Wednesday, December 31, 2008

2009 Resolutions

crazy_face These are my New Year’s Resolutions for 2009:

  1. I am going to hang out with my friends more. I’m going to ask my Mom to call my friend and schedule appointments, at least once a week.
  2. I’m going to be more like Calvin, by reading more Calvin & Hobbes, and doing what he does.  I admire Calvin because he is really funny!
  3. I am going to be less responsible, doing less chores, so I have more time to do more important stuff, like playing outside. 

Oh, by the way, I need to go out and build a snowman now, it’s life or death!

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Whingle Advertisement

whingle

Have you seen the commercial for Snuggies?  They added sleeves to a blanket, and presto, it sells.

I’m introducing Whingles.

Tired of balls stuck in trees?  Tired of throwing rocks at the balls stuck in trees?

Whingles is your solution.

With this special offer of one Whingle and side-by-side instructions of how to use it, you won’t be going back to the store to get more balls.

Plus, all your neighborhood friends will be jealous.

My Whingle is a newly designed model.  It uses soft breezes under its wings to glide up and knock a ball out of a tree.  Plus, if you sharpen it, you can use it to write words.

This special offer is not available in stores; however, you can order it directly from the manufacturer at the low price of $3.00, plus shipping and handling.

If you would like to get a Whingle, please post a comment to make your request.

Tuesday, December 9, 2008

T S Eliot

Monday, December 8, 2008

All About Praying Mantises

mantis There are many different kinds of Praying Mantises.  Some are big, some are small.  They live everywhere, but mostly in tropical areas.  They eat bugs that are harmful to gardens.  A Praying Mantis has spiny front legs that he uses to grasp and hold his prey.  Praying Mantises are my favorite type of bug.

Here are some You Tube Videos about Praying Mantises:

Egg Sack Opens

Baby Praying Mantis Being Born

Praying Mantis - Healthy Praying Mantis on hand.

Nature's Perfect Predator: Praying Mantis - Absolutely terrifying to watch, this Animal Planet video does a great job of describing howinsects these bugs survive as a predator.

Female Praying Mantis Eats Male After Mating

Sick Praying Mantis - He's so cute!

Praying Mantis Artz - This video shows you how to draw a Praying Mantis, but I used the instructions in How to Draw Insects by Barbara Soloff Levy.

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

A Kid's Review of The Lightning Thief Series

lightning The Lightning Thief, by Rick Riordan, is probably my all-time favorite series.  I recommend this book to anyone at all, no matter how young or old.

The Lightning Thief

This first book introduces the Lighting Thief series about a boy named Percy  who finds out that all the Greek myths that he's read were real.  He finds out that his dad is Poseidon, god of the sea, and someone has stolen Zeus' master lightning bolt.

Zeus claims that the thief is Percy, so he must find the real thief and return it before the Summer Solstice when the gods have a big meeting.  This lightning bolt is important because it is Zeus' source of power, and if he doesn't get it back, there will be a big war between Zeus and Poseidon.

I like this mystery fantasy adventure, especially when Percy was sword fighting Ares, the god of war.  This was one of my favorite scenes because it was exciting fun.

This book does not refer to the Greek myths as much as the others in the series, but it does introduce the Greek gods who are just like what you hear from the Greek myths.  This book brings the ancient Greek myths to life.

The Sea of Monsters

This story relates to the myth of the cyclops, like the one in Ulysses.  In the original myth, Ulysses has to escape from Calypso's, the cyclops, island.

lightning2 In The Sea of Monsters, instead of escaping, Percy has to get to the island to get the golden fleece (like the golden fleece in Jason and the Argonauts.) 

Percy needs this golden fleece to cure Thalia's tree because the tree makes the magic borders that protects his half-blood camp from monsters.  Half-bloods are kids who's one of their parents is a god.  Percy is a half-blood who lives at the camp because monsters attack half-bloods who don't live there.

This is an exciting addition to the Lightning Thief series.

The Titan's Curse

lightning3 In The Titan's Curse, Percy finds out about two new half-bloods that don't know that they are demi-gods, Bianca di Angelo and Nico.

Artemis, goddess of the hunt, is captured by the Titans, the gods who existed before Zeus and Mt. Olympus.

