My Obsession with Lego Fidget Spinners

If you don’t know what a fidget spinner is, you’ve been living under a rock for the past six months! A fidget spinner is pretty self-explanatory. It is a spinner that helps kids with A.D.D. and A.D.H.D. help concentrate, but fidget spinners have become a great toy for any and all kids. If you know me, you know I love Legos. Since I have a room completely devoted to Legos, I thought I could try to make some Lego fidget spinners. I decided to look on YouTube to see what kind of Lego spinners people have made and I found some cool stuff.

The first video I found was an Incredible Science video, LEGO Spinner Fidget Toy Tutorial! How to Make 5 Different Hand Spinners!. Then I found more and more Lego spinner videos and my absolute, number one favorite Lego fidget spinner video was LEGO Justice League Fidget Spinner Toys (Batman, Flash, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, Cyborg). I’ve made two of the fidget spinners from this video, the Wonder Woman, and Batman Lego fidget spinner.

Batman and Wonder Woman Fidget Spinner

Backside of Batman Fidget Spinner

There is another video by this YouTuber that is an Avenger themed Lego fidget spinner collection. I have only made one of the Avenger set and that is the Iron Man Lego fidget spinner. I attempted to make the Thor fidget spinner in the collection, but it just turned into a hammer fidget spinner.

Iron Man  Fidget Spinner

I encourage you guys to check out these videos and try making some Lego fidget spinners yourself!

And Finally, Norse Mythology, My Favorite

Norse mythology was made by the Vikings, Nordic sailors who conquered, traded, and lived in Scandinavia which consists of Norway, Denmark, and Sweden. They called their gods Æsir Gods. The King of the Æsir Gods was Odin. He was the God of War, Wisdom, Death, and the Sky. It was rumored that Odin could start a war just by throwing his magic spear.

Odin’s son was Thor. He was the God of Thunder. With his mighty hammer Mjölnir, he fought giants and monsters. His step-brother, Loki, was the God of Trickery and Shapeshifting.

There were nine worlds in Norse mythology. They were all connected  by the Tree of Life named Yggdrasil.

There were:

Asgard, the land where the Æsir Gods lived.

Midgard, where all humans lived.

Nidavellir, the home of the dwarves.

Muspelheim, the realm of fire and demons.

Alfheim, the world of the light elves.

Vanaheim, the home of the Vanir.

Helheim, the home of Hel and the dishonorable dead.

Niflheim, the world of ice.

Jotunheim, the home of all giants.

Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life

Loki was very mischievous, in fact,  Loki once placed a bet with a dwarf named Brokk, that none of the royal weapons could be bettered. Loki said if the dwarves won, they could claim his head. Brokk took the challenge and while the dwarves were working, Loki turned into a fly to distract them. The dwarves won the bet, but, when they came to claim Loki’s head, Loki said that they could take his head, but they had no right to any part of his neck. Since none of the dwarves knew where the head ended and the neck began, they punished Loki by sewing his mouth shut.

Odin once had a dream of how to get more knowledge and see the future. To get this information, he had to hang himself from a tree for nine days, pierced by his own spear.

Loki and Angrboda the giant had three monstrous children, Jörmungandr, Fenrir, and Hel. Jörmungandr was sent to surround Midgard to protect all the humans. Fenrir stayed in Asgard, and Hel was half-alive, half-dead and was sent to Helheim as the Goddess of the Dead.

Fenrir was put in chains in the palace in Asgard to protect the gods. The gods challenged Fenrir of his strength and said that he couldn’t break his chains. Fenrir easily bit his chain and released himself. The gods then went to the dwarves and asked them to make a chain that would withstand Fenrir’s strength.

After the chain was made the chained Fenrir and asked him to break the chain. Fenrir could not and stayed chained forever.

The gods, other than Odin, Thor, and Loki, Balder is the God of Light, Joy, Purity, Beauty, Innocence, and Reconciliation. Frigg is the Queen of the Æsir Gods. She is also the Goddess of Love and Fertility. Tyr is the God of War, Patron, and Justice. Freya is the Goddess of Love. Those are all of the gods you need to know. The others have pretty much the same powers as the other gods but different names. All the Æsir gods lived in Asgard.

