This review is written assuming that you already know the basic premise of the show and are now deciding whether or not to give it a try. If you don't know that much, here is it's Wikipedia page.
Last fall, I finally started watching the cult classic, Firefly. I had heard of it a long time before, and had been curious about it. It was not until a friend of mine started watching it, and kept telling me that I should watch it that I took the plunge. Here is my reaction.
Firefly had some great elements. I was not a huge fan of the main premise, the whole space cow boy thing, but most of the story lines were pretty good. I especially liked the way the main plot arcs were set up. The witty dialogue, which is one of Joss Whedon (the creator)'s strong points, is especially good.
The weaker points, like some of the characters, and some of the smaller story arcs, are things that I would strongly hold against the show. I think that when watching this show it is important to remember it's story. Even though it only has one season (only 14 or 15 episodes I think), more were planned. Many of the unexplained elements would have likely become much clearer if they had not been canceled so soon.
I enjoyed this show, though it is not one of my very favorites. If you like futuristic sci-fi stories, you might want to try this one out. Even if you are only lukewarm about it, it's not like there is much of a commitment, considering there is only one short season.
This show has pretty broad appeal age wise. My 11 year old sister enjoyed most of it. You should know that there are several episodes that feature Reavers, people that gone crazy, and self mutilate and have resorted to cannibalism. There is also one episode with several torture scenes.
One of the main characters is a "Companion," which is basically a glorified prostitute. Her work features in several episodes, and other crew members make crude jokes about it regularly.
Overall, I would recommend this show to most people. I know that is not for everyone, but I think it is worth a shot.
Wednesday, February 27, 2013
Monday, February 25, 2013
Why Do I Write: A New Series
I am going to start a new series called Why Do I Write? I am not sure how often I will post in it, but I am thinking maybe twice a month or so. In it, I will explore the various aspects of writing and try to discover exactly why I keep doing it.
I will talk about all kinds of writing: fiction, and non-fiction; writing for pleasure, and writing for school. I will talk about my writing future (or lack there of), and I will talk about my life without writing.
One important part of this series will be you participation. If you write, or even if you don't, do you agree with my points? Do you have something of your own to add? Do you have a reason (or question) for writing that you think I should write about further in the series? I want to know!
I will talk about all kinds of writing: fiction, and non-fiction; writing for pleasure, and writing for school. I will talk about my writing future (or lack there of), and I will talk about my life without writing.
One important part of this series will be you participation. If you write, or even if you don't, do you agree with my points? Do you have something of your own to add? Do you have a reason (or question) for writing that you think I should write about further in the series? I want to know!
Sunday, February 24, 2013
A Year in China
Soon, I plan on doing a post of some of the blogs I enjoy reading. As I started writing it, I realized that this particular blog really could use a whole post of it's own.
Three years ago, my family had the opportunity to go to China to live for a year through my Mom's work. We would get to live at Beijing Foreign Studies University, where my Mom would teach English. This was terrific for us, since we are homeschooled, and had no other things that would not let us leave for a year. I was a little nervous about the idea, but also very excited. In March 2010, my Mom sent in her application, and found out that we were the only family who had applied.
Then, we were told that we could not go. Because of budget cuts, the China program was not going to be happening for the next few years. They did not know, when, or even if, the college she worked for would be able to bring it back.
Then, a year ago, they did. The China program was back. This was terrible timing for our family. We had just bought a house, and there were a few other personal reasons that made it something that we could not do.
So, instead, a friend and colleague of my mom went with his wife and daughter. This was not the first time they had done this exchange, and they were excited for another chance at this experience. He occasionally blogs about their year at his blog, http://thesmogblog.weebly.com/.
Currently, his blog is the closest I can get to China, but I very much hope that our family will be able to take this opportunity in the future. Hopefully within the next three years, before I am off to college!
Three years ago, my family had the opportunity to go to China to live for a year through my Mom's work. We would get to live at Beijing Foreign Studies University, where my Mom would teach English. This was terrific for us, since we are homeschooled, and had no other things that would not let us leave for a year. I was a little nervous about the idea, but also very excited. In March 2010, my Mom sent in her application, and found out that we were the only family who had applied.
