Nothing to really watch on tv since the Olympics ended? We feel the same way. Sunshine was happy with the return of Doctor Who this past Saturday and after catching up on an all day marathon of Switched at Birth I was glad to see the new season premier last night. Still, tv will be lacking until last September so let us know what you are excited to see. EW posted premier dates last month that you can check out here.
The first day of summer and the longest day of the year will be today! Get out and enjoy! For interesting facts about Summer Solstice click here.
This episode was way better than last weeks.
I was worried about this week but halfway through the show picked up for me! Here are the highlights:
- We have a new head of the NGO, Regina Turner. She came to watch the girls perform over two days so that the committee can go on to see who will make the final cut.
- Payson was still worried about Lauren’s health and went to her BF, Rigo, for advice. Well, it was more like verification that snitching on Lauren’s heart condition was the right thing to do and of course he disagreed because it was Lauren’s choice. Couples first quarrel awww.
- Sheila was up to no good as usual. She attacked Kaylie for taking the competitive edge out of KP with her “friendship.” She also faked it with Wendy by saying she wanted to manage her. To top it off she played the race card saying that Coach Mac was picking Jordan over KP because she was black.
- Payson made the choice to tell everyone about Lauren’s condition. She is then sent to see the training center’s heart doctor. We also hear Regina Turner say that Lauren is out. Has Payson crushed Lauren’s Olympic dreams? Did she do the right thing? Lauren seems to hate Payson even though she did it because she loves Lauren.
- At the end of the episode we said farewell to KP as she did not make the cut. Do you think this is the last we will see of her?
- The best part of the episode was when Wendy, the sweet and innocent background girl, was the ringleader of all the snitching. She is on a mission to take down the Rock Girls! She confessed this to Sheila, as she had used her as a mouthpiece to the coach. Sheila told her to watch her back but I am pretty sure Wendy will do some damage before it comes to everyone’s attention. Do we know Wendy? Why is she out to destroy Payson, Kaylie and Lauren? What does she have against the Rock Girls? This will definitely keep me watching.
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This episode was boring. The only thing we can really take from it is that Lauren has a heart defect that causes her to have the dizzy/ blackout spells. This of course worries Payson more than Lauren because Lauren plans on getting her gold medal at the Olympics.
So, I watched the show last week but forgot to do a re-cap as I was traveling. Here are some highlights as to what happened.
The girls left to represent the U.S. are struggling to show improvement. Marcus from the NGO came to see how things were going with Mac and the girls. From what he could see and from what Payson said to him things were not going well. This lead to Mac forcing the girls to a meeting at his house to watch Remember the Titans. Come on now coach. I enjoy that movie but that may not be the best way to motivate your girls gym squad. At the end of the day they agreed to better coach, team player standards and it worked well in front of Marcus.
Another major thing that happened was KP and Kaylie got together to figure out who sent the Sasha/ Payson kiss video to the NGO. Lauren was outed at the meeting but Payson said she already knew. I have to give it up to Payson because by the end of the episode she was willing to work on her friendship with Lauren. She also got Lauren to promise to go see a doctor about her “dizzy spells.”
For more details check out this recap.
This film is based on of the first book in the Suzanne Collins trilogy. The setting is a dystopian America now called Panem that is divided into 12 districts. Each district is responsible for a good used by the Capitol. Our main character reside in District 12. The capitol requires that each year every district has a lottery were one boy and one girl between the ages of 12-18 must go into a “Hunger Games.” This is a battle to the death that takes place in an isolated arena where only one survives.
The Characters
- Katniss (Lawrence): She is our heroine, a 16 year old girl who volunteers for the games when her 12 year old sister is chosen for District 12’s female tribute.
- Primrose (Shields): Katniss’ younger sister who takes after her mother with skills in healing others.
- Peeta (Hutcherson): The baker’s son who is chosen for the male tribute.
- Gale (Hemsworth): Katniss’ hunting partner. He is more than a friend but not her boyfriend.
- Haymitch (Harelson): A previous game winner from District 12 who mentors Katniss and Peeta.
- Effie Trinket (Banks): District 12’s escort.
- Claudius Templesmith (Jones): Hunger Games announcer.
- Cinna (Kravitz): Katniss’ clothing designer and confidant.
- Rue (Stenberg): District 11 female tribute who forms an alliance with Katniss.
