Movie: Season of the Witch

I really enjoy this movie, it's great at playing with people who like to guess the ending of the movie from like the first second. Really great at that, so if you have one of those in the house/family, have them watch this movie with them and then laugh when they don't get it right.

The movie starts out with a witch trial... pretty much a witch execution, because let's face it, there was no such thing as a witch trial, if they survived, they were executed anyway. Anywho, it starts with three women, one old lady, one middle age, and one young. The two younger ones plead for their lives, while the last one tells the priest to pretty much rot in Hell. They hang her pretty fast. The youngest confesses after the priest tells them that he would save their souls if they would confess. They hang her anyway.

After hanging them, the priest pulls each of them up after they've been drowned to make sure that they won't come back. He's got one done, two done, three... oh wait, he gets pulled into the water and scrambles to get to his book which is burned by the witch and then he's thrown over and hung. Guess who that one was... the youngest one! I thought it was going to be the oldest lady who told them to go to Hell. Wrong.

After this, it changes scenes to the Crusades where Nicolas Cage's character, Behman and his friend Felson (Ron Perlman) are two of the best in the army. After killing an innocent woman, Behman leaves the Crusades against laws and his buddy follows him.

They come upon a house looking for provisions and find the wife and husband in bed dead and all sickly. Well at least you think the wife is dead, I didn't really see it as a big deal, but my boyfriend felt it necessary to make a comment about how she should have been dead and it wasn't right for her to still be alive (lol). They burn the house and take the horses. They stop in a town to get better horses and food even though they know it's a risk, and it was and they get caught. After one of the priest see's the crusade mark on the sword of Behman he recruits him to see his sickly master who has the same thing as the couple in the house.

They say it's from a witch and they have to take the witch to the monastery so she can be judged. After seeing that the witch is this young girl, Behman makes the priest swear that she will be given a fair trial. She does look pretty innocent, but you kinda figure that she's playing the innocent girl to get Behman to feel bad for her and he does.

They need a guide so they find a swindler who has taken the path many times and then they are off.

The last in the group is a young alter boy who is really good with a sword.

Not long into the movie, the witch escapes the cage she's in and then kills one of the soldiers in the part by making him think Kay (the young alter boy) is his daughter. They keep going and through out it, you find that she uses the weaknesses of the men to understand them. She saves the alter boy when they go across this bridge and he's falling and does it single handed... not really a trait I know many witches are said to have (hint hint).

Then the guide is getting freaked out by her and he wants to kill her (he's not the only one, but he's the only one really set on it) and then wolves attack the group and in trying to get away, the guide is killed. They finally make it to the monastery. When they go inside, they find that the monks have the same disease that spread everywhere else. When the priest starts the prayer, the witch is saying things to Behman about how this is her "fair" trial. It dawns on the Priest that this -isn't- a witch at all. It's a possession by a demon.

They finally put it all together, the whole time, the demon wanted to come to the monastery. The first guy that got killed got too close and wanted her to be safe from the priest and wanted to let her go, pretty much he thought she was innocent. The guide, he almost killed her, so he had to go. Now why did she want to come to the monastery? The monks were copying the book, the one book the priest was holding to do the exorcism. The monks come back to life as zombie like demon things. Take off their heads and then they will be dead. Felson dies saving Behman from the demon and is burned. The priest has his head snapped, this is when the alter boy gets the book and continues. Behman takes his life to keep the demon from getting to the kid and pins him to the wall while getting stabbed in the back. After, Behman stays alive long enough to see that the girl is actually completely fine.

She didn't realize what had happened to her at all.

 

Movie: Set Up

This actually wasn't that great of a movie. I was expecting a lot more from it then what I actually got, so it was slightly a let down.

It starts out with three friends who end up stealing diamonds from a guy in a car. They end up killing him which apparently wasn't part of the plan.

Sonny (50 Cent), tells his one friend Vincent (Ryan Phillippe) that he shouldn't have killed the guy. Anyway, Vincent ends up killing the third friend, and shoots Sonny, thinking he killed him, takes the diamonds and runs off.

Sonny ends up getting fixed up by a friend of his and then he gets targeted by a hit man who Sonny tells Vincent has the diamonds and goes to meet the mob boss, Biggs (Bruce Willis). They team up to get the diamonds and money back and Sonny ends up taking the money and hides some of it in a Teddy Bear and some of it in a locker after his 'partner' (one of Biggs' guys) dies by his own dumb fault.

Anyway, you find the Vincent's dad is in jail and in trouble, and so Vincent is trying to pay this guy to keep him safe but needs the money. Doesn't take too long for the hitman to find Vincent's sister (the driver in the beginning) and ends up killing her.

Sonny goes back to the mob boss to tell him Vincent has the money (the money that Sonny hid) so they go to him and the mob boss and a bunch of others get shot (oh and Vincent ends up killing the hitman when he goes to Vincent) and then it's just Sonny and Vincent. Sonny let's Vincent go in the end.

The teddy bear went to the third guy's wife/girlfriend/sister/girl he lived with.

Movie: Pokemon White: Victini and Zekrom

I’m writing the blog on White, but Black is the same exact movie, with minor details involving the legendaries. Where you see Reshiram in White, it is Zekrom in black.

It starts off with Ash and his friends (from seasons Black and White) going to a new city, like always. Anyway when they get there, this contest is going on and of course Ash and his friends join.

During this contest, Ash puts in two different pokemon during two different battles that get hit hard and then get healed by Victini (although they don’t see this) and come back stronger. One girl who battles Ash tells him this and they meet Victini, who is adorable and likes Ash a lot.

Ash finds that Victini is very old and is stuck within the boundaries of these pillars because a long time ago the dragon force was out of control and the ruler at the time moved the castle to stable to dragon force, but died in the process and never was ever able to take away the pillars.

Damon wants to restore the balance and he finds (in this movie) Reshiram and has Reshiram work with him. He uses Victini, and hurts him to try to restore the balance. In the process he throws off the dragon force, but doesn’t know about it. Ash finds out through Victini and tries to stop Damon and releases Zekrom to help him.

When Damon finds out, he can’t stop what is happening and the pillars close in around Victini and Ash and to save Ash, Victini destroys the pillars but also destroys himself (or so we think).

The castle lands on the beach, where Ash wanted to take Victini and when he goes to honor Victini he finds Victini.

Happy ending, of course. 

Show: Turbo F.A.S.T.

This is a Netflix show. It’s only had 5 episodes.

It goes into the life of Turbo and the racing snails, that at the end of the movie got boosters to make them fast too. They have a little city that Angelo made Turbo for all his friends, and it seems in every episode someone/thing comes along to try to destroy it. In each episode, Turbo or one of his friends or his brother learn some kind of lesson.

Shows some promise!

So the new episodes came out and me and the boyfriend watched them all in one night... yes, it was that good.

They are just really cute and funny.

They pick up where the movie left off with little short stories. Most are about other creatures challenging Turbo to a race of some sort, and none of the races are ever as simple as the Indy 500, like that sounds easy.

They are good for little kids, but I like to be a little kid at heart a lot.

Movie: Turbo

Family favorite and very very cute.

Who would have thought that snails would want to be fast? Well Theo does want to be fast and he ties to be faster everyday even though the other snails make fun of him.

One day, after being humiliated he ends up getting stuck on a race car and sucked into the engine when nitrous oxide gets into his system and he’s suddenly fast and some strange things happen to him. When him and his brother are caught by a Mexican guy (who works at Dos Bros) and then told to race, Turbo (Theo) shows them just how fast he is, Angelo (the Mexican guy) creates a plan to make him and his brother and the rest of the people in the lot more popular with customers.

