Charlotte's Web: Wilbur's Prize (ICR2)

But Wilbur no longer cared if he won the blue ribbon.
Wilbur already had the best prize of all…

The County Fair was beginning and Wilbur the Pig was entering a competition. He bathed in buttermilk and Charlotte and Templeton helped him prepare. He was worried about a magnificent pig called Uncle. But he was so happy to have good friends.

Vocabulary

county fair: 郡で年1回開催されるお祭り

61 words

Charlotte's Web: Wilbur's Prize (I Can Read Book 2) 著者 : Jennifer Frantz HarperCollins 発売日 : 2006-10-31 ブクログでレビューを見る»

419 words

Third Person

Today we watched the trailer for Third Person, a movie starring Liam Neeson, Mila Kunis, Adrien Brody, and Kim Basinger. It was directed by Paul Haggis, who also directed Crash, which won the Academy Award for best movie a few years ago.

Most of the reviews I have seen were not very favorable, but it looks rather interesting just from the trailer. Liam Neeson plays a writer with writer's block. Everyone seems to have some romantic problems. James Franco also appears.

Another movie that has just arrived is Three Days to Kill, which stars Kevin Costner and is called Last Mission in Japanese. Like Third Person, it doesn't have very good reviews but I'd like to see it if i get the chance.

Blog Stats June 23rd

Number of posts

February/March: 0
April: 17
May: 16
June: 17

Wordcount

Total:

Fox and His Friends

"Louise," said Fox. "I want to speak with you alone."
"Uh-oh," said Louise.

In his dream, Fox saw a corner, his corner. And the sidewalk was full of old dogs. Some of them could not see very well.

"Come down this minute," said Fox.
"Come and get me," said Louise.
"Come down right now!" said Fox.
"No!" said Louise.
"All right," said Fox. I'm coming up!"

Fox and His Friends is a collection of short stories about Edward Marshall's Fox character. There are three stories: Fox in Trouble, Fox All Wet, and Fox on Duty. In most cases, Fox wants to go out to play with his friends alone, but his mother makes him take his younger sister Louise. But he doesn't look after her very well, and she disappears. Fortunately, he finds her and everything is OK in the end. Usually, he comes to understand something about himself and the importance of being nice to his sister.

59 words
mad: 怒って

Fox and His Friends (Puffin Easy-To-Read) 著者 : Edward Marshall Turtleback Books 発売日 : 1999-10 ブクログでレビューを見る»

1015 words

The Good Lie

Today we watched the trailer for The Good Lie, a new movie starring Reese Witherspoon. It's based on a true story about some boys who fled the civil war in Sudan and went to live in America. They didn't have anywhere to stay, so Reese Witherspoon let them stay at her house. She helped to find them jobs on a farm. They asked the farmer whether there were any lions nearby.

Reese Witherspoon has been in a number of good movies, including Legally Blond and Walk the Line. She won an Academy Award for Walk the line, in which she played Johnny Cash's wife. (Johnny Cash was played by Joaquin Phoenix.)

110 words

The Ugly Duckling

The Ugly Duckling is a well-known story, originally by Hans Christian Andersen. The version I read was in the Folk & Fairy Tale Easy Readers series from Scholastic.

VOCABULARY
 fluffy: フワフワした
peck: ついばむ
heron: 鷺, 青サギ

35 words

Folk & Fairy Tale Easy Readers: The Elves And The Shoemaker 著者 : Scholastic Teaching Resources 発売日 : 2006-03-01 ブクログでレビューを見る»

21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street

Today we watched two move trailers, 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street. 21 Jump Street is a remake of the old TV series starring Johnny Depp, although it is remade as a comedy. We also saw a few clips from that series.

One of the actors in the new 21 and 22 Jump Street is Jonah Hill. He became famous with Moneyball, the movie starring Brad Pitt that was based on a true story of a baseball team.

Channing Tatum is now quite a big star, known for his work in Side Effects, White House Down, and Haywire. The critics say that he and Jonah Hill combine well for good comic effect.

111 words

21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street

Today we watched two trailers: 21 Jump Street and 22 Jump Street. 21 Jump Street was originally a serious TV series starring Johnny Depp. The 2012 remake was a comedy starring Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum. It was very successful, so a sequel is already coming out. This one is 22 Jump Street. (The reason is that someone bought 21 Jump Street, so they had to go next door.)

