Original acrylic and watercolour paintings, prints, digital illustration, and custom pet portraits.
www.facebook.com/brainybirdcreations
www.instagram.com/brainybirdart
First or second week of December
Special on 8×8 wood panel custom pieces and a few other special promos
Find all your holiday gifts from local Canadian Artists.
The candy-covered witch’s cottage from Hansel and Gretel. (and Rapunzel’s tower in the background?)
Hello My Imaginary Friends,
I’m feeling pretty crappy right now. Some sort of bowel/indegestion/pain/thing. I had decided to do NaNoWriMo sort of but I’m starting to think I’m cursed. This will be the fifth year I’m not feeling well at the beginning of November. Sometimes it was just allergies but a few times it’s been like this. sigh. I’ll still try once I can concentrate.
So short post but enjoy this adorable picture of the brood at halloween.
Good luck to those that are writing!
Be safe and be kind,
Éric
Geeky/wood burned art
December 15th
Find all your holiday gifts from local Canadian Artists.
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 1987 film Princess Bride.
There are two stories going on in the movie. The boy and his grand father and then the main story. Both are extremely simple. Simplicity in this movie isn’t a bad thing; it’s used to shift the focus away from the plot and towards the characters and dialogue.
The movie has aged well in almost every way except the complete lack of diversity and failing the Bechdel test on all counts.
Score: 0.5
The movie has some of the most iconic characters and the movie is really about them and their journey. Other than Buttercup and Humperdinck, the major characters see growth and resolution.
Score: 1
The dialogue is quite possibly the most iconic in American cinema. It’s definitely one of the most quoted movies and in my D&D group it competes with Monty Python for quote time.
Score: 1
The scenery is gorgeous as are the costumes. The sets are purposefully simple but still beautiful. The movie has a look that is just borderline cheesy while still being ageless. The sword fighting is exceptional.
The music is lovely, simple but definitely fantasy inspired. It’s very well used in the fight scenes and “Kissing” moments. I was glad it didn’t follow the synth trend of the 80’s.
Score: 1
I saw this movie for the first time in my twenties and have watched it a handful of times since. It’s extremely fun to watch and easy to enjoy. It really has a little bit of everything.
Score: 1
The movie isn’t perfect but it’s pretty and a lot of fun. The dialogue is iconic and if you don’t find yourself quoting something from it, I’d be surprised.
Final Score: 4.5 Stars
How This Works – Read Other Reviews
Hello Cinephiles,
Today we’re talking about the 1993 film Hocus Pocus.
It’s harder for me to judge this movie’s story than normal because I’ve watched it yearly for 25+ years. There are a lot of witch clichés thrown around in this movie but it also works as a satire of the concept.
I was impressed that there were no offensive moments and it was as much fun as it always was.
Score: 1 (Admittedly not objective)
The witches were wonderfully evil, narcissistic, and funny.
I’ll always have a soft spot for Dani (one of my first crushes). Max is an idiot who doesn’t think before he speaks or acts but has lots of heart. The brother-sister relationship makes him likeable beyond the typical white boy with a crush. Allison is a little bland but could have been worse.
The movie is greatly lacking in any sort of representation.
Score: 0.5
I think I need a list of Bette Midler’s insults in this for my next internet argument. Maggoty Malfeasance and Thundering Oafs being some of my favourite. The dialogue is over the top and a little awkward but delivered perfectly. I’ve often danced around singing Amok! Amok! Amok!
Score: 1
This movie more than anything defined what I thought of as what Halloween should look like. The beautiful leaves and lively decorations. Similar to home but we had more snow and less leaves by that point. I envied their lack of snowsuits.
The music is sometimes epic, sometimes silly, and always right on point.
Score: 1
This movie makes me nostalgic and makes me smile. Watching my daughter’s face as she whispered, “He’s going to light the candle.” and, “No don’t light the candle.” made my night. It was great to see how into it she was.
Score: 1
This is a classic and is both scary and funny. It’s not a perfect movie but it is a lot of fun. The sections with the kids would have made for a fun movie but the witches send it over the top in every way. I’ve watched this dozens of times and I’ll happily watch it every Halloween.
Final Score: 4.5
Prologue | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Chapter 9 | Chapter 10 | Chapter 11 | Chapter 12
I was lucky that when I exploded with electric energy I was able to control where it went and that behind me was just an old warehouse dressed like a hospital. I didn’t think that as I stood in front of the impaled corpse of the most realistic puppet the Puppeteer had made so far.
The Puppeteer spoke through his puppet, “You didn’t think I’d make it that easy for you? Did you, Sam?” The puppet collapsed but my ears still rang with the sound of my name.
I didn’t wait to see what happened next. I just threw myself into the sky flying as high as I could. The warehouse was just outside of town and it was a quick flight back to Toronto.
I tried my coms but they must have been fried in the storm or Mel had dismissed it. I was thankful she hadn’t dismissed my costume or I’d be as naked as I felt.
If the Puppeteer knew who I was, he knew who the rest were. I was so caught up in my own mind that I didn’t hear the police helicopters. I blame the rushing air, fatigue, and distraction. Either way, two RCMP attack helicopters flanked me out of the clouds.
Over a loudspeaker I heard, “Electric Knight. You are under arrest. Follow us quietly or we will open fire.”
“We’re over the city. That’s way too dangerous.” My words were lost to the rush of air and the thrumming of their propellers.
I didn’t want to go with them, I didn’t want to be responsible for them opening fire in a residential neighbourhood, and I didn’t want to hurt them.
