A whole month!!! Lots of news, good and bad.

Whoa! Can't believe I've been too lazy to post on Blogger for a whole month, nearly two! Lot's to talk about.

First of all, welcome home, Jacoby!

Been really busy for the last month and a half. At school, we've had essay after essay, book after book, project after project! I had to write a 7 page in class essay with no earlier preparation in two hours on the monster in Lord of the Flies, I've got to finish reading 1984 over winter break, and I have to finish a project worth most of my semester grade in the first couple days back to school. We've been working on the same Career project for months!

Earlier this month, I was in my first Fencing tournament! It was awesome. The place it was at was so much more... organized, than the elementary school gym in issaquah, that I go to for lessons. It was a Regional Youth Circuit, and wasn't worth any national points. I did great in the early prelim rounds, winning 2 out of my 4 matches with the people in my pool. Once the real matches started though, I lost my first match to the only other student from my fencing school, 15-14. I had a big lead for a while, but had no concept of clock management and was too aggressive. She took back the lead by one and ran out the clock, while I tried desperately to get back the lead. FAIL. In the end, I got 9th place out of 12, and surprisingly enough, the girl who beat me in my first match, Jade, won in 3rd place. Congrats!

I've read a lot of great books lately. I spent weeks reading through the Belgariad series, and it is fantastic! One of the best fantasy series ever! I started the Mallorean, but just didn't get into it. I finished book one, but then moved onto something new. Today, I went to Barnes and Noble and got three new books. Elantris by Brandon Sanderson, Magician: Apprentice (which I'm now reading) and Magician: Master by Raymond E. Feist. I've heard it's amazing, and it's pretty good so far. I'll find out I guess.

I've also seen a lot of movies in the last two months. I've watched all of the X-Men movies, including the new one, I've watched Star Trek (twice! In the last two days! Awsome!!!), Up, Sherlock Holmes (Good movie!), Old dogs (ok), and 21, the blackjack one. Most of the movies I've seen have been terrific, and I'm excited to go see Avatar tomorrow. Supposed to be fantastic.

Now for the bad news...

Winter break has been very eventful, although that is not necessarily good. Not good at all. I spent the first week being lazy, playing the new call of duty game and ping pong at my dads. We celebrated our first christmas with our dad's girlfriend, Jackie, and her family. That was fun, but afterward, was when the bad started. We couldn't go skiing Christmas day, because Jackie's daughter, Caroline wasn't feeling well. Turned out that skiing was the worst of our problems. That night, Caroline was even worse, so they decided to be safe and take her to the hostpital. She had a Pneumonia that was resilient to antibiotics and one of her lungs was filled with fluid, and the other was half filled. A few more hours of waiting, and she'd have died. Because they couldn't get the antibiotics to work, the weren't sure whether or not she'd be all right. Last night, the antibiotics began working though, and she's gotten a little better, although I haven't gotten the most recent news, because I've been with my mom the last few days. I'm seeing my dad tomorrow though, so I'll ask then. Luckily, they think she'll live, although she'll have to spend the next few weeks in the hospital.

Well, good luck Caroline.

That's all I've got to talk about for now. Sorry I've been gone so long.

Catching up

Crap!!! Sorry I wasn't able to write another post the night of my last one. After I got off the computer, my brothers claimed it for the rest of the night, and have since then. The only reason I can write now is because Jordan is still asleep, and Ezra flew to Virginia the other day to visit a friend. Jordan and I are still in Savannah for another week, until this Friday, though.

Yesterday, my Grandmama took Jordan and I to a family reunion, where I was able to meet a bunch of the family that I'd done research on for my family tree, and those I hadn't known existed.

Over the last week, I've seen a ton of new movies. I saw Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and I've gotta say, it sucked. My dad said he felt nauseous afterward, and there weren't even many disgusting scenes.

We also saw Ice Age III: Dawn of the Dinosaurs, and it wasn't half bad for an Ice Age movie. A bit silly of course, but it was way better than Transformers II.

And last, but certainly not least, the best movie of the series so far in my families opinion (Tilly, Jordan, and Ezra), HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE!!! Sadly, we weren't able to see it the day it came out. We had to wait until Thursday. The movie was terrific!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
They did skip a couple of scenes, but what they didn't skip, they did really well. Especially the Weasly's Wizard Wheezes! Awesome place! Oh yeah, and the Felix Felicis scene was hilarious!!!

