Harry Potter?

I am working on a research paper with quite the interesting subject: Can Christians read Harry Potter?

I know many people who are ardently against the books, but almost any argument I have heard from them is actually one of ignorance, as they have not read the books themselves. There are a few who have read the books and come to... interesting conclusions, while making at least three false assumptions that these conclusions are based on. Sometimes they still get their facts mixed up.  Micheal O'Brien, who wrote some strong anti-HP articles, is one of these people.

I also know some people who read Harry Potter as if there was not the slightest thing wrong, as if everything were practically a doctrine.

Nu-uh to both. :)

I'm actually kind of enjoying this research paper. One book I found incredibly useful is The Mystery of Harry Potter: A Catholic Family Guide. Nancy Brown covers all the touchy subjects, shows the Christian worldview of the books, and comes to the conclusion that it can be good reading for those mature enough, but should be previewed by parents.

Regina Doman wrote a wonderful article on Harry Potter, that I would highly recommend reading. Its short enough that it won't take forever. :) You can find it HERE.

Regina Doman and Nancy Brown both wrote articles on the seventh book: HERE and HERE.

The Lord of the Rings Musical

No, you heard me right. There is a Lord of the Rings Musical.

It played in London and Toronto, though there is talk of a world tour someday. Some of the music is very catchy, although only loosely based on Tolkien's poems. I don't know how changed the plotline is; some of the costumes do look a little strange. Here is the website: The Lord of the Rings Onstage


This is called The Cat and the Moon. It is a very fun song, but doesn't follow Tolkien's genius-ly silly poem. A longer version, with lyrics and better sound is RIGHT HERE. (It won't embed)

HERE is an interesting version of The Road Goes Ever On. It doesn't follow the poem, and is much different than the movie's approach, but still quite pretty. :) More videos can be found by searching "The Lord of the Rings Musical" in YouTube.

Ice Dancing

I really enjoyed some of the ice dancing this Olympics!
Granted, there were some really weeeird costumes, strange poses, and awfully offensive dances, like the Aboriginals. I do not recommend watching their dance/look at pictures of them. >:(

A senior who uses my curriculum and who I have chatted with a bit used to be a figure skater. She retired this year, but she used to use the same training facility as Emma and Evan! Watch their dance HERE. I really wanted to embed a video, like in YouTube, but NBC does not support that. So you will have to click on the link. Sawwy.

This was one of the most beautiful, elegant ice dances ever! It won first place-- and really won it. I really recommend watching!!! HERE.

Second place belongs to the Americans, with Phantom of the Opera!!!!!!!! Watch it HERE.

That's all for now, folks!

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Percy Jackson-- Lightning Thief

Time for a quick review! I went to see Percy Jackson and the Olympians-- The Lightning Thief in theaters with some family friends. The books were enjoyable. They had a nice twist on the Greek mythology, and I found myself thinking back to the books this year as I have been studying Ancient Greece. I haven't read the books in awhile, though.

The main premise is that Percy Jackson finds out he is a half-blood, a demi-god. His father is Posiden, the god of the seas. The gods are still alive and powerful in our world. They move with world powers-- currently living on the top of the Empire State building. Someone has stolen Zeus' thunderbolt and Zeus thinks it is Percy. Won't say much more. :) Read the books, they are very fun though not genuis.

If you know me at all, you know I am a book purist. Movies rarely live up to my expectations. I am fine if they want to take creative liscene, or what have you, but too often the movies stray from the meaning of the books. Percy Jackson and the Olympians was just what I exspected. A good movie in an of itself, but nothing like the book.

Changes in character were my biggest pet peeve. The protagonists are no longer 12 year olds, but 17 year old teens. Grover, a saytr, is very girl-struck in the movies (so is Percy, for that matter). Annabeth is no longer a grey eyed, tomboy strategist who wears a magical Yankees ballcap and calls Percy "Seaweed Brain". Instead, she is a very pretty teen girl who might/might not be in love with Percy and is quite the warrior. Other characters were messed with, too.

The plotline was changed around, and some major points left out. (These points affect the later books, so if they plan on another movie, I don't know how they will do it).

But it is an enjoyable movie if you don't mind the changes. :) I would write about the good parts, but I really don't want to give away the plotline (READ THE BOOK).