Asgard, the Land of the Æsir gods

Norse mythology is a very interesting mythology because of Yggdrasil, the Tree of Life. It holds nine very interesting worlds, but my favorite is Nidavellir, the home of the dwarves. The dwarves are such interesting beings. They always stay inside creating weapons and jewelry from metals because if sunlight touches their skin, they turn to stone!

Dwarves

The second most interesting things in my opinion, are the light elves. These creatures have pointed ears and can do magic. The exact opposite of light elves, are dark elves, which do everything light elves do, but are obviously dark and evil.

Most people think that Vikings wore horns on their battle helmets. That is not true. Hollywood movie makers put horns on the helmets depicting Vikings to make them look more intimidating.

Authentic Viking Helmet

Personally, Norse mythology is my favorite. Please comment on what your favorite myth is. Thank you for reading this three part blog.

Roman Mythology: A Quick Guide

Remus and Romulus’ parent was Rhea Silvia, not the Rhea from Greek mythology. Amulius, the wicked king, hired a slave to throw Remus and Romulus into the Tiber River. To give them a chance, the slave put the boys in a cradle and sent them floating down the river. A she-wolf named Lupa picked them up from the river and raised the two children.

Amulius taking the twins Remus & Romulus

Lupa with Romulus & Remus

When the boys got tall and strong they went back to kill Amulius for his dastardly deed. After they killed Amulius they became rulers. Over time they got bored and wanted to make a city on the countryside where they grew up. They started arguing who should get to be king and eventually, Romulus killed Remus, and named the city after himself. The city’s name was Rome.

Romulus killed his twin brother Remus &
named the city of Rome after himself
Seen here Dabbing.

The Romans copied the Greek Gods with some name adjustments.

Here’s  a chart:

Zeus=Jupiter, God of the Sky

Hera=Juno, Goddess of the Heavens

Poseidon=Neptune, the God of the Sea

Hades=Pluto, the God of the Underworld

Demeter=Ceres, Goddess of the Harvest

Dionysus=Bacchus, God of Wine

Hephaestus=Vulcan, God of Fire and Metalworking

Athena=Minerva, Goddess of Wisdom and Crafts

Ares=Mars, God of War

Aphrodite=Venus, Goddess of Love

Artemis=Diana, Goddess of the Hunt

Apollo=Apollo, God of Music and the Sun

The monsters are the exact same thing as well as the heroes.

Make sure to check out my third and final blog in this series about Norse mythology!

Greek Mythology

In the fall of 2016, I started reading the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. I have recently started on the third book of The Heroes of Olympus series. All of this got me thinking, I should do a blog about myths.

No I don’t think I’m a “myth-master” just because I read the series. I have been researching all myths on my own, including the following: Greek, Roman, Norse, and Egyptian mythologies.

Greek mythology is where my adventure begins. At the beginning of time, Mother Earth, or Gaea, created rivers with the blood running through her veins. The hills and earth were made of her luscious green hair. The sky, Ouranos, took interest in Mother Earth and she consequently bore ten strong children. These were named the Titans. The youngest Titan, Cronus, was a very curious child.

Ouranos, Gaea, and Tartarus

Gaea and Ouranos next had six children. Three one-eyed Cyclops and three children with one hundred arms named the hundred-handed ones. Ouranos hated his hideous children and sent them to the bottom of Tartarus, the abyss in the Underworld where terrible creatures were held.

Gaea hated Ouranos because he killed her six hideous, but loved, sons. So in return she asked her youngest child Cronus to use an adamantine sickle to kill Ouranos. Cronus did as his mother told him and killed his father.

Cronus was then the Ruler of the World and Time. He married a Titan named Rhea. Even though they were siblings, they married because…reasons (this happened a lot in mythology). They had five children that Cronus swallowed. I’m not even joking, he ate all five of his children! When Rhea gave birth to her sixth child, Zeus, instead allowing Cronus to eat Zeus, Rhea tricked Cronus into eating a boulder.

