Movie Review- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

WARNING: SOME MINOR SPOILERS

I am sure you have already read one and a million views about this movie and (if you have watched it) probably have formed your own opinion as well.  However, I offer my thoughts on the movie too.

First off, I personally would have preferred a movie of The Hobbit that was the less adventurous and less epic children's story.  However, I knew that would never happen, not after The Lord of the Rings.

Secondly, I really enjoyed the The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey.  I felt in many ways it erred closer to the book than any of the Lord of the Rings movies.  There was a good bit added in from other works of Tolkien as well as Peter Jackson adding in something that was only mentioned as happening in the book- the purging of the Necromancer from Dol Guldur.  Another aspect that Jackson added to the movie that ended up changing a lot of the feeling of the movie was the white orc.  In the appendices of the Lord of the Rings it tells how Thorin kills the white orc after it killed his father.  In the movie, they change that up a bit by making it that Thorin thinks that he killed the white orc but really it recovered from its wounds and now has sworn to have Thorin's head. Of course once Thorin discovers the white orc still lives he wants to kill him too.  This instantly makes the movie darker. However, I don't mind too much the dimension this plot change adds.  There are other little differences that I don't think really detract from the story and in some ways add.  Overall, I felt most of the changes that Jackson made were good.

Other things I liked were of course the soundtrack (which is INCREDIBLE), the acting job of all of the  actors in the movie (I felt everyone was perfect for their roles), and of course the gorgeous shots of New Zealand.

Really the only aspect of the movie I didn't like was the "kids' humor".  Enough said.

Of course, when the movie ended I felt a horrible sense of incompleteness.  I had known where it was going to break off but it still somehow caught me by surprise when it did anyways.  I don't really mind too much that Peter Jackson made it into three movies, though I would have preferred two movies and I think it would have made more sense that way.

If you're a fan of The Lord of the Rings movies and books then I think you'll enjoy this movie as well.

Note: The facts I quoted to you from the appendices were actually information my brother quoted to me.  So no, I am not really as big as a Tolkien geek as I just made it look like I was.  I'm working my way up there. :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Mid-Month Progress Report- December 2012

I can't believe we are already halfway through December!  The last couple weeks kind of flew by as I prepared for finals but now I am excited to say I am done with those!  So how am I doing so far this month for my resolutions?  Read on and find out!

Get all A's in my classes

Though I kind of sacrificed another of my goals (which I shall explain later) I was able to get all A's! My Spanish grade was cutting edge and as my teacher told me, I lucked out on my grade.  The rest though weren't near so close.  I feel so blessed to have made it through the semester and I think it might have been my busiest yet.  I am so grateful to have been surrounded by a great family who was patient with me more than I deserved and I am especially grateful for God blessing me with an amazing tutor for Microbiology.  I am really relieved to have this goal out of the way and done.  I guess this will be an "A" for sure on my report card. ;)

Have a cheerful personality at all times

This is the goal I ended up sacrificing for my A's, something I am disappointed I did.  As I said earlier, when stressed out, I can be very grouchy... and I was. :(  However, I still have the rest of the month to "boost my grade".

Clean out and clean up my desk

Done the day after my last final!  So proud of myself. :)  Another A completed ahead of time! :)

Start Studying for the TEAS test

Haven't started yet and we'll see if I do get any of that done before December is over.  This might end up being a bad grade if I'm not careful. :(

Read or Re-Read at least ten books

This is probably the goal I am enjoying the most but as to completing it, we'll see.  I have re-read Alice in Wonderland so far and in preperation for the movie to come out I also have read Cory Olsen's (also known as the Tolkien Professor) book Exploring J.R.R Tolkein's The Hobbit.  I enjoyed both of those books.  I am going to need to pick up the pace though if I hope to complete eight more books before the end of December.  Because of the minute amount of books I have already read, I am probably not going to be pursuing re-reading The Lord of the Rings or reading The Silmarillion until January as they are quite a bit longer books.  A friend suggested that I make January a J.R.R. Tolkien month and re-read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings and then read The Silmarillion.  I think that is a fun idea and I will probably do that.  However, THAT is next month.  

Spend the time I have with my family

Now that school is over that is hopefully what I'll be doing.  However, I am super excited to announce that I will be going to Michigan after Christmas to spend time with my uncle, aunt, and my wonderfully crazy cousins.  So my time spent with my family might be cut a little short so I'll have to really milk the next couple weeks for all their worth. :) 

Serve my family

This is another goal that might be cut a little short with my going up to Michigan.  However, I am going to try and do my best to get my house looking great for the holiday.  I hope to also get some Christmas baking done.  Normally I am all over that but not this year so far. :(  There is a lot I can do to serve my family and I see it all happening this next week.  

