How to Train Your Dragon 2 - Movie Review

I didn't expect this movie to be quite so sad.  If you've seen the trailer then you know that Hiccup's mom is in the movie and I'm conflicted about that.  She had been gone for twenty years. For a good cause yes, but was there really no way for her to check up on her family?  Not once in that amount of time?  Despite that, everyone forgives her instantaneously.  I don't think I would have let it go so easily.  Eventually, sure, but only after more extensive questioning of motives.  Besides that, there were parts of the movie not well thought out or fully explained.  I don't want to give too much of the plot away, however, so I'll leave it at that.  Personally, there were several aspects of the movie I would have liked to see expanded on.  One particular character for instance catches my interest.  A movie, or mini-movie about his life would be an interesting tale.  Furthermore, he seemed to be more of an afterthought than anything else.  And, Hiccup's relationship with Astrid was practically non existent.  A lot more was done with the parents than anyone else, even though they had less screen time together than others.

There were many awe inspiring scenes, most of course involving the dragons, which by themselves make the movie worth watching. Counteracting that were quite a few depressing scenes and humor taken almost directly from the first movie.

Dragons 2 is a good movie, not the greatest maybe, but still good.  I would watch it again.

Edge of Tomorrow - Movie Review

Definitely worth seeing, Edge of Tomorrow is my new favorite action film.  Though, not quite what I expected it more than exceeded my expectations.  I had heard from my brother that some people didn't like the ending and that worried me a bit.  Things were looking dire but I loved the eventual outcome.  Truthfully, based on the commercials, I expected more romance however there was little.  The main characters only kissed once or twice that I recall and even then it was right before one or both of them died.  So, romance wise this movie is a no.  Action wise, hell yes!  There are so many awesome fight scenes.  I would have liked to see more on the island itself with Cage's team but as a whole this is a great film.  At times Rita was just beyond brutal.  She was ruthless and uncaring of those she thought under her station.  I did not like that.  At all.  She was also a bit repetitive, however, what else can you expect in a repeating war zone situation? So, I can't really fault her for that.  Cage was also a coward in the beginning.  Not someone made for war and instead someone forced into it.  So, that was interesting, seeing them or more specifically K change for the better.  The aliens themselves were very similar to the Moorwens from Outlander.  Less intelligent in some respects but similar all the same.

Anyways, I would give this movie 5 stars and recommend it to anyone who loves fighting, aliens and robotics.  This movie is full of action, humor, and the barest hint of romance.

Chocolate Ice Cream

What I really like about this recipe is that there's no need for an ice cream maker.  Not only that but there's only three ingredients!  I made a double batch which amounts to one on those 1/2 gallon tubs you can buy from the store.  Now, the ice cream itself is exceedingly chocolaty and the texture is a bit more like frosting than the ice cream I normally eat.  I'm not entirely sure if that is because of the lack of artificial stuff or the recipe itself.  That said, it was a big hit with my family.

You can find it here...

Ingredients:

• Cocoa Powder....7 tbsp
• Sweetened  Condensed Milk....1/2 cup and 2 tbsp
• Heavy Wipping Cream....1 cup

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 - Movie Review

I've put this off long enough.  The movie was crap.  Almost everyone died and I'm not even sure what the storyline was suppose to be.  There were at least three of them.  That said, I would say it's just barely worth watching.  Certainly not something I'd want to watch twice.

The whole film was basically a moral quandary for Peter on whether or not he should date what's-her-name because in the last movie the girls father's dying wish was for Peter to stay away.  Naturally, Peter felt guilty about this and it ends badly.  I was near tears.

Now, the commercials lead you to believe that the movie involves some blue guy as the main protagonist but really that guy was hardly around.  I mean literally, he's only reason for fighting is because "nobody sees me".  Finally, Harry Osbourne has some hereditary disease that his dying father just told him about and suddenly he acts like he's got days left and things happen.  I won't say too much about that but he does end up a crazed evil mastermind.

All in all, I think the creators just tried too hard.  They should have focused more on blue sparks with hints of love problems then adding all the other characters they did.  The green goblin should have been left for Spider-Man 3.

One last peeve!  The constant whistling and theme song ringtones were completely unnecessary.  I mean, once or twice would have been great but they were constant.

Weeping Angel Alert

There's a house right around the block that had one of those stone baby angels outside.  I found it unsettling and always felt like it was watching me.  Unfortunately, the quickest route to the library was to walk past this creepy stone statue.  Then one day, it just disappeared.  I find myself inclined to think that it was an actual weeping angel.  I sincerely hope that it has moved on from this neighborhood and not in the forest behind my house.  Now most rational people will attempt to reason that the people who lived there just moved away.  But, there has been no moving truck or for sale signs.  I think it's quite clear what happened here.

