The Hobbit

I went on a date to the movies Thursday night with my boyfriend, Tanner. We went to see The Hobbit. I had already seen all of the all of the Lord of the Rings movies so I was really excited to see this one. We decided to see it in 3D since it was an option and because we thought it would make the movie more interesting.

Basically the movie is about a hobbit who decides to go on an adventure with a wizard and a bunch of dwarves. They are going on this adventure to fight a dragon that took over the dwarves mountain/kingdom, so that they can regain it. Normally hobbits would rather stay in their homes in the ground and live a calm food filled life, except for Bilbo Baggins. Although in all fairness he sort of got tricked into going by the wise wizard Gandalf.

They go through a series of battles on the way, including three very hungry trolls and a group of Wargs. All of which would like to kill the adventurers. At one point in time they come really close to death but find refuge in the homes of the Elves in Rivendell. At first its really awkward because the elves and the dwarves don’t exactly have a good relationship but Gandalf keeps everyone under control.

After their quick stay at the elvish fortress, they make their way along the mountains where they encounter more trouble. This time from thousands of goblins, one in particular was named Gollum. He is a schizophrenic goblin that has been exiled to the dark depths of the mountain. Gollum becomes important after Bilbo finds and steals his precious ring. The ring has the ability to make the wearer become invisible, which becomes very useful to Bilbo later in the movie.

The movie is supposed to be the first part of a set of three so it didn’t exactly finish with the group successfully winning back the mountain, but over all it was a good movie. The only thing I didn’t like about it was the fact that it pretty much was a replay of the Lord of the Rings movies. I don’t think its fair that movie companies feel the need to milk every book that they turn into a movie for everything that they can. We pretty much paid money to watch a movie we had already seen just in 3D, so I wouldn't necessarily give my recommendation for it. Instead I would wait to rent it and watch it at home.

Ardeeemilla (:

(428)

Aaunt Maude's

This weekend I went to Ames with my family to help my older sister move. While we were there we went to dinner at the restaurant that she works at, Aaunt Maude's. The place has been rated top in the city of Ames and after eating there I can understand why! It was amazing. I would give it five stars for its food quality, the environment and the service that it offered.

We started dinner off with a BBQ shrimp appetizer. It was the perfect amount of BBQ and creaminess that I honestly could have had it for my main course too. The shrimp was served with slices of sourdough bread that they baked right there in house. We devoured it quickly only to be offered our choice of a side salad or their soup of the day, which was sweet pea basil. I personally got the soup per recommendation of our server. Again it was delicious and creamy.

Next was our meal course. I ended up getting the chef's favorite meal on the menu, the chili filet. It was the best thing I have ever tasted in my life! The meat literally melted in my mouth and the chili seasonings were not that spicy. In fact the filet almost had a sweetness to it. It came along with their seasonal vegetables, cooked carrots and green beans, and their garlic mashed potatoes. On top of it all were some amazing homemade onion rings.

To wash it all down I had one of their famous strawberry lemonades. They apparently freshly squeeze the the lemons everyday and mix it with macerated strawberries. I would strongly recommend this drink, yum! If that isn't exactly what you want, the restaurant is fulling equipped with a full bar so they can make pretty much anything you want to drink.

Not only was the food amazing but the staff was very efficient and extremely nice. Our server, Meghan, was very nice and helpful when it came to us newbies and our order. Also the building itself is located downtown in a very old building that the current owner has had for a little over thirty five years. It has a very sophisticated feeling as soon as you walk in.

Our entire meal was to die for and I cant wait till we go back to Ames so we can go there again. I would high recommend Aunt Maude's if you are ever in the Ames area and are looking for some delicious food for the evening!

Ardeeemilla(:

(421)

Achiever vs. Alluring good looks

We have been watching a movie called miss representations in my AP Lang class and it talks about how girls are represented like objects. They are not represented by there accomplishments but by the things they do wrong or how good looking they are. This movie brings up many questions and I thought I would address a few specific ones.

How did Hillary Clinton win senator of New York?

