Cool image, huh? It comes to us from one of my favourite OWL regulars, Kathy Boake, who illustrates the “Talk About It” section each issue. It just gives me a super-warm and toasty feeling as we dive into the holiday season.
Speaking of which, as of right now, I am officially off work for the holidays! But don’t worry — I’ll be checking in with a post or three next week. One of them will be a reverse mailbag, by request.
As for today, I leave you with a great online game I just discovered. It’s called Snowman Stacker, and the goal is to toss snowballs in the air so they make a snowman… without falling over. It takes a couple of tries to get the hang of it, but after that it’s a lot of fun. My record is seven snowballs. Can you beat me? Let me know in the comments below!
If you’ve seen the December issue of OWL (click here to order back issues if you haven’t!), you already know a lot about The Adventures of Tintin. We dug deep to get all the facts about how the movie was made, including a ton of info on the cool performance capture technology in the film. I also had the chance to see the new movie, which opens today, and I’m here to share some thoughts.
The story is based on three classic Tintin tales written between 1941 and 1944. As Jamie Bell (the actor who plays Tintin) put it, it is all about the origin of the relationship between Tintin and his sea-faring friend Captain Haddock.
When intrepid reporter Tintin buys a model ship at a market, he quickly discovers he’s not the only one interested in it — several evil-looking men want the model, and will stop at nothing to get it. Before long, we find out the ship — known as the Unicorn — is actually the key to an ages-old mystery, and Tintin needs to figure it out fast or face the consequences. Along the dangerous path toward the truth, Tintin sails the seas, flies airplanes, and races through foreign cities.
But will Tintin discover the secret of the Unicorn before it’s too late? You’ll have to find out in theatres starting today!
Here are a few observations about the movie:
1) It looks great. As we talked about in the December issue, performance capture is a combination of live action and animation. Directors take the movements of real actors, give them animated bodies and faces, and put that together with animated sets and objects. In this new movie, it all adds up to a great-looking movie. The characters are life-like without being creepy and the cities and scenes are incredibly detailed and rich.
2) It’s fast paced. If you’re a fan of action sequences, this is the film for you. Tintin, his dog Snowy, and Captain Haddock leap (sometimes literally!) from chase scene to brawl all movie with barely a moment to breathe in between. Even the flashbacks are full of sword-fighting!
3) It’s Indiana Jones-y. That’s not surprising, really, because director Steven Spielberg is behind both this and the Indiana Jones movies, but they are very similar. Both involve a smart, motivated hero and tons of action. (Even Tintin’s punches sound like small explosions… just like Indy’s.)
Overall, I liked this movie and think lots of blog readers will, too. There’s a good dose of mystery and problem-solving to go along with the action, and Tintin makes for a good-hearted hero that we can all see ourselves in. That said, there’s some gunplay and Captain Haddock spends a lot of the movie drinking alcohol (like he does in the books), so this movie isn’t for your youngest siblings.
What do you think, OWL readers? Are you a fan of the Tintin books? Are you planning to see this movie? While we’re at it, what did you think of the article we wrote about the flick? Let me know in the comments below!
Hey blog readers! Whether you’re kicking off your winter holidays today or your last week of school before the holidays, it’s ALWAYS a good time to check out some Reader Art of the Week.
This week’s art comes to us in the form of poetry, and it comes to us from blog reader Zoe. Check it out:
Owl Song
Wind blows on distant hills
Leaving with nothing but a flutter
Do you hear them?
The whispers
Of life
In
The
Night
Nice! I love how this poem evokes a dreamy and thoughtful vibe perfect for this time of the year. The short lines also help to slow down the poem so each and every word is savoured.
Many thanks to Zoe for sending in her poem. Also, if you want to see one of YOUR poems, stories, photos, or drawings on the OWL Blog, just send it to me at owlblog@owlkids.com.
Let’s see here: it’s December, the temperature’s dropping outside, the malls are packed… that must mean a new Chipmunks movie is on its way! I caught the new flick in the series, Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip-Wrecked, at a preview screening last weekend, and I’m here to share some thoughts.
This movie begins with the Chipmunks — Alvin, Simon, and Theodore — and the Chipettes — Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor — boarding a cruise ship to sail off to the International Music Awards. When Alvin’s antics (“ALVIN!!!”) send them flying overboard, they end up fending for themselves on a deserted island.
Will their manager and guardian, Dave, be able to find them? Will the island’s active volcano erupt? Will Alvin and Brittany work together for once to help the group, or continue their wacky rivalry? You’ll have to see this flick in theatres (or on DVD or TV someday…) to find out!
In the meantime, here are a few observations about the movie:
1) It’s musical. This will be no surprise to Chipmunks fans. Here, they sing songs by Lady Gaga, the Go-Gos, Lady Gaga (again), and Destiny’s Child, among others. Almost no major (or minor) event in the movie passes by without a song-and-dance number from the Chipmunks and Chipettes. Stranded on an island? Sing and dance. Bored? Sing and dance. Meeting a new person? Sing and dance!:
2) It’s goofy. Even when you get past the idea of singing chipmunks taking a cruise ship to an international music awards show (which is pretty goofy already), you have the following things: 1) a character who spends the entire movie dressed up in a bird costume, 2) a character who gets bit by a spider and immediately starts taking risks and speaking in a French accent, and 3) a character who spends her days talking to sports balls with faces painted on them. Speaking of which…
3) It’s referential. The character talking to sports balls is a reference to a Tom Hanks movie called Castaway that few kids will have seen. There were lots of scenes, shots, and lines of dialogue like this. Some of them will seem fresh and new to younger viewers, but others just might seem strange and out of place.
Overall, I think this movie has enough action, humour, and music to appeal to the younger end of the OWL age group. If you liked the first two movies in the series, you will almost definitely like this one as well. If not, you might want to steer clear of this and check out Hugo or Arthur Christmas this holiday season instead.
Hi all. Normally when I post things in the “Contests” category on the blog, they are things that you can enter. This time, it’s something that OWL has entered! (Cool, huh?)
The details: UNICEF challenged a bunch of different media outlets (Owlkids included) to decorate gingerbread tents to raise awareness about their Survival Gifts program. Representatives from all the Owlkids magazines got together and decorated the tent.
See how we did with the following before-and-after photos:
Before:
After:
Awesome! You may have noticed Tyler and Lizzy from OWL’s popular “Alex and Charlie” comic in there (as well as Chirp, Chick, and Dee!).
If you or someone in your family is a member of Facebook, you can vote for the Owlkids entry as the best in the contest by heading here. If we get the most “likes” out of all the entries (and there is some stiff competition, by the way!) a real UNICEF tent will be donated to a community in need in our name. Very cool, and for a great cause, too!
Let me know what you think about our design in the comments below.