Take at least two walks per week

I did it last week but lets just say that I haven't done it yet this week.  I need to get onto that!  The other night my mom and I did do our fifteen minute T-Tapp workout, which despite my not having done it in some months, I did great at!  I felt pretty good about that. :)

Eat Healthy

Let's just say I wasn't great, but I wasn't bad.  I needed that coffee to get me through finals week... actually that is probably true as I woke up at 4:00 one morning so I could put in some last minute studying before my microbiology test. However, I have been pretty good about sweets.  I weighed myself recently and I was rather happy about it, which is kind of sad as it wasn't anywhere near where I want to be with weight however it was also kind of good as I haven't gained any weight either.  I can look at it both ways.

Write at least three more blog posts this month

I didn't specify whether or not these posts about my resolutions counted but I was mentally thinking they didn't... so they don't!  However, if you have been keeping track of my blog, you'll have noticed that I have already posted two more blog posts this month so I only have one more to go!  I think this will be another A. :)

All in all, it looks like I'll have three A's and then some very shady grades after that.  Hopefully I'll come out with a good "GPA" though. ;)

By the way, what do you think of the new blog layout?  I am thinking a new blog layout every month will be fun just to change it up.  Love to hear you're thoughts so comment please! 

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Finals Week

It's a slower, more painful kind of torture.  The kind where you study your heart out for four different classes, trying to find the right balance of studying for each one.  The chances of over studying are slim but the chances of understudying are sky high.  We only hope that the final will not butcher the grade we have worked so hard to maintain throughout the rest of the semester.  In the last few hours we have left as time creeps up the final, we try to cram all of our knowledge into our heads, but there isn't any more room!!!  It is like that storage room that finally gets too full.  Something has to go.  We feel like it's going to be our head, with a great big BANG!  When we (finally) get to sleep that evening before our first final, our dreams are filled with images of us being late for the test, having our cellphone go off and getting thrown out, or... failing.  By the time we actually find our way out of those nightmares, our alarm clock is going off.  There is nothing for it now, it is finals or bust.  We slink out of bed and get ready to go, all the time trying to bring to mind all the information we had just been studying the day before.  It isn't working.  So frantically we pull out all of our notes and read over them a few times, but somehow it all seems to be in a different language... ah yes, it's Spanish notes.  It is time.  As the teacher prepares to hand out the final you realize there isn't really anything more you can do. You've prepared as well as you can, now it is in Christ's hands.

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Who Says Kansas Isn't Beautiful?

These are the beautiful Gypsum hills in central Kansas just north of the Oklahoma border.  These photos are courtesy of my little brother.

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Monthly Resolutions- December 2012

For some months now I have been following the blog She Learns as She Goes.  Every month Kelli, the blog's writer, posts her monthly resolutions and invites everyone else to as well.  Well THIS month I am going to do it too.

Get all A's in my classes

I know that sounds really immature and braggy, but that is still honestly one of my goals for this month.  I have worked hard and stayed strong throughout this semester and I just want to finish that way.

Have a cheerful personality at all times

Those who know would probably say that I am a very cheerful person.  However, my family members know that I can be moody at times, especially when stressed out.  With finals coming up I will most definitely be overly stressed out.  With the holidays and being around tons of people, I will need to remember to keep a cheerful personality because sometimes one person's mood can set the tone for the rest of the gathering.

Clean out and clean up my desk

This I will do when I am finished with my classes. I will need to go through all of my papers from this past semester and throw out whatever I need to and file whatever I feel I need to keep (which hopefully isn't much).

Start Studying for the TEAS test

The TEAS test is the entrance exam for nursing school.  I want to get it done early in the semester so I'll have it done and out of the way.  Therefore, I'll need to start studying early.  I'll probably cram most of my studying into January but I want to get at least some into December.  

Read or re-read at least ten books 

I have been woefully lacking in my reading life this past semester with being so busy with school.  I have done my best with re-reading a few books (since that didn't take as much concentration) but I have been dying to read more.  Books that are on my list to read include The Silmarillion (finally), Innocence of Father Brown, Gods and Generals and Far From the Madding Crowd,   Books I want to re-read include The Lord of the Rings, Alice in Wonderland, Through the Looking Glass and Swiss Family Robinson.  Some more serious literature that I want to read includes Douglass Wilson's Letter from a Christian Citizen, The Deluded Athiest, and God Is.  I also want to re-read R.C. Sproul's Chosen by God.  There are so many other books that I really want to read or re-read but those are the ones that are at the top of my list.  We'll see how I do.  I might end up being an overachiever, or I might end up being an underachiever.  Hopefully not the latter.

Spend the time I have with my family

I am very good at sitting in my room with my precious laptop and I need to get out of there more.  Once school is over, this not only will be possible, it will probably be unavoidable. :) However, this goal does not contradict goals three or five.  I'll just need to work those into this goal.  If I am going to be sitting in my room, I had better be reading or cleaning up my desk, if not, to quote Blimey Cow, I'm doing it wrong.  I hope to spend more time especially with my older sister as during the school year we pretty much only see each other on the weekends as I am gone during the day at school and she is gone in the evening for work.  