Then, we were told that we could not go. Because of budget cuts, the China program was not going to be happening for the next few years. They did not know, when, or even if, the college she worked for would be able to bring it back.
Then, a year ago, they did. The China program was back. This was terrible timing for our family. We had just bought a house, and there were a few other personal reasons that made it something that we could not do.
So, instead, a friend and colleague of my mom went with his wife and daughter. This was not the first time they had done this exchange, and they were excited for another chance at this experience. He occasionally blogs about their year at his blog, http://thesmogblog.weebly.com/.
Currently, his blog is the closest I can get to China, but I very much hope that our family will be able to take this opportunity in the future. Hopefully within the next three years, before I am off to college!
Friday, February 22, 2013
Homeschool Fridays: Park Day
If you followed me here from my old blog, you might recognize this as a repeat from there. It was the first Homeschool Friday post that I did, and I think that it introduces the series nicely.
Park day is the thing that, as homeschoolers, makes my family who we are. Park Day is a group of probably close to 30 families who meet each week at a different park in town. Since we have dozens of parks, we have lots of variety. :)
We started going to park day eight years ago, the summer before before we started homeschooling. Back then, it was a relatively small group of 5 or 6 families. All of those people, including us, still go, and we have become the core group of homeschoolers. When I refer to our homeschool group, these are usually the people I am referring to, though some families have joined out core group over the years, expanding in to 10 or so families.
At park day, there are usually games going on that the kids have organized such as Capture the Flag, Banana Tag, or Zombie Tag. I will try to write up another post soon describing some of the games we play, if you guys are interested, most of which we have made up ourselves.
We have hardly missed a Park Day in all the years we have been going. We have never not gone, unless one of us is sick, though in that case, the other kid usually gets a ride with some one else, or we are out of town. Most of the other "core families" have also missed very few park days, which means you can always expect to see us at any given park day.
The other thing that is unique about our Park Day group is that, unlike many homeschool organizations, we have no religious affiliation. Most of our participants, including my family, homeschool in a secular way. Though we have some people who are religious who come, and we are open to those people, nobody really refers to religion at all.
Do you have a question about homeschooling that you would like to see answered? Post it in the comments, and I will answer it soon. Depending on how long the answer is, I will either make an entire Homeschool Friday post about it, or I will compile it with other questions into another Q&A post.
Park day is the thing that, as homeschoolers, makes my family who we are. Park Day is a group of probably close to 30 families who meet each week at a different park in town. Since we have dozens of parks, we have lots of variety. :)
We started going to park day eight years ago, the summer before before we started homeschooling. Back then, it was a relatively small group of 5 or 6 families. All of those people, including us, still go, and we have become the core group of homeschoolers. When I refer to our homeschool group, these are usually the people I am referring to, though some families have joined out core group over the years, expanding in to 10 or so families.
At park day, there are usually games going on that the kids have organized such as Capture the Flag, Banana Tag, or Zombie Tag. I will try to write up another post soon describing some of the games we play, if you guys are interested, most of which we have made up ourselves.
We have hardly missed a Park Day in all the years we have been going. We have never not gone, unless one of us is sick, though in that case, the other kid usually gets a ride with some one else, or we are out of town. Most of the other "core families" have also missed very few park days, which means you can always expect to see us at any given park day.
The other thing that is unique about our Park Day group is that, unlike many homeschool organizations, we have no religious affiliation. Most of our participants, including my family, homeschool in a secular way. Though we have some people who are religious who come, and we are open to those people, nobody really refers to religion at all.
Do you have a question about homeschooling that you would like to see answered? Post it in the comments, and I will answer it soon. Depending on how long the answer is, I will either make an entire Homeschool Friday post about it, or I will compile it with other questions into another Q&A post.
