The Dunes

We went to Warren Dunes State Park in Michigan this weekend! We climbed 7-story piles of sand, swam in a chilly lake, dug a deep hole, played baseball, ate delicious camp food, stargazed, and slept in a tent. Here’s a pic of a seagull stealing our peanuts on the beach:

Harry Potter fandom (of course)…spoiler warning (!)

I saw Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince almost a week ago, and finally got around to sharing my thoughts on it.

Overall, I enjoyed the movie quite a bit. There were a lot of great one-liners and running jokes that made the movie very entertaining, picking up the essence of JK Rowling’s witty style of writing. This movie was a tough adaptation from the book, and I was happy with the way they handled key ideas in the story.

Of course, every adaption of a movie requires sacrifices, and there was some neglect that made me sad. The main thing that annoys me is that this movie promised more action to non-Potterites, and much of this action was really unnecessary, not to mentioned unnoticed by my friends who didn’t read the books but saw the movie.

I really wish they kept the book’s opening intact — the beginning of Book VI is one of my favorites because it’s full of action. The Unbreakable Vow allows Snape to really develop as a character and foreshadows his importance in this book. Instead, they chose an elaborate opening involving dark shadows complete with horrible CGI collapsing bridges. The imagery was rather vague; you couldn’t tell if the shadows were dark angels, dementors, or Death Eaters, and it didn’t seem to matter to the moviemakers.

The WORST, though, was Warner Bros’ choice to burn down the Weasleys’ Burrow on Christmas. The burning of the Burrow seemed like unnecessary action, feeling like a ploy to introduce Tonks as Lupin’s girlfriend, after she was already switched out in favor of Luna Lovegood on the Hogwarts Express! Also, how are they going to explain the Weasley’s homelessness in the seventh movie? Major plotkill.

I also suffered a few minor, forgivable disappointments — the depiction of Felix Felicis, the good-luck potion that Harry drinks, is “splashing about merrily, [...] about the color of molten gold, and the large drops [...] leaping like goldfish above the surface.” I was looking forward to watching leaping gold and instead got a lame vial of translucent amber. Nonetheless, the scene where Harry takes the potion cracked me up, I just wish they explained why wizards don’t regularly take Felix Felicis, because as it is, you’re left with plot holes. Also, Dumbledore’s huge cabinet of Voldemort memories was far too obvious and out in the open for it to be realistic. Dumbledore has too many enemies and curious bureaucrats going through his office regularly for him to keep something that big lying out in the open like that. Dumbledore’s shriveled hand seemed realistic, but I wish they pointed it out sooner in the movie, as in during his speech in the Welcoming Feast. I kept looking for Ravenclaw’s diadem but didn’t see it…? How will Harry know it’s there in the seventh movie? And while we’re on the subject, why did they neglect Voldemort’s obsession with symbols and power, even though they established how Dumbledore collected all his memories? Now every Horcrux find that Harry makes is going to seem unconvincingly random.

There were some teenage angst moments, some where I had to facepalm because they seemed so out of character. Harry would not just ask out a Muggle girl at the beginning, Dumbledore would not casually ask Harry about how he relates to Hermione, things like that. I was very happy to see that they left in “Won-Won,” that was great.

I enjoyed the visual motifs throughout the movie, such as Dementors attacking Muggle neighborhoods in the present as well as past. Like director Alfonso Cuarón in the third movie, David Yates did a good job of filming the natural beauty of Hogwarts and working within the scenery. Also, I liked the obscure foreshadowing of Dumbledore’s Elder Wand being fancier than most.

The main thing I’m happy about is how much Dan Radcliffe is growing up and developing in the spotlight. Honestly, from the first movie, I had my doubts and worried about him underacting, but he really stands well alongside those adult actors. On the other hand, Emma Watson seems to be loosing her skill and poise. She used to easily act circles around the boys…but now I’m disillusioned, maybe after her wardrobe malfunction or statement about going naked…oh, Emma. Slughorn was perfect, and I still love Bellatrix LeStrange — she’s easily my favorite book-to-movie character.

If you’re not convinced Dan Radcliffe doesn’t have poise, check out these adorable ways he’s handled fandom recently…I’ll leave you with that.

Daniel Radcliffe Aces Interview With 11-year-old Scholastic Reporter

math fundies say the darnest things!

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU—-

digital photography class

These past few weeks I’ve been teaching summer classes where I work. It’s been really fun — each class was a week long, from 9-12. Our final week, I taught Intro to Digital Photography, meant to be an introductory class for Photoshop. Here is the work my kids have been learning, ranging from 4th grade to 8th grade. Go to “Students Learn Photoshop” under “News”: Countryside School. Direct Link here.

One million giraffes

There’s this guy trying to get one million hand-drawn pictures of giraffes by the year 2011. Who knows if he’ll make it; the Internet is a strange and large place. I just submitted mine, are you going to submit yours?

One million giraffes

house-hunting

We’ve been house-hunting for a couple weeks but haven’t found anything yet. There are a lot of old and strange houses in Urbana. Maybe we’ll get a condo. I’m kind of excited to buy — no more quarters for laundry!

I think the first week of summer school went well. I taught astronomy and gave kids their first starparty last night. They seemed just as thrilled and awed as we were when we were in high school at our first starparty — told them about planets, circumpolar constellations, the ecliptic, zodiac constellations, and Greek mythology. Next week I’ll be teaching another passion — Math and Art!

Kevin and I went sailing today. It was really nice out, though a bit gusty (in sailing, you want steady winds). At least we didn’t capsize. There were also a bunch of annoying motorboats out, who need to die.

Old

Oh, wow. My little brother is going to be married in a couple of weeks. And Kevin and Ernie just had their birthdays, and soon I’ll be 26, almost 30. We’re getting old. I think it really hit me when a 4th grader told me that he was born in 2000 during recess today. 2000 — that was when Y2K was freaking everyone out and we were in high school. And some day (very soon, actually) we’ll have to tell kids what it was like in 2000. And 2001: A Space Odyssey will be a comedy show, to them.

The scariest thing about being an adult is waking up and realizing your high school is running your world.

spring and mandalas

Spring (and Spring Break) is here! We planted some blackberries, chives, tulips, and wildflowers on Saturday. When we went to the greenhouse, there was a “desert” room, and I saw people oogling at cactus plants. It’s kind of funny to think that those are considered exotic out here.

I had my kids do a mandala assignment in geometry. I think they turned out pretty well; there are some really artistic kids in that class. It amazes me that there are some Illustrator/Photoshop whizzes who are only 13. I’ll try posting them next chance I get to take some pictures or whatever.

More MathCounts News

My predictions for this year were fun to make; I’ll have to be more rigorous for next year when the time gets closer:

Our team finished 20 our of 88 teams competing at state. Two on our team finished in the top 25%, placing 37 and 60. Between all the kids who were past or present Countryside students, we made up the top 10% at State. So, I was very happy.

Uni finished 4th place — whoohoo! So they got a trophy.

The kid who got first in Chapter finished 9th in State. So he went up for Countdown Round but did not go to Nationals.

And now I’m ready for Spring Break!

more to-dos

Two more Saturdays of February. I can’t wait for March! Now the big news is that our MathCounts team is going to compete in State Finals on March 7. Yay! We’re very excited. I predict that Uni will finish with a trophy, and the kid who got first in Chapter will go to nationals.

Kevin and I watched The Prestige last night. It was very good but also kind of confusing. I like David Bowie as Tesla — didn’t realize it was him until after looking it up though. We’ve also been getting into 30 Rock, Tina Fey’s show.

Can’t wait for Spring Break!