Percy has to gang up with Artemis' hunters and save Artemis.  Bianca becomes a hunter, and joins Percy in saving Artemis.  However, this leads to problems between Percy and Nico.

The Titan's Curse is a very good addition to this series.

The Battle of the Labyrinth

lightning4 The Battle of the Labyrinth is about Percy finding that there is an entrance to a giant labyrinth, bigger than the one in ancient Greek myths about the Minotaur, that covers the entire world.  If Kronos, Zeus' father and enemy, learns how to navigate the maze, then he could go straight under the magic borders that protect Camp Half-Bloods.

Kronos wants to take down Camp Half-Blood before he tackles the gods at Mt. Olympus.

Now, Percy must find the maker of the maze so he doesn't tell Kronos how to navigate the maze.

I think this is an amazing addition to the series.

Conclusion

This is one of my favorite series, but there is still one more book to come.  The final book in the series, The Last Olympian, is coming out May 5, 2009.  I can't wait!

For games, mythology bee, and more, follow these links:

Percy Jackson and the Olympians

Rick Riordan Books For Children

Monday, November 3, 2008

Review of Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH

nimh Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O'Brien, is about a mouse family who lived in a cinder block in a farmyard.  Every year the farmers come and plow, destroying their home.  So, every year they go to their summer home.

But, one year, one of the kids, named Timothy, is too sick to move.  So, Mrs. Frisby, the mother, has to visit the rats of Nimh, because they are the only ones who can move the house. They're called the rats of Nimh because they were abducted by a research lab that made them a lot smarter.

This book is about getting along, and making friends.

Protagonist: Mrs. Frisby, who is trying to save her son, Timothy.  She makes friends with the crow, and gets along with the crow and the rats.  Mrs. Frisby makes friends with crow when she finds him tangled up in wire, and she untangles him before the cat can get him.  The crow suggested that Mrs. Frisby go to the owl for help with her son, and the owl sent her to the rats. 

At first, the rats were unhappy and avoiding everyone.  They were unhappy because they had to steal grain to eat and live.  But, they helped Mrs. Frisby because her husband had helped rescue them from NIMH.  As they help Mrs. Frisby, the rats find out about a great danger, the exterminator.  They help themselves as they help her.  Finally, the rats learn to adapt to their environment in the tunnel under the farm and to live with their new friends.

Antagonist: Dragon, the cat makes it difficult for them to move the house, do anything, and to get along.

Links:

IQ Testing, Animal Geniuses, and More from Rat Tales: A Unit Study

Thursday, October 30, 2008

The Story of Theseus and the Minotaur

theseus_uk

Theseus and the Minotaur - written by James Ford and illustrated by Gary Andrews.

Crete and Athens, two Greek cities, went to war. Afterwards, Athens had to make a sacrifice so that they wouldn't get totally destroyed. Every nine years, they would have to send in seven girls and seven boys to be the Minotaur's lunch.


Theseus, the son of the King of Athens, volunteered to take the place of one of the people that was being sacrificed. Theseus went into a maze to kill the Minotaur, who is half bull and half human. Before he went into the maze, he found a girl that gave him some yarn. He used the yarn to navigate his way through the maze. In the end, he found his way through and killed the Minotaur.

On his way back home, he forgot to switch the colors of the sail, so when his father saw that it was still black, he thought his son had died, so he jumped off a cliff. When Theseus returned, he was made king because his father died.

I like this version of the story because of its gruesome but funny pictures.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

My Review of Spore


Spore is a game about evolution. Every time you start a new game from the very beginning, it goes from when an asteroid crashes on a planet until your species develops to the point of a space age with a UFO.

This game rocks. It is very complex.

In it, you will design an alien and make choices that will affect the future of your alien. You can choose whether it will be a carnivore or herbivore. You can choose what body parts to give it. You can choose to befriend or attack other species. Each choice affects your other choices. For example, if you choose that your alien will be a herbivore, this affects what kind of mouth it can have.

In this complex game, it isn't easy to get your alien race to the space age. Will you be successful? Will your alien get to the space age?