In 21 Jump Street, Hill and Tatum have to play undercover high school students; in 22 Jump Street, I think they are university students. Hill is very weak, so he has problems when they play American football or do anything energetic. Tatum is not very clever, so he has problems when they have to study. They compensate for each other's weaknesses.

129 words

Martina the Cockroach

Martina the Cockroach is a cute story in the Scholastic Folk & Fairy Tale Easy Readers series. Martina finds a gold coin and buys some clothes, then decides to get married. She decides she doesn't want to marry a noisy husband, so she listens to various animals speak. A cat, a rooster, a frog, and a dog all ask her to marry them, but she says no. Who do you think she marries in the end?

76 words

Folk & Fairy Tale Easy Readers: Martina The Cockroach 著者 : Scholastic Teaching Resources 発売日 : 2006-03-01 ブクログでレビューを見る»

The Hundred-Foot Journey and Chocolat (Lasse Hallstrom movies)

Today we watched two movie trailers: Chocolat and The Hundred-Foot Journey. Chocolat is a 2000 movie featuring Juliette Binoche, Judi Dench, and Johnny Depp. The Hundred-Foot Journey is coming out soon. Like Chocolat, it is about food! Chocolat was about the power of food to make a town more vibrant. Similarly, The Hundred-Foot Journey livens up a place with only one, rather traditional restaurant that feels a bit too secure. From the trailer, it appears that the traditional restaurant views the Indian restaurant with enmity at first, but they gradually become friends.

The movie stars Helen Mirren as the French proprietor of the restaurant. It looks like it's well worth seeing! I'm not sure when it is coming to Japan.

119 words

The Hundred-Foot Journey

Today we watched the trailer for The Hundred-Foot Journey, a movie featuring Helen Mirren as the owner of a French restaurant somewhere in a rural area in the south of France. The restaurant has Michelin stars, and the President of France dines there, and it has no rivals.

But one day an Indian family moves there and decides to set up an Indian restaurant next to the Franch restaurant. The movie is directed by Lasse Hallstrom, who seems to like food a lot, because he directed Chocolat, also about food.

89 words

Sightseeing in Kyushu

Kyushu is Japan's southwestern island. It consists of eight prefectures: Fukuoka, Saga, Nagasaki, Oita, Kumamoto, Miyazaki, Kagoshima, and Okinawa. Each prefecture has its own attractions. In this essay, I will introduce Oita, Nagasaki, and Okinawa.

Nagasaki is located in the north-west of Kyushu. It is famous for its trade with Portugal in the 16th century. Nagasaki is the biggest city in Nagasaki. It has a nice Chinatown and Oura Church. Sasebo has a naval base, Huis Ten Bosch (a famous theme park), and Sasebo Burgers! Shimabara is a castle town and the site of a Christian rebellion in 1637.

Oita Prefecture

Oita is in the north-eastern part of Kyushu. It has many mountains and forests. Mount Yufu and Mount Kuju are very famous mountains in Oita. Probably the best place to visit is Yufu, especially the part known as Yufuin. Both Yufuin and Beppu have famous hot springs.

Okinawa is the most southern of the prefectures of Kyushu, and the culture and atmosphere is very different. The four Okinawa islands are Ie-jima, Kume-jima, Okinawa Island, and Kerama Island. The people on Okinawa Island are the longest-lived in the world. The cliffs at Manzamo and the Gusuku Wall are well worth a visit. But above all, just walk around and enjoy the nice atmosphere and lovely views!

Any visit to Japan is incomplete without a visit to Kyushu. You may not have time to visit every prefecture, but try to make time to visit at least one or two, and notice how different things are from Honshu. Of course, a visit to Hokkaido would also be fun, but that is outside the scope of this essay!

270 words

Edge of Tomorrow revisited

Today we watched a trailer for Edge of Tomorrow, a science fiction fiction movie starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. It's directed by Doug Liman, one of my favorite action directors, who also directed Mr and Mrs Smith and The Bourne Identity. The Bourne Identity was much better than its two sequels, The Bourne Supremacy and The Bourne Ultimatum, which were directed by Paul Greengrass. Judging by the trailer, it's going to be pretty interesting. It's scheduled to open in Japan at the beginning of July. I think it has already opened in the U.S.

Tom Cruise plays heroes fighting to save humanity too often these days! (His previous film was Oblivion, I believe.) But I certainly want to see this one. Emily Blunt was great in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, a movie in which she costarred with Ewan McGregor, so I'm looking forward to seeing her again, too. Some of her other movies are The Devil Wears Prada, Looper, and My Summer of Love.

