So I’m sure some of you might be thinking that I will be writing about Jane Austen’s life as a baby.
She was probably a cute baby.
Well no, I’m not. Instead I am talking about Jane Austen novels for babies!
I know, how cool is that? There is a company called BabyLit that takes classic novels and turns them into baby primer board books; that is learning books for babies.
Now they can also read classic novels!
So far they have Dracula on counting: Alice in Wonderland on colors; A Christmas Carol on colors; Wuthering Heights on the weather; Moby Dick on the ocean, Jane Eyre on counting; Romeo & Juliet on counting; The Jungle Book on animals; Sherlock Holmes and the Hounds of Baskerville on sounds; Anna Karenina on fashion; Jabberwocky on nonsense; Frankenstein on anatomy; The Wonderful Wizard of Oz on colors, and Huckleberry Finn on camping.
And of course they have covered Jane Austen with Emma, Pride & Prejudice, and Sense & Sensibility.
And of course me being a major fan, I just had to buy them and check them out.
But as I have no children and didn’t have any extra book space to hold onto them for if that ever happened (my books are already in every spare spot I have) I bought them for my friend’s baby. So far I have only purchased two (Emma and Pride & Prejudice), one for Christmas and the other for her first birthday. When I buy Sense & Sensibility for this Christmas I’ll review it.
Emma: A BabyLit Emotions Primer by Jennifer Adams
So we know the story of Emma right? The bare bones of it is a bored girl tries her hand at matchmaking:
But in the ends her schemes don’t go anything like she planned.
However, that is too advanced for a baby; so this one is all about emotions with cute illustrations. Emma is excited! Mrs. Bates is scared! Mr. Knightley is Loved.
You got that right!
Pride & Prejudice: A BabyLit Counting Primer by Jennifer Adams
So Pride & Prejudice, the most famous of the Jane Austen novels. In it a mother is trying to marry off her offspring, but her meddling can cause some issues.
Plus some manipulations, misunderstanding, and perseverance see that four couples find their happy match (once again bare bones).
So once again too much for a baby, so this one is all about counting: nine fashionable dresses, five sisters, two gentlemen, etc.
Sense & Sensibility: A BabyLit Opposites Primer by Jennifer Adams
So this is the story of two sisters who go from being wealthy, to having nothing.
They get caught up in others manipulations, in their own striving for happiness, and discovering that being all sense or all sensibility isn’t the right way to be; their should be a balance of both. Plus sisters will always be there for the other.
There are also manipulations, secret affairs, meddling matchmakers and more. But of course, that isn’t something babies can grasp so instead we have opposites: big, small, happy, sad, etc.
So What Did I Think Of It?
So while it doesn’t tell the whole story of these novels (which I didn’t expect it to) I thought these were a wonderful idea and I want to purchase them all.
In a world where less and less people are reading, especially the classics: it is important to bring these memorable works back into the mainstream. I mean there is a reason why they were chosen as classics and they need to be read by everyone.
And while this book focus on it’s theme (colors, counting, feelings) more than the plot of the novel; two very imoprtant things come out of here.
First, the child is being given a classic novel and grows up hearing that name and the characters; making them much more open to reading the real book when they are old enough.
And second, you reading to your child teaches them the importance of family time and the importance of reading. Thus making them book fans too.
So I highly recommend buying these and adding them to your child’s bookshelf. After all:
Just what is this thing? Chaos, chaos in the flesh.
Phantoms is a 1998 film that is based on the book by Dean Koontz. The story is very creepy, and I was surprised at how well the film was done. I thought it was going to be done in a very stupid, silly way; but it was the essence of creepiness. The only thing I didn’t care for was Liev Schreiber, I felt that he didn’t portray the character very well in the beginning. I wouldn’t have chosen Rose McGowan either, but she did surprisingly well. I loved Ben Affleck as the sexy Sheriff and love interest. I love Ben Affleck though, I mean who doesn’t? They changed the film from the book, as expected, but the changes do not destroy the film, thank goodness. If you’d like to watch the film go here. So the film starts out with Dr. Jennifer Pailey bringing her trouble-making sister Lisa to live with her. They are hoping the change of scenery will help straighten her out as she was involved with gang members in Los Angelas.
