It was so much fun today over at my youtube channel. My Mom was kind of enough to join me on my channel for 2 videos about one of our favorite topics- books! Particularly classic novels. I’d love if you checked them out and gave them thumbs up. Thanks!
I’m always open to anyone who wants come on my channel and help me with a video. If you are willing let me know. Even better if you have an idea for a video that would be amazing!
Thanks Mom!
Today wasn’t feeling great but really didn’t want to miss out on week 2 of my Family Movie Night series. The goal behind this series is to provide a recommendation from off of Netflix stream that you can watch for FHE or a family movie night. This week’s choice is The Wild Thornberry’s Movie.
If you haven’t seen the movie it is based on the Nickelodeon cartoon about a family that makes a nature television show in Africa. The youngest daughter Eliza is given the ability to talk to animals but she must keep this power secret or she will lose it.
In this movie version Eliza is sent to England to keep her safe but she is worried about a cheetah cub she saw abducted. She sneaks away and makes it back to Nairobi and starts on adventure to find her parents, save the animals and find the poachers. It’s very exciting, beautifully animated with good vocal performances by Tim Curry, Lynne Redgrave, Lacey Chabert, Marissa Tomei, Rupert Everett and more.
The music is very well done with songs from Peter Gabriel and Paul Simon to name a few. It’s funny without being too immature and I like that the lead is a little girl who doesn’t always make all the correct choices. She’s a well rounded believable character. Her sister Debbie is a bit of a caricature as the snobby teen but you do see some growth from her over the course of the movie (She is kind of like a grown up Angelica from Rugrats). She does get a lot of the good humorous lines in the movie so I don’t mind her Valley Girl character. Darwin the monkey is also a source of a lot of laughs.
There are some moments of peril but they are broken up by humor and I don’t think too scary for little children.
It’s a movie I think would easily work into a FHE lesson about conservation, nature, endangered species etc. Plus, you could talk about how we all have special gifts like Eliza has the gift to talk to animals. She also never gives up no matter the obstacle put in her way.
Here is the trailer.
If you have any ideas for a Netflix film you’d like me to pick for next week’s family movie night pick let me know. Thanks and thanks for watching my review on youtube, giving it a thumbs up. Take care.
I finished my animated countdown of Top 50 Animated Movies. I am really happy with how the list came out and I think you all might enjoy it.
10. Fantasia- Like going to the greatest concert and art gallery of your life together. It is a rich and textured experience that teaches me something new every time I see it. I notice new details or am inspired with how the music tells the story I hadn’t seen before. It goes everywhere from Greek myths, to Mickey Mouse, to dinosaurs, to the Devil himself. That’s why I don’t get it when people say it is boring. I really don’t. I think some people just don’t like classical music but I do and I think Fantasia is a bold stunning achievement in animation. (I know I had Tangled higher in my ranking but only barely).
9. Secret of Nimh- Has one of my favorite protagonists of any movie ever. Mrs Brisby doesn’t want to be a hero. She is scared, visibly shaking at times, but will do anything to save…
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I think this is true with books, music, movies. Original ideas have a tough time making it and most of the time I think the lack of sales is deserved. How do we encourage quality original ideas? Some thoughts.
Often in the world of movie fandom you will hear complaints about Hollywood’s lack of originality. That all we get are sequels, prequels, remakes and reboots. I include myself in that number. If it isn’t a direct remake it is an adaptation of a popular book or a close copy of a popular franchise. It seems like it is pretty rare that something truly original comes along. Or so the argument typically starts out.
But wait, lately I’ve been wondering if that is actually the case? This year we have seen original ideas in Tomorrowland, Chappie, Jupiter Ascending, Strange Magic, Pixels and of course Inside Out (as well as I’m sure others I am overlooking). Last year we had Snowpiercer, Grand Budapest Hotel, Locke, Song of the Sea and more. Come to think of it last year was actually a pretty good year for original stories.
What’s the problem then? …
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Hey you guys I am trying to start up a new series on my youtube channel where I pick a movie available on Netflix stream as my pick for a family movie night pick. I know most who follow this blog are LDS and have Family Home Evening so I would love for your feedback on this.
