Ode to Bones

The structure you provide

To the bodies of all vertebrates

Without you, all humans would be

Mush

You are hard, white and smooth

You are uniquely and individually shaped

You are very bonely

Essential

Bones

Dimensional Rift

So here are a few images of the Little School Band, which is called Dimensional Rift. We took a bunch of pictures out in Blunt Park so that was fun. And then we got to edit the pictures and do all sorts of fun things to them on Photobucket.com. That was also fun. I hope you like the pictures!

Musical Bands

Here’s a picture of one of the bands I like, Maroon 5. I like this picture because they look very refined and calm even though they are usually totally crazy. They aren’t even smiling!

And here’s another band called the Script. I like the fact that they are by a brick wall for some reason. It’s just cool. And they all have their hands in their jacket pockets. It’s good and uniform.

These are both nice photos, I think. That’s what I thought.

Pavlova

Anna

Delicate, graceful, ethereal beauty

Daughter of a poor Russian washerwoman

Who strives for perfection in every move she makes

Who is determined to be the best she can be

Who needs to tack wood onto her pointe shoe

Who inspires joy in all who see her

Who fears the inability to dance

Who would be surprised by the newest innovations in dance

Who made her mark across the globe

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Pascal’s Triangle

Last week Ms. Sue’s genius neighbor Chris came over with this awesome computer programming thing that did all sorts of really cool stuff, like color all the multiples of ten in Pascal’s Triangle pink, as shown below.

It’s pretty awesome.

We also colored some other numbers in Pascal’s Triangle. We tried every number between one and fifty and we came to the conclusion that if a number was prime, the pattern was a whole lot simpler. We also found out that fifty-three was about as prime as you get!

We also did stuff like find out how many zeros would be at the end of the number of all the numbers between one and a thousand multiplied together (which happens to be 249). And find out how many moves it would take for twenty or so disks in the Towers of Hanoi (We wanted to try a hundred but the computer froze up).

Vi Hart does some pretty cool stuff with Pascal’s Triangle in her Math Doodling videos. She’s pretty cool all-around, to be truthful. I recommend looking at her blog!

So yeah, that pretty much sums it up! Thanx, gtg.

Cribbage

Cribbage is a card game for two to four players, originating in the early 17th Century as a derivative of “Noddy”, an obsolete English game. Cribbage, or crib, was invented by Sir John Suckling, an English poet, in the early 17th Century, according to English writer John Aubrey.  It is played by moving pegs on a board with holes in it to keep score while playing certain cards to move your peg. Charles Dickens’  Toby Crackit is a cribbage player in Oliver Twist, too.

A cribbage board and cards

Treble, My Darling Fish

Treble is my beta fish, and the love of my life! Treble  is the sweetest fish that swam in water, but he’s also a real chow hound! The beta fish kibble he eats can barely look down before meeting their demise at Treble’s jaws. He literally chews it.

But no matter what a gentlefish he usually is, he can be very vicious and cunning in the game of mancala. Mancala is played my moving stones on a board with twelve hollows in it. It’s a little confusing, but see this page if you feel so inclined. Anyways, Treble is a mancala whiz.

That is only one of Treble’s many talents, though he can be a big nuisance when he demands a personal butler, an iPad, a Harley Davidson, more kibble, etc. He does have a caring heart, though. He is always asserting in his bubbly little voice that the impoverished families in Africa and Asia should have pet beta fish to keep them company and give them happiness.

Treble is my sweetheart forever, and as long as I live I will never meet another living creature that I adore as much as he!

Illusions

Illusions, delusions, apparitions, visions

What’s concrete and solid and what’s completely deceptive?

My senses betray me

This sure is weird

Everything’s so surreal

Nothing as it should be

Well, I guess that’s real life

But what’s so real about real life?

I don’t know, maybe nothing

Nothing

Nothing

Is the world nothing, all the stuff I set store in?

Who knows?

I don’t

Do I know nothing?

Probably.

Pointe Class

These pictures are from a pointe class around a month ago (the last time my mom brought her camera). My friend Zimmi is also in most of these pictures.

Echappe

Sou-sous

Passe

Reverance

And don’t forget the real prima-ballerina of the family!

Jonathan the Dancer

Collaborative Planning

This video is hilarious, but it’s a little jarring how accurate it is. Ms. Sue said that this is why she quit Harrison District, but this video exaggerated enough to be really funny. The animation is also pretty silly. I think they are rabbits. Anyways, please enjoy Collaborative Planning and take care not to follow that example.