I want to go back to LA
When they reach the town, it is empty. Like really empty. There is no one out and about even though they are in a ski town, in the middle of winter with great snow.
They continue on home. When Jennifer gets there she finds her housekeeper dead. All the life had been sucked out of her and she looks burned.
The girls are widely freaked and decided to head to the sheriff’s. But there is one problem, their car won’t work.
Oh no!
The girls hurry on to the sheriff’s office where they find a deputy, burned and blackened. He appears to have shot his gun at something, but they don’t find any traces of it, except shells. Dr. Jennifer grabs a gun and the two run off to the bakery, as it is getting dark and they are really freaked out. They head to the baker’s, running quickly as they hear sounds as if someone is following them. When they get there the oven goes off revealing severed heads!
AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!
The girls are completely grossed out and confused when the Sheriff (who ex-FBI) finds them.
Hello Sexy!
With him are his two deputies Steve Shanning (Nicky Katt) and Stuart Wargle (Liev Shreiber) have come to investigate. They decide the best thing to do is go to the sheriff’s department, and just when they do every single horn, siren, whistle, bell, etc. goes off and then suddenly stops. The only lights left on are down on the Candleglow Inn up the street.
They check it out and see that only four guests are registered. The Sheriff and Stu go upstairs, while the girls stay behind with deputy Steve.
While the sheriff is upstairs he goes into a room and starts looking through an opening in a closet. When he does he sees a vision of a young boy with a gun, which disappers. You see when the Sheriff was FBI he accidentally shot a boy, which made him quit and turn to small town life.
Aw! Look at his face. 😦
Stu goes in the other room and finds a beautiful, dead woman. He sits next to her and puts his hand up her leg…
What a perv!
Then the Sheriff walks in. He lets it go, even though he is severely grossed out as he knows what Stu was doing, but he needs every man he can get as he has no idea what the situation is.
The Sheriff has Stu watch the hall as he continues checking things out. Stu comes on to Lisa who tells him flat out no, she is not digging that.
Dr. Jennifer joins the Sheriff and they discover that a bathroom locked from the inside (that has no other windows or doors) is empty, with something written on the mirror in lipstick. The writing says “Dr. Timothy Flyte–The Ancient Enemy“.
The two have no idea who Dr. Flyte is but intend on finding out. In another empty room they find a bunch of metal objects like jewelry, buttons, watches, gold teeth, a pacemaker, etc.; concluding that this thing, whatever it is strips a person completely of everything, if it chooses.
EW!
They go back into the lobby to regroup and figure out their next step. But then they suddenly hear a woman crying out “Help me!” and Deputy Steve rushes out to save her. The Sheriff follows him, but when he gets outside all that is left of Steve is his shoes and a gun.
They head back to the Sheriff’s office and put the dead deputy in a body bag. They then call for help–military, Dr. Flyte, anybody, but the line was so bad they don’t know whether or not it went through.
Bryce and Stu go through the dept. and pull out all their ammunition getting ready for–whatever the thing is that is trying to attack them. The lights go out and the creature takes on a Alien/The Thing (1982) feel. The next thing you know, Stu is dead.
Too be honest, good riddance. He was a creep and I didn’t like him.
They also put Stu in a body bag and wait out the night.
We then switch to another part of the country- Dr. Flyte. Dr. Flyte (Peter O’Toole) is a tabloid worker in New York City. He used to a professor at Oxford, but they let him go as they felt his writings were “too silly”.
Two FBI agents ask him to go to the small, winter, town of Snowfield to help solve what the “thing” is.
Back in Snowfield the three survivors are trying to figure out what to do next. Lisa tries to take a nap while the Sheriff tells Dr. Jen about how the monster called up the incident with the young boy. The two are interrupted when Lisa asks the Sherif to walk with her to the bathroom. He checks it and finds it clear. Lisa begins to smoke when she hears a squealing noise coming out of the drain.
She checks out the bathroom stalls (much like Scream) and finds the Deputy Stu there!
In the book the “Phantom thing” was more like the Blob from The Blob (1958); although it could take on the shape of other things, or create small phantom pieces of itself. In the film, however, the “Phantom” embodies the form of Stu, which is understandable from a filmmaker point of view. It doesn’t copying The Blob at all, as I mentioned earlier copying The Thing. Just like The Thing, the “phantom” takes on the appearance of something. This wasn’t a horrible decision as I bet it was easier to film. They also did a lot of blackout or limited lighting when the creature was in its true form, which allowed it to remain creepy as your imagination creates it. The director of It(1990) should have used the same technique, it would have been a better film.