Serve my family

Because I am gone most of the time during the week at school, I often don't get my chores done around the house.  So since I am will be home all of the time soon, I want to take the time to get all of my chores done, no excuses!  If there are other ways in which I can help that pop up, I want to cheerfully (This goes with goal number two) volunteer.  This could include making more meals for the family, helping my younger siblings with their school, or taking on some extra projects around the house.

Take at least two walks per week

Again, school has kept me at bay from this pastime.  Once school is gone and past, I can hopefully take some good walks so I won't be the worst skier on the slope when my family goes skiing in January.  Walking is just about my favorite form of exercise (passed only by contra dancing) and with this additional time, I hope to take some nice long hikes.  

Eat Healthy

That's broad, I know but the way I am going right now I am going to be broad. :)  Not saying I eat horribly, but I don't eat super well either.  I have cut a lot of the usual suspects out of my diet but I need to be more careful yet.  Pretty much I want to be careful to not eat too many sweets over the holidays.  I also want to be careful with snacks.  Since I won't be at school pretty soon, I won't be drinking all that coffee with all the cream and sugar so that should help some.

Write at least three more blog posts this month

Minuscule amount I know, but if you follow my blog, you know how hit and miss I have been recently with school taking its toll on me.  Hopefully I will write more, and most definitely hopefully I won't write less. :)

So that's all my resolutions for this month.  I had a little trouble thinking up some at first but then they came pretty fast.  Probably I'll think up some more halfway through the month so I'll just throw them into January or something like that. :) I just hope I can keep up with those that I've made.  As Kelli does, I'll try and post a mid-month "progress report" to see how I'm doing and at the end of the month I'll post a "report card".  This is my first time so cut me a little slack, not too much now, just a little. :)


Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Christmas, Candles, and Chai

Now that Thanksgiving is past, I can officially listen to Christmas music and think Christmasy thoughts.  My new favorite pastime is lighting candles, drinking a mug of chai tea and playing some Christmas music.  Of course with finals just around the corner to find such time is rather impossible, so I have made that my study environment.  My friend recently began her own candle making business (Prairie Lights) so I have a ready availability of great smelling beautiful candles.  Between the candles, chai, and music, studying doesn't seem quite so bad. :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Movie Review- Pride and Prejudice (2005)

If you keep up with my blog much or know me in person, you are probably aware that I do NOT like romance novels/movies.  That said, I do not like the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice.  However, don't misinterpret me, I love the book and the 1995 TV series.  I watched the 2005 version when it first came out on video and, to prepare for writing this review, I watched it again a couple days ago.  I assure you, I tried quite hard to find good points about it so I wouldn't sound all negative but try as I might, I could only find one- I like Judi Dench as Lady Catherine de Bourgh.  Besides that, nada.  Naturally I am heavily comparing the movie to the book, and then to the TV series.  Maybe if I had never read the book or seen the TV series I would feel differently about it, however, I have, so I don't.  Anyways, the movie fails on some cultural levels as well.

Let's start with the cultural.  First off, the dress that Miss Bingley wears at the Neverfield ball was completely wrong.  It looked more like the underdresses that the girls wore rather than a dress in itself.  A lady wouldn't wear a sleeveless dress.  It would be scandalous.  Secondly, ladies did not wear their hair down in public in those times, and that is something that Elizabeth does several times in the movie.

Another problem that I have with the movie is the social standing that this version places them in.  In the book they are middle class, but they are gentry and therefore have a higher social standing.  This movie seems to put them in a lower social standing then they really are.  This is shown by them having their livestock so close to the house, a pig running through it, and the fact that they seem to have no one to fix Jane's hair (I assume that is why it always looks messy).

When it comes to Mr. Darcy, I am sorry but in my mind there will only be one Mr. Darcy, and that is Colin Firth (although I guess I do really like Lawrence Olivier's performance too).  Matthew McFayden just doesn't cut it for me.  First off, he just isn't proud enough.  He doesn't have the domineering look that Colin Firth gives off so well.  And then, he always looks like his is going to cry, or that he is bored, I can't tell which but whatever it is, it isn't Mr. Darcy.  Additionally, I just didn't feel like he changed, at least enough for me to see.

For Elizabeth, I feel like Keria Knightley might have done a good job if she had had a better script.  As it was, I thought she was far too silly throughout.  She acted more like Lydia than like Lizzy.  Something I was really sad they left out and I think that if they had put it in would have made it far better was the close relationship between Lizzy and her father.  That is, in my opinion, an integral part of the book and something that shouldn't be left out.  Without it, you don't see as deeply into the two characters.