His idea leads him to getting Turbo into the Indy500. It’s not easy, but one racer encourages them to let a snail race, his intentions are to crush the snail during the race which Turbo finds out. In the beginning, Turbo is getting overrun and then the other racing snails get him motivated “are you a car?” “then stop racing like one.” After this, Turbo gets his stuff in gear and goes to beat a lot of the racers. In the end, the popular racer causes a serious accident, this is after he cracks turbo’s shell and turbo is running out of power. At this point, Turbo is out of speed and the racer and him are trying to make it across the finish line. His brother gives him the best advice, tuck and roll. Turbo wins!

After a while, Turbo’s shell heals. 

Movie: Mouse Hunt

I just recently saw this movie and I never saw it when I was younger. It’s a very funny movie and kids would probably like it, but it is so highly unrealistic it’s unreal.

It starts out with two brothers at a funeral for their father. Their father ran a warehouse that produced yarn and the youngest brother stayed with that business when the older went on to become a chef.

Ernie, the chef, has the mayor coming to his restaurant, and when he serves the mayor, somehow a roach gets into the food and the mayor dies from it and thus the restaurant is shut down and Ernie is in hiding. Meanwhile Lars is getting an offer from people the buy out the business. The brothers soon discover a mansion their father had that was created by a very important architect and thus they can get a lot of money for it. One tiny little problem, there’s a mouse. This mouse is very smart, and very stubborn and every trick they throw at it, this mouse overturns. They end up destroying the house in the process of catching the mouse, and when they do catch the mouse and thing they get rid of it, it comes back when they are auctioning the house. In the end, their house is destroyed and literally falls apart and when they move into the warehouse, the mouse helps them invent string cheese. 

Movie: Brother Bear

A great Disney movie. Very cute for a family or anyone of any age.

This movie stars three brothers who live in North America way back when. The youngest of the brothers is getting his totem and ends up getting the Bear of Love. When he gets picked on about it from the middle brother and then a bear eats their fish, he goes after the bear and the eldest brother ends up dying and then the youngest goes back after the bear to avenge his brother’s death and he gets turned into a bear after he kills the bear.

When Kenai (the youngest brother) wakes up, he’s a bear and so confused. He thinks that bears are vicious killers. On his way to get the where the lights touch the earth, he runs into a little cub who was separated from his mom and trying to get to the same place as Kenai for the salmon run. Koda teaches Kenai that bears aren’t dangerous, and Kenai teaches Koda that not everything is what it seems. When they get to the Salmon run, Koda tells a story about how he got separated from his mom. The story seems deathly similar to when he went after the bear the first time. He runs off and then he realizes he has to tell Koda the truth. When he does, Koda runs from him into the grasp of Kenai’s brother. Kenai saves Koda even if it would cost him his life when the spirits turn him back into a human. Kenai realizes that Koda needs him and so he is turned back into a bear. 

Movie: Finding Nemo

This has got to be one of the greatest movies of all time. I mean of course it’s up there with Ellen being the voice of Dory.

It starts with two clown fish moving into their new home waiting for their eggs to hatch when a barracuda comes and kills the mom and eats all by one egg, which the father (Merlin) names Nemo.

When a little time has passed, and Nemo is ready to start going to school, Merlin is very protective and even though he lets his son go, he soon finds they are going to the dropoff which is a very dangerous part of the reef. Nemo being tired of his dad’s over protectiveness goes out to be daring and try to prove to his dad he can do things when he gets caught by a dentist (you find this out later) and now Merlin must find his son.

On his chase to follow the boat, Merlin runs into Dory, a very forgetful Tang. They set off on a journey to find Nemo after they are caught by sharks (who are vegetarian) and then find the goggles that have the address of the Dentist on them. They have to go through some dangerous obstacles, like a horde of jellyfish and following the EAC with some sea turtles and getting eaten by a whale and dropped off in Sydney before getting swallowed by a Pelican that brings them to the dentist.

Meanwhile, Nemo wakes up to find himself in a tank full of fish he doesn’t know and in a box he can’t get out of. There is one fish that is from the ocean like him, and Angel fish with a beat up fin (just like Nemo’s small fin). They soon find out that Nemo is Darla’s (the dentist’s niece) birthday present. There’s one problem with this, last year she got a fish for her birthday and shook the fish to death. Plan, make the tank dirty so that the dentist has to take the fish out and put them in bags. They get a rock lodged into the filter with the help of Nemo and then dirty the tank, but when Darla’s birthday arrives, the tank is clean with the addition of a new filter.

When Merlin gets to the dentist office, Nemo is pretend dead in a bag and Merlin thinks his son is dead. Nemo then gets put down a sink drain. Merlin breaks off from Dory and when he leaves she can’t really remember anymore and when Nemo finds her she remembers. After helping a set of fish get out of a net, Merlin learns to be a little more loose with Nemo, and Dory stays with them at the end. 

Shows: The Walking Dead

I didn’t actually think I was going to like this show, which is why I started watching it so late.

I haven’t started watching season 4 yet, but I have seen the first three and I’m only doing a little brief overview. There’s a lot that goes on and a lot of character deaths and adds that happen that can be a little confusing.

Season one: It starts out in a normal world, but then during a police shoot out happened, Rick (the main character) is shot. When he wakes up, the world is changed, people are… umm zombies. After some help he is reunited with his wife and son, but they can’t stay where they are in the mountains. They drive around and find a place that has power that they can stay at (the CDC), but the only guy there has it programmed to blow up. They narrowly get away from it.

Season two: After escaping the blowing up CDC building, the crew has to find a new place to go, they plan to go west, but after a traffic jam and trying to get some resources one of their members goes missing and when trying t find her they end up finding a house with people in it and they stay with them. During this time, Rick’s wife gets pregnant, but it’s a little complicated because while he was “dead” she was sleeping with his best friend… um..? Anyway, this season ends when Rick kills Shane (the best friend) and walkers invade the farm forcing them to leave once again.

Season three: The crew find a home in a Prison and Lori has her baby, but dies during childbirth, and Rick feels bad because he was angry with her when she died. During this time, Andrea (one of the original group) is separated (actually the season finale of season two she gets separated) she pairs with another girl who is wicked with a sword and they find themselves in a peaceful town where the mayor controls everything. Anyway he pretty much doesn’t like the aspect of Rick and his gang so he sets out to have them destroyed. In the end, the mayors psychosis leads him to kill a lot of his townspeople and then Rick recruits the town to come back to the prison with him and his people. 

Movie: Lone Survivor

I was a trooper throughout this movie. Knowing the background behind it… well bring a box of tissues for the ending if you’re like me… That’s all I can say. BEFORE YOU WATCH THIS MOVIE KEEP IN MIND IT’S CALLED LONE (as in one) SURVIVOR.

It starts out showing little aspects of Navy Seals on the base and how they live their morning lives. Four of the seals seem very close and they are talking about going away on a mission. Before they go on the mission, they have to initiate one of their team.

The mission is simple, take out a man.

Well it’s a movie, so it clearly can’t be that simple. When they get to their target location they find that it is a little harder to get to their target then they wanted. They change locations and while hiding, they are caught by goat herders. They tie up the herders and they are trying to figure out what do with them. They can kill them and wait for their bodies to be found and the media have fun with it. Let them go and let them tell the Taliban where they are or three keep them tied up and let them be found dead or alive (once again the media aspect).

They decide to let them go and take their chances to get as far as they can. They don’t make it too far before they are found and thus the gun fire and bombing begin. All this time they are trying to get in contact with their base with little luck. The amount of falls these guys took…. Well no way I would have survived one bounce. Although there is probably a high amount of adrenaline flowing in them after the first gun shot.

One of the guys doesn’t make it too far, he gets his hand shot off (other hits as well) and then he is at the top of the cliff. Another guy knows he will die but does what he does anyway to get a call to his base, he has to climb up on top of a cliff to call the base.

Two down, two to go. Oh well if you don’t count the whole entire helicopter of navy seals that gets blown up when they try to land to rescue. Oh yeah… that happened.