Here is a link for the official Spore Website: spore

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Review of The Phantom Tollbooth

phantom The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster, and illustrated by Jules Feiffer, was a really good book. I was so engrossed in reading it that I read it in one long morning. I recommend it for all ages.

It's about a kid named Milo who gets sent a tollbooth that leads to another world. The main characters' names are Tock, Milo, and Humbug. The whole book is basically a pun on words.


At one point in the book, when Milo has just gone through the tollbooth, he met this man called "the whether man." Milo asked him whether it was going to be sunny or rainy. The Whether Man answered, "How should I know?" Then, Milo said, "Well, you're the weather man." "I'm not the Weather Man, I'm the Whether Man. Don't you think it's a lot more important to know whether there is weather, rather than what kind of weather it is?"

 
Then, Milo asked him, "Is this the right road to Dictionapolis?" The Whether Man said, "I don't know if there are any wrong ways to Dictionopolis. If it's not the right road to Dictionapolis, then it's the right road to somewhere else."


I love this book because the verbal puns made me laugh.

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Pictures On Poverty

Feel the sarcasm in the music?

Act now.  Do something about Poverty at Dosomething.org.

 


This post is part of Blog Action Day 08 - Poverty

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

A Famous Philosopher: Aristotle

aristotle A philosopher is a person who asks a lot of questions and studies things.  They ask why a lot.

Aristotle was a philosopher who lived long ago, 384-322 BCE.  He lived in Ancient Greece.  His father was a doctor, and Aristotle ended up studying the physical world.  He dissected more than 50 different species and wrote up descriptions.  Aristotle wrote a book called Physics and he also said that the reason a feather falls slower than a rock is that it is lighter and it has more air resistance.  I can see why Aristotle became so famous because he studied so much!

 

From Philosopher Jokes:

A boy is about to go on his first date, and is nervous about what to talk about. He asks his father for advice. The father replies: "My son, there are three subjects that always work. These are food, family, and philosophy."

The boy picks up his date and they go to a soda fountain. Ice cream sodas in front of them, they stare at each other for a long time, as the boy's nervousness builds. He remembers his father's advice, and chooses the first topic. He asks the girl: "Do you like potato pancakes?" She says "No," and the silence returns.

After a few more uncomfortable minutes, the boy thinks of his father's suggestion and turns to the second item on the list. He asks, "Do you have a brother?" Again, the girl says "No" and there is silence once again.

The boy then plays his last card. He thinks of his father's advice and asks the girl the following question: "If you had a brother, would he like potato pancakes?"

The three above jokes were contributed by Owen Herring.
He attributes the third to Elliot Sober.

Book Resource:

Monday, October 6, 2008

Review of Jason & The Argonauts

jason Retold Felicity Brooks

A prince named Jason went on an adventure to find the golden fleece.  The current king made him do so to become king because he was greedy.

In his travels to find the fleece, he visited a king and killed the harpies that terrorized him.  He also fought two bulls made of bronze that breathed fire and killed people.  He went through two rocks that clashed together and destroyed ships.  And he married Medea, but awhile after he met another girl that he wanted to marry, and Medea got angry and tried to kill him.

There are a lot of other books that I would rather read, but if you have to pick between Greek myths, then I would choose Jason.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

How To Celebrate Calvin & Hobbes Day

calvin_day I declare October 4th and 5th are Calvin & Hobbes Days.  On these two days, you celebrate everything about Calvin and Hobbes. 

Today, I dressed up like Hobbes and had fun.  I got a water pistol and squirted my sister.  She did not like it, and bit me.  I already climbed some trees, and I'm waiting for my dad to get back so I can pounce on him.

Here are some of the things you can do on Calvin & Hobbes Day.

1.  You play the national sport, Calvin Ball, where the only rule is that you can't play the same way twice.

2.  You steal cookies.

3.  You have to get in loads of trouble.

4. You have to be very specific about how your parents should make your PB&J sandwich. 

6.  You have to throw water balloons at the kids in your neighborhood, preferably girls named "Susie."

7.  You have to climb loads of trees.

8.  Get a water pistol and squirt everyone.

9.  Play with a bunch of cardboard boxes.

10. Read a bunch of Calvin & Hobbes to get your own ideas.

Find out more about Calvin & Hobbes on The Funniest Comic Strip - Calvin and Hobbes.

