The Barn

Well it's not a barn, really. It looks like a barn from the outside and then it's a palace on the inside. Three floors, and the only thing to prevent you from falling to the first floor (and to your death) is a sturdy, reliable, wooden banister.

I went there on Friday with the Young Women. The barn was about twenty minutes from the city, near fields and animals and fences, which were all blanketed in filthy snow. The sky was gray when we left, and a blue-gray when we arrived. It slowly turned a deep navy blue, and Orion appeared brightly in the distance. 

The Young Women all chose bunks to sleep in which were lined up and made neatly on the third floor. I, being afraid of heights, chose a bunk which was as far from the banister as possible. Eventually I grew to trust the banisters, and I leaned on them and looked at the two floors below. 

There were also very nice bedrooms, and also a master bedroom with a loft. The leaders got to sleep in these rooms, along with a few of the older girls. 

There was a hot tub on the back porch, and they warmed it up to 104 degrees. We climbed inside it, and we barely noticed the cold; in fact, I sometimes would go to dance in the snow to relieve myself from the pool.

They wanted to play Truth or Dare, which became Truth or Truth, because no one wanted to risk groveling in the snow. I grew tired of this game and went inside, because I was tired of hearing so much about boys, and I wanted to go play pool.

I was bad at pool. 

Eventually, around 12 AM, I went to bed. The bunks were surprisingly comfortable.

We cleaned the house the next morning and ate breakfast, then we played games, then we drove home.

I was really hoping there would be a big tire swing hanging from the ceiling, because the ceiling was very high. It would be so fun to swing in a house like that! It would make it even more extravagant. 

Detail of a Vase of Roses

I WON! Ha! In your FACE, fellow competitors! My rivals!

Yeah, I won the art contest this year, and I'm considerably excited about it. Once again, I highly recommend you read my Mom's blog, because she is more adept in the writing area, and she can describe how I feel better than I can.

I finished the drawing of roses that I posted prior to now, and it looks a lot better. My art teacher, Jennifer, helped me with it by making the lines and shadows darker. I'll have to show photos later; I haven't taken a picture of it yet.

I've also been trying harder to understand human anatomy by looking in books, and the muscles of the people in my drawings are definitely more defined (ha, don't know if you caught that), but maybe TOO defined, because all of the female characters I draw look really buff. Once again, I shall post photos later. I think my mom has them on her blog. (I have the picture now)

So I'm excited. This is a lot better than the usual fourth place I get. Fourth is shoved at your face and it says, "Ha! You are so inferior, you got ME!" I wonder who got fourth place this year? I hope they're okay with it :)

Tomatoes

- sigh -...

I'm a little discouraged today...

I was on the bus and this kid was in front of me, and he's kinda mean, so I said, "What are you doing here?"...

He was just on the bus for that day. 

He tried to get me mad by telling me that my person-person (the kid I like) dislikes me...

He said my person-person said I was a loser and he hated me...

Phooey... :(

I was sad.

And I really don't care anymore. I decided to not have a person-person. Because people-people bring nothing but grief, I think.

My friend Carson put up with me giving him a big hug, because he's like a little brother and he doesn't care what I do. He was making a rap song about tomatoes... The last verse I heard went:

I went to both managers

to get some tomatoes,

They were there 

And they had more potatoes

I asked for some yummy tomatoes

and they said, "You're out of luck,

So just go...

Home."

It made me laugh. Carson is one of my lifelines. Mommy is my other one...

I feel almost happy that I have no need to care what person-person thinks anymore... because he isn't really a person-person anymore. I had granted him so much power over me... I'm not going to allow him to do that anymore.

I feel too free now. Because when I have a person-person, it's like something to hold on to, and I'm a little empty now.

It's not encouraging to know someone thinks about me like that. Mom said I'm not a loser, but  I think I am, because if he said it, then it's got to be true.

Crap. I've given him another advantage. I've got to let whatever he thinks roll off me.

That was a great tomato rap song. Probably the best I've heard. :)

Coraline

Don't you hate it how you love a book, and you get excited when they go to make it into a movie, but you find yourself disappointed, not with the animation, but the storyline? Henry Selick was great with the stop-motion, but the script seemed wrong. Coraline portrayed more innocence in the book, and here in the movie you have this bratty, snobbish, blue-haired, blue-finger nailed punk teenager. What's with the blue hair? Coraline has brown hair, and her fingernails definitely aren't blue. (I didn't imagine the door so tiny.)

In the book, Coraline had a conscience, and she used it. She knew instantly that something was wrong with the other world, right as she saw the other mother's button eyes. In the movie, on the other hand, Coraline is a gullible, easily-tricked snob, that is disrespectful to her real parents. And come to he subject of her real parents, why were they such jerks? In the book, they were busy with work, yes, but they showed that they really wished they could spend time with their daughter. They were patient. But in the movie, here you have these two drunk-looking adults that don't give a crap what their kid does.

And where did this Whybe kid come from, or however you spell his name? He ruined the end. Coraline was supposed to kill the other mother's hand alone, and in broad daylight. They made a whole other character defeat it! This was one of the first things by which the moral of the story was lost.

Okay, let me start off by telling you the clear moral in the book. Be brave; find out who you really are. They LOST this! They thought the moral was "be careful what you wish for"! Why didn't Coraline and the cat say my two most favorite lines in the book?:

Coraline: That wasn't brave. Something that's brave is something you're scared to do, but you do it anyway.

Cat: Cats don't need names. They already know who they are. 

(I'm glad they launched the kitty at the other mother's face :)

WAAH! Why? WHY?

They didn't even put my favorite song in it! They only put the ice cream one, which was cute, but not enough. My favorite song:

We are small but we are many

We are many we are small

We were here before you rose

We will be here when you fall

I love that song! It's AWESOME!

I was satisfied with the other mother's voice. She made it creepy and AWESOME! And her transformation was cool. But why did the kids in the closet have button eyes? They didn't let the other mother do that. Coraline was supposed to look for their souls, not their eyes.

And I really wish they did the part where Coraline didn't run, she did something else. She pulled off her other father's button eye! It showed how she was brave. Heck, the whole story did. At the beginning she was afraid of a new house, neighborhood, and a new school, but the experience with the other world helped her overcome that.

Why did they make it American!? It took place in England, a whole other continent! It was better British!

What I liked, though, was how she goes into the other Misses Spink and Forcible's theater, and they're in the cocoon. But they weren't in a cocoon in the movie, they were in a candy. But it was cool, because they were as creepy as I had imagined them!

It was really disappointing at the end that they parents were still jerk wads. They acted like they didn't have a clue that anything happened, and the only reason they were celebrating was because of their stupid flower catalogue. In the book,  the parents knew something had happened, and they really tried to spend more time with Coraline.

So I'm really wondering what Neil Gaiman thinks of it. If you haven''t read the book, you'll love it, but if you have, all you'll get is disappointment. Not that I wasn't entertained, it was really fun to watch. Great animation. Coraline and her real parents made me mad. Bratty, snobbish family, they were...

I'm really, REALLY wondering what the author thought. I bet he worked so hard to fit that moral in to such a great story, and here they go and spoil it in this Americanized film. It's not right! Erg, Henry Selick and the script writer!

We have teeth and we have tails

We have tails and we have eyes

We were here before you fell

We will be here when you rise...