Last Monday, I complained about not being able to get my appointment for a Covid vaccine. I managed to get an appointment for end of June on Tuesday and then Thursday, as I was grocery shopping, I got a notification from the PC Health app that I could get one on Saturday.
So I went from thinking I’d never get one to being worried about getting one to getting one in less than a week. So one shot out of two. I guess we’re 1/8th of the way there for the family. Hopefully by Christmas we’ll be 6/8th.
Book stuff
Great news. Assassins! Accidental Matchmakers, book one in The Gates of Westmeath series, has been submitted to my publisher. We should hear within 3 or so months if they’ll publish it. If they don’t, we’ll start submitting to agents and other publishers. We can worry about that later.
I’m slowly writing Elizabeth 4 and have re-written the outline and hopefully it’ll be finished this decade. Planning for book two of The Gates of Westmeath, Gangs! Incidental Wedding Guests, is well underway. Writing will start end of summer/early fall.
The short story collection is over 80,000 words and I still have 2-4 stories to write. Jen’s been prolific in her short story writing. The collection is called Stories! The Unexpected First Collection.
Like I mentioned on Friday, this coming Saturday is the cover reveal for my newest book, Coffee Shop Between the ‘Verses. Come check it out on Saturday! There will be prizes and readings.
Today we’re talking about the 2020 Film Palm Springs.
Story
I love time loop movies (writing a time loop book is hard though). This is a passable example. A lot of the awkwardness and swearing felt made just to shock and bring up the rating.
There’s some fascinating concepts on time and they started examining what would happen with the limits of human memory, but then backtracked and just made the character a liar.
It’s a mixed bag with all the awkwardness of an adult comedy and a few cool ideas.
Score: 0.5
Characters
Adult comedies and time loop movies have a commonality of character: likeable but selfish protagonists that make very bad decisions. In a good time loop movie, the character learns and grows through the ordeal. These characters learned very little other than to love each other. They end still selfish and making bad decisions. It’s very frustrating.
That being said, the actors managed to make them likeable and even fun to watch.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
So much swearing with none of the finesse or charisma of Deadpool.
Beyond that there are a few really funny lines and some interesting dialogue, but since more than half of what the the main characters say are lies, it makes it hard to care.
Score: 0
Visuals and Music
It’s a very pretty and stylistic movie that definitely has a surreal quality.
The music is acceptable but nothing special.
Score: 0.5
Fun
So glad I didn’t watch this with the kids. It was pretty awkward to watch at times, other than the “gives up and has fun” phase. It had some cool ideas, but was bogged down by its need to be adult.
Score: 0.5
Overall
Fantastic comedy actors in a mediocre time loop story that is more interested in its adult gags and swearing than finishing any of its substance. Anything new they bring into the genre, they undermine with lies and characters making more bad decisions.
Join us for an evening of literature as we announce our next releases! We will reveal the covers to our upcoming releases, show you our brand-new book trailers, and you will hear some exclusive readings.
On top of all that, we have some FABULOUS prizes to give out to the attendees: coffee, signed books, art, and so much more! Make sure to come so you have a chance to win something!
The event will happen over Zoom. You will receive the link via email after registering.
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano
Crochet
The project she is working on (currently she is making herself a poncho)
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
In download materials
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type – in download materials
Addition and pattern – worksheet in download materials
I missed the beginning of virtual school this week because I was in with Pegasus, but Dragon assures me that she sang the months of the year song and said that it was the month of mai.
Dragon also told the class that it is printemps and nuageux.
They learned the letter ‘X’ this week. Dragon had no problem writing all the words. (And she put the tails of the ‘p’s below the line!)
There was a bit of dancing before recess, which Dragon always enjoys.
She paid close attention to the story.
After lunch, the teachers taught the kids how to measure using objects. Dragon discovered that one of her books is a spoon and a half tall and a spoon and a bit wide.
Then Dragon got to present her movie from two weeks ago. The teacher played it four times. I think she was impressed. One of the kids asked how the toys moved by themselves, so Dragon had to explain that she took pictures and I moved the toys, and that string was used to lift the toys during the fight scene. I’m not sure the kids fully understood, but they kinda got it.
Piano: she practiced her finger exercises every day this week.
We started with the finger exercises. It is obvious she’s been practicing, so she’s been given another exercise to do to correct get hand positioning and strengthen her fingers. Then we did lessons 4, 5, and 6. Timing needs to be worked on, but she recognizes all the notes. She’s doing very well.
We have a French playlist that I can play through the Google mini, with a variety of artists.
Crochet
We did not do any crochet this week.
Basic Information
We are working on yesterday (hier) and tomorrow (demain) around any given day. The months of the year is going well. We’re working on the month before and after any given month. That’s coming slowly.
The saisons de l’année are all memorized. We’re working on how each of them feel and the types of things we can do during each of them.
When I ask her “combien” for any of the above, she responds in complete sentences.
Printing words
Printing went very well this week. I created a random string of number/letters and read them off to Dragon for her to print. She did very well, once she stopped worrying about making a mistake.
Counting objects/math-type activities
She had no problems with the counting worksheet. We counted by 10s to 100 and counted up to 100 a couple times. SHe also counted down from 10 with only one mistake. She was very excited to do this for the first time.
Math went well this week.
