Christmas!

Hello people's. Today I'm talking about what I got for Christmas.

One of the main things I asked for this Christmas was The Shining by Stephen King. I wanted it because I loved the movie and seeing that Stephen King recently released the sequel Doctor Sleep made me want to read the original book. Also I wanted part of the Dead Space series because I've heard of it for a long time but the M rating was preventing me from getting it till now. I chose Dead Space 2 and 3 because I already know the basic story so I don't need 1, Dead Space 2 is supposed to be the scariest, and Dead Space 3 is the newest and has multiplayer. Christmas morning I got all I asked for and more. I got Dead Space 2 & 3, The Shining and Doctor Sleep which was awesome.

I also got other things that Mom and Dad did a great job picking out. I got two board games, one called Dominion and one called Mage Wars. So far I'm really enjoying Mage Wars because your Mage and the spells you choose to bring into each game are customizable. Also because there is an enormous amount of spells to choose from just in the starting set I got and the fact that they are expansions to the game. I haven't played the two games yet but I'm sure I'll enjoy them both. I really enjoyed Dead Space 2. It was very scary and fun and so far I haven't had the bravery to turn the volume up more than 15.

I've only played Dead Space 3 a little because I'm saving it for playing multiplayer at least till I beat Dead Space 2. The Shining so far has been a really good read and my uncle tells me that the movie plot differs from the book even though they're both really good which excites me because that means more surprises. I'm not far through the book but so far my favorite part is when Jack Torrance is thinking about his accident when he was drunk and furious and accidentally broke his three year old son's arm. Stephen King perfectly describes that haunting, extremely guilty feeling Jack gets when he hears that chilling little snap of Danny's bone. I also got a Codigo cube, some new earbuds, a small Nerf gun, zombie targets for my Nerf guns, a maze ball, and more. And the best part... Almost my entire stocking was filled with meat.




Christmas morning

Have a Merry Christmas everybody! Bye.


By Ashton

The Rot and Ruin

Hello people's. Today I'm writing about a book. Here it goes.

The book is called The Rot & Ruin. It's another zombie book but it adds a lot of new and interesting ideas. The book focuses on a small town in California around 14 years after the apocalypse, what they call first night. Fences and guards protect the citizens from the slow moving zoms past the red zone. There hasn't been a death to zombies in years. Carpet coats have been invented that protect from most bites, combination locks protect both sides of every door in case someone passes and comes back, cadaverine masks smell, and yet... Nobody tries to take back what they've lost.

A good size armed group of men could take back a town, eventually entire states. The major cities are gone, they were nuked during the late parts of first night and the surrounding areas are crowded with radioactive zoms but we could take back this world... But for fourteen years there's been nothing. The only people that ever go past the fence, into the Rot & Ruin are bounty hunters. Bounty hunters clear out trade routes and are sometimes sent by surviving family members to "quite" zoms, who often are trapped in their homes by closed doors or just standing in their yards for years with no movement or sound to attract them.

Benny is a kid living in the town called Mountainside he's just turned fifteen and needs to find a job to earn his ration dollars. Reluctantly he decides to train to be a bounty hunter under his older brother Tom who he considers a coward for running away from his already "turned" father leaving his mother to die. Benny was very young in Tom's arms but he could remember that memory as bright as day. Ben now has to go out into the Rot & Ruin and quickly he learns that he knows very little about the outside world and zombies are not the worst things out there...

You should definitely pick up The Rot & Ruin. Bye.


By Ashton

Infinity Blade 3

Hello peoples. Today I'm blogging about another videogame, this time for iOS. Here it goes.

So after I finished Infinity Blade two I was loving the Infinity Blade series. As soon as I finished I started researching when the next game would come out. I found the Infinity Blade Dungeons trailer and was impressed. Unfortunately the due date for the release of the game kept being pushed back farther and farther. Anyway eventually I lost track of the game.

At least a year later I was browsing the app store and I saw an add pop up... For Infinity Blade three. I instantly freaked out and tapped the add. It had a release date in around a week. After more research I found out Infinity Blade Dungeons had been cancelled for a while now but this new game looked even better the graphics were amazing even for the already great Infinity Blade games. It offered multiple settings that were even more dark and mysterious and I practically peed myself when I saw the end of the trailer... A dragon hurtling towards the main character, Siris. Siris has fought people that were five times bigger than him before but they obeyed the aegis forms which is like an honorable dueling tradition. He's even fought monsters that didn't obey this but this thing had wings and there didn't seem like a lot he could do about that.

So one thing this series has done is put out a book between each game explaining what goes on between games. I've read the first one between IB one and two called Infinity Blade: Awakening. It was ok and was a must if you wanted to understand what Siris is doing in IB two but it was very mysterious and weird and throughout progression in these games there are more and more of what looks like advanced technology even in this medieval type world. This was in the ending of IB one and put me off a bit and it was implemented even more in that book. The book, called Infinity Blade: Redemption between IB two and three, has all the answers. It tells all about how this technology is here completely catches the reader off guard and wraps it all in a nice little bow. I highly recommend reading these books if your gonna play this game series.

Now down to the actual game itself: I've already beaten it and I loved it. The storyline is amazing and unexpected and if you do beat it then watch till the end of the credits and if you've read all the books what you see is shocking. The game seems to be lacking in weapons, armor, and items compared to the other games but with the ability to play as Isa and utilize her own unique weapons it more than makes up for it. The game also adds an interesting new mechanic. Instead of just doing things as you go along like the other games, in this you actually have a base you visit between missions with useful people like the gem cutter, potion maker, blacksmith, and the merchant. (you can still buy things without the merchant but whenever she visits she comes with a select few discounted items.) I do have a few bugs about the game though. The story is a bit short and there is not as many things to do in it after you've beaten the game, however these things may come out in additional content packs in the future like the previous games. Also the final boss is much to easy. I had more trouble with his predecessors and they either should have made him much faster and more damage dealing or given him more than just one sword. Other than that the game is amazing, definitely worth it's 6.99, and you should pick it up soon.

