Sunday, June 24, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
movies, i guess
Wayne and I saw 1408 yesterday. I love John Cusack. A lot. I've adored him since my teenage years in the 80s. Since before Say Anything, but Say Anything is one of my favorite movies.
1408 has received pretty good to excellent reviews; I love a good thriller and Stephen King and John Cusack, so it seemed only natural that we go see it in the theater, even though it is a PG-13 movie. Generally, we avoid PG-13 because those movies usually have a young and obnoxious audience who have no business watching a movie in public without parental supervision.
Ok, 1408 had my palms sweaty and had my crying-- or close to it. John Cusack's performance was so, so, so good. He dominated the screen time, and he sucked you right in. His character felt so real and raw and...angry. It twists and turns, and I got a chill at the end. Go see it.
And speaking of movie ratings, we watched This Film is Not Yet Rated. This movie made my jaw drop-- the opening sequence alone was like, wow:
Actually, I just rewatched it, and it didn't seem so shocking anymore. It probably didn't help that Paige and her friend were in the room with us, and Maya and her friend were upstairs, which meant I was watching from the bottom of the stairs to run interference, if needed.
It was really eye-opening. I have always paid attention to the ratings and sometimes, even when I paid attention to the ratings, I was annoyed about how inconsistent ratings tend to be. Raunchiness gets more and more tolerated as does violence. Some R movies make me wonder why the heck they are R, and some PG-13 movies (or PG) cause me to wonder how they got away with those seemingly benign ratings. I never really thought about who is rating these movies, but now I know. Nine people rate the movies we see, and if a film-maker want to appeal a given rating, a board consisting solely of people who are employed by various movie studios and movie theater companies will hear the appeal.
There is even an amusing part about piracy, which the MPAA is fighting against full force. I've decided I don't like the MPAA.
So today was party day.
Maya had two over-lapping brithday parties to attend. They were fun-- bowling at one and a circus themed party (with bounce house) at the other. During the first party, one of my friends (a mom of one of Maya's friends) and I went to the farmer's market, which was so fun. I ate a freshly made pretzel and a doughnut that was the best doughnut I've ever tasted. I also got a bouquet of stunning red lillies for only $10. I'll have to take a picture. After the parties, two of Maya's friends came over for a few hours. It was busy today.
Once the kiddos left (a successful playdate, I must say), Britt, Maya and I watched Howl's Moving Castle (Rated PG for frightening images and brief mild language). We love Spirited Away, which is another Miyazaki film, and this film was so layered. I have to say that some of it went over my head, so I could use another viewing. I love movies that require more than one round through to catch everything.
1408 has received pretty good to excellent reviews; I love a good thriller and Stephen King and John Cusack, so it seemed only natural that we go see it in the theater, even though it is a PG-13 movie. Generally, we avoid PG-13 because those movies usually have a young and obnoxious audience who have no business watching a movie in public without parental supervision.
Ok, 1408 had my palms sweaty and had my crying-- or close to it. John Cusack's performance was so, so, so good. He dominated the screen time, and he sucked you right in. His character felt so real and raw and...angry. It twists and turns, and I got a chill at the end. Go see it.
And speaking of movie ratings, we watched This Film is Not Yet Rated. This movie made my jaw drop-- the opening sequence alone was like, wow:
Actually, I just rewatched it, and it didn't seem so shocking anymore. It probably didn't help that Paige and her friend were in the room with us, and Maya and her friend were upstairs, which meant I was watching from the bottom of the stairs to run interference, if needed.
It was really eye-opening. I have always paid attention to the ratings and sometimes, even when I paid attention to the ratings, I was annoyed about how inconsistent ratings tend to be. Raunchiness gets more and more tolerated as does violence. Some R movies make me wonder why the heck they are R, and some PG-13 movies (or PG) cause me to wonder how they got away with those seemingly benign ratings. I never really thought about who is rating these movies, but now I know. Nine people rate the movies we see, and if a film-maker want to appeal a given rating, a board consisting solely of people who are employed by various movie studios and movie theater companies will hear the appeal.
There is even an amusing part about piracy, which the MPAA is fighting against full force. I've decided I don't like the MPAA.
So today was party day.
