I don’t remember what this was from, but it looked super cool and old, so I got a picture.
Week 19 – Over the Moon Results
Virtual school started off a little hectic this week. We had been sent an email from the teacher saying that she would not be in class today, and we took that to mean that the class was cancelled. But when we checked for the link just to be sure, class was happening! Oops! So I rushed to get Dragon up, and she got ready to go within ten minutes! We missed Oh Canada and the first part of Le roi, la reine, et le petit prince. Not bad!
Dragon was very tired and a little cranky, especially when there were technical glitches and she wasn’t heard the first time.
They learned about the letter ‘f’ this week. Out of virtual school, we talked about frère, feux d’artifice, foulard, fusée, and fleur.
The story was read by the teacher, which I personally prefer, because they can slow down and make sure the kids are understanding.
Dragon was asked to do counting in math, which she found very easy. Then she was asked to figure out how many buttons were missing to make it look like the example. Once she got the hang of it, she understood exactly what was being asked of her.
Homeschool was good this week. We watched Over the Moon in honour of Chinese New Year, although the festival being celebrated in the movie is the Lunar Festival, which happens in the Fall.
Dance
She did ballet 2 times this week, and practiced doing the spilts.
Music
Piano: She did the clapping and counting the notes and rests perfectly (two weeks in a row). She did the first lesson no problem (letters, no notes). Then they did the second lesson, no problem reading the notes on the staff (C and D). Then they added the E and A. She was able to do the short piece (4 bars), but was having trouble following along with the longer piece (16 notes with no bars), but she was still able to do it, she just took longer to figure out which notes were which.
We have a new French playlist that I can play through the Google, with a variety of artists.
Crochet
She did not do any this week.
Basic Information
We are working on the day before (hier) and the day after (demain) 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 now responds in complete sentences.
Printing words
Printing went very well this week.
Counting objects/math-type activities
She had no trouble with these. We are now practicing counting up to 30 in French verbally. She still stumbles on 16. I have no idea why.
Math: the easy sheet was very easy. The challenging sheet was challenging. She didn’t like that she couldn’t guess the answer, but she did like that we could draw objects.
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 Vampirina in French on Disney Plus, one episode a day. Dragon is enjoying it immensely, and is even recognizing some words!
Activity
Experiment: Nebula Jar – (renamed from Galaxy jar, since it looks like a nebula, not a galaxy). We used Crayola paint, glitter from Walmart, and pillow stuffing rather than cotton balls. We put blue paint in first, with pink glitter. Then we added pink paint with silver glitter, but it turned purple! So when we added the top layer of paint, we used pink again, this time with gold glitter, and we mixed it in a separate jar. We added the stuffing and poured the pink water overtop, to prevent too much mixing with the previous layers. I think it worked pretty well. I wonder if that would have worked for the second layer…?
Make mooncakes – the ingredients ended up being too expensive, so Dragon made spring rolls instead! They… kinda exploded. At least they tasted yummy!
Cooling the mixture 
Learn about Chinese New Year – We had a video chat with a very good friend of mine and her son. We learned about the different animals of the Chinese zodiac (Dragon was born in the year of the Monkey!) and about different traditions that happen during the 15 day celebration. This year, the New Year starts on February 12.
The Untitled Mystery Book Project
Hello readers,
Here’s some exciting news. Jen and Eric have started working on a book together. This is the first time either of us have co-authored a work of fiction.
The book is an Urban Fantasy Romance, with a superhero and robots.
Here’s the synopsis:
When Kennedy, a recent graduate trying to find her purpose in life or at least a job in her field, saves Jason, the leader of a secret community of supernatural people called Aetherborn, from an attempted assassination, they embark on a whirlwind epic romance and adventure.
For Kennedy to help Jason discover why people are disappearing in time to save her friends, they’ll have to navigate teleporting assassins, grumpy wizards, gossiping hags, mafia robots, and secret military groups all in the city of Westmeath, Ontario, which has more secrets than residents.
We’re currently 1/3 of the way through writing and have planned out most of the book. Accounting for us slowing down a little, we should have the book ready for beta readers in Fall at the latest.
So what do you think? Hope you are at least a tenth as excited as we are.
Éric and Jen
Work It – JenEric Movie Review
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2020 film Work It.
