The Princess Party Project aims to make royal visits a little more accessible with free birthday party visits! Currently taking requests for holiday video messages.
https://www.princesspartyproject.ca/
Deadline to submit a request for a holiday video message is December 10th
Did I mention it’s free? 🙂
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 2006 movie Night at the Museum, the 2009 movie Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, and the 2014 Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb
*I reviewed Battle of the Smithsonian in 2009* I didn’t re-read that review when writing this one. Ratings may vary, I’m grumpier and older.
The concept for this story is fantastic, a wonderful idea. The story is a little uneven I really can’t stand the interludes of stupid humour.
Score: 0.5
The story was an entertaining modern D&D adventure. It was cute and clever but there was something unsettling about the shoehorned love plot. It was also terribly busy and seemed to ignore parts of the first movie. (If Dick Van Dyke can turn the tablet off, why can’t Stiller?)
Also the Smithsonian has the worst security in existence. Why was Ben Stiller not arrested, he should have been on a million cameras.
Score: 0.5
This is a movie that knew it was the last in a series, but left a lot of openings for spin-offs. (Thank goodness that didn’t happen.) The story was a slight variation on the previous ones with a London twist. Definitely the weakest of the group.
Score: 0
The self awareness of Teddy Roosevelt along with the stellar cast and characters makes this movie. Roles that could have been boring or cliché are brought to life with depth and heart. It’s also nice that there wasn’t a romantic subplot with the historian. I truly hate dumb characters and needless bosses which made this less fun. Ben Stiller and Ricky Gervais’s antics are frustrating at best and boring at worst.
Score: 0.5
Ben Stiller is still annoying but there’s less of him. I felt like leaving the room when he talked with Jonah Hill or the monkeys. There was certainly not enough time given to the characters from the first movie.
That being said, Amy Adams was spectacular as was Hank Azaria. It was also nice to see that Stiller’s character had evolved not reverted which is common for movies.
Score: 0.5
Ben Stiller’s humour is still not my thing and there were two of him in this. I would have taken another six of him over Rebel Wilson. Not my style of comedy. The rest of the cast, as usual, did a great job. This is Robin Williams’ last live action movie and he’s great. The new additions are funny and well done. It was nice to see the trio of nightguards again.
Score: 0.5
There are gags and moments of true depth in this movie. Everything from Robin Williams is gold and a lot of the other secondary characters dialogue is wonderful.
Score: 0.5
The dialogue was much more developed in this one, lots of fantastic banter between the characters.
Score: 1
When they weren’t making melting nose jokes or peeing monkey commentary the movie had some very funny lines and a few very deep moments.
Score: 0.5
The special effects are a little dated but still hold the beauty and wonder of a museum coming to life. The cinematography has a few moments of genius.
The music is epic and grandiose and used perfectly.
Score: 1
This movie took all the beautiful visuals from the first one and doubled down. The special effects are bigger and prettier. The hall of paintings was excellent world building. Visually this was wonderful to watch. And that fight scene at the end was fantastic.
The music didn’t disappoint and although I won’t be running out to buy the soundtrack, it was suitably epic.
Score: 1
The movie is beautiful and absolutely well done visually. The Esher painting scene and the snake dragon thing fight were stunningly beautiful. It was a beautiful movie that was well shot.
The music once again elevated the silliest gag to epic.
Score: 1
This movie is entertaining nearly throughout. Again I dislike Stiller and Gervais but the rest made up for it.
Score: 0.5
There’s a little cringe at the beginning and the whole Brundan thing took too long, but after that it was a fun thrill ride. I still was uncomfortable with the love story though, and that took some pleasure out of it.
Score: 0.5
This movie had more awkward in it and longer anoying gags. It’s the shortest of the three but felt like the longest. It also felt like it took a long time getting to any sort of plot.
Score: 0.5
This is a lovely movie with a good message and some exceptional actors doing their comedic best. It’s fun and despite a few really dumb moments, it’s a classic. I also have to give the film makers credit for a racially diverse group that is actually properly cast.
Finals Score: 3 Stars
This was a good sequel that built on the first and brought some fantastic action and visuals. Amy Adams is spectacular as is Hank Azaria. Definitely worth a watch.
Finale Score: 3.5 Stars
Okay, so I went and looked at my previous review and it’s pretty consistent.
It’s a fitting end to a series of movies that was okay but not great. It didn’t fully live up to its potential, but was elevated by brilliant actors.