Anyway, back to the other two. One of the two at this point has been shot in the head, you kinda can’t see him making it much farther and he doesn’t. His vision is starting to go and it’s obvious he’s going down hill. The last of the four hides under a rock and falls asleep there momentarily. He’s got holes all in his body and a broken femur… that’s not an easy bone to break, in fact it’s the HARDEST bone to break.

When he wakes up, he manages to pull himself to a source of water where he sees more Afghanis, he’s not very welcoming to these guys, for good reasons. This man and his son, however, are trying to help him and when they hear the Taliban coming, they tell him to be quiet and then bring him back to the village to help heal him and send one of their men on a trek to his base.

During this time, the Taliban come to get the last American and anyone who gets in their way will die too. Too bad the villagers aren’t interested in this and fight back (it’s actually one of their centuries old codes).

In the end, he did survive and now he’s alive to tell his story. 

Movie: The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones

So I already did the blog on the book and again, I like the movie better than the book, oddly.

It starts out with Clary and Simon on the phone talking when her mom and Luke come in. Clary is drawing this symbol that Clary’s mom points out to Luke.

Clary goes out that night with Simon to a night club where she sees a man get murdered by two guys and a girl, she screams out, but no one else can see what’s happening. The next day at a poem recital, Clary sees Jace (one of the guys from the club) again, and she interrogates him on why she can see him and no one else can and what he did.

During this time, Clary gets a call from her mom in distress, Clary rushes home, but by the time she gets there, her mom is already gone and there is a monster in it’s wake. After blowing it up (yeah, you would have thought that would have killed it), it reforms and Jace kills it.

Clary is scratched and so when she, Simon, and Jace get back to the castle she collapse. When she wakes up she finds out about shadow hunters and that her mom is a shadow hunter. She finds out about something called the Mortal Cup and how Valentine wants it to create a army of shadow hunters.

When trying to unblock her memories to see if they can figure out where her mom hid the mortal cup, they go to the City of Bones, in the process she gives a hint of who put the spell on her, Magnus Bane. They go there and while there, Simon is captured by vampires. They all go to rescue Simon and in the end Werewolves save them.

When they get back to the castle, Clary starts having serious feelings for Jace, and Simon feels pushed away when he finds out, which sends him away. Clary then finds out that she can insert things into paper and figures out what her mom did with the Mortal cup. In getting the Mortal cup, Alec is hurt badly and they rush him back to the mansion.

As soon as they get there they are betrayed by Hodge who lets Valentine in to get the Mortal Cup and lets demons enter into the mansion. While getting supplies, they find out where Clary’s mom is and Clary returns with Luke and a pack of werewolves. They all die (well at least all the ones I see minus Luke) and Clary manages to trick Valentine with a trick Mortal Cup and then she and Jace blow up the portal. That’s about the end of it, oh and Valentine tells Jace and Clary that they are related (this is before portal blow up time).

Show: Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas (cartoon)

So I am a big (wouldn’t say huge) fan of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I love the live action movie and the book by Dr. Seuss. They are great Christmas classics. I used to get sick every Christmas and watching How the Grinch Stole Christmas always made me feel better.

This cartoon is really the book just in visual form.

The Grinch is a being that hates Christmas and the Whos love Christmas, and thus the Grinch hates the Whos. This year, the Grinch plans on destroying Christmas, he decides to do it by dressing up as Santa Claus and taking back all the decorations and presents. He does this, but in the end when he hears the Whos singing again something makes him feel bad, and then he sees a little girl, Cindy Lou Who on top of the presents and then decides to bring them all back. 

Documentary: The Whale

So this was actually an interesting documentary. Prepare to need the tissues in the end. It’s a great story that I had never even heard about, but shows a lot about orcas.

It is a story of a little Orca who gets trapped in a little sea area in British Columbia called the Nootka Sound. The people of the area call the Orca Luna, although the orca is a male, not female. He’s just a young whale when he gets separated from his family and finds himself in this area with no other whales.

The people in the area, at first, are a little worried. I mean a killer whale in their home… Well turns out, all Luna wanted was some attention. Orcas are social animals, much like humans, and without whales to communicate with, he found other beings that seemed intelligent and able to socialize with him. He loved playing with people in the boats and letting them pet him. Many people came to Nootka Sound during this time, just to see Luna.

Not long after, however, wildlife conservationists step in saying that interaction with Luna would be harmful and that people should stay away from him. One of the conservationists had a story of a beluga whale that get separated from family and was run over by a boat, and although this whale healed, they didn’t want it to happen to Luna.

Problem is, Luna was already used to playing with others and others playing back, so when people were not allowed to look at Luna, touch him or have any interaction at all, it puzzled the poor little whale.

When the government goes to take Luna away, the natives have a feeling that they are going to put him in an aquarium or something of the sort, not reunite him with his family, so they work together and get Luna to follow them instead of the government.

In the end, one biologist takes it on to watch Luna until they can find a way to get him safe. He had to leave for family business and during the day he was away, Luna was struck by a boat.

I don’t personally know all the details of the story, but I think isolating Luna from the only beings he could have interaction with was the worst thing they could have done. And putting him in an aquarium or something like sea world would have been worse, just my opinion after seeing Blackfish. 

Show: Pinocchio's Christmas

Everyone knows the classic Pinocchio’s tale. Well this is before Pinocchio becomes a boy. It’s a little 30 minute Christmas show.

Gepetto wants to get Pinocchio something special for Christmas, and just finding out what Christmas is, Pinocchio wants to get Gepetto something special for Christmas. Gepetto gives Pinocchio a book for school, but two little “friends” of Pinocchio’s (the fox an rabbit) want money so when Pinocchio sells the book they tell him to plant the money and it will grow more. Well they steal it, so now Pinocchio has no money to get Gepetto anything so he goes to a puppeteer who uses him to make a lot of audiences. Pinocchio meets a girl that he like and he steals her from the show and hides her in the forest and wants her to be real.

Meanwhile, poor Gepetto thinks Pinocchio is missing and is frantically searching for him.

In the end the fairy comes to Pinocchio and grants him his wish and then is reunited with Gepetto. 

Movie: Thor: The Dark World

Granted, I’ve only seen the movie once and it’s been a little bit of time since I’ve seen it now that I’m writing this post, so this is going to be a very K.I.S.S.ed (Keep it short and sweet) blog.

P.S. only watch this if… well no, I guess you don’t –need- to see the first Thor to get this movie, but it’s not a bad idea.

In this episode, Thor is a lot more level headed, and he wants to know what is happening with Jane. Slight problem, Jane isn’t too happy with him after hearing that he was in New York and couldn’t come to see her (this happened in The Avengers).

Anyway, Jane gets infected with this dark source after dimension warping and Thor finds out and brings her back to his world. She starts to become very sick, and well there are others that want this source and they invade to get Jane, but Thor’s mother dies in the process of trying to get it.

After pairing with Loki to get this evil out of Jane before it kills her, even though Thor’s father wants Loki to be kept in imprisonment. Everyone thinks Loki betrays Thor when they get to the new planet, and honestly I thought so too, but in fact it was one of their plans and the evil is taken out of Jane, but it’s given to the bad guys, so back on earth they play around with the natural phenomena (space warping things) to get rid of the dark source.

You thought Loki was dead? Yeah, nope….

Documentary: National Geographic: Amazing Planet

This is a very short series, it only has three episodes but they are very interesting.

The first episode is about the making of the earth, the lava bubbling underneath that created it, how all the continents started as one and then separated. And how the volcanoes formed and them blowing.

The second episode is about the present, how certain areas are hot spots and how long will they stay like that. The tectonic plate movements and all the stuff we hear about now a days. Global warming.

The final episode is what is expected for the earth at the current rate. 

Book: City of Bones

So this was a strange one. I actually kinda liked the plot a little better in the movie then I did in the book. I obviously liked the book better because of details, but the plot I liked in the movie. But I’ll talk about that in a different blog, now won’t I?

