The Wild Things, Homemade Pizza, Soccer win and Wii Active

Hello blogging world,

The weekend was relaxing and fun altogether. On saturday I invited friends over and we made ourselves a pizza dinner, not store bought, homemade. It tastes much better. We made my variation of a recipe I found online for Onion Olive pizza.

I usually had peppers, mushrooms and chicken as it does not have much toppings and switch the feta cheese for regular cheddar. St-Albert, the best, if you cannot get P'tit Quebec that is. ;)

Than we went to see "Where the Wild Things Are". I had seen previews for it and knew I had to see it. No regrets. It is the story of a boy, who can be quite a handful, acts up and gets punished a lot and also misunderstood I would say. He uses his imagination to invent himself a world, with different creatures who have quite distinct characters similar to some of the people he has encountered in his life, and that he can quite relate to. Instead of eating him they make him their king.

I loved it and can relate to the story because I did just the same as a kid, use my imagination to invent myself new worlds. Making up various stories and getting lost in my imagination.

On another note, tonight I had a soccer game at 9pm. Quite late for a game, I was already a little tired to begin with. I don't think I was in my best shape, but nonetheless we won 8-4 if I am not mistaking. And I also got to play up a little, defense and offense. I have to say: "It's a whole lot of running". But I still like it more exercise, we just sub more that is all.

I did go back to goalie, it gave me time to catch my breath. I think I may have little remnants of a cold because I was more exhausted than usual after running.

After the game I went to drop off catherine and we got stuck for a while waiting behind three fire truck as a fire alarm obviously went off downtown. No flames or smoke though, must have been either a false alarm or someone tried to make toasts and burnt them.

So, when I came home I did some Wii Active. I know it is a little crazy especially after playing soccer, but I started the 30-day challenge and this time I HAVE to keep up with it every day. Tomorrow is a rest day though so will relax.

I just took two tylenols to make sure I do get rid of any cold symptoms and am currently sipping echinecea tea.

And now, I am going to bed. I need the rest.

Hopefully I will see you tomorrow.

Final Destination, District 9, Fantastic Beasts, Day Off and long overdue blog post

Yes I know, I know, I am terrible at keeping a daily blog. Sigh. I had the same problem as a child trying to keep a journal and ended up with about 20-some journals half empty, I would go the positive route and say half full but really they were half-empty, I am not even kidding.

The truth of the matter is that I am not one who enjoys commitment that much. I mean don't get me wrong some commitments are good when it comes to love or employment but to HAVE to do something every day and force myself to do it is just not fun for me. I am a go with the flow or go with the wind kind of girl, I need to feel like blogging or feel like doing something.

So, on to my long overdue blog post. Last weekend I saw two movies. Final Destinations 3D and District 9.

Final Destinations was interesting. I must admit I am not the biggest fan of the series, at least not as much as Shawn (boyfriend), but I enjoyed it quite a bit. The fact that it was 3D was amazing, really well done as well. I am not a slasher or blood and gore film enthusiast but I like the concept behind this one. The killer is someone that you cannot see: the killer is "death". The introduction of someone having visions of future events taking place and using it to try and save people, though in the end "death" finds them and resets the order, I must admit is a brilliant idea. I did not particularly enjoy the 3D snake coming at me though, not a big fan of slithery creatures.

District 9 was a very different type of movies, about aliens and government experiments and cover ups and in the form of a documentary, I found that awesome. A very different way of telling the story but I think it works well in this case. They confined the extra-terrestrials to a district and you find out that the government performs experiments on them by killing innocent beings sometimes. I loved that they presented the extra-terrestrials as living like humans, families, addicted to a drug which in their case was cat food. :) Just basically living in a community as we do. They always portray, or most of the times at least, aliens attacking us rather than showing them simply as a different types of beings and also ready to help the person who used to not think much of them until he was beginning to transform into one of them.

Just before Final Destinations, I stopped by chapters and I found something that I had been lookign for... forever or at least it seemed as such. A copy of Fantastic beasts and where to find them by JK Rowling. When I finally held a copy in my hand, I was holding it with both hands going to the cash to pay for it, I was not planning on buying this but I just could not leave it there.

