Lousy Weather

Today I am ranting from school. It is indoor recess because of the lousy weather outside, so that's what I'm going to rant about. Last Friday, we had a snow day because there was about 7 inches of snow. Winter started abruptly, (not that I mind) but the weather hasn't been exactly pure white since. Today I can barely believe that we even have school because there's like, 2 inches of slush which are already turning into ice, AND there's a blizzard warning from 1:30 pm today to 4:00pm TOMORROW. So at least there has to be a snow day tomorrow. It's dark, gloomy, and depressing, and it's raining really hard. Anyway, recess is over so I have to stop,and I'm really hoping that I have to go home early today, but until then, I just have to wait.

Sadly, I can't change the weather.

Sickness

Today i had some sinus problems again. I've had sinus problems for a while now, probably because of allergys. But this time it got ALOT worse. My right ear started to hurt really bad because apparently my eustation tube is plugged. Ive had tylonol, ibeprophen, and I even tried chewing gum because that's supposed to help. Much to my dislike, it did not work. So my Mom looked on the internet and found that certain ear drops are supposed to help. She called CVS and they didn't have any. Then she called the doctor and got me a little subscription. She went upstairs and when she came back she told me that we had to wait for my dad to come back. All this time, I'm sitting on the couch watching Pirates Of The Carribean: Dead Mans Chest and feeling miserable. And of course, my sinuses are bad because I can barely breath through my right nostril and even as I write this my subscription is not doing anything to make my ear feel better. Ive been sick before, but never like this. I suppose sickness didn't start until after The Fall but no matter what, It's got to be the worst thing ever invented.

Annoying People at School

It's kind of amazing how some people at school just don't care if they're poking you, stealing your hat, or putting sticky pieces of paper on your chair right before you sit down, and YOU DON'T WANT THEM TO.

Having been at my school for 3 years, I've acquired some knowledge. 1, people usually have 1 of 3 reasons to annoy you and none of them are justifiable. Either they like you, they enjoy bugging you, or they're exacting their revenge upon you for something you did to them. If they like you, (and trust me, I know this from experience) they will stalk and/or follow you for recesses at a time and could do this every recess for over a year(unless you actully do something about it). If bugging you somehow gives them pleasure, well, who knows, this rarely happens. If they're trying to get revenge on you, they'll probably just chase you with an angry look on their face. This will last 5 minutes.

2, people usually don't care that what they're doing annoys you because, well, that's kind of the point. I have some methods for getting them to stop.
a.steal something of theirs. They will usually agree to stop if you give them back whatever you took.
b.ignore them. Hard, but they'll get sick of it eventually.
c.act like you enjoy it. Opposite effect will ruin the point and they will leave you alone.
d.hide. If they cant find you, they can't annoy you.
So there you go.
If someone REALLY gets on your nerves you can try telling a teacher but, like i said in one of my earlier rants, that doesn't always work.

Sadly, this problem will never end.

*sigh*

This one is not a rant

That's the truth. Its not a rant. The reason why is because I have just recently started a new book series. LOTR, meaning Lord Of The Rings. I am very near finishing the first book(the Fellowship Of The Ring) and the series is so far in my top 5 favorite series. I think that if you have not tried these books then you should. As you might know, there were movies made out of these books, but, I am not allowed to watch them until I read their book. Yes, I know, kind of random topic, but I don't really care because LOTR is AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!

#8 (A Whopper) From the Heart of a Harry Potter Purist

Well. I should let y'all know that this is not, in fact, Philip, but his elder (by 4 years) brother, Jacob. This rant, and yes, it is very much a rant, is about the recently (well not so much any more) released Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And it's a rant born from the flames burning inside devoted book fans, from their wrath and scorn raging at the movies and their sacrilege! But don't be put off, it's actually quite clever and insightful.