- Thresh (Okeniyi): District 11 male tribute. He makes it to the final 4.
- Portia (Rose): Peeta’s clothing designer.
- Glimmer (Rambin): District 1 female tribute.
- Marvel (Quaid): District 1 male tribute.
- President Snow (Sutherland): The cold-hearted leader of Panem who does not root for the underdog.
- Cato (Ludwig): District 2 male tribute. He is the leader of the Careers, which are tributes from the first two districts, who train their whole lives and volunteer at age 18. He makes it to the final four.
- Clove (Fuhrman): District 2 female tribute.
- Fox Face (Emerson ): Tribute who is smart and survives in the arena by out thinking others.
Elizabeth’s Thoughts:
I have to say I love, love, love the books and I really enjoyed the movie. There were some differences but due to time constraints it was understandable. Check out this cool comparison with the changes from the book made in the film here. I love Peeta more in the film so I was not team Gale (thank you Josh Hutcherson!)but when I read the books I was all about some Gale and highly annoyed by Peeta. Even with Hutcherson doing an “O” face the bulk of the film he is alright in my book. Katniss in the film is more likable than in the book. When I say that I mean she knows what she has to do and realizes her purpose in order to survive. Go see this film, go read this book so the film makes more sense! My most favorite thing was the fact that we got to see behind the games. In the book it is totally from Katniss’ perspective so you don’t see what is going on with the President Snow, the Gamemakers or at the Districts. I give this film 4.5 Mockingjay Pins!
Sunshine’s Thoughts: I saw this movie twice and the first time I was not that impressed. However, after the second viewing I can now say I enjoyed the movie. The first time I was very focused on the changes from the book, but when I watched the second time I made an effort to just watch the movie for the story it told. There are still some things that I wonder how they will explain away in the second movie, but overall I was impressed with what they pulled off. No translation from book to movie can be perfect, but this was probably the closest I have ever seen. I give this film 4/5 Mockingjay Pins!
Sorry for the delay in my post. This was a pretty laid back episode so I will just give the bulleted notes version.
- Coach paired up the girls which meant a new roommate situation. Lauren and Payson stayed together and Kaylie was left with Kelly Parker (KP). They also had to choreograph floor routines for each other. Lauren and Payson did well and Kaylie and KP had major trust issues which caused them to fall in ranking.
- Austin lost his deal so he is really concerned about life after the Olympics. That is why he signed up Kaylie and himself for a sports caster class. The only problem was that he was horrible and Kaylie was excellent.
- Lauren tried to speed up Payson’s heartbreak recovery by hooking her up with another boy. TWIST she actually hooked her up with the boy she blew off the first day they came to the training center. This could be good you guys!
- Lauren had another dizzy spell. She wouldn’t talk to the nutritionist about it because she fears being off the team. So what does she do? The only normal thing which is to google diseases with dizzy spell symptoms.
So the Make It or Break It girls came back this week. If you missed the season premier check out the video on the ABC FAmily website.
The girls are at the US Training Center and the episode opens with Sasha defending the girls to Coach McIntyre. The question was asked what would happen to the girls if they were broken apart. We got a new impoverished character, Jordan who has lived all over the East Coast and was dropped off outside the training center by a trucker named Marge. Lauren solidified for those who were wondering that Emily was gone. “In the end it is only us!”
Lauren is trying to come up with her own perfume, Kaylie is still with Max and Kaylie is still with Austin.
Jordan showed up to Coach McIntyre and he wanted to send her packing because she wasn’t invited. She hadn’t competed in two years. Meanwhile Sasha tried to get the girls to not focus on The Rock and to prepare for their newest challenge. He then gave Payson his Olympic Medal. How sweet. Goodbye Sasha!
At this point I was wondering where are we going. Within the first 12 minutes they had got rid of old people and added new ones! Some things don’t change, Lauren was about to open Payson’s letter from Max but was stopped by a new “bff.” When Payson asked Lauren if there was a letter from Max, she of course lied and said no. This girl will never change! The trio then went to have some fun in the training room but someone had beat them their… Jordan! Of course she hid and watched the girls race to the medal podium. While Jordan was hiding and watching she looked very up to no good.
Lauren’s new perfume starts making her dizzy/ sick, so she told her dad to change the formula because she can’t put her name on something that makes her sick. She then read Payson’s letter from Max and found out something shocking. The next day she gave the letter to Payson.
