The Hobbit : The Battle of Five Armies

I saw the final movie in the Hobbit trilogy recently and to be honest I was rather disappointed. The first two movies were not great but I didn't give up on them out of a sense of nostalgia. I kept thinking that the last one would make it all worthwhile. Well it didn't. At 2 and a half hours that makes the three movie together almost 9 hours. I could read the book faster than that! There really feels like a lot of time wasting. We needed two movies at the most. It starts well with a nice fight with the dragon Smaug but after that it gets stupid. There are so many ridiculous things that happen it just feels foolish by the end. Give this one a miss unless you saw the first two and feel you need to finish the story. And even in that case it's probably better to just wait for the DVD.

2/5

Gone Girl

Last night I went to the movie theater to watch Gone Girl. I know many people want to see that movie so of course no spoilers here!!! I was pretty happy with that movie! The atmosphere, the music play an important role in the movie. It is quite a long movie but you`re into it until the end. You have a few guesses about what may happen but personally a few things I didn`t expect happened and that was great! I love being surprised! Some characters (won`t say who) get darker and darker, some are different from what you`d expect... good movie guys! Should watch it!!!

Merry Christmas!

Last Saturday we celebrated Christmas with the students at Murasaki, Takatsuki. We thank you all for coming, it was really fun! here are some pictures from the party!

BOOOO!

Hi everyone. The blog is not dead! We have just been a little busy recently. As you probably know we have only two teachers at the moment so we don't have much spare time. That means the blog is the first thing we tend to neglect. We will try to make a couple of posts each week, but most likely wont have the regularity we had before. Thanks for sticking with us!

Here are some snaps from my trip to Yoshimine temple last weekend.

Interstellar

I went to see the new Christopher Nolan film "Interstellar" last night. He is the same director who made the Batman trilogy and Inception so I was expecting it to be a bit dark and a bit crazy. Well it was OK. It tried to be realistic SF but in the end spoiled it with "magic" and the "power of love". Kinda disappointed with the end. Worth the watch, just not great.

3/5

Goodbye Yoshi!

Today is Yoshi's last day at RLE! If you didn't have a chance to say goodbye please come to Chosuke's restaurant (just near Hanky Tonda station) tonight between 6:30 & 8:30. It will be sad to see Yoshi go but it should be a great party too! Also it's your last chance to say goodbye! We hope to see you there!

French strereotypes

Here are some hilarious stereotypes regarding the French!!!
1. French people stink
Honestly, I don`t think the French smell more than anyone else. Of course, when you get on the subway after work at 6pm and everyone goes home, people get a bit stinky after a day work....don`t they!?
2. French women don`t shave
That one always makes me laugh! I think lots of women wax and to do so you need to wait for the hair to grow a bit but we definitely get rid of them! May also be due to the fact that lots of old paintings represent naked voluptious women who back then didn`t shave!
3. French people are lazy
Got to say I LOVE my holidays!!!
4. French people are rude
I think some are really rude but that is just like anywhere in the world, especially if you live in a big city. People are more nervous, stressed, impatient... None of my students ever complained about rude French people on their holiday there!
5. French people never speak English
People in Germany, Sweden, Finland, Denmark,... speak much better English! The French like French but some of them are also a bit stressed when tourists ask them for information in English.

More Aussie slang.

Match these and their meanings.

A.) bludger

B.) lingo

C.) ute

D.) to barrak for

E.) bitumen

1.) language

2.) support a sports team

3.) sidewalk /pavement

4.) someone who has no job

5.) flatbed / pick-up truck

Oh and if nobody tries to guess I'm not telling you the answers!

'av a go ya mug.

No help this time. Tell me what you think these Australian slang words might mean. I think these ones are pretty easy.

1. Brekky = ?

2. Arvo = ?

3. Uni = ?

4. Dunny = ?

5. Mate = ?

Drum roll please...

What does a clock do when it is hungry?

.

.

.

.

.

.

It goes back four seconds...


HA!

It stands to reason...

