SI don't think I've ever posted a movie review on my blog, so this is a first. I actually had to write this movie review
 for school, and I hope you find this interesting.

The Truman Show is a 1998 film directed by Peter Weir, starring Jim Carrey as Truman Burbank. Truman lives an ordinary life on an ordinary island called Seahaven. Little does he know, his whole life has been broadcasted to live television from the moment he was born, and his entire life is live-streamed 24/7, 365 days a year. The creator of The Truman Show is a man called Christoff, who simulates all the events in Truman’s life. All the people on Seahaven are paid actors, but to Truman, he is just living an ordinary life. The story follows Truman as he realizes his world is not what it seems to be.

The film shows a world that to us, looks too perfect and clean to be real. To an audience, the fact that the town is just the set of a reality TV show is all too clear. Of course, to Truman, this reality is his reality. As Christoff puts it “We accept the reality of the world with which we're presented.”

The film cuts to clips of the audience of the Truman Show watching it on television. Truman’s life is films via more than 5000 cameras, all hidden in his car to his bathroom. The views through which the audience sees Truman are framed by a vintage border, to show that he is being watched through cameras.

The ending of the Truman Show could be interpreted as breaking free of a controlled world, which in many ways draws parallels to the way we live, as television and media often manipulates our perception of reality. This is ironic because the piece of media presenting this theme is the same type of media that can control our own perception of reality. The film is successful in presenting this idea because it encourages the viewers to think about their own perception of reality, and to rethink how they themselves can be manipulated and their world can be controlled.

​The Jim Carrey as Truman, Laura Linney as Truman’s wife and Ed Harris as Christof put on an amazing performance in this film. The concept and premise of this film are bound to get you thinking about the possibilities of reality TV and how far it can really go, and if anything like the film could happen in real life. I thoroughly enjoyed this film, as it was the perfect balance of comedy, drama and psychological science fiction. 

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️  (4/5 stars)

Let me know in the comments if you enjoyed this review and tell me what kind of content you'd like to see in the future!

Here are a few easy ways you can support bloggers and connect with them, whether you're a blogger yourself or not. ✨

And that's all! Let me know in the comments about other any tips you have, and I hope this post was helpful! ✨

Since I started online school a couple of months ago, I found that it's difficult to have structure in your day when you're sitting and staring at a screen for hours on end. And between breaks, it can be easy to lose track of time. So in this post, I'll tell you how to put your school timetable on Google Calendar so you'll be reminded before each class starts and get a sense of structure back into your day.
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     3.    Add the name of your calendar (e.g. school timetable) and click Create calendar.
     4.    Click the back arrow in the top-left corner to return to the calendar.
     5.    Click the Create button in the top left-corner.
     6.    Add a title (e.g.: Period 1) and add the time the period  starts and ends.
     7.    Set the event to repeat from Monday to Friday (or whenever you have school).
     8.    Choose the calendar that you would like to add the event in.
     9.    Don't worry about setting notifications, there's an easier way to do that later. Click Save.
  10.    Repeat steps 5 to 8 for every period you have.
  11.    Once you're done, hover over the calendar name on the sidebar, click on the three dots and click on Settings and sharing.

That's it! You now can see how long you have until the next event on you toolbar. You can also make use of Google Calendar by adding tasks and reminders, which can be viewed in list form or on your calendar. It's a great way to keep your personal and academic life organised. Google Calendar is available to download for Android and iOS.

Let me know if you have any questions or comments and I hope this post was helpful!✨

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Last month marked the 5th anniversary of my blog, so I'd like to share a few things I've learnt so far. I've still got a long way to go, so I'm always researching, changing and improving my blog. Anyway, here are 8 tips that I hope will benefit bloggers at any step of the journey.

This is a great way to give your website more exposure, as well as getting to know other bloggers. You can do this by following other bloggers on social media, commenting on their posts, tagging them in blogger tags and sharing ideas. You should also make a Wordpress account, even if you're not using it for your blog, because you can easily search for other blogs similar to yours.

When writing blog posts, think about the tone you're using. Do you come off as friendly and approachable, or professional and confident? This should depend on what kind of blog you have, and the information you are using. Grammarly can help you understand what tone you're using.

If you're writing a blog post, chances are there are hundreds of similar articles online. So you need to make sure your post stands out, and offers something that other articles don't. It's also super important to do your research so your build your blog to be a trusted website that people would want to visit again.

Aim to have a headline that catches readers' attention to increase traffic and shares. I use this free tool from CoSchedule that analyses headlines to see which headline might perform the best. You can also use this headline generator after you've written your post to create the best headline. As for images, according to Jeff Bullas, articles with images get 94% more total views than articles without images. So with statistics like that, try to make sure that every post has at least 1 images. You can use this tool called Pablo to easily create simple images for your blog post. If you want something a bit more personalised and professional, use Canva.