Maya had two over-lapping brithday parties to attend. They were fun-- bowling at one and a circus themed party (with bounce house) at the other. During the first party, one of my friends (a mom of one of Maya's friends) and I went to the farmer's market, which was so fun. I ate a freshly made pretzel and a doughnut that was the best doughnut I've ever tasted. I also got a bouquet of stunning red lillies for only $10. I'll have to take a picture. After the parties, two of Maya's friends came over for a few hours. It was busy today.
Once the kiddos left (a successful playdate, I must say), Britt, Maya and I watched Howl's Moving Castle (Rated PG for frightening images and brief mild language). We love Spirited Away, which is another Miyazaki film, and this film was so layered. I have to say that some of it went over my head, so I could use another viewing. I love movies that require more than one round through to catch everything.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Brittani's Big Deal
Last night was the ninth grade dance, which is the end of the year dance for all ninth graders in our district. Six junior high schools, which is easily 1,500+ kids.
Brittani went with three friends; they had dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant, then we drovethem to the dance. The dance was lame, apparently, but Britt really seemed to enjoy the primping and posing part of the night.
Here's a slideshow, but you can go through the pictures here, if you don't feel like sitting through a slideshow.
Eight more years until the next ninth grade dance. Whoo-hoo!
Oh, I forgot to add: when we dropped them off at the dance, which was held at the fairgrounds, there were a ton of parents across the street from the entrance-- it looked like a swarm of Suburban Paparazzi. The last picture in the slideshow was of one of the most stylish guys that I saw at the dance. Seriously. I would love one of my girls to go to a dance with aguy dressed like that: pink spiked mohawk, tux jacket of some type with a red kilt. So much better than those guys who try to look like pimps. What is that about anyway? Why do the girls tolerate that? Anyway, I was hanging out the window taking pictures, and he says, "This is really freaking me out. All these people hanging out of ccars taking pictures. It's freaky." So I took a picture of him-- though it's blurry and poorly executed.
Brittani went with three friends; they had dinner at a nice little Italian restaurant, then we drovethem to the dance. The dance was lame, apparently, but Britt really seemed to enjoy the primping and posing part of the night.
Here's a slideshow, but you can go through the pictures here, if you don't feel like sitting through a slideshow.
Eight more years until the next ninth grade dance. Whoo-hoo!
Oh, I forgot to add: when we dropped them off at the dance, which was held at the fairgrounds, there were a ton of parents across the street from the entrance-- it looked like a swarm of Suburban Paparazzi. The last picture in the slideshow was of one of the most stylish guys that I saw at the dance. Seriously. I would love one of my girls to go to a dance with aguy dressed like that: pink spiked mohawk, tux jacket of some type with a red kilt. So much better than those guys who try to look like pimps. What is that about anyway? Why do the girls tolerate that? Anyway, I was hanging out the window taking pictures, and he says, "This is really freaking me out. All these people hanging out of ccars taking pictures. It's freaky." So I took a picture of him-- though it's blurry and poorly executed.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
juuuuuune!
It's June, which means crazy times at my house.
The end of school is just hectic, and I hate it, but I do love summer.
We got some great news this past week: we got into the co-op for next year, which means we are not going to be at the brand-spankin' new multi-million dollar school, but we will be in an awesome program in an old run-down school. My friend, Stacy, whose son is in class with Maya this year and who also got into the 1st grade co-op, said it's like a private school within the public school. And it's free. It's so true. This year in the co-op has been simply awesome.
I really didn't think our program was that different from the rest of the classes, but I worked field day this week, which gave me a comparison. I only worked with the kinders, and I was shocked that there were kinders in the other classes (one class in particluar) who couldn't write their names! It's the end of the year! Maya's class, which is full day (I was working with morning kinders and our full day) and has heavy parent involvement (we have to work 90 hours/year and at least 30 of those hours have to be contact hours meaning working with the kids rather than taking home a project that needs to be completed) is reading-- all of them. It's amazing.
The classes are multi-age classes, too, and it's multi-age in philosophy not just because there is overflow. Maya already knows the 1/2 teacher, which is great. The class ize is only, like, 20 kids instead of 30. There was a parent who toured the co-op with us last year who said she was putiing her kid in the co-op because his regular class was just so crowded.
And the field trips...ah. A field trip (or more) a month instead of two or three field trips a year. So exciting.
ALso, on the education front, Paige brought up all her grades. Hallelujah! She also registered at the other high school, which she will be attending next year. Paige and Brittani will each be at different high schools next year. It should be fine, though.
I'm hoping that Paige will be able to bring her car home this weekend.