Nevertheless, if you are one of those people who read the books and think the movies are better (we know you're out there), leave us now and never return. If you only ever bothered to watch the movies, perhaps you can stay to see what you're missing, but tread carefully, we're sensitive. If, like us, you are disappointed in the movies as a representation of the books, and really as movies period, we welcome you as brothers and sisters. If while watching the movie you said, "HEY, NO, WAIT, HE DRANK ALL THE FELIX FELICIS! TH-THAT'S NOT RIGHT! D-d-did you see that?? Did you???? That can't be!!" then you are truly welcome, and we warmly invite you to make angry faces along with us while reading. It's assumed you've seen the movie, but there are also spoilers for book 7. Alert systems will be set up to protect you and your family (just highlight over the spoiler text to see it), but as a general rule we frown upon those who are still behind. Oh, and we also ban Twi-hards. Not cool, people, not cool.

Now, don't get us wrong, the new movie is a colossal improvement on the previous one, and perhaps even on 3 and 4 also. However, the entire movie franchise has been doomed from the start, namely because they started before the 5th book came out, and therefore weren't able to scope out the arc of the story, or include details early on that become important later (like Harry's eye color... grumble grumble). But this latest movie was, in fact, funny--a shocking twist in the sullen, grimy world of Harry's adolescence. Grrr. The movie put too much emphasis on certain plot lines and diminished others while still managing to cut out key elements everywhere and ill-represent what was left--an admirable feat for, say, a politician, but not a movie.

A prime example is the romance plot lines. They were about half the movie, and every one had cheesy dialogue and bad acting. Or how about the whole Half-Blood Prince mystery, which was only vaguely mentioned in cozy common room chats, so when Snape billowed around and announced that he was the Half-Blood prince, we were like, "Oh. Huh. Really. Um, neat?" Nothing of the "OMGOMGOMGOMGOMG NO WAY!! I CAN'T BELIEVE IT! BUT IT TOTALLY MAKES SENSE, WAIT OH NO THAT MEANS, NOOOO WAAAAAY! BUT HOW?........cool" that we got in the book.

Another plot line debacle, Quidditch, was absent unless important to the romance plots. That, and the most important element of these intertwining stories, Cormac McLaggan, wasn't nearly as hate-able as in the book, whereas in previous movies Dobby was a serious rival to Jar-Jar as far as deep mental pain was concerned. We never saw enough of Cormac being a jerk, and never saw Ginny play Cho (Catfight!) because Harry had detention, which was also conveniently left out of the movie. Speaking of, they also left out that great scene where Snape suspects Harry of having the potions book and has the reader freaking out and frantically skimming while Harry panics and quickly hides the book in the Room of Requirement in the midst of a desperate haze, not as some lame "romantic" scene with Ginny (quite possibly also a desperate haze). By the way, the RoR is supposed to be cathedral size, warmly lit, and generally exciting and intriguing--not some pawn-market-back-room-closet thing.

A little intermission from plots here: dueling. It was despicably lame. Harry would wave his wand, there would be a crack and a flash of WHITE light--heaven forbid something with color or specificity--and the Death Eater of the Day would whip his or her wand menacingly and another flash would crack, once again nothing being said, (which the youngsters would never have been able to pull off in that situation) and no one would go anywhere. Oh, and I'm pretty sure the Death Eaters never even attacked anyone with their wands! What the heck?! They just traveled around as spooky black smoke! Actually, a more accurate term for traveling would be prolonged bouncing. Land, growl, twirl, smoke up, move to ten feet away, twist, land, growl, repeat for best results. Besides, everyone knows smoky is the LOST monster's turf. And as if their lack of individually colored spells wasn't enough, they didn't even give good and bad different colors! Star Wars distinguished sides by laser color, at least in the Original Trilogy! You knew who was blowing up the big hunk of metal this time because good was red, and bad was green! Yeah, you know what I'm talking about! But nooooo, we need vague "spells," because it's far more important that we concentrate on Harry's heavy-breathing, jaw-jutting, eyebrow-furrowing concern for Ginny!