Some say it was because people felt bad for her because her husband had cheated on her. They give other reasons of why she has won but, "all that her husband put her through" should not be one of those reasons. Here is just an example of what people said won her senator of New York. Why can't women just get credit for there accomplishments. Hillary Clinton obviously deserved to be Senator of New York because she went on to now become secretary of State and you can not blame that on her husband. Some women do amazing things and become amazing things by hard work but never get credit for, the only get noticed for things they do wrong,

Then there are the women who get important jobs and great opportunities just for their looks. A really great example for this is Katherine Webb who was just cheering on her boyfriend at his football game and got so much attention from the hosts just for being pretty. She wasn't asking for it as you can see here. She is now getting so many offers like co hosting, modeling, and interviews. What hard work did she put into that? She didn't have to do a thing her alluring good looks did everything for her.

Why are women just represented like objects? Its like people don’t care whats in our heads but only about whats on the outside. When Katie Couric started reporting she had trouble with comments from others because she was wearing short skirts, they were not that short, but that is not the point. the point is that people were not listening to all the important thing she was reporting about but they cared more about criticizing her.

The world needs to change and media could be the thing to do it. How long will it take? What will it take for that to happen? Women make up 51% of our population (http://www.missrepresentation.org/resources/). When will we be aloud to show it and represent ourselves in the best way that we can?

Ardeeemilla(:

(413)

Rock Candy(:

One of my favorite candies is rock candy. rock candy is so delicious and sweet, if you have never had it you ar missing out. i love rock candy but i hate going out to buy it. So i got out our recipies found a great one and decided to make my own. :)

Ingredients:

• 1/2-1 tsp flavoring extract or oil
• 2 cups water
• 4 cups granulated sugar
• food coloring
• glass jar
• wooden skewer 
• Cotton thread

Geting everything ready:

1. First wash out a glass jar with hot water until it is complete clean. Then cut a length of thick cotton thread a few inches longer than the height of the jar, and tape it to a pencil. Place the pencil across the top of the jar, and wrap it until the thread is hanging about 1 inch from the bottom of the jar. Or you can use a wooden skewer as the base of your rock candy, and use clothespins balanced across the top of the jar to clip it into place.

 

2. Wet down your thread or wooden skewer,which ever you prefer or have on hand, and roll it in the granulated sugar. This base layer will give the sugar crystals smething to grab on to when they start to form. Set the thread or skewer aside to dry. 

Let's cook:

3. Making the syrup: Place water in a medium-sized pan and bring it to a boil. Begin adding the sugar slowly, one cup at a time, stirring between each cup. Continue to stir and boil the syrup until all of the sugar has been added and it is all dissolved. Then remove the pan from the heat.

 

4. Now is the best part, making it colorful. If you are using an extract, add 1 tsp of extract, but if you are using flavoring oils, only add ½ tsp. Add 2-3 drops of food coloring and stir to ensure even, smooth color.

 

5. Allow the sugar syrup to cool for around 10 minutes, then pour it into the prepared jar,but lift the string so is doesnt pour on it. Lower the sugared string or skewer back down until it hangs about 1 inch from the bottom.

 

6. Carefully place your jar in a cool place, away from lights, where it can sit not disturbed and cover the top loosely with plastic wrap or paper towel.

 

7. You should start to see sugar crystals forming within 2-4 hours. If you see no change after 24hrs try boiling the syrup again and then adding another cup of sugar. Then repeat steps 5-6.

 

8. Allow the rock candy to grow to the size that you want. Don’t let it grow too large, otherwise it might start growing into the sides of your jar and you won't be able to get it out! Once it has reached the size you want, remove it and allow it to dry for a couple minutes, then enjoy!

You have to try it it's delicious!!

 

Ardeeemilla(:

(507)

Miss Representation

So In my AP Lang and comp class we have started watching a documentary called misrepresentation. It shows the struggles girls go through everyday, whether it be themselves or people around them, who are in pain. It talks about how women are portrayed in media to be so stick skinny that its not even real, with perfect skin, the sad thing is that all of the women in those photos have been photo shopped. They themselves can't ever reach the standard that they are setting for us. Here is just and example of how they transform models to "perfection".