Farewell, dear scarf

I had spent around three weeks last summer crocheting my first scarf-- a giant Gryffindor scarf for William's birthday. I did it in single crochet, and was just learning how it was done... it took a long time! It was all cricked and wavy, too.

Well, William loved his scarf. It was nice and warm, so he wore it out in the snow. It is our homeschool colors, so he wore it on Catholic School's Week. It's Gryffindor, so he wore it when dressed up as HP.

Well, when we built Mr. George Snowman, we needed a scarf. William's was handy, so Mom put it on the snowman. I objected; I thought the snow would turn to ice and the scarf would be stuck and/or ruined.

But Mr. George Snowman got decked out as a Gryffindor.

The scarf was supposed to come inside in a day or two. But when we went to get it... it was gone. There were obvious signs of the scarf having been yanked off the snowman. It could not have been the wind because the gloves were still there. Someone had stolen the scarf!!! :(

Well, I don't have the heart to go through and make another one of those. Single crocheting a six inch wide, four foot long scarf takes a long time. However, I am pulling out the leftover yarn and double crocheting a new scarf as I watch the Olympics... We want to have one for the HP7 premeire!

What is really sad is that anyone would think it was OK. Sad to say, I think we had a Slytherin stop by our snowman... The colors of the noble Hogwarts house don't belong to them. :P Oh, well. Lets say some prayers for the theif, right?

This a a way to tell my facebook friends...

Sorry to all of you who read my blog... this post is for everyone who reads it through Facebook (I have a feed set up there, everything from my blog shows on my fb feed). I gave up Facebook for Lent and I am including Sundays (for facebook-- I spend the most time on it on Sundays!). So, sawwy everyone, but you really won't be able to reach me except for email/phone/in person until Easter.

Dese Dings Do 'Appen?!

So cries the Prima Dona with indignation in The Phantom of the Opera.

I felt like saying that yesterday.

It was eleven in the morning and Mom had dropped my brothers and I off at the indoor pool. Through a combination of us being sick, us being busy, the pool being busy, etc, I had not been swimming in several months. I was looking forward to an hour of lap-swimming.

The schedule specifically said "lap swim and therapy pool". Therapy pool consists of the little pool at the bottom of the water slide being heated-- leaving the rest of the pool free.

As I was leaving the locker room and going into the pool, I noticed alot-- as in 8 or so-- old women going into the locker room. I, of course, thought that was for the therapy pool. I met my brothers and we headed over to the "circle" where they have a current; we wanted to play Superman by going into the center circle and swimming so fast that we turn the current the other way around. Its lots of fun.

But there were many old people there, walking around. Okay, maybe this is a part of therapy pool? I know there is current walking... must be part of it.

So we decided to go to the deep end. I would swim laps and William would help Nick learn the freestyle stroke. But just as we reach it, the lifeguard says, "Sorry, you can't go in there. They (indicating to the old people) get to use the deep end."

There was one man swimming in one of the two lanes, and the free part of the deep end was mostly empty. But then a bunch of older people swam by and started slooooowly swimming laps. It wasn't worth it to push the issue, one because I would get sick of trying to lap them and two because the lifegaurd said not to. :P

So... we got stuck in the three-foot shallow end of the pool for the hour until Mom and Dad came to pick us up. And one of the guys took all the balls, so we couldn't play with the water basketball. About twenty minutes before it was time to go, all the old people started to go.

Good time for a few minutes of lap swimming, right? Nope. About eleven kids came in, all wearing matching suits and swimcaps. They even had the huge box of swimstuff used by swim teams. Mom thinks it must have been a small Christian school doing some sort of PE. Either way, deep end was blocked off again.

We were playing "kill the dragon," basically climbing all over the floating crocodile toy we named Smaug. That is, until a group of three or four moms (all in bikinis!) and their very little kids came and wanted to play on it. Well, I guess that was okay. Just made us wonder what to do. :P

But the schedule specifically said "LAP SWIM." Not "oh, we have a bunch of people coming and we are going to refuse the public access to ninety percent of our pool" Honestly, if this whole busload of old people want to come (and it appears on a regular basis) and this group of kids, too, they ought to get special times or at least a note on the sceduale so that other people don't waste an hour at the pool, getting no exercise, and getting their school time severely cut into by wading in shallow water.

"These things do happen?!!!!"