Story
Someone found an old 90’s sports movie script and decided to gender-swap the cast and make it about dancing. You’ve got all the usual stereotypes, the slightly goofy sex-obsessed best friend, the nerdy driven main character, the beautiful love interest, the parent who pushes too hard, and the forgettable background characters.
Despite being predictable, it still pulled it off pretty well, no huge loose ends or glaring issues.
Score: 0.5
Characters
The characters were a little stereotypical, but they still felt unique for the most part.
I don’t like that the diva villain is queer-coded. The only remotely queer character being the villain is pretty crappy.
Score: 0.5
Dialogue
For a sports movie selling itself as a romance, this had a lot of very clever humour. I doubt it’ll make it’s way into my daily quoting, but it was believable and funny.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
Visually the movie was very well shot. The dancing wasn’t always the best, but cinematography was good. Several scenes I could have told you were from a dance movie without having seen the movie.
The music was good. I enjoyed the pop heavy soundtrack and my youngest felt compelled to get up and dance more than once.
Score: 0.5
Fun
The angsty bits weren’t too long and other than the terrible relationship between the mom and daughter, I enjoyed this movie. It’s one of the few I’ve reviewed that had the entire family laughing.
Score: 1
Overall
This is a typical sports movie with a romance. The dancing isn’t exceptional, but the story is a lot a fun and quite funny.
Final Score: 3 Stars out of 5
AHHHH! I mean everything is okay…
Hello Everyone,
Yesterday was a day that an exploitive company used a good cause to write itself a giant tax break and millions in free advertising. That’s all I’m going to say about that.
Mental health is something everyone struggles with. It’s something that is important to upkeep and it’s something that our society put WAY too much shame about.
Having mental health issues, short or long term, isn’t a weakness or a fault. It’s being human. It’s okay, you don’t have to do it alone.
I’ve had my troubles with depression, burnout, and anxiety. I understand the feelings of failure but you need to be kind to yourself and ask for help.
Ottawa Public Health says the following:
Mental health is an important part of our health. Positive mental health is the core for a person’s well-being. Good mental health allows a person to reach their potential and deal with normal stresses of life.
No matter our age, we all get stressed. Stress affects our mental health. Positive coping skills can help improve our mental health. Through positive coping skills a person can build resilience. Resilience allows a person to better handle the normal stresses of life and overcome challenging situations.
Do not feel ashamed of speaking to someone about mental health concerns and seeking help. It is important to seek help early.
It is important to speak to one another about mental health – this can help us increase dialogue, knowledge, and help-seeking, while reducing stigma. To learn more about how to talk about mental health, check out have THAT talk.
If you are concerned about your mental health or someone else, speak to your health care provider or check out the Mental Health and Substance Use Resource List. For information about mental health about your infant, child or youth, please visit our Parenting in Ottawa mental health page.
If you are in crisis, contact the Mental Health Crisis Line (24 hours a day/7 days a week) at 613-722-6914 or if outside Ottawa toll-free at 1-866-996-0991.
If you have a youth in crisis, contact the Youth Services 24/7 Crisis Line (24 hours a day/7 days a week) at 613-260-2360 of if outside Ottawa toll-free at 1-877-377-7775.
If you (or your child) are experiencing thoughts of suicide or harming yourself, call 9-1-1.
https://www.ottawapublichealth.ca/en/public-health-topics/mental-health.aspx
It’s a hard time of year and a hard year. Be kind to yourself and if you need help, reach out.
I love all of you.
Be safe and Be kind,
Éric
Week 20 – A Wrinkle in Time (2018)
This week kicks off Black History Month, and will feature movies with Black main characters or themes of prejudice (in the case of the animated animals). The movie (2018) this week might be a little advanced, but you never know until you try, right?
Here is the link for the downloadable materials. (Please let me know if you have any problems so I can fix it!)
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Watch movie | Experiment: static electricity | Book by Robert Munsch | Experiment: magnets | Flex |
Summary of the week
Daily details:
Dance
Ballet and martial arts on alternate days
Music
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
Storytime
Activity
Physics experiment – Floating Hearts Static Electricity Activity In print outs
Book Quelle tête by Robert Munsch (buy or borrow from Library)/in English: Braids by Robert Munsch
Physics experiment – magnets link to experiments
Next week: The Princess and the Frog
Cheshire Cat
Although the Alice maze was closed, we could still see the grinning Cheshire Cat face on the hillside from beside the attraction. I couldn’t resist.
