LA, CA Bubba's Reviews Thread the Third!

Thanks, DH! I always appreciate recommendations for school age books. The favorite part of my job is when I pick a book to read aloud and the kids enjoy it. I know I've succeeded when half the class asks me to keep reading when it's time for them to go. I'll check "Frindle" out. Any other book suggestions?

 

I saw Golden Compass yesterday. It was a great movie, although obviously a sequel is planned. (Ending: Think Empire Strikes Back, SW Episodes I & II, the second Matrix movie & the first two LOTR movies.) Nicole Kidman was definitely the Supermodel answer to Cruella DeVille, Sam Elliott was a bit cliche, the girl who played Lyra was beautiful. It might be a bit too scary for younger padawans, but, it's as least as kid friendly as SW, HP & LOTR.

I give it ***.

 

I just finished reading Room One and I liked it too. It was about a kid who lived in a very, very small town in Nebraska and how he tries to help a family. I really like that the kids in Andrew Clements books take on big roles, not just kid stuff. My recommendations are usually age based. I really like the Nate the Great series for little kids. I've always LOVED Encyclopedia Brown but the old ones are kind of dated for kids today but they are the only ones I will ever read. Lloyd Alexander's books are great too. When my padawan was in the fifth grade we had a parent student book club. We met once a month to discuss a selected book. We read Because of Winn Dixie, The Tales of Despereaux, a bunch of others which I can't remember off hand right now but will try to remember. I liked them all. In addition, I read some that were recommended for some award thingy for California. The ones I remember are No More Dead Dogs, Fever 1776, Flipped, Star Girl, and a couple of others. I loved each and everyone one of them. My padawan's librarian is a choir member at our church and would give lots of recommendations. I'll ask for more.

 

That book is FANTASTIC. Even though it's right up there in what we call our "happy/cheery book/movie that inspires you to immediately run out and kick a dog to death..." "House of Sand and Fog" is a good one for that, too. I am waiting to see Kite Runner on a really great screen, probably next week. You won't be sorry about reading Kite Runner, it's amazing too.

Currently catching up on Nelson DeMilles I haven't read yet.

Mary-SPJ

 

I finished reading "The Golden Compass" this morning and I really enjoyed it. I can kind of see why the religious right and the Catholic Church might be kind of concerned with it but the book was written 12 years ago so if people didn't get their undergarments in a bunch then why should they care now. I guess it's because more people watch movies than read books. Whatever with that. Any way, I thought it was very well written and I kept thinking that parts of it reminded me of HP books and thought Phillip Pullman copied her until I realized that these books were written first. I'm debating the movie because I can't believe it'll be nearly good enough in comparison or even cover the material sufficiently.

JF, You should read your students the Artemis Fowl books too. My padawan introduced them to me though my padawan only read the first two and I've read all of them.

 

Saw "There Will Be Blood" on Saturday at the Arclight. And guess what? There was blood. Good film, not picture of the year for me, but still good.

 

I heard that was a good movie. I just rented Resident Evil 3 which is a Sony movie I missed when it came out. What a piece of crap that was.

 

I saw Sweeney Todd this weekend. Great movie. Very atmospheric. Wonderful acting jobs all around. Johnny Depp: sinisterly sexy. Who knew Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter and Alan Rickman could all sing?

 

C and I saw National Treasure 2 last night -- um, pretty much set the bar for Indy (and ILM effects to boot). Really enjoyed it, very fun. And Ed Harris is always easy to look at!!
The plot is just as much fanciful derring-do as before. If you liked the first one, you'll like this one.

Mary

 

I finished the second of the His Dark Materials trilogy, The Subtle Knife. It's the book that follows The Golden Compass and it was simply awesome. A lot of it is heretical but the overall story is very good. Now onto The Amber Spyglass.

 

Watching Hostel II right now.

So far I give it 1 star, no T&A yet.

 

I watched The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants yesterday and while it was predictable and kind of silly at points it wasn't terrible. It wasn't great either but it was definitely a chick or tween movie. Most of the characters were fairly likeable but just so stereotypical. I'm glad I did not spend the money on the movie in the theatre or on DVD but it was fine for free on satellite.

 

Hey, at least you'r honest!

Mary-SPJ

 

Thanks for the book recommendation. I think I may start reading them soon.

 

I have made several top 25 lists in the past week. Here they are.

