Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: Kyle's Review

Harry Potter has grown up. We have seen Daniel Radcliffe, Rupert Grint, and Emma Watson portray Harry, Ron, and Hermonie since 2001, and this movie begins the final chapter of their story. What we get is a mature, sophisticated, yet slow-paced film that will please all fans of Harry Potter but might disappoint those looking for an action-packed film.

First of all, if you haven't seen the other Harry Potter movies, you will probably be confused for most of the film, and even more if you haven't read the books. We are thrown right into the story with little explanation of what exactly is going on.

This movie is quite different from the others because Harry and friends don't return Hogwarts this year. They are on a journey to search for the Horcruxes that contain pieces of Voldemort's soul in order to defeat him. We get all the set-up for what they have to do, but the films biggest problem is that we never really get a pay-off. Since the book was split into two movies, we have to wait until next July to get it. This can be frustrating, but it does allow the film to explore the book more than it could have if it hadn't been split. This is both a good and a bad thing, as it leads to some great scenes where we really see how the three lead actors have matured in their acting abilities, but it also causes the movie to move a bit slowly for most of it's running time.

Don't get me wrong, I loved the movie, but I also love Harry Potter, so I enjoy all of the time that is spent with the characters. Other more casual viewers may find this movie frustrating, but I commend the director David Yates for not following a lot of the cliches that can come with a big-budget Hollywood film. The movie is very serious and dark, and amazing to look at. The effect's are truly phenomenal, and I love the interpretation of J. K. Rowling's world. The film also has quite a bit of humor to balance out the truly hopeless and depressing vibe that it gives off, which I really appreciated.

Overall this is a solid, but incomplete Harry Potter film. There is quite a bit of buildup, but no true finale. However, this still is one of the best-made Potter films to date, and the series promises to go with a bang come July.

8.6/10

Be sure to check out Ben's thoughts on the movie in the previous post!

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1: Ben's Review

So recently, Kyle and I went to see the premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1. This movie was very good and I enjoyed it very much. We have seen all of the characters grow up and now, finally, we see Radcliffe, Emma Watson, and Rupert Grint in their best acting to date.

Some things that I found interesting in the movie were the small changes that they made from the book to the movie. I thought that the few changes they made in the movie actually benefited and brought more clear the story line. There was added sense of humor throughout the movie and a very humorous seen after Ron leaves where Harry and Hermione dance. This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie because you get to see them trying to be happy, but the reality of what they need to accomplish is still always there. 

For all of you book lovers, this movie was the best Harry Potter movie in regards to following the book in detail. This is great for the viewers that are dedicated to reading the books. The downside of this is for those of you who didn’t read the books, is that the movie moves slow at some points and goes for extended amounts of time without action. The only other downside of the movie is that it ends very abruptly. I don’t agree with the spot that the producers decided to cut the film in half. Although, to be fair, there isn’t ever a good spot to stop telling the story of a book.

In all, the movie was very good. I think that the 6^th movie was actually better than this movie. However this movie sets up for a great end in part 2 of the Deathly Hallows.

Overall Rating: 8.9

TV to See: Glee - "The Substitute"

So today, I (Kyle) want to blog about Glee. Woah, hold on a sec Kyle! Isn't Glee that stupid singing show that only girls watch?

Sigh. That's a shame.

Let me say this: If you like music, clever writing, and really just generally having fun watching a television show, then science says you will enjoy this show. And there really isn't a better case for the show than last Tuesday's episode. The episode guest starred Gwyneth Paltrow, in which she played a substitute teacher named Holly Holiday. If you have never seen the show, you can probably still enjoy this quite a bit:



The best parts of the episode for me included a mini-performance of "Conjunction Junction" from Schoolhouse Rock!, the little kid versions of everyone when Will is hallucinating, Holly teaching class with her interesting "methods", Will's search for a Journey song they haven't done yet, the purse falling out of Kurt's mouth in Mercedes' daydream, the awesome mash-up between "Singing in the Rain" and "Umbrella", and this hilarious quote from Sue to Will:

“I suggest selling yourself on Craigslist under the heading of men seeking men with butt chins.”

Epic.

Anyway, check it out, and if you don't like it, you don't like it. That's just the way it is sometimes. But don't judge a book by it's cover, that's all I can say about this. Anyway, goodnight everyone. Thanksgiving is coming soon, and I'm ready to come home. Bye now.