Week 18 – Kung Fu Panda Results
Dragon had some issues this week, so she kept having to leave class. But when she was present, she tried very hard.
The morning routine was a little bit frustrating, because although she was asked to sing the bonjour song, she wasn’t asked anything for the next section or the one after that, so she got very upset about that, because she raised her hand and they didn’t call on her. I had to remind her that there are other kids in the class that need to answer as well, and the teachers already know that she knows her days and months.
They learned some words with the letter ‘e’, and she wrote a word that was on the screen very well (I don’t remember it).
After lunch, they did math, and Dragon was called on several times. She answered two addition questions and then counted several snowmen cards. She ran into difficulty when asked to count dice spots and indicate which one was which; she kept trying to point at the screen to show the teacher. a) she can’t reach the screen, and b) the teacher can’t see what she’s pointing at. lol
Then she presented last week’s lava lamp. There was some miscommunication, because I have no idea how to describe it in French, and the teachers didn’t know the name or couldn’t hear the name in English. But Dragon was able to say “eau” on the bottom and “huile” on top, and “tablet” starts the reaction, and she dropped the tablet in. The reaction was very clear and looked good on camera, so we were both happy.
The homeschool portion has gone well this week.
Dance
She did ballet 2 times this week.
Music
Piano: Her counting of the notes and rests is doing amazing. She remembered all of it, it was really good. They had to start over because she was reading the letters of the notes instead of the notes on the clef, so they are back to only using A, B, C, D and E (around middle C). They covered up there letters. She did one of the lessons and half of the next one. First page was no problem, but the second page was a little intimidating. She is grasping it well and her teacher is very pleased.
We have a new French playlist that I can play through the Google, with a variety of artists.
Crochet
She did not do any this week.
Basic Information
We are working on the day before (hier) and the day after (demain) 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 now responds in complete sentences.
Printing words
Printing went very well this week.
Counting objects/math-type activities
She had no trouble with these.
Math: The easier one was a breeze. The more complex one was a challenge, but she really enjoyed it. I will be making more of these for future weeks.
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 Vampirina in French on Disney Plus, one episode a day. Dragon is enjoying it immensely, and is even recognizing some words!
Activity
Zhezhi – We chose to make a fox. The instructions weren’t super clear at the end, but we figured it out, and I think they look super cute!
Make noodle soup – Dragon and her Papa made the broth on Monday (no pictures) and the filling on Thursday. She even used a knife! They popped it in the slow cooker, and we had delicious turkey noodle soup for dinner! Pegasus gave it the seal of approval.
Learn about Kung Fu – We had our friends call in for a video chat this week (they were extremely patient), and they talked about the different forms of Kung Fu and how they all came from different regions of China. It was super cool to learn about.
“Political Correctness has Gone MAD!”
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
“Political Correctness has Gone MAD!” is a phrase I’ve heard in various ways a lot in the past ten years. I might have heard it before, but I hadn’t noticed. It’s a nice easy way to identify someone who feels slighted by diversity and angry about not being able to mock certain groups of people.
I’m bisexual, I’m attracted to people no matter what their gender. I don’t talk a lot about this question because I’m married to a woman and that means I have a certain level of privilege.
However, you’ll notice that a large portion of my protagonists are bisexual. I also try to include other sexualities, genders, races, etc. It’s harder to get it right when writing something that isn’t me. I’ve gotten some criticism for one of my protagonists who was trans, while getting praise from others about the same character.
So I sat down to write this post and wracked my brain for bisexual representation in movies, TV, and books from when I was young. The bisexuals I remember are in 2 categories, villains/monsters and exceptions.
I grew up with Sarah Michelle Gellar in Cruel Intentions, the alien from Species, Frankenfurter from Rocky Horror, and countless “alternate universe” evil doppelgangers in Star Trek DS9, Buffy, Stargate etc. I’m sure there were more, but it was mostly the trope of the Sexy Seductress evil girl that was bi. Men were gay or straight.
Then there were the confused women like Willow, who wasn’t bi according to the show but always a lesbian, or Dax from Star Trek DS9 that had a lesbian kiss, but only because the woman was the lover of a previous host. She breaks Dax’s heart and we never see anything outside the mirror universe to show that she’s bi.
The first positive character I remember seeing or reading about that was openly bi was Angela Montenegro from Bones. It wasn’t a big thing, except to have her love interest be a little awkward about it. She was shown as flaky, but that was pretty normal for all the characters in Bones.