I didn’t really care for Liev Schreiber, and thought he could have been much creepier. Instead he just comes off as a pervert. This film has actually ruined him for me in all other films. When I watch Kate & Leopold, Scream, Scream 2, Scream 3, Lee Daniel’s the Butler, or X-Men Origins: Wolverine; I keep expecting him to do something perverted to all the women.
Yes I am
Anyways, back to the story. So the Sheriff goes into the bathroom and can’t find anything. They go down to check the body bags, but both are empty.
AAAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Meanwhile Dr. Flyte is on route to Snowfield with military General Leland Copperfield, some mobile labs, an armored strike van, etc–all ready to take on whatever the “thing” is. They ask Dr. Flyte about “the Ancient Enemy”. Dr. Flyte explains that there were creatures, he calls “Ancient Enemy” who are amoeboidshapeshifters. This Ancient Enemy rarely feeds, but when it does, the effects are devastating and it was theorized that the Enemy either caused or aided in the extinction of the dinosaurs, the destruction of the Mayan civilization, Roanoke disappearance, the missing army of Nanking, China in 1939, etc. And the town appears to have been built on the home of one of these “Ancient Enemies”.
The group arrives to Snowfield and the three survivors come to meet the army. The next thing you know, “the thing” has taken out almost the whole team using its shape-shifting qualities and the pipes/sewers. Now these scenes are pretty intense. I was watching them and screaming and my roommates were all, are you ok? I highly recommend watching this film.
General Copperfield is last of the military to be killed; as a pair of oily black tentacles seeps up through the pavement, penetrates his hazmat suit, and smothers him.
[Note: From The Mist]
This leaves Dr. Flyte, Sheriff Bryce, Jenny, and Lisa as the remaining survivors..
He’s dead but the “Phantom” uses his body as a mouthpiece and begins speaking to the crowd.
“My Flesh. Study it. Write the gospel. But do not try to leave. Witnesses to the Miracle.”
The body then falls to the ground and an oily black substance comes out along with a gecko, of which the group is supposed to get a sample of. Dr. Flyte begins to analyze the sample, coming to the conclusion it has lived in the depths of the earth for eons, growing to immense size, and absorbing knowledge from its prey. It can separate off parts of Itself to send as drones, warriors, phantoms, etc.–having them assume the shapes of anything or anyone It has absorbed; even of people or monsters from memories and dreams.With these, It has manipulated Bryce, Jenny, and Lisa into bringing Dr. Flyte here, to be Its prophet, and to write Its gospel. For It has begun to think of Itself as God–or the Devil. Indestructible. All-Powerful. Immortal. Unstoppable.
This is bad. Very bad.
Dr. Flyte’s analysis reveals that It is similar to oil and if they are able to make the same kind of bacteria that eats away at oil spills, they may just have a chance at stopping it. They create cultures and prepare for the final battle.
Dr. Flyte goes out and calls to the creature.
He tells It that he needs to see all of it in order to write Its “gospel”. He says that the others are creating a weapon against It, that they don’t believe in It like he does. It appears first as a single person, but then becomes all 400 residents of the town, merging and melding into one swirling mass, which resolves Itself into an immense, hideous, upright millipede.
The Sheriff, Jenny and Lisa run and fire the guns loaded with the bacteria culture into It. This causes It to scream. Jenny and Lisa run for shelter into the nearby deputy’s office, to reload their guns but are pursued by a drone of Deputy Stu.
Deputy Wargle: Oh, you’ve got some guns, ladies, you wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man, would you? [both women cock shotguns and point them at him] That’s a dumb question.
They empty their shotguns into him, knocking him down, and blowing away huge chunks of his legs and arms. Tentacles shoot out of his arm and leg stumps. The girls run away and and he follows, but is killed by Dr. Jen as she shoots him with the last of the culture.