Vanilla Twilight

This is a nice song about missing someone, I think. It’s rather sad but real nice, and the stick figures are so cute! So here’s Vanilla Twilight by Owl City, enjoy!

Jennie

Jennie, by Paul Gallico, is, in my opinion, a vile book. Up unto the very end, it’s a perfectly sweet book (though admittedly with considerable lapses in sweetness). Then in the final pages, the main character named Peter wakes up and the whole book had been a dream sequence. I have to say, it is the sign of a very bad storyteller to end your story with “And he woke up and it had all been a dream.” It makes no difference if you ham it up with a whole lot of emotional nonsense, and it’s still the same thing in essentials. It might even be worse to truss it up, because it shows that the writer was trying to cover up his incredibly weak ending, to no avail at all.

Other than the ending, it is lovely book. The adventures of two cats and all their friends are exciting, sweet, and overall  just dandy. Though there are too many gaps in the loveliness for it to be real high on my list, the beginning part is very nice indeed. The voyage of The Countess of Greenock, the Cavendish Muse, the fight scene in the pub, and the original cozy warehouse are all very agreeable,  but the flight and death of Mr. Grimms, the jaunt with Lulu, the Killer Dogs, and several other scenes are what I would call the opposite. Yes, not even the first part is all that great.

But that’s all the first part. As the story continues, it gets more and more odd and indeed dreamlike. The writer might have been working up to it by making the ending of the first part in a very unreal way. It’s still no excuse in my opinion. My final assertion is that no matter how very nice the first part is, the ending completely obliterates anything nice about the rest of the book.

So please, only read Jennie if you intend to skip the last half of the book. Otherwise, do not dare touch Jennie by Paul Gallico, by any means or accounts.

Varjak Paw

Varjak Paw, by S.F. Said, is, in my opinion, a very interesting book. The characterization is incredible and the settings are fascinating, and it is placed cleverly from a cat’s point of view, but as I’ve just reread it recently, I realized I’ve forgotten exactly how macabre and rather grizzly it can be. I do like the cat element, the character of Cludge, Varjak’s dreams of Mesopotamia, and the idea of cat Gangs. Still, I have to say that there are some pretty intense parts. That only detracts from the wonder and excitement of most of the book slightly, but it’s enough to tip the scales for me. It’s still a spellbinding marvel of a story, but it’s a little too much for my taste.

So if you like cats, fighting, and evil mechanical fighting cats, then this is definitely for you. Otherwise, keep an “Open Mind” (LOL!)  but don’t kill yourself looking for it.

The Legend of Nina and Hack

Read-aloud, pantomime, and written form.

The Legend of Nina and Hack

Once upon a time, in a land far away, filled with the dangers only in daydreams, was a story. The story was bound in a massive, gilt-and-jewel, legendary book.

One young girl named Nina decided she would see it. Nina packed up some food, a change of clothes, and of course, her sword, Hack. Hack was actually a blunt plastic machete, but he did the job, and Nina was very proud of him. Nina waved goodbye to her family, raised Hack, and set out. Immediately she tripped over the curb. Blushing, Nina picked up Hack, which she had dropped, and kept walking.

After a few hours of walking (made longer by getting lost and dropping her pack several times, not to mention a few minor injuries), Nina found herself by a huge gorge spanned by a spindly rope bridge. Nina had stepped onto the bridge fearlessly and began to walk across when a loud voice bellowed, “Who goes there?”

“My name is Nina, and this is Hack,” said Nina, waving Hack over the side of the bridge.

“Hack? Oh, you’ve come at last!” shouted the voice ecstatically. Nina took advantage of this immediately and walked quickly across the bridge. After a few seconds, Nina walked to the edge of the gorge and pulled out her binoculars curiously. At the bottom of the gorge was a massive purple-and-yellow troll with long blue fur and massive green horns. The troll was cheering to himself at the bottom of the gorge.

“Hack!” shouted Nina again, raising Hack. The troll looked up at her, grinning, and then at Hack.

“Why, brave Mistress of Hack, you’ve come at last! I’ve been looking forward to this day for such a long time,” said the troll.

“Well, that’s all well and good,” said Nina, “but what I want to know is where the Legendary Book resides.”

“I know exactly where it is! I would be delighted to show you, Mistress of Hack,” said the troll eagerly, “Call me Tom.”

Tom clambered out of the gorge and bowed low to Nina, then turned and beckoned. While they walked, they met several other trolls, a huge serpent, a malicious rock-giant, and even a dragon but all Tom had to do was flash his security badge to obtain safe passage.

