tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-79836061357287332022024-03-13T21:05:40.919-07:00Erin HowarthHi. I was a history major at Brigham Young University. I first created a page in order to publish <a href="http://erinhowarth.blogspot.com/2009/07/lives-of-african-american-mormons-and.html">my senior thesis</a>. Gradually I created more content depending on what I was interested in at the time. I enjoy publishing my research in this way. I hope you find something here interesting. Please email me to let me know what you think.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.comBlogger79125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-37374547398004934292014-09-07T21:31:00.001-07:002014-09-07T21:31:35.040-07:00SHE ASKED FOR IT.<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/dzwYptfRwTg" width="480"></iframe>Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-55702434058407936102011-03-07T23:28:00.000-08:002011-04-30T23:30:15.507-07:00My eighth belt testOn Monday 03/07/2011 I took my eighth belt test at KnK World Champion
Taekwondo in Scappoose, Oregon. I advanced from blue belt to brown
stripe (a blue belt with a brown stripe). It represents two full years
of taekwondo study. This time next year, I will be preparing for my
black belt test. This was my first belt test without Master Jason
Leitzke. He had been my instructor up until he enrolled in nursing
school in January. It was a little sad to test without him. Our new
instructor is Mr. HyungMin "Eric" Jun. Our test was scored as usual by
Grand Master Byong-Cheol Kim, but Grand Master Je-Kyoung Kim was not in
attendance. He has only ever missed one other belt test. I imagine his
schedule did not permit him to be in Scappoose that night.
<br><br>
My test began at 7 o'clock and included green belts, blue stripes and
blue belts. The white belts had tested at 6 o'clock and the yellow and
orange belts had tested at 5 o'clock. Our school doesn't have any brown
belts or red belts yet. We do have one black belt (first dan) and one
black stripe. He will test for his first dan next month. Sometimes
they attend our belt tests as assistant instructors, but they did not
attend tonight. There's been a lot of flu going around. I hope they
are not ill. Their absence made me high belt, so I lead the bowing
ceremony. It's pretty simple and easy enough. I just have to say:
"Attention, face the flags, bow. Attention, face the grand master, bow.
Attention, face the instructor, bow." But I have to say it all in
Korean, and I couldn't' remember the word for grand master, so I just
said the word for master. No one corrected me, so I guess I didn't
offend anyone.
<br><br>
We started with some jumping jacks and some stretching. Then, the
instructor asked the green belts and the blue stripes to sit down. And
the blue belts did some pushups, blocks, stances and punches. There
were only four of us: me; my friend, Heidi Peck, my eight-year-old
daughter, and her six-year-old son. We did our self-defense and
one-step sparring (which seemed to me a lot like a self defense move).
Our self defense move started with an attacker holding a knife on us.
We slapped the attackers wrist from both sides with our hands, causing
him to drop the knife. Then we jumped up, spun around and kicked him in
the chest with a back kick. Our one-step sparring moved started with a
bear hug from behind, we dropped to a bent knee position and trust out
our arms to break our attackers grip, then we placed two elbow strikes
in his ribs, jumped up and placed a back kick in his chest. We
practiced lots of back kicks in preparation for this test.
<br><br>
Our form this time was Tae Guk O Jang. It was a little complicated
because it featured lots of back fist strikes and middle blocks which
look almost the same, so it was challenging to perform them both
precisely enough to tell the difference. I had a little trouble keeping
my back foot down during all the front stances, but at least we didn't
switch stances constantly like in our last form. The form also features
a side kick with a punch. We've never done a kick and a punch at the
same time before, but the best part was the hop. After the last kick,
we hop forward, land in cross stance, perform a back fist strike and
yell. It's a pretty cool finish.
<br><br>
After our form, we lined up to kick a target. We did round house kick
and back kick, four each with each leg. Grand Master Kim complemented
me on my back kick. He said that I had very good form. I felt seven
feet tall. I've been working really hard, but my back injury has made
every thing very difficult these past few months. I think maybe all the
work I've been doing with my physical therapist to improve my posture
has made me a better martial artist. Who would have thought?
<br><br>
Then we sat down, I was a little surprised. It didn't seem like we had
done very much. The green belts and the blue stripes took the floor and
did their pushups, blocks, punches, forms and kicks. There were eight
of them: four green belt and four blue stripes. It seemed like they did
more, but maybe it just took them a little longer because there are more
of them. I remember Master Kim had a lot of praise for one little boy
who showed much improvement. He's a shy little guy that mostly just
tries to keep up by copying his brother. They look the same size, they
might be twins, but they are very different in temperament.
<br><br>
Their self defense moves included throwing their attacker to the floor.
Mr. Eric made a great show of falling very hard as usual, but two
students: Mr. Rob and Ms. J.T. move really very fast, so I'm not sure if
he was just showing off, or if he really did fall that hard. I tried
throwing my partner really fast like that once, and I dropped her right
on her head. Since then, I've been very careful about my self-defense
routines.
<br><br>
The next thing we did was to read our philosophies and our bad habits.
I wrote that my bad habit was eating junk food, but Master Kim
remembered that was my bad habit last time. I did not remember that, so
I tried to think of what it was last time, and my friend, Mr. Bert
reminded me that last time I said that my bad habit was spending too
much time playing video games - everyone laughed at that - again.
<br><br>
We all broke our boards without any trouble. Blue belts used an elbow
strike to break their boards. My eight-year-old daughter received a
trophy and a gold star for having an excellent attitude for the past
several weeks. I think all the children earned their trophies this
time. At the test, they did NOT have new belts for us. They have been
ordered, but they have not arrived. That's always a little sad and
frustrating and anti-climatic, but they did have two very exciting
announcements. First, they will be having four session of summer camp
at our school in Scappoose, so the kids can come and play taekwondo all
day long for $150 per week. They are even going to teach them some
nunchuk routines. Second, they will be going to Korea and China in
June. I wish I could go, but they need the money by the end of the
month, and even though it's only $3300, I just can't put it together in
time, but I have started a plan to get it together for next year. My
eight-year-old daughter is planning to raise her share of the money with
a lemonade stand!Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-36672480258139762532011-02-27T17:10:00.000-08:002011-02-27T17:12:06.607-08:00My Oscar Reviews 2010The Oscar Award nominations were announced on January 25, 2011, and so begins my annual quest to see as many as possible before Oscar Night. Fifty-six (56) films were nominated in 24 categories. On the day of the announcement, I had already seen 12 (23%). By the time the Oscar show aired, I had seen 34 (61%). I could have seen one more on iTunes, but I hate watching films on my computer.
<br><br>
The hardest films to see are always the shorts. There are fifteen: five short films, five short animated films and five short documentaries. Fortunately, the Hollywood Theater in Portland, Oregon shows the five short films and the five short animated films every year for the price of two tickets. This year I took my 8-year-old daughter with me. She had a great time. I don't know why they don’t' show the documentary shorts.
<br><br>
<ol>
<li><b><i>127 Hours</i></b>: nominated for best picture, best actor, film editing, best score, best song ("If I Rise") and screenplay. This is the true story of how one plucky young man goes hiking in the mountains alone and has to cut off his arm in order to get back home again.</li>
<li><b><i>Alice in Wonderland</i></b>: nominated for art direction, costume design and visual effects. It totally deserves all these nominations. It is a very beautiful film. Anne Hathaway was probably my favorite. Johnny Depp was also wonderful, but I really liked Anne Hathaway as the white queen. Her makeup, costume and acting were such that, at times, I wasn't sure it was her. And, I loved it when Alice appeared in her suit of armor. She looked just like Joan of Arc! (03/05/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Animal Kingdom</i></b>: nominated for best supporting actress (Jacki Weaver). This is an Australian film about a crime family. It starts with a teenage boy calling his grandmother letting her know that his mother just overdosed and died. He moves in with her and his uncles and tries not to get involved in their crimes, but he really can't escape. Weaver's character reminds me of Nurse Cratchet. </li>
<li><b><i>Another Year</i></b>: nominated for best original screenplay.</li>
<li><b><i>Barney's Version</i></b>: nominated for best makeup.</li>
<li><b><i>Biutiful</i></b>nominated for best actor (Javier Bardem) and best foreign language film (Mexico)</li>
<li><b><i>Black Swan</i></b> nominated for best picture, best actress, cinematography, director and film editing. I wasn't sure at first if I liked this film. The nail breaking scenes are really hard to watch, and the dancing is not filmed very well, but the story of this young ballerina's psychotic break is fascinating. The special effect when Natalie Portman's arms turn into wings was stunning! Mila Kunia and Winona Ryder were just as wonderful as Portman (01/23/11).</li>
<li><b><i>Blue Valentine</i></b>: nominated for best actress (Michelle Williams).</li>
<li><b><i>Confession, The</i></b>: nominated for best live short film. A boy is preparing to make his first confession. Something very bad happens. The boy seeks out his priest early, but he can't bring himself to say what has happened. The priest recognizes his anguish, and grants him absolution, assuming he knows the kind of thing he needs to confess. It was sad because the boy really needed to confess. The priest guessed that he needed absolution, but the boy seemed just as anguished. Confession is good for the soul. Absolution lures us to the confessional, but I might be reading too much into this. (02/20/11)</li>
<li><b><i>Country Strong</i></b>: nominated for best song ("Coming Home").</li>
<li><b><i>Crush, The</i></b>: nominated for best live short film. This is a lovely, light, humorous film about a second grader in love with his teacher. When he discovers that she is engaged to someone who is not good fr her, he challenges him to duel. When he shows up with a real gun, it gets very tense, but it all ends well. If you can find this film, I think you will enjoy it. (02/20/11)</li>
<li><b><i>Day & Night</i></b>: nominated for best animated short. This film plays as a lead into <i>Toy Story 3</i>. It features two characters: Day and Night. When they first meet, they don't like each other, and they quarrel, but as they spend a little time together, they come to appreciate what each has to offer. In the end, they get to switch places (06/18/10)</li>
<li><b><i>Dogtooth</i></b>: nominated for best foreign language film (Greece) . This film is very beautifully shot, but the story is so strange that I do not recommend it. It's about a couple with three adult children who have never been allowed to leave the house. They live in a large house with a large yard and a high fence. They have been taught that it is dangerous outside, and they will not be prepared to leave until they loose a dogtooth. There is no explanation for why the children have been raised this way. It's just weird for weirdness sake (01/31/11).</li>
<li><b><i>Exit through the Gift Shop</i></b>: nominated for best documentary feature. Thierry Guetta, a French immigrant in Los Angeles, is obsessed with film. He films everything. When he becomes interested in graffiti artists, he films them constantly, but he doesn't actually know how to make a film, so he leaves his footage with Bansky, the preeminent graffiti artist, and he makes some art himself. He's not very good, but he is very successful. (01/31/11).</li>
<li><b><i>Fighter, The</i></b>nominated for best picture, supporting actor (Bale), supporting actress (Adams & Leo), directing, film editing and writing. I didn't expect to like this film, and I didn't. First of all, it was boxing. I don't like boxing films. They always show the fighters all beat to hell. This film was not exception to that standard. The characters in this film were such deeply flawed individuals that it was just hard to watch, sad. The one bright spot was that Mark Wahlberg (who isn't nominated) is really very easy on the eyes, and his character is really quite likable, too. (12/17/10)</li>
<li><b><i>Gasland</i></b>: nominated for best documentary feature. Exploring the wisdom of replacing coal with natural gas. Apparently drilling for natural gas poisons the water table. Hundreds of thousands of wells have been drilled through the rural west. There are plans to drill in Pennsylvania and New York where millions of people receive their water from a single enormous unfiltered aquifer. I had to write my senator after viewing this film. (02/09/11)</li>
<li><b><i>God of Love</i></b>: nominated for best live short film. This is a very nice little film. A talented dart thrower prays to God for the love of a woman. Instead, God sends him a box full of magic darts. He tries to get the girl to fall in love with him, but it turns out he's a lot better at matching up other people. (02/20/11)</li>
<li><b><i>Gruffalo, The</i></b>: nominated for best animated short film. This is a lovely little film that maintains the language of the children's book is based on, narrated by a mother squirrel voiced by Helena Bonham Carter - perfectly charming - a bit slow of pace. (02/20/11)</li>
<li><b><i>Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1</i></b>: nominated for art direction and visual effects, and deservedly so. This movie looks great! It's probably the best installment of the franchise. I think it struck just right balance between details and pace, and I think Emma Watson steals the screen from her costars. (11/19/10)</li>
<li><b><i>Hereafter</i></b>: nominated for visual effects.</li>
<li><b><i>How to Train Your Dragon</i></b>: nominated for best animated feature and best score. This was truly delightful film. I have small children, so I see a lot of animated films every year. This was truly a bright spot. It's well drawn, but nothing fancy. The dialogue is very witty. My kids quote it constantly. And, it includes some really poignant life-lessons. The lead character is a young Viking who is very clever, but not very strong, so he doesn't really fit in with his friends. The people are deeply prejudiced against dragons based on a tragic misunderstanding. (03/26/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>I Am Love</i></b>: nominated for costume design. This is an Italian film starring Tilda Swinton. The costumes are a beautiful collection of Italian fashion, but the story is completely confusing. A woman with adult children falls in love (inexplicably) with her son's friend. When her son finds out, he freaks out, hits his head and dies, but she still runs away with her lover, abandoning the rest of the family in their grief. I don't get it. (01/25/11)</li>
<li><b><i>Illusionist, The</i></b>: nominated for best animated feature/</li>
<li><b><i>In a Better World</i></b>: nominated for best foreign language film (Denmark).</li>
<li><b><i>Incendies</i></b>: nominated for best foreign language film (Canada).</li>
<li><b><i>Inception</i></b>: nominated for best picture, art direction, cinematography, music, sound editing, sound mixing, visual effects and writing. This was a great film. It's about a spy who travels inside people subconscious while they are dreaming to steal corporate secrets, and just like the Matrix, I left the theater wondering if I was awake or asleep. (07/16/10)</li>
<li><b><i>Inside Job</i></b>: nominated for best documentary feature.</li>
<li><b><i>Iron Man 2</i></b>: nominated for visual effects. This film is a first-rate action film and a first-rate comic book film. It looks great. The story is solid. Robert Downey, Jr. is brilliant. I was disappointed that they had to recast the character of War Machine, and I thought that the villain was far less interesting than the heroes. Scarlette Johansen was delightful surprise. Her fight scene was totally cool. (09/28/10).</li>
<li><b><i>Kids Are All Right, The</i></b>: nominated for best picture, actress (Bening), supporting actor (Ruffalo) and writing. I was very disappointed with this film. It was billed as a film about two children raised by two moms on a quest to find their biological father, but it turned out to be about two middle-aged lesbians who had lost the spark in their marriage. It's nice to have something lighter in the best picture category, but the characters and relationships were not very convincing or interesting. (2/2/10)</li>
<li><b><i>Killing in the Name</i></b>: nominated for best documentary short.</li>
<li><b><i>King's Speech, The</i></b>: nominated for best picture, actor (Firth), supporting actor (Rush), supporting actress (Carter), art direction , cinematography, costume design, directing, film editing, music, sound mixing and editing. This is a beautiful story, beautifully told, well deserving all of its accolades, full of priceless moments. At the end of the story, I was struck by the fact that this man, King George VI, found himself in such terrifying circumstances: at war with fascist Germany, but the thing that frightened him most was the rather ordinary fear of public speaking. (2/5/10)</li>
<li><b><i>Let's Pollute</i></b>: nominated for best animated short film. This is probably the shortest of the short films. It's only 6 minutes long. Of course it is trying to discourage people from polluting by pretending to encourage it. My 8-year-old daughter was thoroughly confused, but the other adults in the audience with me laughed in all the right places. (02/20/11)</li>
<li><b><i>Lost Thing, The</i></b>: nominated for best animated short film. This was really charming - lots of imagination in this film. A boy finds a thing on the beach. It's alive but cannot speak. Its about 10 feet tall and 5 feet wide and very friendly. It looks something like a teapot crossed with an crab. Anyway, over the course of the film, he tries to find the thing a home. (02/20/11)</li>
<li><b><i>Madagascar, a Journey Diary</i></b>: nominated for best animated short film. I did not like this film. It started out interestingly enough: lots of beautiful pictures in lots of different animation styles, but it never stopped switching styles, so when it finally tried to tell a story, I kept getting distracted, but it didn't try very hard. This film comes off as a student showing off how many different ways he knows how to draw a film. (02/20/11)</li>
<li><b><i>Na Wewe</i></b>: nominated for best live short film. This film was terrifying - lots of tension and drama, but ultimately much ado about nothing. It is set in Rwanda. A military patrol stops a van full of people and tries to sort out the Hutu from the Tutsi. (The Tutsi will be executed). The comedy or absurdity of the situation is finally revealed as each person tries to explain their complicated family background. (02/20/11) </li>
<li><b><i>Outside the Law</i></b>: nominated for best foreign language film (Algeria).</li>
<li><b><i>Poster Girl</i></b>: nominated for best documentary short.</li>
<li><b><i>Rabbit Hole</i></b>:nominated for best actress (Nicole Kidman).</li>
<li><b><i>Restrepo</i></b>: nominated for best documentary feature. This film is about an outpost in Afghanistan. As a documentary, it doesn't really tell a story, but as a snap shop of the war in Afghanistan it presents our soldiers as completely incompetent. </li>
<li><b><i>Salt</i></b>: nominated for best sound mixing. This is Angelina Jolie as an action hero and everything that you would expect from that, no disappointments. The story is that Jolie's character, Salt, works for the CIA, and she might be a sleeper spy for Russia. Half the fun of the film is trying to answer that question: who is Salt? And there are several twists to keep that interesting. The film excels with disguises, so it’s a shame is wasn't nominated for makeup, but the action films always seem to show up in the sound categories. (01/30/11)</li>
<li><b><i>Social Network, The</i></b>: nominated for best picture, actor (Eisenberg), cinematography, directing, film editing, music, sound mixing and writing. This is the story of how Mark Zuckerberg invented facebook. It's mostly a character study. It's really, really good - a lot of fun to watch. Highly recommended. Don't miss this one. In the story there is a conflict between two characters about putting advertising on the site. Ultimately they don't put advertising on the site, but they never explain how they make billions of dollars with this website (02/12/11).</li>
<li><b><i>Strangers No More</i></b>:nominated for best documentary short.</li>
<li><b><i>Sun Come Up</i></b>: nominated for best documentary short.</li>
<li><b><i>Tangled</i></b>: nominated for best song ("I See the Light"). This is a completely delightful film. I can't imagine why it was denied a nomination for best animated feature (along with <i>Despicable Me</i>). My favorite thing about this film is that animal companions do not steal the scenes from the human characters, and the prince doesn't upstage the princess. She got to be the hero of her own story, and that is important to me. I credit the addition of John Lasseter to the production teams at Disney Studios to the superior quality of work coming from that studio in recent years (11/24/10).</li>
<li><b><i>Tempest, The</i></b>: nominated for costume design.</li>
<li><b><i>Town, The</i></b>: nominated for best actor in a supporting role (Jeremy Renner). This film is about a bank robber who falls in love with his hostage. Renner turns in a first class performance, and its fun to see films set in Boston. The story and the characters are interesting but not captivating. This is a great film to see, but it is not a must-see film. (02/15/11)</li>
<li><b><i>Toy Story 3 </i></b>: nominated for best picture, best animated feature, best song ("We Belong Together"), sound editing and writing. This was a very sentimental film. The toys' boy, Andy, is going to college, and they worry about being thrown away, put into storage, or donated. The great adventure surrounds their accidental donation to a day care facility and subsequent quest to return to Andy's house. It's the perfect conclusion to the greatest animated trilogy in film (06/18/2010).</li>
<li><b><i>Tron: Legacy</i></b>: nominated for sound editing. This film was visually spectacular, but I did not find the story, characters or even the world particularly compelling or interesting. I did love the way they were able to cast a young (12/17/2010).</li>
<li><b><i>True Grit</i></b>: nominated for best picture, actor (Bridges), supporting actress (Steinfeld), art direction, cinematography, costume design, directing, sound editing, sound mixing and writing. I liked this film very much. This is one of those rare gems in which a very young protagonist is very well written. Steinfeld plays a young girl who hires a Marshal to hunt down her father's killer in the Wild West. She delivers a spectacular performance, at least as good as Anna Paquin in <i>The Piano</i> (1993). I was also impressed with the way in which the west was portrayed as a very rough, no-nonsense place (01/23/11).</li>
<li><b><i>Unstoppable</i>: nominated for sound editing.</b></li>
<li><b><i>Warriors of Qiugang</i></b>: nominated for best documentary short.</li>
<li><b><i>Waste Land</i></b>: nominated for best documentary feature.</li>
<li><b><i>Way Back</i></b>: nominated for best makeup.</li>
<li><b><i>Winter's Bone</i></b>: nominated for best picture, best supporting actor (Hawkes), best actress (Lawrence) and writing. It was really good. The trailer had filled me with dread, but the fate of our heroine was not nearly as bad as I had imagined. This film is about a 17-year-old girl taking care of her 12-year-old brother and 6-year-old sister when she finds out that her father put up the house for his bond, and if he doesn't show for court, they will be evicted. She sets off looking for him, and she finds a lot of trouble, but eventually, she finds the truth, and the solution to her problem. (2/2/10)</li>
<li><b><i>Wish 143</i></b>: best live short film. This is a cute little film about a boy with cancer who makes a wish. It's a British film, so he's not talking to the Make-A-Wish Foundation, but a similar organization. What he really wants is to loose his virginity. What follows is hilarious and heart breaking all at the same time. (02/20/11)</li>
<li><b><i>Wolfman</i></b>: nominated for best makeup. This film really does have great makeup, and a great cast, and great sets, but the story is time-worn, and I did not find the characters compelling. I could not bring myself to care one way or the other about their fate. (02/15/11) </li></ol>Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-68138996671883700802011-01-10T12:47:00.000-08:002011-01-10T13:06:58.447-08:00Liberal AssassinsOn January 29, 2008, Ann Coulter said the following to Harry Smith on The Early Show (CBS): "… every presidential assassin -- or attempted presidential assassin in the history of the nation has either been a liberal, a communist, an anarchist, someone on the left…" (<a target="_blank" href="http://newsbusters.org/blogs/kyle-drennen/2009/01/06/ann-coulter-calls-out-cbs-s-smith-fearing-obama-assassination#ixzz1AeSQVwZm">News Busters.org</a>
<br><br>
I love this kind of historical generalization, and I've been meaning to do my own fact checking. This morning I heard about the attempted assassination of Senator Gifford (D, AZ), and I decided to finally work this out.