The book is about a girl, Clary, who lives in the city with her Mom and she starts getting these odd visions of demons which she can’t really seem to figure out. She is out one day with her best friend Simon when she sees a “man” get murdered by two guys and a girl. A day or so later she is at the café with her friend Simon and one of the guys she saw committing the crime she sees again. One problem, only she can see him.

While trying to talk to this stranger her mom is kidnapped and when Clary gets back to her apartment there is a monster there waiting for her. Although Jace (the guy only she can see) is the one that officially kills the monster she manages to hold her ground. Jace makes a risky move and puts a “rune” on her which are things that shadow hunters use, which is what Clary and Jace are. Shadow hunters kill demons, simply.

Clary then meets Alec and Isabelle who are brother and sister and the other two shadow hunters that Clary saw in the club killing the vampire (that was the “guy” they killed). You find that Alec has a thing for Jace (yerp, he’s gay), but so does Clary… whoops.

Clary and the three shadow hunters, and Simon all try to figure out where Clary’s mom is, but they first have to get her memories back. They try going to the City of Bones, but the spell is too powerful, so they have to go to the source, Magnus. While there, Simon is turned into a rat and then later captured by Vampires. Clary and Jace go to the Vampire’s lair to get Simon back. They meet a Hispanic boy outside that helps them get in, but ends up being the leader of the vampires.

They do get Simon back, and then werewolves show up that help them out.

Okay, so I skipped a lot, but that’s what reading the book is for. In the end, Luke (a close family friend who Clary thought hated her is a werewolf and helps them break into Valentine’s lair).

Book secret!: Clary and Jace related?!?!?!?! Omg!

Anyway, Valentine gets away with the Cup and Clary’s mom hasn’t woken up in the end, but everyone is safe and alright. Even Alec who does get hurt.

Movie: Lilo and Stitch

I absolutely love this movie. It is so freaking cute and I love it. Disney did a great job on this one and it will have adults laughing at it all day too.

Lilo is a little girl who lost her parents not too long ago and is alone in the world. She lives with her sister Nani, but they don’t have the best relationship in the world and fight often.

Stitch is a genetically created alien who is exiled and escapes and lands on earth, where he is run over by a few trucks (no big deal, he’s only supposed to be dead by earth standards). He ends up waking up in the pound where Lilo is to adopt a dog so she won’t be lonely anymore. She ends up picking stitch, but Stitch wants to just destroy everything. Meanwhile the Intergalactic command sent down two other aliens to capture Stitch, so you find that he and Lilo spend a lot of time trying to get away from little traps set by Jumba and Pleakly.

Nani isn’t a fan of Stitch, but Lilo adores him and he helps her have more fun in her life while Nani is trying to find a new job so she can keep Lilo from social workers. Stitch has a way or ruining every interview Nani has, and it leads to the social worker telling Nani that he has to take Lilo away. Stitch leaves that day and the next morning Nani leaves because she might be able to get a new job and Stitch comes back with Jumba and Pleakly running into the house.

Stitch and Lilo get captured, but Stitch escapes before the ship leaves. He then convinces Jumba and Pleakly to help him get Lilo back, and of course they do. 

Movie: We're the Millers

This movie was a funny movie, but not very good as a family movie unless the kids are older. There’s a lot of adult humor in it and it probably won’t be much fun for kids because they just won’t really get it.

Movie starts with David coming home and being robbed of his pot because his neighbor, Kenny, is trying to save a girl across the street, Casey, and David ends up getting robbed as well. Well this is going to be interesting to tell his drug supplier that he lost a lot of drugs and no money to give him. He’s dead… Well maybe not seeing as it’s the beginning of the movie.

Brad, the drug supplier, tells David that he won’t kill him but he has to do a favor for him. He has a large dose of marijuana in Mexico that he wants David to pick up. Oh yeah, that will be easy. Mexico’s boarder is crawling with patrols to find drugs. David thinks of a interesting plan though…. Who would suspect a family from bringing drugs over the boarder?

Rose, a lady that lives upstairs from him would be a great person to play the wife, Kenny would be the perfect son, and why not throw Casey in there as a daughter? Now to get them on board. Well Kenny is dying for adventure, he’s in. Casey can be bribed, she’s young and in need of the money… Rose… gonna be a challenge. Well she’s got a lot of bills she could use the money too. At first she declines, but then takes the deal for the money.

Off to the boarder they go. They get an RV to travel over the border, they act a little weird going across the border which makes it even funnier. When they get into Mexico they have to get to the warehouse, they completely pack the RV with pot that has to be carried over the boarder now… well this will be… not easy. One problem, after they leave the guy that is supposed to get the pot for a different drug supplier (the real one) shows up and now they have to catch up to “the Millers” so they can get the pot back.

They do get captured at one point and they escape from the use of Rose’s stripper skills and they race to get back to safety. On the road they meet another family that was on vacation to Mexico. The father is a cop, and the daughter likes Kenny. Ooohhh ;)

This isn’t going to be easy to get away with and they have some interesting scenes with this other family which is quite funny. Kenny ends up getting bit by a spider and has to go to the hospital and David is trying to get them to go because he’s on a dead line, but Rose and Casey care about Kenny and tell David no. David eventurally finds out he was wrong and goes back, but at this point the gang of drug suppliers have found them and is after them. David gets back just in time to save them, but it is actually the cop father that saves them.

David tells the cop the truth and they strike a deal to catch Brad in the act and he would go to Jail and “the Millers” well they have to go into protective services as a family, which they seem to like that idea. 

Movie: Catching Fire

I was the BIGGEST fan of this book, it was one of my absolute favorite books and so I was excited for this movie. They did an excellent job at keeping the main details of the Hunger Games from the book to the movie.

The movie picks up not too long after the first one ends. Katiness and Peeta have to go to every district for the victory tour, before they get to do this though, President Snow tells Katness that she better be on her best behavior and prove to him that she and Peeta are actually in love. Yeah, that’ll be easy; Peeta doesn’t even want to talk to her after coming home. On top of that she’s so confused as to if she’s in love with Peeta or Gail. Oh my goodness, decisions!

When they get back to District 12, Peeta and Katniss now have to get ready for a wedding. Now that’s going to be a challenge to hid feeling for Gail and then prove to Snow that she loves Peeta. It’s okay, they weren’t able to do it, the 75^th hunger games is up and that means there is a special event. Want to guess what the event is? The players will be chosen based on previous victors. Hate to break it to district 12 but there have only been 3 victors from there and only 1 girl victor.

I’m sure you can guess, Peeta and Katniss end up back in the arena, but will they both make it out?

Training starts and Katniss is giving the task of picking her allies, she picks the people no one else would want, but she picks them for reasons because they are smart in ways no one else can see. In the arena, it seems that Katniss and Peeta have more allies and different ones then Katniss originally assumed. This arena is a bit different then the other arenas. You figure out it is a clock from one of the people that Katniss wanted.

In the end, Katniss and Peeta, and Joanna, and a few of the others make it out because of a plan to blow up the barrier (that katniss did not actually know about). One tiny blip… Peeta is captured by the capital….

Mockingjay!!!!

Shows: Twisted

I’m still not so sure how I feel about this show and I wasn’t sure when I started it, but I figured why not.

This is only on season one, the series does continue to play on ABC Family

It starts out with a small clip of two girls on swings, then a little boy comes out saying he was sorry and he had to do it and drops a jump rope. It’s pretty confusing, but makes sense in a little bit. Jo is one of the little girls and it is years later after Danny (the boy with the jump rope) killed his aunt. Now Danny is getting released from jail and returning to school.

Jo tries to not befriend Danny again, but it is hard for her, and she finds herself not only befriending him but falling for him more and more as the season progresses.

Lacey is the other little girl from the beginning scene and she takes a little longer to convince then Jo to gain Danny’s friendship, only when they do get close again they get… close….