Zeus grew up to be tall and powerful and when the time was right, Zeus overthrew Cronus and became the ruler of the world. He made Cronus vomit all of his children. They all survived in Cronus’ stomach all of those years. The children’s names were Hades, Poseidon, Hestia, Hera, and Demeter.

This is where it gets confusing. Zeus got a Titan named Metis pregnant. To avoid getting overthrown like his father before him, he ate Metis (what is wrong with this family?!). Zeus started getting headaches and bore the child Athena…from his head.

Zeus then married Demeter, Goddess of the Harvest. She bore the child Persephone.

The following will perhaps be easier to understand:

Hera+sheer will=Hephaestus

Zeus+Leto=Apollo and Artemis

Ouranos’ body parts+the ocean=Aphrodite

Zeus+Maia=Hermes

Zeus+Hera=Ares      

 This is Greek mythology in a nutshell.

Stay tuned for Part II of this three part series on mythology!

The Lego Batman Movie Review

This Valentine’s Day my grandparents gave me and my parents some money for a dinner and movie. The movie we went to was The Lego Batman Movie. When I went in, I had high expectations because of the amazing humor-filled previews. This movie passed my expectations. (Spoiler alert) it starts with a black screen and Will Arnett, Batman, explaining how all important movies start with black screens… and then he says how he has a nine-pack.

Batman is introduced as a narcissistic and egotistical person that “…sit around all day in black clothes.” Dick Grayson, on the other hand, is a happy orphan who is a male gymnast. He meets Bruce Wayne at a festival where Barbara Gordon is becoming the police commissioner of Gotham City. Dick Grayson is asking Bruce Wayne if he is able to adopt someone, and he says yes because he is musing about Barbara and how beautiful she is and unconsciously adopts Dick. Barbara Gordon is the daughter of James Gordon, former police commissioner of Gotham City. Barbara has graduated from Harvard For Police. She grew up in a family full of police and wanted to follow her father’s footsteps. When Bruce Wayne’s parents were killed, Alfred Pennyworth became Bruce’s father figure and Batman refers to him as that.

The movie is mainly about two things. Number one, The Joker thinks he is Batman’s “greatest enemy” and does everything to prove that. Number two, in the previews there is a scene about what Batman is afraid of, and Alfred says it is being part of a family, he counters and says he is afraid of snake-clowns. Later in the movie Robin, Dick Grayson, says they are going on a family trip and throughout the movie Batman tries to deal with that without admitting that being part of a family is his fear. By the end of the movie both of those problems are resolved.

During the movie, Dick Grayson makes up things that people will know him by. He says his code name is Robin and his motto is “tweet, tweet, on the street.” He even comes up with a song, I’ll try to write it. This is how it goes: “Flyyyyy, Robin, Flyyyyy!” Batman tells Robin that he and Bruce Wayne said that they would both be his dad. Robin tries to call Batman Dad, and he immediately tells Robin to stop. Robin now tries to call him padré and Batman starts to talk, but Robin interrupts and asks him if he’s not allowed to call him that either. Batman asks what padré means and he says it means dad in Spanish. Batman doesn’t mind it and says it also means buddy.

At the end of the movie there is a white screen and Batman is explaining how all important movies end in white and then a robotic voice says: Playing Robin’s happy music, and it shows all of the people dancing around in gold and white with all the credits on the side.

The movie was so amazing! It had 188 fresh tomatoes and 19 rotten tomatoes on the website rottentomatoes.com which means it is very popular. I’m not sure but I think that is a record on Rotten Tomatoes. If you are thinking about watching a movie, I suggest the Lego Batman Movie. Not just because it’s a good movie for kids, it has hilarious adult humor as well and is satisfactory for an entire family.

This Week I Went Back to the Future!

A few days ago my mom suggested that we watch a movie together. She picked a movie that I have heard of, it was Back to the Future. It took a few minutes for me to get into the story, but when I saw the DeLorean come out of the truck I was excited. The car looked cool and modern even though the movie was movie was made in 1985. The gull wings and the Flux Capacitor are so cool! Marty McFly, the main character, was likable. He was a bit like a slacker because he showed up for school late, he did illegal things to get to school late on his skateboard, and he fell asleep with his clothes on. When the terrorists arrived early in the movie to kill the other lead character, Doc Brown, I started to get really stressed. Another time I got stressed was when Marty's teenage mom fell for him instead of his dad George McFly. By the end of the movie there was so much intensity that I created a new word to describe my stress: Darshiblar! I said this at least 100 times while watching the movie! The movie's ending left me wanting to see the next film immediately because it ended with an obvious cliffhanger for the main characters! I can't believe people in 1985 had to wait years to see the sequel. I couldn't wait five minutes!