This documentary is very good at relating to everyone to all women and girls no matter what shape, size, color. I think that any female who watched this documentary would in some way be impacted by it. I think that the main character of this document make us trust her so much because she puts in her own story, she trusts us enough to tell us all these personal things about her life. she speaks to all the hard ships she has been trough in her life and really applies to our pathos(emotional appeal).

This documentary really shows all the struggles for females but its not only us. the way that the media portrays everyone. It is sad that the media says for women to be pretty they have to be unachievable skinny with the perfect skin and men have to be ripped and so muscular with perfect features. We have fought against racism for so long but still it goes on whether it be against Asians, African americans, Mexicans, etc. I think that all our different shapes, sizes and colors make us beautiful and original.

Why, why has our media come to focusing on the bad things done. For someone to be on the front page now a days all it takes is to spread your legs on camera or get caught doing drugs or gettig a DUI. what has our nation come to. All that this does is reinforcing there behavior. When will it stop how can we make a better future. Like she says in the documentary she is scarred for her daughter that she is expecting because it is so dangerous. We need to make a better future for the generations and focus on the great thing people have done. We must work together.

Ardeeemilla(:

(398)

Gangster Squad

So yesterday I went to a movie with my boyfriend and his dad called Gangster squad... not my choice but I was fine with going. I judged this movie to fast from the title, it ended up being a great movie and I would recommend it to anyone. it is a great movie for anyone(accept kids) because it is an action movie but it also has a few love stories within it.

It is a movie about a gang led be Mickey Cohen in Los Angeles. Mickey has been trying to take over all Los Angeles he has bought so many cops and killed so many people that the fear and money gives him so much power he is almost unstoppable. Until, one descent police chief decides to ask a amazing cop, who used to be in the army, to put together an outfit (team) to put an end to mickey Cohen. They don’t want to arrest him because Mickey has bought the judge and no one will testify against him. They don't want to kill him because then someone will just take over his empire. They want to ruin all of his plans and destroy the places he already has,they want to chase him out of the city.

Sgt John O'Mara with the help of his wife gets together a group of men perfect for the job. They first decide to hit mickey's casino but it goes wrong and John and one of the other guys get arrested and have to escape before Cohen's men come to kill them. They then attack many of his other places and succeed at destroying them. But the have to destroy a new secret building that if they don’t destroy before it is done being built or they will never be able to stop Cohen. The problem is they don’t know where it is. So they must find a way to figure out where it is on time...

To figure out how it end you will have to go see it... I don’t want to ruin the end. It is a really good movie!

Ardeeemilla(:

(352)

Pitch Perfect

Hey guys...

My favorite movie right now is Pitch Perfect. It is a hilarious about choir which is one of my favorite things. There are many different kinds of characters in this movie, but my favorite is Fat Amy (aka Fat Patricia). The Bellas ( the name of the choir) got a bad reputation because their main singer/leader thre up on stage during a performance the previous year.

The show starts at the beginning of the season when they are going through try outs. Because of their reputation, no one wants to try out for the Bellas. So two remaining members of the group work their hardest to get girls to try out for the group. They get a total group of misfits including Fat Amy. They try to put the show together based on past years traditions, but it causes the group to have several conflicts because most of them wanted to do something more modern. While all of this is going on, a romance starts up between the main character Becca and a boy from another choir, a boys group, named the Treblemakers.

The Bellas go to their first competition and then move on to the next round but realize that they are not going to get anywhere with the show that they are performing. They want to win, but not everyone agrees that they need to change their show. They go to their next competition with the same songs and choreography and aren't so lucky. They lose and the group starts to split because of the frustrations. But wait! One of the groups that were in the top winning positions were disqualified for not following competition rules. So the Bellas are back in the competition

. They come together and work out their differences and decide to change from the traditional show they were performing. They end up winning the competition after they come up with a whole new show. The movies ends by setting up try outs for the next choir season. I can't wait. I hope they make a sequel. They left the end of the movie in a perfect position for another show to come.