Sawwy for the rant. :P

Olympics

The Olympics are here again! In Vancouver. I sadly had to miss out on the opening ceremonies and I have not been able to remain glued to the television because of school. But I do find the Olympics quite fascinating. :) I like the summer Olympics better, though, because I am familiar with those sports. And imagine my glee when I discovered that the new volleyball rotations we were learning were the same used by Team USA. But that was awhile ago. Now its time for the Winter Olympics!

Figure-skating is, of course, my favorite. The fluidity of the movements... Its like ballet. Of course, there are a few strange costumes and weird moves... But there are also unique approaches, such as this German pair who took an interesting theatrical approach to their short program, skating to "Send in the Clowns" and dressed in corresponding costumes. Video here. I plan on pulling out my sketchbook tonight during single's skate...

On a random note, I absolutely love the graphics/color scheme for these Olympics. My favorite shades of my favorite colors.

On another random note, any of you who have iPod touches/iPhones should download the free NBC Vancouver Olympics app. Very nice for updates and watching recap videos.

I thought I was unfamiliar with these winter sports (the closet I've ever come to doing them is a snowboard-like thing we use when it snows). But I had no idea. Many of these sports I have barely heard of! Such as one that looks suspiciously like shuffleboard on ice. With a bit of Bocce Ball thrown in. Apparently it has a name, curling, and is famous enough to get in the Olypmics.

Curling

 A U.S. speedskater who was in a previous Olympics entered the convent. I like the random links that Father Veit puts up on facebook. :) Here is the article.

I don't know about you, but I think the 2010 mascots are funny. :) I think they are based on Canadian mythology.

Another random thing: Lent begins tomorrow, and Ash Wednesday is a day of fast. I wonder if the Catholic Olympians still have to fast? I bet it would affect their performance, so maybe they get permission not to? Anyway, that was a random question that Mom didn't know the answer to.

Mom said the Olympics used to be an entirely amateur thing; no one who got paid to do their sport could compete. I found that interesting. :)

I like to notice the little details-- such as the extremely wavy design of the medals this year. I found this website that has pictures of every Olympic medal ever made, except for this year's, here. Apparently this year's are made up with some recycled materials. ::P I really liked the second medal concept, here. Too bad it couldn't work out!

Enjoy the Olympics, everyone! Even if your family, like mine, is not a huge sports fan and has no clue what is going on, its still fun. :)

A Snowman and a Dragon

A few posts ago I mentioned Sir Herbert the snowman.

We now have two more creations covering our lawn. All done out of two inches of slushy snow ontop of 1 inch of old snow.

I am pleased to announce the presence of Mr. George Snowman.

And The Dragon. The dragon was a full family effort. It used up much snow from the backyard, and spans THIRTY FEET. I made the head. :)

You might notice that the little dark spot on the right hand side of the picture is my brother. :)

I am going to figure out a way for you to see all the awesome pictures I took without cluttering up the blog with far too many pictures.

Born of Hope

Do you remember the Lord of the Rings fanfilm The Hunt for Gollum that I mentioned? There is a new film out by the same people.

I have found another Lord of the Rings fanfilm! It is called Born of Hope (see the movie, and the website, HERE). 

It is the story of Aragorn's parents. The story is not told in Tolkien canon (aside from a reference to the gravestone of Aragorn's mother).

I don't have time for a proper review, but I enjoyed this video very much. If you are a Lord of the Rings fan, you must watch it.

Favicon!

I have wanted one of these for a very long time. :) If you look up by the address bar, tab, or bookmarks on your brower, you should now see a picture of a butterfly (that matches my signature and posts) instead of the Blogger icon!

Its called a favicon and you can get one for your blog HERE. Thanks to Rose for the link! I plan on using some of the other tutorials... many I already use, with heavy modifications, but the scrolling picture links looks intriguing.

Nick's LotR Stories

Today, my brother Nick handed me his notebook. "I wrote some stories," he told me.

Nick is nine years old, has read the Lord of the Rings "trilogy" two times, finished the Silmarillion, and is currently reading either Tales of Belerind or Unfinished Tales (all stories by Tolkien about the Lord of the Rings universe and history).