<br><br>
I obtained the following list of presidential assassins from <a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_United_States_presidential_assassination_attempts_and_plots">Wikipedia</a>. What I found even more interesting than the assassins political motivations was the fact that so many of them were insane. I was also interested to learn that many of them were not executed for their crimes.<br><br>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Lawrence_ (failed_assassin)">Richard Lawrence</a> attempted to assassinate Andrew Jackson on January 30, 1835. His politics are unclear. He believed the president owed him money. Lawrence was found not guilty by reason of insanity and confined to a mental institution until his death (26 years).
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Wilkes_Booth">John Wilkes Booth</a> assassinated Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. Politically, he opposed the abolition of slavery, so I think that makes him a conservative. He was shot and killed during pursuit. I think he is the one assassin who was not insane. I also think this is the one assassination that actually made a difference politically; although, not the difference Booth intended. Booth believed the death of Lincoln would inspire the south to rise up and keep fighting the war, but instead I believe it inspired the north to be particularly hard during reconstruction.
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_J._Guiteau">Charles J. Guiteau</a> assassinated James A. Garfield on July 2, 1881. Politically, Guiteau was a supporter of Garfield and felt cheated that he had not been appointed ambassador to France. Garfield was a Republican when Republicans were fighting to establish suffrage among former slaves, so I think that makes him a liberal. By some travesty of justice, he was denied an insanity defense. He was executed by hanging.
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leon_Czolgosz">Leon Czolgosz</a> assassinated William McKinley on September 6, 1901. Politically, Czolgosz was an anarchist. There is great debate regarding his mental state. He was executed by electrocution.
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_F._Schrank">John F. Schrank</a> attempted to assassinate Theodore Roosevelt on October 13, 1912: Schrank's politics are murky. He was opposed to the Roosevelt's attempt at a third term in office, so that might make him a conservative. He said that McKinley's ghost had told him to avenge his assassination. Schrank was found legally insane and was institutionalized until his death in 1943 (31 years).
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Zangara">Giuseppe Zangara</a> attempted to assassinate Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 15, 1933. He made several statements against capitalists, so he might be categorized as a communist. It seems clear that he was mentally ill, blaming Roosevelt for his chronic pain. Zangara was executed by electrocution.
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oscar_Collazo">Oscar Collazo</a> and Griselio Torresola attempted to assassinate Harry S. Truman on November 1, 1950. Politically they were dedicated to Puerto Rican independence. I believe this makes them liberals. Torresola was killed in the attempt. Collazo served 30 years in prison.
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Paul_Pavlick">Richard Paul Pavlick</a> attempted to assassinate John F. Kennedy on December 11, 1960. Pavlick's politics are also murky, but I believe he was a conservative supporter of Nixon. Pavlick served six years in prison and mental institutions
<li><a target="_blank" href=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Harvey_Oswald">Lee Harvey Oswald</a> assassinated John F. Kennedy on November 22, 1963. Politically, Oswald was a communist. His sanity was never examined thoroughly. He was assassinated in police custody.
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Byck">Samuel Byck</a> attempted to assassinate Richard Nixon on February 22, 1974. He believed the government was conspiring against the poor. This could be considered a liberal position. He was suffering from mental illness. He was killed in the attempt.
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynette_Fromme">Lynette Fromme</a> attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford on September 5, 1975. She was a member of the Manson family which qualifies her as liberal but mostly insane. She served 34 years in prison.
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sara_Jane_Moore">Sara Jane Moore</a> attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford on September 22, 1975. Politically, she was radically liberal. Her sanity was not evaluated, but her statements and actions are so inconsistent that she seems insane. She served 32 years in prison.
<li><a target="_blank" href=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hinckley,_Jr.">John Hinckley, Jr.</a> attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan on March 30, 1981. His politics are immaterial and therefore unknown. Since he attempted to kill a conservative, we might assume he was a liberal, but he also stalked Jimmy Carter. He was trying to impress a girl. He was found not guilty by reason of insanity. As of 2011, he has been incarcerated 30 years, but he is allowed unsupervised visits to his mother for nine days at a time.
<li><a target="_blank" href=" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Eugene_Corder">Frank Eugene Corder</a> attempted to assassinate Bill Clinton on September 12, 1994. His politics seem immaterial and unknown. Friends claim he bore no ill will toward President Clinton; he was attempting to increase his notoriety which calls his sanity into question. He was killed in the attempt.
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Martin_Duran">Francisco Martin Duran</a> attempted to assassinate Bill Clinton on October 29, 1994. He mounted an insanity defense claiming to try to save the world from aliens. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison.
<li>Robert Pickett attempted to assassinate George W. Bush on February 7, 2001. Pickett was found to have emotional problems and employment grievances. Pickett was sentenced to three years imprisonment.</li>
<li><a target="_blank" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Arutyunian>Vladimir Arutyunian</a> attempted to assassinate George W. Bush on May 10, 2005. His politics are unclear but he appeared in court with his mouth sewn shut, calling his sanity into question. Arutyunian was sentenced to life in prison.
<br><br>
My list of seventeen (17) presidential assassins includes eleven (11) with possible political motivations. Eight (8, 72%) of them were liberals and three (3) were conservative, so I will disagree with Coulter's assessment that "most" assassins were liberal. Coulter's original point was that conservative presidents (like George W. Bush) have more to fear from liberal radical assassins then liberal presidents (like Barak Obama) have to fear from conservative reactionary assassins. By my own assessment, I calculate that 14 (82%) of the above listed assassins were suffering from mental illness. I believe that the President is more likely to be attacked by a mentally ill person than a liberal. The questions of whether or not liberals tend toward mental illness at a higher rate than conservative or whether the mentally ill tend toward liberal causes more than conservative causes are questions for other bloggers to answers.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-44443161654822791822011-01-07T15:04:00.000-08:002011-01-07T15:06:12.307-08:00Tae Guek Oh JangThere are many sites on the Internet which offer instruction on performing the forms of taekwondo. They vary widely, partly because instructors refer to the same techniques by different names, but mostly because people just write things differently. I am intrigued at the notion that although we are all doing these forms exactly the same way, we are all talking and writing about them very differently. It's really easier to learn forms in class than it is to learn them from written text, but I think this is helpful. I wrote this out to help me study for my test, and I offer it up to anyone who might find it useful. If you note any errors, please let me know. Thanks.<br><br>
<b>Tae Guek Oh</b> <small>(5th)</small> <b>Jang</b> is represented by the symbol for wind.<br><br>
From the Joon Be (ready) position:<ol>
<li>Turn 90* to the left, stepping with the left foot in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Turn 90* to the right, returning to <i>ready position</i>, look left, and perform a <b>hammer fist</b> strike to the left with the left hand.
<li> Turn 90* to the right, stepping with the right foot in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Turn 90* to the left, returning to <i>ready position</i>, look right, and perform a <b>hammer fist</b> strike to the right with the right hand.
<li>Step forward with the left foot into <i>front stance</i> and perform an <b>outside-in middle block</b> with the left hand followed immediately by an <b>outside-in middle block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the right foot, coming down in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>back fist</b> strike with the right hand and an <b>outside in middle block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the left foot, coming down in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>back fist</b> strike with the left hand and an <b>outside in middle block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Step forward with the right foot into <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>back fist</b> strike to the face. <b>KI HAP!</b> (yell)
<li>Turn 270* to the left (so that you are facing 90* to the right) and step with the left foot in <i>back stance</i> and perform a <b>double knife</b> hand block with the left hand.
<li>Step forward with right foot into <i>front stance</i> and perform an <b>elbow strike</b> with the right hand (left hand holds right fist).
<li>Turn 180* the right and into <i>back stance</i> and perform a <b>double knife</b> hand block with the right hand.
<li>Step forward with left foot into <i>front stance</i> and perform an <b>elbow strike</b> with the left hand (right hand holds left fist).
<li>Turn 90* to the left and step with the left foot in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand followed by and <b>outside-in middle block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the right foot, land in <i>front stance</i>, and perform a <b>low block</b> with the right hand and and <b>ouside-in middle block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Turn 90* to the left without moving the right foot and slide the left foot forward into <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>high block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Perform a <b>sidekick</b> with the right foot and a <b>face high punch</b> with the right hand, landing in <i>front stance</i> then perform an <b>elbow strike</b> with left hand (right palm holds left elbow).
<li>Turn 180* to the right and step into <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b> high block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Perform a <b>sidekick</b> with the left foot and a <b>face high punch</b> with the left hand, landing in <i>front stance</i> then perform an <b>elbow strike</b> with right hand (left palm holds right elbow).
<li>Turn 90* to the left, stepping with the left foot into <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the right foot and leap forward into <i>cross stance</i> (left behind right) and perform a face-high <b>back fist</b> strike with the right hand. <b>KI HAP!</b> <small>(yell!)</small></ol>Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-34746505059077515672011-01-07T12:25:00.001-08:002011-01-07T12:28:50.311-08:00Farmville Tips: Breeding Cattle & HorsesWeek 37: I finally have a permanent stallion! It wasn't difficult filling my five dairy barns with bulls. It's harder to find lots of females to fill the barns, but I've finally got a permanent stallion for my stable, so I've decided to get serious (sort of) about breeding cattle and horses. <br><br>
Horses:<br>
I don't have any truly exotic breeds, but I've decided to concentrate on breeding cream draft horses because they are pretty and they seem to me the rarer of the two possible horses I can raise in my nursery barn. Light blue ponies and cream draft mini horses are also interesting, so if come across any of those, I'll put them in the nursery barn, too.
<br><br>
My stable holds 40 horses, 39 mares and 1 stallion. My goal is to fill it with 13 cream draft horses, 13 light blue ponies and 13 cream mini horses. I will get these animals from my Nursery Barn. Because it takes so long to grow a foal into a horse in the nursery barn, I don't want to waste time rearing breeds I don't want, so the only foals I can put in my nursery barn are the breeds that will grow into cream draft horses, light blue ponies or cream mini horses. Those breeds are: <b>cream draft foals</b> (of course), <b>Clydesdale foals</b>, <b>Percheron foals</b>, <b>all ponies</b> and <b>all mini horses</b>.
<br><br>
I don't want to put in any brown foals, black foals, gray foals, white foals or any other foals because they all grow up to be black horses.
<br><br>
Cattle:<br>
All calves will grow up to be Holstein cows or chocolate cows. Holsteins earn 12 coins per day. Chocolate cows earn 80 coins per day. My plan is to only raise the following calves in the nursery barn: <b>fan calf</b>, <b>green calf</b>, <b>Kelley green calf</b>, <b>Neapolitan calf</b>, <b>pink calf</b>, <b>pink patch calf</b> and <b>Simmental calf</b>. Oddly, the chocolate calf does not grow up to be a chocolate cow, but my chocolate cows will breed chocolate calves, so cattle breeding is not as sustaining as horse breeding. In order to produce one of the calves listed above, I need to purchase "special" cows.
<br><br>
Multiple Harvests per day:<br>
I think I finally figured out how to harvest my stable more than once a day and it is simply this: fill up the stable, keep a few extra horses outside the stable. When you arrive on your farm, the stable will be ready to harvest because the stable is ready every 23 hours. Harvest the stable, share the newborn foal with your neighbors. Then, remove one horse from the stable (not the stallion), and place another horse in the stable. The other horse must be at least 34% ready. Horses are 100% ready in three days, so if you play once a day, they should be about 34% ready when you arrive on your farm. When this one horse enters the stable, the entire stable will be ready to harvest again. I haven't actually tried it yet, but I keep reading about it, and think this is what the writers are trying to describe.
<br><br>
This same trick can be duplicated with the dairy barns.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-72312279041803107722010-12-27T10:40:00.000-08:002011-01-04T12:19:31.444-08:00My Oscar Reviews 2009I set a goal for myself to watch all the films nominated for an Oscar last year (2009). The year is almost over. The Golden Globe nominations were announced 12/14/2010. The Screen Actors Guild Awards were announced 12/16/2010. The Oscar nominations will be announced 01/25/2011. As of 12/27/10, I have seen 52/58 of the nominated films, that's 90%. I know I can get at least one more of the remaining six (<i>Which Way Home</i>). I might be able to see two others, but it is highly doubtful. Here I've written a brief (100 words or less) review of each film. They are listed in alphabetical order in case you want to find a particular film. The date in parenthesis is the date I saw the film. The most recently written reviews are underlined.
<ol>
<li><b><i>Ajami</i></b> was nominated for Best Foreign Film (Israel). It is the story of two brothers in Tel Aviv. The film is divided into five stories. The stories all connect at different points. That was interesting, but the theme of the stories was desperately depressing that I cannot recommend this film unless you are deeply curious about life in Israel. (11/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Avatar</i></b> was nominated for Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Score, Best Picture, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. It's a great show. It lives up to its hype. The animation is extraordinary, but the story is not original. I've seen it at least three times, and I thought the science fiction was a bit weak. The avatars and the ponytails were cool, but I thought the end was bit anticlimactic. (01/10/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>The Blind Side</i></b> starring Sandra Bullock was nominated for Best Actress and Best Picture. It's the true story of a woman who adopts a homeless boy who becomes a big shot in the NFL. I love stories like this. The woman was a real hero who made a real difference. I hope I have that kind of bravery. Sandra Bullock is a very popular actress, but this is her first nomination. I love seeing <i>popular</i> celebrities achieve <i>critical</i> and <i>professional</i> acclaim. (c. 11/20/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Bright Star</i></b> was nominated for Best Costumes. It has great costumes, and a character to point out their greatness. The pace of the story is uneven, but if you like John Keats, you should not miss this film. It's about his love affair with Fanny Braun. If you don't know Keats, you might appreciate knowing that he died young and unappreciated. I love period films. They're like time machines. Still, I remained perplexed by the lives and lifestyle of 19th century English gentry. (02/06/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Burma VJ</i></b> was nominated for Best Documentary. (It lost to <i>The Cove</i>.) It is about the video journalists who documented the popular uprising against the ruling military regime in Burma in September 2007. They did all of their work with hand held cameras and smuggled their images out of the country at great personal risk. Although the uprising was ultimately unsuccessful, and many of the video journalists were imprisoned, their work has inspired more Burmese to document what is happening in their country. (06/11/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province</i></b> was nominated for Best Documentary Short.</li>
<li><b><i>Coco Before Chanel</i></b> was nominated for Best Costumes. It's about the most famous designer of all time. At nine, her father left her in an orphanage. At 18, she worked as a seamstress and a singer. She follows a man to Paris where she meets another man who helps her open a hat shop. Her clothes are stunningly revolutionary. She wears a lot of black and no corsets. It is a beautiful film. I highly recommend it. (03/05/2010) </li>
<li><b><i>Coraline</i></b> was nominated for Best Animated Feature. It's a stop-motion animated film made right here in Oregon. It looks a little like <i>The Nightmare Before Christmas</i>. It's also set in Oregon which is super-fun for me. Coraline is tricked and abducted by some kind of witch, and she must use her wits to escape. It's really creepy, but my kids love it, too. It actually provided an opportunity for some good discussions - highly recommended. (c. 07/21/2009)</li>
<li><b><i>The Cove</i></b> was nominated for Best Documentary Feature. Free Willy and the subsequent mission to actually free Keiko, the whale who performed in that film, made me aware of the evil that is Sea World. This film is about that industry (captive sea mammals as entertainment). It is also about the systematic slaughter of dolphin as vermin which makes no kind of sense whatsoever. The horror is truly heart breaking. It's time to save the whales - again. (02/20/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Crazy Heart</i></b> starring Jeff Bridges and Maggie Gyllenhaal was nominated for Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Song. It's fictional biography of a country singer. Predictably, he neglects his family and abuses drugs. I thought it honestly portrayed his drunkenness as worse some times than other. His rock bottom was interesting: he lost his girlfriend's four-year-old boy. He leaves the area and can't give security much information. They find him anyway. All's well that ends well, but he finally checks into rehab. (03/01/2010) </li>
<li><b><i>District 9</i></b> was nominated for Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Visual Effects and Best Screenplay. I really loved it right up until the South African betrayed the alien, then I disconnected, and I didn't care what happened for awhile. I found the scenes where they are experimenting on the South African to absolutely disturbing. They will stick with me for a long time. (12/31/2009)</li>
<li><b><i>Il Divo</i></b> was nominated for Best Makeup. I don't recommend this film unless you are familiar with the subject: a seven-term president of Italy with connections to the mob. The film seemed to serve as (beautiful) illustrations for a story which its target audience already knows. I am clearly not a member of its target audience. I was pretty bored. (02/07/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>The Door</i></b> was nominated for Best Live Short. It is an Irish film but everyone speaks Russian. The film opens with a man sneaking around, breaking in, and stealing a door. Later we learn that it was his own door he was stealing. He had to abandon his house, but he wanted the door for his daughter's funeral. His daughter died of radiation poisoning following the Chernobyl accident. It's a terribly sad story. (02/25/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>An Education</i></b> starring Carey Mulligan was nominated for Best Actress, Best Screenplay and Best Picture. Mulligan reminded me of Audrey Hepburn. She was enchanting. The story is about a young student in the 1960s trying to get into Oxford when she falls in love with an older man. She has to choose between her man and her education. I think the film did a very sloppy job of answering that question. What do you think? Why do women need a university education? (03/02/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>El Secreto de Sus Ojos</i></b> was nominated for Best Foreign Film (Argentina). This is film is two stories told out of sequence: that sounds like the sort of thing that would normally annoy me, but I think they did it very well, and I liked it very much. The first is the story of a murder and the investigation. The second is the story of the investigator and his infatuation with his boss. It's a great film. I particularly liked the character of the grieving widower. He puts forth a convincing argument for a life sentence over the death penalty. (11/30/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Fantastic Mr. Fox</i></b> was nominated for Best Animated Feature. It is stop-motion animation (like Coraline), but it never really drew me into the story. The characters are all a bit odd, and I just kept noticing the film-making. The way the animals' fur moved reminded me of the old Rudolf cartoons from the 1970s. (02/07/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Food, Inc</i></b> was nominated for Best Documentary Feature. It was very enlightening, better than <i>Super-size Me</i>, much better than <i>King Corn</i>. I was very surprised to learn that the USDA has lost the authority to shut down meat packing plants that fail their quality control tests. I was also surprised to learn how many children die from e. coli poisoning in the ground beef that they eat. It's an important film. I hope the Oscar nomination gets it watched by lots and lots of people. (02/03/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>French Roast</i></b> was nominated for Best Animated Short. I saw it on You Tube. I liked it VERY much. The images were interesting and the characters were charming. The filmmaker employed this very clever device where a mirror on the wall behind the main characters allowed us to see what they were looking at without changing the camera angles, but the thing that really made me fall in love with the film was the message was at the end. (02/24/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty</i></b> was nominated for Best Animated Short. I saw it on You Tube. It's cute and clever. Granny comes in to tell her granddaughter a bedtime story. She starts telling the story of Sleeping Beauty, but she identifies with the bad fairy. It turns out to be quite a statement about being nice to the elderly. In the end she leaves her granddaughter quite terrified. It's pretty funny. (02/24/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince</i></b> was nominated for Best Cinematography. I was disappointed that the filmmakers didn't tell more of Voldemort's story in this film. I think we needed more dialogue between Dumbledore and Harry following his views of selected memories. I loved the bits about the love triangle. Some people think that was the wrong place to focus, and maybe they are right. The Cinematography nomination is well-served. There are some really great shots in this film. (c. 07/15/2009)</li>
<li><b><i>The Hurt Locker</i></b> starring Jeremy Renner was nominated for Best Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Score, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing, Best Screenplay, Best Picture and Best Director. It is the story of a soldier who disarms bombs in Iraq. He is really good at his job, but sometimes he seems very reckless and stupid, and sometimes he seems very brave and noble. The pace of the film is quite uneven, but I really liked the ending. (02/15/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus</i></b> was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Costumes. It really is a very beautiful film. I didn't find it at all confusing as other reviewers. Dr. P sets himself up as a sideshow and people may enter his imagination for a small fee. Even though the imaginarium is a <i><b>wondrous</b></i> place, his business is failing until his troop rescues Heath Ledger who seems a hero before revealing himself a villain. (05/19/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>In the Loop</i></b> was nominated for Best Screenplay. I did not like this film. It a political comedy about how government operatives in the United States and Great Britain try to stop the invasion of Iraq. Of course they fail miserably, and they end up miserable, so how is that funny? It did make me feel a little bit better about the so-called office politics where I work. We are complete amateurs compared to the characters in this film. (03/11/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Inglorious Basterds</i></b> starring Christopher Walz was nominated for Best Supporting Actor, Best Cinematography, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Picture, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Screenplay. The pace is uneven. It begins as an action film with Jewish American soldiers terrorizing the Nazis in France. Then it becomes a French film about a Jewish woman who accidentally catches the favor of a German war hero. When the stories converge the French story ends tragically and the American story ends triumphantly - typical. (c. 08/21/2009)</li>
<li><b><i>Instead of Abracadabra</i></b> was nominated for Best Live Short. It is a Swedish film. This film is about a young twenty-something magician, still living with his parents, trying to impress the new girl next door. It's very funny. The lead actor does awkward super geek to perfection. It's almost painful to watch. It is quite reminiscent of <i>Napoleon Dynamite</i> (02/25/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Invictus</i></b> starring Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon was nominated for Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor. It is the story of South Africa winning the rugby world cup shortly after Mandela was elected president. It is very much like other sports movies, very exciting and very sentimental. It made me cry. The setting of this film is unique. I came away with a better understanding of who Nelson Mandela was - quite extraordinary. Unless you really hate sports movies, I highly recommend this film. (03/04/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Julie & Julia</i></b> starring Meryl Streep was nominated for Best Actress. This film is based on two true stories. It is the story of Julia Child's life in France and how she accidentally became a first class chef. The love story between her and her husband is really very charming. The other story is about a girl named Julie living in New York just after the September 2001 attacks (more historical context). She distracts herself by cooking every recipe in Julia Child's cookbook. (c. 12/08/2009)</li>
<li><b><i>Kavi</i></b> was nominated for Best Live Action Short. It is about a little boy in India who is forced to make bricks all day with his mother and father. His father owes the kiln owner a lot of money, so he has effectively been sold into slavery. It' was hard for me to watch the abuses laid on this sweet boy, but he managed his escape in the end. The closing credits listed the film as part of someone's MFA. (02/25/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>The Lady and the Reaper</i></b> was nominated for Best Animated Short. I saw it on You Tube. It is very cute. I don't think that it was the animator's intention to make any kind of a statement about the right to die, but it did leave questions and worries in my head. I don't believe that doctors really try to revive older people over and over again as depicted in this film. (02/24/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner</i></b> was nominated for Best Documentary Short.</li>
<li><b><i>The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant</i></b> was nominated for Best Documentary Short. This film was a little hard to find. It was made by HBO films, and I was finally able to buy a copy from Amazon.com. What I found most interesting was that the plant was closed in spite of having one of the highest efficiency ratings in the whole company. It was closed because sales were down of the particular truck they made. I find it incomprehensible that factories are built to make only one thing, and then when we want to build something else, we have to build a whole different factory.</li>
<li><b><i>The Last Station</i></b> starring Christopher Plummer and Helen Mirren was nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress. It is about the last year of the life of Leo Tolstoy. The title refers to the last train station on the Russian border. Tolstoy and his wife were obviously in love with each other, but they had grown to want different things. The countess wanted financial stability and security. Tolstoy wanted to improve the lives of all Russians. It seemed so tragic that I just cried and cried. (03/01/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Logorama</i></b> was nominated for Best Animated Short, and it was preceded by an advisory warning of foul language and violence. There were lots of bad words. The most violent thing I think was when a man kicked a child in the head. The animation seemed really unique to me. Everything was a logo: the people, the landscape, the buildings and vehicles. The story was a car chase. The police were played by Michelin tire men and the villain was Ronald McDonald. (02/25/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>The Lovely Bones</i></b> starring Stanley Tucci was nominated for Best Supporting Actor. It's about a young girl who is gruesomely murdered (off screen). Surprisingly, the message of the film turns out to be how the dead cope with death, which I think is really very interesting. It might have been more interesting if I hadn't been so distracted by the other two stories: how the survivors deal with their loss and how the bad guy gets away with it. (01/31/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>A Matter of Loaf and Death</i></b> was nominated for Best Animated Short. It is a British film starring Wallace and Grommit. They have a new business now as bakers but there is someone in town that is killing bakers. Of course Wallace meets her right away and Grommitt is unsuccessful in his attempts to convince him that she's no good - a very nice little film with some very witty dialogue. (02/25/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>The Messenger</i></b> starring Woody Harrelson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor and Best Screenplay. This film is about a wounded soldier assigned to perform notifications to the next of kin following the deaths of soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's quite dull, but I'm really very glad I saw this film because my father told me that he was assigned to this same duty when he finished his tour in Vietnam. He says it was the worst or hardest duty he had ever been asked to perform. I wish we had seen the film together. (06/12/2010) </li>
<li><b><i>Miracle Fish</i></b> was nominated for Best Live Short. It is about a boy in Australia with a toy fish that predict your future. After a nap in the nurse's station he wakes up to an empty school. The little actor who plays the boy is super cute and a joy to watch. Eventually we learn why the school is empty and the boy shows enormous resilience in his ability to handle the situation. (02/25/2010)</li>
<li><u><b><i>The Milk of Sorrow</i></b> was nominated for Best Foreign Film (Peru) The title comes from the belief that mothers under stress transfer their fear to their nursing babies. The main character's mother was raped by Shining Path, and although she is now safely in Lima, she is still afraid of everything. For example, she keeps a potato in her vagina to ward off rapists. Her mother dies in the opening and she spends the rest of the film trying to secure her burial. Along the way she is cruelly cheated by a rich, white woman, but she triumphs in the end. (12/27/2010)</u></li>
<li><b><i>The Most Dangerous Man in America</i></b> was nominated for Best Documentary. This is my favorite film, so I'm allowing myself more than 350 words for this review. This film is about Daniel Ellsberg who leaked the Pentagon Papers to the press in an attempt to bring an end to the Vietnam War. I learned a lot; for example, all five presidents lied to the public about American involvement in Vietnam, just because no one wanted to be the guy who lost the war.