-Ardeeemilla(:
(362)

Canvas shoes(:

 Hey guys! So I love wearing my white canvas... But I was thinking about spicing them up a little by painting them. So I thought I would post some tips if you guys wanted to try it.

• Plan Ahead

Drawing on shoes is not the same as drawing on paper if you mess up you won't be able to erase it as easily. So I would recommend drawing it on a paper first and then carefully drawing it on the shoes with a pencil. It  will efficiently help cut down the likelihood of messing up.Keep your lines light so that they aren't too obvious. This also allows you to fix any mistakes.

• Draw Outlines

Go over your outline with fabric markers or paint, but a fabric marker will provide a much more stable and solid line, just trace right over the lines that you have just drawn. BE CAREFUL! You won't be able to erase the fabric marker like you could with the pencil.

• Preventing Paint Cracking

Your shoe will bend in certain places and you can't really help that. The bending will probably cause the paint to crack, the best way to avoid this is to paint around those areas. If you decide to try to paint these areas try to modify your design to prevent as much damage as possible. The back of your shoe, the sides, and the tongue are all good places for individual designs.

• Lacquer

After you have finished painting your shoes, spray your shoes with a lacquer to protect the paint as much as possible. This is not going to absolutely protect them but it will deffinantly help, it will protect the fabric that is in the open from light scuffs and scrapes, but they might still crack especially in the places where it folds. It will also give them a varnish layer making them easier to lightly clean without needing to be too worried about damaging the paint.

 

The things you will need

 

1. Plain fabric based shoes like converse, vans, or keds.
2.  Acrylic paint-depending on the pattern, I suggest red, blue, yellow, brown, white, and black. These basic colors can be mixed into any color you need.
3. Firm small paint brushes, preferably nylon
4. paper plate (to pour the paint on), or a paint tray
5. Paint pens
6.  Lacquer and spray bottle
7.  Fabric markers (if decorating a light colored shoes)
8.  Black sharpie pen, for those really fine details
9. optional: Glitter

I hope you all have so much fun making them and get some cute ones!

-Ardeeemilla(:
(434)

Who do i want to be?

Okay guys, I am having trouble deciding what I want to be when I grow up. It’s really hard for many people to decide because there are so many different great options of what you could become. This is also a really an important factor when deciding what college you want to go to.  I know of many people who have changed their majors and then had to go to college even longer. I am thinking that if I go down the doctor path I will probably go to University of Iowa. If I go down the vet path I am thinking I will go to Iowa State because they have and amazing vet program there.

Right now, personally I have narrowed my options down to only a few. I have lately been thinking I would decide between a vet, a pediatrician, or an OBGYN.  It’s funny how your mind changes so quickly, especially from when we were younger. When I was younger I said I would be a teacher or a animal person who rescued stray dogs in Mexico… not quite sure why I said Mexico. Why is it so hard to make up your mind? If I could I would do it all.

I want to be a pediatrician/ OBGYN because I love kids but not only that I love helping, I am starting volunteer work at St.  Lukes and I think that it is great experience. I love to help people. But I love animals so much also!!  I love going to my favorite pet store in Iowa City, It is called pet land and they have the cutest animals. There all of the bunnies and guinea pigs, gerbils, birds, etc. are in open tanks so you can hold them and they encourage you to hold them. Even the puppies all you have to do is ask and you could hold all of them.  And they have little pens with toys where you can play with them. (I’m that person who goes just to play with them because I know I can’t get one). How could anyone choose between two things they love to do

How do I decide between them? When will I just know what I want to be? I am hoping on doing some job shadowing and internships to get the experience of each. Then it will finally be up to, what I could see myself love doing every day. It’s a job but I think you can love your job. Help guys…maybe some advice would help with my stress full decision.(430)

Sincerely,

                Ardeeemilla