Overall, I like the background info on the tablet but it made me wish for a TV show spinoff starring a kooky off-the-wall librarian museum curator and his 3 apprentices.
Final Score: 2.5
Sofi’s Silly Slime is where I create and make handmade custom and designer slimes, make DIY Slime kits, prepare party favours, loot bags and sell other sensory items like squishies. Slime is beneficial for creativity, focus, fine motor skill development,
www.facebook.com/sofissillyslime
www.instagram.com/sofis_silly_slime
December 15th
I offer contact free curb pick up, CONTACT FREE delivery, as well as International shipping at current Canada Post rates. From October 6th to December 29th we are offering FREE DELIVERY TUESDAYS.
Tubby Tabby Soaps is a (queer) family-owned, small-batch, handmade soap company based out of Ottawa. Sometimes geeky and sometimes classic, we make soaps and solid shampoo bars that always keep the earth in mind.
ON/QC: December 11, 2020. Rest of Canada: December 4, 2020. USA: November 27, 2020
JENERIC for 10% off regular-priced products. Valid until December 31, 2020.
Find all your holiday gifts from local Canadian Artists.
Hello!
Éric will be participating in the Author Q&A on November 29 at 2pm.
Check below for more details!
Join us for the Read Québec festival!
As a Québec publisher, we’re very proud to be taking part in the FREE Read Québec festival which will be taking place entirely online this week from November 25th to November 29th, and we’ve got some special events in store for you!
On November 25th at 7 PM, join Renaissance author Nathan Caro Fréchette and other Québec authors for the Rapid Fire Reading series, where all authors will only have two minutes to read their excerpts, then will have two minutes to compose a collective text, all live! Check out the Read Québec website or the Facebook event to find out how to register.
On November 28th at 1 PM, join multiple Renaissance authors for some great readings, streaming on YouTube! Join the Facebook event to find out more or join us directly on YouTube!
On November 29th at 2 PM, join your favorite Renaissance authors for a Q&A session where YOU get to ask all the questions! Want to know what your favorite author has been up to during the pandemic, or when their next book is coming out, or do you just want to chat with them? This laid-back, casual session is exactly what you need! Join the Facebook event to find out more, or join us on Zoom when the time comes!
We hope to see you there!
Nerd themed tee shirts and goodies! We make traditional shirts as well as bleach dyed designs in all sizes from infant to 3X.
Ottawa, December 15th
Rest of Canada, December 4th
Free shipping within Ottawa
Handmade items from new & upcycled materials, many items in geeky prints. Aprons, Hanging towels, Christmas Stockings, Bow ties, Scrappie Critters and more
Facebook: twoemu creations
IG: twoemucreations
December 4th for ready made items within Canada
Sale on twoemucreations website on many items from Nov 1-Dec 4th
Find all your holiday gifts from local Canadian Artists.
Scarves, hats, hair clips, dice bags, and everything else crocheted a geek might want for the holidays.
December 11th
Free Shipping in Canada over $75 with code CANFREESHIP
Selling creepy cute, pastel goth, and fairy kei products such as mask bundles, scrunchies, hair bows, dice bags, and much more! New products are created every month 🙂
http://pasteldreamsnikki.bigcartel.com/
December 8th
Limited quantities of bundles available
Find all your holiday gifts from local Canadian Artists.
No mysteries to solve at Comic Con Holiday Edition 2019! Velma got a chance to hang out with the TARDIS.
Handmade chain maille jewellery and holiday ornaments that are colourful and lightweight – a modern twist on a medieval artform.
https://www.facebook.com/FloatOrFly/
https://www.instagram.com/floatorfly/
December 4 (December 13 for local pickup/delivery in Ottawa)
Free local delivery on purchases of $20 or more, and use code HOLIDAYLIST for 15% off until December 13
Geeky, nerdy and snarky cross stitches, patterns and kits. Geeky cabuchon pendants as well!!
www.etsy.com/ca/shop/Stitchnanigans
www.instagram.com/stitchnanigansstitching
www.facebook.com/Stitchnanigans1
Dec 5 Canada and US, Nov 15 international
10% off all cross stitch patterns, as well as all pendants, when purchased on Etsy. https://www.etsy.com/ca/shop/Stitchnanigans?coupon=CON2020
Find all your holiday gifts from local Canadian Artists.
Although next Monday is still November, the rest of the week is in December, so we are starting Christmas activities! You may, of course, substitute your own personal holiday traditions in place of ours. I would love to hear about them!