Back to the Future Part 2 was on Netflix as well so as soon as I finished watching Back to the Future, I started Part II. It was made it 1989, four years after the original and 26 years before 2015. I found it fascinating to see what the creators of the movie got right and wrong. A few things right in the future were flat screen televisions, drones, and multiple channels on TV. The things they got wrong were flying cars, clothing, the common use of hoverboards. What I found interesting in Back to the Future Part II was how one little thing could change the entire future. Of course, this was true in the first movie as well. Part II was my favorite because I enjoyed watching the filmmaker's version of the present day.

Obviously after seeing the cliff hanger for Part II, I had to see the third one, Back to the Future Part III was very different from the other ones because both Doc and Marty had a chance of being shot in 1885 in the Old West, when and where the movie took place. I liked how the actors impersonated people from that era. The story was interesting and even though Doc said that if he had a social relationship with someone from the past it would create a time-warp continuum, Doc did fall in love! There was another cliffhanger at the end of Part III, but the director Robert Zemekis said three was a good number to end the series.

After seeing all three movies I remembered that my older brother got the LEGO DeLorean  from Back to the Future a couple of years ago for Christmas.  As with many of our Lego sets, the DeLorean was taken apart a long time ago with its pieces scattered among many different boxes. I decided to make it again. It took hours over two days for my mom and me to find all of the pieces, but we finished it together.

If you haven't seen Back to the Future or its sequels I recommend you do. They are exciting, intense, and entertaining all mixed together.

GS 187 is an 9 year old rising fifth grade high honor student living with his mom, dad, big brother, and little sister. He is an excellent student, artist, Lego builder, origami maker, swimmer, kayaker, Cub Scout, karate student, and Little League player. 

Writing this blog was GS 187's idea. His parents, of course, encourage him.

Comments are always welcome on each and every post as they encourage him to continue to write, better his work, and grow as a writer.

My Addiction to the Batman v Superman Movie!

                                                                               
     When I saw the first previews for the movie Batman v Superman months before it opened I knew I had to see it. Batman is my favorite superhero so I was certain I had to watch the film. The problem was it didn't come out until March 12, 2016. In the meantime, I decided to research everything about the film like the actors for the cast, the plot, the critic reviews and the logo (to draw). I spent hours drawing and perfecting the awesome logo that put the Superman "S" within the Batman bat logo.

What felt like years later I finally saw Batman v Superman in the theater with my family. The film did not disappoint - it was awesome! It had everything that I wanted. Batman's new costume was far superior to The Dark Knight movie Batman costume which was too dark in my opinion.  Ben Affleck portrayed Batman incredibly well because he disguised his voice as Batman differently than his Bruce Wayne alter ego. Affleck used his acting skills to create a realistic anger for Wayne/Batman against Superman. I truly enjoyed Affleck's portrayal.

People who have not seen the movie should skip this part and go to the smiley face below. If you haven't seen it and you never will or you have seen it, you can read this:

When Superman "died" he was killed by Doomsday because he was near Batman's kryptonite spear when he was stabbed. There seem to be some plot holes that make this ending hard to believe. Of course, I'll be waiting for the next chapter of the DC Comics movie franchise!

:) After seeing the movie I was not tired of Batman v Superman, on the contrary I got more into it! In every store I go I look for B v S t-shirts, action figures, books, and anything else that looks cool from this movie. My birthday is in September and most of what I asked for was from the Batman v Superman movie category... well, that and foreign coins!

If you haven't seen Batman v Superman, I highly suggest you do. It is different than the Marvel comic movies, but I think they are interesting and entertaining. Once you watch Batman v Superman, you'll be hooked on the story, too, just like me!