Book/Movie Series: Harry Potter

WARNING: If any of you reading this haven't read the Harry Potter Series yet, you need to stop reading this blog post and go read Harry Potter. Really if you haven't read the books yet stop reading here because I don't want to spoil the story for anyone.

I could go on forever talking about Harry Potter. He is my favorite story book character and this series is definitely one of my favorites. My mom used to read them to my sister and I when we were little and they had just come out. I remember going to the bookstore with my mom and buying the second book when it was brand new. J.K. Rowling is, of course, one of my heroes just for writing these books and I admire her greatly. I reread all seven books last school year and I didn't want to stop reading. I would drag out each book as long as possible because I didn't want it to end. And yes, I will admit I did cry at the end of the seventh book a couple of times.  If anyone thinks they can just watch the movies and think they are as good as the books, they are oh so wrong. First off, if you want to understand half the things that go on in the movies, you have to read the books. The movies are good but they tend to leave out little details that are rather important and are only told in the books. The fifth movie is a good example of this. I went to see the fifth movie before I had read the book and I hated the movie because I didn't understand anything. But then, I read the fifth book and watched the movie after and it became one of my favorite movies because I knew what was going on. I'm not saying I don't like the movies because I really do like the movies, I'm just saying they aren't nearly as good as the books. The fun part about the movies, though, is watching the characters grow up. Go to Google images and type in Harry Potter now and then. You will get some of the cutest pictures ever! They compare the first movie with the last one and you can see how much the three main characters have grown.

As I said earlier, I prefer the books over the movies because in the books, they add in all of the little details and they give so much more than the movie. And also when you are reading the books, you can decide what everything and everyone is going to look like whereas in the movie everything looks different than what you imagined. See, in my head, Cedric Diggory looked nothing like Rob Pattinson. But then again, that's not how I pictured Edward Cullen in my head either when I read Twilight. I always seem to think I am right when I picture these things in my head and that's the way they have to be in the movie. Then I blame everything on the director when nothing looks the way I pictured it.

Another thing to love about Harry Potter is the music in the movies! I love love love the music in the movies. We got to play the music for a band concert once and I absolutely loved it! I can't believe I am writing this online for the world to see, but my little brother and I used to go outside in the backyard and find good sticks to make into wands and then we would have Harry Potter duels in the backyard. Then, we would find bigger sticks to use as brooms and would get a soccer ball out and run around on sticks throwing a soccer ball around, playing Quidditch. My mom would get "mad" at us when we used the Avada Kedavra (killing curse) on each other.

I don't like to play favorites, but I am going to. I think the third book is my favorite. Which was surprising to me when I read it, because that was one of my least favorite movies. I don't have a least favorite book because they were all amazing, it's just that the third one was really good. My favorite of the movies would have to be...I don't know. I like the first one because it's a classic. I like the second one because of the intensity at the end with the basilisk. I think the third one is ok but not the best because it's kinda boring. The only thing I really like about the third one is when Harry meets Sirius for the first time. I love the fourth one because 1) Cedric Diggory and 2) the competition and the maze at the end is scary the first few times you see it. I didn't like the fifth movie until I read the book, because you didn't know what was going on in the movie until you read the book and it explained everything. But after I read the book, the fifth movie became one of my absolute favorites. I liked the sixth one, but was a little disappointed by the lack of detail. I do realize that if they had added all the details, the movie would have been like four hours long, so I think they did good with the allotted time. Well after reading all of my movie critiques, you can probably only imagine how excited I am for the seventh movie: part one to come out. I really wish that they didn't have to spread out the dates between the seventh part one and two so much because I am the kind of person that will forget everything like a day after I see it.

Well that's that for now. Comment on my Harry Potter loving, and if you're a Harry Potter hater...oh wait there's no such thing! :) Leave me some comments!

Pelekania

Conversation between 7 year old brother and 19 year old sister

This was a conversation between my 7 year old brother, Colton, and my 19 year old sister, Courtney. I found this conversation rather funny. Leave me a comment and let me know what you think of it!