Bye.


By Ashton

The House of Mystery

Hello peoples.  Today I'm looking into some comics.  Here it goes.

     Specifically I'm reviewing The House of Mystery essentials 1,2,3 and The House of Secrets essential 1.  When my dad still went to the comic store I used to get an essential every time.  So we were redoing my dad's old sanctuary... which was also my old room, to be Katie's bedroom so I was moving my things out and rediscovered them.  Of all the essentials Iv'e gotten I liked these horror ones the best.  A few of the stories are actually pretty good and creepy.

     I've found that the stories get better as the comic gets older. (And by better I mean no story in essential 3 have happy endings.)  As the series contiue they become less mystery story and more horror story and I like the change.  My favorite stories from The House of Mystery essentials are, Nightmare, The Little people, Brief Visit, The Lunatic, A Breath of Black Death, The Demon within, Phony Face, This Little Demon Loves People, Oh Mom! oh dad! You've sent me to summer camp and I'm so sad!, The Death Clock, The Night of The Teddy Bear, The one and only fully guarenteed super 100%, The Curse of the Macintyres, and Monster in the House.  The stories get better as the comic gets older and 2 and 3 are the best ones.

     My favorite from The House of Secrets is, If i should Die Before I Wake, Please Don't Cry Johnny, After I Die, Creature, The Monster, and Domain of the Damned.  I love the style of these old, short horror stories and I love how most of them have little cliffhangers that are only explained by the pictures.  I also love the relationship between Cain, the caretaker of the House of Mystery, and Abel, the caretaker of the House of Secrets.  The two are brothers.

Bye.

The Shining

Hello peoples. Today I'm blogging on The Shining. Here it goes.

The shining is a very different horror movie. I have not read the book yet but I hope to. It is directed by Stanley Kubrick and it is amazing. Here is the basic story with no big spoilers. It's about a man named Jack Torrance who is going to be the winter caretaker of a hotel and he is taking his family with him.

Due to the hotels location in the mountains it is virtually inaccessible in the winter so he's there alone with his family for a few months. The main horror feature in this movie is not so much blood and gore or physical things like a monster, (but it does have plenty of things like that.) Its mainly about Jack descending from a loving father to the brink of madness to do... Horrible things. It also has very good supernatural events and Jack's only son Danny is tied into those events.

It's not the kind of scary where something pops out of a closet and scares you it's something where your like... Wait, what just happened and then you think about it for a while, realize what happened, and pee your pants. It also has some very disturbing scenes involving gore but it's not really like movies today it's more... Horrifyingly artistic. My dad tells me Stanley Kubrick was an artist so I guess that makes sense. It is such an artistic movie that many of the most terrifying scenes are open to interpretation but in such a way there's no real interpretation that's not extremely creepy. I really loved this movie and I was very excited to see that Stephen King, the author of the book, has released a sequel, I think it's called Sleep Doctor which is one of the reasons why I want to read The Shining as well.

Bye

Hello peoples. So today my topic is my girlfriend and it has been picked out by one of my favorite people, my girlfriend. Here it goes.

So I guess I better start from the beginning. It was the first day of fourth grade when I met her. Since then I've always liked her but it took me quite an embarrassing few years to get things started. In those few years I was stuck in something you've probably heard of. (the friend zone). But I guess I started really working for this girl in seventh grade. It was towards the end of the year and she and I had art class together and the seating chart changed a few times until pretty soon she was sitting next to me. She tells me this is when she started liking me but then I was still just hoping she did if she dropped any hints I was probably pretty clueless. I still look at that class in my memories and remember the laughter and the looks we gave each other sometimes. Nevertheless I still didn't ask her the question until a bit through the eighth grade. Once again we had most of our classes together and we spent the most time together in Spanish class and English class which unfortunately was not our favorite class. (neither of us like the teacher). So it had been a while now since I had decided to ask her but I was still looking for a good moment. So it was one Friday the 27th of September and it was a reward after the first report card and everybody was outside sitting on a hill in the grass watching a flag football game with the teachers and some of the more athletic 8th grade boys. (so naturally I was in the audience). I was sitting with her playing with a piece of grass under the early autumn sun getting closer and closer to asking her.... But no. No this is me your talking about it couldn't be that romantic. So school ends and we go home and I'm pumping myself up to ask her through texting doing the laundry home alone blasting my music. The music is really good and a lot of them have to do with love and I felt really good afterwards. So I'm sitting in the living room later with my Mom and siblings eating dinner and I just grab my phone and start typing. One slow letter at a time until, finally the message is written and I sorta closed my eyes and my stomach clenched and I sent her the message... She said yes! I was up for most of the night thinking about this happy, giggly, beautiful girl from North Carolina who, somehow, somehow, had said yes. So the next morning I jump out of bed and check my phone just to make sure this wasn't a dream. So the weekend continues and we nervously text each other until it's Monday morning and I'm heading inside the school knowing that there she is somewhere behind me getting off her bus. And there is she smiling beside me and just like... hi.

So here I am with this wonderful girl today and here I hope to be for a long time. Bye.


By Ashton

My Notebook

Hello peoples. Today I'm writing about some writing I plan t do at school and an example of it. Here it goes.

So recently I've gotten a notebook to write in for entertainment at school. It's not just for entertainment though it's also because lately I've been feeling a need to write some of these things down. Some of them are stories or poems though they often don't rhyme. Other things would just be sayings I've made or bits of wisdom I want to remind myself or stories about my life. Kinda like a journal but more interesting.

Here is an example of something I'm going to put in.

