Fascinating Creatures from Fantastic Beasts

Well probably like most of you who read this will have seen the movie Fantastic Beasts, or perhaps you want to know more before spending $20 on it. Well before you start, if you haven't seen the movie this blog is full of spoilers (it is a great movie, SO GO SEE IT!(I am not sponsored by them, although I wish I was)).

This blog is going to talk about various objects and characters that are in the movie, and how they compose the movie.

1. The suitcase

The movie wouldn't be Fantastic Beasts without it in fact, there wouldn't be Newt (the main character), or Jacob Kowalski, who was brought in because Newt was chasing his Niffler who escaped the suitcase, so Newt crossed paths with Jacob because he was looking for his Niffler (more on the Niffler later).  And then if that happened he would have never met Porpentina, and then she wouldn't have taken him to the police of magic, and then etc. etc. in other words the movie wouldn't have happened without the suitcase.

We are first introduced to the suitcase when Newt gets off the boat and he is at customs. At first we know there in a creature in it because there is thumping, and we even get a peek at some claws. But then the customs officer asks him to open the case, but as Newt is doing this Newt flicks a switch that says "Muggle Worthy" at first we don't know what this means, personally I thought he was letting the creature know to hide. So when it is opened there is nothing to be seen.

Of course later we find out that it is magical, and it holds many creatures.

2. The Niffler

Here are some funny scenes with the niffler and more. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kk2ONbaOSYM#t=436.814998113)

Same thing as the suitcase, if the Niffler hadn't been there many things wouldn't have happened. The main thing being that Newt wouldn't have met Jacob, also many funny things wouldn't happen, for when the Niffler escapes some other creatures do to, but the Niffler is definitely the one they spend the most time on. There are very many laughs in the chase, one where Newt is looking around for the Niffler and ends up seeing him trying to be a statue.

Also before I forget, as you can see the Niffler looks quite a lot like a platypus, but it has craving for anything shiny. That is why all the photos you can find of him will be with some type of shinies. Through the entire chase to get him back into the suitcase the Niffler is after jewels. In the book we are told that Nifflers are mainly used by goblins to find gold.

There are more funny scenes, but I won't tell you them, because then why would you go to the movie?

3. Pickette the Bowtruckle

A Bowtruckle is a stick like creature that resembles a human and is rather small, because of its thin legs and arms it is very good at picking locks.

The Bowtruckle is the most loyal animal, or you could say the one that wreaks the least amount of havoc, or even maybe the most tamed. Whatever it is the Bowtruckle is the one that stays with him the entire movie, you could also say the Swooping Evil is with him too, but the swooping evil mostly stays in his pocket, except for a couple battles.

When they first enter the suitcase Newt tries to put Pickette back with Pickette's family, but Pickette refuses to go, so he ends up staying with hime the entire time.

Pickette ends up getting Newt out of jail by picking the locks. 

4. The Demiguise

The Demiguise is a monkey/Yoda figure. In body it resembles a monkey, but the face is quite wise,  and the eyes have that look of all knowing. They might not be all knowing, but they know the near future. 

In the movie the Demiguise keeps care of a loose creature that escaped the suitcase.

5. The ThunderBird

A magnificent beast the is native to Arizona and can control the weather. But usually it is really chill and is really nice and loves pets.

The ThunderBird is the main reason Newt goes to America, because he found the ThunderBird tied up and abused, so he brought it back to America.

Thank you for reading my blog, and I hope you enjoy this short highlight of my favourite creatures.

Edinburgh vs. Edinburgh vs. Edinburgh

            Map comparison. Today my mom told me that I have to blog about the differences between two maps of Edinburgh, it won’t be very interesting unless you are into these things so I don’t precisely suggest it.

The maps we will be comparing will be from 1827 vs. one from 1780 vs. one from 1891, so not many years difference only 47, but you will see it does change quite a lot. Also you should probably look up a map of Old town and New town Edinburgh if you haven’t been there before.

