Movie Review: Inkheart

Overall: 4.5

Recommended: Yes

Age Group: 11 and up

Acting: 5

Script: 4.5

Story: 4.5

Scariness: 3.5

Profanity: Hardly Any

Language: Once

Violence: Moderate - Quite a Bit

Blood and Gore: None

Alcohol/Drugs: None

Magic: Moderate - Quite a Bit

Comments:

I really enjoyed this movie. It was well put together, no major plot holes or completely unbelievable story lines. It was full of action, though. But, no blood. It did have a good amount of magic, but it wasn't any sort of spells, sorcery, witch-craft or other dark magic, but there were lots of creatures that were from magical-type books. I would definitely recommend it. It is a bit scary though, so not for kids who get scared easily during movies. But, for kids and teenagers 11-12 and up, it is worth seeing.

For a more in-depth review, visit pluggedinonline.com (may contain spoilers).

~Ellentia

Sewing, Inaugurations and the Zoo

I keep saying to myself, "I could post that" and then when I have a chance, I totally forget. I guess I should write it down while I'm thinking about it.

Right now I am sewing a pair of pants and last night I sat down to work on them. I pined and marked and lined things up but when I sat down to sew the material wouldn't feed through the machine. I tried again (after undoing the knot in the thread) and it still wouldn't go. I then noticed that the feed dogs (the tracks that pull the material through) were not coming up high enough to catch the material. I looked in my book and couldn't find anything so I looked online to try and see what was wrong. The only thing I could find was that the feed dogs had been lowered, but I didn't know how. So, once again, I looked in the book, and finally found that there was a way to raise or lower the feed dogs and that was what had happened. Yay for little brothers, they just cause all sorts of wonderful problems.

On Tuesday, our choir director brought in a tv so that we could pause class and watch the inauguration. For the most part, our choir is anti-Obama (myself included) and so you can imagine what it was like to watch it with them. There were constantly "smart" remarks and plenty of hooting when the words got messed up. I must admit, I am curious as to what will happen during this presidency. I wish that I could know without experienceing it.

This afternoon we went to the zoo because it was 75 degrees outside.



Notice, the deer is trying to eat the fence, at least that's what it looks like.



This was one huge turkey!



Grizzley Bears



Western Hognose



Rattlesnake



Berries



Me

The wing-span of a bald eagle can be up to 7 ft. Since, in general, your arms are as wide as you are tall, you would have to be 7 ft tall to actually reach from one end to the other!



Bald Eagle



American Alligator



Cute Children

~Ellentia

Microwaves, Plays and Pink Oranges

It's surprising how you don't realize how much you need something until it's gone. Our microwave quit working on Tuesday, though it had all the appearances of working. It is much more time consuming to use the stove or oven to heat up leftovers than when you use a microwave.

Last night, Mom, Jc and I went to see Newsies at a children's theater. It was not, however, Disney's Newsies, it was written by Mark R. Morris Jr., the owner of the theater. There were about 20 kids ranging from 4 to about 16-17 (Mr. Morris' six kids were in it too, and his wife was the choreographer). It was a pretty good show, not badly written, but they needed tons of vocal help. They had very little problems saying lines and no problems projecting, and most of them had a good stage presence, but they did more shouting than singing. They did mostly sing in tune, but they were singing as loud as possible and stretching and straining their voices. It was almost painful to listen to! One of the boys was naturally loud, so when he sang as loud as he could, it was overpowering! He was one of the better singers though.

I went backstage a little ways during intermission and the building reminded me of Lamp Light. However, they didn't have half the junk and clutter of lamplight. I miss being in shows there. I wish that I had been older when we lived in Nac, I could have done a lot more shows at Lamp Light, and I would have been in the "adult" chorus, which is way more fun than the kids chorus.

Have you ever heard of a Pink Orange? Sort of an oxymoron. Mom got some at the store the other day. They taste a lot like normal oranges (slightly different), but they are pink. The picture below doesn't look very pink, but the oranges we had were a grapefruit color, except orange-sized.