Movies:
1. Return of the Jedi
2. Return of the King
3. Revenge of the Sith
4. Amadeus
5. Transformers
6. The Producers (original)
7. The Two Towers
8. The Empire Strikes Back
9. Gladiator
10. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
11. Star Wars: A New Hope
12. The Fellowship of the Ring
13. The Incredibles
14. Batman Begins
15. A Christmas Story
16. Pirates of the Caribbean: At Worlds End
17. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
18. Attack of the Clones
19. Cinderella
20. The Phantom Menace
21. Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
22. Beauty and the Beast
23. Cars
24. Spider-man 2
25. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man?s Chest

Video Game Franchises:
1. Age of Empires
2. Ace Attorney
3. Soul Calibur
4. Pokemon
5. Super Smash Bros.
6. Jak and Daxter
7. Star Wars: Knight of the Old Republic
8. Rampage
9. Kingdom Hearts
10. Unreal
11. Legend of Zelda
12. Star Wars: Rogue Squadron
13. Star Wars: Battlefront
14. Katamari Damacy
15. The Lord of the Rings: Battle for Middle Earth
16. Dark Cloud
17. Timesplitters
18. Sly Cooper
19. Burnout
20. Shining Force
21. Destroy All Humans!
22. Donkey Kong
23. Final Fantasy
24. Mario
25. Time Crisis

Books:
1. Redwall- Brian Jacques
2. I, Jedi- Michael A. Stackpole
3. The Lord of the Rings- J.R.R. Tolkien
4. Sphere- Michael Crichton
5. The Silmarillion- J.R.R. Tolkien
6. Mariel of Redwall- Brian Jacques
7. 1984- George Orwell
8. Mattimeo- Brian Jacques
9. The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin- Benjamin Franklin
10. Disclosure- Michael Crichton
11. Pearls of Lutra- Brian Jacques
12. Darth Bane: Path of Destruction- Drew Karpyshyn
13. Star Wars: The New Essential Chronology- Daniel Wallace
14. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur?s Court- Mark Twain
15. Dune- Frank Herbert
16. Shatterpoint- Matthew Stover
17. The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy- Douglas Adams
18. Mossflower- Brian Jacques
19. The Hobbit- J.R.R. Tolkien
20. The Great Train Robbery- Michael Crichton
21. Ender?s Game- Orson Scott Card
22. Personal Memoirs of U.S. Grant- Ulysses Simpson Grant
23. Revenge of the Sith- Matthew Stover
24. Don?t Know Much About History- Kenneth C. Davis
25. The Restaurant at the End of the Universe- Douglas Adams

Western Animation:
1. Transformers
2. Megas XLR
3. Freakazoid!
4. Dexter?s Laboratory
5. Samurai Jack
6. The Fairly OddParents
7. Hey Arnold!
8. Ed, Edd n Eddy
9. Courage the Cowardly Dog
10. Teen Titans
11. Looney Tunes
12. The Powerpuff Girls
13. Justice League
14. Wacky Races
15. Jetsons
16. Jackie Chan Adventures
17. Batman: The Animated Series
18. Codename: Kids Next Door
19. Time Squad
20. Tom and Jerry
21. Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?
22. Flintstones
23. Futurama
24. Star Wars: Clone Wars
25. Rugrats

Anime and Manga:
1. Death Note
2. Megatokyo
3. Rurouni Kenshin
4. Love Hina
5. Beet the Vandel Buster
6. YuYu Hakusho
7. G Gundam
8. Tenchi Muyo!
9. Zoids: New Century Zero
10. Naruto
11. Chobits
12. Cyborg 009
13. Beyblade
14. Dragonball Z
15. Yu-Gi-Oh!
16. Mobile Suit: Gundam Wing
17. Fullmetal Alchemist
18. InuYasha
19. Tenchi in Tokyo
20. Dragonball
21. Robotech
22. One Piece
23. Sailor Moon
24. Yu-Gi-Oh: Millennium World
25. Rave Master

Feel free to ask why I put any selections in or left any out or whatever.

 

As creator of this thread, I say, thank you very very much for sharing this insightful and entertaining list. We are all in a better place now.

 

Top 25 people with too much time on their hands

1. MrZAP
2. Jiltedtoo

 

Gold, Jerry, pure *gold*!

 

what she said!!!

 

The fact that you left out Avatar leads me to believe the whole list is invalid

[image=http://www.aolcdn.com/ch_kids/avatar-last-airbender-300b0507.jpg]

 

Aww...I kid, I kid

I liked your book reviews though I was sad to see Ender's Game and Restaurant at the end of the Universe so far down on the list. Plus you didn't even include Ender's Shadow on the list which if you haven't read it you really should. The Bean series are fantasic.

I see you are also a Crichton fan which is great. I have read almost all of his works, and did enjoy Sphere, Timeline, Rising Sun, and The Andromeda Strain. All of his books are fantastic, even the not so great ones are still really good.

 

Bubba likes Chriton. (sp?) Especially the one about the female boss who sexually harasses her employee. They made a movie about it, I think, with Mike Douglass.

 

and why did you leave Trigun off the anime list?

[image=http://www.geocities.com/cinqkingdom/trigun.jpg]

 

I spelled Crichton right in my post, and yet you miss spell it?

DUH