Lauren got dizzy during practice, the coach sent her to the nutritionist. Twist the coach and the nutritionist have a thing going on. Wait for it, he is married to her!
The girls went to a party together only to end up apart. Lauren was plotting with some fellow camps, Kaylie was with Austin, although she has a wandering eye and Payson blew off guys to read her letter from Max that had some shocking news. This of course, ruined her one-on-one time with the coach. Lauren confesses to Kaylie about reading the letter and revealed that Max broke up with Payson.
Jordan popped up out of nowhere to do Payson’s move but the coach shut it down. I think I like him.
Back at the dorm, Austin revealed that Max was bisexual. Max kissed everybody! While the girls tried to come together by doing a prank, Lauren passed out on the roof of a building and then recovered without telling the girls what happened.
Coach finally watched Jordan’s video she made doing the routines and decides to let her train. He then called the Rock Girls together. He gave a speech about gymnastics being a team and individual sports. Way to go snitch Jordan told him about their hunt. He then made them burn their Rock jackets. Aww, new beginnings!
Random Thoughts:
- So many new guys!
- Jordan has a creepy connection with a bunny!
In the town of Thneedsville a boy named Ted (Efron) wanted to impress his crush Audry (Swift) and the one thing that could when her heart was to have a real tree. You see in the town of Thneedsville everything is made out of plastic and the town buys air from Mr. O’Hare’s (Riggle)company the way we buy water! Ted’s Grammy (White) tells him he must see the Once-ler (Helms) if he wants to know what happened to trees and where to find one. As Ted goes on his journey to find the Once-ler he sees that outside of the gates of his town it is very grimy and destitute with tree stubs and polluted water. Once Ted finds the Once-ler he then hears the story about what happens to trees. The Once-ler requests that comes back the next day to hear the story and when he gets back home he finds himself in danger with Mr. O’Hare and his thugs. Mr. O’Hare has convinced the town that they don’t want or need trees because they give off fresh air for “free.” Ted found a way back out of the city and was given the last truffula tree seed to plant in the middle of the town.
Elizabeth’s Thoughts: This film was even better than what I had hoped for. The cutest thing about it was of course those who inhabit the truffula forest; the singing fish, the cute bears and the hilarious birds where a joy to watch. If you like songs in your movies this film has those! I say take the family and learn a lesson about protecting your planet! I give this film 4.5/ 5 Lorax’s!
Sunshine’s Thoughts: The Lorax was a surprisingly funny film. I laughed out loud more in this movie than I have in some so called “comedies” lately. The animation and voice work was perfect. There is always the danger of a voice being too recognizable in an animated film but everyone here did a great job of being the character and not just themselves. This is a fun film that kids will love for the songs, the dancing, and all the adorable forest creatures. 4/5 Lorax’s!
Taylor Kitsch stars as John Carter our space/time traveling former soldier. During a search for a legendary cave of gold and on the run from Indians and the army; John Carter stumbles upon a man who has a device that takes him to Mars. After killing the man, John accidentally sends himself back and is confronted with a alien race he cannot understand, the ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound, and a princess who desperately needs his help.
Sunshine’s Thoughts: I was indifferent about John Carter, mostly because Disney did a really bad job of explaining what this movie was about. I took my own time to look up the plot of this story and knew I was interested but the previews were just not showing the excitement I knew would come from the source material. Luckily, I overlooked that indifference and went to see this movie. It was excellent! A fun mix of sci-fi, comedy, and romance John Carter gets everything right. The battles are exciting, the effects are on point, and the aliens seem like they are really there. I mean when you bring personality to a silent lizard/dog named Woola then you know the guys making the movie are doing something right. This is a definite must see. I give this 5/5 slobbering lizard/dogs.
Elizabeth’s Thoughts: As a fan of sci-fi, I was on board from the beginning and it didn’t hurt that Taylor Kitsch was playing our hero John Carter. For an added nice touch the scene music sounded like it came from Prince of Persia, way to go Disney! If you haven’t seen the film yet it is based off of the Edgar Rice Burroughs book The Princess of Mars (1912) so in the end it truly is a love story. So do not be jaded by this. The action was there, the aliens looked cool and the characters where likable. It is way better than the SyFy version staring Traci Lordes and Antonio Sabato Jr. THis movie is well worth seeing it in a theater just not in 3D! I give this film 4/5.
Elizabeth
Sunshine
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