~Ellentia

Hello. So, back into the normal routine. It's nice to be back though, I missed people over the break. Class has started, choir has started. However, because I am working on some things with my voice, I am switching to Alto for a while. It is very different to sing harmony than melody. I was trying to pick out the melody and so I had to really work to sing the harmony. It is a good challenge though, I will hopefully get better at reading music.

Today is Dad's birthday. Happy birthday Dad!


Quote/Passage of the Day, from Oliver Twist

"I never heard of such a thing!" exclaimed the fat gentleman. "My dear Mrs. Maylie- bless my soul- in the silence of night, too- I (r)never¯ heard of such a thing!"

With these expressions of condolence, the fat gentleman shook hands with both ladies, and drawing up a chair, inquired how they found themselves.

"You ought to be dead; positively dead with the fright," said the fat gentleman. "Why didn't you send? Bless me, my man should have come in a minute; and so would I; and my assistant would have been delighted; or anybody, I'm sure, under such circumstances. Dear, dear! So unexpected! In the silence of night, too!"

The doctor seemed especially troubled by the fact of the robbery having been unexpected, and attempted in the nighttime; as if it were the established custom of gentlemen in the housebreaking way to transact business at noon, and to make an appointment, by post, a day or two previous.


I have enjoyed Oliver Twist a lot more than I expected. I like the writing style of Charles Dickens, sarcastic but not overly so.

~Ellentia

Did You Know? (and a few other thoughts)

I found this on a blog of note. It goes to show what Dad has always said, it's not what you learn, it's learning how to learn. And, so what? This question really got me thinking. Are we really living in the best times? And what would make them the best times? Technology? I could argue on either side. On the one hand, people 200 years ago didn't know about or want our modern toys and gadgets, so they aren't really missing anything. But on the other hand, I love taking pictures, and point-and shoots are quite new. And those just barely scratch the surface of then vs. now. But, technology is not the most important thing. It isn't anywhere near the most important thing. In the past Christianity was the accepted religion in places like Europe and North America, but this does not mean that all people then were wonderful godly people. There were still drunks, thieves and people who had no religious inclination, just like there are today. As well, there was a lot of segregation in the church because of money, nationality and gender. Doesn't it say in Galatians 3:28 "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." And although today the church has become much more welcoming and accepting, we now fight, argue and break apart fighting over whether or not you should play instruments in church, or if girls should wear pants or skirts, or if you must be baptized in order to go to heaven. In many ways, people for the last 2000 years have totally missed the point of what it means to be a Christian. To Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength is the most important commandment, followed by loving your neighbor as yourself (Mark 12:29-31). I think if we all worked more to fulfill these two commandments instead of the comparatively trivial points of doctrine, we would be much closer to what we are called to be doing.

I realize that last bit didn't have much to do with the video, but the video is what triggered it all.

~Ellentia

Merry Chrismas!

Yay for last minute projects! Some of them will not be finished in time for Christmas, but that is okay, they are still fun. It has been a while since I last posted. I never seem to get around to it as often as I used to. It's not a lack of material, it is just a lack of remembering/desire. So, if you are looking for something to read, I would suggest that you visit one of the interesting blogs that I have linked. I have visited them all frequently and I have not found any objectionable content, so do not fear.

I am so excited about Christmas! For the first time, I actually have money to buy presents so this year they are really from me, not Mom and Dad. We are haveing an interesting Christmas this year. Instead of being normal and waiting till Christmas day to open presents, we are opening presents on Chrismas Eve so that we can leave early Christmas morning (4 am ish) and be at my Grandparents' house that afternoon. All of Mom's siblings will be there with all their kids so for the first time we will get a picture with all the grandkids, as well as our parents, grandparents and great-grandma. Four generations,Yay!

So in case I don't see any of you before Chrismas (Ha!), Merry Christmas!

~Ellentia

The Week So Far

So, I wished for snow and it came! It snowed for quite a while this afternoon, but only stuck a little. Oh well, maybe more is on the way!

I have a story to tell. *Disclaimer: It is not recommended to eat anytime soon before, after or while reading this story.* Yesterday (Monday) Dad was taking me to history class. On the way there was a dead squirrel in the road. Well, Dad hit said squirrel and it splattered all over the car! It was probably the nastiest thing I have ever witnessed. Be glad you didn't have to ride in the car splattered with squirrel guts!