The whole first season revolves around a girl’s death that happens right after Danny is released and they all thing Danny is involved with it. The whole school is against him and they work to get him kicked out of school and out of everything he does (they eventually succeed and he gets kicked out of school in the end).

Jo finds out about Lacey and Danny and it devastates her, meanwhile her best friend Rico is in love with her and she never knows. In the final episode, Jo sleeps with a guy after finding out about Lacey and Danny and Rico tries to tell Jo the truth. 

Movie: The Croods

The Croods is a fun filled family movie that I think anyone and everyone should watch. I was laughing non stop from the beginning. I must confess I was worried about how I would feel about this movie before I watched it. I’m glad I watched it

It is a movie about a caveman family facing the hard life of surviving in a very crazy wild world. They are the last of their kind and for good reason… cavemen aren’t too smart. The father (Grug) of the group is the reason the group has made it so far, or so it seems. He keeps them safe with a strict set of rules. These people are definitely different and crazy. Let’s just say “release the baby” will have you laughing the whole movie.

The eldest daughter (Eep) is very adventurous, she doesn’t like being trapped in the walls that Grug keeps them in and she definitely doesn’t like the rules that accompany Grug. One night Eep catches a glimpse of an orange light through the crack in the cave and becomes very curious. After sneaking out she finds that the orange light is fire captured by a boy who calls himself Guy. Guy is NOT like a caveman at all, he’s like… well… a guy. Eep is fascinated by Guy and he tells her that the world they live in is coming to an end and that she should come with him. He gives her a shell so she can get a hold of him.

When the family finds Eep gone, Grug is worried and then infuriated when he finds her, but that doesn’t last long because here comes the earthquake. They try to make it back to the cave, but the cave is destroyed. When they look through the rubble, they find another mysterious land, a very green one that is full of life, dangerous kinds of life that they discover when they walk through. They get into trouble and so Eep calls guy with her shell.

Grug doesn’t like Guy and so the next portion of the movie involves poor guy in a log. When he finally escapes the log and proves that he’s trying to help, Grug is jealous of how his family follows Guy and it’s hard for him to accept. He tries to be different but it doesn’t work the way he planned. In the end, he has to make a choice and letting his family go to safety with Guy is the choice he makes.

Or is that the end?!?!...

It’s not, remember… family movie. Grug gets help from some unlikely animals to get all the way over to the safe place.

Now he’s with his family and Guy and they finally see eye to eye. Now… the end

Shows: Pretty Little Liars

So this is a show I've found myself addicted to. The "A" character is extremely addicting for some reason.

Although now we all know who "A" is, the first few seasons it was brutal trying to figure out which of their friends was after them.

In the first season you find out it's Mona, then the next time it's Toby, then it's a friend of Ally, then it's Ezra. Oh and Ally is still alive, which they have been seeing randomly in situations when they are close to dying.

Anyway the series is about 4 girls who are pretty much stalked and framed through secrets they told their dead friend. Throughout the whole series they are trying to figure out who it is that is doing all of this too them. The secrets drive them farther from each other and then also closer to each other.

In this current season they are in a race to find Ally before 'A' (aka Ezra, their English teacher) figures out.

Book: The Christmas Sweater

This is actually a good book. It was given to me by a friend. I think you could read this before or after Christmas there isn't too much -about- Christmas in it, just more about a present given to the author on Christmas.

It starts with a little boy who wants a bike for Christmas, it's the only gift he wants and he's been good all year and it's the only thing he wants. One problem, his mom is a single mom, now that his dad died of Cancer and she is struggling.

On Christmas morning, he opens all of his presents but none of them are a bike, in fact the big present that his mom was making was a sweater. He hated it, it looked awful, but he tries to make it seem he's not upset about anything.

They go to his grandparent's house for Christmas and he tries really hard to make his mom happier after he threw the sweater on the floor in his room and his mom saw it. He gets a hope up that maybe his mom hide the bike at their grandparents. After opening all his presents at his grandparents he still didn't get his bike. They eat dinner and his grandfather is very anxious and his grandmother is telling him to stop and that they will do it tomorrow.

Being so upset about not getting the one thing he wanted, he throws a tantrum about wanting to go home when his mom says she's tired and wants to stay there. His grandfather tells them maybe it's best they go home. On the drive home, his mother falls asleep at the wheel and dies. This leaves him with his grandparents. He's very angry that God has taken his whole family and lashes out at everyone. He makes friends with a nearby neighbor and thinks their life is so much better that he tries to convince them to take him in. This angers him when his friend leaves him because of his actions and his only friend is a strange old man living in an abandoned house.

He runs away after feeling more pressured from his grandparents and becomes lost in a corn field and a large storm is forming and he can't seem to get out. This stranger comes to him and tells him he needs to face the storm.

After facing the storm, he finds out that everything was a dream, he wakes up on his bed at his grandparents' house and his mom walks in. He wears his sweater and tells his mom how much he really does like it.

Although in his dream he already found out that his grandfather had hidden his new bike in the garage he still tries to act surprised about it.

Show: Revolution

I'm not sure how much longer I'm gonna keep watching this show. Things seem to progressively get more complicated and I'm not a huge fan of complicated shows you have to pay a lot of attention too.

It starts out about the lights (all of the electricity) goes out and no one really knows why. In the very beginning Charlie's (the main actress) brother is kidnapped by the army and her father is killed so she goes to find her uncle to get her brother back.

It turns out that her mother and father were part of the reason the lights were turned out due to a project her mother worked on with a bunch of different people. The last main person I think has a huge part, mainly because of the current season is Aaron. Turns out he's a genius who created the program that they used to turn out the lights.

In the end of the first season they manage to rescue Charlie's younger brother and they end up getting her mother too.

In the second season, Charlie's younger brother dies pretty early on, and they find out that these little devices turn on and off the lights when they are powered on and the armies want them to use to take control of things.

This means Charlie, Miles, Aaron, and Charlie's mom have to go to turn the light back on so that everyone has equal power and not one group in case someone got a hold of these little pendants.

Things didn't go exactly the way they planned and the power being turned back on ends up leading to missiles falling on the big cities so that the president can come back and that's where the show is right now.

Show: Chicago Fire

What's better on Wednesday, now Tuesday nights at 10pm then a lot of hot firefighter actors on your screen? Probably not much.

If you like Law and Order, then I have a feeling you will like this series too because Dick Wolf is the director of Chicago Fire.

This show follows the lives of the people who work for firehouse 51, this includes the truck, squad, and paramedics in it.

Casey is the lieutenant for the truck, Severade is for the squad and Dawson and Shay are both paramedics. All in Chicago. They have a lot of instances where they have to work with the Chicago P.D.  Not always a good thing. In the beginning of the series, one of the detectives on the Chicago P.D. force harassed Casey after Casey filed a report putting the detective's son at blame. A lot was opened up showing that there was some dirty business going down. Dawson's brother, however, is also a detective and he's one of the good ones helping out.

Typically in every show there is some fire or emergency that the crew responds to that challenges them in some way... someone almost dies, someone does die, someone is hurt, etc.

The show also goes into the lives of the people in firehouse 51. For example. Mills (a candidate) has a thing for Dawson and they do date for a portion of the first season. While Shay and Severade are close friends who live together, but Shay is a lesbian. Dawson later finds she likes Casey and wants to be with him after his fiance leaves him (and later on dies in the series)

There's a lot of soap opera aspects to the show that make it actually pretty good. But I like the way they portray the firefighters and how they show them as being normal people outside of the job.

Book: A Christmas Carol

I read this book every year during the Christmas season. It was a gift to me and I do enjoy it. I can't read it in one night, like some people do, but I read it right before Christmas.

The book is strikingly similar to the movie.

It's about an old man named Scrooge. Who is greedy and very selfish. He gives to no one, not even himself.