Thursday, February 21, 2013
Eve and Adam - Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate
I feel that to be totally fair, I should preface this review with a slight disclaimer. This is probably not a book I would have normally read. I chose to read it because I am going to a Children's Literature Conference at the university in my town next weekend, and Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate will both be there. I wanted to read some of their books before I hear them speak, which is why I got this one. Here is my first reaction about it. If you want more information about the plot of the book, click in the title in the paragraph below to go to its Amazon page.
Eve and Adam is a book, that, to me at least, seemed rather formulaic. The plot itself seemed rather half formed at times, and many of the characters, even the main ones, seemed very empty and weak at times. The ending, which tried to be a surprise, was, while not something I would have expected, not exactly very interesting or believable.
The book is in the first person, and is narrated in alternating chapters, by Eve, the main character, and Solo, her love interest. It is entirely in the present tense, which, in my opinion, certainly lowered the level of the story as a whole.
Don't take me wrong, this book was not all bad. I have, over my years of avid reading, that there is a strange effect that some books can have, and that this book had when I read it. The best way to explain is to use Eve and Adam as an example:
While I read this book, I enjoyed it. It carried me through. I was curious enough to read until the very end. It was a very light, quick read, which made it easy to get through in just a few hours. I do not regret reading it. I enjoyed myself. But, when I finished the book, I started thinking about it's different parts. I realized that I disliked the characters, the plot, and, to a certain extent, even the ending.
Over all, as I said before, I do not regret reading this book. However, I would not spend any money on it. If it is the type of book you usually enjoy, I would recommend finding a copy at your local library, or borrowing it from a friend before actually buying it. You might like it, but you might also decide it is not worth the money.
Eve and Adam is a book, that, to me at least, seemed rather formulaic. The plot itself seemed rather half formed at times, and many of the characters, even the main ones, seemed very empty and weak at times. The ending, which tried to be a surprise, was, while not something I would have expected, not exactly very interesting or believable.
The book is in the first person, and is narrated in alternating chapters, by Eve, the main character, and Solo, her love interest. It is entirely in the present tense, which, in my opinion, certainly lowered the level of the story as a whole.
Don't take me wrong, this book was not all bad. I have, over my years of avid reading, that there is a strange effect that some books can have, and that this book had when I read it. The best way to explain is to use Eve and Adam as an example:
While I read this book, I enjoyed it. It carried me through. I was curious enough to read until the very end. It was a very light, quick read, which made it easy to get through in just a few hours. I do not regret reading it. I enjoyed myself. But, when I finished the book, I started thinking about it's different parts. I realized that I disliked the characters, the plot, and, to a certain extent, even the ending.
Over all, as I said before, I do not regret reading this book. However, I would not spend any money on it. If it is the type of book you usually enjoy, I would recommend finding a copy at your local library, or borrowing it from a friend before actually buying it. You might like it, but you might also decide it is not worth the money.
Tuesday, February 19, 2013
The Iliad - Homer
This December through January, I read The Iliad for Ancient History. Now, while I have read lots of kid versions of Homer's works (Rosemary Sutcliff's are the best), reading the original was a whole new experience. This was not the first time I had read an exact translation of an ancient text (last fall I read The Epic of Gilgamesh, which is the oldest written story in the world), but this was on a whole new scale.
The version of the Iliad I read, the Robert Fagels edition, is about 500 odd pages, all told. That length would have been no problem to me if it were a modern prose story. But, it's not. It is an ancient war story that is mainly about who killed who is what terrible way, and who each of those men's grandfathers were, and what kind of farm they used to have. Seriously. Also, it is in verse. Not rhyming verse, just... verse.
Yeah, all of that made it a tricky, though not entirely uninteresting read. Because, while I did not enjoy it most of the time, it was a challenge. It was something very new and different for me. As hard as it was, and as much as I complained, when I was done, I felt an immense sense of accomplishment. I really did something.
I also know that this is not the last hard book I will ever be assigned to read. Far from it. Now that I have fought this and beat it, all those other books (the Odyssey next month for instance) will seem just a little less hopeless, and a little more beatable.
I guess this is not so much a book review as a book triumph. I don't see any reason to tell you whether or not you should read it. There is no point with a book like this. I just told you why I read it, and why I don't regret all the hours I spent reading a book I did not really enjoy.