Other than that, it has been a good week so far. We had a party in History class and we had enough food for 3 times as many people. After eating, we played Mafia for a while and then played a game that is essentially I Never. We had 17 students so it was a lot of fun. I am glad to be done with class for the semester but I will miss seeing the people.

Tonight we had the last choir sectionals as our concert is in exactly one week. There were only 2 sopranos and about 8 altos but we sang through all our songs anyways. I think we are ready for concert, we at least don't sound too awful. Last spring we did quite bad at concert. I think that was partly due to all the dancers having to miss choir and all the solos and simply having too much music. I hope we do much better this year.

~Ellentia

Mythbusters

So, I was watching Mythbusters last night and Jamie and Adam were trying to separate two phone books that they had interlaced the pages of. How much pressure do you think it would take? Watch the video to find out:





Now, do you want to know how much force it took to separate those phone books? 8,000 pounds! I was quite surprised. That means you could hang the two cars in the video from the phone books and they wouldn't break. That's some serious strength!

So, I have been babysitting this whole week. My choir director was not happy that I missed sectionals but since it is the only time I have missed anything since September, I don't feel too bad about it. The two kids I have been babysitting for are 2 1/2 and I think 10 months. I didn't get to meet the younger one (Carter) until yesterday because he was already asleep when I got there the other times. Both kids are so cute and they are both quite fat, but babies are supposed to be fat. Tonight Jc is babysitting for them so it will be awhile before I see them again.

On Sunday our girls ensemble will finally sing in church. I am a little concerned because we have never been all that spectacular and it has been awhile since we worked with mics. But, whatever happens, I want to get it overwith and start fresh in the spring.

~Ellentia

Scary

Math and Thanksgiving

That Cleptomaniac video is going to be removed. It comes on automatically and it is really starting to annoy me.

Anywho, I have found it increasingly difficult to come up things to post and when I do, I often forget to post them. I think this probably has something to do with the fact that I haven't spent as much time on blogs. I found something to post though. I love creative math, and this is just the sort of thing I would do if I didn't know better!





I wish math were really that simple. When you throw in significant figures and pi and fractions and x's I get frustrated.

So, last night at sectionals for choir (where just the girls practice) our choir director decided that we had done so well we deserved another song to learn. Great. Now we get to sing a song with the elementary choir. We also get to sing a song with middle school and elementary called Paint Christmas December, Paint December Christmas, Paint the town December.... Something of that sort. We will get to stand on stage and pretend that we are painting a wall while we're singing a cheesy song. Marvelous. I wish we didn't sound so good, maybe she wouldn't have us sing those songs.

This year our small group decided to have a Thanksgiving dinner together so tonight we will eat while we talk. It isn't going to be classic Thanksgiving food, but it will be lots of fun. Including our family Thanksgiving dinner I will have been to 4 such meals. One with our whole youth group, one with our choir and one at small group. Dad said that if the average person gains 4 pounds between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I will have gained 16 pounds. I love you too Dad.

~Ellentia

Well, it has been a miserable week for me. I was sick with a cold last Sunday-Wednesday and then got something with similar symptoms to the Flu early Saturday morning. I had left for a youth retreat Friday night and felt just fine but Saturday I woke up with an awful cramp, mainly in my shoulder. I ended up leaving early and the rest of the day and through late Sunday night I was really sick with a pretty high fever. However, I woke up feeling a lot better this morning.

Tomorrow we have a big choir concert with several other public school choirs. Supposedly there will be around 400 to 450 people singing! It should be fun just because of sheer numbers. But I also like most of the songs. There is one that uses the words from one of JFK's speeches that I don't like, simply because I don't like the words. Also because there is a part where the choir sings "Let the Word go forth" 18 times in a row, it gets really creepy sounding after about the 5th time. I am singing in a group of girls who have a part that we will sing over the choir on this part, but I still think it is creepy.

Last night it rained for the first time in a long time. I love the sound of rain. Last week I was supposed to turn in some mapwork for my history class but it fell out of my notebook before I put it in my bag and so mom had to ask that it not be counted as late work. I would have turned it in myself today but my teacher has sensitivity to illnesses so I had to send it with dad. Next week is the last day that my teacher will be there, she is going to be out the last few weeks so I need to be well next Monday for her last instructions.

