games and such

enders game

Enders Game Review

 by Matt

Enders Game was a very good read/listen, if you don't know I generally listen to books from Audible rather than read them.  It is easier for me because it gives me something to do while I drive to work or workout in the fitness center.

Anyway, Enders Game is about a young boy name Andrew Wiggins, he lives in the future and was monitored by the government since he was a baby to see if he has the ability/capability to fight against the aliens called buggers.  The earth was attacked 80 years earlier by the buggers but found a way to repel them.  However, now the fear is the buggers will return, so the earth is preparing for the second wave and looking for leaders and warriors to help beat them.

Andrews nickname is Enders, hence Enders Game.  Ender is chosen to attend special training to help him become a fighter pilot in the battle against the buggers.  Enders game takes you through his training, which Ender excels at. The training uses war games and computer simulation to provide situations that may occur during war with the buggers.  I really liked how the author told the story, Ender is manipulated to train and fight.  It has an interesting ending and I would recommend it especially for younger readers.

ps...

definitely a boy book:)

well, here is a look at some of the fun we had in july...

apparently we have lots of treasures and are incredibly blessed:)

thanks you guys for all the participation in our wednesday word fun.

now on to a different feel...

gone (at least momentarily)

are the patriotic fireworks and meyhem of july

(anybody else feel that july is always jam packed?)

and on to the

hot august nights

and spookyish books...

maybe a little jam making

and tomato dinners on the porch...

share if you want and have fun with the witches or whatever you are reading...

love you all!

bye...

more later...

"did big foot take it?"

national treasure

"who wants to go down the creepy tunnel in the tomb first?"

A man sets out to steal a lost fortune in order to save it in this adventure drama from producer Jerry Bruckheimer. 

Benjamin Franklin Gates (Nicolas Cage) is an archeologist who is from the eighth generation of a family who has shared an unusual quest. 

As Gates-family legend has it, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin hid a massive cache of gold during the waning days of the Revolutionary War and left clues as to its whereabouts in the original drafts of the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. 

With no firm proof that it actually exists, Gates sets out to crack the code that will lead him to the fortune, which, as a member of the Gates clan, he is sworn to protect from wrongdoers. National Treasure also features Sean Bean, Harvey Keitel, Justin Bartha, and Jon Voight.

check out this trailer

"you're treasure hunters, aren't you?"

"we're more like treasure protectors"

want to have some some fun?

watch this movie:)

new wednesday word:

bye...

more later...

"you play ball like a giiirrrrrrrrl!"

                

the sandlot

the film is told through the perspective of scotty smalls, who is reminiscing on his first summer in los angeles.

in 1962,

     scotty smalls moves to a new neighborhood with his mom
                            and stepdad,
                  and wants to learn to play baseball.


smalls struggles to make friends beccause of his awkward

shyness but decides to try to join a group of boys who are playing baseball on a vacant lot they call the sandlot...

the neighborhood baseball guru Rodriquez takes Smalls under his wing, and soon he's part of the local baseball buddies.

 they fall into all sorts of adventures and trouble involving baseball, treehouse sleep-ins, the snooty rival ball team, and the travelling fair,

the desirous lifeguard at the local pool,

the best scene in this movie this one...

                                  

when michael "squints" decides to fake drowning
in order to get wendy the lifeguard to give him mouth to mouth...

 beyond the fence at the back of the sandlot menaces a legendary ball-eating dog called "the beast",

and the kids inevitably must deal with him.



when they do they meet james earl jones, who just seems to belong in a baseball movie,

and some of their questions are answered about

"the beast"...

this movie is so much fun for summer...

it just reminds you of what it's like to be a kid in the summer...

one of the things i miss most about having young kids is seeing movies like this in the theater...

we went to them all the time...

if you want to watch something fun, give this a try...

it is hilarious...

since we are talking a little baseball here is a

look at my nephew

wil "dawg" thomas

he is on the little all stars team and they are in the finals tonight...

good luck guys!

new wednesday word...
sandlot...
bye...
more later...

there are games afoot

enders game

we are playing games for july:)...

Winner of the Hugo and Nebula Awards

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race's next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn't make the cut—young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender's skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender's two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If, that is, the world survives.

Ender's Game is the winner of the 1985 Nebula Award for Best Novel and the 1986 Hugo Award for Best Novel.

i have the good fortune of knowing this man...

mr. willard card, who is the father of

orson scott card...

nicest man ever...

the woman in in the picture is orson's sister

and they told me that mrs. card, orson's mother,

transcribed this 

entire book by hand 

for orson. mrs. card was also there

but in the background. she is 91 years old...

he thought it was very cool that we were reading this book for our book club...

by the way...

this is a great book for guys and kids if you want to include them. jeremy read it and loved it and matt and i are going to listen to it on our drive to torrey on friday...

(if you haven't read "hunger games" and want to substitute it for this book, do that.)

they are also making a movie out of this book

starring harrison ford as 

colonel hyrum graff and 

asa butterfield as ender wiggin

something to look forward to:)

~~~~~~~~~~

i didn't send out an email for this month because i was just too busy but the theme for this month is really just anything patriotic...

if you want to share anything that makes you feel patriotic, use intstagram 

and i will add it here...

use the hashtag #endersgamejuly

we had so much fun with our wednesday word game on instagram 

last month,

i thought i would continue it for another while...

try this word out and see what we come up with...

lots of fires going on here in utah and it's very scary...

have a safe 4th of july...

bye...

more later...