A New Idea with a Cool Friend!

Hey, this is Ben today.

First things first. Beatles on iTunes??? What the??
Next, Kyle and I will be home very early on wednesday morning next week!

Now to actual blog...Kaden, you told me not to talk about girls or John Stamos. However, I must talk about music. Tonight, I had a praise team event where my praise team sang for high school youth groups, it was a really cool time to lead high schoolers in worship and to show them how awesome Dordt College is!

The one and only, Darin Lammers

While at the event, I was talking to Darin Lammers, a friend of Kylje and I and we decided that we are going to create a new radio station for the Sioux Center area. Sioux Center's radio stations consist of country, pop, country, hip hop, and did I mention they play country? We decided that it was a time to introduce a new stations with the best music around to the people of Sioux County. We will play Indie Rock, Alternative Rock, and everything that is good. We are going to do our best to create a station similar to 96.1, a station that played all kinds of music with lots variety, which now ceases to exist. Our plan is to call the station 99.5, the KYLE! Darin and I came up with that one!

We may be sitting there someday!

We don't know for sure if this will work. Our idea is to start an online station and to hopefully get lots of people to listen to our station online because of the awesome variety of music and quality of music that we will play. We will see how it goes, this isn't a for sure thing but I will keep you updated if it actually happens!

See you on Thanksgiving weekend!!!

The Dream Team

I (Kyle) wrote this Senior year of High School. It's a bit of a cop-out for a blog, but I think it's an enjoyable read. ENJOY IT.

             Every night, they roam the streets. Silent but deadly. Quiet but deathly. Hard to see yet so good looking. Who are they? What is their purpose? Will they help us, or will they be the end of civilization? The answers to these questions and more permeate tonight’s program. I invite you on a journey of discovery, of death and betrayal. I invite you to witness one of the greatest teams of our time. The Dream Team.

Hello, my name is Gerald. Take my hand as we weave together of tapestry of mystery. The Dream Team has been told in legends since the beginning of time. Scientists have found cave drawings of the quick footed group dating back to 1000000000000000000000000 B.C. But where did they come from, and more importantly, why?

The Dream Team is an elite fighting force hell-bent on keeping the likes of TP in the likes of trees. They have traveled the globe, stopping only for restroom breaks. They are known for their extreme sneakiness and love of inside jokes and nicknames. These nicknames are the only identification for the team, as their true identities have never been revealed. Let’s examine these names, shall we?

First up, we have Rambo. Legend tells of an unstoppable force that was birthed from the very caverns of the earth itself. He joined the Dream Team when he found no other challenge in life, as he had already killed all the dinosaurs and the dodo bird. He is the brawn of the team, and has been said to throw 100 rolls of TP per second.

Next up is a great mystery. The legend tells of legendary warrior whose Tibbeing skills are the stuff of legends. They call him The Stick. Why he is called The Stick is part of the mystery, although many believe it is because he is as thin as one. How did he become this thin? The legend continues to tell of how on one of the first Dream Team missions, he hid behind a bush to hide from an incoming car. And then a steamroller rolled over the bush.

Our next member is the giant behemoth known as Papa Bear. He towers over the rest of the team like some sort of giant or something. He is most recognized by his love for honey and singing songs all day long. However, these two loves have never combined in a moment of honey flavored music. Oh wells.

Onto our next (ahem) victim, Burgertime. Sometimes known as the Muh, or emitregrub. He is most recognizable for having a burger in hand and a tune on his lips. Not really, but whatevs. He’s really busy so I don’t even know this guy. NEXT!

Okay so, now is jolly old soul they call The Eye. Now for the obligatory explanation for how he got the name. That ol’ legend talks about the time that there were many ninjas waiting for the Dream Team to let their guard down. Fortunately, The Eye spotted these foes and the team lived to TP another day. Thanks, The Eye!

Finally, we come to the most mysterious member of the bunch. Some call him the Old Timer, others call him Nimbus. I call him awesome. He is known as the fastest creature alive, and has beaten NASCAR at its own game. Recently, however he has taken a small break, letting sound catch up to him after circling the globe. Get well soon, Nimbus. 