I'll probably have more time to write now that Ezra isn't going to be hogging the computer, so I'll write later, although I may not get a chance until tomorrow. I've found a lot of really good TV shows. Maybe I'll write about them.

Jumper

I know I've already posted twice tonight, but we went over to my mom's friend, Shawn's, house to watch Jumper. Jumper is a sci-fi thriller about a 15 year old by who discovers that he has the power to Jump, to be able to teleport anywhere in the world in an instant. He quickly becomes rich by robbing a bank and leaves his mean father to live on his world, traveling all over the world everyday. He can surf waves in Fiji, climb Mount Everest, and have lunch on top of the Sphinx in an hour. He can do anything. But the Paladin's don't like that. David is pulled into an ancient war between the Jumpers and the Paladin's, a group of religious fanatics who believe that only God should have the power to do anything. The Paladin's hunt and murder anyone who has this power, and anyone who get's in their way; including David's girlfriend from before he left to travel the world. Suddenly, David and his girlfriend Millie are in a high-speed chase with some help from Griffen, another wise-cracking Jumper who'd been hunting Paladin's all his life. Amazing special effects. It was a pretty cool concept. I'd highly recomend it. It was very cool.

Inkheart: The Movie

Today, I went to see the movie version of Inkheart! It was actually pretty good. They ruined it, but they ruined it well. Wierd, I know. There were a few major changes, mostly in the beginning and end, but other than that, it stayed pretty true to the book.

****Movie and Book Spoilers Below****

• They changed the beginning. Dustfinger chased them around a marketplace somewhere snowy, instead of finding them at their home.
• Fenoglio had a manuscript of Inkheart in the movie.
• Elinor wasn't recaptured after they went to Fenoglio's village. She tried to go home, but instead went back to, with Darius, fight against Capricorn.
  
• Mo and Dustfinger went back to Capricorns village willingly, to try to find Resa.
• And the big one was that Meggie didn't finish reading Fenoglio's alternate story for the Shadow, and had to finish it by writing her own ending on her arm, in which ALL of Capricorn's men died, including Mortola and Basta.
• Resa could talk again at the end.
• Fenoglio asked to go into the book.
• Dustfinger was sent home to his wife by Mo at the end of the movie, and Farid stayed with the group at Elinor's house.

They made it so that they could not make a second, but it was still a good movie either way.

Fencing

Fencing: An olympic sport which is based off of swordfighting. 

Before 1st lesson:

I'm so excited!!! I start fencing lessons at the South Bellevue Community Center tonight!!! I've wanted to do this for so long. Watching Fencing in the Olympics really fueled my entusiasm (I don't usually use that kind of phrase.). And reading ton's of fantasy books really helped. Plus, if anyone has seen The Princess Bride, they'll know how that played into it. I can't wait. I am so jumpy that I decided to use a homework pass on one of my assignments. I wouldn't be able to finish more than 1 assignment because I'm so jumpy. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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There. That got rid of some of my jumpyness. Sorta. I'll post about my lesson after it happens.

By the way, I've gotten a lot of work done on my story in the last few days.

Like Bettina, I'm having trouble ending a post.

Awww... My cat looks so tiny curled up in a ball.

Ok. I'm done.

After 1st lesson:

It was really fun! I loved it. First, we started by learning the footwork: Engard, Advance, and Reverse. Then, we got a sword and learned how to hold it correctly. (The type of fencing we're learning is Epee, which is the French word for sword.) We also learned how to do the footwork while holding the sword, and how to do the basic attack: the Lunge. It was actually very tiring. Not only was the sword heavy, but holding the same bent-knees position for so long while moving hurts. I can't wait for my lesson next week.

Movies: Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, and Marley & Me

In my opinion, all were terrific!!!