Hair Mask Update

I've been wanting to update you on my most recent experimental mask and now is a good a time as any.  This time I completely made up my own instead of someone else's recipe.

Notes: I didn't measure out the ingredients at the time, so they could differ and depending on your hair you may want to make some of your own changes.  I left this in for about 40 minutes but had planned one to two hours.  It worked how I wanted but I feel an extra hour or two wouldn't have hurt.  This is a "hot oil" treatment so it works best warmed up in the microwave.

Coconut oil... 1 tbsp.
Coconut milk... 2 tbsp.
Olive oil... 2 1/2-3 tbsp.
Honey... 1tbsp.
Lemon extract or lemon juice... a few drops to 1/2-1 teaspoon
Vegetable shortening... 1 tbsp.
Cinnamon... 1-2 teaspoon

PROS

• Smells delicious
• Soft silky hair
• Lasts longer than just a hot oil treatments (with out adding other stuff)

CONS

• I used too much shortening and it was hard to shampoo out
• Created a weighted down look on the bottom half of my hair, strangely not the top though, I suspect this could easily be fixed by adding less shortening next time

DIY Hair Masks

I'm not one to use many beauty products, hair or otherwise, but that doesn't mean I don't want soft, silky hair.  And so, I ended up trying out these two DIY Hair masks.

The first one tried was egg mixed with coconut oil which I left in for about half an hour and while I noticed some improvement it wasn't quite what I expected (not to mention icky).  Later, I tried extra virgin olive oil, warmed up and left in for an hour.  The improvement was simply amazing.  I'll continue using this mask at least once weekly or perhaps bi-weekly because my hair is very dry and frizzy without some form of extra conditioning.

Additional ingredients could be honey, cinnamon and lemon juice.  Make sure you completely shampoo out the oil otherwise your hair will look greasy.

For more in-depth information on the benefits of olive oil see...
http://blackhair101.com/hair-care/olive-oil-hair-benefits
Or...
http://www.buzzle.com/articles/olive-oil-for-hair-growth.html

On an unrelated note, I found this beautiful song on YouTube...

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=JH_cM59JY34

Mini-Post

Here is a some I've been listening to of late, some of you may recognise it from Buffy the Vampire Slayer as Drusilla's song, Transyvanian Concubine...

Now because I can't seem to be able to get youtube videos to show up on my posts I don't know for sure if you can either which leaves me with the tough choice of whether to bother with them.  I've decided if and when I do I will also add on the web address of said video. Not that I'll be posting videos often.

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?v=Fdo5IcLAAfc

Ramblings

It is a sad couple of days when your own family members practically line up saying things and asking rude questions about a simple pentagram hung up in one's room.  And it's days like this that I am unhappy with how Christians of the past portrayed symbols and celebrations of various pagan religions in an attempt to convert the populous.  Because, now I have to deal with my own family thinking I'm into the devil and have caused our house to be haunted.  As if!  Our house was clearly haunted before we moved in.  In fact, my little pentagram is acting as a sort of protection rune right now.

Some people are just ignorant on purpose it seems.  Even after I explained things they refuse to see reason.  It's just sad.  The world would be a better place if people could be more open-minded.   Which isn't to say that there aren't open-minded people, just that there's not enough.

An a different note, my next drawing (another wolf) is almost done!

Various Tips

I've rethought parts of my plan to tame Henry.  First and foremost being to eradicate my family's access to him.  And, if they must interact then they'll only do so under the closest observation.  Why?  Because they don't listen to the simplest guidelines and half the the time don't even remember his name.  Their negative attitude isn't helping matters in the slightest.  Henry is much smarter than he lets most people see and takes advantage of their gullibility.  While it may have been amusing to watch (and still is) I shouldn't let it happen. Shame.  Secondly, I gave Henry treats every time I saw him in the hopes that he'd equate me to good things.  Since then I've realized that I should use them more sparingly so they have greater worth.  Also, if he acts out then the treats are going away for 15 minutes (or more) because "no" doesn't mean anything to some people.

On a different topic, my German is coming along pretty good considering I've studied it sparingly.  I know about 30 words/phrases so far and even how to spell the majority of them.  Still, I've figured that it takes me at least two sessions on the babble app before I remember all the words given.  However, I was trying to learn 15 words then move on to the next lesson with 15 more immediately.  Well, that tired me out too quickly.  In the future I'll go over a lesson, wait an hour or so before moving on, completing at least three lessons a day on various topics.