Link to a Poem.

This is a very good poem and a very true one, you should read it.

Strictly Speaking: Our American Birthright

Voyage of the Dawn Treader Book Review.

-->

Title: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Author: C.S. Lewis.

Gene: Classic, Christian, Fantasy, Sequel.

Plot: The Pevensies {or half of them at any rate} are back for more adventures in the wonderful land of Narnia. Their parents and Susan are spending sixteen weeks in America and Peter is spending his summer holidays studying for exams with the Professor and the youngest two, Edmund and Lucy, are therefore left with no other choice than to stay with Uncle Harold and Aunt Alberta for the summer. This arrangement is made even more unpleasant by their cousin Eustace Scrubb who is bossy and generally not very pleasant to be around. One afternoon when all three are in Lucy’s room having an interesting discussion {Edmund is really trying to get Eustace to leave of course} the picture of the ship they’re staring at unexpectedly comes alive and they find themselves quite suddenly inside the picture, swimming about in the cold water.

They are hauled onto the ship and are reunited with their old friend Caspian, now firmly in his place as King of Narnia and on a voyage to find the seven lords who were loyal to his father and were therefore banished by his nasty uncle Miraz. Reepicheep is also on board and is bent on sailing to Aslan’s own country {since they’re heading East anyway}. Almost right away, after Caspian gives them a tour of his fine ship and everyone has had a chance to settle down, Eustace and Reepicheep almost have a duel when Eustace plays a joke on the mouse and is repaid when the mouse coolly smacks him around with the flat of his blade. Following that the children, Caspian and Reepicheep are captured by slave traders while walking across a more-or-less deserted island belonging to the Lone Islands and, of course, to Narnia. One of the missing lords arrives and frees Caspian who then rounds up his men and, with a fine show of strength, sets the others free, reestablishes his authority over the islands and sets the Lord Bern up as governor of the Lone Islands before sailing off and getting caught in a bad storm then having their water supply run low following the calm that came after the storm.

They spot an island several days later and find fresh water to replenish their supply with which makes everyone happy of course, till Eustace slips away in order to avoid doing his share of the work and manages to be turned into a dragon, the results of his own selfish greed. Aslan arrives later, after Eustace has befriended his shipmates in his dragon form, and restores Eustace to his human form in time for him to join the others and continue the voyage. They encounter a sea serpent {who isn’t very bright} and have a narrow escape when they find a pool that turns things into solid gold. Then Lucy makes a group of strange people, the Dufflepuds, visible again after they get tired of being invisible and Aslan joins her before they meet the magician who lives on the island with the Dufflepuds and when their stay at that curious island is up they very nearly land at the Dark Island where nightmares come true; Aslan leads them safely away from there however when Lucy cries out to him. Then they come to the last island where they find the last three lords fast asleep and meet a star named Ramandu and his beautiful daughter who later becomes Caspian’s beloved wife {and who, while the others are discussing whether to eat the food on the table or not, gives them a bit of advise: “You can’t know, you can only believe – or not”}; Ramandu explains how to wake the sleepers and sends them on the last part of their journey, toward the Far East and to Aslan’s country.

When they can go no farther, Reepicheep and the three children go on alone and Caspian with his men head back home to Narnia; Reepicheep crosses over into Aslan’s land and Aslan himself sends the other three home to England, after telling Edmond and Lucy that they won’t be coming back again.

Likes/Dislikes: Magic is of course spoken of, talked about and used several times which most Christians will disagree with and while Eustace is suppose t o be rude and obnoxious, he comes across as rather amusing instead. All in all, a very entertaining and exciting classic adventure story and one worth rereading.

Rating: PG-8 and up only because it might go over younger children’s heads. Reading it aloud is recommended.

Date Report Written: May 29, 2010.

Reviewer’s Note: The new movie installation in Disney’s The Chronicles of Narnia is scheduled to be released to theaters on December 10^th, 2010 and is, of course, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Out of Time. . .

Yes, I've run out of online time today to post what I wanted to post so I'll have to post it next week. Sorry about that, I got lost trying to navigate a website I'm still exploring. :) God bless!!

Psalm 1.

-->

“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night.

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind drives away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” ~ Psalm 1. NKJV

“Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.

But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringath forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.

For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” ~ Psalm 1. KJV

Star Trek Movie Review.

