Bunnies!

So, today's storytime was bunny themed for the upcoming Easter holiday. I had the kids make rabbit eared hats which they enjoyed. But I only got to tell one story because the kids were far more interested in the hats. This is one of those instances where I wonder if I should shift the craft to the end of the storytime but for now I still prefer it as a method to gather a crowd.

This story was good though because it was simple but clever enough for the slightly older girl I had in the audience who was paying the most attention.

SHEEP!

Yesterday I gave a sheep themed storytime and had the kids make woolly sheep by pasting cotton balls onto paper sheep cut-outs. Good fun. Of the sheep stories I read, this was the best--a sheep that just keeps getting bigger because he doesn't stop eating. Excellent. Check him out in all his woolly glory.

Alice in Wonderland

I saw Alice in Wonderland in 3D and with all the 3D movies out recently, I feel this movie should come in two parts. One on the actual story and plot and the other on the 3D special effects and use thereof.

Story

Alice Kingsley has had the same nightmare since she was a child: a land full of strange creatures and people--a land called Wonderland. At the age of 19 Alice is far from Wonderland, about to be forced into a horrible marriage, when she falls down the rabbit hole once more. She finds a Wonderland plunged into war between the Red and White Queens--and Alice is the one prophesied to end the feud!

Story Review

When I described the story to my sister before we saw it, I said it was a sequel to Alice and Wonderland where Alice returns to fight in a war for the freedom of Wonderland with the Mad Hatter as a daring general.

My sister seems to think my description was better than the actual story but she felt the plot was still far better than Avatar's and I did as well. I've actually never read the original, but I think the basic story is part of everyone's general psyche if they grow up hearing about it. In that sense, I felt this movie was in keeping with the general tone of Alice in Wonderland--being sufficiently surreal and wide open to interpretation.

With just the story I give 6/10 stars. I would have liked a little more background and depth to the characters since so many of them were so bizarre. You can't just assume they're like normal people. I also would have liked a little romance for Alice, but I respected the ending they had for her.

3D Review

I wish things would pop out of the screen. I know they can do it. I've seen it before. But modern 3D movies seem to think that depth is more artsy or something. Either that or it's easier to do on a mass scale because the best 3D I've seen has been for IMAX specials--not Blockbusters. True, it's cheesy to write a story for 3D. But if there's a monster flying at the screen I want it to pop out! The Jabberwocky should have come flying right in my face. There was one scene where the smoke was coming off the Mad Hatter's hat and it was coming out of the screen but everything else but me in mind of seeing a play and the "stage" had a depth so it looks more like the actors are really standing down there. This wasn't always bad. I thought it was really well done when the Mad Hatter was standing in the burned out pit. But in the action scenes I just don't feel they use the 3D to its fullest.

There were even some parts in the beginnning that I wasn't sure were in 3D at all. But I would say the 3D gets a 7.5/10 stars overall.

Total Ranking

7/10 stars * * * * * * *

I know it probably doesn't make mathematical sense, but the combination of 3D and decent story made me feel that the movie overall was 7/10 stars. For me this means I'm not disappointed that I saw it but I wasn't blown away and it could have been better.

The Girl Who Played With Fire: Book Review

First off I thought it was really cool when I realized that the cover art was not fire but hair. Secondly, I listened to this on audio but I don't feel like I have enough to say about the audio to call this an audiobook review. I have a few audio critiques but the majority will be story focused. Honestly, I feel like most my audiobook reviews are like that so, in the future, I may just call them book reviews.

Summary:

So, The Girl Who Played With Fire, picks up where The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo left off. You find out that, after the events of the first book, Salander takes a year off to tour the world. She returns to find that a plot has been hatched against her that soon turns her into the country's most sought-after fugitive. When Salander's few friends fight tooth and nail to exonerate her, we discover the key factors of her past that made her the mystery she is.

Overview:

l loved this book even more than the first, which I loved quite a lot. This may have been because the underlying villains were in the sex trade which is a lot easier to understand than financial crime. Plus, I feel Larsson really hit his stride with the characters where I was really rooting for them even more than before and I was very worried when they were in danger. I began the book with the assumption only certain characters could die. I finished fearing everyone was fair game. They even had me get really into boxing in one scene, a sport I care nothing for normally. The only thing that had me concerned was the end. I won't reveal it here (that's for my Book Club section), but I will say, if that's the end to this book, I'm worried about the end of the last book. At the same time, I have to know what happens! I can't wait for the release of The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest this May!