The Batman movies, Batman Begins and The Dark Knight, were both amazing, with terrific acting and awesome special effects. I personally liked Batman Begins better. It chronicled the beginning of Batman, and his fight against, and training with, the League of Shadows. The League of Shadows was a group that destroyed a city when it became to corrupt and terrible... and everyone in it. Their next target was Bruce Wayne, Batman's, home: Gotham City. It was completely run by criminals, and at their head was Carmine Falconie. Batman could have easily killed all the criminals, but was completely against killing. However, he might have to break this rule to fight the Scarecrow, the runner of an insane asylum who takes criminals and drives them insane with a hallucinogen which makes them see their worst fear. Even worse, the Scarecrow isn't Batman's biggest problem when he discovers a plot to drive all of Gotham insane. Sorry if I told too much. Got a little carried away there. Either way, it was insanely cool (literally!) I liked it more than the sequel, The Dark Night. Batman Begins had great acting, especially by the two villains, played by Liam Neeson and Cillian Murphy (he was a little wierd.)

It seems that the villains are always played best. Both The Joker and... the other villain were played amazingly, by Heath Ledger, and... another person. I don't want to spoil the identity of the other villain, but I'll say his villain name: Two-Face. Both were beyond creepy. In The Dark Night, Batman is continuing his fight against crime with Liutenant Gordan and the new District Attorney, Harvey Dent. Their newest enemy is, of course, The Joker. His two biggest lines in the movie are, in my opinion, "Why so serious?" as he says before slicing a permanent smile into someone's face, and, the line Jacoby mentioned once, "Madness is like gravity. All it takes is a little push." Heath Ledger had his great, and last, proformance.

Marley & Me seems like the complete opposite of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. It was also great! Even though it was sad. I'm not a very realistic person. I want to become a bestselling author, although that isn't very realistic. I read mostly fantasy, and unless I'm suddenly in an alternate universe (which also isn't very realistic) those aren't realistic. See? Either way, I don't usually like these kinds of movies. It was hilarious, sad, and heart-warming. Owen Wilson was great in it, but there were a lot of other good actors. Like the many Marley's. The dog, Marley, was played by so many different dogs, because throughout the movie, Marley got older and older. The movie is about John Grogan's life with his new wife, his new job as a columnist, and most of all, his new dog. Marley seemed so sweet at the beginning, at the dog pound, and the couple was even more encouraged to get him with the nickname the owner gave him, clearance puppy, but things started going downhill with the line, "How are you still eating?" as Marley rolled around on the floor, licking up all of the spilled food. Now they knew why he was on sale. As it turned out, worst dog ever. Or so they thought. The movie was much better than I made it sound, considering I went on and on. I loved it, and the end was enough to make me cry. Terrific.

City of Ember

Wow. The City of Ember was surprisingly better than the book. Then again, the book wasn't that great. The movie was much more exciting. It's a good thing that my little brother, Jordan, hadn't read the book, else he wouldn't have wanted to see it. The book was way more boring. I think they did really well with it. My favorite character was Doon. He was pretty cool. I liked how he liked to invent stuff and take care of his giant moth. Well, it wasn't that great, so I don't have much more to talk about.

Get Smart

Today, my little brother and I got to go and see Get Smart. Sadly, we missed the best part: The Previews. Just kidding. We both loved it. I would gladly go and see it again.

Maxwell Smart (Steve Carrel) is the best analyst CONTROL has. He is good friends with the chief and the top agent (Dwaine Johnson) and always find good information in the most unlikely ways, like from a voice clip in Russian of two suspects of being KAOS members talking about muffins. His biggest dream is to become a field agent, but after his perfect agent-test score and he is refused the job because he is the best at his current one, he is heartbroken. However, when he gets to work and finds that KAOS has broken in and found files on all current agents, a new agent is needed and Max is the only man for the job. When he is paired with Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway) for a very important mission, she soon finds that he is very smart and very clumsy. He has his moments, and they have to be good if he's going to make up for what happened in his last moment.

Get Smart was a really great and funny move and was completley worth $6. If you get a chance to go and see a movie and this is playing, it is a must see.

The Princess Bride

The Princess Bride is one of the funniest movies that I have ever seen. It is an old family favorite and even my little brothers love it.

The Princess Bride was based off of a book and is about Buttercup and Wesley, two people who have fallen in love. Because Wesley has no money for marriage, he goes off to work at sea, but is killed in a raid by "The Dread Pirate Roberts." Buttercup lost the will to live after hearing the news. After many years, she is chosen by Prince Humperdink to be his bride. Buttercup did not love him, but one day, when taking a ride on her horse, she is kidnapped by three oddballs, Inigo the swordsman, Fezzik the Giant, and Vizzini, a man trying to start a war between two neighboring countries. After a while, they realized that they are being chased by a man in black. After he defeats Inigo and Fezzik, he kills Vizzini in a battle of wits to save Buttercup. After killing Vizzini, he reveals himself to be Wesley, but sadly there is still Humperdink in the way of he and Buttercup's love. Watch the movie to find out how it all ends, and to laugh for about 98 minutes!