That left me no other option than to follow. In theory they should have taken me to a police station or the RCMP headquarters in Etobicoke. I half expected to be escorted to another abandoned warehouse. Instead we went higher and over the clouds I saw a floating battleship like something out of Marvel Comics or Doctor Who.
The bow said HMS Joe Clark. I couldn’t help but wonder, Joe Who.
Although the ship looked impressive, the proportions were off and I could feel almost no electricity use. “Please land on the carrier,” the voice from the helicopters said but they didn’t move towards it.
I looked closely at the helicopters and concentrated on the pilots. I waved to see what would happen. They didn’t react. Their heads didn’t move.
This was a trap… another one.
I focused what little concentration I had left and looked at the helicopters. They were well built replicas but the power source was all wrong. It was electric. Which was a good thing for me. I tugged with my powers and took all the electricity from the batteries without changing speed or course.
The ‘copters fell from the sky and a megaphone from the carrier screeched, “You think you’re so smart! Each of those had a chemical based bomb that will level half of Toronto. You’ll never get all three in time.” The screams were followed by what sounded like a bad cartoon villain laughing.
The fact that he said three only clicked when the carrier started to fall. I flew as quickly as I could and grabbed the carrier. It was lighter than I would have expected; I threw it as hard as I could and when it was as high as possible I shot it with a bolt.
The voice hadn’t lied, the explosion threw me down faster than I could have gone on my own. Between the push from the blast and my own power I flew fast enough to catch the first ‘copter. I hadn’t considered what to do with it. If I detonated it at this height, it would devastate whatever was below. If I didn’t, the other one would hit the ground before I had a change to get to it.
I had only one choice, I had to pull this one to go catch the other. I grabbed the blades and pulled it along with me. It slowed me down and hurt my arms but I was catching up to the second one. I’m not sure what was scarier; holding a bomb, chasing a second bomb, or the sight of downtown rushing toward me at mach speeds.
I thought I wasn’t going to make it but I did and with less than a metre to spare I managed to grab the second ‘copter. I was now on Bay street with two bombs.
“You think that catching them will stop me?” the voice asked. I sighed as I realized he could detonate it remotely. I tightened my grip and pulled as fast as I could, straight up. I could feel my muscles fighting not to let go. I was also fairly certain I wasn’t going to get high enough.
Stopping my ascent, I thought about everything I knew about electricity. Then I remembered Frank filming a movie for one of our classes. He somehow talked all our teachers into letting him make a movie instead of another boring oral presentation. He had wireless microphones and whenever we were too close to anything electronic, they recorded this horrific hum. We had to build a barrier of metal and electricity to block the effect. He’d called it a Faraday cage.
It wouldn’t stop an explosion… but it just might block a radio based transmission.
Again I concentrated on my powers and created a bubble around myself and the helicopters. I went as high as I could before my hands gave out and tossed the helicopters as far as I could.
It was far enough to protect the city, but the blast hit me like a car. I was thrown back and the strength plus speed of it made my vision blur.
I felt numb and despite the ground quickly moving up, my eyes felt heavy. I started to hallucinate and I heard Frank’s voice, “Don’t you dare give up now, Sam. I need you to live. I need you to open your eyes.” The clouds raced away from me and I wondered if I’d said something to offend them.
“Sam. Stop falling, I can’t lose you again.”
While you wait for the next chapter, check out the previous serial stories:
I adore this movie. And I cry. A lot. It’s a perfect way to introduce the Day of the Dead to your kids.
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 | Remember the dead | Bake traditional Mexican food | Learn about Dia de Los Muertos | 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 flowers/petals and group them (fake flowers or real)
Count and group nuts
Remember the dead: go through old photo albums
Bake traditional Mexican food (link to 15 traditional recipes)
Learn about Dia de Los Muertos (+ watch Elena of Avalor special episode)
Next week: Abominable
This week was not as good as the previous week for virtual school. I’m not sure what happened, but she didn’t want to talk to, listen to, or try to speak French with her teachers. And then there was the thing with the playdough. She had never played with playdough before, and the teacher asked them to make letters out of playdough. Dragon just had a complete meltdown because, and I quote, “but the playdough is ripped apart now!!” Cue tears. She got a nice bit of one-on-one with Mme at this point, which was nice. It was just a little frustrating on my end, because she *is* doing better with her French.
As for the home school portion, it felt like there was less to do this week, thankfully, as there were a lot of handouts from virtual school to complete.
No martial arts again this week, but she did ballet 2-3 times this week.
I forgot to get her to practice with the letters, so we did it verbally just now as I’m writing this post. I’d say she’s doing pretty well.
She had another piano lesson on Saturday. She worked on rhythms and clapping (eighth notes seem to be the easiest for her), as well as the song she played last week and Chopsticks.
We listened to a bunch of French music. Coeur de Pirate was the favourite yet again and I am thrilled because it is a beautiful album.
No crochet this week.
Rather than pull out the papers, we did these verbally this week. She can now recite the days of the week in French without prompting. She has the first five months of the year down pat (when she remembers to start with Janvier and not Février) and is working on remembering Juin. Next week, I think I’ll add the next 3 months.
Despite not wanting to complete the printing words on Friday, she did pretty well.
She’s still forgetting that sept comes after six. We tried repetition both verbally and written. I’m guessing that this will just take time. Her printing of numbers is getting better, I think.
We didn’t read any French books together this week.
Draw pumpkin face – she wanted to draw a scary pumpkin face. This is the one she chose. Appropriately spooky.
Finger painting with Crayola washable paint on paper – she decided that although it was fun to make hand prints, she didn’t like washing her hands in between each colour. Verdict: prefers painting with a brush.
Learn about monkeys – she found this fact sheet very interesting.