His stories may not make sense unless you have read both the Lord of the Rings and the Silmarillion. He has also written some other short stories... three pages detailing the conversations we held in a long car ride, several stories that began "There once was a family of eight. They had six kids, Shaylynn, Ben, etc.", and even one about him turning into a Jedi and saving Middle Earth from Galabatorix. :) Here are his two stories, complete with the original spelling!
Part One- Frodo
By Nick
 Once upon a time after the ring was distroyed and Frodo left Middle Earth Frodo went to Valinor to the Valar. Frodo was honored in Valinor. Maybe he saw Melkor a valar who is bad and called Morgoth. He got to be in secret councils and the Valar gave him a fake one ring. At first Frodo thout it was real but he figured out it was fake. He lived to be 100 and 20.
Part Two- Sam
Sam Frodo's faithful servant had 20 children. He was famase. Sam finished Bilbo and Frodo's book. he missed Frodo: When Sam was 90 years old He went to Valinor He was excited to see Frodo. The Valar prepared a feast for him. Sam lived to be 100 and 15.
The End

He told me that his stories aren't the way it happened in the books but since they never exactly say what happens in the books he thought he would write a story about it. I for one cannot figure out why Morgoth would be in Valinor.

Sir Herbert of Snowland

Here is our epic snowman sculpture! (Named Sir Herbert... Sherbert) Made out of three to four inches of snow, shoveling, and lots of love. Dad did most of the face and I did most of the hand!

We've had several cars (including the schoolbus!) slooooow down and look at it. However, our "cranky neighbors" who walk by every day were too buried in their ipods and whatnot to spare a look at the phenomenon standing less than three feet away from them.

I have a gazzillion pictures to upload... Addie's birthday, Nick's birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, this past snow day... other random pictures... but that will wait until I have time! Pip, pip, cheerio, toodles!

Upside Down and Inside Out

 "A picture is worth a thousand words."

How often have you heard that?

Writing and art are really backwards representations of each other. Bear with me, please. It is not as absurd as it sounds.

Both writing and art are trying to achieve something: an imitation of truth. (at least, it had better!). It could be a tangible truth, like the texture of a flower or the color of the sea, or something un-sense-able but just as real, like the strong emotions of joy or the glory of our Lord.

 Art and writing are both personal expressions of truth. We try to capture some aspect of it that means much to us. Truth is rather hard to capture and turn into something so small as as the largest painting or fattest book. In fact, truth is so exhilarating that it quite refuses to be captured. Anyone who has written a story or drawn a picture has realized, to both their dismay and relief, that their representation is nothing compared to the real thing.

But that is slightly off-topic. While I could ramble on that tangent for milliennia, I am trying to explain why writing and art are the same thing, only backwards.

"A picture is worth a thousand words." Is it?

I have often been astounded at the inability of language to portray what is really meant. How often have you read a book with lengthy descriptions (particularly of landscapes or delicious scents) and come away wondering, "What in the world was that all about?"

In order to read a description, you really have to slow down. (Generally this is done the second time through a book, when you aren't anxiously awaiting the events of the next chapter). You have to take each building block and set it carefully upon the next. Only after all the words have been stacked up and formed into a mental image can you have some idea of what the author meant. When you read, you start with the details and build up to the final product.

Art, however, being primarily visual, throws the whole thing at you at once. You see the big picture and are left to discover the scrumptious details.

Surely a picture such as THIS means more, at first glance, than Alfred Tennyson's poem:
The splendor falls on castle walls/ and snowy summits old in story./ The long light shakes across the lakes...

But both tell the same story. The photograph gives the impression and leaves the details for you. The poem gives you the ingredients and leaves you to mix up the recipe. But both are describing the same sort of beauty. Really, they are the same thing. Just backwards. Writing starts from the ground up and art starts from the sky down. Both cover the same portion of space. You have to stand on your head to see it all at once.

Well, how is that for random? I do so love randomness. :)

This is becoming repetitious

This sort of post tends to be surfacing an awful lot.

I am sorry for being such a bad blogger. I have pictures from my sister's birthday in Novemember, my brother's in December, Christmas, New Years, snow days.... Here is is Feburary the First and I have not posted any of it. Let's hear it for procrastination!

And now that I actually get on to write something, I am unable to post the pictures. You see, the cord that connects the camera to the computer has disappeared... courtesy of Dad, I believe. :) He said something about it having wound up in the bedroom but I can't find it.

 So pictures are to come later. I must warn you: when I do download them, you will get around 20 updates (if you have me on facebook or are subscribed to the blog feed). Just to warn you. :)