One evening when going home he passes some very strange things. When he gets home, he sees his old partner Marley in the doorknob. When getting settled he hears chains and moaning and then Marley enters his room to bring him a message about how he must change or suffer the same agonizing fate he is forever to endure. He will be visited by three ghosts to help change him .

Although Scrooge thinks this is a bunch of bull, there is something about what his friend tells him that strikes him. The only main difference between the movie from 1980 and the book is that the ghost of Christmas Past is a guy in the book. He brings Scrooge to his childhood past in the orphanage twice then to when he was an apprentice and when his lady leaves him.

The Ghost of Christmas past shows him Bob Cratchit and his nephew and then to the homeless and poor and showing them how their lives are miserable and how they still are happy in them through it.

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come shows Scrooge an image he doesn't quite seem to understand. People are robbing a house that is empty and selling what it has in it. He also sees Bob Cratchit's son has died and the family suffers. He begs to see who's house was being pillages and finds it was his own and he is dead and no one came to his funeral.

When he gets back to the real world he does what he can to make people happy, his nephew, his employee, the poor. He is a giving man and not greedy anymore.

Book: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

This is the sequel to Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's stone.

I think the book is great, I also like the movie, and again they are very similar. I think the first movie and book are more similar, but still very great.

It starts out with Harry Potter waiting for summer to end so he can go back to Hogwarts and his family, the Dursleys are having company and Harry has to be invisible. One problem, Dobby doesn't like this idea. Dobby is a house-elf who tells Harry he can't go back to Hogwarts. Harry tells him no and so Dobby makes a racket and the Dursleys lock Harry in his room and tell him he will never go back to Hogwarts.

One night, Harry, Fred, and George come and rescue Harry and bring him back to their home. While there, Mrs. Weasly takes great care of Harry. Even though the Weaslys are poor and can't afford much, Harry thinks this is the best place he had ever been. When it comes time to get school stuff he finds out just how much the Weaslys struggle.

When he gets back to Hogwarts (which is a struggle to do) he gets detention day one and when he completes his detention and is going back to his dormitory he hears a strange voice about killing. Next thing he knew, Mrs. Norris' cat was dead... or appeared to be. What was it? The whole school is in a little chaos.

Soon rumors about the Chamber of secrets starts popping up and the Heir of Slytherin. Hermine, Ron, and Harry all think it is Maofy. They go to investigate using a potion to transform into Slytherin members. Before they are able to finish the potion a few other people become petrified.

They don't find out much through, but enough to help Ron's father. Otherwise, Herminie turns into a cat and is in the hospital for a few more weeks. She's not out for long before she comes up with an idea and then goes to the library. Right before the next Quiddich game, it's canceled and ron and harry find out that Herminie has been petrified.

Before all of this, Harry found a diary that belonged to a student named Tom Riddle. It gave him more information about the Chamber of Secrets and led to Hagrid being a prime suspect for opening the Chamber of Secrets. It would make sense as he loves monsters and then he was also expelled from Hogwarts in his third year.

After Hermine is found, Ron and Harry go to Hargrid. When they get to him news comes from the Ministry of Magic that Hargid is under arrest and that Dumbledore is no longer headmaster at Hogwarts. Before they leave Hargrid and Dumbledore both say something knowing Harry and Ron are there.

"Follow the spiders" It's a few days after this message before Ron and Harry go into the forbidden forest after the spiders. They find Agroc there and he tells them that the monster in the Chamber of Secrets isn't him but a monster that Spiders hate. After barely escaping the spiders, Harry and Ron go to see Hermine in a slight accident just trying to get out of the room to see about the Chamber. When they go to visit her they find a piece of paper that tells them the monster is a snake and that's why Harry could hear and understand it.

They go into the Chamber of Secrets to find Ginny, Ron's little sister after a message about her being captured. When Harry gets into the big area he finds Ginny, but also Tom Riddle who tells him he is in face Lord Voldemort. Through the help of Dumbledore's  phoenix, Harry is able to defeat the Snake and Tom Riddle. When they get back Dumbledore is reinstated and they find that Tom Riddle's diary actually belongs to Maolfy's father and he slipped it to Ginny. Harry also learns that Dobby is the Maolfy's house elf. He trick them into giving Dobby a sock and freeing him.

Pretty much the end at this point.

Movie: Ice Age

A family favorite this is right here. Perfect movie for kids and adults. Most cartoon movies are best for kids, but this one has a lot of comedy that parents will enjoy as well.

It starts three main characters; Manny, a mammoth, Sid, a sloth, and Diego, a saber-tooth tiger. They are all supposed to be migrating south for the ice age that is occurring, but they get slightly side-tracked.

Manny isn't much of a social interactive mammoth. He likes to go solo and thus is migrating north instead of south.

Sid, he runs into Manny because his family left him. He goes and steps into crap and then walks into a pair of rhino's food. Well they want to kill him when he runs into Manny and begs him to safe him.

Diego is with a pack of saber-tooth tigers who want to destroy a human group who killed so many of their own. They want the baby of the leader of the group. Diego runs into Manny and Sid when then baby is saved by Manny. Diego claims he is just trying to take the baby back to his herd.

With a little reluctance, Manny tells Diego he can lead the way but that he has his eye on him. They run into a few problems though. When the baby starts crying they aren't exactly sure what they are supposed to do about it, but turns out the little guy is hungry so they have to get him food.

Along the way, Diego meets up with his pack and tells them that he is bringing them a mammoth. That makes them really excited, but the longer Diego is with Sid and Manny, it's harder for him to want to kill his friends.

In the end, before they get to the ambush spot, Diego tells them the truth so they can work together to save themselves and still get the baby to his family.

While they are taking out the saber-tooth tigers, Diego is hurt and looks like he's out for the count. Manny and Sid reluctantly leave only because they need to get the baby back to his family and they make it just in time.

The three learn a big about each other during this journey and become, as Sid says, an odd herd.

Movie: A Christmas Carol (Movie)

This is the 1980's version and is my favorite. It is not the holiday season without watching this movie.

Scrooge is an old man running his business without a care for the world or anyone in it. He treats his nephew and employer like crap.

When he goes home on Christmas Eve (the movie does all of it in one night unlike the book which does it in three days (kinda)) he notices his doorknob turns into the face of his long dead partner, Jacob Marley. Jacob then tells him , later, that he will be visited by three ghosts and that he needs to change his ways or he will end up with the same fate.

The first ghost is a woman who is the ghost of Christmas past. She shows him when he was younger and at school when his sister comes to get him and his father. She then shows him when he was at a party and fell in love with a woman, and later how he turned this woman down.

The second ghost, the ghost of Christmas past, is a giant who shows Scrooge his nephew at his house party and the pathetic life his employer lives and the tiny son who is ill. He also shows him the sick and needy before showing him two children on his leg who will lead anyone astray.

The final ghost is the ghost of Christmas yet to come and this ghost shows him the family of the Crachits who lost Tiny Tim and that he will die alone with no one who cares.

After all of this it changes him and he becomes a better man, helping those in need and spending more time with his nephew and helping his employer and the family.

Movie: The Family

Okay this movie is hilarious. I wasn't so sure how I would feel about this movie, but I thought my dad would like it so we got it for Christmas for him and watched it as a family. So worth the $20 to buy the dvd.

A father, mother, daughter and son are in protective services because the father ratted out his brothers in the mafia and they are after to kill him.

It's pretty funny movie because the family is used to living a life in the mafia and doing what they want to get what they want, but they can't or they have to move again.

The dad isn't really allowed to leave the house and the house is on constant surveillance. He tells the neighbors he's a writer and writing a book about some history, when in fact he's writing his memoirs.

The mother likes to blow things up. She blows up a grocery store when they say Americans are stupid.

The son is great at gathering intelligence and using others to get them to do what he wants.

The sister is a little crazy, she beats some guy up with a tennis racket when they are trying to hook up with her before they even know her.