165 words

Edge of Tomorrow, and other matters

Today we watched a trailer for Edge of Tomorrow, a science fiction fiction movie starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. It's directed by Doug Liman, one of my favorite action directors, who also directed Mr and Mrs Smith and The Bourne Identity. Judging by the trailer, it's going to be pretty interesting. It's scheduled to open in Japan at the beginning of July.

Tom Cruise plays heroes fighting to save humanity too often these days! But I certainly want to see this one. Emily Blunt was great in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, so I'm looking forward to seeing her again, too.

101 words

Edge of Tomorrow & Begin Again

Today we watched two movie trailers: Edge of Tomorrow and Begin Again.

Edge of Tomorrow stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Everyone knows Tom Cruise, but Emily Blunt seems to be unknown to a surprising number of people. Most recently, I remember seeing her in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, with Ewan McGregor, in which she was very charming. She has also appeared in Looper, The Adjustment Bureau, and many other movies. Like many recent Tom Cruise movies, this one is science fiction, and it seems to feature people going through some kind of time loop in order to fight against alien invaders. Doug Liman, a director that I like very much, is the director, so I am looking forward to watching it. (He directed The Bourne Identity, and Mr and Mrs Smith.) It opens in Japan at the beginning of July.

Begin Again features Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley. The key phrase is: "You're only as good as your next move."  At the beginning of the trailer, Keira Knightley appears to have been betrayed by her boyfriend. Later, she meets Mark Ruffalo and they perform music together, and presumably a new romance begins.

194 words

Edge of Tomorrow, Begin Again, and other matters…

Today we watched two movie trailers: Edge of Tomorrow and Begin Again.

Edge of Tomorrow stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt. Everyone knows Tom Cruise, but Emily Blunt seems to be unknown to a surprising number of people. Most recently I remember seeing her in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, with Ewan McGregor. She has also appeared in Looper, The Adjustment Bureau, and many other movies. Like many recent Tom Cruise movies, this one is science fiction, and it seems to feature people going through some kind of time loop in order to fight against alien invaders.

Begin Again features Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley. The key phrase is "you're only as good as your next move."

115 words

Do You Speak English?… and other matters

Today we watched a comedy sketch featuring Simon Pegg on YouTube. It was about a woman whose car had broken down, and she was trying to find someone who spoke English to help her find a garage. She said, "Excuse me, do you speak English?"Simon Pegg, who was walking by, said, "No, sorry, I don't speak English… I wish I had paid more attention in school." He called to another man who was walking by, saying, "I don't understand what she is saying. Do you speak English?" But he said, "No, sorry, not a word."

The woman decided to switch to German. When she spoke to them they answered back in fluent German that they couldn't speak German. Finally, when she gave up and left, they said, "Please come again sometime. Maybe next time we'll have picked up some English.

139 words

Sightseeing in Kumamoto

Kumamoto Prefecture has many places worth visiting. The prefecture can be divided into several regions: Kumamoto City and environs, Amakusa, Aso, Hitoyoshi, Minamata, Yatsushiro, Kikuchi, and Yabe. I would like to focus on Amakusa, Aso, and Kumamoto City.

Amakusa is an archipelago of about 100 islands off the west coast of Kumamoto, joined to the mainland by a series of five bridges. It is also very close to Nagasaki to the north, and there are several ferries to various points in Nagasaki Prefecture.

Amakusa as a whole is picturesque, with the coast never too far away. Probably the most notable places are Oe Catholic Church and Sakitsu Catholic Church, both quite close to each other on the west coast of the lower island in the Kawaura area; Juusanbutsu Park, a little further up the west coast; and Ryuugatake, a mountain on the upper island.


 There are no trains to Amakusa, so travel by car or bus is necessary, although there is a train to Misumi, the town on the mainland nearest to Amakusa.

Before moving away from Amakusa, let's take a look at Gosoku no Kutsu, a nice walking course (with an expensive ryokan nearby) also on the west coast.

197 words

Two trailers…

Today we saw two movie trailers. The first one was Night Moves, with Jesse Eisenberg and Dakota Fanning. The second was They Came Together, with Paul Rudd and Amy Poehner.

Night Moves is a suspense movie. The trailer hardly ever showed the actors talking: the talking was all voiceovers. It looks rather interesting. I haven't seen Dakota Fanning for many years.

They Came Together is a comedy. It looks like many other comedies but still worth watching!

