Emma’s Fantabulous Blog

Movie Intro: Idiocracy

Best movie intro ever. It’s hillarious, but also terrifying that it’s so true.

(warning: bad language, so you may not want to watch this at work.)

Today Jenny and I went to the Bellevue Farmers Market. So many beautiful flowers and delicious looking produce! I bought some purple wax beans, a bunch of Watercress for Fifi, a mini Peach pie, a dozen Kumamoto oysters from Taylor Shellfish Farms for eating raw on the half shell (yum!), a ham/swiss/baby spinach filled buckwheat crepe to nosh on and a gorgeous bouquet of local flowers for only 7 bux! (um.. the flowers were only $7, the grand total spent this evening was considerably more. whoops.)

Plus I gotta go back for one of the Banana and Nutella crepes.

I worked another shift at the Wildlife Center again today. Once again I got a box of animals with release papers and a map. Last shift I got a little songbird. This shift it was 3 opossums that were brought to us as orphans (a male and 2 females, btw.) headed to Terrace Creek Park in Mountlake Terrace, WA.

Terrace Creek Park is another really cool park that I’ve never heard of. I’ll definately be visiting it again in the future. Lots of trails through the woods to explore, a rocking playground with candy cane striped equipment, a creek that’s perfect for dogs to get all messy in, and a disc golf course!!! In addition to this all, its an awesome place for the little opossums to reside.

Good luck ladies + little dude!

Ostrich Chariot Race

I know that this probably goes against everything that PAWS believes in, but I totally want to see this some day!

So it turns out that the raccoon from last week had a pre-existing condition with his elbow, and he ended up getting put down. Other than that my shift this week was pretty uneventful. Just lots of cleaning, laundry and dishes.

As I was about to leave after my shift, I was stopped by one of my fellow volunteers and asked if I wanted to come along on a mallard release with her. She was given some forms, to prove that we weren’t just dumping animals, and a box with 2 mallards in it. The mallards had been orphaned and raised with us until they were big enough to be released.

We took them to Scriber Lake in Lynnwood, WA. It’s totally an oasis for ducks. Lots of water, mud, grass, as well as lots of other ducks. We opened their carrier and they waddled out, scoping out their new posh digs. They took right to the water, and as soon as they did, about 20 other ducks came over to check out their new neighbors. Our 2 mallards ended up getting pecked a bit, but they were perfectly capable of getting away from the bullies. They started munching on some fresh reeds and swam away.

I took some pics with my phone’s camera & i apologize for the fuzziness. But not for the mallard fuzziness. (click on the photos to get a larger version.)

Answers to the nifty wildlife quiz are posted here.

And to anyone who got a less-than-optimal score, I only got a 60% when I originally took it… Whoops.

Babel. Drama/Thriller. Released in October, 2006. Co-starring hottie Brad Pitt. A couple having marital problems travels though the Moroccan desert when tragedy strikes. The movie travels across 3 continents to show how 4 families are connected to the event.

This movie has gained a spot in my top 10 all time favorites. It is so compelling to watch, with moments of extreme sadness, balanced by moments of sweet tenderness. I especially enjoyed how the characters spoke in English, Arabic, Spanish, Japanese and Sign Language.

One of my favorite scenes was when Chieko, the deaf Japanese daughter, walked into a nightclub with music blaring. Then the sound cuts out and all you hear is silence. The strobe lights are still going, and people are still dancing around, but it is silent. It was something that I never thought about. It would have been an almost frightening experience for me. The whole scene was just extremely powerful.

There were also interesting issues that were highlighted. Immigration, Violence against Americans and how it’s portrayed in our media, Terrorism, Absentee Parenting, Suicide, Death of a child and the effects on the parents. This movie gives you a lot to think about. I loved it.

Devon came back and left for Columbus, OH, again. I saw him for less than 48 hours this past weekend. This really sucks. It’s not as bad as I thought it would be, though. I’m managing to keep myself pretty busy.

I hit up the movie store again yesterday. Showing in my house this week:

Hannibal Rising,  Mel Gibson’s Apocalypto, the break-up with Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn, Fast Food Nation based on the book of the same name, Letters from Iwo Jima directed by Clint Eastwood, and 3 Needles with Lucy Liu and Chloe Sevigny.

I know I’m behind on reviews for the movies from last week. I’m getting to them slowly.

Alrighty, Let’s begin.

Running With Scissors. A Dark Comedy. Released in 2006. Based on a memoir by Augusten Burroughs. After Augusten’s unstable mom breaks up with his alcoholic father, he goes to live with his mother’s shrink and his crazy family. Hilarity, as well as drama, ensues.

My review, in short? Just go read the book instead. It’s a million times better. The movie is still decent, but a bunch of stuff in the book was cut out for the movie. A lot of character development is missing, as well as some really good stories. The movie just seemed very rushed overall, and mediocre because of that. The best part? Some of the clothes and shoes worn by Evan Rachel Wood’s character. I love those 70s platforms!

Accepted. Teen Comedy. Released in 2006. A recent high school grad doesn’t get into any colleges that he applied to. With the help of some friends in similar predicaments, he creates a fake college to get parents off their backs.

I actually really enjoyed this movie. I thought that it was really good for what it was. Definately a teen comedy, but I liked that they put out the message that your typical college experience isn’t a good fit for everyone. The actors are pretty funny and the story line doesn’t seem like something that’s been done, and re-done 8 million times. I give it a check +.

Absolute Zero. Natural Disaster/Action/Sci-Fi? Released in 2006, TV. A shift in the Earth’s polarity is about to shift the tropical regions towards Absoluter Zero!!! (or -459 degrees F.) In Miami, a climatologist leads other survivors towards a special chamber at a scientific research company that can protect them against that chill.

Holy crappy movie, batman. So many things went wrong with this movie, that it’s hard to pick the worst part. Horrible, just horrible special effects. The snow looked like smooshed up styrofoam, The “wintery mountain landscape” backgrounds look painted, etc….. Terrible acting.. Really, really terrible. The male lead looked like he was trying way too hard to channel David Hasslehoff… (Interestingly enough, the female lead, Erika Elaniak was on Baywatch.) The editing was awful. The same shots were used multiple times… Although I may have to forgive that as this was a made-for-TV movie. But still! The writing was uninspired and boring.

It was as if someone had started with the movie: The Day After Tomorrow, and then consciously decided to make the worst knock off of it, ever. There aren’t many movies that I keep wanting to hit eject in the middle of, repeatedly, but this was one of them.

Here is a trivia quiz that I took during a wildlife ethics class at PAWS. Some of the answers are pretty surprising. Let’s see how you guys do. I’ll post the answers in a couple of days. And no cheating by looking at other people’s answers or by finding them online! Good luck!

1. True or False: Canada Geese mate for life.

2. What percentage of black bear’s diet is vegetation?

3. True or False: The English House Sparrow has more bones in its neck than a giraffe.

4. What is the only marsupial in North America?

5. True or False: Crows are particularly fond of young corn plants.

6. What is the fastest flying bird? (It can reach speeds of 200mph.)

7. True or False: All of the bats in Puget Sound (around Seattle) are insectivorous.

8. People in what area of the country put out the most bird feeders?

9. What is the largest songbird (passerine)?

10. True or False: Seals are born underwater.