Book Review: Goblin Secrets (2012)

Goblin Secrets, by William Alexander, Margaret K. McElderry Books, New York, 2012.

This is a very good book.  It is written about the same city and situation as Ghoulish Song.  I really enjoyed it.  Graba was as evil as she could be, but in the end, she was not the truly evil person.  She was also very powerful as an old witch who had been around for a long, long time.  However, her image sister has taken the route of a goblin, or a changed one.  She too has a great deal of magical powers, but in a different route. 

The river is rising.  Someone must talk to the river, and convince him not to flood and injure people.  The goblins have protected the city for many years, but because of personal bias, they have been excluded from the city and cannot talk for the city.  Rownie must find his brother Rowan, to him talk to the river for the city.  Rowan is good at wearing masks, but he disappeared several months ago and no one has seen him.

Movie Review: ***^ Heaven Is For Real (2014)

Heaven Is For Real (2014)

This movie poses the question, how do you react if you child should visit heaven, and comes back knowing things he couldn’t have known.  That is the context of this movie.  Todd Burpo (Greg Kinnear) is a preacher and the church is doing rather well.  However he has a bad back and kidney stones, and a broken leg.  He takes a break with his wife (Kelly Reilly) and while vacationing the kids come home sick.  Their son has his appendix rupture.  He barely makes it, and for a time there are real doubts.  He recovers in a miraculous fashion.  However, he talks of flying around and looking down on others.  He sees his mother on the phone, his father pleading with God, and expressing his anger.  He also meets people in heaven, his great Grandfather, his miscarried sister.  He also meets Jesus.

This movie is about this family, and in turn the congregation of the church coming to terms and accepting this story.  They finally conclude it is a message of love, as God loves us all.

TV Review: Winnie the Pooh's Halloween Stories

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c-mrUwkFYN4
I think Winnie the Pooh stories are a bit predictable.  The group is scared of something, then they mistake one of their number for whatever they are scared of, and then in the end the truth is revealed and the all have a good time.  The cutest part about this show is the honey moon where Pooh and Piglet think they have landed.  I didn't get the bit about the dream; it was too complicated.  A dream of dreaming you're dreaming and you can't go to bed because then you'll dream.  That is the mess Piglet is in.  And a lack of sleep makes everyone crazy.

TV Movie Review: ****A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)

When Peppermint Patty, Marcie and Francis invite themselves over for Thanksgiving Dinner. Charlie Brown is in a pickle because they are going to Grandmother's house for Thanksgiving.  Who can tell Peppermint Patty anything, she just talks and never listens.  Charlie Brown puts together the dinner with Snoopy's help; But they only know how to cook toast and popcorn.  Peppermint Patty is pretty disappointed and her feelings spill over.  However, in the end grandmother saves the day.
The cutest scene in this story is the fight between snoopy and the lawn chair.  It is very classic. 

Movie Review: ****Psycho (1960 Alfred Hitchcock)

I thought this movie would make a good Halloween movie to watch, and let the scary music play loud enough to great the trick or treaters.  None of them noticed. 
This is the 1960 Alfred Hitchcock classic.  A young woman takes off with $40,000 from her employer, and picks the wrong hotel.  I didn't realize that the murder happened so early in the movie, and the rest of the movie is about finding her killer.  This movie is rated R because of the murder in the shower scene; however it would not be rated so severely today. 
Hitchcock does know how to tell a story, get an isolated rural area, and add someone who is criminally insane, and you have all the right ingredients for a scary time.  Janet Leigh stars as the victim and Anthony Perkins as the killer.