~Ellentia

Bits and Pieces

So, it has been a while since I actually wrote a post. I guess it is just easier to use something that is already written. I feel like I have been terribly busy with school, but it's also possible that I am just suffering from bad time-management. Monday I had to turn in my big poster project for history. I was so glad I had it finished last Saturday so I didn't have to do anything on Sunday. I then had to complete another project and study for and take the 9 weeks test that isn't given at the 9 weeks point.

I also babysat all Wednesday night. The people had tickets to the first official Oklahoma City Thunder game. I had a good time though, the kids are the age of Libba and Phil so I was used to that age of kids. After Zander and Zella were asleep I watched tv (I know, but I was told I could). Have you ever watched the show Prototype This on Discovery? It is a cool show! On the one I watched in two weeks they built a car that could move directly sideways, park over other cars (completely automatically) and drive over other cars to escape traffic jams. The Trafficbuster. The wheels they found were the coolest part though. They are Airtrax wheels, I would suggest looking them up.

Last night we went to the Pops Oklahoma Philharmonic symphony. It was called Hitchkock and they showed clips from four Hitchkock movies, To Catch a Thief, Dial M for Murder, Strangers on a train and North by Northwest. However, the symphony played all the music. It was a really fun concert.

This afternoon we are going to another OU game to take tickets. The game doesn't even start till 7pm so it will be extremely late before we get home.

~Ellentia

October 23

Smurfs, Having a Smurfy Day Source

Spotlight: In German, they're called "Schlümpfe"; In Hebrew, they're known as "Dardassim"; the Spanish call them "Pitufos"; and Italians call them "Puffi." In English, they're called Smurfs, and they're celebrating their fiftieth birthday. Smurfs first appeared on Oct. 23, 1958, as guest stars of the Belgian cartoon Johan and Peewit, drawn by Pierre Culliford (aka Peyo). The little blue creatures lived in a forest somewhere in Europe, and no non-Smurf could find them without a Smurf guide. The first — and for a long while, only — female in the group, Smurfette, was created by their archenemy, Gargamel, who hoped she would cause jealousy and dissension in the group.

Quote: "No casting spells on your own." — Papa Smurf, stating the first rule of Smurfdom

Question of the Day: Is there such a thing as a green smurf?
In the original comics, green Smurfs are considered to be wild and mad, and many of the regular Smurfs are afraid of them. More

Word of the day: coddle
A cooking method most often used with eggs, though other foods can be coddled as well. There are special containers with tight-fitting lids called "egg coddlers" made specifically for this purpose. Coddling is usually done by placing the food in an individual-size container that is covered, set in a larger pan of simmering water and placed either on stovetop or in the oven at very low heat. The gentle warmth of this water bath slowly cooks the food. Coddling can also be done by gently lowering the food into water that's come to a boil and removed from the heat.
(© Barron's Educational Series, Inc.)

What's for dinner? And how do I make it? This week we'll sample some cooking terminology.

Previous words: clarify, caramelize, braise

Today's History:

• Brutus: committed suicide after losing to Mark Anthony and Octavian in the Second Battle of Philippi, a war fought to avenge the assassination of Julius Caesar (42 BCE)
• War of Jenkins' Ear: British PM Robert Walpole reluctantly declared war on Spain after a ship's captain brought in his ear, pickled, and told the House of Commons it had been severed by the Spanish coast guard (1739)
• Hungarian Revolution: spontaneous protest began, marking the first anti-Soviet revolt; many thousands were killed or fled; the Hungarian Republic was declared exactly 33 years later(1956)
• Moscow Theater Crisis: Chechen terrorists took 700 hostages; many died during a Russian raid the next day (2002)

Today's Birthdays:

• Johnny Carson (1925-2005): host of The Tonight Show
• Jim Bunning (77): pitcher-turned-politician; also, pitchers Al Leiter (43) and John Lackey (30)
• Pelé (68): Brazil's most famous soccer star
• Michael Crichton (66): author of Jurassic Park
• Ang Lee (54): Oscar-winning director of Brokeback Mountain; filmmakers Philip Kaufman (72) and Sam Raimi (49) share this birth date
• 'Weird Al' Yankovic (49): pop parodist; country star Dwight Yoakam (52) also has a birthday today
• Ryan Reynolds (32): actor, Definitely, Maybe; actors Michael Rupert (57) and Masiela Lusha (23) also celebrate birthdays today

Thia post has been brought to you today by www.answers.com

~Ellentia

funny quotes

A low voter turnout is an indication of fewer people going to the polls.