Here is the link for the downloadable materials. (Again, please let me know if you have any problems so I can fix it!)
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | Friday |
| Watch movie | Write letter to Santa | Geography | Bake cookies | Flex |
Daily details:
Ballet and martial arts on alternate days
Singing, listening to different pieces, learning piano
The project she is working on (currently she is making herself a poncho)
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.
Download materials
Practice counting objects and writing how many of each type – in download materials
Count and sort Christmas tags
Count and group Christmas tree decorations
Write letter to Santa (link to letter template)
Geography – app, map, Atlas, activity
Bake cookies
Next week: A Very Merry Pooh Year!
Virtual school started off a little rough this week. Dragon told me her tummy hurt. I think it hurt because she was exhausted. It felt better by the time she had recess. She sang the Bonjour song, both while it played and then when her teacher asked her to sing it by herself. Then she was asked how many days in a week, but she wanted to list the days of the week, so that provided some confusion. She did not get the chance to say the months of the year this week. The teachers taught the students about the letter “L”. Dragon got to write in the chat any words that started with the letter “L”, which she was very excited about. She wrote “livre”. Then they were asked to make the letter with playdough, and then asked to make a word with playdough. Again, she made the word “livre”. She even got a little one-on-one time with the teacher when she was supposed to start recess, because she hadn’t finished and shown her word yet.
After lunch, they did some math. Dragon was able to count to 20 (with a little help for the numbers above 12 from the teachers). So guess what we’re working on this week? We also were introduced to addition of groups of 10, and addition of the under-10 numbers.
Dragon got to present twice this week – first thing in the morning, she presented her wand (baguette magique). She was asked about the colours on it, but she wasn’t feeling well and was tired, so her comprehension wasn’t really there yet. In the afternoon, she presented her family tree to the class. There was some confusion when the teacher asked her how many people were in her family, since her paternal grandparents are no longer with us. (It’s been over a decade, but that night, Dragon was very upset that she had never met them.)
The home school portion went well.
No martial arts again this week (seems to be a trend, but Éric has been busy with coffee roasting), but she did ballet 2-3 times this week.
Her letters are doing well. She learned where the A and E are on the piano and on the staff. They did a review of the clapping and counting (success), and they tried clapping and counting with notes on the staff (limited success). She learned two new songs with using the two new notes. She practiced the two songs she sight-read last week.
We listened to French Christmas music this week.
We did not crochet this week. I am crocheting baby octopuses for twin preemies.
Working on the days of the week verbally is going well. She remembers without prompting, and can tell me the day before and the day after any given day. The months of the year is also going excellently. On Friday, she was able to tell me all 12 months, with proper pronounciation. Prior to that, November and December had English pronounciations.
The saisons de l’année are going well. She’s got automne, hiver, and été, but still has trouble remembering printemps.
Tracing letters went well on Wednesday. Printing went fairly well on Friday. She tried really hard to make the letters look the same as the traced ones. She tried to tell me that she had never printed letters without tracing them before. lol
She is doing much better with verbal counting. Her printing needs work on some numbers, but she is working hard. She can count to 14 in French, consistent 95% of the time. We are working on counting to 20. She can count to 12 no problem this week.
Patterns – her patterns have gotten more complex. She understands how to complete a pattern and how to define the first part (the repeating part).
Grouping dice – we used dice to make groups of objects to make it easier to count. But first we had to sort them into the different shapes.
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.
Make a pop-up diorama – Apparently Dragon was expecting it to “pop!” and was very disappointed that it didn’t. Personally, I was disappointed in how the glue came through the paper, making it blotchy. She doesn’t seem to mind so I haven’t pointed it out to her. I coloured for the first time in a while at the same time as she did, and OMG I didn’t realize how much it hurts to colour after a while! I will definitely bear that in mind next time she says her hand hurts!
Make a dungeon maze – initially I had this as a drawing activity on paper, but then I remembered that we actually have dungeon tiles for D&D, so I changed my mind and had her use them like a puzzle. She was thoroughly entranced by all the different pieces and enjoyed this activity a lot.
Plan a menu for the Manticore’s restaurant – She wrote the menu on paper first, and then I had her type it up on the computer. It was excellent practice for her to use the keyboard, and excellent practice in patience for me! She came up with a breakfast, lunch, dinner, and dessert item (one each). We only wrote this in English. Her restaurant’s name is FOOD. She was very disappointed that we wouldn’t be making the items to give out to people. Link to PDF of resturant menu.