Now back to plot lines, namely the most interesting one (in my opinion) of the book: Tom Riddle's history. Most of Dumbledore and Harry's exploration of Voldemort's past and back story was completely left out. None of the House of Gaunt memories, no Hepzibah Smith, or asking for a job. None! And of the two that they did have, the orphanage meeting was done poorly and spliced so as to leave out any clever lines or spooky foreshadowing, and the Horcrux questioning didn't put nearly enough weight on the horror and monstrosity of the action and the realization that Voldemort did it seven times! (Though I gotta admit, young Voldy was creeepy.) Oh, and a small side note: the pensive memories are supposed to be a gas/liquid hybrid, not some sort of soapy water! And what's with all the people appearing in smoke like Death Eaters? It's not ominous, people, just weird. I don't know what they're going to do in the 7th book when Harry needs to have seen the ring (which is the RESURRECTION STONE for crying out loud) and the Hufflepuff cup. It's VITAL INFORMATION!!! But its movie time is less important than seeing Harry look wistfully at Ginny.

Now, lets just talk about the ending and the extra scene, the latter obviously supposed to replace the original former. I think it was meant to make us really hate the Death Eaters and to be an unsettling blow to a formerly safe haven, the Burrow. But the Burrow is never considered a particularly safe place until the 7th book, and Hogwarts has always been THE ultimate shelter, and it's the one invaded and ruined in number seven! In the movie, we never see Dumbledore take off the protective enchantments around Hogwarts, which is a BIG DEAL!!! Hogwarts is barely safe anymore! It's vulnerable, not only for the lack of Dumbly, but for the absence of his spells as well! And seriously guys, Dumbledore and Harry can apparate to the Astronomy tower, but Smokies can't? So, what, Hogwarts has a smoke shield?? My backyard grill has one of those!!! And I can't believe the Death eaters just ran away after killing Dumbledore! Ooooo they broke windows? That's what drunk teenagers do. Not cold-hearted, blood-thirsty servants of the most evil man ever to live! And snuffing out the candles, wow, to do that you'd have to have, like, a breeze. I mean, really!? What was that spell called, the Fart of Doom??! Oh, wait, that would've actually been cool--there would at least have been billowing fire!! I mean that last scene in the book was a gut-wrenching wake up call to the monstrosity that this war was! The teachers and friends were fighting for their lives and their school! Not only that, but Harry saves some of the Felix for his friends, a sign of caring and foresight that Danny boy has never been able to pull off, perhaps due to the fact that it's never, ever in the script. The best part in the book was seeing the teachers fighting, seeing them step up and kick some Death Eater butt! Yeah!! Sorry. But seriously, that entire scene was unsettling and disorienting in the book, and set the tone for the sequel. But all we got in the movie was Harry being stupid and running after Death Eaters. Again.

And finally, Dumbledore's death. First of all, the Avada Kedavra curse was blue. Blue. Or maybe cyan. Perhaps aquamarine. But I digress. The point is, it's not green, which is explicitly stated in the books about every single time. I mean, the one spell you give color, the ONE SPELL, the MOST IMPORTANT ONE IN THE BOOK, you get wrong. And I admit, I cried when he died in the book. But all I could think about in the movie when we got the slow-mo shot was, "Hey, he looks like he's doing the backstroke!" Or, "I hope when they bury him they take off that stupid beard ring." Much to my DISAPPOINTMENT, however, I NEVER GOT TO FIND OUT, because WE NEVER SAW DUMBLEDORE'S FUNERAL! NOTHING! And just to put that in perspective, we had a lengthy funeral scene for AARAGOG! AARAGOG!! But not DUMBLEDORE?!???!?!!! And what was with the wand-raising? This is a tragic death, not a FREEBIRD ENCORE! What on earth??!?!?

[Sigh]. All in all it was a letdown. Granted, better than any of the movies in a while, but still, it didn't stay true even to the spirit of the book(s). I'll give them some props, however, for the fact that the Malfoy plot line was done very well, and I could've sworn I saw the bust with the tiara in the Room of Requirement, but I get delirious when angry.