The bigger entity is falling apart and the Sheriff follows the last of It down into the sewer, finding him face to face with the boy that he killed. He hesitates, and while he does so, a tentacle shoots out of the boy’s mouth, and knocks him down. His gun with the culture is stolen by It. It pulls the vials out and starts taunting the Sheriff. In response to It’s mockings the Sheriff pulls out his gun and shoots the vials, causing the bacteria to spread all over.
With one final ear-shattering scream It is gone, and Bryce makes his way back to the others. As a helicopter arrives to rescue them, Dr. Flyte announces to the others that the Entity has won after all: It wanted him to tell the world, and that’s just what he’s going to do. Everything seems to end well, or well enough. Dr. Flyte has his story and will win back his prestige; Sheriff Bryce is no longer traumatized about killing the boy; Dr. Jen and Sheriff Bryce have found each other; and Lisa and Dr. Jen have bonded. Sounds as perfect an ending you can get for a horror film.
Uh, uh uh. Not quite yet!
We switch to a scene in a bar where Dr. Flyte is in TV talking about It and how it may still be out there waiting. One of the guys in the bar turns to his companion and says its a lot of hooey. A strange laugh is heard and at the end of the bar is Deputy Stu Wrangle, showing that It is still alive.
So it really was a good film, and I’m telling you the scenes with the creature are super creepy!!! You’ll love them if you love scary movies!
So unlike the other facebook cover pages I have made (and you should have guessed by now that practically every post has one) I made two for this one as the first one wasn’t working out right. Here’s the second one for those of you interested.
So the 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is based on the beloved children’s novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Thew story is of a young, poor, low-income, starving, boy who is chosen to compete against four other children to not only win enough chocolate and candy for their lifetime, but also a grand, secret prize. Very Interesting, I know, but you are probably wondering what does that have to do with The Hunger Games? A young girl from a starving district competing to the death against 23 others to win food for her family and community?
This:
Now it is not exactly like The Hunger Games, Willy Wonka is a nice guy who really wants to help people, Charlie is the only poor, suffering guy, and you hate everyone else as they are whiny brats. But, there are some similarities. So now presenting the Hunger Games: The Chocolate Factory!
And it’s going to be fabulous!
So what’s different for this version is that we will have one tribute, from only five districts, all competing to survive Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory. All who survive win chocolate, the ultimate winner gets the factory themselves, food and money for their families. Let the games begin!!!
District 1
District 1’s industry is making luxury items for the Capitol. It is considered to be the wealthiest district, the only other wealthier area being the Capitol itself.
Now presenting our tribute for district one
Veruca Salt
Strengths:
Loud voice that causes immense pain
Very good at manipulating people and getting what she wants
Has people to do hard things for her
Doesn’t take no for an answer
Can cry on command
Isn’t afraid to lie or crush others to get what she wants
Questions everything
Weaknesses:
Is a spoiled brat
Won’t take no for an answer to the point where she knocks herself out
Whines all the time
Can Be Defeated:
By a kick in the pants
Saying NO! and meaning it
Boat Rides
Seasickness
Geese (Especially those who are golden)
District 3
District 3’s primary industry is general electronics of many types, though it is known for also making various mechanical products such as automobiles and firearms. These tributes are always skilled with electronics.
Now presenting our tribute for district three
Mike Teevee
Strengths:
Knows every TV show that has a gun in it (huge pop culture junkie)
Can use knowledge gained from TV in real life
Can sit still for hours
Questions everything
Can shoot a fake gun
Doesn’t scare or get grossed out easily
Willing to try new things
Eager volunteer
Weaknesses:
Is a spoiled brat
Can’t be away from the TV
Will try to shoot anything and everything
Missing front teeth
Can’t read
Sometimes overeagerness to try new things leaves him in bad situations
Doesn’t listen to rules
Can Be Defeated:
Bubble Foam
Saying NO! and meaning it
Books
By shrinking him
District 6
District 6’s industry is transportation
Now presenting our tribute for district six
Violet Beauragarde
Strengths:
Chewing gum champ
Can chew and talk
Rather chew than eat
Fast talker
Likes to save things
Will do whatever it takes to win, even if it means losing friends
Bossy
Head-strong and Obstinate
Does whatever she wants
Can wheel and deal like no other
Delights in pain of others
Weaknesses:
Is a spoiled brat
Hard to understand through constant chewing
A braggart
Doesn’t listen to “no”
Does whatever she wants
Picks her nose
Can Be Defeated:
Blueberries
The color blue or purple
Throwing away her three-month old gum
By rolling her
District 9
District 9’s industry is grain. Little is known about this district, just that there are lots of farmland for grain.