These people are our protectors. Without them, the trees remain TP-less forever. Obviously, that's a bad thing. Duh. If you ever hear a whisper on the wind in the dead of night, perhaps it was the mysterious team of legends roaming the streets. Or maybe it was just the wind. Stupid. Why does everything have to be so mysterious? The wind is the wind. And that was the point of this explanation. Don't ever forget it: THE WIND IS THE WIND.

So yeah, that's it. It's about the Dream Team, need I say more? If you don't understand it, then you don't need to. I have heard tiny rumors that the dream team may one day reunite. But when? Only time will tell. Unless time doesn't have a mouth, which as far as I know he doesn't. Goodnight my children. Sleep well until the morning brings you peace. TTFN.

How I Met Your Mother

If you are friends with me, you know that I occasionally make some your mom jokes. I am a bit weird like that and I like to be funny. This is Ben, bringing you the blog of...well today's blog.

I have found this new show that I have fell in love with recently. It is called, "How I met your mother." This show is all about a dad who is telling his kids the story of how he met their mother. It is a very humorous storyline about a guy in his 20's who wants to get married but can't find the girl that is right for him. It is really funny how his friends try to set him up and some of the mistakes that he makes in his relationships.

I think the main reason I enjoy this show so much is because I, not quite in the same way as him, want to find a girlfriend, and eventually a wife someday. It is easy for me to relate to him because some of the things that happen to him have happened to me in my past relationships. It is also relatable because we all long to find love in our lives, and that is the main theme of the show. The longing for love.

                                                       Neil Patrick Harris-Legen.....DARY

It's an awesome show, I advise any of our readers to try it out, I have almost finished the first season, and I love every episode of it.

The Failed Record Attempt

So recently, (this is Kyle by the way), my good friend Kaden Nesky and I decided while talking on Skype that we wanted to break the world record for longest Skype conversation. Internet searching led us to find that this record had never been officially recorded, so we thought it would be easy to break, right? WRONG! I'll get to why in a second.

So Kaden signed up for an account on the Guinness World Records website and submitted our fantastic idea for a new record for their books that we would perform for them. We waited for around 3-4 days before this little number popped up in Kaden's inbox:

Dear Mr Kaden Nesky,

Thank you for sending us the details of your recent record attempt for 'Longest Skype Call'. We are afraid to say that we are unable to accept this as a Guinness World Record.

We receive over 60,000 enquiries a year from which only a small proportion are approved by our experienced researchers to establish new categories. These are not 'made up' to suit an individual proposal, but rather 'evolve' as a result of international competition in a field, which naturally accommodates superlatives of the sort that we are interested in. We think you will appreciate that we are bound to favour those that reflect the greatest interest.

Guinness World Records has absolute discretion as to which Guinness World Record applications are accepted and our decision is final. Guinness World Records may at its discretion and for whatever reason identify some records as either no longer monitored by Guinness World Records or no longer viable.

As your record application has not been accepted, Guinness World Records is in no way associated with the activity relating to your record proposal and we in no way endorse this activity. If you choose to proceed with this activity then this is will be of your own volition and at your own risk.

Once again thank you for your interest in Guinness World Records.

Yours sincerely,

Julie Kocsis
Records Management Team

Well as you can see, we got rejected. Now there are a few problems with this. First of all, there IS a record for longest telephone call, so I don't see how having a record for Skype, or maybe just a record for "longest call over the Internet" would fail to meet whatever qualifications they have for a record. In fact, we would have even been okay with attempting to break the longest telephone call record (which happens to be 40 hours), through our medium: Skype.

This is the guy that hold the record for the phone call. Totally beatable.

Secondly, don't tell us that some of the records in their book our not just "made up" to fit an individual proposal, when they have records such as "Most Ferrero Rocher chocolates eaten in one minute", and "Fastest Time to Pluck a Turkey". Those are directly from their official website. Don't tell me that their is international competition and major interest in these things. Because nobody cares, Julie.

Except for the turkey.

So that brings me to my final statement. Kaden and I are going to find a way to get into that record book. We just haven't thought of how were going to do it yet. But just you wait. I really shouldn't be putting this on the Internet, because now if we don't come through there will be online record of me talking ourselves up about it. Oh well, I guess we'll just have to do it then...

One last thing. Starting at midnight tonight, I am beginning a three-day media fast for my Communications Class. No internet (except for homework), no TV, no music, no video games, you get the picture. So if anyone blogs it will be Ben. So until Friday, I'm Bob Villa. I mean Kyle Dykema.