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A memo from the Defense Department under the Johnson Administration listing the reasons for American persistence: 10% - to permit the people [of South Vietnam] to enjoy a better, freer way of life - 20% - to keep [South Vietnam] (and the adjacent) territory from Chinese hands - 70% - to avoid a humiliating U.S. defeat - ALSO - to emerge from the crisis without unacceptable taint from methods used - NOT - to 'help a friend'. American soldiers are willing to die to preserve another's freedom. They are not willing to die to preserve another's pride.
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In the end, the leak of the Pentagon Papers did not contribute to the end of the Vietnam War, but the leak did strengthen our First Amendment right to freedom of the press as the Supreme Court had to make a decision regarding the injunction to stop the New York Times from publishing the Papers. The leak also prompted Nixon to do one more illegal thing that got him caught and impeached - which was a good thing - I think that man hated the Constitution more than anybody since Jackson.
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Daniel Ellsberg was arrested for treason, but the government's case was so full of irregularities that the judge declared a mistrial. He was released on his own reconnaissance. He was not acquitted, but the film included clips of him protesting the war in Iraq, and I think that is the happy ending. In spite of the obvious and horrible levels of corruption, they were not limitless. Ellsberg was not imprisoned or tortured or murdered as he might have been in some other country. (09/09/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Music by Prudence</i></b> was nominated for Best Documentary Short.</li>
<li><b><i>The New Tenants</i></b> was nominated for Best Live Short. Two guys move into an apartment and before they can unpack, their neighbor knocks on the door and asks for some flour. She tells them that the previous tenant was murdered. Another guy shows to collect his heroin. The neighbor returns claiming her granddaughter is sick. The heroin dealer kills her. The grand daughter shows up and kills the heroin dealer. Then she dies. The film had some very clever dialogue. (02/25/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Nine</i></b> starring Penelope Cruz was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction and Best Song. It is a story about filmmaker trying to make his ninth film. As he struggles with an idea he fantasizes about the various women he has loved throughout his life. Each fantasy was presented as a stage production. The hero is finally exposed as a villain. We are lead to believe that he finds redemption, but we only see his down fall. (03/04/2010) </li>
<li><b><i>Paris 36</i></b> was nominated for Best Song. It is a French film about a group of out-of-work singers and comics who open up a theater as a co-op during World War II. It's an interesting story which includes a love triangle, a murder, and some really great songs. It got to be a bit dull in the middle, but it had a really great ending, which I don't expect from French films. (02/22/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Precious</i></b> starring Gabourney Sidibe and Mo'Nique was nominated for six academy awards: Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, Best Screenplay, Best Director, Best Editing and Best Picture. It is the story of a seventeen-year-old girl who is pregnant for a second time by her father and how she escapes her abusive home. There are lots of heroes in this film including the alt-ed teacher and Precious but I was also impressed by the positive roles that the public school system and the welfare system played in her story. (03/01/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>The Princess and the Frog</i></b> was nominated for Best Animated Feature and twice for Best Song. It is about a young black woman in New Orleans in the 1930s, she has a dream of opening her own restaurant when she kisses a prince and turns into a frog. I thought the way they portrayed the racism and sexism from that era was totally appropriate for children. I loved this film. It was enchanting. I loved that it was 2-D cell-animation. (12/27/2009)</li>
<li><b><i>Un Prophète</i></b> was nominated for Best Foreign Film (France). A well crafted film to be sure, but I never connected well with protagonist, a 19-year-old French Arab convict sentenced to six years in prison. The film traces his transformation from an illiterate, tentative, naïve coward into a bold, brutal, cunning crime boss. I would have liked it better if it were only half as long. It's 2hrs 30min. (09/06/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Rabbit à la Berlin</i></b> was nominated for Best Documentary Short.</li>
<li><b><i>The Secret of Kells</i></b> was nominated for Best Animated Feature. This is a really beautiful film. The animation is quite unusual. Everything about the story is quite unusual. It is sort of epic in nature. It begins with a boy and doesn't end until he is an old man. It seems to be set in a monetary and there is significant disagreement over how to deal with an impeding invasion, but there is much magic at work as well. I streamed this film from Netflix, and I recommend you take a look. (11/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>A Serious Man</i></b> was nominated for Best Screenplay and Best Picture. I hated it. It's by the Coen Brothers, who I usually like, but it managed to offend me on several levels. This film was supposed to be about a man whose life spirals out of control due to forces beyond his control, but I was not convinced that he was trying. He seemed to me to be allowing people to mistreat him without protest. (02/24/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Sherlock Holmes</i></b> was nominated for Best Art Direction and Best Score. I don't think I've ever seen the great detective portrayed as a brawler before, but I really liked the way he described the injuries that he was about inflict upon his enemies. I liked the usual scenes of how he analyzes minute details. The chemistry experiments were cool, too. I was less interested in the villain. I thought he was kind of boring, but I will show up for the sequel. (01/10/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>A Single Man</i></b> starring Colin Firth was nominated for Best Actor. It's the story of a man mourning the loss of his partner in 1962. The period elements of the film are wonderful. He has been miserable for 8 months, and he has decided that today he will kill himself. He enjoys every part of his day as he sets his affairs in order. He is especially nice to people, and in the end, a new friend convinces him to live. I wish that were the end, but the very next moment, he dies of a heart attack - lame. (08/08/2010).</li>
<li><b><i>Star Trek</i></b> was nominated for Best Makeup, Best Sound Editing, Best Sound Mixing and Best Visual Effects. This movie was really beautiful, and I even liked the actors and the characters, but I did not love the premise. I don't want the franchise re-launched by creating a new continuity. If they wanted to create a whole bunch of new situations, why didn't they just come up with new characters, like they did for The Next Generation? How about a Star Trek series with lawyers, like JAG? (c. 12/28/2009)</li>
<li><b><i>Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen</i></b> was nominated for Best Sound Mixing. It was also nominated for the Razzie for Worst Picture. I did not love this film. It was fun to see Shea Beowulf and his costar again, but some of the Autobots were really annoying and the story line was mostly lost on me. I particularly detested the scene in which the mom takes her boy to college and accidentally buys some brownies laced with marijuana and then acts like a fool. (c. 12/28/2009)</li>
<li><b><i>Up</i></b> was nominated for Best Animated Feature, Best Score, Best Picture, Best Sound Editing and Best Screenplay. This is an absolutely charming film. I love the way they tell two short stories before the end of the opening credits and then tell another short story during the closing credits - very craft fully done. I also loved the way that the house floats like a parade balloon: sometimes they are weighing it down, and sometimes it is carrying them along. (c. 05/29/2009)</li>
<li><b><i>Up in the Air</i></b> starring George Clooney, Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick was nominated for Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress twice, Best Director, Best Picture and Best Screenplay. I thought it was really good, very unusual, and terribly sad. It is the story of a man who flies a lot for work. He likes this lifestyle because it keeps him disconnected from everyone. He comes to realize this is not a great way to live, and he tries to change his life. (01/16/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>Which Way Home</i></b> was nominated for Best Documentary.</li>
<li><b><i>The White Ribbon</i></b> was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Foreign Film (Austria). I did not like this film. It is set in Germany just before WWI. The children in the film are being abused, and they in turn commit horrible crimes against their neighbors. The message seems to be that violence begets violence, but it ending is so unsatisfactory that I cannot recommend it. (09/12/2010)</li>
<li><b><i>The Young Victoria</i></b> was nominated for Best Costumes, Best Set Design and Best Makeup. It is a stunningly beautiful film. It is also a very beautiful story. It begins one year before Queen Victoria's coronation when she is 17 years old. She is being manipulated by her mother and step-father. It tells the story of how she gained independence, power and love. It's really too beautiful to be true. I've got to read a biography of Queen Victoria.(03/02/2010)</li></ol>Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-11500870465102934072010-12-13T11:26:00.000-08:002010-12-13T11:31:01.308-08:00My back injuryI'm not really sure I should refer to my current condition as an injury. There was no incident of injury, but it hurts really badly, and it's different from any previous back pain I've suffered through. Usually when my back hurts it's because I strained it somehow, and the muscles in the lower back are in spasm. A lot of rest usually has me all fixed up, but this has been entirely different. The pain is localized primarily in the back of my hip around my sacroiliac joint, and it occasionally shoots down my leg. I've decided to document my experience here in the event that knowing something of my experience may be of some help to someone else.
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<b>Week 1:</b> A sharp pain around my sacroiliac joint had been pestering me on and off for a few weeks. It bothered me mostly when I was running laps at the start of my taekwondo classes. It was only occasionally annoying, so I just ignored it, hoping it would go away. By 10/14/2010, I decided that it wasn't going to go away without help. Assuming that I had pulled a muscle, I asked my taekwondo instructor for a stretch that might help. I took a week off taekwondo.
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<b>Week 2:</b> A week of rest didn't help, so I made an appointment to see my primary care physician on 10/19/2010. She prescribed some anti-inflammatory medication, some muscle relaxants and an x-ray.
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<b>Week 3:</b> The x-ray came back inconclusive, so my primary care physician ordered an MRI. The anti-inflammatory medication worked great, but the prescribed dosage diminished each day, and the pain came back, so my physician refilled it. I actually competed in a tournament 10/30/2010. I took first in sparring.
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<b>Week 4:</b> The MRI was a horrible experience. I had to stay very still in a very uncomfortable position for what seemed like a very long time. I guess it was loud and crowded, too, but I didn't notice. The results came back for a bulging disc, so my physician referred me to a specialist. The specialist turned out to be a surgeon, and he couldn't see me for three weeks, so I went back to my physician. She refilled my prescription for anti-inflammatory mediation and she referred me for some physical therapy.
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<b>Week 5:</b> I had my first physical therapy session 11/08/2010. It was pretty intense. The therapist was attempting to determine the nature and extent of my condition, so she ran me through a thorough series of tests which were exhausting and rather painful, but in the end she determined that my bulging disc was not the source of my pain. Instead she determined that the source of my pain was some tension in the nerve running down my leg and some instability in my core causing certain muscles to do jobs they were not really designed for.
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<b>Week 6:</b> I had two more physical therapy sessions. In the first (11/15/2010) she tried to bring more mobility to my joints. In the second (1/17/2010) she tried to help me build up some strength in my core. She taped my sacroiliac (SI) joint which helped a lot. It was great.
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<b>Week 7:</b> At my physical therapy session, I received an SI belt (11/23/2010) which did very much the same job as the tape. I was also counseled against doing any jumping in my taekwondo classes. I was told that jumping created too much compression on my spine, and I just needed to lay off a bit. I actually decided not to go to any classes this week. I was in too much pain, besides the school was closed for the Thanksgiving holiday.
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I also saw the surgeon this week (11/24/2010). It was mostly a very disappointing experience. He did not seem to consider the possibility that the bulging disc was not the source of my pain. He mentioned physical therapy as a course of treatment only once but not seriously. He really gave me three treatment options: (1) do nothing, it might get better on its own, (2) receive a cortisone shot to deal with the pain while it gets better on its own or (3) let the surgeon trim off the bit of the disc that is bulging. I told him that I wanted to go with the least invasive treatment first, and he agreed that was reasonable. He said he would call me in 30 days to see if I wanted the cortisone shot.
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<b>Week 8:</b> I had two more physical therapy sessions this week in which my therapist discovered a lack of mobility in my knee which was effectively making one leg shorter than the other - not good for core stability.
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<b>Week 9:</b> I arrived on Monday (12/06/2010) morning a little late and too sore to do very much real work. I was really worried about being able to perform at all during my belt test that evening, but my therapist was able to straighten me out and get me moving smoothly again. I was able to perform very well during my belt test, but I decided that I would take at least two weeks off to focus on my therapy. Later this week I fell which created an upslip in my hip, but my therapist was able to correct this as well.
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<b>Week 10:</b> After a full week off taekwondo (and no falls),I arrived for my session much less sore, and we were able to do more work. My therapist discovered that my pain had localized over just one vertebra, my SI joint and my knee. This was a sign of good progress. I also asked if she though I might be able to enter a tournament in February, and she said yes. I'm very excited about that - 54 days away.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-83596656792837493582010-12-06T07:58:00.000-08:002010-12-08T08:08:53.520-08:00My seventh belt test (blue belt)My eight-year old daughter and I have been studying taekwondo at World Champion Taekwondo in Scappoose, Oregon for 21 months now. Monday night (12/06/2010), we had our seventh belt test. We leveled up from blue stripes (on green belts) to <b>blue belts</b>. We are looking forward to taking our black belt test in April 2012.
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The morning of the test, I woke up really very sore. I was worried that I wouldn't be able to test. I've been battling <b>back pain</b> for about eight weeks, and it was really flared up this Monday morning. Thankfully, I had an appointment scheduled with my physical therapist, and she was able to straighten me out a bit. I was still sore, but a few hours seated in front of my computer at work, a little aspirin and a little ibuprofen had me moving smoothly by late afternoon.
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Our test was scheduled for 7:00 pm, but the two previous tests had each gone a bit long, so we got off to a late start. Master Byong-Cheol Kim and Master Je-Kyoung Kim were both in attendance to score our tests. We started with some calisthenics to warm us. He asked us to do ten jumping jacks, but my physical therapist told me not to do any jumping, so I just sort of hopped a little. After 20 pushups and some stretching, Master Jason asked us to sit on the floor with our eyes closed. I don't think he's ever asked us to do that before. One of his substitute teachers (Joon) had us do that in class once, but this was a first for a belt test. While we were sitting quietly, he told us that our test would be short but <b>intense</b>. He encouraged us to do our best and above all, to yell loudly (at the appropriate times).My guess is that even though we were starting late, everyone wanted to get home on time, but he wanted to assure us that our test would be worth taking and we would really be earning our belts.
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We started with <b>blocks and punches</b>. I think we did eight of each (four to the left and four to the right), but it was intense. Master Jason kept a quick pace, and we moved from one block to the next in rapid succession. We performed: low block, middle block, high block, and palm block down, palm block side, palm strike, elbow strike, c-strike, chop, reverse chop, single punch, double punch, three punches, four punches, five punches, ten punches and 50 punches. At the end we were getting a little horse, but I think some of us got louder as we noticed others were getting quieter. Good team work.
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Then we did <b>stances</b> with our hands behind our backs. We took four steps forward and then four steps backward for each stance: walking stance, front stance, side stance (aka horse stance) and back stance.
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Then we did <b>kicks</b>: front kick, axe kick, round house kick, face-high round house kick, circle kick, side kick and back kick. I had a little trouble with back kick. I couldn't quite work out how to get from the finish of the kick back into sparring stance for the next kick, but I was getting pretty tired by then. It was time to kick targets. We kicked the hand-held paddles. Eric held for my group. We did combinations: (1) roundhouse kick + round house kick + face-high round house kick, (2) front-leg roundhouse kick + jumping double roundhouse kick, and (3) ten roundhouse kicks. I probably shouldn't have done the jumping double roundhouse kicks, but I didn't want to be the only one, so I did them, and I was fine.
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Next we did <b>self-defense and one-step sparring</b>. The green belts went first. Ms. J.T. took Master Jason down really hard, twice! It was awesome! My group (the blue stripes) went next. I got my self-defense a little mixed up. I yelled before I punched him, but he just smiled at me. Finally, Jared, our only red belt performed his self-defense and one-step sparring with Dominic, our youngest black belt. They did great (as always), but then Master Jason had them do 30 seconds of non-contact sparring. That was new. We don't usually do sparring in our belt tests. Then, Jared had to fight Dominic AND Robert. Then, he had to fight Dominic, Robert and Eric, so he was exhausted when it was time to do his form.
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Jared did his <b>form</b> first. He did great. He was breathing heavily the whole time, but he did great. Then we (the blue stripes) did our form. I was so nervous. I hadn't practiced that day, so during the 15 seconds that I'm standing there waiting for him to tell us to begin, I was frantically trying to remember the first step, but I didn't forget anything. I was slow (as usual), but I didn't forget anything. Master Jason called out the stances as we went, which was really nice of him because he knew those had been giving us trouble. Finally, the green belts did their form. There are only five of them: four adults and a preteen. They always do their form so sharp. It's neat to watch.
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After forms, we lined up with our <b>boards</b>. We read our philosophies and our bad habits. The green belts broke first with hammer fist. Then we broke with chop. I wish we had practiced more. I knew that I was supposed to hit the board with the edge of my palm and not my fingers, but I failed to execute that move properly and I crushed the tip of my smallest finger. It only turned a little purple - not too bad.