Now presenting our tribute for district nine
Augustus Gloop
Strengths:
Can eat ANYTHING
Never stops eating
Is one huge mass that won’t easily be pushed around
Fast runner when it comes to food
Likes to be first in everything
Weaknesses:
Is a spoiled brat
Has no patience
No self-control
Is always hungry
Can’t swim
Doesn’t like small spaces
Doesn’t listen
Can Be Defeated:
By not giving him food and having him starve
Drowning in water or chocolate
Sticking him in tight spot, such as a pipe
Let him go first so he can face things and die
District 12
District 12’s industry is coal. This district is one of the poorest districts. The district has not had a winner of the Hunger Games emerge from the ranks of its residents for over twenty-four years.
You mean Halloween might actually be fun this year?
Not exactly Sabrina.
So its Halloween, the Christmas for witches and Sabrina is stoked that she won’t have to go to any big, boring, family party like the year before. Instead her aunts decided that they are all going to stay home this year and relax. Her aunts just bought furniture on sale from the Witches’s Realm and are eager to break them in.
At school, the bane of Sabrina’s existence, Libby is throwing a Halloween bash, only for the “cool” people.
Naturally that means you freaks aren’t invited.
Valerie is upset that she and Sabrina are not invited and spreads around that Sabrina is throwing her own Halloween party that will be cooler than anything Libby does.
Not Valerie always upsetted me. I REALLY don’t like her. I mean they talk about how “insecure” she is but I think she us mean and manipulative. She is always getting Sabrina to do stuff for her, give her things, lend her things, etc; never asking or saying thank you. She is willing to ditch Sabrina anytime if a chance at popularity comes her way. And she committed the ultimate BFF sin, she went on a date with Harvey, Sabrina’s boyfriend. Granted they were on a break, but a true BFF NEVER, EVER, EVER, EVER, EVER dates her friend’s ex.
So Sabrina doesn’t want to Sa Val or the student body and she really does want to show Libby up so she agrees to do it. She makes her aunts promise that nothing weird will happen but that they will have a normal, mortal, party.
Her aunts are excited and decide to increase their candy corn production.
Even Salem is down, and eager to check out the snacks.
Sadly Harvey can’t come as he is taking his little brother trick or treating. This freaks Sabrina out as she was counting on him being the “cool” person guarenteeed to be there.
To make matters worse it turns out that they have talking furniture. That’s one of the problems with buying other realm items. They can’t return them either, as it is Halloween, and the other realm buisnesses are shut down. They try to put the furniture down in the basement but it turns out they have other realm termites. They leave them upstairs and hope they will be quiet.
Valerie comes over dressed up as a duck.
Unfortunately nobody else does, and Val is so embarrassed she runs upstairs to Sabrina’s room and tries to hide out there. They both have to come down though as the party sucks. No one is having a good time, they can’t use the stereo because the termites at it, and the kettle is producing mass quantities of candy corn.
To make matters even worse Halloween carolers and Sabrina’s quizmaster show up
The “cool crowd” shows up and Sabrina tries to do something to salvage the party. Then everything goes crazy.
Valerie drops through the floor because the termites ate through the wood, the couches start moving and talking, the carolers come in, and a river of candy corn flows through the living room.
Sabrina is at a loss to explain what is going on, but she doesn’t have to. Everyone thinks that Sabrina did it to make her Halloween party one spectacular event. She quickly becomes the toast of the school.
Harvey even shows up after he finishes with his brother. Libby shows up since her party was a washout and Harvey’s brother egged her house. Sabrina finishes the night by zapping in the 10,000 Maniacs.
If you’d like to check it out for yourself, go here.
![[Note: From The Mist]](https://janeaustenrunsmylife.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/the-mist-2007-05.jpg)
![Deputy Wargle: Oh, you've got some guns, ladies, you wouldn't shoot an unarmed man, would you? [both women cock shotguns and point them at him] Deputy Wargle: That's a dumb question.](https://janeaustenrunsmylife.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/600px-phantoms-ithaca-1.jpg)
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