Storytime
We read stories from the teacher’s outline that was sent to us on Monday. She enjoyed that, and we will continue to do it next week.
We watched Raiponce in French on Disney Plus, one episode a day. Dragon is enjoying it immensely, and is even recognizing some words!
Activity
Elements of a Fairy Tale – She got really into this. We came up with a short story on the spot each, neither of which made any sense, but that’s fine.
Learn about bears – She enjoyed the video and I found a couple others about cute cubs.
Bake Spell Cake – We decided to make something from Dragon’s Princess cookbook instead, so she made scones. They were delicious.
The Ontario government said that this week (Week of May 17) the over 30 year olds would be able to book their vaccine.
Unlike most responsible people, I tried first thing at 7am after rolling out of bed. No coffee, no breakfast, not even my morning washroom usage.
Things went fantastically well. (I should have known it was too easy.) I booked an appointment for me and then I tried to book for my wife. She’s only 1.5 years younger so it should have been just as easy… right?
Nope.
She wasn’t eligible. So I tried my info again and I wasn’t eligible.
So now I had an appointment when I wasn’t supposed to and couldn’t get one for my wife.
What do I do? I called the provincial hotline. They were closed. I waited until they were supposed to be open. Sat through 5 minutes of information, pressed the buttons, was put on hold and the system hung up on me. It happened twice more and then I got to talk to a person.
The nice man at the call centre didn’t know how I got an appointment; we think I clicked something that I shouldn’t have. So he cancelled my appointment. I asked when I’d be eligible and he said he didn’t know.
Now I have no appointment and spent a stressful morning.
Most road trip movies rely on the ignorance or poor decision making of the characters. That lends to a sort of cringe comedy that I loved as a kid but can’t stand anymore. This movie turned that trope on its head. Instead the characters are lost in their own worldview and have trouble seeing each other.
The entire movie hinges on the family being a little strange, very lucky, and learning to work together. The plot is mildly predictable, surreal, and so much fun anyway.
Score: 1
Characters
For a movie that gives up grounded mid-way, its characters are infinitely relatable. I felt for each of the Mitchells.
The secondary characters are mild caricatures, but serve a good purpose.
I liked that they adopted the two robots into their family. It’s a nice message that genetics don’t make a family and found family is just as powerful.
The subtle inclusion of a gay main character was refreshing, as was the lack of forced romance.
Score: 1
Dialogue
This movie has so many references to memes and internet culture that it’s impressive. I think that the references will age quickly and probably not well.
The humour is surprisingly clever and the dialogue sometimes much deeper than expected.
Score: 1
Visuals and Music
The animation was done in a style similar to Into the Spiderverse, but with more colourful “internet” things. There were a few times I wanted to pause and just look at all the details and backgrounds. It was stunningly beautiful.
The music was nice and the songs were perfectly chosen. I got a little frustrated with the electronic riff that felt plucked from the Stranger Things intro, but that’s minor.
Score: 1
Fun
The type of movie made it clear that the awkward family drama would have an awesome payoff and it did. This meant that I didn’t spend much time cringing and really enjoyed the ride. The kids were glued to the screen and we all laughed a lot. The giant Furby terrified my 22 month old.
Score: 1
Overall
A good old fashioned road trip and apocalypse movie that ditches the frustrating parts of both. The animation is spectacular and characters relatable. Proper Queer representation and a nod to found family add extra depth to an action-packed and laugh out loud film.
Final Score: 5* Stars out of 5
*A 5 star review doesn’t mean the movie was perfect nor that it is perfect for everyone but it is a movie I believe is as close to perfect as possible.
I love games. I love board games, table top games, card games, and video games.
I had never bought myself a video game console. I have an amazing brother who’s bought me a PS3 and PS4 and a lifetime ago we got a free Nintendo Wii with a computer purchase. (Before that, I used my mom’s systems.)
Dragon on her giant Yoshi. (I’m mildly sad she’s stopped calling it sushi.)
Well, last week there was a sale we couldn’t resist and we bought a Nintendo Switch. I worry that it’s about to be replaced, but hopefully there’s a few more good years in them.
Of late, Pegasus has been obsessed with watching me play Mario Kart on my phone. (He’ll climb on my lap and say, “race” although it sounds like “wash”) Dragon has been doing well with Disney Infinity, but I feel she needs games that are a little simpler.
With that in mind, we got Mario Kart 8 deluxe, Switch Fit, Lego Avengers 2, and Just Dance. I’m planning on getting Yoshi’s Crafted World for the kids. I’d also love to get Link’s Awakening and maybe one of the Mario games.
For someone who’s really busy, having something that I don’t have to spend an hour re-learning the controls or several hours doing side quests will be a nice change (Looking at you, Spiderman). To be honest, I’ve missed Nintendo.
So any recommendations for games? Both for a 4 year old with little gaming experience and a 37 year old who loves games, but isn’t very good at them?
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano
Crochet
The project she is working on (currently she is making herself a poncho)
Basic Information
We talk about the days of the week and play games with the cutouts of the names. We do the same thing with the names of the months of the year. You can find the print-outs here.
Printing words
In download materials
Counting objects/math-type activities
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type – in download materials
Addition and pattern – worksheet in download materials
Storytime
Activity
Write a book Put book together Learn about telekinesis – link to reference