Tonight, my neighbor is coming over to watch with my brothers and I. Also, tomorrow is the last day of school!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm leaving for camp this Saturday.

Random Stuff: June

Sorry I posted this late. I've been very busy.

1. I have decided on my list of camp books. Check back on June 16th for my list.

2. My Culture Project on James Fontaine is finally done. I know that I got at least an A- on it. My presentation was supposed to be at least 10-15 minutes. Instead, it was 19 minutes long.

3. Hooray!!! School ends one week from today. And the last day is only 20 minutes per period. The second to last day is field day.

4. Hooray!!! Again! Next Saturday, the 14th is the day when I go to sleep-away camp. Sadly, starting then, I wont be able to post until early July. :(

5. I will soon be posting on two movies I've seen recently: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skulls and The Princess Bride. Both are great movies!

6. My brothers have both gotten new video games. It is very distracting when your working on school projects.

7. Speaking of school projects, I have another big project for school. It is a Baseball Statistics Project for school. We were supposed to pick a player and I chose Chipper Jones from the Atlanta Braves.

8. I can't think of any thing else to say.

9. Wait, one last thing. I'm going to have my contest to win a copy of Farworld: Water Keep by J Scott Savage soon, before I go to camp. I'll announce the winner when I get back from camp. Bye!

Hilarious YouTube Videos

I have found two really funny YouTube videos. One of them is called "Who's Phone" and the other is called "Kids' Rock." They are both great!

Here are the links:

"Who's Phone"

"Kids' Rock"

Hope you like them!

Percy Jackson and The Olympians: Battle of the Labyrinth

1. Sorry I haven't posted in the last week. I've been really busy with stuff. I have a culture project to do. I have Karate lessons. I have bar-mitzvah lessons. My Grandma Alice is visiting. Plus all of my normal homework.

2. Today was amazing!!!

We went to see Cirque du Soleil: Corteo. For those who don't know what Cirque is, it is a huge French circus group that does amazing stunts in a very theatrical way. It was so cool! My favorite acts were thier trapoline act, thier person in a wheel act (I don't know what it was called,) thier human trapeze act, and their juggling act. The rest of the show was still amazing!

3. Finally, today I finished Battle of the Labyrinth, by Rick Riordan. It was great! Now, there is only one more book in the Percy Jackson series, which started with The Lighting Theif, which I read again 3 days ago. 2 days ago, I finished it. Yesterday, I got Battle of the Labyrinth. It was a great book, but had a really twisted ending. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but I'll give a little synopsis. In the 4th book, after being chased by deamon cheerleaders, meeting an old human aquantince, and finding out that not only the lost god Pan, but the key to Kronoses victory over the gods might be hidden in the labyrinth, Percy is thrown back into the war, fighting for his life through an unsolvable maze. The gods face more betrayal and need Percy, Annabeth, Tyson, and Grover to find Deadalus, the inventor of the labyrinth before Luke does. Also, Annabeth is given a mysterious prophecy about the quest and Percy is having more dreams, about Luke and Kronos, Nico, son of Hades, and Deadalus and the truth of his past. This book is even more exciting then the other books. I can't wait for the next book!

4. Tomorrow, I am going to see The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

5. I hope my brother Ezra is having a great trip! He is taking a trip to Virginia to visit his best friend, Brett.

Iron Man: Part 1

This kinda stinks. Here was my schedule for today:
1. Jon and Ben's Bar-Mitzvah
2. Go and See "Iron Man"
3. Jon and Ben's Bar-Mitzvah Party
4. Go to Bed

Now, here was how my day turned out:
1. Jon and Ben's Bar-Mitzvah
2. Go and See "Iron Man"
3. Watch my brother Ezra throw-up during the movie
4. Come home.
5. Start to feel sick.
6. Not go to Ben and Jon's Bar-Mitzvah party

I was going to post a review of Iron Man, but since I didn't see the whole think, I can't. However, my dad got passes from the manager to come and see the movie again. I think we're going next week. I'll post a review then. This stinks.