Colton: Hey Courtney?
Courtney: Yes, Colton?
Colton: Courtney, can boys marry boys?
Courtney: Yes Colton.
Colton: *thinks*
Colton: Hey Courtney?
Courtney: Yes Colton?
Colton: Can girls marry girls?
Courtney: Yes Colton.
Colton: *thinks for a longer time*
Colton: Wow, if a girl married a girl, they would have a LOT of babies!
Courtney: ...yes Colton.

Pelekania

Goodnight Moon...Harry Potter Style

This was the original book that everyone knows from their childhood, Goodnight Moon, written by Margaret Wise Brown, but I put a twist on the book. This is Goodnight Moon with Harry Potter spells added in. Read through it and tell me what you think!

In the great green room
There was a telephone, Accio Telephone!
And a red balloon
And a picture of-
The cow jumping over the moon, Expecto Patronum!
And there were three little bears sitting on chairs
And two little kittens
And a pair of mitt-STUPEFY!
And a little toy house
And a young mouse, AVADA KADAVRA!
A comb and brush
And a bowl full of mush
And a quiet old lady
Whispering "hush," Quietus.
Goodnight room
Goodnight moon
Goodnight cow jumping over the moon
Goodnight light, lumos, and the red balloon, Wingardium Leviosa.
Goodnight bears, goodnight chairs
Goodnight kittens, goodnight mittens, Rictusempra.
Goodnight clocks, goodnight socks
Goodnight little house, goodnight mouse
Goodnight comb, goodnight brush
Goodnight nobody, goodnight mush, Obliviate
And goodnight to the old lady whispering "hush"
Goodnight stars, goodnight air
Goodnight noises everywhere
I solemnly swear that I'm up to no good.

Pelekania

Book: The Weight of Silence

The Weight of Silence, written by Heather Gudenkauf, is a story about a small girl named Callie, who lives in Iowa. Callie is what they call a selective mute, meaning, she can talk, but she chooses not to. The book starts off with Callie waking up in the middle of the night needing to go to the bathroom, but she doesn't want to because her father, Griff, is downstairs where the only bathroom is. Callie doesn't want to go by her father because she knows he is only going to try to make her talk. Griff is an alcoholic and I think it was his fault that Callie doesn't talk anymore. When Callie was younger, her mother, Antonia, was pregnant and Griff got mad at her and pushed her down the stairs. Callie started screaming and crying and Griff yelled at her to stop and she did. And she never spoke again.

Callie finally decides to go downstairs very quietly and try to sneak into the bathroom. Of course, her father catches her and starts talking to her kindly at first and then gets angry at her refusal to speak. Griff takes her outside, dragging Callie by the arm and heads for the forest. Callie knows the forest well because that's where she chooses to spend most of her time with her older brother, Ben. While walking to the forest, Callie's friend Petra sees them walking and runs outside to try and catch up. Skipping forward a little bit, Callie and Griff get lost in the forest and Callie takes this chance to try and run away from Griff. She doesn't get too far the first time, but tries again and manages to lose her father for a while.

Petra is still trying to follow them, when she gets lost in the forrest by herself. The next morning, Antonia realizes that Callie is gone and calls everyone asking if they had seen her. Griff was supposed to be on a fishing trip but they thought that he was still there and not with Callie. The search is on to find the two missing girls. Everyone gets involved and search parties are sent out. Callie hears people calling her name in the forrest but doesn't approach them because she knows they will try to take her to her father. Sheriff Louis gets involved and I really liked his character because he was really nice and did all he could to find the girls. Louis and Antonia had a past together. They were high school sweethearts and Griff was convinced that Callie was Louis' daughter and not his. So, therefore, Griff has a grudge against Louis.

Skipping forward again, Callie finds Petra who had passed out from dehydration and they are both found by Ben. Ben sends Callie out of the forrest to get help and she does. When she gets back to her mother, she says one word...Ben. The first word she had said in 5 years. Petra's father was standing with Antonia and immediately thought Ben had been the one to abduct his daughter so he runs into the forrest and finds Ben standing next to an almost dead Petra. Petra's father jumps on Ben with all of his force and nearly kills Ben. The whole thing is eventually sorted out and The girls are taken out of the forrest and to the hospital. Callie finds her voice again and can't stop talking.