She also passed the reading and writing portion of the WASL. She didn't pass math, but I wasn't concerned about that because I thought the legislature decided to hold off on requiring passing math in order to graduate, but that's not what the paper said that was sent with the WASL results. I'm confused. They can't make it black and white; it's always so gray.
Paige got her annual this week, too, which was bigger than a textbook. It took me about an hour to just flip through the pages. I'm freaking about how quickly the next two years will fly by, and then my oldest baby will be a high school graduate. I get all emotional just thinking about it. That will also be the year of my 20th high school reunion. That's freaky, too.
Brittani is getting ready to go to the Big Dance next week. She is all ready to go. Tuesday she'll get her mani-pedi and her eyebrows waxed; she has reservations at a great restaurant by PLU for dinner with her three friends. I am so excited for her! She's going to have so much fun.
And then next year, she is at the high school. Two kids in high school. How did that happen?
There is still a week left of school. Yuck. I told them they don't have to go to the last day.
In a few weeks, Paige has a cousin coming to visit (at her dad's) from Kansas. We have a cousin coming to visit from SC. Maya and I are going on a girls-only camping trip with a friend and her daughter. Maya is planning a "pool party" at our house to celebrate the beginning of summer. We bought a pool that is 20x12x4 that will hopefully fit in our backyard. Maya also has a couple of camps to go to and swim lessons. Tonight is her bridging ceremony from Daisy Girl Scouts to Brownies.
I love summer.
The end of school is just hectic, and I hate it, but I do love summer.
We got some great news this past week: we got into the co-op for next year, which means we are not going to be at the brand-spankin' new multi-million dollar school, but we will be in an awesome program in an old run-down school. My friend, Stacy, whose son is in class with Maya this year and who also got into the 1st grade co-op, said it's like a private school within the public school. And it's free. It's so true. This year in the co-op has been simply awesome.
I really didn't think our program was that different from the rest of the classes, but I worked field day this week, which gave me a comparison. I only worked with the kinders, and I was shocked that there were kinders in the other classes (one class in particluar) who couldn't write their names! It's the end of the year! Maya's class, which is full day (I was working with morning kinders and our full day) and has heavy parent involvement (we have to work 90 hours/year and at least 30 of those hours have to be contact hours meaning working with the kids rather than taking home a project that needs to be completed) is reading-- all of them. It's amazing.
The classes are multi-age classes, too, and it's multi-age in philosophy not just because there is overflow. Maya already knows the 1/2 teacher, which is great. The class ize is only, like, 20 kids instead of 30. There was a parent who toured the co-op with us last year who said she was putiing her kid in the co-op because his regular class was just so crowded.
And the field trips...ah. A field trip (or more) a month instead of two or three field trips a year. So exciting.
ALso, on the education front, Paige brought up all her grades. Hallelujah! She also registered at the other high school, which she will be attending next year. Paige and Brittani will each be at different high schools next year. It should be fine, though.
I'm hoping that Paige will be able to bring her car home this weekend.
She also passed the reading and writing portion of the WASL. She didn't pass math, but I wasn't concerned about that because I thought the legislature decided to hold off on requiring passing math in order to graduate, but that's not what the paper said that was sent with the WASL results. I'm confused. They can't make it black and white; it's always so gray.
Paige got her annual this week, too, which was bigger than a textbook. It took me about an hour to just flip through the pages. I'm freaking about how quickly the next two years will fly by, and then my oldest baby will be a high school graduate. I get all emotional just thinking about it. That will also be the year of my 20th high school reunion. That's freaky, too.
Brittani is getting ready to go to the Big Dance next week. She is all ready to go. Tuesday she'll get her mani-pedi and her eyebrows waxed; she has reservations at a great restaurant by PLU for dinner with her three friends. I am so excited for her! She's going to have so much fun.
And then next year, she is at the high school. Two kids in high school. How did that happen?
There is still a week left of school. Yuck. I told them they don't have to go to the last day.
In a few weeks, Paige has a cousin coming to visit (at her dad's) from Kansas. We have a cousin coming to visit from SC. Maya and I are going on a girls-only camping trip with a friend and her daughter. Maya is planning a "pool party" at our house to celebrate the beginning of summer. We bought a pool that is 20x12x4 that will hopefully fit in our backyard. Maya also has a couple of camps to go to and swim lessons. Tonight is her bridging ceremony from Daisy Girl Scouts to Brownies.
I love summer.
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