It's Friday and I'm outside running around my neighborhood. This is my third lap around the block and in spite of the chilly fall winds I've taken my jacket off at my last pass by my house. I've gotten to that point where I've gone far enough I won't be stopping for a while. No, I'm not done with it yet it just pushes me to continue. I come to one sharp hill with bright autumn trees on either side of the road. I speed up to get up the hill and my earbuds keep pumping music. Sweat steadily streaks down my temples and then I'm there. At the top of the hill, the view is amazing and I can see both the sun and the moon like rulers of the sky. The clouds have blended in with the oranges and the purples and the sky is split in half between the day and the night. The sunlight shines almost parallel to the horizon and pronounces the fall trees. I haven't stopped running and I'm sprinting down the street like a rocket. The sunlight is beautiful and I close my eyes for a moment and soak it all in like a sponge. It seems to give me a reason, motivation for my every purpose and reason for everything I do. I keep my eyes close and spread my arms out, greeting anything it's gonna throw at me. I was untouchable.


By Ashton

Warlord

Hello people's. Today I'm doing a comic book review. Here it goes.

Recently we have completely stripped my old room so that Katie could move into it. While we were cleaning it out I found some of my old comic books. When I was smaller I read my entire Warlord essential. I still really like it and I asked my Dad if they made any more comics after what I already had. I remember hearing somewhere that they didn't so I wasn't to hopeful but he said yes and now I have more on my iPad.

So warlord is the story of Travis Morgan who was a pilot in the U.S. Airforce. He was on a mission taking photos of supposed Chemical warfare bases in Russia when a Russian plane shot his plane. His plane was going down straight over the north pole. Before he crashed he ejected with a parachute. To his surprise he found himself in a subterranean world! Skartaris.

Skartaris exists because at each pole the earth slowly curves inward on itself, Morgan did not recognize the curve because of how gradual it is. Inside is a world in eternal day because of the sun perpetually held at the center by Earth's gravity. Here Morgan finds creatures from the dawn of Earth, Dinosaurs living alongside modern creatures. Skartaris was once inhabited by the great wizard kings so there are magical creatures and wizards. The civilization of Atlantis once ventured here and the land knew great technological advances before they destroyed each other by war. Now it is inhabited by men and women living in the dark ages of sword and sorcery completely oblivious to the once great civilization.

I like Warlord a lot. It reminds me of Warlord of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs because both of the heroes live in a land of the sword in modern times and both of them are almost always on a quest to save there loved ones such as there sons or wives. Even though they face great challenges neither of them are ever really bested with the sword but the story is still great. Bye.


By Ashton

My Music

Hello peoples. Today I'm writing about some of the music I listen to. Here it goes.

Most of the time I listen to Alternative music but sometimes I listen to Electronic. I like these kinds of music because they really fire me up and the chorus is usually very good. Whenever I'm running the chorus of these songs really help me run faster from the power of the music. The way I buy music is just buying the songs I really like from different artists. Then I put them together in one playlist and listen to them that.

Here are some of the songs in my favorite playlist.
Nothing by The Script
Breakeven by The Script
Paradise by Coldplay
You found me by The Fray
Radioactive by Imagine Dragons
It's Time by Imagine Dragons
Demons by Imagine Dragons
Monster by Imagine Dragons
Apologize by OneRepublic
Good Life by OneRepublic
Secrets by OneRepublic
I'm Yours/Somewhere Over the Rainbow by Straight No Chaser
Hey There Delilah by Plain White T's
Animal by Neon Trees
Fallen Kingdom by TryHardNinja (definitely check out the music video for this just search Fallen Kingdom in YouTube.)
Somewhere Only We Know by Keane
We Are Young by Fun.
Sail by AWOLNATION
Kill Your Heroes by AWOLNATION
Sweater Weather by The Neighborhood

Some of my favorite songs would be Sail, Sweater Weather, Fallen Kingdom, I'm Yours/Somewhere Over the Rainbow, and Demons. My favorite band is probably Imagine Dragons because a lot of their songs are good.

Bye.


By Ashton

The Season is Over

Hello people's.

Recently cross country season has ended. This Saturday I went on a run around my neighborhood. I liked it a lot. I ran around my block five times which is around 2.5 miles.

I listened to music while I ran but I stayed on the left lane so I would see if any cars were coming. It seemed different than running at regular practices. At practice I liked it and wanted to do it but I was counting down how many I had to do. Here, I think it was different because it was something I was doing on my own, and that pushed to to whenever I ran past my house instead of saying ok you have to do one more to meet your goals, it was like ok let's do one more because you want to. I saw all the fall trees zoom by and I had a lot of fun and felt really great when I was done.

I'm definitely doing this again next year it was a TON of fun. I like cross country more than track because you get to see al these beautiful things and it's surreal. Long distance running seems more rewarding and its more fun to push yourself for longer. I was only able to run one competition but next year I'll actually be in the school and will be able to run every one. I felt very good about this season and by our last practice I could keep up with most everyone else even though I'm still in eighth grade.

If you guys would like to hear about some of the music I listen to let me know. Bye.

By Ashton

The Descent

Hello peoples. Today I'm doing a blog on another horror movie. Here it goes.

This blog is on a movie called The Descent. It starts off with the main characters husband and daughter dying in a horrible car crash. A year later her and her friends are gathered together in the Appalachian mountains to go spelunking. They are supposed to be in an explored cave system but Juno, the girl who planned the trip has them go in an unexplored cave system. Before long panic sets in as the caves get more and more dangerous and they have the feeling they are being watched...

The monster in this movie does not appear until halfway through the movie and the movie is still really scary before that. Caves are kind of like space. It's the unknown that scares us. Just as there could be anything out there, there could be anything down below us and that scares the human race's pants off.

There are also many ways to die in either setting and something scares us about being miles underground. Imagine being trapped under a rock. Alone, with no light, miles underground where you were starving slowly. That's pretty terrifying. The ending of the movie is very odd and there are many ways to interpret it but I liked the movie a lot.

Bye.




