Mr. Popper's Penguins

Recently the movie Mr. Popper's Penguins came out. I noticed that it was based off of a book. Which just happened to be a children's book. I was pretty excited. So I checked the book out from the library and read it. The book was cute. Slightly humorous and a good short read. I thought that the characters were very flat but that Mr. Popper was round enough that everyone else didn't really matter.The storyline had a very quick resolution which, in my opinion, is good for children's literature. There was also a good theme of families working together to make things better.

After I finished the book I went to see the movie, as planned. The movie was pretty good but the only similarity I could see between the movie and the book was the name of the main characters: Mr. Popper, Billy, and Janie. "Mrs. Popper" was not called Mrs. Popper because she and Mr. Popper were divorced in the movie so she now had the name of "Amanda". Mr. Popper in the book starts out as a poor man but with a successful seasonal business of house painting. In the movie Mr. Popper is a sneaky businessman who has everything he could ever want.

While I was driving home from the movie I was wondering "Why would the producers of the film make a film 'based off  a book' when the only similarities are the title and the main character's name?" All I could think of was they thought that the modern audience wouldn't be able to connect with it better, or they had a really small budget (in the case of the penguins).  But Mr. Popper's penguins was a caldecott honor book, why couldn't they  stick to the original innocent story line? Once again there is a disconnect between the two media groups.

Like I said before though, they were both good. I just have always wondered about that disconnect and Mr. Popper's Penguins resparked that question.

Owl City

For my birthday a few months ago my parents gave my brother and me tickets to the Owl City concert at UVU. We were so excited! Of course the next few months were filled with anticipation and preparation; by preparation I mean that we worked on making sure we knew the lyrics to all the songs. (:

The concert got moved from UVU to SLC and I was a little nervous about that. I’m not going to deny that I was a sheltered child and I was nervous that a concert in SLC, although it is only 45 minutes away from UVU, would be a lot more sketchy. But the website said it would still be a “family friendly” concert so I felt like it would be okay.

Off we went on July 13^th to go see the concert! We again freshened up on our amazing Owl City skills on our way, and I was surprised at how calm I was on our drive! I am so proud of myself haha. Then we stood in line for an hour, stood in the musty hot room waiting for the preshow for about 45 minutes and then it was show time. The first band, the “Unwed Sailor”, was…well let’s just say not my taste. Think of a classic rock band, long hair and beards, major guitar solos, and a little too much obsession with dancing with their guitar and you’ve got these guys. My brother and I were glad to see them finish. Then we waited for another, oh, 20 minutes for the next preshow band, “Matt Kearney”. They were amazing! I’ve heard a couple of their songs before. He came into the audience and I could have touched him but I was trying to get a picture. Oh well.

Then we waited for 45 minutes for “Owl City”. By this time the heat had gone down a little bit and everyone was pumped up. After the longest introduction of my life it Adam came out and started singing.

It was so great! I loved it. Everyone was dancing and screaming and clapping…you get the picture. (: It was amazing! I would definitely like to go see them again. 

Fourth of July

This year's Fourth of July went to the top of the list of good Fourth of Julys in my book. It started out with a morning run which was really fun! I also beat my time last year by almost 2 whole minutes. After that I joined my family for a great breakfast. Then we worked in the yard and got rid of those pesky weeds. When the work was done we all went to the local waterpark with was so much fun! Then we came home, quickly showered and headed to my grandparents' for a barbecue and fireworks. 

Throughout the entire day the weather was absolutely beautiful. It was around 80 degrees but cloudy not blazing sun. There were also scattered sprinkles of rain during the race, the yard work, and the fireworks, which felt wonderful. 

Needless to say it was a perfect holiday. I couldn't have asked for more fun activities. I'm looking forward to similar ones on Pioneer day soon.