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My daughter was the only one to earn ten black stripes this time and receive a <b>trophy</b> and a gold star, and she just barely squeaked by, earning two stripes a week for the past three weeks. There were fewer weeks this quarter than most, and my back pain discouraged me from helping her during most of the quarter.
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After the test, Master Byong-Cheol Kim approached me to compliment me on how much my kicks have improved. I felt about eight feet tall <grin>. We took a group picture, but we didn't have our new belts. That makes for a rather anti-climatic ending, but they should arrive next week.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-79806733128065139292010-11-20T10:01:00.000-08:002010-12-08T10:14:23.005-08:00Dominic's black belt testDominic has been studying taekwondo at World Champion Taekwondo in Scappoose, Oregon for at least a year now. Saturday (11/20/2010), he was finally able to take his black belt test. I was very pleased to be able to attend and cheer him on. I’m looking forward to taking my own black belt test in April 2012. I offer this description of the event to anyone who might be wondering what a black belt test is like.
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<a target="_blank" href="http://www.olympic-taekwondo.com/">World Champion Taekwondo</a> was founded by Grandmaster Byong-Cheol Kim, Olympic gold medalist, 1992. There are five campuses: Portland, Lake Oswego, Saltzman, Murray Hills, and Scappoose. The Lake Oswego campus is owned and operated by Master Je-Kyoung Kim, also a gold medalist at the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona. Students from all five schools attended this test. I counted 25 students testing for the 2nd or 3rd degree (dan) black belts certification; 24 students testing for a junior black belt (less than 13 years old); and 37 students testing for their first dan.
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I think that kukkiwon regulations: divide black belts (dan) and junior black belts (poom) at age 15, but our school draws the line at age 13. Technically, Dominic is 12.75 years old, but he tested for a "regular" black belt today. Anyway, there were about 87 students testing today.
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We began arriving at Reynolds Middle School in Fairview, Oregon at about 9:00 am. The test was conducted in the gymnasium. I was surprised they did not put down the mats. This is the same location that we use for our friendship tournament twice a year, and they put down mats in this room for that, but today the students tested on a hardwood floor. Friends and family were seated in the balcony. They did not set up the bleachers on the floor. This gave them a lot more floor space, but it made it harder for us to get very good pictures. A zoom and a mono pod would have been handy accessories.
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<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Dq-YiSc_isE/TP_J2bmfHgI/AAAAAAAAAE4/ET43q3v3wag/s1600/eighty-seven.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Dq-YiSc_isE/TP_J2bmfHgI/AAAAAAAAAE4/ET43q3v3wag/s320/eighty-seven.JPG" border="0" alt="Approximately 87 students prepare for the black belt test 11/20/2010, Fairview, Oregon" /></a>The test began at 10:00 am. Master Andrea led the <b>stretching</b>. Master Andrea received her 4th dan certification last May, at the same time our instructor, Master Jason, received his. At 10:15, they broke up into three groups: (1) those testing for 2nd or 3rd dan, (2) those testing for junior black belts, and (3) those testing for 1st dan. There was some small drama about getting Dominic into the right group. Technically, he was about 12.75 years old on the day of the test. His masters had agreed that he should test for 1st dan, but he divided himself up with junior black belts by mistake, but Master Jason remedied the situation quickly.
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From this point, it was really three different tests being conducted in the same room, and I mostly observed the 1st, 2nd and 3rd dan candidates. I couldn't really see the junior black belts from where I was sitting. They started with <b>endurance testing</b>. I had always thought of this portion of my belt tests as the warm up, but it was listed as endurance testing on the program, and it's basically calisthenics: jumping jacks, pushup, squats and crunches. I didn't pay close enough attention to note how many of each exercise they were asked to do, but I did notice one poor guy with sprained or broken wrist. He wasn't able to do the pushups, so he just kept doing more crunches. I'll be he wished they were working on mats.
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I was impressed that no one appeared to be doing <b>pushups</b> on their knees, but otherwise, I was not impressed with the quality of the pushups, even among the 2nd & 3rd dan candidates. Somewhere I got the idea in my head that a black belt ought to be able to do 100 pushups, and I've been working on that goal myself on and off for almost two years now. Most of the sit-ups I observed were VERY shallow. If I were ever in a position to suggest an improvement to the curriculum at World Champion Taekwondo (and I don't suspect that I ever will be), I would suggest bringing back the yellow stripe, and having it represent milestones in physical fitness such as pushups, crunches and squats.
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A ten-minute break followed endurance testing, and then the students drilled through <b>basic techniques</b>: punches blocks and stances. They finished this portion of the test with three sets of 100 punches. The first set was very impressive, the second set less so, the third set was a little pathetic, everyone was so tired that no one was pulling their punches all the way back to their belt any more. This might be another skill for me to practice as I prepare for my black belt test.
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The <b>kicking</b> drills were conducted much the same way as the basic techniques: lots of combinations. Dominic commented later that it was a little hard to hear and understand the directions. They finished this set with 100 front kicks.
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Another 10-minute break preceded the <b>sparring</b> portion of the test. We had been sitting in the bleachers for nearly two hours, so we were ready for a break ourselves. We went downstairs and walked out onto the floor and chatted with Dominic as he put on his sparring gear. The master instructed all of the students wearing glasses to remove them, and then they were paired up and instructed to demonstrate their skills without hurting each other (light contact). Master Jason commenting that he always negotiated with his partners in belt tests to go ahead and kick each other full force because light contact is boring. It was quite chaotic with 20 pairs of competitors kicking at each other, so they asked half of them to sit down. Dominic out-classed his partners in a big way. He loves sparring. He's small but quick. There was another 10-minute break after sparring for the students to change out of their gear.
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At this point it's about 12:30 pm. I'm glad I packed plenty of snacks because there was no lunch break. The next item on the program was <b>forms</b>. I was surprised that they included the basic forms. I had only expected to see the tae guk forms. I was also surprised to see them performed out of order. I will need a lot of practice to be able to do that, and some of the students testing appeared to be in need of bit more practice. To keep things interesting, they had half the students sit down at one point and watch the other students perform, and then they switched. Then, they had half the students perform one form while the other half of the students performed a different form.
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At 1:00, it was time for <b>nun chucks</b>. The poom candidates and the 1st dan candidates sat on the floors to watch because only the 2nd & 3rd dan candidates learn the nun chuck routines. It was something like forms, but they were only just numbered. They didn't have names. They just worked through a series of pre-defined movements. It looked cool. Dominic is looking forward to learning nun chucks. He will pretest for his 2nd dan three times in the next two years. I think he has to learn the first four routines for his first pre test.
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At 1:00 pm it was time for <b>speeches</b>. The masters previously asked four people to prepare a few words. The first speech was given by a 30-something woman who was testing today for her 1st dan. She described how she and her husband used to work out at different things until they started practicing taekwondo together. He was testing for his 1st dan today, too. Master Jason commented that he knew them when they first started, so I'm guessing they studied at Master Kim's Portland location on West Union Road.
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The second speech was given by a mother of one of the poom candidates. She described her son as "bouncing off the walls." It made me smile. That's how I got started in taekwondo: looking for something for my son. The third speech was given by a father who over came spinal injuries in order to practice taekwondo with his son. His son has been ready to test for some time now, but he's been waiting for his dad to test with him. His dad is currently a brown belt, so he's about a year away from his black belt test, but he convinced his son to go ahead and test today. The final speech was given by a black belt candidate who remarked how much he hates to exercise. I could really appreciate this. I really hate running for example. I used to like weight lifting, but he also commented how motivational he found the frequent rank advancements, and I had to agree with that, too. When my next belt test is only three months away, I'm very unlikely to slow down or take a break. Even the black belts pretest every six months.
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Finally, it was time for <b>board breaking</b>. It rather a long time to hand out all the boards. Each student had to receive their boards from their master, presumably because the cost of the boards was paid from the e testing fee which is paid to the head master of each school. This is perhaps an indelicate detail, but it's a detail lots of people need to know, so I will share with you that the belt fee for this particular test was $550.00. I'm glad I discovered that because my daughter and I will hopefully test on the same day, and that is not a sum I can come up with all at once, but a year is more than enough time to save it up.
<br><br>
<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Dq-YiSc_isE/TP_J2F2pT6I/AAAAAAAAAEw/fYMvoavK8mw/s1600/break.JPG"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Dq-YiSc_isE/TP_J2F2pT6I/AAAAAAAAAEw/fYMvoavK8mw/s320/break.JPG" border="0" alt="Dominic breaks two boards with one punch, 11/20/2010, Fairview, Oregon" /></a>Anyway, each student received eight boards. The poom candidates received thinner boards than the dan candidates. Students held for each other, and they seemed to choose their own breaking techniques. Dominic broke his eight boards with four kicks, two at a time. Master Jason had gone down to the floor at this point to help hold boards, and he had to make some special effort to hold for Dominic as others, trying to help, kept offering to hold for him.
<br><br>
The <b>closing ceremony</b> began with the distribution of new uniforms. These uniforms featured the familiar school logo on the back, but they also included the words World Champion Taekwondo on the pants in large red letters. To be more specific, the word World appears on the outside of the left leg, the word Champion appears across the back of the jacket, below the belt, and the word Taekwondo appears on the outside of the right leg. This led to some confusion in Dominic's family because from the back the students all appear to be labeled as champions. In addition, the 1st dan uniforms feature a single black line on the shoulder and on the outside of the leg; the 2nd dan uniforms feature two black lines on the shoulder and on the outside of the leg; and the 3rd dan uniforms feature three black lines on the shoulder and on the outside of the leg.
<br><br>
When the students arrived in their new uniforms, the masters called them up one at a time to receive their new belts. The belts were all embroidered with the students name and either the name of the school or the name of their master. I can't remember. There was also some Korean embroidery. The 1st dan belts included a single gold bar embroidered at the end of the belt, the 2nd dan belts included two gold bars embroidered at the end of the belt, and the 3rd dan belts included three gold bars embroidered a the end of the belt. I believe the poom belts included the same embroidery, but they were not entirely black. They were divided in half lengthwise and one half was red and the other half was black. I can't remember if the it was the top half or the bottom half that was red, but I do remember that those little kids sure were happy running around in their new uniforms and belts.
<br><br>
The final element of the closing ceremony was a group picture.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-43713363052726269462010-11-19T22:52:00.000-08:002010-12-08T10:22:53.528-08:00Tae Guek Sa JangThere are many sites on the Internet which offer instruction on performing the forms of taekwondo. They vary widely, partly because instructors refer to the same techniques by different names, but mostly because people just write things differently. I am intrigued at the notion that although we are all doing these forms exactly the same way, we are all talking and writing about them very differently. It's really easier to learn forms in class than it is to learn them from written text, but I think this is helpful. I wrote this out to help me study for my test, and I offer it up to anyone who might find it useful. If you note any errors, please let me know. Thanks.<br>
<br>
<b>Tae Guek Sa</b> <small>(4th)</small> <b>Jang</b> is represented by the symbol for_____.<br>
<br>
From the Joon Be <small>(ready)</small> position:<ol>
<!--1--><li>Turn 90* to the left, stepping with the left foot in <i>back stance</i> and perform a <b>double knife-hand block</b> with the left hand forward.
<!--2--><li>Perform a <b>downward palm block</b> with the left hand (from the belt), step forward with the right foot into <i>front stance</i> and perform a middle <b>spear-hand strike</b> with the right hand.
<!--3--><li>Turn 180* to the right and step with the right foot in <i>back stance</i> and perform a <b>double knife-hand block</b> with the right hand forward.
<!--4--><li>Perform a <b>downward palm block</b> with the left hand (from the belt), stepping forward with the left foot into <i>front stance</i> and perform a middle <b>spear-hand strike</b> with the left hand.
<!--5--><li>Turn 90* to the left (facing flags) and step with the left foot into <i>front stance</i> (left foot forward) and perform <b>open palm high block</b> with the right hand and a <b>chop</b> with the right hand.
<!--6--><li>With the right foot, perform a <b>front kick</b> coming down in <i>front stance</i> (right foot forward) and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<!--7--><li>Perform a <b>side kick</b> with the left foot, coming down in <i>horse stance</i>.
<!--8--><li>Perform a <b>side kick</b> with right foot, coming down in <i>back stance</i> and perform a <b>double knife-hand block</b>. <b>KI HAP!</b> <small>(yell)</small>
<!--9--><li>Turn 270* to the left (so that you are facing 90* to the right) and step with the left foot in <i>back stance</i> and perform a <b>forearm block</b> with the left hand.
<!--10--><li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the right foot (fists at chest), returning to <i>back stance</i> (left foot forward) and an <b>outside-in middle block</b> with the right hand.
<!--11--><li>Turn 180* to the right and find the right foot forward in <i>back stance</i> and perform a <b>forearm block</b> with the right hand.
<!--12--><li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the left foot (fists at chest), returning to <i>back stance</i> (right foot forward) and an <b>outside-in middle block</b> with the left hand.
<!--13--><li>Turn 90* to the left (back to flags) and step with the left foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>open-palm high block</b> with the left hand and a <b>chop</b> with the right hand.
<!--14--><li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the right foot (fists at chest) and land in <i>front stance</i> (right foot forward) and perform a <b>back fist</b> (from the belt) with the right hand.
<!--15--><li>Turn 90* to the left and step with the left foot into <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>outside-in middle block</b> with the left hand and a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand.
<!--16--><li>Turn 180* to the right and find yourself in <i>walking stance</i> with the right foot forward and perform an <b>outside-in middle block</b> with the right hand and a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<!--17--><li>Turn 90* to the left and step forward (toward the back) with the left foot into <i>walking stance</i> and perform an <b>outside-in middle block</b> with the left hand followed immediately by a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand and another <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<!--18--><li>Step forward with the right foot in <i>front stance</i> and perform <b>outside-in middle block</b> with the right hand followed immediately by a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand and another <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand. <b>KI HAP!</b> <small>(yell)</small></ol>
Wait for the signal, then turn 180* to the left (facing flags) into Joon Be <small>(ready)</small> position.
<br>Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-92097095637353252682010-09-17T10:20:00.000-07:002010-09-17T10:45:09.871-07:00Tae Guek Sam JangThere are many sites on the Internet which offer instruction on performing the forms of taekwondo. They vary widely, partly because instructors refer to the same techniques by different names, but mostly because people just write things differently. I am intrigued at the notion that although we are all doing these forms exactly the same way, we are all talking and writing about them very differently. It's really easier to learn forms in class than it is to learn them from written text, but I think this is helpful. I wrote this out to help me study for my test, and I offer it up to anyone who might find it useful. If you note any errors, please let me know. Thanks.<br>
<br>
<b>Tae Guek Sam</b> <small>(3rd )</small> <b>Jang</b> is represented by the symbol for fire.<br>
<br>
From the Joon Be <small>(ready)</small> position:<ol>
<li>Turn 90* to the left, stepping with the left foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the right foot (fists on belt), coming down in <i>front stance</i>.
<li>Perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand and another <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<li>Turn 180* to the right and step with the right foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the left foot (fists on belt), coming down in <i>front stance</i>
<li>Perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand and another <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand.
<li>Turn 90* to the left (facing flags) and step with the left foot into <i>walking stance</i> (left foot forward) and perform a <b>chop</b> with the right hand.
<li>Step forward (facing flags) with the right foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>chop</b> with the left hand.
<li>Turn 90* to the left and step with the left foot forward into <i>back stance</i> and perform a <b>single knife block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Shift into <i>front stance</i> by moving the front foot (left foot) and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand.
<li>Turn 180* to the right and step with the right foot forward into <i>back stance</i> and perform a <b>single knife block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Shift into <i>front stance</i> by moving the front foot (right foot) and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<li>Turn 90* degrees to the left (facing flags) and slide the left foot forward into <i>walking stance</i> and perform an outside-in <b>middle block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Step forward (facing flags) with the right foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform an outside-in <b>middle block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Turn 270* to the left (so that you are facing 90* to the right) and step with the left foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the right foot (fists on belt), coming down in <i>front stance</i>
<li>Perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand and another <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<li>Turn 180* to the right and find the right foot forward in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the left foot (fists on belt), coming down in <i>front stance</i>.
<li>Perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand and another <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand.
<li>Turn 90* to the left (back to flags) and step with the left foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand followed immediately by a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand.
<li>Step forward with the right foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the right hand followed immediately by a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the left foot (fists at chest) and land in <i>walking stance</i> (left foot forward) and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand followed immediately by a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the right foot (fists at chest) and land in <i>walking stance</i> (right foot forward) and perform a <b>low block</b> with the right hand followed immediately by a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand. <b>KI HAP!</b> <small>(yell)</small></ol>
Turn 180* to the left (facing flags) into Joon Be <small>(ready)</small> position.