By Ashton

Hello peoples. Today I'm talking about my trip to the New York Comic Con. Here it goes

On Friday my Dad picked me up during school to drive me to my Aunt robins. We stopped there and spent the night there with my cousins Isaac and Andrew. The next morning my Aunt was nice enough to drive us to the Javitz center, where it was being held. This made it a lot better than last year because we didn't have to park she just dropped us off. She also gave me a card and 25 dollars for my birthday so I had 125$ dollars to spend there.

This time we went straight into the dealers room. I had a lot of fun looking at all the costumes and booths people had set up. I ended up only going 15 dollars over I got four different things and I will write about them later. Afterwards we went back to my aunts and had Thai food for dinner. Unfortunately we had to leave and we didn't get home until around midnight. You can see pictures of the Comic Con on my Dad's Instagram.

Now I'll review the things I got at comic con.



This is the Deacon from Promethus. He looks awesome and I really like the painted on blood on his head. He has okay joints but his shoulder joints are a little restricted by his sculpt.



His inner mouth also comes out.



He comes with 2 Hammerpedes, open and closed,
and a dead engineers helmet...



With the head inside.

Next is the battle damaged engineer and the trilobite 2 pack also from Prometheus.






This is the trilobite. It is just as gross as it in the movie if not worse. It's tentacles are bendy and can turn where they meet the body.



This is the battle damaged engineer. ( who ends the movie in much worse shape ).






His face reminds me of two-face. Next up are 2 Aliens I got.



The first is just a regular repainting of an Alien I have...









But the second is awesome because it's blood red.

Finally I got the Vasquez Vs. Night cougar alien that Kenner made. It wouldn't be that good but it is the only way to get Vasquez in America without high prices.



Vasquez toting her giant missile launcher. She also came with a pulse rifle which is good because she's the only Kenner figure that comes with one.

The black alien that came in her two pack versus the original I already owned.





By Ashton

Gravity

Hello peoples. Today I'm doing another movie blog. Here it goes.

I'm doing this blog on the movie Gravity. Gravity is a movie that takes place mostly in space. It is realistic science fiction. So these are astronauts in space in current time. The movie starts with 3 Astronauts floating around their spaceship fixing a communication system.

The main character is Dr. Ryan Stone. ( a girl ) they receive a message that Russians have tested a missile on one of their own satellites but that the debris will not intercept their path. Soon after they receive an emergency message to get inside the ship, the debris has caused a chain reaction among other satellites sending a deadly wave of metal hurtling towards them at immense speeds. They are unable to get inside the ship in time and the ship is utterly destroyed. Sending the 2 alive Astronauts flying through space to try and get to earth before 90 minutes when the deadly space junk is due to hit them again.

This is the basis of Gravity. It's rated PG-13 but if you omit one scene where they find the other dead crew members than it would probably be PG. I REALLY enjoyed this movie. At first I did not think it would be that good and that it would just be people floating through space the whole time, which it often is but it is really cool and suspenseful. As far as I could tell they were no scientific mistakes and everything seemed accurate. The soundtrack is pretty nice too. It had a very good message as well, (SPOILERS), when Ryan is alone in space, this deadly thing she's witnessed kill several others, she finally overcomes her fears, stops being scared and accepts her fate. But that does not mean she's giving up and she does all she can to beat this enemy and just focuses on being awesome.

I loved the movie Gravity. By.


By Ashton

My new room

Hello peoples. Today I am going to talk about my new room. Here it goes.

For a while now my parents have been working on redoing the house I'm sure most of you know that. I went from my first room that me and Katie shared to my dad's old comic book room now I am in my parents' old room. The first thing we did was rip up the old carpet and put down new hardwood floors. Next we got my bed and so that I could get out of my old room. I've got new pillows and sheets on my bed.

I keep books that I've read before on the bookcase in my room just for memories. I've got a pretty big closet .My dad had a desk in his comic book room that's mine now and we repainted it Brown from green to fit my room. Just above it are 2 old shelves from the laundry room we also painted brown. My shelves have most of my Horror movie stuff on them.

The paint color is light gray. One of the best parts of the new room is my own bathroom. It's nice to have my own room the way I wanted it. None of Katie's big pink flowers, Alex's nightlight or dad's cheesy comic books curtains. ;D



Bye.

By Ashton

Frisbee golf

Hello peoples. Today I am going to write about what I did today. Here it goes.

Today me, my dad, and his friend Steve played frisbee golf. First we got three different frisbees or discs. The driver, mid-drive, and the putter. There are other discs but those are the main ones.

The hole is a metal basket on a pole and above the basket are chains you can get it in to. First you use the driver because it goes the farthest. You point your body at a 90 degree angle to your target. You want to aim to the right of it because the frisbee curves. Then you take 2 steps forward and throw hard.

You want to keep the frisbee as flat as possible. If you get good at it you can angle it down a little as you throw it, this makes it curve right and then left, which makes it go farther. The mid-range disk is just for medium range when you're close to the basket. The putter is best for when you're really close to the basket and you can get it easily because it's easier to control. It takes a while to get used to but I was pretty good after the first couple rounds. I'm pretty sure Steve beat me and dad but he's been doing this for a while. Most of the real problems were the trees and sometimes it would go off the path and I would have to go into the brambles.

Bye.

Cross Country

Hello peoples. Today I am talking about cross country. Here it goes.

So in the second week of school I started cross country for Spring Mills high school. I am the only eighth grader on the team. After school during bus call one of my teachers drives me there. As soon I I get there I get in line with my other teammates and we start running around the school for warmups. When we are done coach Bennett or coach Sedlar tells us what we are going to do today.

First we stretch. On my first day we did a tempo run. The coach sets up a big square with a traffic cone at each corner and we run around it. It lasts twenty minutes and after four minutes of jogging you sprint for a minute so you end of sprinting for four minutes. It was my first day so I was a noob, the noobs jog the whole time and don't sprint. It wasn't to hard but it was hot.