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Games I Like

I used the Animoto Website to make this video about games I like, mostly FunKeys. It was between easy and hard to do.

It was hard to get the pictures, but I did a Google Image Search. Then, I uploaded them by using "Save Picture As" and then on Animoto I just hit the upload button. Clicking "upload" was the easy part.

Saturday, September 20, 2008

An Ammonite and I

ammonite

This is a picture of me next to an ammonite.  An ammonite is a creature that lived in the ocean long, long ago in the time of dinosaurs.  When it got fossilized, all the flesh and meat and tentacles rotted away, and the shell is all that's left.

Thursday, September 18, 2008

Me and The Statue of Hercules


This is a picture of me and Hercules. The skin on his arm is from the Nemean Lion, that he got in his first of ten that turned into twelve labors. Hercules chased the lion into a cave, but first he put a boulder on one side so he couldn't get out again. Then, he strangled it to death.

Gorilla Pictures



We were at the Bronx Zoo today, and I found a new friend - my sister's identical twin.

Friday, September 12, 2008

Yellow Snow Crystal Movie

Embedded Video


A friend sent me this video to thank me for my Birthday Thank You card.  It's a hilarious movie because it's about potty humor.  And, I liked the music.


Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

Review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid


I reviewed more books on my Librarything. Here is a review of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

I first found out about this good book while playing on Fun Brain. It's a really good book about a kid named Greg, but it's not exactly a book. It's a diary. Although Greg likes to say it's a journal, because he doesn't write about his feelings like his mom would like him to.

Greg lives in a world of stick figures. In this book, the cheese touch is like a plague.

I highly recommend this book to kids who want a good laugh.

I read it a while back, but I thought about it when I was writing my thank you cards for my birthday gifts.

In my Thank You cards, I was referring to a particular joke in the book, where Greg - the Wimpy Kid - was writing a thank you card to his aunt to thank her for a pair of pants that she gave him.

Greg said:

Thank you for the pants. They look so good on my legs. My friends will be so jealous that I have my very own pair of pants. Thank you for making this the best Christmas ever!
I thought that was pretty funny.
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Thursday, September 4, 2008

Anton van Leeuwenhoek, The Scientist

leeuwenhoeksmall Anton van Leewenhoek is a famous scientist.  He was born in 1632 in Holland.  He was the first person to look through a microscope because he invented the microscope.  His microscopes were basically really powerful magnifying glasses.  Still, he was able to see microorganisms.  And, he was the first person to see bacteria.  We have learned a lot from him.

 

We found this picture and pictures of his microscope on the Antony van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) website.

 

Book Source:

Friday, August 29, 2008

Spectrobes


Is this a Spectrobe? Just kidding, it's Leperdy.

I love the Nintendo DS game, Spectrobes. It is not an easy game. Once my friend fell into a glitch (when you do something in a game that makes it impossible to go further in the game.) I don't know if he ever got out of the glitch. I never fell into a glitch. In fact, I beat the Spectrobes game three times.

My friend's Dad helped build the website for the game. I like the blog on the Spectrobes website, and I subscribed to it on my Google Reader. The writer is interesting, I wish she wrote more.

Did you know Spectrobe 2 is coming out?

Spectrobes Homepage

Spectrobes Blog


Friday, August 1, 2008

Recent Book Reviews

lemonade_stand2 Beyond the Lemonade Stand by Bill Rancic.

This is a fun book for people who want to make cash, quick and easy. In the book, it describes different money-earning stories.

I like the part where the kid earned $300 from a car wash. I wouldn't mind earning that much money!



thief The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke.

This book is about two children who run away to Venice, Italy. I didn't care for the story because there wasn't that much action, and it was extremely unimaginative. It was too realistic.

I didn't like it because there wasn't any fantasy in it at all. There are a lot of runaway children in the world, and this seems to be a story about two of them. All in all, I say you should not read this book because it's extremely boring.


inkspell Inkheart by Cornelia Funke.

In this book, 12-year-old Meggie's father reads evil villain Capcorn out of a book. When Meggie finds a mysterious figure on her yard, her life changes forever.