I really liked the layout of this book, because you read the book from each characters point of view. So, you knew everything that was going on but the characters didn't. I would rate this book at a 10/10 and I recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Pelekania

I give the quote, you give the movie

These are some of the most famous movie quotes ever known. Can you name the movies they are from?

1. "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."
2. "I see dead people."
3. "Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore."
4. "My mama always said,'Life was like a box of chocolates; you never know what you're gonna get.'"
5. "May the Force be with you."
6. "What we've got here is a failure to communicate."
7. "E.T. phone home."
8. "Is this heaven?"  "No it's Iowa."
9. "I'll be back."
10. "There's no place like home."
11. "Houston, we have a problem."
12. "I shall call him Squishy. And he shall be mine. And he shall be MY Squishy."
13. "Go that way, really fast. If something gets in your way, turn."
14. "You're killin' me Smalls!"
15. "Nobody puts Baby in a corner."

Pelekania

I give the song, you give the band/singer

These are some of the best classic rock songs the world has ever known. Can you name the band/singer that performed these fifty famous songs? Enjoy!

1. Stairway To Heaven
2. Highway To Hell
3. Afternoons And Coffeespoons
4. Jailhouse Rock
5. Bohemian Rhapsody
6. Won't Get Fooled Again
7. American Pie
8. Dream On
9. Back On My Feet Again
10. Don't Stop Believin'
11. All Right Now
12. I Want You To Want Me
13. Footloose
14. Hot Blooded
15. It's Only Rock'n'Roll (But I Like It)
16. Eye Of The Tiger
17. Respect
18. Hey Jude
19. Hotel California
20. Superstition
21. Dust In The Wind
22. We Will Rock You
23. You Shook Me All Night Long
24. Sweet Child O' Mine
25. You Ain't Seen Nothin' Yet
26. Back In Black
27. Rock and Roll All Night
28. Paradise By The Dashboard Light
29. Werewolves of London
30. We're An American Band
31. Free Fallin'
32. Come Sail Away
33. Paint It Black
34. Strawberry Fields Forever
35. Carry On Wayward Son
36. Brown Eyed Girl
37. Take It On The Run
38. Rocket Man
39. Suspicious Minds
40. Iron Man
41. Desperado
42. Surrender
43. Takin' Care Of Business
44. Born In The U.S.A.
45. Surfin' U.S.A.
46. Roll With The Changes
47. Smooth Criminal
48. More Than A Feeling
49. Sweet Home Alabama
50. Lets Spend The Night Together

Pelekania

Book: October Sky

I am currently reading the book October Sky, a story of the life of Homer H. Hickam Jr. The book was originally entitled Rocket Boys and yes, the movie October Sky was based off of this book. This book is really good. I'm only about 150 pages in but it's still amazing. It tells about his struggles making rockets especially when his father doesn't approve of it. The book really emphasizes on how you need to follow your dreams no matter what anybody else tells you. It has some slow parts in the book but it always picks itself back up. I would, so far, rate this book at an 8 out of 10 because, like I said some parts can be rather boring, but it's still a really exciting book.

Pelekania

Movie: Black Beauty

Has anyone seen the movie Black Beauty? Yeah if you say 'no' consider yourself lucky. I had the unfortunate opportunity of seeing this movie when I was about 10 (my dad made me and my sister watch it). Besides not being able to understand anything that was going on it was really boring. The whole movie is basically about a pretty black pony who goes to a new owner. Then she goes to a new owner. Then she goes to another new owner. Get the point? The whole movie is the pretty black pony going from one owner to another. On a scale of 1 to 10, this movie ranks a 1.5, the only thing keeping this movie from being a 1 is how pretty the pony was.

Pelekania

Welcome

My blog is going to be reviews on an assortment of movies, books, and music. I will rate each book or movie on a scale from 1 (being the worst) to 10 (being the best). I will read approximately one book a week, depending on the length, and write what I thought of the book and whether I would recommend it to others.