Audio

It was fine EXCEPT he gave Salander and Blomkvist these very distinct British accents which felt weird since they're Swedish. The narration was fine because it was a very standard midlands British accent which was fine. But the voices were weird. I don't know enough about British accents to point to a map and say where one is from, but I would bet someone who did could. I don't expect Swedish accents but no pronounced accent at all would have been the best route.

Film

There is also a Swedish film to this book. You can see the trailer below. The trailer made some scenes look a bit cheesier than I would have liked, but it's hard to tell without seeing the movie.



Book Club

Okay, this is where I talk about the book as if you've already read it, so if you don't want spoilers, don't read on.

First of all, Mia Johansson and Dag Svensson were really likable characters, so I was easily able to relate to the shock and heartache the other characters felt when they were murdered.

I also didn't think it was possible, but I love Blomkvist even more in this book. He's responsible, ethical, loyal, and true. These qualities easily outweigh his human foibles--such as his many and varied relationships with women. Part of the reason I'm never bothered by it is that Blomkvist continues to show all of these women nothing but respect and it is always believable why they're interested in him. Harriet, for instance, owes a lot to Blomkvist, and he's the only one who knows her secret. So it makes sense that she would feel close to him. Berger explains in even more detail that she just happens to be sexually attracted to Blomkvist. The few other women mentioned are interested in his rising fame. It doesn't feel like a male fantasy as these type of books often do. Not in the least because Blomkvist isn't jumping into bed with everyone who offers. Berger and Harriet are actually the only two in this book. He's not even tempted by the young star-struck intern which shows he has some measure of integrity and taste. I think it also helps that I generally like or at least respect the women he's with. There's also the fact that even after Salander has repudiated him, he remains a loyal friend. It's also a small detail, but the scene where he's panicking over the alarm after breaking into Salander's apartment and she can see him on video is hilarious!

I still find Salander difficult to relate to, but I understood her a lot better in this book than the first one. Probably because this book is actually about her. I also loved it when Paolo Roberto told Blomkvist he was a friend of Salander's and the "of course" moment. Priceless. The beauty of these characters is they are simultaneously realistic and larger than life. Salander is both troubled child and avenging angel. For this reason, and the fact that I knew there was a third book, I wasn't worried about her death through most the book. She seemed safely invincible. But at the end I began to seriously fear that she would die when she was shot in the head. I thought maybe the third book was a prequel or something because she was shot and buried! Part of me was thinking "No! She can't die! She's Lisbeth Salander!" The other part was thinking "@$#%! She's just been shot in the head and buried. She's dead. She's dead!!" Even if he brought her back as a zombie, it would be the death of a good book. But I was so excited when she bust out of that grave. Larsson made it just difficult enough where I could believe it just might be medically possible. Plus, I was willing to stretch the limits of possible just a little for Salander.

The ending allows for no denoument, though. Not really a cliffhanger, but I sincerely hope the third book doesn't end similar. I fear it's possible because this was supposed to be a ten book series but Larsson is dead. Literature is the poorer for that man's early loss. But I will definitely still read the third and last book of his oeuvre.

A Dancing Good Storytime

Today my storytime theme was dancing. Since my first story, Yoshi's Feast, featured Japanese dance, I had the kids decorate paper fans for a craft. I brought my kimono and Japanese fan to do the dance in the story. The kids enjoyed the craft, perhaps got a little to in to the dancing, but I kept my audience entertained which is the important part.

In Yoshi's Feast, Yoshi's neighbor says he will charge him money for smelling his restaurant's food. Yoshi says if he is charged for the smell, he'll pay with the sound of his money (I brought a money box to shake). Eventually, Yoshi decides to help his neighbor out by doing a fabulous dance to attract customers to the restaurant.

It would be a bit of a complex story for some of the kids with shorter attention spans if I just read it it straight. But that's why I always perform a shorter version with the kimono, fan, and money box as my props.

This second one, Twist With a Burger, Jitter With a Bug, was a good find. It's a short but rhythmic little ditty on dancing.

The last book, Down By the Cool of the Pool features a simple rhyme with a bunch of animals dancing. I decided to do a dancing theme after choosing Yoshi's Feast but not finding any other Japanese stories I wanted to tell. I choose the other two books for a gender neutral approach to dance. Too many books talked about little girls taking ballet, so I was happy I found these.