (in Swift's song, this is a dog) to show them how much she didn't care about her reputation in that time. This reputation is certainly shown in Swift's lyrics "There goes the maddest woman this town has ever seen / She had a marvelous time ruining everything". Swift later makes this lyric about herself, when residents of the town showed their dislike for her similar celebrity-packed parties.

Whilst "the last great american dynasty" is clearly about Rebekah Harkness (the song names her and William outright) it is also rumoured by fans that "mad woman" and "betty" are also installments to Rebekah's story. This is suggested by Swift when she says one of her songs is about a "misfit widow" with the parallel lyric in "the last great american dynasty" of "there goes the maddest woman"; "betty" seems to be the third installment as Rebekah's nickname was Betty.

This three-part story is one of the many reasons fans have had such a positive response to the album so far, despite it being out for less than 24 hours. One of the biggest draws was the feature of Bon Iver on the track "exile", a story about a man who feels like an outsider in his hometown due to a broken relationship, lost in the reasons why it ended and why his partner is finding it so easy to move on. In this song, Swift switches from singing the man's perspective to his ex-partner in the bridge who begs him to understand. The slow build up in this song emerses the audience in the heartbreaking tale, with the echoing pleas from each person ultimating in a heart-breaking climax in the last chorus that leaves the listener with a feeling of incompleteness and dissatisfaction as the song finishes.

This narrative that Swift executed perfectly easily makes this the best songwriting of her career. the pure and unadulterated emotion she draws from each story begs the question: if an established act like Taylor Swift can do her best work in an isolated lockdown in the middle of a pandemic, what other music can we expect to see from other musicians in the same position?

It is clear that they have all had the time during lockdown to fuel their music. Whilst many thought that music for a lot of artists would be a long way off due to writing and producing restrictions, Taylor Swift has shown that you can produce a hit record from your home. Working over video calls with writers and producers and featured artists can't have been easy, but did this encourage her to think more intricately about her music? Did the isolation, letting her mind run wild, actually kick start the best chapter of her career so far?

Swift built her career on telling stories through country music, and although she has kept telling stories throughout her musical career, the quality of these stories has certainly decreased, becoming seemingly more about making her life more relatable to teens who just want music to mindlessly dance around to. With this album she has created something extremely intimate and personal, tuning into not just her own stories but the stories of those around her, bringing the voices of others into her album in a fantastic way.

Swift has certainly set the bar high for the rest of the music industry releasing albums this year (at least in her pop genre) showing that a global pandemic certainly isn't holding her back. Who knows what else is being produced at this time with makeshift home studios, simply instrument use and simplistic production. A lot of fans, myself included, are extremely happy to see such a stripped back Taylor Swift album, moving away from the positive dance pop music that she has released in recent years. Will home-produced, intimate, simplistic albums be the way forward for other artists too?

​Personally, I can't wait to find out.

I once told you that you were my favourite teacher. I wish I had told you that more.

I'm heartbroken by your passing. It was a horrible event. But I don't want to focus on the horrible way you died. I want to focus on the absolutely amazing, wonderfully happy way you lived.

When I started at Holt, history did interest me. I've always liked the subject, but I never realised how much until you covered one of my GCSE history lessons. What had recently been a very boring topic on President Hoover suddenly became dramatic and intricate. Your teaching drew me in and it made me want to learn. I was honestly disappointed when the lesson was over.

I remember a few months later going to the A-level open evening and talking to you about the subject. I wanted to do it but I wasn't entirely sure I would enjoy the work. You told me you would be my teacher and that made me sign up for history. You're the reason I took it for A-level, because I knew I would enjoy the next two years of your teaching.

I was always excited when I saw I had a history lesson with you that day. I already loved the Tudors, but your teaching really brought it to life, even when we were talking about farming and economics! You always had a way to make the lesson fun and engaging, whether it was debates, games or challenges. A double lesson on Tudors may not sound like the most exciting thing in the world, but you made it exciting.

After each lesson, I would always come away thinking "wow". I would always tell my family about this new interesting thing that Mr Furlong taught me today. I don't think they always understood why I found it so interesting, but it was.

Then came my EPQ. I know I eventually dropped it because my workload got too much, but the couple months I spent on it with your help were so eye-opening. I remember my topic was the use of propaganda in historical events. You helped me so much to narrow down my topics so that I focussed on key elections throughout British history, some of which I hadn't even considered. I'm sorry I couldn't complete that project. I know that with your help I would have done really well.

Let's be honest, at first my history coursework was a train-wreck. That first draft was terrible. I know you found it surprising when I chose modern history over medieval because I always excelled more at the latter. Despite your doubts at my topic choice, you really helped me understand what it was I wanted to say. After that first draft, you sat with me for two hours, helping me understand where I had gone wrong with language, structure and evidence. I ended up with an B on that coursework. Thank you for helping me that much when you didn't have to. You always helped.

I hope you still have that Henry VIII model sat on your desk that Charlotte and I gave you. We couldn't have passed our exams without you. You were a key factor in me getting into university and I will always thank you for that.

Mr Furlong, you were amazing. I don't think I told you that enough. I don't think any of us did. But I know that you know we all loved you dearly. I have never met anyone from The Holt who ever had a bad word to say about you. Your death will forever leave a hole in our hearts.

You were especially important to members of the LGBTQ+ community at Holt. A lot of girls looked up to you because you were so open about who you were. I know they are feeling a special pain now you're gone.

We always knew you were there for us and that you enjoyed teaching us. You were constantly a friendly face around school and you said hello to every single student you saw. You didn't have to do that. You didn't have to stop during lunch to have conversations with us. But you did, and we all greatly appreciate that.

I feel sorry for all those future Holt girls who will never have the privilege of having you as their teacher. You have changed the lives of so many students. You helped a lot of us find a wonderful passion for history. You aren't like other teachers, you're something much more special.

I sincerely hope that you have found peace, and I send so much love to your family and friends. I can't even comprehend what they must be feeling without you there. You were a light in so many people's lives and you still had so much more to do, so many young minds to still teach, so much more life to have enjoyed.

You will never be forgotten. You have made such a significant impact to so many of us. Our memories will keep you alive for years to come. I promise.

Love, always,
Niamh