To celebrate Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I thought I'd share our Star Wars inspired holiday card. This is from way back in 2007. Hanako (left) is Leia and I'm Amidala.

Hope you all have a great holiday!

Here's a link to the Origami Fireworks tutorial.

In the tutorial, they fold several sheets of paper at once, but I think it works better if you fold them one at a time. Fireworks make take several tries to build, but it's worth it!

For you movie fans: above my left shoulder is Ray Harryhausen's Ymir (poor Ymir!) from 20 Million Miles to Earth, and Gort from The Day the Earth Stood Still ("Gort, Klaatu barada nikto!")

Yesterday I watched one of the greatest silent films, _Safety Last, starring Harold Lloyd.

I’ve seen some of Charlie Chaplin’s films. My family used to go to The Cinefamily every Father’s Day to see The Kid. And I’ve watched several Buster Keaton movies (The General is my favorite.)

But I had never heard of Harold Lloyd, the third great American silent film comedian. After watching Safety Last, I want to see more of his films. Get it from you library or rent it online. It’s hilarious!

I’m an unpracticed speller. Why? Because of spell check! I have spell check turned on by default. Writing my first book, I let spell check fix everything. This time, I’m making a list. I'm going to learn to spell these words!

Here are some recent additions to the list:

• pageants (who knew it's “ea”?)
  
• solidifying
  
• cautiously (I get mixed up on some “tious” words...)
  
• physically
  
• riddance (as in “good riddance”)
  
• descended (… and “sc” combos)
  
• ominous
  
• monstrous (I keep spelling it “monsterous”)
  
• immediately
  
• vain (stuck up) vs. vein (in your body)
  
• stock (like soup) vs. stalk (like a plant)
  

If you want to see a great “spelling” movie, check out Akeelah and the Bee. Maybe I should get a jump rope!

I'm starting to get into TED talks (TED stands for Technology, Education and Design). Here's a talk by Julie Taymor, one of the creators of the Lion King on stage, my favorite musical of all time.  

In the video below, she talks about the challenges of doing anything creative, and how sometimes you have to just look at the line in front of you and keep moving. There are a few graphic images in the video, but it's a great talk.

In my June 29th post, I reviewed The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms. I mentioned that the movie was based on The Fog Horn, a short story by Ray Bradbury.

Today I read The Fog Horn, and I enjoyed it.   

The story takes place in a lighthouse. On a foggy night, Mcdunn and Johnny see something moving in the fog. When the fog horn moans its warning, something answers from “the deepest Deeps.” The story gets more exiting from there. 

You can find the The Fog Horn in the collection, The Vintage Bradbury. The story was first published in the Saturday Evening Post (1951). Here’s the original illustration from the magazine.

Read the story. It’s a lot of fun.

Today, June 29th, is Ray Harryhausen’s birthday!

To celebrate I watched The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms. This is the first movie in which Ray did the animations all by himself. The story was inspired by The Fog Horn, written by his old friend, Ray Bradbury.

The beast is actually a dinosaur called the Rhedosaurus that was frozen in ice for over 100 million years. I thought it was interesting that when the Rhedosaurus ate a policeman, it looked a lot  like the T-Rex eating Gennaro in Jurassic Park. Steven Spielberg is a big Harryhausen fan.

My favorite part is the ending. The Rhedosaurus is destroying an amusement park. The hero scientist and a sniper ride to the top of a roller coaster to get a clear shot. I wanted them to miss.

In 1953, it cost $210,000 dollars to make The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms, which is a fraction of what a monster movie would cost today.

Here a link to a little documentary about the making of this classic.