 

1780

1827

1891

Edinburgh (1780)	Edinburgh (1827)	Edinburgh (1891)
The first thing you will notice, is that there is a lot gardens, one of the main reasons being that new town wasn’t finished yet, and wouldn’t be until another 50 years. Meaning there was less population, allowing more land per family.	There is still quite a lot of green.	This map was drawn 64 years after New town was finished. At the completion of New town it would have likely drawn in more people, rich and the poor, and the rich. The rich would’ve wanted new prime land, where all the other richies lived (New town was made for the rich to get away from the poor), and the poor because the would’ve been able to move into the vacant spots that the rich left, meaning they would be closer to the castle, which they believed that meant safety. Also over time as Edinburgh prospered people would have been drawn together.
This map shows Old town and New Town, although at the time New Town was just a plan. It also has part of Arthurs Seat, which is a large hill that gives you a great view of the city.	This map does not show the area of New town, it only just shows the first street. It focuses more on the bottom part.	You can also see that this map does a bigger are than other two, and now includes Leith and other suburbs.
This map is made without colour.	This one they have brought in green for the large parts of greenery, it is either pale because of age, or perhaps they did not have a good colouring.		This one they have a much stronger green because it is a much more recent, I believe it is a copy of and older one.
`This map has quite an extensive legend, in fact in takes up almost 1/3 of the map.	This one has no legend at all, although the map creator might have written it on the back, or perhaps another sheet of paper, this way they had more space to map out on.	This one is the same as the 1827 map.
This map uses shading to repesent the height, as you can see the castle in on a sheer hill.	This one also uses shading.	This one appears to use contour lines, or perhaps they do not do it at all. It quite hard to tell, comment if can tell. I am not sure which.
Another thing you will notice, is that the is quite crowded. There many lines, putting in every small detail.	While on this map we have a much simpler map, but this also occurs because it only has a slight part of the city, instead focusing on the countryside.	This one two become quite simple, and less cluttered then the 1780s map.

Well thank you guys for reading this.

Have a nice day.

Another Free Tour?

Well a couple days ago we decided to keep on going with the vibe and went on another free tour. EXCEPT! It was an all day bus tour of the highlands in Scotland, so yes you could cheese it and say "But its a free tour ", but I mean it costs them about 20 pounds for each person, so I mean it would just be rude, you would be that guy/gal. 

But back on point.

We had to be there by 8:30ish so we woke up at 6:30ish and got on the bus by 7:30ish, are bus is a 40 minute commute to downtown, but then we had to walk a bit. So we arrived only a couple minutes early. So this is where it starts... (creepy Hallow'ene music going on).

We wanted to sit in the front seats but this rich Indian guy with his man servant insisted to sit there, so we are all like "ok fine" but then, this is where things start to become salty (salty- to be angry, infuriated, or annoyed). The servant draws the blind then goes to sleep, ummm... excuse me, you came on a tour to see the highlands and you fall asleep, but the worst part is THAT THEY TOOK THE FRONT SEAT!!!!! Oh and for the cherry on the cake the other guy starts talking on his phone, and every time we stopped for him the tour guide to show us something the rich guy would put his seat back, I mean by the first time it was rude, after that I wanted to punch him in the face, I don't care if you're rich, poor, black, white, or even purple, you have no right over anyone!

Ok, now that we're through that lets start talking about the tour.

Our first stop was at the bridges that lead to the highlands, he talked about how one of the bridges is staring to fall down because it was made to last only 50 years and it is now 53 years old (don't quote me on that). After that we stopped at a memorial of William Wallace that was made in the 18 hundreds. It was placed on the hill where he was said to plan his attack on Stirling Castle. For inside the castle he was outnumbered by 20 to 3, think about that, for every three soldiers he had the was 20 for the other guy, also the other guy had better trained soldiers that little William had. So you may ask "How did he win?" for he had indeed won, well let me tell you. There was a bridge that only allowed 5 fully aromoured soldiers on horseback to pass at the same time, so William tonted them to come out and fight he did this largely by raising is kilt and shouting insults at them. So then the 10 000 soldiers came rushing at them so the Scottish backed up just past the bridge pulled out there long spears and slaughtered all of them.

Then he told us the story of William Wallace and some good jokes (I won't tell you the story because it took about an hour to explain properly so if you want to know ask google).

We then proceeded to the most sacred castle ever... THE CASTLE THAT WAS FILMED IN MONTY PYTHON "SEARCH FOR THE HOLY GRAIL! (This is the clip from the movie (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A8yjNbcKkNY)) " It was very cool because it looked exactly hoe it did in the movie.

He then out on some music and we looked out the window. The stop I remember next was of thisbeautiful lake that reflected the sky.

After that we stopped for lunch, he suggested a deli that made AMAZING pies and burgers. They were so good that I had 1 burger and 1.5 good things.