75 words

Voice-activated elevator and other matters…

Today we watched an EnglishCentral video. It was about two men in a lift in Scotland. When they got in the lift, they couldn't find any buttons. It turned out that it was a voice-activated lift. Unfortunately, it was made in the U.S. by Americans and made to recognize American accents. They kept saying, "Eleven", but the left couldn't understand them. They got frustrated and angry but the lift kept telling them to be calm. They tried to get out but the lift didn't understand their instruction to open the doors.

Accents of English are quite interesting. If you get the chance, please try listening to Scottish or Irish accents.

109 words

Madagascar

Marty and Alex
Live in a zoo,
With Gloria the hippo,
And Malman, too.
Marty's a zebra.
He's black and white.
He isn't very happy.
He runs away one night.

I read the Popcorn ELT Reader for Madagascar, the Dreamworks movie from 2005. The movie was fairly interesting, and the book was very easy to read. Interestingly, there were sequels in 2008 and 2012, and each movie was ranked higher than the previous one.

66 words

Madagascar. (Popcorn Readers) 著者 : Fiona Beddall Mary Glasgow 発売日 : 2011-04 ブクログでレビューを見る»

Voice-activated elevator in Scotland (FREEDOM!!!!)

Please check out this video and practice speaking with a Scottish accent.

12 words

The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, and other matters…

We just saw the trailer for The Angriest Man in Brooklyn, a movie starring Robin Williams and Mila Kunis. Robin Williams is a man with anger issues and when he goes to the hospital for some tests and the results are not good he goes away with a misunderstanding that he will die in the next 90 minutes. He decides that there are lots of things he wants to put right in his life, so he visits lots of people and puts in lots of calls to others to take care of unfinished business.

I'm interested in seeing this movie to find out what happens when he doesn't die! The release date in Japan is not yet decided.

117 words

Weekend in Osaka

I spent the weekend in Osaka. I went there to attend a 12-hour lecture offered by Patricia Duff, a researcher from UBC in Canada. The lecture started at 2 pm on Saturday and continued through to 9 pm on Saturday, then started again on Sunday at 10, continuing through to 5 pm. The lecture was very interesting and gave me many ideas. There wasn't much free time, but I went to a nice cafe for lunch.

76 words

Food in Kyushu (essay)

Kyushu, Japan's south-western island, consists of eight prefectures, including Kumamoto and Fukuoka. Each prefecture has its own special foods and drinks. In addition, Kyushu food as a whole has special characteristics: the food tends to have a comparatively rich taste, and to emphasize sweetness over saltiness.

The first food I'd like to focus on is karashi-renkon, one of the most famous dishes in Kumamoto Prefecture. It is made by stuffing a paste containing mustard into a lotus root and then deep frying the root after coating it in a batter.

The next food I'd like to mention is yaki-ramen. Probably every prefecture in Japan has its own twist on ramen, noodles in a big bowl of soup. The ramen in Kyushu tends to have a rich, oily taste, being based on boiled pork bones. Yaki-ramen has almost no soup, and has an especially rich, buttery taste.

Finally, let's consider beer in Kyushu. While beer is generally best in the north of Japan, Miyazaki and Kagoshima both have very good micro-breweries. Those in Kagoshima tend to feature a kind of purple sweet potato, while those in Miyazaki are sometimes lambics featuring hyuuga-natsu or other local citrus fruits.

The above are just a few of the foods and drinks that you can find in Kyushu. As mentioned earlier, each prefecture has its own specialities, and a tour of Kyushu will yield many unexpected delights.

231 words

The Double and Blue Jasmine (rewrite)

Today we watched two movie trailers, Blue Jasmine and The Double. Blue Jasmine is the most recent Woody Allen film to reach Japan, and it's playing now at Denkikan. It's about a woman called Jeanette, who changes her name to Jasmine and marries a rich man. Unfortunately for her, he becomes poor after being arrested, and she has to move away and live a more modest life. The movie examines the breakdown of her personality and life.

The Double is not in Japan yet, but it stars Jesse Eisenberg playing a man whose face is copied. Mistaken identity appears to lead to him being arrested. It looks like a very interesting movie, but I don't know when it's coming to Japan.

121 words

The Double, Blue Jasmine, and other matters…

Today we watched two movie trailers, Blue Jasmine and The Double. Blue Jasmine is the most recent Woody Allen film to reach Japan, and it's playing now at Denkikan. It's about a woman called Jeanette, who changes her name to Jasmine and marries a rich man. Unfortunately for her, he becomes poor after being arrested, and she has to move away and live a more modest life. The movie examines the breakdown of her personality and life.