For NASA, space is still a high priority.

Hawaii has always been a very pivotal role in the Pacific. It is in the Pacific. It is a part of the United States that is an island that is right here.

I deserve respect for the things I did not do.

I have made good judgements in the past. I have made good judgements in the future.

I love California, I practically grew up in Phoenix.

I was recently on a tour of Latin America, and the only regret I have was that I didn't study Latin harder in school so I could converse with those people.

If we don't succeed we run the risk of failure.

It isn't pollution that's harming the environment. It's the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.

It's wonderful to be here in the great state of Chicago.

Republicans have been accused of abandoning the poor. It's the other way around. They never vote for us.

The American people would not want to know of any misquotes that Dan Quayle may or may not make.

The global importance of the Middle East is that it keeps the Far East and the Near East from encroaching on each other.

The Holocaust was an obscene period in our nation's history. I mean in this century's history. But we all lived in this century. I didn't live in this century.

Votes are like trees, if you are trying to build a forest. If you have more trees than you have forests, then at that point the pollsters will probably say you will win.

We are ready for any unforeseen event that may or may not happen.

What a terrible thing to have lost one's mind. Or not to have a mind at all. How true that is.

I stand by all the misstatements that I've made.

When you make as many speeches and you talk as much as I do and you get away from the text, it's always a possibility to get a few words tangled here and there.

Every once in a while, you let a word or phrase out and you want to catch it and bring it back. You can't do that. It's gone, gone forever.

All of the above - Dan Quayle, former Vice President


I think those last 2 quotes sum up all the other quotes! I think part of the problem is that he tries to be clever and gets his words mixed up so it comes out really funny.

~Ellentia

Portable Tripod

So, I have been looking for something interesting to post and I have found it. I don't know if it works but I will be trying it sometime since it will cost practically nothing!

DIY: The Super-Small Bottle-Cap Tripod

Wed, 2007-01-17 21:16 — udijw
When you are going on a field trip, you want your tripod to be small. Small and light. It would be best if it can fit in your pocket. When Ron Uriel saw the post about the wrap-able tripod, he had an idea. Why not use the 1/4" bolts in other ways. He told me about an idea to make a small tripod from a coke bottle.
This sounded like an interesting idea so I got to work. First I got several coke bottles (you can learn allot about a person by the bottle caps he uses. In my case, the gray-silver cap suggests I drink the diet version of the bubbly beverage). I also needed a 1/4" hex bolt, a 1/4" hex nut, and two of those round thingies called washers. For the finishing touch I used some sand paper. (If you are not into coke or diet coke you can use the beverage to perform the Mentose and Diet Coke experiment - just make sure you retrieve the bottle)

The first thing I did was to drill a hole in the middle of the bottle cap (note - after this step you can no longer use the cap to seal the bottle :) I drilled using a small drill to mark the middle and enlarged the hole using a 1/4" drill. See the picture for the drilled caps. You can use the sandpaper to even up the top of the cap (not a must). You can also see how the diet cap ended up smoother then the regular one.

Now you make cap sandwich: you take the bold and you slide one washer in; then you screw the bottle cap onto the bolt and slide another washer.

Lastly you tighten the nut on the outer side of the cap. Make sure you tighten the nut pretty well, other wise, you will have trouble removing the camera from the tripod.

This is it. Very easy.
The next step is to find a coke bottle. Fill the bottle with water or sand to make it heavy and stable. Now place the bolted cap on bottle and plug your camera in.
Now a word of caution here: this tripod will work great for point and shoots like canon A620 or A75, I would not try my D70 with SB800 and 100-400 lens mounted on this fixture.

www.diyphotography.net/the-super-small-bottle-cap-tripod

~Ellentia