When we were done we stretched again before practice was over. The next day everybody ran the actual cross country course with coach Bennett. That day it was still hot but we got to run in the rain and that felt good. It is not marked yet but we looped it twice and it was around 3.5 miles. During the rain one of my teammates picked up a turtle. We suggested it should be our mascot, "Speedy".

The hardest thing I have done so far was a course coach Sedlar put together. It was a day that coach bennett was not here. First you run up a hill to coach Sedlar and then run behind her all the way to the bathrooms in the middle of a field. From there you run back and down the hill. You do this twice before you get a break. Due to it's infamy among my teammates we have named it " the Sedlar circuit. "

Bye


By Ashton

Camping

Hey peoples. Today I am doing a blog on my recent camping trip. Here it goes.



So after Friday I had to ride the bus home and skip cross country to go camping. We left soon after I got home and had an hour long drive to Rocky Gap, the campsite. We unpacked and got firewood. For dinner we had hotdogs cooked over the fire, and chips. Katie brought Tales from the Crypt and she read us a story before we went to bed.



When we woke up on Saturday Aunt robin, Uncle Dave, Isaac, and Andrew were all in the next cabin because they got there late at night. For breakfast mom cooked us bacon and pancakes. Soon after Andrew woke we all went into the forest to a patch of trees we call the drunken trees. We called them the drunken trees because the trees there have twisty and curvy trunks near the ground and they are easy to climb. A lot of them grew close together there and it made a ceiling of leaves.



Afterwards we went to the lake. I swam with my cousins for a while before I went out on the canoe with my mom. We got back and we climbed in the trees again. This time we actually made a game where we pretend we were in a cave climbing on rocks. Some people would be a lump of rock on the floor. The others had to keep climbing and could not touch the ground. The rock was very thin, so if you touched the ground it would break and lava would pour out into the cave and you would die. The more noise you made the lump would crack. If the lump broke everybody that was a rock represented lava and had to run and tag people. The climbers had to run out of the cave to survive. (back to camp). Then we got more firewood and had corn and burgers for dinner. After dinner, right before Katie told her story a skunk came in our campsite! We had to retreat into our cabin for the night. In the morning the skunk was gone and we hiked a trail before saying goodbye.



Bye.



By Ashton

Vermont trip

Hello people's. Today I am doing a blog on staying with my grandparents. Here it goes.

So on wednesday we left at around five-o'clock in the morning for our almost twelve hour drive from West Virginia to Vermont. We had sandwiches for breakfast and Ted's Fish Fry for lunch. During the car ride I had my iPad, iPod, and most of my make up work for school. We recently got a new car so that made this trip a lot easier. It is bigger with more space. It also has a TV. Our last car had a TV but it was broken when we got it. We also stopped at my great-grandma's to say happy birthday.

We got there at around five-o'clock in the afternoon and had pork for dinner. The next day we went east to New Hampshire. We were going there for a GIANT candy store called Chutter's. It has the worlds longest candy counter where you put candy in a bag and weigh it to get your price. It is pretty much a sweets buffet. I got Lemon heads, candy corn, and Reeses' peanut butter cups; some of my favorite candy.

On Friday we went tubing in the lake with granddad's speedboat. I went three times and wiped out 2 of those times. This was also the first time Alex went alone! Grandad does this thing where he is going fast enough to create waves and then he turns into then and the tube hits them hard. We went pretty slow with Alex though. Mom went out of the wake once and then grandad kept swerving back and forth so she kept going in and out of the wake until she crashed. We stopped at an island for lunch. AND now we all have sunburns. Saturday was pretty much just tech support for Grandma's new computer.

So here I am on another twelve hour drive all the back to Martinsburg... and school. (sigh) Bye.


By Ashton

Back to School

Hello peoples. Today I am writing about back to school. Here it goes.

I am in eighth grade now. This means a lot of things but mostly, more work. For the first half of school I am learning Spanish instead of reading. This is good because I get high school credit. Although Spanish has been a little annoying because when you are learning a new language it get's stuck in your head and you want to answer everybody in Spanish.

When I do learn Spanish it would be fun to talk to some of my friends that were from Spain or Mexico and already know Spanish. I like all my teachers except for maybe one. I may not like him because he seems like one of those teachers that are kinda lazy. Now that I am in eighth grade I have WV history instead of world history. I am in all honors too.

Recently I have wanted to do track at the new high school I'm going to next year. First I am doing cross country and then track in the spring. Because I'm an eighth grader I won't be able to participate in any meets but I can still practice with the team. One of the seventh grade teachers lives near the new high school and is going to take me and another student there when the school day ends.

Bye.


By Ashton

Gym

Hello people. Today I am talking about the gym. Here it goes.

My family except for Alex all goes to the gym to workout. Alex normally plays on his iPod in the lobby. We go to the wellness center at the hospital. It uses a computer system to keep track of your exercise program so you know if you are getting better and you can keep track of your progress. We all have digital keys that you plug into an exercise machine so the machine knows what is going on.

When you first get there you plug your key into a computer and it tells you what your first exercise machine is. I have running on the treadmill first and I run for fifteen minutes and walk for ten minutes. The machine tells you how many miles you ran, how fast the treadmill is going and your time. At the end it says your next machine. After that I have weights.

The weight machines tell you if you are lifting at the right speed, if you are lifting the weight high or low enough, how many you have done, and how much weight you should lift. I do weights to work my legs, chest, shoulders, biceps, and abs. Then I do the bike. I do it for fifteen minutes on effort level two or three. Lastly I get on the rower machine until Dad is done. When you are done you plug your key in and it tells you how well you did. The gym also has a pool but I have not used it yet.

By.

By Ashton

My Minecraft mod

Hello people's. Today I'm going to talk about my own Minecraft mod. Here it goes.