We then stopped at what I think is the guides favourite stop, the Hairy Cows, or as he called it, the Hairy Coos, Hairy Coos is what the company is called after, so it only seems sensible that it is his favourite. It was cool because we were able to feed them bread which you know, who would have thought that cows would like bread?


After that we headed back home, and along the way he told us great stories and good jokes. All in all it was really incredible.  If you are ever in Edinburgh you should go on the day trip with the Hairy Coo company.

He then out on some music and we looked out the window. The stop I remember next was of thisbeautiful lake that reflected the sky.

After that we stopped for lunch, he suggested a deli that made AMAZING pies and burgers. They were so good that I had 1 burger and 1.5 good things.



We then stopped at what I think is the guides favourite stop, the Hairy Cows, or as he called it, the Hairy Coos, Hairy Coos is what the company is called after, so it only seems sensible that it is his favourite. It was cool because we were able to feed them bread which you know, who would have thought that cows would like bread?


After that we headed back home, and along the way he told us great stories and good jokes. All in all it was really incredible.  If you are ever in Edinburgh you should go on the day trip with the Hairy Coo company.

Why is Obama inspiring?

Well because of obvious reasons I have decided to watch some videos of politics in the United States, specifically Obama. Now I was just planning to watch a couple of ten minutes videos but then I became stuck, I was entranced by how convincing he was. But why?


Well here are several reasons that I think Obama is a good speaker.


1. Confidence.

I have seen one video where he has looked down upon his page more than a couple times. ONE. Every other one he doesn't quaver, his voice is always strong, not loud, it is clear, with a voice of confidence. No matter what people throw at him.

2. Emotional.

Not in the way Mister Donald is but in the way the will bring you down to earth of will break the ice so forcefully it had the power to break an iceberg. In my opinion he is the funniest politician you can find (I would put a link, but there are to many to chose from just search "Obama Funniest Moments, or Obama Funny"). Or you will be all unfocused and then suddenly he will come out with this sad very serious face and, bam like that the crowd goes quiet. Not even the protesters will interrupt.

3. Polite.

He is kind and yes he does insult other politicians, but not seriously, except if it is important. Most of the time it even makes the politician laugh themselves. He even stands up for republicans while he is surrounded by democrats, here is the proof (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7Qfl2VYOPo).

4. Reasonable.

He very rarely blows his top, and he works on his plans no matter what. The thing is, is that he works on things that need to happen. He turned around the economy, he has made 15 million jobs in the last couple of years,  true they still need more.

5. Smooth/Savage

He brushes off they most mean of insults, and most of the time just throw it right back. All doing this without hesitating.
Some times he will make the most savage response that will win you over.


Thank you, I'm sure their are more reasons, but these are the ones that I could think of.


If you want to see how the polling is going here is a link.

http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2016-election-forecast/?ex_cid=rrpromo

May the Force be with you Gandalf! (Click bait (For walking tour day))

Well.................
Today I went on a walking tour... THAT WAS FREE :) (not really, you tip the guy at the end).
This is how it works.
1. You see the sign a few days before and are like. "Bro I wanna do that"
2. You show up at the time it is said to start.
3. Tour guide makes joke about tipping like "If you like it you'll tip me, if you don't like it you tip me anyways".
4. You walk pretty fast depending who you are with. So if you need to walk slowly I don't suggest it (I don't know about paid ones, I've only been on free ones).
5. You probably laugh because free guides try to be really good.
6. You are happy and you tip them.
6.5 If you aren't happy you can leave before it ends.

And that is how we did our tour. But first let's start with my day.

First I got up and got dressed and started my morning like all my others with a breakfast consisting of granola, coconut low fat yogurt, and one holy banana. I rediscovered this, (here in Edinburgh) because we walked down the aisle of a grocery store and I was thinking... What can I get for breakfast (It's harder for me because I'm not really supposed to eat wheat)? There it was, granola, in all its beauty the golden granola. And now that's how all my days start.

Afterwards I got the bus with my mom, we buy the all day ticket, because it costs the equivalent to two and a half bus tickets. So then you can do what ever you want, like if you see something interesting you can just jump off and then jump back on without buying another ticket. It also saves you the trouble of making sure you have exact change for both rides, because for one adult ticket and one child ticket it is an exact six pounds, making it very simple.