 (I couldn't find a good pic for this one.)

Stand to reason

v. phr. 

To seem very likely from the known facts. 

If you have a drivers license, it stands to reason you can drive. 

(I If you have a driver's license, 

you are almost sure to know how to drive) 

Joe is intelligent and studies hard; 

it stands to reason that he will pass the examination. 

(Being smart and a good students, 

Joe is almost sure to pass the examination.)

What Frozen character are you?

I am Olaf!!! Click on the following link to know who you are!

http://blogs.disney.com/oh-my-disney/2014/05/28/quiz-which-frozen-character-are-you/

Hello?

Recently it feels like not so many people are reading the blog. Is this true? If you like reading the blog and would like me to continue please click the "LIKE!" button at the bottom of this post. 

Thanks for your help. 

Phil

Eh?

More Aussie slang.

What does it mean?

"Give it a burl."

A.) Throw it away / Destroy it

B.) Try using it / Make an attempt

C.) Look at it / Check it

Doctor Who?

I know Halloween is now over but but I remembered this creepy nursery rhyme from Doctor Who 

"Whats that in the mirror? In the corner of your eye? Whats that footstep following? But never passing by? Perhaps the lot is waiting, Perhaps when we're all dead. Out they'll come a slithering, From underneath your bed."

 It is one of my favorite TV shows and NHK sometimes shows episodes with Japanese subtitles. It's good fun and not too serious.

Halloween

Gigi

 Kiki

 Fools!

Groot (Guardians of the Galaxy) & Maleficent

Harry Potter

Ruby Rhod from the 5th Element

Korra & Mako from Avatar

Spit the dummy

What does this idiom mean?

Spit the dummy.

A.) To vomit.

B.) To refuse something given to you.

C.) To become suddenly angry.

Boooooooooo.......

Click to enlarge.

A better history of English

Last one was a bit confusing. Click to enlarge.

Language family tree

Click to enlarge image.

Time for a swim?

 

In New South Wales lies the Hawkesbury River, home to one of Australia’s strangest cryptids.  The beast, known simply as the Hawkesbury River Monster, is a kind of aquatic lizard, much like the Loch Ness Monster of Scotland.  Descriptions of the creature liken it to the prehistoric plesiosaur, extinct for 70 million years. 

Sightings report that it is between 7 and 24 meters long.  It supposedly has two sets of flippers and a lengthy, snakelike neck and head.  The monster was first heard of by settlers in the 1800s, although there is Aboriginal rock art over 3-4000 years old in the area that describes the creature.  The settlers were told stories by the Aboriginals of woman and children being attacked by the moolyewonk or mirreeular, both of them Aboriginal names for the monster that lurks in the river. 

Much like its Scottish cousin, the Hawkesbury River Monster has gained significant attention from the scientific world.  Many hunters and crytozoologists have spent decades trying to locate and/or catch the monster. There have been hundreds of reported sightings, so the odds are the monster hunters will be scouring the area for many years to come.

Yara-ma-yha-who

 

In Aboriginal cultures, the yara-ma-yha-who was a little red man, about 4 feet tall, with a large head and mouth. He had no teeth and swallowed his food whole. The tips of the fingers and toes were shaped like the suckers of an octopus.

These creatures lived at the tops of wild fig trees and would capture their prey by dropping on unsuspecting passers-by who sought shelter in the tree. When a person camped below a fig tree, a yara-ma-yha-who might jump on top of the person and drain their blood with their hands and feet. Their victims rarely died from the initial encounter, but because the person was left in a weak and helpless state, the yara-ma-yha-who would return later and swallow the victim. It then drank water and took a nap. When it awoke, it would regurgitate the undigested portion of its meal, which, if the meal was a person, that person would still be alive.

Children were told that if they were unfortunate enough to meet a yara-ma-yha-who, they should offer no resistance, as their chances of survival would be better if they let the creature swallow them. If a person was captured on several different occasions, they would grow shorter with each occasion until they were the same size as a yara-ma-yha-who and they would grow hair all over their body. Eventually they would become a yara-ma-yha-who themselves.