Recently I have tried out a few different Minecraft mods but they were missing a few things I would really of liked. I have decided to try and make my own minecraft mod and try to make a mod pack. A mod pack is a group of mods you can download together to improve Minecraft. I really like last stand type moments in Minecraft. So part of one mod would be sort of a last stand game where you have to build a castle and defend it from oncoming waves of more and more difficult monsters.


The monsters goal is to kill you or to kill all of your kingdoms civilians which are hiding in your castle. Every time you kill a monster you get more gold. With gold you can buy things like archers, knights, cannons, or even drawbridges. You are not allowed to build anything during the mini-game except for things you buy. Monsters are not the only danger because as the game keeps going things like tornadoes, tidal waves, and even earthquakes will continue to spawn near your location with increasing frequency and intensity.

You can only stop the game at the end of every wave so make sure you are ready to continue. Another thing my mod would add would be better physics so if an explosion destroyed the bottom of your tower, the tower would actually fall and destroy more blocks rather than just floating in the air looking stupid. I also plan to put in more dimensions, bosses, generating castles, magic, and skills. If you find a castle it will be filled with a race of intelligent monsters and often you will find yourself leading an army to raid a castle or defending your castle from hostile people. You will also be able to build medieval battleships or even air ships.

They are many more things I plan to add as well. Bye!

By Ashton

Minecraft mods

Hey people's. Today I'm going to write more about minecraft. Here it goes!

This blog is mostly going to be about my favorite Minecraft mods ending with my most favorite. Here are 3 relatively small mods. The first one is called the monster biomes mod. A biome in Minecraft determines, the grass color, the trees, what lives there, and how flat/mountainous it is. The Monster biomes mod makes most of the biomes very mountainous and the huge mountains with jungle trees makes it look amazing. It still has the flat plains biome though to balance it out. The next one is called the Archimedes ships mod and it let's you create your own ship and pilot it. This one is called Mine and Blade battle gear 2. It gives other weapons than swords such as, maces, battle axes, daggers, and spears. Mine and Blade also adds a dual wielding feature. It also adds 2 new armor sets, shields, and you can customize one set of armor, your flag, and banners with different medieval style emblems. I like it because it adds an awesome medieval feel to Minecraft.

Here is one mod that I like a lot. This one is called The Clay Soldiers mod. It adds the ability to create little gray figures using clay for the body and souls and to create life. You can add every dye to a figure to change it's color and all the clay soldiers from one color will attack other colors and fight to the death! Many items in the game can be added to clay soldiers to give them advantages. You can give them a gold nugget to designate the king, gunpowder so they explode upon death, an iron core to strengthen them, sticks for clubs, flint to sharpen their sticks, diamonds to create super soldiers. You can even give them mounts such as, horses made out of dirt, a snow Pegasus to fly, geckos to climb the walls, and even turtles to float on water. They can even build tiny houses if you give them wood. The clay soldiers mod is awesome for when you just want to make a tiny arena and have clay civilizations battle it out. This is something I have dreamed about when I was younger and I love it.

These next two are HUGE mods and are great for having a massive fantasy adventure in Minecraft. The first one is called Divine RPG and is the backbone of these two mods. It adds in a TON of new, monsters, ores to mine, weapons and tools, blocks, dimensions, and bosses. It basically takes everything you love about Minecraft and multiplies it times 10. I say it is the backbone because it gives you the long term adventure/RPG feel to it but the next mod called Thaumcraft 3 adds in a lot off new concepts to the game. Thaumcraft is a mod that adds in kind of a "science is magic" feel. It bases around the concept that If you take an item and study it long enough you find out about certain aspects about it like, flint and steel would probably have at least a tool aspect and a fire aspect. After studying things long enough you begin to be able to tinker with magical inventions using different aspects you discover. This process of creating magical items using science is called Thaumaturgy It is a pretty complicated mod but it is amazing for those who want to add Magic to Minecraft.

So that was some of my favorite minecraft mods. I do plan on doing more as well. Bye!



By Ashton

Tremors 2

Hey peoples. Today I am doing another movie blog. Here it goes.

This time it is on Tremors 2. There is around five different tremors movies. It is probably true that they get worse with each movie but Tremors 2 isn't that bad. It is missing Kevin Bacon though. It extended our knowledge of the graboids. It had the elements of a great movie but didn't quite make it.
(Spoiler)

Trying to replace Valentine with Grady wasn't a very good idea. He did to many stupid things without dying or being funny. The whole rock paper scissors thing didn't really work with him either. I did like how the Graboids changed into 3 of the smaller 2 legged creatures. At least they did have Bert come back with all his awesome overpowered weaponry.

I also felt like the movie wasn't very scary. In the original most of the death scenes were a little disturbing but if you were to dumb them down a little in this movie most little kids could watch it without being very scared. Giant fat worms coming out of the ground and eating you is much more scary than those little things. The little things were to easy to kill as well. Overall 5.5/10.

Bye.


By Ashton

In the basement with my Gramps

Hey people's today I am going to write about something I used to do with my grandfather. Here it goes.

My grandad A.K.A. Gramps has an office in his basement and I remember when I was younger we would watch shows like the Lone Ranger and Hop along Cassidy. We would turn the lights off and bundle up in coats to watch the shows from his television. It seemed like he always had a plastic tub of cookies we would get out to munch on. Down there I watched a few movies too, like Harvey and It's a Mad Mad world. Harvey is a movie about a man and his friend, the giant invisible rabbit, called a Pookah. It's a Mad Mad world is a movie about a bunch a people finding out about a bunch of hidden money from a dying man. The information sparks a crazy adventure where more and more people find out and it turns into a mad race to get to it!