<br>Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-16166167810384535802010-08-03T12:23:00.000-07:002010-08-03T16:42:39.651-07:00FarmVille Tips: Week 14<br>
I was having a lot of fun the other day buying goods and converting them into fuel and farming my little heart out. Then I noticed that my coin total seemed to falling rather than rising after each round of harvesting, plowing and planting, so I began to wonder just how expensive were these goods compared to the net profit of the crops I was planting.<br>
<br>
To answer that question I did some research online. I found a table that explained the cost of each level of crafted good compared to how much fuel it was worth, and I found another table listing the net profit of each crop. I left out the limited edition crops which come and go with each new theme. Those are usually very profitable, but this table is already quite unwieldy.<br>
<br>
In order to make the table easier to read, I left out my calculations. My raw data came from <a href="http://farmville.wikia.com/wiki/Seed">Seeds</a> and <a href="http://farmville.wikia.com/wiki/Sweet_Sake">Sweet Sake</a> at FarmVille.Wikia.com. I divided the cost of the good by the amount of fuel each good could buy, then I multiplied by three (harvest, plow & plant). Level 1 goods cost 33.3 coins per unit of fuel. Level 55 goods cost 21.3 coins per unit of fuel. I then compared those numbers to the net profit of each crop. The net profit of each crop was calculated adding 15 coins to the cost of the seeds (for plowing) and then subtracting that number from the yield.<br>
<br>
The crops are listed in descending order of profitability, that is, yellow melons have the highest net profit. I did not divide the profit by the number of hours it takes to grow the crops, that might make another interesting table, but right now I'm most interested in cultivating specific crops in order to craft specific goods, but I still want to make SOME profit, so this table suits my needs at this time. I hope you also find it useful. Crops listed in boldface are those required to craft goods in a 1-Star Crafting Cottage.<br>
<br>
<center><table border="1">
<tr>
<td><b>Item Level</b></td><td><b>Cost of Goods</b></td><td><b>Amount of Fuel</b></td><td><b>Crops which are still profitable even if you have to buy all your fuel at this price (XP Level)</b></td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 1</td><td>1,000 coins</td><td>30 plots</td><td>Yellow Melon (33), Broccoli (35), Red Wheat (30), Cabbage (27), Corn (24), Lavender (30), Watermelon (18), Potatoes (21), Peas (32), <b>Sunflowers (25)</b>, <b>Grapes (19)</b>, Yellow Roses (1), Forget-Me-Not (90), Lilies (35), Cucumber (43), White Roses (80), Ginger (42), Rye (21), Pineapples (15), Asparagus (37), Artichokes (6), Pink Roses (20), Cotton (9), Amaranth (76), Bamboo (60), Chickpea (10), Bell Peppers (11), Coffee (23), Agave (27), and Iris (45)</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 2</td><td>1,100 coins</td><td>35 plots</td><td>The above listed crops and <b>White Grapes (29)</b></td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 3</td><td>1,200 coins</td><td>40 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 4</td><td>1,300 coins</td><td>45 plots</td><td>The above listed crops and Onion (34) </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 5</td><td>1,400 coins</td><td>50 plots</td><td>The above listed crops and Basil (48) and Heirloom Carrot (57) </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 6</td><td>1,500 coins</td><td>55 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 7</td><td>1,600 coins</td><td>60 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 8</td><td>1,700 coins</td><td>65 plots</td><td>The above listed crops and Pattypan Squash (16) </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 9</td><td>1,800 coins</td><td>70 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 10</td><td>1,900 coins</td><td>75 plots</td><td>The above listed crops and <b>Peppers (12)</b></td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 11</td><td>2,000 coins</td><td>80 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 12</td><td>2,100 coins</td><td>85 plots</td><td>The above listed crops and <b>Carrots (22)</b>, Posole Corn (54) and Purple Pod Peas (40) </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 13</td><td>2,200 coins</td><td>90 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 14</td><td>2,300 coins</td><td>95 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 15</td><td>2,400 coins</td><td>100 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 16</td><td>2,500 coins</td><td>105 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 17</td><td>2,600 coins</td><td>110 plots</td><td>The above listed crops and<b>Green Tea (28)</b></td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 18</td><td>2,700 coins</td><td>115 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 19</td><td>2,800 coins</td><td>120 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 20</td><td>2,900 coins</td><td>125 plots</td><td>The above listed crops and Oats (53) and Saffron (64) </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 21</td><td>3,000 coins</td><td>130 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 22</td><td>3,100 coins</td><td>135 plots</td><td>The above listed crops and Red Tulips (15) </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 23</td><td>3,200 coins</td><td>140 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 24</td><td>3,300 coins</td><td>145 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 25</td><td>3,400 coins</td><td>150 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 26</td><td>3,500 coins</td><td>155 plots</td><td>The above listed crops and Acorn Squash (36) </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 27</td><td>3,600 coins</td><td>160 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 28</td><td>3,700 coins</td><td>165 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 29</td><td>3,800 coins</td><td>170 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 30</td><td>3,900 coins</td><td>175 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 31</td><td>4,000 coins</td><td>180 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 32</td><td>4,100 coins</td><td>185 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 33</td><td>4,200 coins</td><td>190 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 34</td><td>4,300 coins</td><td>195 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 35</td><td>4,400 coins</td><td>200 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 36</td><td>4,500 coins</td><td>205 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 37</td><td>4,600 coins</td><td>210 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 38</td><td>4,700 coins</td><td>215 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 39</td><td>4,800 coins</td><td>220 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 40</td><td>4,900 coins</td><td>225 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 41</td><td>5,000 coins</td><td>230 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 42</td><td>5,100 coins</td><td>235 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 43</td><td>5,200 coins</td><td>240 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 44</td><td>5,300 coins</td><td>245 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 45</td><td>5,400 coins</td><td>250 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 46</td><td>5,500 coins</td><td>255 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 47</td><td>5,600 coins</td><td>260 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 48</td><td>5,700 coins</td><td>265 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 49</td><td>5,800 coins</td><td>270 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 50</td><td>5,900 coins</td><td>275 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 51</td><td>6,000 coins</td><td>280 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 52</td><td>6,100 coins</td><td>285 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 53</td><td>6,200 coins</td><td>290 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 54</td><td>6,300 coins</td><td>295 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 55</td><td>6,400 coins</td><td>300 plots</td><td>The above listed crops</td></tr></table></center><br>
<br>
The following crops are not profitable if you have to buy all your fuel: Daffodils (8), Elderberry (39), <b>Sugar Cane (31)</b>, Tomatoes (20), Eggplant (1),<b>Morning Glory (13)</b>, Lemon Balm (50), Peanuts (1), Ghost Chili (26), <b>Rice (7)</b>, Soybeans (1), <b>Wheat (1)</b>, Clover (70), <b>Cranberries (10)</b>, Black Berries (29),<b>Blueberries (17)</b>, Lilac (4), <b>Pumpkin (5)</b>, Purple Poppies (38),<b>Aloe Vera (14)</b>, Raspberries (8) and <b>Strawberries (1)</b>.<br>
<br>
Another thing that surprised me about this list is that it doesn't seem to matter if you make your Level 15 good in a 1-Star Cottage or a 2-Star Cottage, so where's the value of leveling up your cottage. Well here it is: when you craft a good in a 1-Star Cottage, you receive 2 in your inventory, but when you craft a good in a 2-Star Cottage, you receive 2 in your inventory.<br>
<br>
The goods in a 1-Star Cottage start out as Level 1 goods, and you have to level them up a certain number of times before you can level up your cottage. The goods in a 2-Star Cottage start out as Level 3 goods, and you have to level them up a certain number of times before you can level up your cottage. My original plan had been to level up my first three recipes as high as I could and then level up my cottage and work on the next set of recipes, but now I think it's best to level up the cottage as soon as possible and start working on the 2-Star recipes right away. The 3-Star recipes are bound be even better.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-80949126682859057812010-07-27T09:52:00.000-07:002011-01-02T23:28:05.970-08:00Farmville Tips: Week 13<small>I didn't write any tips for Weeks 8, 9, 10, 11 or 12 (so don't waste any time looking for them). I still want to write about ribbons, but I’m currently obsessed with finding a queen bee.</small><br>
<br>
Beehives were introduced on 07/13/2010 (two weeks ago). It took me a few days (maybe a week) to collect all the materials to complete my beehive, now I need to find a queen bee before I can fill the hive with bees. I've been receiving bees as gifts, but I can't put them in the hive until I find a queen bee. Queen bees are a rare item. There is a 6% chance of finding a queen bee whenever you harvest or fertilize flowers, so I've been planting my whole farm in flowers for a few days now, but I haven't found the queen bee yet, so the quest continues.<br>
<br>
Last night (07/26/2010) I finally received my crafting cottage. This is going to be a rather complex feature in FarmVille. Inside the cottage, you can use bushels to craft goods. You can sell the goods to your neighbors for coins. Your neighbors can trade the goods for fuel (and other bonuses). By pollinating your crops (with bees), you increase your chances of finding bushels, so the bee hive and the crafting cottage and the farmers market all work together. I think that's what makes this part of the game a little complicated. I think I like complicated.<br>
<br>
My personal challenge is going to be collecting bushels from what I call the short-date crops. That is, the crops that must be harvested less than 24 hours after planting. I can really only plant these crops on the weekend because during the week, I can really only play in the evening after work, so here I've decided to create some tables listing the recipes for the goods and the length of time to harvest each crop. Boldface indicates crops which are ready to harvest in less than 12 hours (because they will start to wither in less than 24 hours). <br>
<br><center>
<table border=1>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td colspan=3 align=center>Farmville Bakery Recipes</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td colspan=3="7">1-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes which can be made in a 1-star bakery)</small><br>Preparation Time: 6 hours<br>Yield: 2 for sale & 1 for personal inventory</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84">
<td rowspan=2 valign=center>Pumpkin Bread</td>
<td>4 Pumpkin Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>4 Wheat Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84">
<td rowspan=2 valign=center >Strawberry Shortcake</td>
<td>4 Strawberries Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>4 Wheat Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Spicy Muffins</td>
<td>3 Carrot Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>1 Pepper Bushel</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>3 Ghost Chili Bushels</td><td><b>6 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66">
<td bgcolor="#FFFFF66" colspan=3>2-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes which are unlocked in a 2-star bakery)</small><br>Preparation Time: 6 hours<br>Yield: 2 for sale & 1 for personal inventory</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Pattypan Tart</td>
<td>2 Onion Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66"><td>3 Rice Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66"><td>3 Pattypan Squash Bushels</td><td>16 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Triple Berry Pie</td>
<td>3 Blueberry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66"><td>2 Blackberry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66"><td>3 Raspberry Bushels</td><td><b>2 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Peanut Butter Cookies</td>
<td>2 Peanut Bushels</td><td>16 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66"><td>3 Rice Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66"><td>3 Sugar Cane Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66">
<td bgcolor="#FFFF84"colspan=3>3-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes which are unlocked in a 3-star bakery)</small></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Raspberry Blondie</td>
<td>2 Wheat Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>3 Rice Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>3 Raspberry Bushels</td><td><b>2 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Vegetable Tart</td>
<td>1 Broccoli Bushel</td><td>2 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>2 Asparagus Bushels</td><td>16 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>3 Peas Bushels</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Mocha Blackberry Tart</td>
<td>3 Coffee Bushels</td><td>16 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>2 Rice Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>3 Black Berry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66">
<td bgcolor="#FFFFF66" colspan=3>4-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes which are unlocked in a 4-star bakery)</small></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Oatmeal Cookies</td>
<td>4 Oat Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66"><td>2 Wheat Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66"><td>2 Sugar Cane Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Baked Cucumber</td>
<td>1 Cucumber Bushel</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66"><td>4 Basil Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66"><td>1 Pepper Bushel</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Pizza Bread</td>
<td>4 Wheat Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66"><td>2 Tomato Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66"><td>2 Basil Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFFF66">
<td bgcolor="#FFFF84"colspan=3>5-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes which are unlocked in a 5-star bakery)</small></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84">
<td rowspan=4 valign=center >Ginger Snaps</td>
<td>2 Ginger Bushels</td><td>18 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>2 Sugar Cane Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>2 Oat Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>2 Rice Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84">
<td rowspan=4 valign=center >Potato and Onion Bread</td>
<td>1 Potato Bushel</td><td>3 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>2 Onion Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>2 Wheat Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>1 Posole Corn Bushel</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84">
<td rowspan=4 valign=center >Carrot Cake</td>
<td>2 Carrot Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>1 Red Wheat Bushel</td><td>3 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>1 Soybean Bushel</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFFF84"><td>2 Cranberry Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
</table><br>
<br>
<table border=1>
<tr><td bgcolor="#FFCCCC" colspan=3 align=center>Farmville Winery Recipes</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td colspan=3 align=center>1-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes which can be made in a 1-star winery)</small><br>Preparation Time: 6 hours<br>Yield: 2 for sale & 1 for personal inventory</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td rowspan=2 valign=center>Sweet Sake<br><small>(aka Sweet Energy Drink)</small></td>
<td>5 Rice Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>3 Cranberry Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >White Sangria<br><small>(aka White Grape Cooler)</small> </td>
<td>3 White Grape Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>2 Sugar Cane Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>3 Strawberry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC">
<td rowspan=2 valign=center >Red Table Wine<br><small>(Rich Grape Juice)</small> </td>
<td>2 Grape Bushels</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>5 White Grape Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF">
<td colspan=3>2-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes unlocked in a 2-star winery)</small><br>Preparation time: 6 hours<br>Yield: 3 for sale & 1 for personal inventory</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Fruit Wine<br><small>(aka Fruit Punch)</small></td>
<td>3 Raspberry Bushels</td><td><b>2 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF"><td>3 Blueberry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF"><td>2 Sugar Cane Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Spicy Tomato Juice</td>
<td>3 Tomato Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF"><td>3 Pepper Bushels</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF"><td>3 Carrot Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Dry Sake<br><small>(aka Spiced Lilac Tea)</small></td>
<td>4 Rice Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF"><td>2 Green Tea Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF"><td>2 Lilac Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC">
<td colspan=3>3-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes unlocked in a 3-star winery)</small></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Blackberry Wine<br><small>(aka Blackberry Explosion)</small></td>
<td>3 Black Berry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>1 Grape Bushel</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>3 White Grape Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Strawberry & Cranberry Juice</td>
<td>3 Strawberry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>2 Raspberry Bushels</td><td><b>2 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>3 Cranberry Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Raspberry Wine<br><small>(aka Raspberry Energy Drink)</small></td>
<td>3 Raspberry Bushels</td><td><b>2 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>2 Black Berry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>2 Grape Bushels</td><td>1 day</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF">
<td colspan=3>4-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes unlocked in a 4-star winery)</small></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Blueberry Wine<br><small>(aka Blueberry Delight)</small></td>
<td>4 Blueberry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF"><td>2 Black Berry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF"><td>2 White Grape Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Herbal Elixir</td>
<td>3 Basil Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF"><td>3 Ginger Bushels</td><td>18 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF"><td>2 Green Tea Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Pumpkin Vinegar</td>
<td>4 Pumpkin Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF"><td>2 Acorn Squash Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCFF"><td>2 Rice Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC">
<td colspan=3>5-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes unlocked in a 5-star winery)</small></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC">
<td rowspan=4 valign=center >Cucumber Wine<br><small>(aka Cucumber Cooler)</small></td>
<td>2 Cucumber Bushels</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>1 Squash Bushel</td><td>2 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>2 Acorn Squash Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>1 Rice Bushel</td><td>12 hours</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC">
<td rowspan=4 valign=center >Rose Petal Water</td>
<td>1 Pink Rose Bushel</td><td>2 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>1 Lavender Bushel</td><td>2 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>2 Morning Glory Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>1 Sunflower Bushel</td><td>1 day</td>
</tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC">
<td rowspan=4 valign=center >Melon Juice</td>
<td>1 Yellow Melon Bushel</td><td>4 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>1 Watermelon Bushel</td><td>4 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>2 Carrot Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td>
<tr bgcolor="#FFCCCC"><td>1 Strawberry Bushel</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td>
</tr>
</table><br>
<br>
<table border=1>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td colspan=3 align=center>Farmville Spa Recipes</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td colspan=3>1-Star Recipes<br><small> recipes which can be made in a 1-star spa</small><br>Prepartation Time: 6 hours<br>Yield: 2 for sale & 1 for personal inventory</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center>Fresh Sachet </td>
<td>3 Pumpkin Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>3 Cranberry Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>1 Sunflower Bushel</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC">
<td rowspan=2 valign=center >Floral Perfume </td>
<td>4 Blueberry Bushels</td><td><b>2 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>4 Morning Glory Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC">
<td rowspan=2 valign=center >Soothing Herbal Lotion</td>
<td>4 Aloe Vera Bushels</td><td><b>6 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>4 Green Tea Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF">
<td colspan=3>2-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes unlocked in a 2-star spa)</small><br>Preparation Time: 6 hours<br>Yield: 3 for sale & 1 for personal inventory</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF">
<td rowspan=2 valign=center >Relaxation Oil</td>
<td>4 Blackberry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF"><td>4 Morning Glory Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Devotion Perfume</td >
<td>3 Blueberry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF"><td>3 Lilac Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF"><td>2 Basil Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Petal Sachet</td >
<td>1 Iris Bushel</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF"><td>2 Sunflower Bushels</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF"><td>1 Pepper Bushel</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC">
<td colspan=3>3-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes unlocked in a 3-star spa)</small></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Energizing Lotion</td>
<td>1 Red Tulip Bushel</td><td>3 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>3 Aloe Vera Bushels</td><td><b>6 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>3 Black Berry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Restoring Candle</td>
<td>4 Green Tea Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>2 Ghost Chili Bushels</td><td><b>6 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>1 Sunflower Bushel</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Lily of the Valley Soap</td>
<td>1 Lily Bushel</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>3 Blueberry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>3 Morning Glory Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF">
<td colspan=3>4-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes unlocked in a 4-star spa)</small></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Iris Soap</td>
<td>2 Iris Bushels</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF"><td>3 Aloe Vera Bushels</td><td><b>6 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF"><td>1 Sunflower Bushel</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Meditation Candle</td>
<td>3 Lemon Balm Bushels</td><td><b>6 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF"><td>3 Green Tea Bushels</td><td>10 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF"><td>2 Ginger Bushels</td><td>18 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF">
<td rowspan=3 valign=center >Pick Me Up Sachet</td>
<td>3 Lemon Balm Bushels</td><td><b>6 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF"><td>2 Coffee Bushels</td><td>16 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFFF"><td>3 Basil Bushels</td><td>10 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC">
<td colspan=3>5-Star Recipes<br><small>(recipes unlocked in a 5-star spa)</small></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC">
<td rowspan=4 valign=center >Iris Soap</td>
<td>2 Ginger Bushels</td><td>18 hours</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>1 Lavender Bushel</td><td>2 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>2 Lilac Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>2 Purple Poppy Bushels</td><td><b>8 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC">
<td rowspan=4 valign=center >Meditation Candle</td>
<td>1 Daffodil Bushel</td><td>2 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>2 Aloe Vera Bushels</td><td><b>6 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>2 Strawberry Bushels</td><td><b>4 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>1 Lily Bushel</td><td>1 day</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC">
<td rowspan=4 valign=center >Pick Me Up Sachet</td>
<td>1 Pink Rose Bushel</td><td>2 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>1 Daffodil Bushel</td><td>2 days</td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>2 Lilac Bushels</td><td><b>10 hours</b></td></tr>
<tr bgcolor="#99FFCC"><td>2 Morning Glory Bushels</td><td>12 hours</td></tr>
</table></center><br>
<br>
Of course, you can level up your recipes and you can level up your crafting cottage which unlocks more recipes. The crafting cottage will actually change appearance as it levels up, much like the other buildings change appearance when the expand. I think I'll try to combine co-op farming with my quest for bushels, I know there are carrot, cranberry, grape, pumpkin, and rice co-ops. That should help because not only would I find lots of bushel, but my neighbors would find bushels, too. I'll have to find out which neighbors have the same crafting cottage that I do, and then invite them to be a part of my co-op. Yeah, that's a great idea. <br>
<br>
The tables I made before to help me keep track of which trees and animals are most profitable are proving too complicated, so I'm making up some new ones. These group the trees and animals together in groups based on how many coins per day per square each item produces.<br>
<br>
<center><table border=1>
<tr>
<td><br><b>Level</b></td><td><b>Animals (coins per day per square)</b></td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 1<br><small>(1-10 coins per day per square)</small></td>
<td>cow (1.5); brown, groovy & Holstein cows (3); circus elephant (3.5), pink cow (4.5); silver pony (7); chicken (8); white-tailed buck (8.3); sheep & birthday sheep (9.3); reindeer (10)</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 2<br><small>(11-20 coins per day per square)</small></td>
<td>male ostrich (11.3); duck, party duck, chinchilla, pig, black pig, Ossabow pig, rabbit, gray rabbit & squirrel (15); brown chicken (16); black sheep (18.7); bull, chocolate cow & foals (20)</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 3<br><small>(21-40 coins per day per square)</small></td>
<td>horses & ponies (21); party pig (25); goat, Boer goat & Saanes goat (27), Mouflon sheep, llama & poncho llama (28); black cat, Himalayan cat & turlte (28.7); grey tabby & lop-eared bunny & white kitty (30); black chicken (32); brown goose, farm goose, swan & turkies (40)</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 4<br><small>(41-80 coins per day per square)</small></td>
<td>peacock (45), golden chicken, Cornish Chicken, Rhode Island Red & Scots Grey (64); calves (80)</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 5<br><small>(81-160 coins per day per square)</small></td>
<td>snow leopards (150)</td></tr></table><br>
<br>
<table border=1>
<tr>
<td><b>Level</b></td><td><b>Trees (coins per day per square)</b></td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 1<br><small>(1-10 coins per day per square)</small></td>
<td>cherry (9); apple (9.3); orange & plum (10)</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 2<br><small>(11-20 coins per day per square)</small></td>
<td><s>fig (11)</s>; tamarind (11.7); peach (11.8); <s>avocado (12.3)</s>; yellow maple (12.5); white apple (13.3); <s>cashew (13.7)</s>; lemon (13.7); apricot (14); lime (15); durian & star fruit (16.3); grapefruit & walnut (16.7); guava, gulmohar, almond, breadfruit & wax apple (18.3); passion fruit (18.6); banana (18.7); rainbow apple & mandarin (20)</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 3<br><small>(21-40 coins per day per square)</small></td>
<td>pomegranate (12.6, available as a mystery gift); date (23, available as a gift at Level 20); olive (28, available as a gift at Level 32); mango (32.5, available as a gift at Level 40)</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 4<br><small>(41-80 coins per day per square)</small></td>
<td>ginko (43.3); arjuna (46.6); jackfruit & lychee (46.7); acai (79) </td> </tr> </table> </center> <br>
<br>
<b>Nursery Barn</b>
Another thing I've been meaning to pencil out is the profitability of using the nursery barn. Like the chicken coop, dairy barn and stable, the nursery barn makes it easier to harvest coins from calves and foals; however, the nursery barn also transforms them into cows and horses. Generally, cows and horses produce fewer coins per day than calves and foals, so it might not be worth it. <br>
<br>
The nursery barn occupies 63 squares on the farm (7x9=63), but it only holds 20 animals. Twenty calves would only occupy 20 squares on the farm, but 20 foals would occupy 80 squares (4x20=80), so from a land use perspective, it is only profitable to fill it with foals.<br>
<br>
Foal and calves both produce 80 coins per day, but because foals occupy four squares and calves occupy one square, calves produce 80 coins per square per day and foals produce 20 coins per square per day (80/4=20).<br>
<br>
All foals (80 coins per day) transform into a black horse, a cream draft horse or a light blue pony. The horses and pony earn 21 coins per day outside the stable, but they earn 84 coins per day inside the stable, so if you have plenty of room in your stable, it IS profitable to transform your foals to horses. It's also fun to see if you can fill your stable with black horses, cream draft horses or light blue pony because then you can start producing black foals, cream draft foals and blue pony foals for your neighbors.<br>
<br>
All calves (80 coins per day) transform into Holstein cows (12 coins per day) or chocolate cows (80 coins per day). Because the Holstein cows earn so very much less than the calves, but chocolate cows earn just as much, I've created the following table to remind me which calves I might transform, and which ones I definitely shouldn't. <br>
<br>
<center><table border=1 cellpadding=10><tr><td width=50% align=left valign=top>These calves will transform into <b>Holstein cows</b> and earn only 12 coins per day. They should not be placed in the Nursery Barn.</td>
<td width=50% align=left valign=top>These calves will transform into <b>chocolate cows</b> and earn 80 coins per day. They can be placed in the Nursery Barn.</td></tr>
<tr><td width=50% align=left valign=top>calf<br>brown calf<br>Holstein calf<br>Longhorn calf<br>belted calf<br>groovy calf<br>chocolate calf</td>
<td width=50% align=left valign=top>pink calf<br>pink patch calf<br>fan calf<br>green calf<br>Kelley green calf<br>Neapolitan calf</td></tr></table></center>Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-24146094746103842782010-06-15T16:55:00.000-07:002010-06-27T00:34:14.307-07:00Farmville Tips: Week SevenI didn't write any tips for Weeks 3, 4, 5 or 6 (so don't waste any time looking for them). I had wanted to write about ribbons, but I might wait until I earn a few more of them to start writing about them. I'm still mostly obsessed with the layout of my farm and expansions (06/15/10).
<br><br>
Neighbors: <br>
The first obstacle I faced in expanding my farm was the neighbor requirement. I finally got tired of pestering my <i>real</i> friends to add me as a neighbor to the farm they never visit anymore, and I visited one of those FarmVille fan pages on Facebook. Those pages are filled with people asking for more neighbors. I didn't put my name on the page, but I did send friend requests to several of the people I found there. I had my 'celebrity' ribbon (50 neighbors) in less than a week, and I'm getting gifts like crazy.
<br><br>
Expansions: <br>
This week (06/13/2010) I finally put together the 500,000 Coins I needed to purchase the final expansion for my farm. I wasted no time in using the extra space for placing 250 fences and earning my 'fenced in' ribbon. Next on my hit list is the architect ribbon and the bailed out ribbon. These are earned by purchasing building and hay bails. I plan to follow the example of one of my highest ranked neighbors and set aside the northernmost corner of my farm for housing, the eastern most corner of the farm for animals and the southern most corner of the farm for a village (post office, school, stuff like that).