The dad beats up a plummer really badly when they find their water is orange and he doesn't give him the answer he wants, he then drags a politician behind his car when he doesn't give him the answer he wants and ultimately he blows up the faulty tank that is causing his water to be orange.

At the end the mafia finds out where they are hiding because of a newspaper clipping with a quote on it that the son remembered his dad saying that linked him together.

The whole family needs to come together to beat this one, including the son and daughter. The two bodyguards are killed, and the mother is almost raped and killed when the dad comes and they are tag teaming. The son and daughter team up and then ultimately they end up with everyone dead (the mafia guys, not the family)

The family has to move yet again at the very end, wonder where they will end up next.

Movie: 2Guns

Densel Washington and Mark Wahlberg are like the Sandra and McCarthy team. They are a great pair for comedy and action.

Washington and Wahlberg are both actually undercover, but neither of them know that about the other. Washington is for the FBI and Wahlberg is for the Navy.

These two are after drug cartels too, but in this case it's the money they have. Wahlberg and Washington break into a bank where they are keeping the money. One slight problem, it's a lot more money then what they were expecting to steal.

Wahlberg then takes the money from Washington and finds out he's undercover. He then gives the money to his boss who then robs him and takes the money. Later he pairs up with Washington again because now the government is after both of them.

When they go to the Navy base to find the money but it's not there anymore. It actually is with Washington's girlfriend who back stabbed him. This is where they find out that their whole undercover mission was to help these two get the money.

Meanwhile they are in trouble with the drug cartel for taking the money and need to get it back to them. When they get the money, Wahlberg goes to them hoping to kill them and stop them all, he can't do it alone and you really aren't sure if Washington is gonna show up or not. He does.

They end up taking out the government that wanted the money for them and the drug cartel as well.

This isn't the end, they decide to do it again and to make sure they stop this process.

It's an extremely funny movie with a lot of action.

Book: Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals

Okay this book is actually really good. You just have to get over the feeling of repetition.

He tells a lot of different stories, but they are all about the same basic thing it feels like at a lot of times.

This next portion is a paper I had to write about the book. It includes a rough overview of the book, but it's well worth reading with the improvements that this simple checklist caused not only Hopkins, but the country, and even the world.

The book that I chose to read was Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals by Peter Pronovost and Eric Vohr. Medical errors happen every day and fairly often in hospitals. As healthcare providers, we are meant to help our patients and not harm them; however, we are human and humans do make mistakes. So how are we meant to reduce the errors in hospitals that are caused by human nature? Peter Pronovost took up this exact question of patient safety and what healthcare providers can do to make hospitals safer; he made a checklist that was most successful when all members of the team came together and worked together.
Johns Hopkins Hospital (JHH) is known worldwide for its top class doctors and care; however, even Hopkins makes medical errors. After the Josie case became known, Peter Pronovost went to Sorrel and asked that she work with him to improve health to reduce medical errors that result in so many lost lives every year. Sorrel came to talk at JHH and tell her story which helped lead the changes that Peter Pronovost and his team worked to implement in not on Hopkins, but hospitals around the nation (p. 13-17). One of the implementations was the use of a checklist for procedures done in different units; this checklist is different depending on the procedure but limits the amount of steps to five (Pronovost, 2010, p. 25-27).  These checklists were the start of change in hospitals, but many problems came about when implementing them and one of those problems was teamwork.
Each unit was also different when these checklists were implanted. On the SICU, where Peter Pronovost first started his work and research, the team knew each other and were willing to make changes, as challenging as that was. Nurses, doctors, techs, patients, family members, everyone needed to come together and perform checks and balances (Pronovost, 2010, p. 27-32). After tackling central line infections in the SICU, Pronovost went to other areas, one ended up being the operating rooms itself. This proved to be a much larger problem than he anticipated; the teamwork that was in other units was not as strong in the operating room. Surgeons often were more arrogant and did not want to take the advice from the other people in the room, Pronovost stated a time when he (as an anesthesiologist) tried to tell a Surgeon he was doing wrong and potentially killing a patient and how grounded the surgeon was to no change his ways (p.73-78). One of the reasons Pronovost said his model did not work in operating rooms was because it was not a consistent team, surgical teams are always changing based on need and doctors often did not know the names of the nurses with whom they were working.
I think that it is crucial that portions of healthcare, be it nurses, techs, pharmacists, doctor, learn as a part of their education, the importance of teamwork. Pronovost says himself that doctors are trained to think as the smartest and the best. As a nursing student, I do not always feel relied upon or looked upon highly by some other aspects in healthcare, but I feel the patient’s ability to trust me. That means, to me, that it is my job to help advocate for my patient; what good will advocating do if doctors refuse to listen to my opinion? If we learned in school what the other professions learn and how they work, it may help us relate more to them, and I do see this happening through Interprofessional nights, but once a year is just simply not enough. There needs to be more time incorporated for professions to learn to work together as a team.
The work that Peter Pronovost and Eric Vohr performed and wrote about in Safe Patients, Smart Hospitals, will help lead hospitals to make less medical errors. Although the staff may still make human errors, the other members of their team will catch them and help them change their action before it leads to an error. By creating checklists and advocating for teamwork and voices for all members of the team, Pronovost has helped hospitals learn where they can decrease the time and money wasted on mistakes hospitals make each day.  The best way to get a team to work properly is for them to learn how to while in school, before their opinions and decisions affect patients.

Movie: The Heat

OH MY GOD! This was a great movie. Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy make a great freaking pair. It's a funny freaking movie.

Sandra Bullock is an overachieving FBI agent. She solves problems that others have a hard time solving and doesn't exactly play nice with others. Her whole office hates her.

She gets an email one night about a promotion from a position being opened and guess who wants it. Well of course, so she goes to her boss to talk about it and he says if she can work well with some people in Boston on a new assignment he might be able to help her out with the new promotion.

Melissa McCarthy is a detective trying to look into some drug dealers (which is the case that Sandra Bullock is working). She's a very interesting detective with her strategies and it's a very funny introduction.

When Sandra Bullock steals one of her prisoners to interrogate him and use him in her investigation, McCarthy becomes interested in the situation and kinda tags a long.

Bullock tries to get her boss to get McCarthy off the case, but it's unsuccessful, so Bullock has to survive it if she wants that promotion.

This is where the movie becomes interesting and very fun. The first person they visit is a woman who is a drug supplier, this is where you get a feel for the different styles they have in interrogations.

After a little while of getting to know more about each other, Bullock learns that McCarthy put her brother in jail for drugs and that he is now connected to the current situation.

After being told she is no longer on the job, Bullock is crushed and McCarthy takes her to get drunk and she does. It's very funny at the bar. Afterwards, they learn that McCarthy's family is in trouble and her brother gives them information and ends up getting hurt when they find out he's a rat. This pisses McCarthy off because she tried to tell Bullock that they couldn't do it.

Bullock then deciedes to not let McCarthy do this on her own, they go back to the drug dealer's house and this time, Bullock does things the way McCarthy wants to do it.

When they figure out where the drug cartel is, they go to take it down. They get caught and they find out that the leader is actually one of men that was supposed to help them, and also how all the inside information is being spread to the cartel.

When they get out they need to get to the hospital before he kills McCarthy's brother.

Once they save her brother, Bullock and McCarthy end up becoming a good team solving crimes together as "The Heat"

Show: The Fosters

I didn't really think I would like this show when I looked at the previews, but when I heard it had some good reviews, I wanted to see for myself.

I watched the first half of the first season and watch the show every Monday night it comes on, or not long after if I miss an episode.

It's about a family which is not your normal family. Firstly the parents are both moms, a lesbian couple. I think it's great that ABC family is putting this out there. Especially now that it's wildly accepted in the United States, or at least mostly accepted.

Secondly, the parents have one older son who is the one wife's own son from a husband she had when she was trying to forget that she had feelings for women. This clearly didn't work. The son, though, plays piano and lives with his moms, but also goes to see his dad every now and then. Music is something he is very passionate about. His girlfriend is a little iffy, she's a little too jealous.