No good deed goes unpunished

"No good deed goes unpunished"

 

An article I read in the news today reminded me of this proverb. It was a about a man who used an AED to save a woman's life but was then called a pervert for taking her shirt off to use the device safely and correctly. This is exactly why people are scared to help others nowadays.

Prisoners

While it was not at all a horror movie "Prisoners" is a good film for this creepy time of year. It is a mystery story about two little girls that get kidnapped. It looks at what is right and wrong, and how far someone would go to protect their children. Real people are much more scary than monsters.

4/5

I would have given it 5/5 but there are a few holes in the story.

Lame Pun Coon Returns!!!!!

Worst...?

Jokes about German sausage are the wurst.

PUN!

I tried to catch some fog, but I mist!

Yeeees?

 When I was a child my family moved to a big old two-floor house, with big empty rooms and creaking floorboards. Both my parents worked so I was often alone when I came home from school. One early evening when I came home the house was still dark. I called out, “Mum?” and heard her sing song voice say “Yeeeeees?” from upstairs. I called her again as I climbed the stairs to see which room she was in, and again got the same “Yeeeeees?” reply. We were decorating at the time, and I didn’t know my way around the maze of rooms but she was in one of the far ones, right down the hall. I felt uneasy, but I figured that was only natural so I rushed forward to see my mum, knowing that her presence would calm my fears, as a mother’s presence always does. Just as I reached for the handle of the door to let myself in to the room I heard the front door downstairs open and my mother call “Sweetie, are you home?” in a cheery voice. I jumped back, startled and ran down the stairs to her, but as I glanced back from the top of the stairs, the door to the room slowly opened a crack. For a brief moment, I saw something strange in there, and I don’t know what it was, but it was staring at me.

Eyes in the dark

Click to enlarge.

HA!

Click to enlarge.

Smile for me

 

I have a beautiful smile. Oh, how I miss it. This morning, I wake up and I smile at my bedroom mirror. I am disappointed at what I see. I kiss my husband, I send my two children off to school. I entertain guest friends. I show them all my lovely smile. But I look in the mirror and I do not see it.
“Are you ready?” Harry calls from the parlor.
“Yes, my love.” I reply as I clasp a string of polished pearls around my neck.
“Oh fantastic, the children are with Mrs. Knox, and the dinner reservations are all set for eight o’clock sharp.” Harry beams as he enters our bedroom. He crosses over to me and puts his arms around my waist and tells me how darling I look tonight.
I embrace him warmly. But suddenly I feel his arms stiffen.
“V-Vivian?” Harry stutters.
“Yes, dear?” I answer sweetly.
In horror Harry raises a shaking finger over my shoulder and points at the old full length mirror against the wall.
“Your reflection… it can’t be… is it staring at us?!”
I turn and see her there, gazing intently. She throws herself against the mirror. There is no sound, only deafening silence. Harry, help me! she mouths as she batters the surface with her fists.
I feel my eyes narrow at her. Harry looks back and forth between myself and my abhorrently perverse reflection.
My limbs begin to elongate and dear Harry’s blue eyes widen. He shrieks and struggles as I grasp him. My jaw detaches. My face contorts and splits open at my mouth, my teeth like shined and piercing knives.
Vivian claws at the mirror. She beats against it as I devour her hapless husband.
Perhaps now she will learn to smile for me.

A bad dream

“Daddy, I had a bad dream.”
You blink your eyes and pull up on your elbows. Your clock glows red in the darkness—it’s 3:23.
“Do you want to climb into bed and tell me about it?”
“No, Daddy.”
The oddness of the situation wakes you up more fully. You can barely make out your daughter’s pale form in the darkness of your room.
“Why not sweetie?”
“Because in my dream, when I told you about the dream, the thing wearing Mommy’s skin sat up.”
For a moment, you feel paralyzed; you can’t take your eyes off of your daughter. The covers behind you begin to shift.