Recently the new Lone Ranger came out and I took Gramps to see it. It was enjoyable but very different from the show I watched as a kid. The Lone ranger wasn't much of a hero. He made all the right choices but he was not the hero type. Most of the time it was Tonto leading around the Lone Ranger, Tonto riding Silver, or Tonto saving the Lone Ranger's but. It was an okay movie but it wasn't the real Lone Ranger. The real Lone Ranger was almost dead, and he got up, Tamed a Horse, forged silver bullets, and put the bad guy in jail. That's why he is considered a classic.

Anyway I just wanted to write about an experience I enjoyed from when I was younger. I also wanted to mention that my Dad's good friend Bill is in the hospital and to please keep him in your prayers. Bye.

By Ashton

My Minecraft world

Hello people's. Today I am doing another blog on Minecraft and I know some of you are groaning right now but I wanted to say this for some other people out there. Here it goes.

Recently I was finally able to get the full version of Minecraft on to the computer. Currently I only have one survival world and one creative world. This part of my blog is about creating things in Minecraft. The seed I am using (how the world will look like) has a really cool mountain in it with many cool overhangs, craters, tunnels and other things weaving through it and I think it would make a great place to build a medieval style castle/home. They are many monsters in Minecraft and many necessary things to do build so this (my current house) just will not cut it.



My pitiful house.


Zombies are breaking down my door!

Bye the way it is raining in some of these pictures if you were confused. This is the front view of the mountain and as you can see I have already built most of the castle bridge.





I have wired it to work when I flip this lever.


Ta da! So when I remove the walls water will cover the bridge until I flip the switch pushing up blocks to form a path.



This will be the front of the castle and I am thinking that I will have boats lined up here for passage through the castle like the streets in Venice.



I'm sure I could make another cool water feature with this waterfall.



Here is a tunnel going through the mountain that could be a cool hallway.




I could have a spiral staircase going up through this hole.

Perhaps a guard's lookout over the bridge could be here. This would probably be where the main tower will go, up and through the mountain. A beautiful view showing just how amazing this mountain is. I also plan on adding an alchemy tower for potions an enchanting station a lookout, and many different farms including a big trap for monsters.



Another waterfall.

In Minecraft your character normally looks like this.


Minecraft permits you to change how you look so that on multiplayer people look different. How you look is called your skin. The official app for creating your own skin is called Minecraft skin studio. This is my skin which is almost done.


He is styled after some kind of God that exists in Minecraft and his home will be my castle. He has blood red gauntlets and sword in a white sheath.
He also has light leather armor and a gray robe. Right now I have named him The Hunter.





This is a Template I made for a bow and quiver. I realize the bow is ridiculously small but due to space I cannot make it any bigger. I have not decided whether or not to keep the sword or replace it with this. I like how his sword looks more but I want my character to have a bow.

So that is my Minecraft world so far. Please comment with any advice on my castle or my skin. Bye!

By Ashton

Pacific Rim

Hey people's. Today I am doing a blog on Pacific Rim. Here it goes.




Me, my dad, and his friend Steve saw Pacific Rim on Friday. It was amazing. For a movie with giant robots fighting giant alien monsters it really didn't need much of a plot to be liked but the story was still really good. It looked really good too.

The movie was filled with color like the neon signs in Hong Kong, Monster Acid, and laser beams.




The CGI looked real. The movie is based off of a inter dimensional rift opening in the Pacific ocean. Huge monsters called Kaiju started coming out and destroying cities on the coast. Tanks and planes were not enough. The world pooled their resources and created giant robots called Jaegers that had to be piloted by two compatible people because it was to much on one persons brain to fight the monsters. We started winning but now the Kaiju have evolved...




I remember coming back from this movie thinking is this the next generation's Godzilla? When I was little I watched the old black and white Godzilla movies over and over again and I loved them. Now I still like them because I liked them as a kid but I realize their age and how old the special effects are. Will their be a time where I'm watching something like this with my kids but for them it will be awesome but more like this?




Make sure you watch this movie people. Bye!




By Ashton

Pacific Rim

Hey people's. Today I am doing a blog on Pacific Rim. Here it goes.

Me, my dad, and his friend Steve saw Pacific Rim on Friday. It was amazing. For a movie with giant robots fighting giant alien monsters it really didn't need much of a plot to be liked but the story was still really good. It looked really good too.



The movie was filled with color like the neon signs in Hong Kong, Monster Acid, and laser beams. The CGI looked real. The movie is based off of a inter dimensional rift opening in the Pacific ocean. Huge monsters called Kaiju started coming out and destroying cities on the coast. Tanks and planes were not enough. The world pooled their resources and created giant robots called Jaegers that had to be piloted by two compatible people because it was to much on one persons brain to fight the monsters. We started winning but now the Kaiju have evolved...



I remember coming back from this movie thinking is this the next generation's Godzilla? When I was little I watched the old black and white Godzilla movies over and over again and I loved them. Now I still like them because I liked them as a kid but I realize their age and how old the special effects are. Will their be a time where I'm watching something like Pacific Rim with my kids but for them it will be awesome but more like this?


Make sure you watch this movie people. Bye!


By Ashton

The Man of Steel

Hey people's. Today I am doing a blog on The Man of Steel. Here it goes.

A few weeks ago my family saw The Man of Steel. It was a great movie. It looks great. The acting is good, but there was a few things I didn't like.

SPOILERS

People died. In this movie there was Superman and people still died. In the beginning Jor El is killed by General Zod and Kal is sent to earth on a mission to preserve Krypton. This is a cool concept but as far as I'm concerned Superman's parents died in each others arms as Krypton exploded and the only reason they sent Kal off in a Rocket was because they loved him.

When General Zod started terraforming Earth a gravity beam was violently picking people up and slamming them to the ground. Nobody ever said they were dead but I doubt many of them survived that. A military general crashed his Plane to stop Zod. This idea I am okay with because he was a good man sacrificing himself to save humanity. At the end General Zod with his newfound powers is fighting Superman in a museum and they get in a position where General Zod dies or General Zod kills a family.