The next character was Jack Harkness from Doctor Who. I’m not happy with the fact that they made him into a joke in the early seasons with Tennant and I’m still pissed with the way he interacts with Donna, but overall he was pretty awesome. It was the first time I saw a male character who wasn’t mocked, killed, or turned out to be a closeted gay. (Yeah, like it’s any easier to be bi)
Now we have a lot more representation and I think it still doesn’t come close to reflecting real life. Statscan says 1.7% of people say they’re Gay or Lesbian and 1.3% say they are Bi. Considering this doesn’t take into account the rest of the rainbow, that means that 3% will admit on a census that they are LGB. I’m sure it’s higher considering there are still quite a few negative reactions to being out and if you add it the rest of the Queer rainbow you’ll find, I’m sure, that we represent a quarter or more of the population.
If you think that representation has gone mad and there are too many Queer people on television and in books keep this in mind; In 2020-21 scripted TV had 9.1% openly Queer people. That means that despite being nearly a quarter of the population there are only a tenth that are shown on TV.
Some genres are better both in film/TV and books, but it’s still not a big difference from when I was a confused kid who thought his attraction was unnatural and monstrous.
Be kind and be safe,
Éric
Wonder Woman 1984 – JenEric Movie Review
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2020 film Wonder Woman 1984.
Story
It’s very much a DC Comics movie, lots of angst, lots of grim-dark, and very little humour. There are only two characters that show any form of compassion or common sense. Wonder Woman seems to now care about as much about collateral damage as Superman and goes out of her way to confront the villain at the worst possible time only to give us an action sequence.
A lot of movies set in the 1980’s have a nostalgic sheen. There’s no nostalgia here, more of a deep loathing. The movie spends a lot of time setting up how greedy and hateful humanity is and how even those who know they are hurting others don’t care. It makes the ending feel cheap and un-earned.
The movie recycles tropes from other superhero movies from the “evil oil guy” to “nerd with glasses feels entitled and goes evil” and doesn’t add anything new to them.
The ethical issues of her boning some dude who’s possessed by her ex made me uncomfortable the entire movie.
Score: 0
Characters
I have a hard time with Diana’s obsession with Steve. He’s handsome and he was a genuinely awesome guy. But she was pining (pun intended) for 70 years? It feels like a stretch.
I really find the body possession to be one of the worst ethical issues. She played dress-up with a possessed body and did other things. She effectively raped a man. Yuck.
Steve was posted in London during the First World War. He has seen a subway before. He’s seen a garbage can before. Other than to mock modern art, why would he not be able to tell a garbage can from art but somehow be able to fly a fighter jet? When he was alive, they didn’t even have cabin pressure, but now he just feels how to fly?
The villain was a Trump stand-in with a child, so you know he’ll be redeemed in the end by his love for his kid. It’s so cliché as to be insulting. Especially to those of us who grew up in “broken homes”.
Selena, Willow, Harley, uhm… Barbara is the typical super-nerd who people ignore for some reason. She’s a female Daniel Jackson without the allergies or alien theories. I’m not sure if she’s a male wank fantasy or just a power fantasy. It’s an old trope that hasn’t gotten any more interesting or less insulting.
Score: 0
Dialogue
Other than some over explanations and condescensions, the dialogue was okay. Steve was funny and loveable and the rest was meh.
Score: 0.5
Visuals and Music
We had some technical issues with the streaming service so we didn’t get this in full 4K and the music was stuck in stereo instead of full 5.1 surround.
That being said, the beginning on the island was spectacular. I wasn’t a fan of the filter they used for the 80’s faux look but overall it was a beautiful movie. The CGI on Cheetah was pretty bad though.
The music was fantastic. It elevated certain scenes that could not hold up otherwise. I was disappointed we never heard the full Wonder Woman theme.
Score: 1
Fun
The beginning of the movie and the end credit scene were awesome. There were some interesting bits in the middle but overall it was a little boring. Neither of my kids sat still for it.
Score: 0.5
Overall
All the grim-dark expected from a DC movie. The non-redeemable set of villains that are magically redeemed with a pretty speech. The action set pieces seem overly destructive and add nothing to the plot. The glossed over possession and rape is played as cute and romantic instead of horrifying. Overall, this movie gets lost in it’s hate for the 80’s and humanity and forgets to get to a point.
Final Score: 2 stars out of 5