I absolutely devoured this book, figuratively speaking of course. The book as also sparked my creativity and gave me ideas for drawings as well.

And on September 1st, another book I have just been waiting for, for so long. The sequel of The Hunger Games called Catching Fire. I haven't begun reading it as of now since I am currently reading Michael Scott's The Sorceress, but I cannot wait to start Catching Fire. If you have not read The Hunger Games, I would highly recommend it.

I have a day off tomorrow, part of my vacation, I thought it is labour day weekend and a long weekend, why not make it a longer long weekend. I deserve it I think. Plus, it is also Gatineau Balloon Festival time with two amazing shows that I am planning to see. The first one being tomorrow in fact, the french canadian group called Mes Aieux will be performing of the opening day of the festival. I cannot miss this.

The music is folk music, they have taken of folkloric french canadian songs and gave it a more modern twist. They are entertaining and quite energetic.

The second show is Eric Lapointe. I have just been waiting a year, no kidding, to see a summer concert. Last summer he got sick and into rehab and had to cancel almost every single summer concerts resulting in a girl needing of eric lapointe music dose really badly. This will definitely be the highlight of this long weekend.

I am planning on going for a run tomorrow morning, possibly rollerblade as well, do some apartment tidying, get ready to get to the concert, will bring a book, drawing pad since I will be there when they open at 4pm insuring a spot in the front row. This is a must.

Saturday I might take a little road trip to merrickville, I love this small and quaint artistic town. I really miss it, I used to go at least once if not more in the summer and I have not lately. So this is also long overdue.

Times I have eaten corn on the cob: 4
Days left until the eric lapointe concert: 4
Book I am reading: The Sorceress by Michael Scott

I believe that is it for this long overdue blog post. I will not make any promises of a post tomorrow but I will try if I have something interesting to express.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince *** SPOILERS ALERT, DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE MOVIE***

So I saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince this past friday. I was excited just like a kid in a candy stores, I actually brought my Harry Potter wand with me to the movie, wish I had my time turner but I forgot it.

I do not know if anyone is as I am but when I read a book and see the movie I somewhat except the movie to follow the book. Yes I do understand that scenes need to be cut out otherwise the movie ends up being way too long, however from the very beginning of the movie I wanted to yell WHAT really loud whenever I saw a scene that was completely made up and was not at all in the book.

I found it became a little cheesier with putting too much emphasis on the romances. Don't get me wrong I read the book and romance plays a bigger part in this one but I didn't like the way hermione ended up being more about love thinking more about that. I mean to me I always pictured hermione as the brains and know it all if you wish always being ready to help her friends and eager to hear harry's theories that something is going on at hogwarts, I didn't really see that in the movie as much as before.

They got the part of lavender brown falling for ron and acting a a bimbo, right on for certain.

The beginning started allright, showing that now the death eaters were starting to disrupt the muggle world and the scene of the unbreakable vow was dead on. Perhaps cut a little short but that is excepted, can't fit everything in a movie or else it would be too long. I expected helen bonham carter to be scarier perhaps a little as belatrix, I absolutely loved her character and how scared she made me in the fifth movie, however I didn't feel as scared of her in this sixth movie.
But all in all that scene was great and dead on.

I loved that they introduced us to Malfoy's mother, narcissa. I believe that is exactly as I pictured her to be. And of course Alan Rickman was great as usual as Snape, he really gets to make me hate snape, and at the same time crave for more scene with him in it.

One of the parts where I wanted to yell WHAT as loud as I possibly could was the scene where Harry comes in. In the book he is as usual at his aunt and uncle, in his bedroom. And dumbledore is suppose to come and rescue him this time to bring him to the Burrow (Weasley's house). But instead they completely changed that scene and we see Harry sitting at a train station and this completely unknown character is introduced, no one knows who she is, unrelevant to the story, perhaps they wanted to introduce the fact that they are growing up and starting to have teenage feelings.

In my opinion it would have been much more relevant for them to stick to the what was actually in the books. That scene didn't not add anything relevant to this movie except only to introduced the facts that harry has grown up and starting to have feelings and see girls in a different way.