Finally, after four days of walking, the pair came across a large cave.

“This is it, Mistress of Hack. I’m afraid you must go inside alone. It would be treason for me to go inside by your side, ” Tom whispered, “Please be very careful. The Demon, the most evil of all creatures, could hurt you terribly.”

Nina nodded gravely to Tom. She walked directly to the mouth of the cave, and winked over her shoulder at Tom.

It was very dark inside the cave. Nina lit her lantern and held it up to see the cave. Then she saw the Legendary Book on a pedestal in the center of the cave. It was truly beautiful: gold-and-leather covers, encrusted with jewels, and surrounded with a glowing halo of the light of a wonderful story. Nina ran towards it, delighted, but was stopped with a long pole that shot across the room, blocking her path.

“Who goes there?” snarled a serpentine voice.

“I, Nina, Mistress of Hack,” said Nina boldly, hefting Hack. A tall, thin man stepped out of the shadows towards her. He was holding a long pole, and he was wearing a twisted smile. Nina knew he was The Demon.

“Ah, you have a lot of nerve to come to this place, child!” snapped the man disdainfully. When he opened his mouth, a forked tongue darted out. His eyes were all whites, and his fingers were like claws. Nina backed up in terror, but she raised Hack boldly.

“This is The Demon? Why, what a funny face,” scoffed Nina, “You are no match to Hack, mister, once he’s been freed.” Nina had no idea what she was talking about, but it seemed the right thing to say.

“It will never be free!” shrieked The Demon, and he pounced at Nina

Fortunately, Nina tripped over the pedestal at this moment, knocking down the book and causing The Demon to go sailing right over her head. Nina grabbed the book, which had fallen on her knees, snatched up Hack, and ran. The Demon’s pole zipped out in front of her, though, stopping her right at the mouth of the cave. Nina stumbled and dropped both the Legendary Book and Hack. Hack disappeared between the Legendary Book’s pages.

For some reason, The Demon howled in anguish.

“I have no chance now, Mistress of Hack. I take everything back! I’m sorry! Have mercy!” The Demon wailed. His eyes rolled forward, his tongue swelled, and his hands relaxed. “The Return of Hack would be my downfall, I always knew. Please, have mercy!”

Nina looked down at the cover of the Legendary Book for the first time. The title was, “The Legend of Hack.” Nina picked up the book and pulled out Hack. It was now a shining silver machete, sharper than it had ever been.

“Why, this is Hack,” breathed Nina. She turned to The Demon, pointing Hack directly at him. “I have half a mind to kill you, but there’s no point, really. Come with me.”

Nina strode out of the cave, with The Demon shuffling miserably behind her.

“You did it, Nina! Oh, that’s my girl!” shouted Tom jubilantly as Nina exited the cave.

“This terrible man enslaved me and all of my comrades to help him keep his precious book safe all these years.  He knew the Return of Hack would be his downfall, but if he could help it, it would never happen. His slaves, including me, had to help him protect the Legendary Book. We had no choice,” said Tom bitterly, but he brightened quickly. “It’s all over now! It’s time for a party!” he shouted joyfully. Nina thought she felt a tremor in the earth a second later. It was a huge rock-giant, followed by a dragon, a serpent, six giant spiders, three lions, and a dozen trolls. They were all cheering in surprisingly human voices. The dragon even crawled right up to Nina.

The Demon cleared his throat loudly. Everybody turned his direction for a minute. “Ahem. Well, I would like to apologize for my terrible action. I feel very ashamed. You are wonderful creatures,” The Demon said, seeming quite embarrassed. Then he turned and ran back into his cave.

Nina walked over to Tom. “Well, I guess this is good-bye, Tom. It’s been great, and I’ll miss you, but Hack and I have some serious adventures to have,” she said softly. Nina raised Hack in salute, set off, and didn’t trip on anything.

Written by Charlotte. Cast: Forest as Nina, Grant as Tom, Hunter as The Demon, Izzy and Paxton as Nina’s parents and the monsters, Charlotte as narrator. Hosted by The ModBo. Camera: Ms. Brandy.

Our Song

Here is Our Song by Taylor Swift, which is a really nice song. I’m not a huge Taylor Swift fan (so many girls like worship her–I ain’t so many girls!) but I actually like this song. I also like this video, too, with the glittery guitar, all those flowers, and so on. So there you are, Our Song, Taylor Swift, please enjoy!