<br><br>
Co-ops: <br>
There are three co-op ribbons to earn. Most of the co-op crops have short harvest times of one day or less, so I try to start a co-op every Friday night, so I can plant on Friday and harvest on Saturday morning. It's a good idea to let your friends know what you're planning a few days in advance, so they can be sure to have all their crops harvested by Friday night.
<br><br>
Trees and animals: <br>
I think I wrote before that it is my goal to have sixteen of each tree. I've decided that I'll match that with sixteen of each animal as well. Trees and animals are not as profitable as crops, but they are less risky. They don't whither, so if you can neglect your farm for a week, come back and still have a nice payday, if you have plenty of trees and animals. I finally leveled up to the olive tree. I think this is the most profitable tree, so after I collect sixteen of each, I might start replacing them all with olive trees, maybe not. I like the variety, too.
<br><br>
I have placed my trees on my farm according to availability. I think this probably corresponds to their profitability. I would like to do the same thing with my animals, but I haven't found an appropriate reference table. I'll probably have to make one myself. the trouble with that of course is that FarmVille is still in beta testing, so any data that I collect is subject to change without notice. Please report any errors you notice.
<table border="1" align="center">
<tr>
<td><b>Tree</b></td>
<td><b>Harvest Reward</b></td>
<td><b>Days Between Harvests</b></td>
<td><b>Harvest Value Per Day</b></td>
<td><b>Available</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Acai Tree</td><td>158 Coins</td><td>2 days</td><td>79.0 Coins per day</td><td> available for cash</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Jackfruit Tree</td><td>140 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>46.7 Coins per day</td><td>available as a mystery gift</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Ginko Tree</td><td>130 Coins</td><td>3 days</td><td>43.3 Coins per day</td><td>available as a gift after Level 59</td><tr>
<tr>
<td>
Mango Tree</td><td>130 Coins</td><td>4 days</td><td>32.5 Coins per day</td><td>available as a gift after Level 40</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Olive Tree</td><td>112 Coins </td><td>4 days</td><td>28.0 Coins per day</td><td>available as a gift after Level 20</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Date Tree</td><td>69 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>23.0 Coins per day</td><td>available as a gift</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Pomegranate Tree</td><td>108 Coins </td><td>5 days</td><td>21.6 Coins per day</td><td> available as a mystery gift </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Mandarin Tree</td><td>80 Coins </td><td>4 days</td><td>20.0 Coins per day</td><td> </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Rainbow Apple Tree</td><td>60 Coins</td><td>3 days</td><td>20.0 Coins per day</td><td>available for purchase from the market for 500 Coins when using the iPhone or iPod application.</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Banana Tree</td><td>56 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>18.7 Coins per day</td><td>available as a gift</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Passion Fruit Tree</td><td>93 Coins </td><td>5 days</td><td>18.6 Coins per day</td><td> available as a mystery gift </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Almond Tree</td><td>55 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>18.3 Coins per day</td><td> </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Breadfruit Tree</td><td>55 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>18.3 Coins per day</td><td> </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Guava Tree</td><td>55 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>18.3 Coins per day</td><td> </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Gulmohar Tree</td><td>55 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>18.3 Coins per day</td><td>available as a gift</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Grapefruit Tree</td><td>50 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>16.7 Coins per day</td><td> available as a mystery gift </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Walnut Tree</td><td>50 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>16.7 Coins per day</td><td>available from mystery gift</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Durian Tree</td><td>65 Coins </td><td>4 days</td><td>16.3 Coins per day</td><td> available as a mystery gift </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Starfruit Tree</td><td>65 Coins </td><td>4 days</td><td>16.3 Coins per day</td><td> available as a mystery gift </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Lime Tree</td><td>75 Coins </td><td>5 days</td><td>15.0 Coins per day</td><td>available from the market for Coins</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Apricot Tree</td><td>56 Coins </td><td>4 days</td><td>14.0 Coins per day</td><td> available as a mystery gift </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Cashew Tree</td><td>41 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>13.7 Coins per day</td><td> available as a mystery gift </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Lemon Tree</td><td>41 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>13.7 Coins per day</td><td>available from the market for coins</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
White Apple Tree</td><td>40 Coins</td><td>3 days</td><td>13.3 Coins per day</td><td>available as a gift from your friends using the iPhone or iPod application.</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Yellow Maple Tree</td><td>25 Coins </td><td>2 days</td><td>12.5 Coins per day</td><td>available as a gift</td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Avocado Tree</td><td>37 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>12.3 Coins per day</td><td> available as a mystery gift </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Peach Tree</td><td>47 Coins </td><td>4 days</td><td>11.8 Coins per day</td><td> available from the market for coins </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Tamarind Tree </td><td>35 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>11.7 Coins per day</td><td> available as a gift </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Fig Tree</td><td>33 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>11.0 Coins per day</td><td> available as a mystery gift </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Orange Tree</td><td>40 Coins </td><td>4 days</td><td>10.0 Coins per day</td><td> available from the market for coins </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Plum Tree</td><td>30 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>10.0 Coins per day</td><td> available from the market for coins </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Apple Tree</td><td>28 Coins </td><td>3 days</td><td>9.3 Coins per day</td><td> available from the market for coins </td></tr>
<tr>
<td>
Cherry Tree</td><td>18 Coins </td><td>2 days</td><td>9.0 Coins per day</td><td> available from the market for coins </td></tr>
</table>
<br><br>
Chicken Coop:<br>
Now that I have chicken coop, I have learned that it can be expanded with a barn-raising. You just need to get 10 friends to click a link on your profile page within three days. The coop can be expanded twice: from 20 to 40 and then from 40 to 60. There are currently seven different kinds of chickens. My goal is to fill my coop with 15 chickens each of the golden, cornish, scots grey and rhode island red varieties.
<table border="1" align="center">
<tr>
<td><b>Name</b></td>
<td><b>Harvest Reward</b></td>
<td><b>Days Between Harvests</b></td>
<td><b>Harvest Value Per Day</b></td>
<td><b>Available</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 1 Chicken</td><td>8 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>8 coins per day</td><td>available as a gift</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 2 Brown Chicken</td><td>16 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>16 coins per day</td><td>available from white and brown mystery eggs</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 3 Black Chicken</td><td>32 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>32 coins per day</td><td>available from brown and black mystery eggs</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 4 Golden Chicken</td><td>64 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>64 coins per day</td><td>available from black and golden mystery eggs</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 5 Cornish Chicken</td><td>64 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>64 coins per day</td><td>available from golden and cornish mystery eggs</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 6 Scots Grey Chicken</td><td>64 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>64 coins per day</td><td>available from golden and sctos grey mystery eggs</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Level 7 Rhode Island Red Chicken</td><td>64 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>64 coins per day</td><td>available from golden and rhode island red mystery eggs</td>
</tr>
</table>
<br><br>
Dairy Farm: <br>
Now that I have a dairy farm, I know that in addition to making it easier to harvest milk from several cows it can also produce calves. Like the chickens, the cows produce milk of varying value. I got the values in the following table from web sites on the Internet. I'm not sure that they are correct, but if they are, then its my goal to fill my dairy barn with chocolate cows.
<table border="1" align="center">
<tr>
<td><b>Name</b></td><td><b>Harvest Reward</b></td><td><b>Days Between Harvests</b></td><td><b>Harvest Value Per Day</b></td><td><b>Available</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Cow</td><td>6 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>6 coins per day</td><td>available as a gift</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Brown Cow</td><td>12 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>12 coins per day</td><td>available through adoptions</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Groovy Cow</td><td>12 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>12 coins per day</td><td>available through adoption</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Pink Cow</td><td>18 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>18 coins per day</td><td>available through adoption</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Holstein Cow</td><td>18 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>18 coins per day</td><td>available from the nursery barn</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Chocolate Cow</td><td>80 coins</td><td>1 day</td><td>80 coins per day</td><td>available from the nursery barn</td>
</tr>
</table>
<br><br>
Stable:<br>
Now that I have a stable, I have learned that it can be expanded. I have also learned that the horses in the stable occasionally produce foals. It is my goal to fill my stable with cream colored draft horses in order to produce cream colored draft foals. These are pretty hard to come by, so it will probably take me a long time to realize this goal. I have brown horses, gray horses and black horses. They all produce horse hair at the same rate: 84 coins per dayErin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-37594075639990747262010-06-12T11:18:00.000-07:002010-06-15T13:40:39.920-07:00My fifth belt testMy seven-year old daughter and I have been studying taekwondo at World Champion Taekwondo in Scappoose, Oregon for fifteen months now. Friday night (06/11/2010), we had our fifth belt test. We leveled up from orange belts to green belts. We have about seven more belt tests before black belt.
<br><br>
The test was at 4:00 pm instead of 6:00 pm. I had to bring my five-year-old son with me. Master Jason was kind enough to provide him with his dry erase board and some marking pens to keep him entertained. My daughter's first grade teacher came to support her. That was very special.
<br><br>
Only Master Byong-Cheol Kim attended to grade our test. Master Je-Kyoung Kim usually attends as well, but he wasn't there. There were eight orange belts in attendance for the test. Jared (brown stripe) and Elsie (blue belt) are two students who usually test with us, but they were not able to test with us tonight. We warmed up with some stretches and calisthenics. Before we began, Master Kim drew attention to our instructor's new rank. Our instructor, Jason Letiski, participated in his fourth <i>dan</i> black belt test last month and now uses the title of master. Most of us had attended this test. Master Kim referred to him as "his favorite student."
<br><br>
We started with blocks and punches. Master Jason called out a lot of interesting combinations again this time. Dominic, a fifteen-year-old black belt candidate, assisted the instructor by demonstrating the combinations. We did our kicks in a slightly new way. We kicked twice towards the flag and then we turned and kicked twice towards the lobby. We didn't have anything new this test to demonstrate. We demonstrated low block, middle block, high block, single knife, double knife, double down, front kick, round house kick and axe kick. I was a little relieved that he didn't call out back kick. My back kick looks weak when I don't have a target to hit.
<br><br>
One of our students had a very bad day at school today, and he was very distracted and disinterested during the test. Master Jason had to pull him aside and speak with him for a moment, and then he was fine and able to finish the test.
<br><br>
The name of our form was <i>tae guk yi jang</i>. It's the second form in the <i>tae guk</i> series. It wasn't really any more complicated than our last form, but it did seem to take us longer to learn. Master Jason had us do it over about six times before he was satisfied.
<br><br>
By the time we were ready to demonstrate our self defense and one step sparring routines, the orange stripes had begun to arrive for their test which would begin at 5:00 pm. Master Jason was able to call on them to enter the mat and work as our partners. Our one step sparring routine included a high block, roundhouse kick, side-kick, hook kick and elbow strike. It was pretty cool, but I forgot the side-kick the first time, so he had me do it again. Our self defense routine started us in a full nelson. We stomped on our attacker's foot, broke his grip, hit him in the teeth with our head, grabbed his foot and kicked him in the face when he fell down. Self defense routines are brutal.
<br><br>
Just before we demonstrated our breaking technique, we read off a bad habit that we wanted to break. My daughter admitted that she bites her nails, and I admitted that I loose my temper. Another student promised to stop interrupting which turned out to be pretty funny a few minutes later when he interrupted Master Jason.
<br><br>
We used a jumping front kick to break the board which is a little tricky because we use the top of our foot in class when we kick targets, but when we break we need to use the ball of our foot. Almost everyone broke their board on their second attempt which was kind of weird. One student broke her board in two places which was very cool because the middle of the board when flying over Master Jason's head.
<br><br>
The final portion of the ceremony was the awarding of trophies and belts. Young students at our school are required to earn at least seven black stripes before they are allowed to take their test. A black stripe is earned by demonstrating a good attitude at home for one week. The stripes are stickers which wrap around the tip of the belt. If a student goes above and beyond the seven stripe requirement and earns ten stripes, then they receive a small trophy and a gold star at the belt test. The gold star is a patch which is worn on the collar of the uniform. At the end of a year, if a student has earned four gold stars, then they receive a large trophy. My daughter was the only student with ten stripes and three gold stars. She felt VERY special as she collected her large trophy. All the other children at the test had also earned their ten stripes, so they also received their stars and trophies.
<br><br>
Finally, we removed our orange belts, and the masters tied on our new green belts. The new belts always look so bright and colorful. After our test, the orange stripes, yellow belts and yellow stripes all tested together. They looked like a big group. Maybe the new orange belts will test with us next time. The next day, we all gathered together for a bar-be-que to celebrate. It was a beautiful day - finally. We've had a lot of rain this spring, but we had lots of sunshine this day.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-65538585290657703362010-06-01T14:13:00.000-07:002010-06-01T14:58:35.845-07:00Tae Guek Yi JangThere are many sites on the Internet which offer instruction on performing the forms of taekwondo. They vary widely, partly because instructors refer to the same techniques by different names, but mostly because people just write things differently. I am intrigued at the notion that although we are all doing these forms exactly the same way, we are all talking and writing about them very differently. It's really easier to learn forms in class than it is to learn them from written text, but I think this is helpful. I wrote this out to help me study for my test, and I offer it up to anyone who might find it useful. If you note any errors, please let me know. Thanks.<br>
<br>
<b>Tae Guek Yi</b> <small>(2nd )</small> <b>Jang</b> is represented by the symbol for lake.<br>
<br>
From the Joon Be <small>(ready)</small> position:<ol>
<li>Turn 90* to the left, stepping with the left foot in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Step forward with the right foot in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand.
<li>Turn 180* to the right and step with the right foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Step forward with the left foot in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<li>Turn 90* to the left (facing flags) and step with the left foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform an outside-in <b>middle block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Step forward (facing flags) with the right leg in <i>walking stance</i> and perform an outside-in <b>middle block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Turn 90* to the left and step with the left foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the right foot (fists at the belt) and land in <i>front stance</i> (right foot forward) and perform a <b>face-high punch</b> with the right hand.
<li>Turn 180* to the right and step with the right foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the left foot (fists at belt) and land in <i>front stance</i> (left foot forward) and perform a <b>face-high punch</b> with left hand.
<li>Turn 90* degrees to the left (facing flags) and step with the left foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>high block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Step forward (facing flags) with the right foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>high block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Turn 270* to the left (so that you are facing 90* to the right) and step with the left foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform an outside-in <b>middle block</b> with the right hand.
<li>Turn 180* to the right and step with the right foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform an outside-in <b>middle block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Turn 90* to the left (back to flags) and step with the left foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the right foot (fists on belt) and land in <i>walking stance</i> (right foot forward) and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the left foot (fists on belt) and land in <i>walking stance</i> (left foot forward) and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<li>Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the right foot (fists on belt) and land in <i>walking stance</i> (right foot forward) and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand. <b>KI HAP!</b> <small>(yell)</small></ol>
Turn 180* to the left (facing flags) into Joon Be <small>(ready)</small> position.
<br>Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-15254383380134704872010-05-15T22:03:00.000-07:002010-06-01T15:05:10.379-07:00My Instructor's Masters TestOn Saturday, May 15, 2010, my instructor, Jason Leitzke and six others, tested for their fourth degree black belt in taekwondo. With the fourth <i>dan</i> comes the rank of Master. It represents ten to fifteen years of study. The test was presided over by Grand Master Byong-Cheol Kim. There were several others judging the test including Grand Master Choi, Master Je-Kyoung Kim, Master Lin, and others.<br>
<br>
The six others candidates were: Robert Hummel, James Reuterskiold, Ha-Yaun Chung, Cathi Leitzke, Andrea Heikkila and James O'Rourke III. There were two other candidates as well. Jon Cooley was testing for his third <i>dan</i> and William Brown was testing for his second <i>dan</i>. Normally they would present themselves on testing dates designed specifically for their rank, but scheduling conflicts made that impossible for them, so accommodations were made.<br>
<br>
The test was administered at World Championship Taekwondo, 18335 NW West Union Road, Suite H, Portland, Oregon 97229. Just like my own taekwondo school in Scappoose, there weren't enough chairs, so I was really glad that I brought my own. I arrived about fifteen minutes early, but there were already lots of people there. It seemed as though about half the crowd was there from Scappoose to support Jason.<br>
<br>
They passed out a very nice program with everyone's name, and the schedule worked out in ten minute intervals. First on the list were <b>hand techniques</b> from 10:00 to 10:20. We started a little late, but the masters seemed committed to keeping the schedule, so they kept this bit pretty brief. Grand Master B.C. Kim called out various blocks and strikes, and the master candidates executed all them with power and precision. It really was a joy to watch.<br>
<br>
Next on the list were <b>forms</b> from 10:20 to 10:50. This is also the only part during the test where someone made a mistake. An assistant called out the name of a form, and one of the candidates began performing a different form. The candidates performed ten pushups and started again. I don't know precisely how many forms they performed. It might have been as many as fifteen. I don't usually think of forms as being very exhausting because they are not performed with great speed, but the candidates performed all of their forms with great power and precision. They were all sweating and panting by the end of it.<br>
<br>
Next on the list was <b>self defense</b> from 10:50 to 11:00. They all partnered up. The assistant called out numbers and the candidates performed the techniques. It was neat. They were just throwing each other to the ground over and over again. I was impressed that they knew this material so well that they could perform the techniques with only a number as promptings. I guess I've only ever had to learn one self defense technique at a time.<br>
<br>
Next on the list was <b>kicking</b> from 11:00 to 11:20. They started just kicking the air with some front kicks and some round house kicks - very pedestrian, but then they got some more assistants to hold some targets and things really started picking up. They did all kinds of kicks and combinations. It was very exciting. At the end, the masters called for an endurance test: 100 roundhouse kicks. Jason made some joke about doing a 1,000 kicks. The other candidates did NOT seem to appreciate his enthusiasm, so when it came his turn to do his 100, he actually went ahead and did 200, so then all the other candidates did a second set of 100 round house kicks. They were all clearly exhausted. I've done 100 roundhouse kicks before but not without a break.<br>
<br>
After a ten minute break during which the candidates could drink some water, they put on some sparring gear and demonstrated some <b>sparring</b> techniques from 11:30 to 12:00. This was also very exciting. It was hard to keep track of what was going on. Audience members at the front and to be careful not to get stepped on!<br>
<br>
Next on the schedule was <b>nun-chucks</b> from 12:00 to 12:30. This was really neat, too. The assistant called out a number sequentially from 1 - 15 and the candidates performed a series of moves with a single nun-chuck while facing the judges. Then they turned around to face the audience and performed all 15 in order. Then they did 15 more with two nun-chucks! A few candidates dropped their nun-chucks a few times, and they didn't all finish at the same time, but it was still a very impressive display.<br>
<br>
After a second ten-minute break, the candidates each received ten boards. <b>Breaking</b> was scheduled from 12:30 to 1:00 pm. Breaking is always the coolest part of every test, and this test was no exception. They started with speed breaking techniques in which the held two boards with three fingers of one hand and tried to break it with the other. This gave them considerable trouble but eventually, with some extra coaching from Master Lim, they all got their boards broken. <br>
<br>
