A Right Bang-up Book

Blackhearts in Battersea by Joan Aiken
Date Finished: July 26, 2011
Number of Pages: 234
Rating: 5 out of 5
Books Toward Goal: 5 out of 25 (20%)

Blackhearts in Battersea is a sequel to the novel The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, which I read a few years ago.  It was full of outlandish adventures and real bang-up English words, like lark.  So anyways, since my edition is a hardcover I decided to make a dustjacket for it.  I'm not real thrilled with how it turned out and my scanner couldn't even scan the whole thing, but here it is anyway.

"It's a bad world for dogs."

The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams
Date Finished: July 14, 2011
Number of Pages: 416
Rating: 5 out of 5
Books Toward Goal: 4 out of 25 (16%)

Richard Adams has done it again!  Captured my heart with the most lovable, well-written creatures ever.  I've decided I'm really no good at writing reviews so I'll be taking an alternate approach to this one.  I loved back in elementary school and even in Junior High how book reports usually involved some sort of art project.  So I've decided that that's what I'll do.

I checked out a book from the library awhile ago called Creating Life-Like Animals in Polymer Clay.  Using the knowledge I sort of gleaned from that book I decided to render the two main characters in Polymer clay (better known as Sculpey).

Rowf: the escaped Mongrel from the Animal Research and Science something or other.  The acronym is A.R.S.E.  He had been undergoing tests in the research lab about how long a dog could survive underwater if he was continually left in for longer and longer periods of time.

 Snitter: Terrier who was sold to A.R.S.E. after his master's death and escaped with Rowf.  He had a complicated brain surgery that sort of melds fact and fiction.  It's rather hard to explain.

Happy Sweet 16, I guess. . .

So apparently I'm 16 now.  Four days after my birthday and it's finally starting to dawn on me.  It's seems like a huge gap from 15 to 16, though I sure don't feel any different.  16's supposed to be some huge milemarker in a teenager's life or something but I don't feel like I've come-of-age or anything like that.  I still can't drive (and even if I could I don't have a car and I don't want to drive).  Whatever.  I'm 16 and that's that.  Anyways, on to my awesome family and the wonderful things they gave me.

From Megan
John Howe's Fantasy Drawing Workshop  Surprisingly, I actually got something from my birthday wishlist.
And also the movie Summer Wars.  I didn't really like it, so after watching it Megan and I bought The Girl Who Leapt Through Time on Amazon.  Love that movie!

From Nate and Jackie

A new sketchbook (hooray!) and cool art supply things. Erm, I don't really want to explain.

Last but not least, my parents got me an Intuos 4 Tablet from Wacom! 

I practically haven't put it down since I got it, and I made my first real-ish picture on it yesterday.  You can look at it on facebook, cause for some reason I can't load it here.

I love my family so much I can't thank them enough for everything they do for me.  Birthdays shouldn't be about ourselves but all the wonderful people in our lives.  Like my absolutely wonderful parents, who, even if they hadn't given me the one birthday present I wanted more than almost anything, would still be wonderful.  And Megan, who loves to spoil me rotten and is the best roomate/fellow Hogwarts student/advice giver in the world.  And also Leslie, Daniel and Camille who came rollerskating with me.  And everyone else who's so great to me.  Thank you for keeping me alive for 16 years.

Wake up, Followers, we're going to the Zoo!

My brother and his family drove out from New Hampshire two weeks ago and are spending practically the whole month with us.  Everyday's been chalked full of awesome adventures and escapades (one of which was going to see HP 7 part 2 at midnight!) and on Thursday we went to the Utah Hogle Zoo.  I love Zoos!  Megan and I brought our sketchbooks along and I decided to share all my pretty pictures with you folks.  I found the elephants easiest to draw and the wolves the hardest.  Not all my sketches made it into these collages but believe me, you don't want to see those ones.

I had two more pages but for some reason I can't upload them.  Sorry.  And I will totally pester my sister about putting hers up.

A Much Belated Birthday Post

What's better than your own birthday?  Your sisters' birthdays, of course!  So Megan's birthday was quite a while ago (May 19), but you know my blogging habits.  For her birthday I did a commission.  Her commission was, simply, the School of Athens.  So rather than have me talk about it forever take a look-see.

Top Row (Left to Right): Aang (Avatar: the Last Airbender), Dustfinger (the Inkheart Series), Sokka (Avatar...), Eowyn (Lord of the Rings), Baron Humbert Von Gikkingen (The Cat Returns/Whisper of the Heart), Makoto (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), Chiaki (The Girl Who Leapt Through Time), Aragorn (Lord of the Rings), Astrid (How to Train Your Dragon), Suki (Avatar...), Faramir (Lord of the Rings), Megan, Me, Geordi (Star Trek: The Next Generation), Matthias (Redwall), Captain Picard (Star Trek...), Rapunzel (Tangled), Flynn Rider (Tangled), Shizuku (Whisper of the Heart), Seiji (Whisper of the Heart), Zuko (Avatar...), Bilbo (The Hobbit/Lord of the Rings)
Bottom Row: Waldo (Where's Waldo), Katara (Avatar...), Ron, Harry, Dumbledore, Hermione (Harry Potter Series), Sophie (Howl's Moving Castle), Data (Star Trek...), Hiccup (How to Train Your Dragon), Toph (Avatar...), Merry, Pippin, Samwise, Frodo, Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings), Peter, Susan, Edmund, Lucy (The Chronicles of Narnia)

Here's the Original -

Last month was my other sister, Addie's birthday.  As a birthday present Megan and I ran a 5K with her.  Megan beat us all, but it was heaps of fun.  We were all around 37 minutes.