The Double is not in Japan yet, but it stars Jesse Eisenberg playing a man whose face is copied. Mistaken identity appears to lead to him being arrested.

105 words

Food in Kyushu (2)

Food in Kumamoto

I like karashi renkon

Golden Week

This year's Golden Week contained a surprise for me. Right until the beginning of Golden Week, it looked like we weren't going to do anything special, because my daughters tend to be rather busy with their studies. But when Golden Week began, they said that they had time to go camping and would very much like to go. They particularly wanted to go to a beach, so that they could play with our dog. We set off on Sunday and stayed one night at a camp site in Ushibuka. It rained during the night and the next morning, so we came back rather early, but we had a great time. Ushubuka's a good plce, but it's quite far!

118 words

Before Golden Week, I thought perhaps that we wouldn't do anything special, because my daughter usually studies very hard and doesn't have much free time. But to my surprise just after Golden Week had begun she said she wanted to go camping. It is rather difficult to find a camping spot at short notice in Golden Week, but luckily we were able to find a camping site in Ushibuka that was free, so we went there. We had a good time but it rained on the second day so we came home early.


93 words

Food in Kyushu (3)

Food in Kyushu (2)

Food in Kyushu (1)

My Golden Week

Before Golden Week, I thought perhaps that we wouldn't do anything special, because my daughter usually studies very hard and doesn't have much free time. But to my surprise just after Golden Week had begun she said she wanted to go camping. It is rather difficult to find a camping spot at short notice in Golden Week, but luckily we were able to find a camping site in Ushibuka that was free, so we went there. We had a good time but it rained on the second day so we came home early.

93 words

The Old Woman who Swallowed a Fly

UFR3: The Old Woman Who Swallowed a Fly

Step into the surreal world of the old woman who swallowed a fly. A bizarre story perfectly matched with quirky illustrations, this traditional rhyme features a catchy rhythm and jaunty repetition… [back cover]

I learned this rhyme when I was a little child. I remember the song was popular on the radio, too. The book is about a woman who swallowed a fly by accident, and then swallowed a spider to catch the fly. She didn't know what to do about the spider, so next she swallowed a bird… and so on.

91 words

The Amazing Spider-man 2 (rewrite)

Today we watched the trailer for The Amazing Spider-man 2. The movie stars Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield. I think they suit the roles very well. The trailer we watched was trailer 3, which was very exciting but didn't tell us too much about the story. From what I could tell, Spider-Man

has to fight Electro, played by Jamie Foxx.

This movie is one of the Sony movies, made under licence. The Sony movies are rather different from the Marvel ones, such as Captain America. Incidentally, I saw Captain America: Winter Soldier recently. It was very exciting.

Check out the official movie site!

100 words

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Today we watched the trailer for The Amazing Spider-man 2. The movie stars Emma Stone and Andrew Garfield. I think they suit the roles very well. The trailer we watched was trailer 3, which was very exciting but didn't tell us too much about the story. From what I could tell, Spider-Man has to fight Electro, played by Jamie Foxx.

This movie is one of the Sony movies, made under licence. The Sony movies are rather different from the Marvel ones, such as Captain America.

85 words

Brer Rabbit and the Blackberry Bush

Usborne First Reading Level 2

Brer Rabbit and Brer Fox are always up to mischief. Now Brer Fox thinks he has the perfect plan to stop Brer Rabbit once and for all.

In this story, Brer Fox captures Brer Fox in a trap and he plans to eat him. But when he is trapped Brer Rabbit says: "Hurray!"

"Do you want to be eaten?" asked Brer Fox.

"Oh, yes," said Brer Rabbit. "Fry me…boil me…eat me in a pie!"

This confuses Brer Fox, and Brer Rabbit finally gets away.

You can find out more about this book at the Usborne website. You can also download a worksheet.

Vocabulary

 blackberry: 黒イチゴ

108 words

The Amazing Spider-Man 2

Today we watched the trailer for Amazing Spider-man 2. The movie stars Andrew Garfield as Peter Parker, who is also Spider-man, and Emma Stone as Gwen Stacy. Spider-man's main enemy this time is Electro, played by Jamie Foxx, supported by Harry Osborn (Dane DeHaan). The battle scenes look spectacular, so I'm looking forward to seeing this movie.

However, my feeling at the moment is that the Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst Spider-man movies were better!

75 words