What do you think? Would you like me to include a lesson? A treat recipe? Or is it best to keep it very short? I have found my Mom friends don’t like to listen to long videos so that’s why I kept it short. I want to keep it fairly non-denom friendly so that anyone can have a family movie night but open for suggestions on that as well.
My idea behind using Netflix was that most families I know have Netflix stream and so it would make the film choice easy for them to pick for Family Movie Night. They wouldn’t have to go to Redbox, pay extra for a rental or the big bucks for the theater. I could do new releases if you think that would be good? I really am just curious for your feedback.
If you think it is a good concept I would love if you shared the video with your friends/followers on social media. Also as always any thumbs up or comments on the video are always appreciated.
Thanks in advance for that feedback and for those that have already given me feedback and shared thank you!
I’m not some hipster where everything has to be homemade and local in order for me to enjoy it. That said, there is something satisfying about crafting your own products. I have a job that is online and markets others people’s stuff but I don’t make anything myself. That is why it feels good to take raw materials and make something usable out of your efforts.
Yesterday I had such an experience and I turned a bunch of these:
Into these:
Isn’t that impressive? I’m impressed by my efforts at the least! And to make it even better the jam tastes good my friends! (It’s set up more now than last night when I had this toast)
The great thing is it is very simple to make. In fact, I didn’t even follow the recipe right and it still turned out right.
I had 10 cups of raspberries and I used 10 tbsp of this real fruit pectin (any pectin will do).
Then you mash the raspberries (mine were very soft so just a spoon was all I needed). Then I had 20 tsp of lemon juice. I saved myself from all the juicing by using bottled juice since it is mostly for the acid.
Then add 2 tbsp butter and let mixture boil for 2 minutes. (I put sugar in at this point but you aren’t supposed too. I read the directions incorrectly but it didn’t matter).
Take off heat add the sugar 10 cups (It makes a lot of jam) and then let it get to a rolling boil again (so it can’t be stopped by stirring). Let boil for 2 minutes.
Let cool and then skim off any foam and put into jars. I don’t use a canner for this kind of jam. All you have to do is put on the seal and ring and turn it upside down and it will set. (you can tell if it is set if you press down on the seal and it doesn’t pop back up on you.
And that’s it!! Raspberry is the easiest of all because aside from washing there is no prep work for the fruit. That’s what made peach jam so difficult is the peeling, pitting and chopping of the fruit. I have also made strawberry jam and that is so good but is still more work than raspberry (but a lot less expensive).
All of them are delicious and fun to make. Especially if you have a family it could be a great project. I would like to branch out into other types of preserves such as ketchups, chutneys and pickles. Do any of you can or preserve your food? I’d love to hear your recipes.
I reviewed Up over on the movie blog. As it is my favorite movie I thought I would share it with all of you. Please check it out and if you aren’t following the movie blog I would love if you do. That is if you enjoy movies and movie reviews at all.
Thanks so much and what do you think of Up?
It’s really hard to write about your favorite movie, or at least it is really hard for me. So has been my challenge for the last week or so as I’ve faced writing about Pixar’s beautiful film Up, my favorite movie (animation or not).
To this day I have never met anyone in my real life who doesn’t like Up, and it is both my brother and my favorite movie and we are as different as can be. It was also nominated for best picture not just animated film and receives wide-spread acclaim from critics and fans with a 98% on rotten tomatoes with only 5 rotten reviews and 276 positives. On the notoriously tough to please imdb Up has a 91% of user reviews a 7 or higher, which is truly remarkable. You get the idea. I’m not alone in loving this movie!
I like Up so much when…
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Hey guys! I got back today from my little vacation up at Bear Lake. For the last few years they have had an open water swim up there but I have always had a family commitment. Well, this year I didn’t so I decided to go for it. (Plus, they were doing a 1/2 mile swim which was super nice of them). I found the only motel in town which looked like something out of Bates Motel but it was somewhere to sleep and headed up there Friday afternoon. (I also saw Ant-Man and Mr Holmes this weekend so make sure to check out the movie blog for those reviews).