Then they switched to power breaking. They all seemed really very excited about this. They were instructed to break two boards with any technique of their choice except the back kick. This part was also very exciting and confusing. They didn't really take turns. They fired at will. Boards were flying everywhere. Mr. Jason chose the roundhouse kick, but he broke the boards with his shin rather than his instep or the ball of his foot.<br>
<br>
The final breaking technique was to break what ever boards they had left (most of them had four boards left) with the back kick. They all performed very well. I don't think anyone needed two attempts, but when it came to Mr. Jason's turn, Master Lim asked him to use a stepping front kick and the ball of his foot. There was some confusion as to what a stepping front kick is. The kick he wanted Jason to perform is also known as a front-foot front kick or a skipping front kick. He did a great job.<br>
<br>
The next item on the schedule was <b>individual speeches</b> from 1:00 to 1:45 pm. Many of the candidates expressed similar sentiments: they never thought they would make it this far; they made some of the best friends of their whole lives while studying taekwondo; and taekwondo has been a character building experience as much as anything else. <br>
<br>
The last item on the schedule was the <b>belt ceremony</b> from 1:45 to 2:00 pm. Each candidate received a new uniform. They jumped into the locker room really quick and changed. They looked really sharp when they came out in their new uniforms. Then they were called forward one by one to receive their new belts. There belts were embroidered with their names. Grand Master Byong-Cheol Kim tied each belt and congratulated each candidate with a bow and hand shake and a hug. Master Lim did all the talking during this portion of the schedule. Grand Master Kim seemed a bit overwhelmed. Master Kim led them in performing the "great bow." He explained it as a Korean custom usually reserved for parents and the deceased. It was performed by kneeling on the floor and bowing the forehead to the floor. All the candidates bowed to Master Kim and Master Kim bowed to all the candidates in unison. It was really very touching to witness.<br>
<br>
Afterwards, my friend Heidi said to me: "I really want this in my life." I felt the same way, so that settles it. Heidi and I are going to take our Masters test together in about ten to fifteen years. You're all invited.<br>Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-27511339910252107772010-05-11T15:34:00.000-07:002010-05-11T15:36:18.469-07:00The Mother's Day Garden BoxI've been dreaming and scheming about building a raised bed to plant a garden in for at least six years now. One thing or another always seemed to derail my plans. Well, this past weekend, I took a break from playing Farmville, and I planted a real garden. <br>
<br>
I think it was when my seven-year-old daughter asked me if we could plant the flowers outside that provided the final catalyst to finally launch this project properly. The flowers that she was referring to are the flowers that she brought home from school for me for Mother's Day. Her brother brought some home, too, and she brought some home from her Girl Scout meeting earlier last week, too. So I had three neat little pots of geraniums on the kitchen counter.<br>
<br>
And, so on Friday (05/07/2010) after I picked up my children from their day care provider, I dropped them off at the house with their Dad, and I went to my local discount department store to see if they had what I wanted in their garden department. I had drawn up a plan already, so I knew I needed twelve "cinder" blocks and 7 cubic feet of potting soil. The ground around my house is about 95% clay, nothing grows in it. The grass just sort of grows on top of it until it is totally soaked with rain, and then it drowns and moss moves in.<br>
<br>
I had a little trouble hauling everything to the checkout stand and loading it in my truck, but I got it done. I was super extra careful to lift with my legs because I have hurt my back so many times. When I got everything home, I was too tired to unload it so I just left it in the truck.<br>
<br>
The next day (05/08/2010), my husband caught sight of my supplies in the back of the truck, and he became very grumpy. He hates it when I start projects like this. He was just sure that it was going to look hideous. He really just wanted me to pull the weeds in the front yard, but there is a space in the front yard which is always just weeds, and I wanted to put something there, and this is what I decided to put there. He made me promise to take it out if he didn't like it. As if...<br>
<br>
It was very important to me to get this box level because my last project, the sand box, is not level, and I can tell that it is not level, and it grates like nails on a chalk board every time I look at it. The ground slopes just a bit where I decided to plant this box, so there was little digging involved, but really just a little, just enough to disturb a little mole that made a very brief, squeaky appearance. I was really pleasantly surprised with how nicely the blocks went in - one right after another, level, level, level. <br>
<br>
The children were supposed to be pulling weeds in the area adjacent to where I was working, but without a dedicated overseer, they slipped away to more interesting activities (running through the sprinkler). My husband was busying himself with the truck, fixing some thing or another. He took a break to check on my progress. He was very grumpy. "This side is further away," he complained. I had no idea what he meant by that. I was too tired. I explained that it wasn't finished and that it was going to have a back. "Nevermind, it's none of my business," he said, and he returned to his project.<br>
<br>
I finished laying the blocks and back filled them a bit. I used a rake to smooth out the bark chips all around the box. Adding the bark chips that the box had displaced to the area in front of the box really evened out the slope quite nicely I thought. <br> <br>
I dug out the center a bit more, and started filling the wheelbarrow with the clay I had removed from the site. In all, it only filled the wheelbarrow once, but I think it was too heavy to have tried to move it all in one trip because when I tried to move the wheelbarrow, I twisted the tire right off its rim. It wasn't damaged exactly, but it was flat, so I emptied the wheelbarrow and took it back to the garage. <br>
<br>
We have an air compressor for inflating tires, but this tire was tricky because it had no tube inside the tire. Why tires are designed this way? The tire had to make contact with every point all around the rim in order to create a seal that would hold the air. It required several attempts, but I was finally able to create a seal all the way around by wrapping a bungee cord around the circumference of the tire.<br>
<br>
I moved the clay in three trips and dumped in the back yard where we have a bit of a low spot left over from my first attempt to build a sandbox. (There were two attempts at that sand box.) Then I filled the garden box with potting soil. I stepped back to admire my work, and I couldn't believe it. IT WAS CROOKED! I had been so careful to make sure the box was level, but I totally forgot to make sure that it was SQUARE! When my husband complained that one side was farther away, he meant that the right side of the box was farther away from the fence than the left side of the box. I was SO ANGRY! I stormed into the house, slammed the door as hard as I could, and kicked him in the shin.<br>
<br>
Not really. I didn't really kick him. I did slam the door really hard, and I really wanted to kick him. It didn't matter that it wasn't his fault. I become irrational when I'm angry. He was still really very grumpy. We had started with three five-gallon buckets that we were going to fill with weeds that we pulled from the flower beds, if we combined our efforts, we probably only filled one bucket. He really wanted those weeds pulled for some reason. I don't really get it. The weeds are just little vine-y things with flowers on them that crawl around under the bushes. Who cares?<br>
<br>
That night (05/08/2010), I slept uneasily, worrying all night about the prospect of taking that box apart and rebuilding it, so that I could make it square. I knew that I was too tired to attempt such a thing, but I also knew that if I didn't, then I would hate that box every time I looked at it - just like the sandbox. <br>
<br>
The next morning (05/09/2010) was Mother's Day. My husband shooed our children out of our bedroom, so that I could sleep late which was awfully nice of him. When I got up, the children proudly showed me that they had cleaned their rooms. They had done a good job, too. I felt much better. A good night's sleep does wonders for one's outlook. I decided that I would not take the box apart. I decided that I would fill it with flowers, and it would be so beautiful that no one would notice that it was crooked.<br>
<br>
I built some dividers for the box from some scrap wood that we had handy, and I took my seven-year-old daughter with me to the store to buy some flower and some herbs. We decided that we needed 24 flowers and ten herbs. We had great fun picking them out. My daughter's favorite was a pink daisy. I talked her into a dahlia even though it didn't look like anything because I think it might be beautiful when it grows up. She picked out a few pansies in different colors and some begonias and a strawberry. I picked out some hens and chicks because my mother used to plant those. For the herb garden we got peppermint, basil, chives, rosemary, purple sage, and some other stuff.<br>
<br>
We got home, and we arranged them and planted them. This was by far the most fun - digging in the dirt with my little girl. I told my daughter stories about gardening with my mother. My mother's garden was larger than my whole front yard! It was a vegetable garden, but I remember my mother pouring over seed catalogues and ordering saplings and planting a little orchard when I was young, too.<br>
<br>
I was dead tired at the end of the weekend. It didn't seem fair that I had to go to work the next day (05/10/2010). That night the flowers got a little rain, and I took a picture in the morning - hopefully the first of many.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-64569306362909125102010-05-10T10:51:00.000-07:002010-06-16T07:39:31.936-07:00Farmville Tips: Week TwoThis week (05/10/10) I continue to focus on the layout of my farm, and I think I've settled on a basic design. I've also been very interested in expanding my farm. I've been using the ribbons to guide some of my goal setting, and I've been using the crop mastery feature to guide my choices on which crops to plant.<br>
<br>
Layout: <br>
As mentioned before, the starting grid is 50 <i>squares</i> by 50 <i>squares</i>. This is enough space to plow 144 <i>plots</i> (12x12) and still have a remainder of 100 <i>squares</i>. If you place all of your <i>plots</i> side by side starting in the southern most corner of the map, then the 100 remaining <i>squares</i> will form a narrow strip along the northeast and northwest edges of your farm. This is the perfect place to plant trees. <br>
<br>
Crops: <br>
I finally decided to organize my crops in areas measuring four <i>plots</i> by four <i>plots</i>. I decided this because the <i>plots</i> measure four <i>squares</i> by four <i>squares</i> and that kind of symmetry appeals to me. It turns out that the beginning farm will accommodate exactly nine of these areas. I planted nine different crops, and I was very pleased with the quilted effect this achieved. <br>
<br>
Trees: <br>
Trees work best along the northeast and northwest edge of the farm because they are tall, and they will block your view of <i>plots</i> that you might plow behind them. Some Farmville farmers do without trees or they only use them as decoration. It is very true that most trees earn fewer coin per day per <i>square</i> than most crops, but I really like trees in the real world, and I want to earn all my ribbons, and I've got this narrow strip of land, so I decided to fill it with trees. I set a goal for myself to plant sixteen trees of each variety. This was pretty easy to do with the market trees, but most trees are only available as gifts, so those trees are more difficult to collect. <br>
<br>
Expansion: <br>
It didn't take long before I started feeling crowded. After I bought all trees available in the market, I found that I was ending my day of play with money in my bank, so what could I spend it on next. My neighbors all had buildings, and I wanted to earn the architect ribbon, but my farm was so small, so I finally noticed that spot in the market with expansions. <br>
<br>
Expansions are available for FarmBucks or FarmCoins + neighbors. The first expansion requires 8 neighbors. I had that, so all I needed were the coins. I had that too, so I purchased the expansion. It added and area 8 <i>squares</i> by 58 <i>squares</i> to the south east edge and the south west edge of the farm, so I now had space for 196 <i>plots</i> (14x14). I planted them in such as way as to complement the existing quilted pattern. <br>
<br>
Fences: <br>
After harvesting the crops in the center corner of the farm, I deleted the fallow land instead of plowing it. This turned it back into grass. Then, I fenced it in and filled it with the various animals I had collected, and I bought a chicken coop. I placed the chicken coop in the easternmost corner of this new fenced area so as not block my view of the crops around it. (This may or may not turn out to be the best place for this building.) <br>
<br>
Fences measure 1 <i>square</i> by 5 <i>squares</i>, but they can be made to overlap one another in which case they will occupy 1 <i>square</i> by 4 <i>squares</i>. To fence in an area previous occupied by 16 <i>plots</i> I needed exactly 12 fences (3x4). I had to be careful that they did not overlap. <br>
<br>
I chose to fence in the centermost area of my farm in order to prevent my avatar (the animated version of me) from walking all around the farm every time I planted or plowed something. I noticed other Farmville players achieved a similar result using bales of hay, but I was planning to fence in my animals anyway, so this seemed more efficient. The effect is identical; you can plow and plant a lot faster if you are not waiting for the little farmer to walk to each area. <br>
<br>
Final Layout: <br>
This leaves me enough space to plant 11 different kinds of crops in 180 <i>plots</i> as compared to 9 different kinds of crops in 144 <i>plots</i>. I now have space for 228 trees as compared to 196. The future looks bright. <br>
<br>
Next Expansion: <br>
I will not be ready for my next expansion until I have 10 neighbors or 20 FarmBucks. At some point I think I will have to buy an expansion. The final expansion requires 30 neighbors. But, FarmBucks are hard to come by. You only earn 1 FarmBuck each time you level up, so I'm going to keep trying to expand with neighbors until I'm just sure that I can't. <br>
<br>
The next time I expand, I'm planning to turn over another area to fences, animals and buildings. It will probably be the northernmost corner of the farm and I will probably buy a dairy barn. I plan to do this again each time I expand. I'm planning to buy a horse stable after my third expansion. Those are harder to build because you need a lot of help from your friends.<br>
<br>
Reference Table
<table border=1 cellpadding=2>
<tr>
<td><b>Name</b></td><td><b>Size</b></td><td><b>Cost</b></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Starter Farm</td><td>12x12</td><td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Homestead</td><td>14x14</td><td>10,000 FarmCoins and 8 neighbors</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Family Farm</td><td>16x16</td><td>25,000 FarmCoins and 10 neighbors</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Big Family Farm</td><td>18x18</td><td>50,000 FarmCoins and 13 neighbors<br>or 20 FarmBucks</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Plantation</td><td>20x20</td><td>75,000 FarmCoins and 16 neighbors<br>or 20 FarmBucks</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Big Ole Plantation</td><td>22x22</td><td> </td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td>Mighty Plantation</td><td>24x24</td><td>500,00 FarmCoins and 30 neighbors<br>or 20 FarmBucks</td>
</tr>
</table>Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-20285368568653276622010-05-04T11:32:00.000-07:002010-06-16T07:38:21.848-07:00Farmville Tips: Week OneI'm not sure what inspired me to finally give Farmville a try this week (05/04/10), but I did, and I love it, but my first few days were pretty frustrating. The game doesn't come with much instruction. It guides you through the planting and harvesting of a few crops, visiting a few neighbors and asks you to come back tomorrow for the harvest. I learned a few things this week I wish I had known last week, so I'm offering them up to my fellow farmers.<br>
<br>
Layout:<br>
I love grids and graphs and charts, so the first thing I wanted was some guidance on how to lay out my little plow squares and crops. I couldn't find any help anywhere, but with a little trial and error, I decided that the best way that I could have started was to have just gone totally solid from the starting point. This would have made it possible to eventually plant 144 different crops and still have enough space along the top and the right side for gifted trees and animals.<br>
<br>
The Grid:<br>
To be more specific, the starting grid is 50 squares by 50 squares. A crop occupies a space 4 squres by 4 squares. 50 divided by 4 is 12 with a remainder of two, so you can get 12 crops across and 12 crops down with a narrow stip of two squares along the back and right edges of your farm if you just keep building out from the starting point. A tree, a chicken, a goat, etc is one square. A horse and a cow are 2 squares by 2 squares.<br>
<br>
Trees:<br>
I did read a tips somewhere (I forget where) that it is best to put your trees along the back and right side of your farm, so that they don't block your view of your crops. Fortunately, you can move them around if you don't like where they are.<br>
<br>
Whither:<br>
I was totally bummed the first time I came back to my farm and found my crops withered away. I had to snoop around online a little, but I discovered that if it takes your stawberries four hours to ripen, then it also takes them four hours to wither. If you will not be able to check on your farm in the next 8 hours, don't plant strawberries.<br>
<br>
Profit margin:<br>
Since I'm just starting out, I'm all about making a lot of money, so that I can plant more crops and plant more trees. I'm less interesteded in earning experience points. I understand that my goals will change soon enough. Anyway, I was harvesting raspberries every two hours all day on Sunday, and it occured to me that it cost money every time I plowed the field after harvest, so I wondered if I was really making as much money as I could be. I set up a little spreadsheet table to divide the cost of the seed by the yield of the crop and I discovered that tomatillos were the most profitable crop I could be planting right now. Tomatillos are a limited time crop to celebrate Cinco de Mayo, but they have profit margin of 600% and they ripen in 10 hours, so I can plant them twice a day - once in the morning before I go to work, and once in the evening before I go to bed. They are really a perfect crop for me right now.<br>
<br>
Farm bucks v. farm coins:<br>
This was a frustrating thing to realize. When I started, I had a few farm bucks, and I was earning farm coins like crazay, but all the cool stuff in the market place could only be purchased with farm bucks, so how could I earn some farm bucks? The bad news is that there are only two ways to earn farm bucks: (1) you earn one farm buck each time you level up and (2) you can buy them with real money. The good news is that all that cool stuff which appears to only be available for purchase with farm bucks will soon be available for purchase with farm coins as soon as you level up, so you don't really need to purchase farm bucks unless you're in a big hurry to advance through the game.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-78951206239570296482010-04-06T21:31:00.000-07:002010-04-07T13:15:28.712-07:00I did two hundred squats<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Dq-YiSc_isE/S7wLTxx_w-I/AAAAAAAAADw/C79t1aDcTj0/s1600/did_two_hundred_badge.gif"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 110px; height: 110px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_Dq-YiSc_isE/S7wLTxx_w-I/AAAAAAAAADw/C79t1aDcTj0/s320/did_two_hundred_badge.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5457249282874655714" /></a>Today I completed the 200 squat challenge created by Steve Speirs. It was supposed to be a six week program. I started in January, so I figure that it took me about 12 weeks to complete the program, but I don't care. I'm glad to have completed the program. I'm working on the 200 situp challenge and the 100 pushup challenge. I became interested in these challenges because of my taekwondo class. I was one of the first students to join this new school, but I was almost always the last person to finish every drill like running and pushups, so I decided to do something extra in an attempt to keep up with the younger students in class. It's only working a little bit. I'm keeping up better with the 30-somethings, but I'm not keeping up with this teenagers, but that's okay.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-11494402243718624832010-03-15T23:47:00.000-07:002010-04-07T13:11:28.122-07:00My fourth belt testIt's been almost a year since I joined World Champion Taekwondo in Scappoose, Oregon. Friday night (03/12/2010), my seven-year-old daughter and I had our fourth belt test. We leveled up from yellow belts with orange stripes to orange belts. We have eight more belt tests before we get to black belt.<br>
<br>I was really nervous for this test. I don't know why, maybe because I invited people. My friend Terra came to run my video recorder which was very nice of her. My daughter invited her first-grade teacher, but she wasn't able to make it. <br>
<br>Our test was scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on a Friday night. The white belts tested at 4:30 and the yellow stripes and yellow belts tested at 5:30, so we were the evening finale. While the masters readied themselves, our instructor told us to practice our forms, self-defense and one-step sparring one more time. Then we warmed up with some leg lifts and some push-ups. I couldn’t keep up with all the push-ups (again). I've been trying and trying to build up my upper body strength, but I've still got a long way to go. <br>
<br>We started with blocks and punches. Our instructor called out a lot of interesting combinations this time. Dominic, a fifteen-year-old black belt candidate, assisted the instructor by demonstrating the combinations. I did fine with the blocks and punches, but then we demonstrated our kicking techniques. I did okay with the roundhouse kicks, but I thought that my back kick was totally weak. The back kick was our new kick for this test. <br>
<br>When it was time to do forms, self-defense and one-step sparring, our instructor began with the higher belts. Jared was testing for his brown stripe and Elsie was testing for her blue belt. Their forms, self-defense and one-step sparring techniques always look so cool. Jared's form had a hop in it. <br>
<br>The name of our form was tae guk il jung. It's the first form in the tae guk series. It was a little more complicated than our basic forms. It included unusual combinations new turns (slides) and multiple stances. All the orange stripes did our form perfect the first time. <br>
<br>Our self defense move started with a choke hold. We put our hand on the attackers face and pushed them back over our shin until they fell on their back. I think maybe our instructor was tired of letting students throw him to floor. He would have been thrown to the floor SEVERAL times during the earlier belt tests. A couple of the new orange stripes from the earlier class stayed behind to watch our test. He asked them to pair up with us to demonstrate our self defense techniques. They were really good sports. <br>
<br>Our one-step sparring was pretty simple: when our attacker punched at us, we slid back, performed circle kick to the fist and then a hook kick to the ear. The circle kick was pretty easy, but the hook kick was a little tricky to learn. <br>
<br>Just before we demonstrated our breaking technique, we read off a bad habit that we wanted to break. My daughter admitted that she yells at me. She got a lot of attention for that. When another student promised to be nicer to his little brother, and his little brother made a sarcastic remark, our instructor put them both in push-up position. Eventually, he had all the kids in push-up position. He had them do three push-ups before he let them all stand up and we started breaking our boards. <br>
<br>We used the roundhouse kick to break the board which is a little tricky because we practice the roundhouse kick in class with the top of our foot, but when we break we need to use the ball of our foot. Everyone was able to break their board in one try except for one young boy. He must have kicked that board a dozen times before it finally broke. I'm sure it was because he was using the top of his foot, and kicking softly so as not to hurt himself because as soon as he actually kicked it hard enough to break it, he hopped up and down like he had hurt his foot, poor kid. <br>