Next up, the twins. These two were adopted by the moms. They are hispanic twins whos mom abandoned them for drugs. What... a ... mom... Their mom isn't a part of their lives, but she wants them only for their money they can help her get to fund her drug need. Really.... awesome mom right there.

The final set is a brother and sister who are living with the Fosters as foster kids. The sister is coming out of juvy and she has a lot of history that tends to lead to people not believeing her. Her little brother is gay, and it's not all that evident, he kinda just slips characteristics of it out there. He's a real character though in a good way.

It's a great show so far so I'm hoping they can keep it this way. The oldest son is starting to get feelings for the new girl in the house even though they aren't supposed to.

Show: Big Cat Diary

I absolutely loved this show/documentary. It was great as it was around.

It follows the big cats in Africa, Lions, Cheetahs, and Leopards.

It shows a lot of great things, but they also show a lot of the bad moments and the harsh environments they survive.

Documentary: Wild Ocean

This is a very short documentary that I didn't find all that interesting and I also find it to be said a lot in other documentries.

It's about the sardine run on the coast of Africa and the components that it makes the ocean the ocean without the interference of human technology.

The Sardine run involves the Sardines moving up the coast of Africa and this creates an influx of dolphins, sharks, whales, and birds that all feed off of sardines.

Movie: The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

They probably should have done these before they made the Lord of the Rings, but I guess I can't complain. I liked the movie, not a lot, but I didn't think it was terrible and didn't hate it.

So Bilbo is jumping out of a quiet, calm life in the Shire and of being a hobbit, to being an adventurer to the city under the mountain with a bunch of dwarves and one very persuasive wizard.

They are going to the city under the mountain to reclaim the dwarves land from the dragon Smaug.

It's not going to be an easy journey. They find that orcs are after them not long after their journey begins, but before this trouble starts, they have to deal with golems. They are about to be cooked when Gandalf cracks a stone and makes the sun appear, the golems are now stone themselves.

Now they are being chased by orcs, no where is safe. While trying to get a good night sleep they find themselves in the goblin king's domain. Bilbo manages to get away, and this is where his adventure really begins.

Down into a cave, that's where Bilbo finds himself. He's not alone. A very strange wailing and creature is down here too, but before he finds him, he finds a ring... a gold ring which he puts in his pocket.

Golem is angry, and well comes off a little hungry. I think he would eat just about anything... including Bilbo. They strike a deal. A game of riddles, the one who gets it wrong, loses. It ends when Bilbo is feeling his pocket and murmurs "what have I got in my pocket." Golem thinks this is a real test, and can't figure it out. Bilbo runs away and the ring slips on his finger. When it does, he's invisible; he escapes the cave through this.

The dwarves escape with the help of Gandalf. They can't find Bilbo, and some are worried, and some are not, but then Bilbo appears all safe and sound.

The Goblin King isn't happy that dwarves escaped from him, so he sends orcs (goblins) after them. They get trapped by them and their wargs. They climb up a tree and Gandalf calls for the eagles.

Thorin (the lead dwarf) goes down the tree to fight the lead orc and is getting beat up pretty bad, when Bilbo steps in and then the eagles come.

This is where this movie ends.

Documentary: Blackfish

This documentary is great, it really shows you the difference of Orcas in the wild and Orcas in captivity.

There are no documented human deaths by Orcas in the wild, but there are many injuries and deaths realted to those Orcas in captivity.

After watching this documentary, I can't blame them. Being shoved into a small container all day and night, never being able to be with my family, having the only family I have being taken away from me. I would go after whoever did that to me too!

Tilikum is the largest Ocra in captivity, and he is also one of the most dangerous. His story is described in this documentary, leading to the death of one of the best trainers SeaWorld ever had.

Tilikum was a very young male orca when captured, like all captured male orcas, his dorsal fin soon collapsed over on him. He started in a small place like SeaWorld but much smaller, therefore much smaller places to stay. He was crammed into a tiny box with two older females who fought with him a lot. He would come out the next morning with cuts all over his black skin.

When he wouldn't perform a trick the way the other, more trained orcas, did, he would lose out on dinner. So now he's starving. The last time he was seen in this place was the last time a trainer would too. He grabbed the trainer and dragged it to the bottom, drowning the trainer who was supposed to be close to him.

He then went to SeaWorld, SeaWorld didn't release him to do tricks, and not many of the trainers understood why, but apparently the directors at SeaWorld did.

They go through showing mother's being pulled away from their calfs and crying for nights and being angry about their loss.

Orcas are social and much like humans in the way they have different languages around the world. Not every Orca has the same language and thus many in captivity don't get along. I wouldn't get along with someone I couldn't understand either.

One day, the female orca's didn't want to perform correctly, so they brought Tilikum out to perform, and when he performed a trick and ignored the whistle to stop, he was denied a fish. Oh no...

He later dragged the trainer around the pool by her arm, she died.

This lead to OSHA saying it was not safe for SeaWorld trainers to be in the pool with Orcas, and they are no longer able to be in the pool with Orcas.

However, poor Tilikum is still there in a tiny pool not getting any social interacting and only there to breed..

I'm just gonna say, just let him go! Just let him live out the rest of his life in peace instead of being in a jail cell for striking out against those who caused him so much harm

Book: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

I had seen the movie years before I read this book. I actually liked doing that, this time around. It gave me a sense of what all the characters looked like and sounded like, although J.K. Roling does a great job at describing the scenes, the characters, the voices.

If you've ever seen the movie, then this book is like a play script for it.

Harry Potter is a young wizard who is being raised by his mother's sister's family. They hateanything magic and therefore they do not treat Harry very well.

When Harry Potter is 11 years old. Hogwarts (a school for witches and wizards) send Harry an acceptance letter, asking him to go. The Dursleys (his mother's sister's family) refuse to let him go, but through a little persuasion of a very large character, Hagrid, they quickly let him go.

When Harry enters the magical world, he is now all of a sudden famous, everyone wants to be his friend, something he is not used to. But he's only famous because he was able to drive off an evil force when he was just a little baby, but did Lord Voldemort really die?

There is a lot of things Harry needs to get used to and he makes friends with Ron and Herminie who help him get through his first year at Hogwarts.

These three get into a lot of trouble, trying to solve the mystery of what is in the forbidden corridor that has a large three headed dog guarding it.

They automatically want to go to accuse a Professor... Professor Snape because of his attitude of hate towards Harry, although everyone says he is like that to everyone. But could it possibly be someone else?

After finding out about the Sorcerer's Stone and it's ability to make someone immortal, the three kids find out that Snape wants the stone to bring back Lord Voldemort.

Snape has to get through all of the traps and enchantments guarding the sorcerer's stone and Fluffy is the first step, how do you get by a three headed dog? Only Hagrid knows that answer.

At the end of the book, the three realize they have got to go through the traps to stop Snape from getting the Sorcerer's Stone. They are reluctant as they have already gotten into tons of trouble this year because of this one thing, mostly caused by Malfoy, a boy in a different house then they who thinks he is better then the three of them.

Regardless, they have to go, they have to stop Snape. After playing a flute to Fluffy, burning through plants, flying through keys, playing chess, drinking potions that could be poison, Harry is able to go through the last door to find not Snape trying to get the Stone from the mirror, but someone no one would think of... Professor Quirrel. But something is different about him, he's no longer acting shy and studdering, and he reveals that Lord Voldemort called him to his side to gain power.

Where is Lord Voldemort? Well wait for Quirrel to take his turban off... yeah that's right the back of his head... Gross!!!

It's alright, Harry's got this. For some reason, Quirrel can't touch Harry, later, Dumbledore tells him it's because of his love that Quirrel couldn't touch Harry.

Through their efforts and success at stopping Voldemort, Harry and his friends win their house the house cup, which is a huge deal.