And I'm of course exaggerating in much of what I say. I'm just having fun (but it's NOT FUNNY! RAAR!). I just want a good representation of the wonderful books. Heck, I might settle for a good movie. I didn't have very many problems with the Lord of the Rings movies, because they took so much care to really bring the book to life; they really invested in it. And I feel as if the HP people don't. They just want to make a blockbuster with an actor, who, in the words of my sister, "Only acts by jutting out his jaw and breathing hard." I want to be able to see the movies on TV and say, "Oooo, let's watch," not have acid and bile well up in the pit of my stomach. Not really, but you get my point. In fact, Harry Potter might be better outside of the Silver Screen.

This is now Philip. I of course agree heartily with every word of this very special guest rant and I thank Jacob for doing this. We encourage you to share your insights and grievances in the comments, but please, only about Harry Potter. We don't want to hear about your back problems. And, for the record, Jacob is only 3 years and 11 months older than me.

(BTW, sorry this took so long. A lot of revising, and trying to get my sister to write something [obviously unsuccessfully] is time consuming. Plus, it's summer.)

#7 About Stupid Radio Stations

Okay, so last night, I was riding back in our car from my family birthday party and my Dad turned on the radio. He flipped through the channels and stopped. 'Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer' was playing. Like, WHAT!? So, Christmas in December? Yes. But Christmas in July? Uh, no. Just, no. Now, I think that the people who control stations like this are very uncreative because they can't think of anything to theme off of except for a holiday that's going to happen 5 MONTHS FROM NOW!! There was also this one time when I was listening to the radio in August and they were discussing how Easter is always very fun. Wow. Anyway, as you can see, some people who control these radio stations have no idea what they're doing.

#6 About Bad Badminton Sets

Wow. I really can't believe how stupid badminton sets are these days. The nets are bad, the racquets stink(not literally) , the birdies/shuttlecocks are HORRIBLE, and the instructions are not clear AT ALL. I think there are only, like, 3 good sets in the world. We've looked at various sets, in stores and online, and there were only a few that were actually good that didn't cost 7,000 dollars. Some were unstable, some were too short, some were way too complex and would take an hour to set up, some were just small, and some didn't even go into the ground more than an inch. Our last badminton set (from http://www.badmintonwarehouse.com) was finally good but it still had a flaw. The instructions suck. One side is in German, and the other side, we're pretty sure, was originally in German but someone put it in an English translator and pressed go. Here are the exact words from the instructions.


1.) Pull out the telescope poles like this
a.) Remove the screw fixture on the down part (A) and pull the
telescope poles out (till 3-4cm ca.)
b.) Now fix the crew fixture
c.) Remove the 2nd screw fixture to pull the rest of the telescope poles out (till 3-4cm ca.). Please care that both wholes (1+2) are visible
and open. Both wholes must be in the same direction.
d.) Now please fix the screw fixture
e.) The part with the black cap is on the top.
1.) For fixing the net, you have to put the strings through the wholes. After that please tie a knot. The white part of the net should be on top.
2.) Pull the string (D) on both poles through the first whole (2).
3.) Now you have to tighten the string (to the right and the left) and fix the string end with pegs in the ground.


Wh-- wh-- what? Okay, WHAT? It makes NO sense. Now the rest of the set is good, but the instructions, well, you saw.

Seriously though, how hard can it be to come out with a decent, inexpensive badminton set with good instructions? Maybe someday it will be easier to find a good, cheap badminton set.



Also, this last blogpost on my parents blog is really funny and so here's a link to it.

#5 About Those Stupid Soccer Horns

They should ban those horns. I was watching the US vs Brazil soccer game yesterday (US-2 Brazil-3 :( ) and there were too many sounds. The commentators, the game, the people screaming and yelling, and worst of all, those stupid horns that the people get. The people who control the sound could easily just turn that sound down but nooooooo. They just have to let it go. It really annoys me that those things aren't banned either. And they're completely pointless. They don't do ANYTHING!!!! Aaaaaaaaaagh!


Maybe they'll ban them some day. I hope.