It’s kind of a weird tourist destination because aside from the lake there isn’t a ton to do. There are only 4 or 5 restaurants and a few little shops. No movies, bowling, or other activities for tourists. I guess the lake is more than enough but Friday and Saturday afternoon it was raining and so it dragged a little. I don’t know if I would want to get a place up there because when I couldn’t swim it would be kind of boring.
But luckily this trip the rain didn’t stop the race and I did get to swim. You can see from the photo up above I finished and got my medal! With the weather it was very choppy waters and so I was glad I went with the 1/2 mile instead of the mile. I finished in 39 minutes which I was proud of. I know technically it is slow but for me that was a pretty good time. Here I am in the water:
It was a small group of 1 mile swimmers but everyone was so friendly (as is always the case in open water events). It was neat about 10 minutes into the swim I noticed a girl stopping and it didn’t seem like an ordinary stop. She was gasping a little bit so I stopped and asked her if she was ok. She said she was swallowing water and her asthma was bothering her. I’ve been there so I told her to do some breaststroke for a little while to get her confidence back and calm down the nerves. She did and she finished the race! Afterwards she told me my encouragement had meant a lot to her. That’s what is great about open water swimming- the community spirit that accompanies the sport. Even though I am far from a typical athlete I probably was the best one to encourage someone like her to finish her race. As I always say ‘if I can do it so can you!’.
Here’s a picture of all of us swimming the 1/2 or 1 mile races:
I made this little video after the race. It’s what I call old school- just my laptop and chatting, so don’t be too tough on that part of it. The internet was very bad up there so I would have done more if I could.
Here I am showing my medal to Jim Hubbard who first introduced me to open water back in 2011 (I call him my open water missionary).
After the race we all chatted for a bit and then I went back to the hotel room and had some breakfast and a good nap. Then later on in the afternoon the sky cleared up so I decided to go back to the beach and wear my glorious sun hat I bought a few weeks ago.
The lake was beautiful and the sun felt great. I wish I could have laid out in it even longer! But alas the sun went down and this morning I had to drive back home. Still, it was a nice little break and I hope to do the Bear Lake Monster Swim next year and hopefully eventually get up to the 7 mile full race instead of just 1/2 mile. My next race Deer Creek Open Water Swim will be my 10th open water race! Can you believe it? I can’t.
Stayed up all night reading for the first time since college. I mean when else am I going to get to read a new Harper Lee book? Parts of it bummed me out and you can tell it was written before To Kill a Mockingbird.
Still, it was better than I expected it to be and Lee’s skill with prose is definitely apparent. I really liked any section that was a vignette of the past and the idea of confronting the imperfect parent is moving. I just think it may have gone a bit too far with those imperfections. The romance is kind of lame as well.
My video review at
Here is my review from goodreads. If you aren’t following me on goodreads or youtube please do. Thanks!
Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Feels a little bit like To Kill a Mockingbird fan fiction. It has an interesting idea of Scout dealing with the imperfections of her father but it takes it a little too far in that regard. I liked some of the vignettes of childhood which felt very TKAM to me. The romance is kind of lame. Still I was moved by a lot of the story and it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be.
So my brother spoke at TedxPortland. If you aren’t familiar with Ted Talks they are a series of talks by experts on a variety of topics. A lot of them have a motivational speaker type of feel but not all of them. In my brother’s case he was asked because he is the founder of Poler LLC which is a popular clothing and outdoors brand based in Portland.
He speaks about using technology to expand your life not minimize it, to help you get out into nature instead of isolating yourself. It is a good reminder to me as someone who does spend a lot of time with media of different kinds to get outside and share that adventure with others. I particularly like how he used the example of water as swimming in lakes and rivers is such a powerful experience for me.
This weekend I am going to Bear Lake for a race and since I haven’t been feeling that well I was wondering if it was going to be worth it. My race is probably not going to be the greatest but listening to my brothers words made me glad I am spending some time in the beautiful water. Who cares about the race!
What do you guys think about what he has to say? Do you find yourself phrozen to your mobile devices? What do you like to do to get connected with nature?
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