Title: Star Trek.
Gene: Action/Adventure, Science Fiction, Futuristic, Remake.
Year Released: 2009.
Starring: Chris Pine {James T. Kirk}, Simon Pegg {Montgomery Scott}, Zachary Quinto {Spock}, Zoë` Saldana {Nyota Uhura}, Bruce Greenwood {Captain Christopher Pike}, Anton Yelchin {Pavel Chekov}, Winona Ryder {Spock’s mother}, John Cho {Hikaru Sulu}, Ben Cross {Serak, Spock’s father}, Eric Bana {Nero}, Karl Urban {Leonard McCoy} and Leonard Nimoy {Spock Prime}.
Director: J.J. Abrams.
Plot: James T. Kirk grew up without ever knowing his father who died the day he was born and because of that he became known as the local bad-boy with a genius IQ. Spock has a human mother and a Vulcan father and has therefore been conflicted within over what he wants to be upon graduation. These two both end up at the Star Fleet Federation academy where Kirk passes Spock’s impassable test by cheating and the two get off to a rocky start in what will later be a lasting friendship. When the Romulan warlord Nero reappears on the scene heading toward Vulcan, the cadets are rushes off into space to answer the planet’s distress call but arrive too late to do more than watch as the planet is turned into a black hole before their eyes.
Pike, a hostage of the “troubled Romulan” leaves his brand new ship the U.S.S. Enterprise in Spock’s command and he, being overwhelmed by the death of his mother and home-planet, kicks Kirk off the ship onto a frozen nearby planet where Kirk gets the shock of his life in meeting Spock; but not the Spock he’s use to, this Spock is from the future and he clears things up by explaining that Nero also is from the future where his planet was destroyed by a supernova before a black hole could be created inside it to save the planet. Getting sucked through the black hole Nero arrived first and promptly altered Kirk’s history dramatically by killing his father and twenty-five years later Spock arrived.
With this new knowledge in mind and a new friend in Scottie, Kirk beams back aboard the Enterprise and in dramatic fashion gets control of it from Spock who cools off then joins him in his daring plan to get the Red Matter {the stuff that creates the black holes} and Captain Pike from Nero’s ship which they then blow up with said Red Matter and return triumphantly to Earth.
Likes/Dislikes: There is quite a bit of cussing, mostly the a** word and a few damns but they’re also mostly said under the character’s breath so are hard to catch if you’re not really paying attention. There is a bloody bar fight toward the beginning in which Kirk gets pretty beat up {he gets beat up quite a bit throughout the movie actually}, Pike is tortured for information by having a bug dropped down his throat and there is of course a bedroom scene in which Kirk is involved but is kicked out of the room before it goes beyond kissing, thankfully. The dialogue and overall plot was very well written and there were several scenes where my family and I burst out laughing, even Dad laughed and that is a very good sign that this is a good movie. The movie is one hundred twenty-six minutes long and was based on Star Trek, created by Gene Roodenberry.
Rating: PG-13 and I believe I agree with this rating.
Date Report Written: April 22, 2010.

The Scarlet Pimpernel Book review.

-->

Title: The Scarlet Pimpernel.

Author: Baroness Orczy.

Gene: Classic, Historical Fiction, Action/Adventure, Romance.

Plot: Opening with a clever and daring rescue of the French Comtesse de Tourney and her two children by the mysterious Scarlet Pimpernel and his band of brave, adventurous fellow Englishmen, this classic novel will give you a glimpse into the past while supplying you with one of the most dashing heroes ever invented with pen and paper. The year is 1792 during France’s bloody Reign of Terror and the setting bounces between England and France; the English are completely in love with the unknown hero who uses a small wildflower as his calling card while the French government wants him dead as soon as possible.

Margerite Blakeney is the brilliant wife of the fop Sir Percy Blakeney, she scorns her husband {whom she thinks doesn’t love her anymore} and adores the Pimpernel while Percy cares for nothing beyond the tying of his cravat and buying the latest cut in coats. Or so it seems to everyone who doesn’t know Percy as well as a select few. When an old friend from France by name of Chauvelin threatens Margerite’s beloved brother Armand’s life, Margerite agrees to help him track down the Scarlet Pimpernel and unwittingly betrays her own husband into his ruthless hands. Discovering the truth of her husband’s foppish behavior and hidden love for her, Margerite rushes to France to warn him of the danger he is in and finds herself a prisoner of Chauvenlin’s as he eagerly awaits the Scarlet Pimpernel’s arrival. Unfortunately for him, Percy got word ahead of time, altered his plans slightly and saves the day in a most surprising manner {to his wife at least}.

Likes/Dislikes: Personally, I’ve never liked Margerite Blakeney, she’s always come across to me as rather stupid but other than that this is a very good book. There are a couple mentions of characters being beaten but no details are given. There are sixteen sequels to this book but none are as good as the first {or so I’ve guessed, having read only one of the sequels}. This book is very much recommended.

Rating: PG-13 and up mainly because of the reading level.

Date Report Written: April 30, 2010.