The version of the Iliad I read, the Robert Fagels edition, is about 500 odd pages, all told. That length would have been no problem to me if it were a modern prose story. But, it's not. It is an ancient war story that is mainly about who killed who is what terrible way, and who each of those men's grandfathers were, and what kind of farm they used to have. Seriously. Also, it is in verse. Not rhyming verse, just... verse.
Yeah, all of that made it a tricky, though not entirely uninteresting read. Because, while I did not enjoy it most of the time, it was a challenge. It was something very new and different for me. As hard as it was, and as much as I complained, when I was done, I felt an immense sense of accomplishment. I really did something.
I also know that this is not the last hard book I will ever be assigned to read. Far from it. Now that I have fought this and beat it, all those other books (the Odyssey next month for instance) will seem just a little less hopeless, and a little more beatable.
I guess this is not so much a book review as a book triumph. I don't see any reason to tell you whether or not you should read it. There is no point with a book like this. I just told you why I read it, and why I don't regret all the hours I spent reading a book I did not really enjoy.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Welcome Back!
Hello everyone! Some of you may remember me from my old blog, Living Homeschooled. That blog was rather short lived, but I am starting over with this one. It will have many of the same features, such as Homeschool Fridays, though some things will be new. I hope you all like it!
If you read my old blog, you may see some of the same posts being recycled on here. I will hopefully have most of the Homeschool Friday posts transferred over here at some point. Don't worry, there will be lots of new stuff, with the old posts mixed in every here and there. Some of the things on my old blog will not be making their way here, and that is okay.
I hopefully will have two or three (maybe more) posts each week. One Homeschool Friday post (you'll never guess what day), and a few others each week. I hope to have a lot of book, movie and TV reviews, as well as just other stuff that happened to be in my head at the time.
I might talk about current events sometimes (probably not too much). I think there will be a lot of book talk. Probably a lot of tv/movie talk (though not as much as books). Lots of good stuff.
If you want to know more about me, you can visit the About Me page. Of course, if you want to know even more about me, you should stick around and read my blog posts. :)
If you want to find a past post, check the tabs at the top of the page. Books has all the book reviews as well as other, general book talk. TV has all tv show reviews, and Movies had all reviews of them. Any talk about any of those topics that is not a review will go into the respective category. For example, a post talking about a movie that is coming out will be in the movies section.
All the Homeschool Friday posts will be under the tab with the same name. Everything related to writing will be under the tab Writing. There will also be a tab labeled Other, which is where you will find everything else. Every post will be under one of these categories, to help make finding them later easier. If I later find that I need more tabs to make things easier, I will do so.
If you read my old blog, you may see some of the same posts being recycled on here. I will hopefully have most of the Homeschool Friday posts transferred over here at some point. Don't worry, there will be lots of new stuff, with the old posts mixed in every here and there. Some of the things on my old blog will not be making their way here, and that is okay.
I hopefully will have two or three (maybe more) posts each week. One Homeschool Friday post (you'll never guess what day), and a few others each week. I hope to have a lot of book, movie and TV reviews, as well as just other stuff that happened to be in my head at the time.
I might talk about current events sometimes (probably not too much). I think there will be a lot of book talk. Probably a lot of tv/movie talk (though not as much as books). Lots of good stuff.
If you want to know more about me, you can visit the About Me page. Of course, if you want to know even more about me, you should stick around and read my blog posts. :)
If you want to find a past post, check the tabs at the top of the page. Books has all the book reviews as well as other, general book talk. TV has all tv show reviews, and Movies had all reviews of them. Any talk about any of those topics that is not a review will go into the respective category. For example, a post talking about a movie that is coming out will be in the movies section.
All the Homeschool Friday posts will be under the tab with the same name. Everything related to writing will be under the tab Writing. There will also be a tab labeled Other, which is where you will find everything else. Every post will be under one of these categories, to help make finding them later easier. If I later find that I need more tabs to make things easier, I will do so.
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