Mr. Popper’s Penguins opened this past weekend. I went to see it on Sunday and would highly recommend this film. I enjoyed it, but I have also never read the book and therefore cannot say how good a job it does of portraying that story. I did think it had a lot of heart. And while having a couple parts I thought were a bit gross (dealing with penguin poop), I think that the good qualities of the film outweigh those moments. Plus, the CG penguins are simply adorable!
The summer movie season is now in full swing, which means that Kung Fu Panda 2 will be out in theatres this weekend!
I really enjoyed the first movie and hope that this movie will live up to my expectations. I have heard some basic early reviews and it seems like it should be good. Of the summer movies so far this one should be entertaining for the whole family. I will be seeing it this weekend sometime, and I can report back after that.
Kung Fu Panda 2 is rated PG, and has a running time of 90 minutes. To find out more about the movie see IMDB.
Opening in movie theatres today is Disney’s African Cats.
The movie tells the story of two families of big cats, the cheetah family and the lion family. The cubs are so cute! Proceeds from the first week will go towards saving the Savanna. To see clips and read more, see Disneynature African Cats.
I saw the movie earlier today, and I highly recommend it. Disney manages to tell a good story about the trials and triumphs of these cats, while still leaving the film appropriate for younger viewers. I do warn you though, there are hunting scenes in which the big cats catch their prey. They are fairly artful without blood, but there is a scene of the lions eating in which they have blood on their mouths. I am totally fine with this truth of nature, but some of the parents with little kids at the movie were a bit upset – so I figured I would put that information out there.
Do you guys remember the adorable Shiba Inu Puppy Cam?
The Puppy Cam is online at Ustream.tv, and is a live feed of Shiba Inu puppies so you can watch all their cute antics as they grow! This is the third litter featured on the Puppy Cam, this round featuring 6 pups. There have been a total of 26,620,672 views on the feed as of the writing of this post.
Winter the dolphin is an inspirational animal. She lost her tail after being caught in a crab trap and she survived despite all the adversity of such a catastrophic injury to a marine mammal. She had a will to survive and learned to swim again with the help of a prosthetic tail.
Winter lives at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium. She has a book and now a movie coming in September, in which she stars as herself.
You can read her full story and see more pictures at the mail online.
To learn more about the movie or to buy merchandise (including a DS game) visit seewinter.com and winterstail.com.
Here is a video of her happily swimming with her new tail:
I posted an entry a long time ago about the play War Horse, which features amazing, life sized and life-like horse puppets. This makers of the puppets, Handspring Puppet Company, featured their abilities to make life like puppets at the TED conference this year. I have included an explanation of TED below the content of this story.
War Horse horse puppets
Here is the video from TED featuring and explaining their awesome animal puppets, it is however 18 minutes long:
I would suggest that you watch the whole thing because how they make and move the puppets is truly amazing, but if you do not have that kind of time below are two shorter videos showing what the company can do.
A quicker demonstration of the horse puppet (only 2:48):
Demonstration of working a giraffe puppet:
Here is the full puppet:
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What is TED? It is a nonprofit organization which conducts an annual conference where the ideas currently at work and those of the future can be presented to investors and the public. These ideas cover all areas, from art to technology and beyond, and are meant to try and make the world a better place. The presentations are all available on their website TED.com. My husband introduced me to the TED conference this year after going to watch some of the presentations from the live webstream of the conference. I decided to post this because something that I was interested in the past actually came up at TED, and I encourage you to check out their website for ideas
Disney celebrated Platypus Day on March 5th, in celebration of Perry the Platypus and the new season of Phineas and Ferb.
The show logo:
Logo for Platypus Day:
Phineas and Ferb is an amazing animated show on the Disney channel. Phineas and Ferb are two brothers who try to make the most of every day of summer vacation by having ridiculous adventures. Their sister Candice trys unsuccessfully to tell their mom of her brother’s exploits. Perry is their pet platypus who is actually a secret agent. I think that this cartoon is far better than spongebob – if you want something to compare it to. The show is funny and very entertaining, I suggest checking out a few episodes.
Perry – as a regular Platypus
Perry as a secret agent
Whether or not you enjoy Phineas and Ferb, I think that we should all pay tribute to the amazing Platypus. I mean, what is not cool about a mammal that lays eggs and looks like a cross between a beaver, an otter, and a duck?
DreamWorks Animation is going to make a movie out of the picture book and novel “Flawed Dogs” by Berkeley Breathed.
The book is about a dachshund who was ousted from his family by a jealous show dog, and who must reclaim his place.
Here is more full synopsis of the book:
“Sam the Lion is actually a priceless dachshund, bred to be a show dog. More important, he is Heidy’s best friend—and she needs one like never before. Living with her reclusive uncle is hard, but Sam has a way of making her feel soft and whole. Until the day Sam is framed by the jealous poodle Cassius, and is cast out by Heidy’s uncle, alone on the wild streets, where he is roughed up by a world he was not bred for. Sporting a soup ladle for a leg, Sam befriends other abandoned dogs and journeys all the way to the Westminster Dog Show, where his plan for revenge on Cassius takes an unexpected turn when he and Heidy spot each other after years of being apart.”