The scene where dumbledore takes harry with him on the journey to recruit persuade professor slughorn to come back to hogwarts was accurate and funny as well. I like the actor they chose to portray professor slughorn, good choice.

The scene where Harry arrives at the Burrow, I supposed it was good though in the book dumbledore was there for a bit and talks to Harry before rather than ginny just discovering his belongings and screaming to everyone that he has arrived. Though it didn't bother me so much, the scene was cool.

Though everyone was supposed to be sleeping and mrs. weasly was greating Harry when he arrived, according to the books.

I am not so upset that they didn't put any bill and fleur delacour's scenes in it, not a relevant I think. That is a scene that wasn't too bad that it was cut out.

The scene in diagon alley I found was perhaps a little short. I absolutely loved the Weasley twins' joke shop. So much that I wish it existed for real for me to explore it.

I loved the scene where the three heroes go on their usual advaenture straying from the group to follow Malfoy, to find out what he was up to. That part was a little short and also I believe it came before they go to the twin's joke shop after they encounter malfoy and his mom at the store to buy wizard robes.

Though short I found that scene accurate and gave the dark mood that I so love to these films.
I absolutely loved that we see malfoy in a more important role rather than just despising harry but getting more and more into the dark side as I always pictured would be the type to do so.
Even if he wanted to avenge his dad or follow in his dad footsteps, as we know Lucius Malfoy was sent to azkaban prison. You would know if you read the books anyway. Wanting to move on to bigger and better things in his mind and carry on the job that voldermort asked him to do.

When they get on the train, we see hermione and ron sitting with harry as usuall but in the books they are supposed to do their prefects duty and patrol the compartments. And Harry ends up sitting with Luna and Neville and get his first invitation from professor slughorn to be part of the slugclub.

In the movie when he gets invited, harry is all enthusisatic about it while in the books it was completely the opposite, he tries to find excuses not to go until he can't find one when he is invited to slughorn's christmas party.

I do understand that scenes need to be cut off but in my opinions some of the wrong scenes were cut off and what in the world is that about, putting stuff that is not even in the bookss?
Or changing the order in which things happen.

And when Harry is discovered under the invisibility cloak that malfoy put over him because harry was spying on him and his friends to find out what he was up to. We see Luna discovering him when that is completely not how it happened in the books.

Tonks finds Harry not Luna.

All I want to say to the screenplay writer for this movie is: READ THE BOOK before you make a movie and make sure you understand it really well.

I personally think too much emphasis was given to the romances, a little is good but don't forget what this film is about, the quest to find voldermort and destroy him.

I am not certain since I am not finished re-reading the half-blood prince book but how harry finds out who the half-blood prince is wasn't entirely like it happened in the movie. They showed that he finds out after Snape killed Dumbledore but I believe he finds out before that scene, I cannot be sure until I get to this part in the book, in my re-read of the book though.

I am not certain either if the scene where Harry tries to get slughorns' real memory for dumbledore was quite accurate but again I cannot be absolutely certain at this point.
For example I am not certain that Hagrid was present for that in the books.

Oh and the scene where Harry appears as if he is slipping the felix felicis potion into ron's drink to make him think he has luck to give him confidence in himself. In the movie Luna is the one pointing that Harry put something in his drink while it was supposed to be Hermione.

I know it is minor details but why change them?
That I do not get. Just seems to me that some people need to read and re-read the books to get the facts right.

I loved the scene where professor dumbledore asks Harry to accompany him to get one of the horcrux and where Harry has to keep making dumbledore drink the potion to get the necklace as well as the battle seen where Draco is supposed to complete the task given by voldermort to kill dumbledore and you can see that he doesn't really want to do it but afraid that he willbe killed if he doesn't then you see snape step in and finish the task. as per the unbreakable vow instructed he'd look after Draco.

It does show that even if you think that dumbledore is all powerful and has no fear, he can also be vulnerable. And one of his flaws is perhaps wanting to see the good in people and trust a little too much, still keeping some suspicions.

As we clearly see he did in Snape's case. believing him but still refusing to give in the post of defence of the dark arts teachers until this very movie.