Superman snaps General Zod's neck. I am not saying that that was the wrong choice for Superman or that he did the wrong thing I am saying Superman doesn't kill. Superman is one of the most influential characters in American culture and one of his rules is that he doesn't kill. After Alex saw this movie we were at Ocean City and he was playing with his action figures. Superman was killing the bad guys. Dad had to explain to Alex why Superman had to kill general Zod. I realize that chracters have to adapt to new tastes in modern culture but that might have been to far. Superman made the right choice but I don't think that Superman should ever be portrayed in a movie or comic killing anybody. It could of been a lot better if awesome music came on, Superman figured out how to stop General Zod, and put the General in the Phantom Zone.

Nevertheless it was a great movie and you should all go see it and tell me what you think. Of course here I am just pointing this out because I feel like it had to be seen. Bye.

By Ashton

Ocean City toys!

Hello peoples. Today I'm doing a blog on the things I got at Ocean City. Here it goes.

This year was very successful in the toy hunt and I'm am very happy with what I got. First off is one of the Aliens. This is an Alien warrior by NECA. I got both this, and a predalien from It's A Toy Store out of package. This figure is the Alien warrior from Aliens. It has all the features of a warrior and not from the drone such as the head ridges, elbow blades, feet, and hands. The paint is great with the black, blue, and just a little brown. It only has one flaw on it's left upper arm but as I said I bought it out of package. I also bought it with no accessories but it could of had some. The mouth and even the inner jaw can move. The head on mine can move but is quite stiff and the sculpt restricts it. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulders, hinged at the elbows, and cut on the forearm. The wrist moves but be careful not to break the fragile elbow blades. The chest is ball jointed and the tail has a bendy wire in it. The legs are cut at the hip and thigh, and hinged at the knees and ankles. Probably my favorite alien figure so far. 4/5 stars because it could of had better jointed legs so it could crouch easier.





Next is a predator I got at Mike's Toy Store on the boardwalk. This one is called Big Red and is styled after a Samurai. One of the reasons I bought him was his uniqueness. It is part of the NECA Predator line. It's skin is yellowish brown, his armor is bright red, and it's wrist blades are gold. The armor where the wrist blades are stored is a different shade of red which throws that part off a bit.


He is ball jointed at the head, shoulders, hips, wrists, and ankles but the sculpt is a bit restricting. The elbows are hinged, you can turn the waist, and the knees are hinged. It comes with a long and short samurai swords, and 4 hands, opened and closed so he can hold the swords. You can even fit the swords in the sheaths at his belt but be careful.


Overall 4/5. It could of had a removable mask, some articulation in the chest, the thighs are a little to fat and his chest could have been bigger.









Next off is another Alien warrior my grandmother got me. It is also made by NECA. This was there attempt to upgrade the first warrior I reviewed as well as put out a corporal Hicks, and a private Hudson from Aliens but I don't have those. He has the same paint as the first but with a brown overwash and his claws on his feet or hands don't have a metallic silver on them like the first.








He has a ball jointed head, shoulders, chest, and hips. The elbows and knees are double hinged, the wrists are ball and hinged, the feet are hinged, and the tail is bendy. No accessories. Overall he is a 4/5 too. His abdomen is thick and stocky and detracts from the tall thin look the alien is supposed to have, also the right leg on mine is a little loose and some of the double joints are stiff. I consider him more as an equal to the original I have.











A comparison between the two Aliens.

Now we have got the Falconer predator from Predators. He is the same as the one I got for Christmas but a different paint job and this one actually comes with the Falcon. The Falcon is a mechanical hunting bird/ creature. The Falcon fits on the predators arm and back.








This predator has a really cool paint job. Part of him is translucent and the other part black and gray so I assume he is in mid cloak. His only paint flaws are that you can see some of the joints inside him, and the black looks rusted metallic, even on his flesh which looks cool but is inaccurate. He has a ball jointed head but mine is a little stiff leaving him looking down a bit. The shoulders and elbows are ball hinged, his hands turn, his waist turns, his hips and fore legs are cut, and you can turn his boots. His knees are hinged but be careful because one of mine on this one is stiff and the one I got for Christmas broke there. He comes with a Falcon that you can take the blades out of, and his wrist blade with fits in his gauntlet. The wrist blade is translucent so be careful not to lose it.


Overall 3.5/5. The only reasons I bought him is his paint and his Falcon.








A comparison between the two Falconers

I also got the Kenner Aliens Hovertread from It's a Toy Store. It came with a sound pack with batteries included but this is older than me so you can barely hear it with these batteries. The laser guns and the cannon on the front move and you can lift the harness to fit a figure inside. The armor and treads fold out so it can fly. I am not going to rate this because of it's age but it could of had an included figure and wheels under the treads.











My corporal Hicks figure inside the Hovertread.

Lastly we have the Predalien from Aliens Vs Predator: Requiem. No matter How much people hate the character in the movie this figure looks awesome. The paint is nice and insect like with the black, browns, and spots. There is an extra bit of detail around the dome on the head but it looks a little like it was obviously painted there. The see through head dome is nice; it does have a little cut on it but it is not very noticeable. The head is ball jointed and moves the best compared to the other figures. The shoulders are ball jointed but seem very fragile and the the left arm brushes against the left hip which makes it pretty weak. The forearm is cut, you can turn the wrists, the hips are cut, the thighs are cut and there is a wire in the tail. The tail is very long which I don't know if it is accurate but I like it.


The tail spike on mine is bent a bit.


Overall 3/5. This figure looks amazing... in the one stance you can put him in. All it would of taken was some elbow, knee, and a waist joint and this figure would easily be a 4.5/5 or higher. Shame on you NECA.











Me and my brother Alex also got Minecraft swords and I got a hat.


There are the figures I got at Ocean City. Gramps, I will try to write that blog soon but I got a lot of Ideas right now. Bye!


By Ashton