If you've been blogging for a little while, you've probably already connected your blog to Google Analytics and Google Console. They can help you learn which posts perform better than others, so you can focus on the topics that grow your audience. This may mean your blog looks very different from when you started it to a few months later. At the same time, think about what you like to blog about. Remember why you started it in the first place. Blogging isn't only about getting views and earning money, it's also about expressing yourself to the world, even if it's only to a few people.

Sometimes, when a post gets less views than you expect, it feels like the time you spent on the blog post is wasted. But remember, even if the your post helps one person, it's worth it! And like I said before, blogging isn't about getting views, it's about sharing your ideas and passion. You never know if your next post might be your best one if you never write it. So whatever you're thinking about posting, write it.

Hope you enjoyed this post! Let me know if this post helped you in the comments and share some more tips you've learnt yourself.

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THREE THINGS ABOUT MYSELF

• I love taking photos. I recently got an Instax camera! But I'm yet to take some good photos with it.
• I started blogging way back in 2015, after I was inspired by my mum's blog. My blog and style has changed a lot since then, but the reason I still blog stays the same: to share my interests and hobbies!
• Despite having blogging for such a long time, I haven't put a lot of time into connecting with other bloggers. I'd love to make friends with other bloggers in the future and maybe even collaborate! If you're a blogger yourself or on social media, introduce yourself in the comments or say hi to me on the Comment page!

QUESTIONS FROM AVE (ARTS&AVE | The Girls Glow Up Blog!)

1. Your best study tips? Damn, I wish I studied. But if I had to share tips that I try to do myself, I'd say make a timetable to organise your study time, make a list of what you need to study for, keep away from distractions like your phone or other people, and try to make your study space as comfortable and nice as possible, so you actually feel like sitting down to study. Some things I should probably implement myself, instead of blogging with a test tomorrow.
2. What’s your favorite part of the day? Nighttime, for sure.
3. What’s your favorite book? Oooh, this is a hard one, I have a whole list. I'll just say one of the most recent books I read: The Maze Runner (It was amazing, you should read it if you haven't already).
4. Top 3 things you’ve learned during quarantine/lockdown? Not gonna lie, the only thing I learnt during quarantine is how much I hate online learning!
5. If you have a new pet, what will you name it? Why? If I got a pet, it would be a cat. I've wanted one for so long, so I've had a lot of time to think about what I would name it. I only came up with Blueberry, Muffin or Cookie. Not for any particular reason, I have no idea why they're all food-based (I must be hungry).

​MY NOMINEES
See bottom of post.

QUESTIONS FOR MY NOMINEES

1. What inspired you to start your blog?
2. Who do you consider the best role-model in your life? (It could be a friend, celebrity)
3. If you could be perfect at one thing, what would it be and why?
4. What is your favourite quote?
5. And here's the weird question, would you rather be a hippie or a gangsta?

MY BEST POSTS

1. ​Free Printable Daily Du'as - https://hafsascreativecorner.weebly.com/islamic-corner/free-printable-daily-duas
2. Free Asma-al Husna Poster Cards - https://hafsascreativecorner.weebly.com/islamic-corner/free-printable-asma-al-husna-99-beautiful-names-of-allah-poster-cards
3. Unblocked Downloadable GIFs - https://hafsascreativecorner.weebly.com/blog/how-to-get-unblocked-downloadable-gifs

Huge thanks to Hailey from "Sunshine & Rain" for creating this tag! Hailey created this it to share her struggles with self-esteem and help others who may be going through the same thing. You can read her blog post all about it here. ​

Now here are the rules of the tag:

1. Use the same featured image for the tag (the one created by Hailey above, but feel free to make your own image to display along with it!)
2. Thank the blogger who nominated you, and pingback to the tag’s creator (That would be Hailey at https://throughsunshineandrain.home.blog/)
3. Talk about some ways that you have struggled with self confidence or esteem in the past, or things that have helped you with it.
4. Out of self love, and confidence, make a “List of you”. A list of however many things you’d like that you think make up the beautiful you! And end the “List of You” with a simple “I am (your name).” The List of You is meant to boost your own confidence, and self esteem. It is not out of bragging, but simply out of self love and encouragement! It is okay to be proud of who you are, and to show that you believe you are beautiful!
5. Nominate as many people in the tag as you want, spread the message of confidence to as many hearts as possible! You can even nominate friends that don’t have blogs, and have them do their post on your own blog.

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SELF-ESTEEM
How much do you value yourself? One tip that I try to remember when it comes to self-esteem is to never compare yourself to others. Everyone is on their own journey, and you only need to focus on your own. Your attitude towards yourself should not be relative to others. It's important to note that everyone has their ups and downs, meaning that self-esteem is not fixed. You can test for it and improve upon it.