And also as we saw in the memories, he did the same for tom riddle aka voldermort.

It made me cry still when Dumbledore died, even if I knew from reading the book, it was quite sad. Dumbledore was one of my favourite characters.

But as with sirius's death it had to happen i believe. And Dumbledore teaching Harry all he knew and showing him all the collected memories in order for Harry to be able to survive and carry on the task of killing voldermort.

Almost as if he knew he did not have so long to live. And that it was time for him to show Harry everything he knew.

I loved when dumbledore showed harry the memory of young tom riddle aka voldermort, the actor playing young voldermort looked kind of evil to begin with and how dumbledore told him that stealing or bullying wasn't tolerated at hogwarts and he would have to follow the rules.

That was a great and also accurate scene.

I loved the scene when everyone was around Dumbledore raising their wands in respect although I believe there was suppose to be a white tomb and more to this scene but as it is always the case scenes need to be cut out, I understand this.

And from what I do remember, yes the kiss between Harry and Ginny was supposed to happen perhaps not as it was portrayed in the movie plus at the end if I am not mistaken, Harry was supposed to tell ginny that he could not be with her, because of the job he has to do now that dumbledore is dead and can't finish destroying all the horcruxes himself. And that he would only hurt her or something like that.

All in all the movie disappointed me a little bit or a lot rather. Despite the fact that there were lots that I loved and that were indeed accurate.

Perhaps it is just me, perhaps if you haven't read the book you will think this is amazing not knowing which scenes were completely made up as they were not in the book.

Perhaps I need to see this again to get the full grasp of what they tried to do.

I do not know. But I can't really say at this point that Harry Potter and the Half-blood prince was my favourite of all of them. I think at this point I have to say I preferred Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Sad to say, but it is the first time I feel disappointed about my absolutely favourite book serie and movies.

Almost makes me want to cry a little. I knwo I am silly it is JUST a movie after all, but it feels like it is more than that to me, I don't know if anyone understands.


What I expected to see or thought was really important was:

1. Show that what is going on in the wizarding world also is affectign the muggle world.
2. The unbreakable vow.
3. Show Harry at his uncle When Dumbledore came to get him to take him to the Burrow.
4. Dumbledore and Harry tryign to persuade Slughorn to come back to Hogwarts and resume his post as potions Master.
5. More on Diagon Alley, the Twin's joke shop was great to see, keep that. I think harry, ron and hermione going to madame malkin and seeing draco and his mother would have beena good part to show since it gives a little clue about Draco's death eater mark on his wrist. And would explain why they decided to follow him and believe he was up to something.
6. Get the story right, the person who found Harry under the invisibility cloak WAS NOT LUNA LOVEGOOD it was Tonks. I believe tonks is more important of a character since she is in the oerder of the phoenix.
7. Limit the teenage lovey dovey stuff to a minimum.
8. Show more of Dumbledore teaching Harry about the memories he has collected, and explaining more about the horcruxes.
9. The battle scene… make it a real battle scene otherwise what was the point in draco's mission gettign the vanishing cabinets to get the death eaters into hogwarts if you are going to cut the one of the most important part. The climax scene.
10. Dumbledore's funeral. Show way more about this, I mean he has been one of the most important characters into this in my opinion.

I could be wrong, I am not a film maker or a screenplay writer but I am just going with what I read and re-read in the book and sharing my opinions.

There were great things about this movie but it wasn't what I expected and I am truly disappointed.

You can make comments and share your opinions about what I said, I respect your views, everyone's views.

I mean I don't pretend to know everything or have the absolute truth when it comes to how the film should have been.

It is more what I was expecting according to what I read and re-read.

See you later,

Nancy

BEDA 20: sunny day boost my energy level

Hello fellow bloggers

I know, I am terrible. I missed four days of blogging. :(

I will try really hard not to miss any more days until the end of April. Honestly I actually missed blogging. I got into this blogging mode and when I stopped I started to miss it.

This weekend was too much of a beautiful one, weather-wise for me to stay inside and sit at a computer. I took advantage of the sun being out to recharge my energy level.