Jane and Bingley, I'll group them together.  Jane was sillier and more outgoing than in the book, in other words, her character in this movie was uncharacteristic of what was in the book.  Enough said.  Bingley, was an idiot, period.  I wouldn't have married the Bingley in this movie, I think I could have married the Bingley from the book.

Overall, you just can't make a good movie of Pride and Prejudice and rush it that much.  Everything moved ridiculously fast so they could fit the whole story into two hours.  It didn't work.  When it comes down to it, why I really didn't like the movie was because it wasn't a movie of Pride and Prejudice, it was the romance story from Pride and Prejudice and then everything else taken out.  That's not Pride and Prejudice.  I don't love the book for its romance, I love the book because of the incredible insight Austen gives us into human nature as well as the witty and thought provoking lines imbedded throughout the book.  Pride and Prejudice is not in my mind a romance novel, it is far more.


Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Everybody loves snickerdoodles (don't contradict me on that one).  Needless to say then, I love snickerdoodles too.  I like them perfectly soft, melt in your mouth.  Soooo good!  When I found a recipe for pumpkin snickerdoodles of course I was intrigued.  I saved the recipe but never got around to making it until we were having an "everything pumpkin" dinner for halloween at work.  I remembered the recipe and knew it would be a perfect opportunity to try it out.  Let's just say that they are addictive, deliciously addictive.  They have a slightly different kind of texture that is really good and are a larger cookie.  I had a little trouble with the cooking time and ended up cooking them a couple minutes over the original cooking time but they still turned out fine.
If you're on a diet, you probably shouldn't make these.  You won't be able to stop eating them. :)

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Yield: about 3-4 dozen cookies
Ingredients:
For the cookies:
3¾ cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the coating:
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
Dash of allspice

Directions:
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Whisk to blend and set aside.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.  Blend in the pumpkin puree.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated.  With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated.  Cover and chill the dough for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.  Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend.  Scoop the dough (about 2½ tablespoons) and roll into a ball.  Coat the dough ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough to fill the sheets, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart.  Dip the bottom of a flat, heavy-bottomed drinking glass in water, then in the sugar-spice mixture, and use the bottom to flatten the dough balls slightly.  Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through.  Let cool on the baking sheets about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Repeat with the remaining dough.  ENJOY

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

Because I am Sure You are Dying to Know...

I warned y'all at the beginning of the semester that I was taking Microbiology, which was threatening to be just as difficult as good old Anatomy and Physiology.  Then, I kind of almost stopped posting at all on my blog.  You are probably wondering why.  The answer is simple; Microbiology has carried out its threat to be just as difficult as A&P.
My leisure time is hard to come by and normally I am too tired to come up with halfway intelligent sounding posts.  However, I now have a slight break in tests and I am giving you this post, because I am sure that you were all dying to know why I have been gone so long and been giving you pretty much nothing but delicious recipes. :)
For the future, I have planned out a movie review, another recipe, and hopefully some more beautiful landscape photos from my brother.  I'll see what other crazy posts I can throw in here and there and hopefully I can keep up with this blog some more.  If it makes you feel any better, I am taking pathophysiology (the study of diseases) next semester.... And then of course there is nursing school after that...  No?  It doesn't make me feel any better either... :)

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.

The Myth of Neutrality

That's right, neutrality is a myth, so no matter how much you try to be a "good open-minded American" you aren't.

More than ever I see it in comments on Yahoo articles or on Facebook the word bigot.  Gay marriage is normally the context of that word being thrown around.  If you aren't a proponent of gay rights, you are a cruel, closed-minded person.  You are denying people happiness.  How could you do that?

As a Christian, I don't find it very hard.  I look at the Bible, and I see what God says about homosexuality and that's that.  I am not going to list out a whole bunch of verses for you to read about this issue, y'all can look them up yourselves, because in this post I am going to focus on the myth of neutrality.

So back to the myth of neutrality.  Americans think that they have to be all accepting of every idea, every action, and every religion (except Christianity of course).  However, neutrality isn't an option.  Every person has a set of beliefs and many different people's beliefs conflict.  Christianity conflicts with EVERY other religion and so does Islam for that matter (i.e. we Christians aren't the only "non-neutral" religion).  The idea that we could be neutral to every religion is really almost humorous.  Yes, let's be neutral to people who crash airplanes into American buildings, yes, let's be neutral to serial killers.  Why not?  It's their beliefs, we should all just welcome them into the family and embrace their ideas.

NOT

See the devastating consequences of neutrality?  You start being neutral about a few things and all of a sudden you are being asked to accept murder, stealing and rape.  I think I am probably right in saying that however neutral you may be trying, you won't be accepting murder, stealing or rape.

Do you still want to be a good "open-minded"American"?

Lois Johnson, avid writer, tea drinker, and reader but first and foremost, avid Christian.