<br>The next day we celebrated our new belts with a bar-b-que.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-73034694006829077812010-03-08T15:46:00.000-08:002010-06-01T15:47:59.874-07:00My Oscar PicksI posted my picks the night before the Oscar show (03/07/2010). Now, I've updated them since the Oscar show with who actually won and a few comments regarding the content and quality of the show itself. I said that I would consider twelve out of 24 to be a good score. I only guessed ten correctly. My favorite moment was when Sandra Bullock won Best Actress. My picks are in boldface, actual winners are underlined.<br>
<br>
<b>The red carpet:</b> (5:00 pm - 5:30 pm) Sandra Bullock looked really great, very different from her usual look, very glamorous, old-school Hollywood. Jennifer Lopes also looked really wonderful. Meryl Strep has been nominated 16 times. She is so graceful and gracious.<br>
<br>
<b>Opening:</b> 5:30 - 5:45<br>
The ten nominees for best actor and best actress all took the stage together to be introduced to the audience. Then they were escorted to the seats.<br>
<br>
Neil Patrick Harris came out and sang a Broadway style number to introduce the hosts. It was well-staged, but Harris isn't enough of a singer for such a stage.<br>
<br>
When Steve Martin and Alec Baldwin took the stage, they went around the room making jokes about the various nominees. It wasn’t a terrible idea, and some of the jokes were funny, but every time they picked someone out of the crowd, everyone clapped. It really broke up the rhythm of the comedy. Favorite joke: <br>
Steve Martin: "There's that Damn Helen Mirren."<br>
Alec Baldwin: "Steve, that's Dame Helen Mirren."<br>
<OL><LI>Best Supporting Actor - presented by Penelope Cruz at 5:45 p.m. Penelope Cruz won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress last year for <i>Vicky Cristina Barcelona</i><ul>
<li>Matt Damon in <i>Invictus</i>
<li>Woody Harrelson in <i>The Messenger</i>
<li>Christopher Plummer in <i>The Last Station</i>
<li>Stanley Tucci in <i>The Lovely Bones</i>
<li><b><u>Christoph Waltz in <i>Inglorious Basterds</i></b> is my pick for Best Supporting Actor. He won the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild award in this category. He is also the pick for the Hollywood exchange. However, if I were a voting member of the Academy, I would vote for Christopher Plummer. It wouldn't be fair since I haven't seen <i>The Messenger</i> yet, but I really enjoyed Plummer's performance. And, Christopher Waltz wins! (1/1) </u></ul>
<LI>Best Animated Feature - presented by Cameron Diaz (<i>Shrek Forever</i>) and Steve Carell (<i>Horton Hears a Who</i>) at 6:00 p.m.<ul>
<li><i>Coraline</i>
<li><i>Fantastic Mr. Fox</i>
<li><i>The Princess and the Frog</i>
<li><i>The Secret of Kells</i>
<li><b><i><u>Up</i></b> is my pick for Best Animated Feature; although I really liked <i>Coraline</i> and <i>The Princess and the Frog.</i> I did not love <i>Fantastic Mr. Fox</i>, and I have not yet seen <i>The Secret of Kells</i>, but I think <i>Up</i> is going to win, and I think it deserves it. And, <i>Up</i> wins! (2/2) </u></ul>
<LI>Best Song - presented by Amanda Seyfried (<i>Mamma Mia!</i>) and Miley Cyrus (<i>Hannah Montana</i>) at 6:05 p.m.<ul>
<li>"Almost There" from <i>The Princess and the Frog</i>
<li><b>"Down in New Orleans" from <i>The Princess and the Frog</i></b> is my pick for best song because I really liked it, but I can see how nice it would be if a movie about music like <i>Crazy Heart</i> or <i>Paris 36</i> actually won best song. I really liked "Take It All" too, but it's not a <i>nice</i> song, and I would rather vote for a nice song when given the chance. And, <i>Crazy Heart</i> wins! (2/3)
<li>"Loin de Paname" from <i>Paris 36</i>
Lyric by Frank Thomas
<li>"Take It All" from <i>Nine</i>
<li><u>"The Weary Kind" from <i>Crazy Heart</i></u> </ul>
<LI>Best Original Screenplay presented by Robert Downey Jr. (<i>Iron Man</i> and Tina Fey (<i>Date Night</i>) at 6:15 p.m. These two presenters had the cutest bit of banter about what an actor wants from a writer and what a writer wants from an actor. According to Robert Downey Jr., an actor wants lots of dialogue which he can deliver alone (which he had in <i>Iron Man</i>). According to Tina Fey, writers want actors to memorize the dialogue as written making no changes and no mistakes. I don't know if she ever gets that or not.<ul>
<li><i><u>The Hurt Locker</i></u>
<li><b><i>Inglorious Basterds</i></b> is my pick for best original screenplay because it is leading in the Hollywood exchange, but if I were a voting member of the academy, I would vote for <i>The Hurt Locker.</i> And the Hurt Locker won! (2/4)
<li><i>The Messenger</i>
<li><i>A Serious Man</i>
<li><i>Up</i>
<ul>Tribute to <b>John Hughes</b> presented by Molly Ringwald (<i>Pretty in Pink</i>) and Mathew Broderick (<i>Ferris Bueller's Day Off</i>) at 6:20 p.m. The tribute included clips from his films and nice words from: Macaulay Culkin (<i>Home Alone</i>), Ally Sheedy (<i>The Breakfast Club</i>), Judd Nelson (<i>The Breakfast Club</i>), Jon Cryer (<i>Pretty in Pink</i>), and Anthony Michael Hall (<i>The Breakfast Club</i>). It was really cool to see all those teenagers all grown up.</ul></ul>
<LI>Best Animated Short presented by Carey Mulligan (<i>An Education</i>) and Zoe Saldana (<i>Avatar</i>) at 6:30 p.m.<ul>
<li><b><i>French Roast</i></b> is my pick for best animated short because I think its getting more press. And, <i>Logorama</i> wins! (2/5)
<li><i>Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty</i>
<li><i>The Lady and the Reaper </i>
<li><i><u>Logorama</i> </u>
<li><i>A Matter of Loaf and Death</i> </ul>
<LI>Best Documentary Short presented by Carey Mulligan (<i>An Education</i>) and Zoe Saldana (<i>Avatar</i>) at 6:35 p.m.<ul>
<li><b><i>China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province</i></b> is my pick for best documentary short. I haven't seen any of the films in this category. I just find it amusing to choose the short film with the longest title. And <i>Music by Prudence</i> wins! (2/6)
<li><i>The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner</i>
<li><i>The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant</i>
<li><i><u>Music by Prudence</i></u>
<li><i>Rabbit à la Berlin</i> </ul>
<LI>Best Live Action Short presented by Carey Mulligan (<i>An Education</i>) and Zoe Saldana (<i>Avatar</i>) at 6:40 p.m. It is a little bit hilarious seeing the actors from <i>Avatar</i> because they aren't blue in real life.<ul>
<li><i>The Door</i>
<li><i>Instead of Abracadabra</i>
<li><b><i>Kavi</i></b> is my pick for best live action short. I really liked the other films in this category, but I think <i>Kavi</i> had the highest production values. At first I was a little bored with yet another story about how miserable life is in India, but the ending really saved it for me. And <i>The New Tenants</i> wins! (2/7)
<li><i>Miracle Fish</i>
<li><i><u>The New Tenants</i></u></ul>
<LI>Best Makeup presented by Ben Stiller (<i>Zoolander</i>) in blue Avatar makeup, even though Avatar was not nominated for make up because the whole thing was done in the computer.<ul>
<li><i>Il Divo</i>
<li><u><b><i>Star Trek</i></b> is my pick for best makeup because it has aliens, and even though the aliens were just humans with facial tattoos, at least that’s something. And, <i>Star Trek</i> wins! (3/8) </u>
<li><i>The Young Victoria</i></ul>
<LI>Best Adapted Screenplay presented by Rachel McAdams (<i>Sherlock Holmes</i>) and Jake Gyllenhaal (<i>Prince of Persia</i>).<ul>
<li><i>District 9</i>
<li><i>An Education</i>
<li><i>In the Loop</i>
<li><u><i>Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire</i></u>
<li><b><i>Up in the Air</i></b> is my pick for best adapted screenplay. It is leading in the Hollywood exchange, but I really enjoyed this film. I would vote for this film if I were a member of the Academy. And, <i>Precious</i> wins! (3/9)
<ul>Queen Latifa introduced the highlights from the Governors Awards at 6:55 pm: Gordon Willis (<i>The Godfather</i>), Lauren Bacall (<i>The Mirror Has Two Faces</i>), John Calley (<i>The Remains of the Day</i>), Roger Corman (<i>Death Race</i>).</ul></ul>
<LI>Best Supporting Actress presented by Robin Williams. This award is usually presented by last year's winner; however, last year's winner was Heath Ledger, <i>The Dark Knight</i> (2008), and he is not available. Robin Willimas won the Best Supporting Actor Oscar for <i>Goodwill Hunting</i> (1997).<ul>
<li>Penélope Cruz in <i>Nine</i>
<li>Vera Farmiga in <i>Up in the Air</i>
<li>Maggie Gyllenhaal in <i>Crazy Heart</i>
<li>Anna Kendrick in <i>Up in the Air</i>
<li><u><b>Mo'Nique in <i>Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire</i></b> is my pick for Best Supporting Actress. She won the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild award in this category. She is also the pick on the Hollywood exchange. If I were a voting member of the Academy I would probably vote for Vera Farmiga. I enjoyed her performance very much. And, Mo'Nique wins! (4/10) During her acceptance speech she thanked Hattie McDaniel, the first African American to win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. I like historical references. She also thanked her husband for showing her that "sometimes you have to forego doing what's popular in order to do what's right." Apparently referring to the choice to play such a despicable and difficult character.</u></ul>
<LI>Best Art Direction presented by Sigourney Weaver (<i>Gorillas in the Mist</i>) at 7:05 p.m.<ul>
<li><u><b><i>Avatar</i></b> is my pick for best art direction. The other four films in this category were all very beautiful, but <i>Avatar</i> was so beautiful that the audience was actually depressed to know that their world would never be so beautiful. An Oscar would be a very nice way to honor that achievement. And, <i>Avatar</i> wins! (5/11) </u>
<li><i>The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus</i>
<li><i>Nine</i>
<li><i>Sherlock Holmes</i>
<li><i>The Young Victoria</i> </ul>
<LI>Best Costume Design presented by Somebody and Sarah Jessica Parker (<i>Sex and the City</i>) at 7:10 p.m.<ul>
<li><i>Bright Star</i>
<li><b><i>Coco before Chanel</i></b> is my pick for best costumes. I really loved the costumes in <i>Bright Star</i> and <i>The Young Victoria</i>, but it seems to me that this awards ought to go to the film that is actually about a clothing designer. But, <i>The Young Victoria</i> wins! (5/12)
<li><i>The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus</i>
<li><i>Nine</i>
<li><u><i>The Young Victoria</i></u>
<ul>Special tribute to horror movies in the form of a series of clips introduced by Kristen Stewart (<i>New Moon</i>) and Taylor Lautnerand (<i>New Moon</i>).</ul></ul>
<LI>Best Sound Editing presented by Zac Efron (<i>High School Musical</i>), Anna Kendrick (<i>Up in the Air</i>) and Morgan Freeman (<i>Invictus</i>) at 7:25 p.m.<ul>
<li><b><i>Avatar</i></b> is my pick for best sound editing. I don't really know how to pick a film in this category, but I like to go with what's most popular. I sure wouldn't mind if Star Trek won in this category. But, <i>The Hurt Locker</i> wins! (5/13).
<li><u><i>The Hurt Locker</i></u>
<li><i>Inglorious Basterds</i>
<li><i>Star Trek</i>
<li><i>Up</i> </ul>
<LI>Best Sound Mixing presented by Zac Efron (<i>High School Musical</i>), Anna Kendrick (<i>Up in the Air</i>) and Morgan Freeman (<i>Invictus</i>) at 7:25 p.m.<ul>
<li><b><i>Avatar</i></b> is my pick for best sound mixing. I don't really know how to pick a film in this category, but I like to go with what's most popular. I sure wouldn't mind if Star Trek won in this category. But, <i>The Hurt Locker</i> wins! (5/14)
<li><u><i>The Hurt Locker</u></i>
<li><i>Inglorious Basterds</i>
<li><i>Star Trek</i>
<li><i>Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen</i>
<ul>Elizabeth Banks (<i>Zack and Miri Make a Porno</i>) congratulated the 15 winners of the Sci Tech awards (without actually naming them).</ul></ul>
<LI>Best Cinematography presented by Sandra Bullock (<i>The Blind Side</i>) at 7:35 p.m.<ul>
<li><u><b><i>Avatar</i></b> is my pick for best cinematography. It included some very beautiful and spectacular shots, but the other films in this category are also very deserving. And, <i>Avatar</i>wins! (6/15) </u>
<li><i>Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince</i>
<li><i>The Hurt Locker</i>
<li><i>Inglorious Basterds</i>
<li><i>The White Ribbon</i>
<ul>Demi Moore (<i>Ghost</i>) introduced the tribute to those who have died during the calendar year. Somebody sang "In my Life I Loved Them All" while sitting on a stool playing a guitar. He sang while clips and images of the departed were displayed on a large screen. Michael Jackson (<i>The Wiz</i>) was included in the list which surprised me since I don't think of him as a movie guy. David Carradine (<i>Kung Fu</i>) was there. Notably absent was Farrah Fawcett (<i>The Burning Bed</i>).</ul></ul>
<LI>Best Score presented by Jennifer Lopez (<i>Moster In-Law</i>), Sam Worthington (<i>Avatar</i>) and the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers at 7:45 p.m. The nominees for Best Song are usually performed at the Oscar award ceremony. They are usually performed quite badly; at least they stage the performance quite badly, in my opinion. I'm always hoping that they will please do something more like the Grammy's, but this year they didn't present them at all. Instead they presented the nominees for Best Original Score. While the orchestra played bits of the score, a troupe of dancers performed an interpretation - much the sort of thing that you might see at the Tony's - better I think, grander. If they can't get the songs staged better, they can do this every year. I really liked it.<ul>
<li><b><i>Avatar</i></b> is my pick for best score because it was composed by James Horner and he wins all the time; however, I don't actually recall that any of these films even had music, except for <i>Up</i> which told part of its story over the credits without dialogue. And, <i>Up</i> wins! (6/16)
<li><i>Fantastic Mr. Fox</i>
<li><i>The Hurt Locker</i>
<li><i>Sherlock Holmes</i>
<li><u><i>Up</i> </u></ul>
<LI>Best Visual Effects presented by Gerard Butler (<i>300</i>) and Bradley Cooper (<i>The Hangover</i>) at 7:55 p.m.<ul>
<li><u><b><i>Avatar</i></b> is my pick for best visual effects. <i>Avatar</i> was a visual effects spectacular. It seems like a shoe-in although, the other films in this category are also very deserving. And, <i>Avatar</i> wins! (7/17) </u>
<li><i>District 9</i>
<li><i>Star Trek</i> </ul>
<LI>Best Documentary presented by Matt Damon (<i>Invictus</i>) at 8:00 p.m.<ul>
<li><i>Burma VJ</i>
<li><u><i>The Cove</i></u>
<li><b><i>Food, Inc.</i> </b> is my pick for best documentary, but it’s a bit of a shot in the dark. I've only seen two films in this category, but I think this one has the potential for improving our world. <i>The Cove</i> and <i>Which Way Home</i> also have this potential, but the food we eat seems more fundamental than cruelty to sea mammals or racist immigration laws. But, <i>The Cove</i> wins! (7/18)
<li><i>The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers</i>
<li><i>Which Way Home</i></ul>
<LI>Best Film Editing presented by Tyler Perry (<i>I Can Do Bad All By Myself</i>) at 8:05 p.m.<ul>
<li><b><i>Avatar</i></b> is my pick for best film editing. I really don't know how to choose a film in this category, so I'm just going with what seems to be the most popular film, and this has been one of the most popular films of all time. But <i>Precious</i> wins! (7/19)
<li><i>District 9</i>
<li><i>The Hurt Locker</i>
<li><i>Inglorious Basterds</i>
<li><u><i>Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire</i></u></ul>
<LI>Best Foreign Film presented at 8:15 p.m.<ul>
<li><i>Ajami</i> - Israel
<li><u><i>El Secreto de Sus Ojos</i> - Argentina</u>
<li><i>The Milk of Sorrow</i> - Peru
<li><i>Un Prophète</i> - France
<li><b><i>The White Ribbon</i> - Germany</b> is my pick for best foreign film even though I haven't seen any of the films in this category either. I did hear a report on the radio about this film, so I think its getting more press, and I'm using that as a gauge that its more popular, but I think the other films in this category are very interesting, and I look forward to seeing them all as soon as they are released on DVD. And, <i>El Secreto de Sus Ojos</i> wins! (7/20)</ul>
<LI>The nominees for Best Actor were introduced by Michelle Pfeiffer (<i>The Fabulous Baker Boys</i>), who said nice things about Jeff Bridges; Vera Farmiga (<i>Up in the Air</i>), who said nice things about George Clooney; Julian Moore (<i>A Single Man</i>), who said nice things about Colin Firth; Tim Robbins (<i>The Shawshank Redemption</i>), who said nice things about Morgan Freeman; and Colin Farrell (<i>S.W.A.T.</i>), who said nice things about Jeremy Renner.<br>
<br>
This is something new they added last year, but I missed it because my satellite provider was battling with my local ABC affiliate. Although I liked hearing the nice things that were said about the nominees, I didn't like how the leading actors were singled out for this honor. There is no shortage of honors bestowed upon leading actors. If they want to keep doing this every year, they ought to rotate it around a bit. Next year they could do directors and producers, and maybe someday writers and designers.<br>
<br>
The winner was announced by Kate Winslet at 8:30 p.m. Kate Winslet won the Oscar for Best Actress last year for <i>The Reader</i>.<ul>
<li><u><b>Jeff Bridges in <i>Crazy Heart</i></b> is my pick for Best Actor. He won the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild award in this category. He is also the pick for the Hollywood exchange. However if I were a voting member of the Academy, I would vote for Morgan Freeman. I really enjoyed his performance. And, Jeff Bridges wins! (8/21) </u>
<li>George Clooney in <i>Up in the Air</i>
<li>Colin Firth in <i>A Single Man</i>
<li>Morgan Freeman in <i>Invictus</i>
<li>Jeremy Renner in <i>The Hurt Locker</i></ul>
<LI>The nominees for Best Actress were introduced by Forest Whitaker (<i>Hope Floats</i>), who said nice things about Sandra Bullock; Somebody from <i>The Queen</i>, who said nice things about Helen Mirren; Peter Sarsgaard (<i>An Education</I>), who said nice things about Carey Mulligan; Oprah Winfrey (<i>The Color Purple</i>), who said nice things about Gabourey Sidibe; and Stanley Tucci (<i>Julie & Julia</i>), who said nice things about Meryl Strep. The winner was announced by Sean Penn at 8:45 p.m. Sean Penn won the Oscar for Best Actor last year for <i>Milk</i>.<ul>
<li><u><b>Sandra Bullock in <i>The Blind Side</i></b> is my pick for Best Actress. She won the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild award in this category, and she is the pick on the Hollywood exchange. If I were a voting member of the Academy I would still vote for her even though I really liked Helen Mirren, too. I've been a fan of Sandra Bullock for a long time, and I REALLY liked this movie. I think it's great when a actress like Sandra Bullock who is popular also achieves such a high level of critical and professional acclaim. And, Sandra Bullock wins! (9/22) She received a standing ovation. She gave a very nice speech, very self deprecating and humorous, sending the cameras into the crowd to photograph the woman she portrayed on film. Finally, she thanked the moms who care for children no matter where they come from. Then I think she thanked her own mother - very tearfully. It was a very nice speech.
</u>
<li>Helen Mirren in <i>The Last Station</i>
<li>Carey Mulligan in <i>An Education</i>
<li>Gabourey Sidibe in <i>Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire</i>
<li>Meryl Streep in <i>Julie & Julia</i></ul>
<LI>Best Director was presented by Barbara Streisand at 8:55 p.m.<ul>
<li>James Cameron in <i>Avatar</i>
<li><u><b>Kathryn Bigelow in <i>The Hurt Locker</i></b> is my pick for Best Director. James Cameron won the Golden Globe, but Kathryn Bigelow won the Director's Guild Award. She is also the leading in the Hollywood exchange. James Cameron's achievement with <i>Avatar</i> is extraordinary, but as a director most of his work was done in post production. It really deserves the technical awards, but I agree with another reviewer who said that Bigelow's film is the most important of the films in this category. It deals with a real war that we are fighting right now. Also, Bigelow will be the first woman to win in this category, and she used to be married to Cameron, all of which adds to the drama of the moment. And, Kathryn Bigelow won! (10/23) James Cameron seemed genuinely excited for her achievement. </u>
<li>Quentin Tarantino in <i>Inglorious Basterds</i>
<li>Lee Daniels in <i>Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire</i>
<li>Jason Reitman in <i>Up in the Air</i></ul>
<LI>Best Picture presented by Tom Hanks (<i>Cast Away</i>) at 9:00 p.m.<ul>
<li><b><i>Avatar</i></b> is my pick for best picture. <i>Avatar</i> won the Golden Globe for Best Picture, but <i>Inglorious Basterds</i> won the Screen Actors Guild award, and <i>The Hurt Locker</i> is leading the Hollywood exchange. I think <i>Avatar</i>'s popularity will pull it to the top, but it's anyone's guess. The voting method is different for this category. Instead of just picking a winner like in every other category, academy members have been asked to rank their choices in this category, so it's possible if half the members put <i>Avatar</i> at 1 and <i>The Hurt Locker</i> at 2 while the other half do the opposite while everyone puts <i>Inglorious Basterds</i> at 3, then <i>Inglorious Basterds</i> could win. But, <i>The Hurt Locker</i> wins! (10/24). The camera cut away very quickly from James Cameron's reaction. I like to imagine that he was very unhappy at not winning this award.
<li><i>The Blind Side</i>
<li><i>District 9</i>
<li><i>An Education</i>
<li><u><i>The Hurt Locker</i></u>
<li><i>Inglorious Basterds</i>
<li><i>Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire</i>
<li><i>A Serious Man</i>
<li><i>Up</i>
<li><i>Up in the Air</i> </ul>
</OL>Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7983606135728733202.post-51627507846622747982010-03-01T14:10:00.000-08:002010-06-01T14:11:48.661-07:00Tae Guek Il JangThere are many sites on the Internet which offer instruction on performing the forms of taekwondo. They vary widely, partly because instructors refer to the same techniques by different names, but mostly because people just write things differently. I am intrigued at the notion that although we are all doing these forms exactly the same way, we are all talking and writing about them very differently. It's really easier to learn forms in class than it is to learn them from written text, but I think this is helpful. I wrote this out to help me study for my test, and I offer it up to anyone who might find it useful. If you note any errors, please let me know. Thanks.<br>
<br>
<b>Tae Guek Il</b> <small>(1st)</small> <b>Jang</b> is represented by the symbol <i>keon</i>, meaning heaven. It should be performed with the greatness of heaven. As heaven symbolizes the beginning of the creation of all things in the universe, so this form represents the beginning of taekwondo training. This form is characterized by the easiest techniques: walking stance, front stance, low block, middle block, high block, middle punch and front kick. At my school it is required for advancement to orange belt. (We actually learn three forms that are even easier!)<br>
<br>
From the Joon Be <small>(ready)</small> position<ol>
<li>1. Turn 90* to the left and step with the left foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand.
<li>2. Step forward with the right foot in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand.
<li>3. Turn 180* to the right and step with the right foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the right hand.
<li>4. Step forward with the left foot in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<li>5. Turn 90* to the left (facing flags) and step with the left foot in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand followed immediately by a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand.
<li>6. Turn 90* to the right and slide the right foot (back foot) into <i>walking stance</i> (right foot forward) and perform an outside-in <b>middle block</b> with the left hand.
<li>7. Step forward with the left foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand.
<li>8. Turn 180* left and step with the left foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform an outside-in <b>middle block</b> with the right hand.
<li>9. Step forward with the right foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<li>10. Turn 90* to the right (facing flags) and step with the left foot in <i>front stance</i> perform and <b>low block</b> with the right hand followed immediately by a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<li>11. Turn 90* to the left and slide the right foot (back foot) up into <i>walking stance</i> (left foot forward) and perform a <b>high block</b> with the left hand.
<li>12. Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the right foot (fists on belt) and land in <i>walking stance</i> (right foot forward) and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand.
<li>13. Turn 180* to the right and step with the right foot in <i>walking stance</i> and perform a <b>high block</b> with the right hand.
<li>14. Perform a <b>front kick</b> with the left foot and land in <i>walking stance</i> (left foot forward) and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the left hand.
<li>15. Turn 90* to the right (back to flags) and step with the LEFT foot in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>low block</b> with the left hand.
<li>16. Step forward (back to flags) with the right foot in <i>front stance</i> and perform a <b>middle punch</b> with the right hand. <b>KI HAP!</b> <small>(yell)</small></ol>
Turn 180* to the left (facing flags) into Joon Be <small>(ready)</small> position.Erin Howarthhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00249434947850197593noreply@blogger.com0