Journal 3: A Tail of "The Little Mermaid"

                                http://www.kidzworld.com/article/6145-classic-disney-fairy-tales

Of all the movies I've seen, one of them pops out at me as a favorite. "The Little Mermaid" has been my top pick for many reasons. First of all, it takes place under the sea. As a kid, I loved the water, and I loved swimming, but this movie has more to offer than just the setting. This movie is also full of catchy songs. When I was little, I enjoyed singing along to "Under the Sea" "Part of Your World," and "Kiss the Girl." I thought those were the best songs in the movie.

Besides the many sing-along-songs, I think one aspect that I respond to is the art design of "The Little Mermaid." The whole movie is full of many colors that portray the mystical world of Atlantica. The many fish, mermaids, and flowers are painted with the colors of the rainbow. Another part of the movie that I respond to is the plot. In this film, the plot is used to teach a lesson. What the audience should take away from this movie when watching it is to not take anything for granted. Ariel traded her voice and soul to Ursula for the chance to walk on land and meet Prince Eric. Later, she realized how difficult is was to get by without a voice, but found her way. I enjoy watching Disney movies because they typically have a message for the audience and happy endings. Ariel ended up getting her voice back and decided to live on land with Eric.

How To Make Better Than Sex Cake

By: Jenna Crawley, Amanda King, Kirby Reehl, Shannon Sward

The upcoming months are beginning to seem stressful as you have been put in charge of finding the perfect cake for your sister’s bridal shower. As you search the web, you find many cakes, but none of them seem quite right. You find Crème de Menthe, but you’re not old enough to buy the alcohol. Your next thought is to make rice cakes, but these might not be appealing to all of the guests. Then you find it: Better Than Sex Cake. It seems to be the most ideal choice. However, you don’t know quite how to make it. Our goal is to help you make the best Better Than Sex Cake for your sister to enjoy at her bridal shower.

Step one: Obtain the following items:

Appliances needed:

Oven

Microwave

Refrigerator

Supplies needed:

9x13 inch pan

Wooden spoon

Metal spoon

Large mixing bowl

1 Quart size plastic Ziploc bag

Rubber spatula

1/3 and 1 cup measuring cups

Rolling pin

Oven mitt

Pam Cooking Spray

Toothpick

Small bowl

Timer

Ingredients

1 package of German Chocolate Cake mix

-1 cup of water

-3 eggs

-1/3 cup of vegetable oil

6 ounces caramel ice cream topping

3 regular size Heath bars, crushed

One 8 ounce container cool whip

Step two: After all supplies have been gathered, set out all of the ingredients on a counter or table in a kitchen and pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Empty the contents of the cake mix into a large mixing bowl. Add 1 cup of water, 3 eggs, and 1/3 cup of vegetable oil. Mix ingredients together in the large bowl with a wooden spoon until smooth.

Step three: Evenly spray the 9x13 inch pan with the Pam cooking spray. Proceed to pour the cake batter out of the large bowl into the greased 9x13 inch pan while scraping excess batter with a rubber spatula. Evenly distribute the batter in the pan with the rubber spatula.

Step four: Open the oven door and place the pan with the batter into the center of the top rack of the pre-heated oven. Close the oven door and set a timer for 34 minutes. Once the timer goes off after 34 minutes, use an oven mitt to carefully remove the hot pan from the hot oven. Insert a toothpick into the center of the baked cake. Take toothpick out. If the toothpick is clean, your cake is fully baked. If there is residue on the toothpick, place your cake into the still heated oven for 2-3 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out of the cake clean. Turn off oven once the cake is completely baked and out of the oven.

Step five: Using the handle of the wooden spoon, poke 25-30 holes into the top of the baked cake. Unscrew the cap of the caramel ice cream topping, and place the caramel ice cream jar into the microwave. Microwave on high for 30 seconds or until the caramel topping can easily flow off of a metal spoon. Pour heated caramel topping from the jar evenly over the baked cake. Then place cake into refrigerator until cool to the touch.

Step six: While the cake is cooling in the refrigerator, unwrap 3 regular size Heath bars and place them in a one quart size plastic Ziploc bag. Using the rolling pin, crush the Heath Bars in the Ziploc bag until the candy pieces are bite-sized. Pour the bite-sized Heath bar pieces from Ziploc bag into a small bowl. Please try to refrain from eating all of the Heath bar candy pieces before you can sprinkle them on the cake. Set aside until the cake is cool.

Step seven: Take the cooled cake out of the refrigerator. Spread the Cool Whip evenly over the cake with a clean rubber spatula. Scrape the edges of the Cool Whip container with the rubber spatula to get all of the Cool Whip out of the container and on to the cake.

Step eight: Sprinkle the crushed Heath bar pieces evenly over the Cool Whip topping. Pay close attention to the empty spaces around the cake where you can still see a large amount of Cool Whip. Be careful not to over sprinkle the Heath bar pieces so the cake does not look too cluttered. Your cake is now finished!

Now you have made the perfect cake for your sister to enjoy at her bridal shower! Your friends and family, especially your sister, will quickly devour this delectable Better than Sex Cake. You will receive raving reviews for baking such an astounding cake and will be considered the highlight of the bridal shower.

Journal 2: Not Your Typical Haunted House

                              http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/164221-paranormal/

The article, "Indie Horror Month: 'Paranormal'" by Nick Dinicola is about a video game called "Paranormal." In this game, the gamer is the only character, and their task is to find the ghost in the haunted house. Throughout the game, the house depicts events that go bump in the night. Random items in the house might pop out or explode in the first game, but in the next, nothing might pop out. It is completely unpredictable. In this article, the author also compares this game to the "Paranormal Activity" movies because no one really knows what to expect, and if they think they know what's coming, they're wrong. I have seen the first three "Paranormal Activity" movies and this game does sound a lot like the movies. In the movies, the main characters are filming what's going on in their haunted house and have no idea what to expect, this game is similar to that. Special effects in the game create an even scarier setting. The "camera" will shake creating the feeling that the gamer is out of control as to what happens, the "battery" on the camera will run out after a certain amount of time, forcing the character to sleep in the house so the "battery can charge." Even though this game isn't released yet, I can imagine many people anticipating getting this game because it is so close to Halloween.

How to Make Banana-Date Bread

Ingredients:
1 1/3 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
3 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 c. vanilla yogurt
3T. melted butter
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
1c. chopped pecans
2c. chopped dried dates

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, both sugars, salt, and baking soda, set aside. In a medium size bowl, combine bananas, yogurt, butter, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in dates and pecans.  Add ingredients in medium bowl to ingredients in large bowl and stir until well combined. Pour batter into a greased and floured bread pan. Bake for 55 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of the loaf comes out clean.