Happy Birthdays my Sisters!



Disneyland: The Happiest Place on Earth

I absolutely love Disneyland!  A little less than a month ago I went on Tour with my orchestra to California for Spring Break.  Being the lazy bum I am, I haven't put up the pictures yet, but now they are here!  Anyways, here's a rundown of what we did.

We left the school in the morning and drove pretty much straight to St. George, where we switched bus drivers.  I love riding in coaches - they're so much fun.  I like the seats, and the big windows, and the fact that you're so high up you don't have other cars in your way when you just want to look out at the scenery.  I also love long road trips.  They give me monstrous amounts of time to do cool things that I've been wanting to do for a long time.  I listened to A Little Princess and White Fang.  I started listening to the Call of the Wild, but I never finished it.  I drew pictures in my sketchbook, and, heaven forbid, did my homework.  We got to our hotel - Radisson Suites - at about 8:30 and had a pizza party.  There were five people in our room, so I had to sleep on the pullout couch.

It was a bit uncomfortable and really squeaky, but I slept just fine.

 I made a friend in the looby.  I named him Carl.

 I forgot to bring a hat to California so my mom bought me this Fisherman's Cap and now I'm slightly obsessed with it.

 Pretty Flowers!

The next day we went whale-watching.  We didn't see any whales but we did see a lot of sea lions (or possibly just seals), dolphins, and three jellyfish.  The dolphins were really cool because they would swim with the boat, even when we were going really fast and they would jump out of the water next to us, just like in the movies.  Afterwards we hung out on the beach and played in the waves.  Leslie buried me in sand and I was still washing it out of my hair two weeks later.  That night we went to Medieval Times which was literally right next to our hotel.  That was a ton of fun!  We got to cheer for an evil knight and eat food with our fingers.

 I love boats!

 We saw this burning boat on our way out of the harbor.  It was kind of cool to watch.

 Eeeee!  So cute!

 I like the ocean.

 There's a dolphin down there, really, there is.

I got sunburnt.

The next two days were spent at my favorite, I mean, second favorite place in the world - Disneyland!  My all-time favorite ride ever is Space Mountain.  I can't get over how wonderful those five minutes full of screaming and laughing are.

 Mickey and Minnie came to our awards ceremony.  It was pretty cool, we won first place in both our divisions but did not get the best overall.  But that's okay.  We had fun.

 . . . . Space Mountain, the love of my life . . .

Third of May

The Third of May by Francisco Goya, a painting depicting the massacre of innocent people in a Spanish town. 
Today, the Third of May, just so happened to be the day of my AP Art History test.  No, it did not kill me, but I thought it might.  It was the first AP Test I have ever taken and it was definitely the hardest test I have ever taken.  I just thought I'd take the time to blog about the fun serendipity in life when I should be doing my Latin.

In other news, I wrote a modern poem (for English)

water on the grass

                in                    tween                     toes

                           be                            my

                                            g      up

                                         n

                                     i

                                 t

                          l

                i

head t

glowing in the dark

the stars above

i shrink                           the universe

            (joyfully) beneath

beam me up

Asimov, Roddenberry

                in T minus Space

                                                                Mountain

I call it The Weight of Space by lee greene amanda.  Sorry about the size but I had to keep the form together, it's one of the most important parts.

"Hazel-rah! Hazel-rah!"

Watership Down by Richard Adams
Date Finished: April 4, 2011
Number of Pages: 476
Rating: 5 out of 5 (possibly more)
Books Toward Goal: 3 out of 25 (12%)

Watership Down is about a group of rabbits who leave their old home in search of a new warren.  They encounter many trials along their way, including elil (animals who hunt rabbits) and even dangerous rabbits.  They eventually come upon Watership Down and begin to build a warren, but there's one problem - they have no females.  They discover another warren not too far from their own, but when a small band of their rabbits try to communicate with them, they're taken captive.  Plans are formed and loyalty tested and it all leads up to an epic battle for Watership Down.

I loved Watership Down.  It had everything I love about books - deep characters, scary villains, fun exposition, intense action, everything!  I tried to pick a favorite character but I soon gave up, though I think I narrowed it down to five - Hazel, Fiver, Bigwig, Dandelion, and Blackberry.  I also really enjoyed the way Watership Down was written.  It was one of those books where you look back after you read it and realize that the plot was actually kind of slow but you never noticed while reading because it's full of interesting exposition.

I'd reccomend it to anyone who enjoys being sucked into really great books.