The bus ride lasts about thirty to forty minutes. On it we pass a college that looks like Buckingham Palace before its cup of coffee. It really is quite beautiful, after we pass that we pass a graveyard that has an ankh cross. Not something you would expect in a Christian country, but cool. It goes through New town but if you take for another couple of stops it goes to Old town. For those who don't know Edinburgh the historical part is separated into two different sections. 


Old town (people have lived there for 1 500 years but most of the remaining buildings are from the 1500s)




and New town (built by the rich to get away from the dirty city, it was built in one go in the 1800 hundreds). 



We got off by the National Museum of Scotland. We peeked into the National Library that had an exhibition of maps that had a quiz that no matter what it would give you 5 out of 5. If only I could do that in tests.

We then proceeded to the National Museum of Scotland there we walked around for a bit not really seeing anything new because we've been there before and we didn't have time to look for long. At that time it was 12:30 and our tour was at one and we hadn't eaten yet so we went to a burrito place that I discovered the day before. This burrito joint ain't the normal place, it a place that has risen from the ashes a place sent by the god(s), some even say the god Burrito Bob works there, some say that a burrito from their will give you the power of the gods, others say that you shouldn't eat there because burritos make you fart... But those people are fools! I HAD A CHICKEN burrito with beans, rice, onions, guac, sour cream, and some onions veggie stuff that tastes good, and of course CHEEEESSSEE (Epic music in the background)!

After getting the power of the burrito (arguably the best food in the world) we continued to the place where we would meet our tour guide, dun dun daaaa!

We arrived several minutes early so my mom got a coffee and I got a San Pellegrino. Then the tour guide was there although we waited a few minutes to see if anyone was a little late, (although my mom and me have a conspiracy that he was waiting for the red bull he was drinking to kick in)

 After a sufficient amount of time we started, there were about 15 people and we all huddled close. He talked about how random Edinburgh by gathering us around a statue, he then told us that the statue was of a man that never even came to Edinburgh, the only reason he was there was because they wanted to have a statue there.

The random statue. A.K.A. Alexander the Great.

He also told us that they have a park that celebrates 1000 years of Christianity in the Ukraine. I really liked this because you immediately got that the tour guide was funny, and also you knew what you were heading into.

Our next stop was to talk about why the unicorn was Scotland’s National animal. He told us that it was chosen when it was commonly believed it existed, the decided that it was a good animal because you can’t catch a Unicorn, making a kind of silent saying to the English (the two were constantly fighting) “You can never subdue and you can never beat us”... "AND FOR FREEDOM" (Brave heart)!

The next place we stopped at was a grave of the founding preacher of the Church of Scotland. This preacher said he always wanted to be close to his church so when people wanted to make a parking lot they moved every body except for him, instead they just built over him, so now you can go visit him at parking spot number 23. We then proceeded to the biggest shrine to an author in the world. Edinburgh where they have tons of authors and all those type of dudes, the worst part is, is that the guy didn’t even do proper stories… HE WROTE POEMS! They made a massive 5 stories or so tower for guy who used to write poems. 

Shrine dedicated to Sir Walter Scot... the poet.

Imagine what they are going to do for J. K. Rowling.

A Few years later...
We now release the Death Star 2.0 in respect for are dear author J. K. Rowling! (cheering) 

We then walked to the grave where a dog stayed by his master even after death. Back in the day this happened all policemen were required to have a dog, which they would have to pay for. Most police men got big scary dogs, but not this one, he chose a small loyal dog named Grayfrier, Unfortunately after 2 years the police man died, but each night the dog returned to his grave and slept there, no mater what type of weather it was. At one point people started to talk about who should keep care of the dog, but it was decided that they would just feed him, and let him do his own thing. After 15 years of loyalty the dog now rests at the head of the graveyard where people leave things for him.

This is a statue dedicated to him.

The same graveyard has many gravestones that inspired J. K. Rowling, such as McGonagall, another one that I don’t remember, and TOM RIDDLE, all real people. She discovered these while she walked her two year old child (a graveyard is totally the place you would take a child… Right?).

Grave stone of Tom Riddle, and his family (this is the gravestone of the real man).

Then it was the end of a very funny tour, but just before he told us that J. K. went to the cafés Black Medicine (which is a very nice place), and Elephant Garden (not so nice). Anyways that was the majority of my day except doing this blog, and showing a French guy from the alps where he could get a good meal and a nice cup of wine for not to much. Food is important to them you know.

On that note let me give you my tour guides favourite quote from Harry Potter

“May the Force be with you Gandalf”!

Have a great day!