Sometimes I can be quite the energizer bunny but lately I have been feeling a lot more tired and the sun is my energy level charger.

I also saw two movies that I have no idea why I did not get around to watching but I must say I am glad we rented them. Two Micheal Moore documentaries. Yes I know I SHOULD have watched them a long time ago, when they first came out. I missed the movies when they were in theater and never got around to renting them.

The first one was "Bowling for Columbine" and the second was "Sicko". The two were amazing. They both made me cry a little. Michael Moore surely is my favourite documentary filmmaker. I absolutely loved "farenheit 9/11". The documentaries made me cry but also laugh at times, more so at the stupidity of people, I cannot believe it. Especially at insurance companies in the US, denying people treatment or trying to find any possibly, as small as can be, loopholes to not have to grant the patients request.

I know that every country with free health care has its own problems but it is much better than letting innocent people die just because they aren't fortunate enough to be millionaires to afford high priced medical care. So essentially if you are American and by sheer misfortune you end up being sick and need expensive treatment for your illness, and are middle class or poorer, you better accept that you will die even if you have insurance. since people working for insurance companies are getting paid more if they deny more patient's requests.

That is sick.

Americans like to be number one for everything, why is it that they are not number one when it comes to free health care?

I also saw "bedtime story" with Adam Sandler. I love this actor so funny. I really enjoyed the movie as it reminded me of what I used to do as a kid, make up stories and invent a world of my own like this with adventures and fantastic creatures. I don't do it nearly as much as I should now being a creative person. I need to get back to this, perhaps it would help me find awesome ideas for paintings and drawings.

I am still trying to keep a good exercise regimen in order to lose the pounds that I have gained since christmas. I know I am not overweigth technically but I don't feel as good as I used to and last week I played soccer at lunch and realized that I WAS TOTALLY NOT in shape.

Healthy tip of the day

Go lean on meat. Buy extra-lean ground beef, chicken, or turkey. Trim the meat fat and remove the chicken skin.

Well that is about it for day 20 of BEDA.
See you tomorrow.

BEDA 4: Lazy day , getting ready for party

Hello everyone

Fourth day of blog every day april.

As yesterday, it was again pouring rain, we woke up late as there is not so much to do when the weather is not cooperating. RAWR.

Where did the sunny warm weather of thursday go? I want spring and summer now!

We just basically lazed around and got ready for Nat's party, birthday party even if her birthday was on april 1st.

I don't know if I would be so happy to have my birthday on a day where people play pranks, that is just asking for trouble. But guess you cannot choose which day you are born so you get stuck with it. Yesterday we walked around downtown and went to exchange a bob marley hoodie that we realized we bought the same as last year, oups. :)

The party was great. We played this game called "Things". It basically consists in one person picks a card and reads what it asks us to write, like: things you shouldn't do at a party, things that would keep you out of heaven, etc.

Then everyone writes down his answer on a piece of paper, folds it and we put it in a hat or container. The person who picked the cared reads the answers out loud and each player, taking turn tries to guess, answer by answer, who wrote it. If the player guesses right he keeps guessing until he misses then the next player tries to guess.

It is a fantastic game especially when a lot of people are playing, the answers you get can be quite funny, it gets people talking, laughing and having fun. Awesome game. And great party.

Day four a BEDA down, so far so good.

Since I love art, I thought I would add a section to these blogs called Art tip of the day. Here is my first art tip, enjoy.

Art tip of the day

WHAT KIND OF PAPER?
There are many different kinds of paper that can be used in art. The texture of the paper can totally change the effect that a drawing might produce, so it is very important to familiarize yourself with the wide variety of paper available. Smooth paper is recommended for detailed work and for thin-line work. It's particularly suitable for pencil, pen and ink work. Textured paper is ideally used for charcoal and pastels. The textured groove on this type of paper makes it possible for the charcoal and pastels to grip the paper. Most art stores will allow you to try some samples. Just experiment and find out what works best for the effect you want.
- John Cleary

Hooray!

Hi everyone!

Gues what?

There is a new Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince trailer. I am psyche! Now I cannot wait until july, it is too far away.

From the trailer, the movie looks fantastic. Check it out.