​​Here are 10 tips to improve your attitude towards yourself:
 1. Spend time with people who lift you up
2. Giveback by helping others
3. Celebrate your achievements, no matter the size
4. Do what makes you happy
5. Change what you can – and let go of what you can’t
6. Let go of perfectionism ideals
7. Speak to yourself like a friend
8. Get involved in extra-curricula’s
9. Own your uniqueness
10. Create a positive self-dialogue.
- Via positivepsychology.com/self-esteem

​LIST OF YOU

1. I am independent
2. I am unique
3. I am loved
4. I am valued
5. I am Hafsah

NOMIMES FOR THE MYSTERY BLOGGER AWARD & CHAPTERS OF CONFIDENCE TAG
​Like I said before, I haven't spent much of my time connecting with other bloggers. Most have the bloggers I have connected with, though, have already done this tags So if you're a blogger, consider yourself nominated. All you need to do is leave a comment with your name and a link to your blog and I'll tag you in this post! Remember to opt to receive email notifications of replies so you'll when I add you!
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And that brings me to the end of this post. Thank you again to Ave from ARTS&AVE | The Girls Glow Up Blog for nominating me for both tags. I had so much fun writing this post and look forward to doing more tags in the future! I'd also like to collaborate with other bloggers more too. Feel free to nominate me for more tags and let me know in the comments. Follow me on Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest to keep up to date with blog news and subscribe to my newsletter on the sidebar to be notified of new posts. Thanks you!

List-writing is a good way of brainstorming and collecting ideas, and it's also a great way to fill up your notebook.

Help me expand this list by commenting your ideas!

If you're like me, the school holidays guarantee boredom. Here are some things to keep you occupied instead of Netflix.

Making bracelets, necklaces and rings has kept me occupied for hours. More recently, I made a few pairs of earrings and they don't look bad, if I don't say so myself. 

Blogging is a good way to be productive during the holidays (trust me, I've been doing this for 3 and a half years). It's free and you don't need to know how to code. You can blog literally anything you want, whether it be book reviews or DIYs. And your website doesn't have to be about only one thing, you can blog about any hobbies and interests you have.
There's plenty of platforms to choose from: Weebly, Wix, Blogger, Squarespace, Wordpress and more. Choose one that suits you needs. And who knows, maybe you'll make a profit out of it.

Got a favourite book, show, movie or game? There's probably a wiki on www.wikia.com for it. If not, you can make your own. Fandom is a website that hosts thousands of wikis that anyone can edit. I'm currently the admin for the Ruby Redfort Wikia and Friday Barnes Wikia. You can collaborate with other users with the same interest and share your knowledge about the things you love.

Now I have to admit, I've never tried this before, but it seems like an interesting thing to do...

Writing a diary is a good way to document what you do each day. If you don't feel like writing it down, there are always diary apps you can use. Your daily entries don't need to be long; just a few lines summing up your day and how you felt about it.

Now this is something I've been doing for a while and it's really easy. I usually paste cutouts from leaflets about places I've been and glue it my scrapbook. I really like decorating it with stickers and, of course, washi tape; that's probably what I like about it the most.

It could be about anything you want, from a DIY tutorial or review of something. Learning how to edit a video is easy with iMovie or other apps, websites or softwares. Click here to go to my channel.

A lot of crafts don't take too much time or require a lot of materials. Try your hand at origami or other paper crafts and see how you go! Click here to go to the Art and Craft page. Click here to see my older craft posts.

All you need is a phone. Go to your backyard or go for a walk and you'll see plenty of things to photograph. Even something as simple as a stone can look nice in a photo and there are many apps you can use to edit, filter and fine-tune your photo to get the desired effect.

There are heaps of websites that offer free coding courses, but the best place to start is code.org/. Here you will learn the absolute basics of coding in a fun and engaging way. If you enjoyed that, try Khan Academy's computer programing course and expand your skills on Scratch. And maybe one day, your knowledge will come to good use!

Got anything else to add to the list? Comment below.

Haikus are a type of Japanese poetry consisting of three lines. The first line has five syllables, the second has seven and the third has five syllables. Traditionally, they are based on nature (e.g. seasons, ocean).

​ I really like making haikus for some reason,  so here are some of mine.

This was for a school project too.

Had to do a school project on him. So yeah.

Watch this useful video on how to make your own custom Google Chrome Theme.

Basically, all you gotta is go to www.themebeta.com and then click on the 'Theme Creator' tab on the top left corner, or just click here. Then just follow the on screen instructions.

When making slideshows , I like to add GIFs to them to make my slideshows a little more interesting. But at school, a lot of the popular GIF websites like giphy.com and gif-finder.com are blocked, so I use tenor.com, which is as good as any other GIF website, if not, better.

Have more cool unblocked websites? Tell me in the comments.

You need this.

www.boredbutton.com