#4 About Always Being Dragged Along

It's true. I am dragged along to just about every soccer game, concert, school play, or whatever is going on at the moment that my brother or sister is in. And of course, because they're allowed to stay home by themselves, they never have to be dragged along to the stuff I go to. Now, sometimes I'm able to bring a book or something with me to keep me occupied, but not usually. Actually, once in a while, at a soccer game, there will be concessions that i can buy with some extra cash that I might have brought. Even then, I'm forced to sit on a cold bench and watch my brother or sister play soccer while my butt freezes over. Not very pleasant. I hope someday I won't have to go to every single one of my siblings "special events".

#3 About Recess Injustice

Recess is worse than it seems. Teachers would like to think that it's just time for the kids to play outside, and have fun, and that it's all juuuuust fine. Well, it's not. And it's not like the teachers don't know about it, because they do. They just don't care. If someone scrapes their knee, the teacher finds out and comes over with a band- aid. But if someone complains to the teacher about someone else insulting or teasing them, he/she will just say "Oh, well you two can just work that out by yourselves than, okay?" Actually, it's not okay, because they'll never "work that out" in any real situation. And it's not just insulting and teasing either. There's physical conflict too. You have to watch out on the playground because people aren't afraid to just come up and trip you at random moments for no particular reason. When you tell the teacher about it, she/he just won't accept that the kids are being jerkfaces just because it's a Christan school, and so instead of actually doing something about it, he/she will just say " Mmmhmm, that's nice," not even looking at you. It just doesn't occur to them that maybe, just maybe, SOME OF THE KIDS DON'T CARE ABOUT THE RULES!

Hopefully someday, the teachers will care.

My Second "Rant" About Commercials

I hate commercials. Why do they even exist? They're pointless! All they do is keep you from watching the show/movie that you want to watch, and advertise some random product that you're never going to buy in your whole life anyway. It seems crazy to me that people would actually pay for their product to be advertised on TV if all anyone who sees it will do is mute it. If anyone really wants to know how to get a certain product, they'll just search for online. Unless they don't have a computer, in which case they probably don't have a TV either. And when they say "Call now for immediate shipping!" it will still take a few days to come, whereas if you just went to the store right then and picked it up, it would take only an hour at max. Ojbe ahdsgopk kpoiagnkjn aldsh-- oops, sorry, so if commercials didn't exist, we'd have no more sitting on the couch in boredom for 1 3rd of the show/movie. Of course, right now, I don't think that anyone has the power to get rid of commercials, but in the future, if anyone does have that power, they should use it. I hope that someday, there will be no more commercials.


Also, I know this is really off topic but I found some awesome music online, so if you can, listen to it by clicking on this link: http://www.newgrounds.com/audio/listen/139949

My First Rant About Ewoks

Hey everyone, here's my first "rant". It's not really a rant it's more of just a passionate speech. Here it is:

People have no respect for ewoks. Those cute, furry little creatures from Star Wars are completely neglected. I mean, what’s not to like? Sure, ewoks aren’t actually real, ewoks aren’t as smart as humans, ewoks are short, blah blah blah.

See, it shouldn’t matter if ewoks aren’t real, I mean, neither is Star Trek, neither is Harry Potter, but we like them, don’t we? So why don’t people like ewoks?

Also, ewoks aren’t as smart as humans. So? Dogs and cats aren’t either and we love them and keep them for pets, so why not ewoks?

Lastly, ewoks are short. Again, so? A lot of humans are short too, plus, it’s not their fault, so why does anyone even care?

Another thing that annoys me is that people don’t care about insulting ewoks in public. Like one evening I was watching a video on Youtube and the rest of my family was watching LOST. I wasn’t really listening but something caught my ear. I heard Hurley saying: “Face it dude, ewoks suck.” And that’s just one example.

The reason ewoks are awesome is because, well, look at the facts. They (especially Wicket) helped the rebels defeat the empire, they set awesome traps, and they can defeat walkers with LOGS. Yes, LOGS. Also they are extremely cute, which some people are annoyed by but I think it’s great to have something like that in a world where most of the creatures are slimy, ugly, and gross.

I hope that someday, people will realize how amazing ewoks really are.

Thanks for reading and there will be another one tomorrow so come back then!