Oh, and I hear those a strange old movie of this book out there.  Here's a link to the trailer for this "unusual and provocative film".  It looks . . . interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZcHLpjiEdw

Ents and Dresses

In honor of one of my best friends, Leslie Rodham, going to Prom last Saturday I decided to make a fancy dress for AJ.  It was hard and tedious, but I had a lot of fun with the lace at the bottom and for the sleeves.

 I also made a hat.  It doesn't really match the dress, but I like it.  I think it'd work well with a flapper dress.

Sequins!

This Saturday I had another Entmoot.  It was supposed to be a game night but we never really played any games.  We did hook up my atari and play Adventure, Yar's Revenge, Gravitar, and, of course, Pong.  Of the original five I invited Sierra was the only one who couldn't come, and she being our actual Ent.  She came last time, though, so we forgive her.  It was a fun night.  We ate burittos, played one haphazard round of Snerts, made a fire and didn't catch any person, lawn, or house on fire, and introduced Daniel to the most amazing series - Avatar: The Last Airbender.

This is us, "happening" at the Storm Drain who lives in our ward.  From left to right: Kevin Whetten, Camille Prestwich, Leslie Rodham, Daniel Wilde, and Me.  By the way, this picture is also our new album cover. 

Here's us, playing the atari.

2 down, 23 to go

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe
Date Finished: March 5, 2011
Number of Pages: 209
Rating: 3 out of 5
Books Toward Goal: 2 out of 25 (8%)

Things Fall Apart is about an African man named Okonkwo.  The first half of the book is pretty much just an introduction to Okonkwo's character.  He's a tough man who doesn't like to appear weak and in result doesn't show much emotion for his friends and family and beats them often.  He cares about his family and wants his children to succeed in life but he has a hard time showing it.  In the first half Okonkwo is entrusted with a young man, Ikemefuna, because of some trouble had with another tribe, where they were forced to give up one of their sons to pay for their crimes.  Ikemefuna, different though he is, begins to grow on Okonkwo and he treats him like his own son.  Ikemefuna stays with them for three years.  In the second half of the book Okonkwo and his family are banished for a few years to the village of Okonkwo's mother because he accidentally shot and killed a member of the tribe.  After a few years in this tribe, Christian missionaries arrive and start converting a few of the natives.  Among them is Okonkwo's first son Nwoye.  The banishment is soon over and Okonkwo returns to his own village where the same missionaries have basically taken over their town.  Okonkwo is angry and things really do begin to fall apart.

I found this book really interesting coming from a Christian point of view.  After reading the first part I really got to know Okonkwo and I cared about him and his family and then when the missionaries arrived I knew that they believed that they were doing the right thing in trying to bring them what they thought was right and true.  Even though I'm Christian the whole time I just wanted the missionaries to leave the tribes alone.  They were turning families against each other and disrupting their whole system of government.  They were doing things that the tribes thought were evil and unholy, like killing a black snake that they believed was one of their gods.  They defiled things that were sacred to the villagers trying to prove that their gods weren't real.  I was almost completely on Okonkwo's side in wanting the missionaries to leave.  However, the book didn't portray all the Christian missionaries as evil people who care for villagers like dirt on their shoes.  There were some missionaries who took the time to get to know the villagers and all about what they believed and didn't condemn them when they refused to accept the new beliefs.  These missionaries were outnumbered though, by the quick-tempered, close-minded ones.

I gave this book 3 out of 5 because, even though I enjoyed it and I found it really fascinating, I don't generally read this genre of books and I just didn't get into it as much as most books I read.  To me, it was more like reading a really interesting newspaper article.

I'd recommend it to anyone with an open mind who likes looking at things in a new perspective.

You're a wizard, AJ.

I feel like such a slacker for not posting as often as Megan, but at least I haven't completely abandoned my duties.  I recently made a new costume for AJ.  Megan and I have been having Harry Potter fever lately and this was one of the many ways I expressed it (not to mention the countless doodles of myself in Hogwart's school robes all over my math homework).

 As I continue in these mini-costume escapades I begin to find that the sleeves on my shirts and such never turn out right and I am beginning to think that I will have to stop being lazy and attempt to sew them right.  I also think I might want to iron the outfits as well, because things like AJ's robe won't stay right-side-out and it bothers me.

 Unfortunately, I have given way to the modern world and gave AJ a tie and vest.  I never pictured Hogwart's robes to be like that when I first read them, but now I find it hard to picture them any other way.

 I also made a stand for AJ, because she becomes too unstable on her feet when burdened with her outfits.

 Things in her schoolbag: heavy textbook, probably something like Advanced Arithmancy; old-looking parchment; and a quill and inkwell.

 AJ begins her assignment on "The Aftermath of the Goblin Wars and their Overall Benefit to the Wizarding Community"

Like her much larger, much less a wizard, counterpart, AJ takes a rather long time in finishing her assignments.

 But she rewards herself afterwards with some Quidditch practice.  (In the end, this turned out to be a really cool picture, but it was rather frustrating at first because I couldn't get her to sit straight on the broom.  I finally let her fall to one side and placed the Snitch accordingly.  This was the result.)

 She likes to play all the positions.

 Like Chaser.

 Goal!

 Her favorite position is Beater.

Go Kenmare Kestrels!  Or if it's the Quidditch World Cup, Ireland in general.