I recommend this book for older Tweens, but I didn't really enjoy this book at all. I loved it at the beginning but I lost interest after awhile.


rls13th The 13th Warning by R.L. Stine.

It's a really good book about a boy named Lucky, and it's almost his birthday. He's thinking about stuff when his doorbell rings, and he thinks it's someone with a present. Instead, it's really old dudes warning him not to get 13 "13s" by midnight.
I read the whole book in one hour!


Book Resources:

If you want to buy any of these books, order from these links. I'll get paid, and you'll make my day. And, I'll want to write more stuff that won't bore you. Thank you!




Beyond the Lemonade Stand: Bill Rancic: Books

ISBN: 1595141030
ISBN-13: 9781595141033





The Thief Lord: Cornelia Funke: Books

ISBN: 1905294212
ISBN-13: 9781905294213


Friday, July 25, 2008

Tea Tasting Fever

Yesterday, I was at a Tea Tasting Workshop at Verdigris in Hudson, NY. I made my own tea. It's called Leperdy. They made us make up a story for it. It had to be at least one sentence long. My story was:

Leperdy regurgitated the tea.

tea

In this picture, the store owner was showing us the different herbs that are used for making tea.

tea2

We were only supposed to choose three herbs for our tea. I chose chamomile, King Tut Lemonade, and Lemon Balm.

tea3

This is the package that I made for my tea.

tea4

I am cutting out dough to make scones. Later, we put in strawberries and butter, and we sprinkled sugar on top.

tea5

Here, I am serving the scones.

tea6

On this picture, my tea is brewing so that I can try it. I brewed it until it was strong.

tea7

On my way out, I stopped at the Tea Library in the store and did some sniffing around.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Star Wars


I think Star Wars is cool. It is a fun movie. Darth Moll is wicked. Did you know that Anikin is Darth Vader?

Friday, July 18, 2008

Tuesday, July 15, 2008

My Pet


Starting today, I am growing a mosquito larva. Not my sister, who looks like one, but an actual larva.

My Mom was cleaning outside when she found a bowl with water in it, probably rainwater, that my Dad left out. There was a lot of other stuff in it like two beetles and a spider.

So, I got the bowl and when I was looking in it, I found that there were a bunch of tiny, wiggly things that I later found out were mosquito larvae.

I got one, and took it over to my microscope. But, after a while of looking, I noticed that a mosquito larva was wriggling around helplessly in a bubble of water. So, I thought it was dying, right?

And, it was.

Normal people wouldn't give it a second thought, and just leave it there to die. But, not me!

I got a plastic cup, filled it with water, and I used a tiny spoon to transport the mosquito larva to the cup. And, I named my new pet, Bobby.

First, I tried to feed him fish food. He took a nip at it, and then sank to the bottom. It turns out that the advice I had gotten was about Mollies, a kind of fish.

Then, I went back on the Internet and found out that mosquitoes eat algae on The Life Cycle of the Mosquito (this is where I got the picture you see here.) I got some from my Sea Monkey container. They died some time ago.

So far, all Bobby is doing is laying at the bottom of the cup, occasionally rising to the top for Oxygen. He seems to be OK in his new home.

So long!







Monday, July 14, 2008



GROW CUBE(GAME)



The 3rd game of GROW is CUBE. grow cube is a fun game where you have to click on stuff in a certain order.

My Mom likes it that I play this game because it's educational. She says that they build logic skills. it is rele fun.






grow cube

Sunday, June 29, 2008

Line Rider


Line Rider is a fun game. I've been playing it for an entire year. Every time, I set up a sledding course I try to make it so that there are cool stunts but he stays on the sled. One time I even got him to do a back flip without falling off. I don't really care if he falls off, because he keeps on moving anyway.
Here is some information about the newest fad in the world, Line Rider:

Boy grabs sled. Boy rides sled. A simple concept yields endless fun and the
latest Internet Phenomenon is born! In Line Rider the player draws their own
landscape with a simple pencil tool creating as many ramps, hills, and jumps as
they can imagine. Then they send a virtual sledder careening down the course
until he wipes out. The possibilities in Line Rider are only limited by the
player's imagination.