by Stone Marshall | Dec 11, 2014 | parent-news |
KELSO, Wash. — Talk about fairy tales, a Kelso, Wash. mom threw a Harry Potter birthday party for her son and it turned into a business.
Catherine Jabush created wands for all the young wizards at her son’s party and two years later, she’s still turning sticks into magical gifts.
That’s because parents across the country are placing plenty of orders, especially now, for the holidays.
“Making and creating is what I love to do. My inspiration is right out the window,” Jabush said, referring to the wooded area outside her home.
She uses Willow, hickory, oak and drift wood to fashion special wands and sells them online as the Woodland Wandolier.
“I might cast a Harry Potter spell and see if I can lift you off the ground,” she said, smiling as she played with one of her creations.
In her home studio, where a spider takes up permanent residence and a troll overseas operations, anything seems possible.
“The designs are different on every one, depending on my hand movements, my mood, if I’m working slow or fast. And they each have to be different because they’re like snowflakes,” she explained.
Before the hot glue, there’s sanding and trimming and after that, there’s the painting and decorating.
“There’s a lot more love in it and it’s going to last longer,” she said.
Before each wand is finished there is an 8- to 10-step process and somewhere along the line, Jabush believes that a bit of magic happens, too.
“Because of the way they bring people together,” she said.
Her customers are not just kids, they are therapists, brides and grooms, or even grown children purchasing magic for their parents.
This holiday season, Jabush said her “Frozen” wand has emerged as the best seller. It originated from a special order online.
Jabush described herself as a lifelong artist who once created castles out of clay. Now, because of the wands and what they can do for kids, she has found her happy ending.
“I’m always thinking about children. What they might be thinking, what they might do with them,” she said. “I have to delight them!”
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 10, 2014 | parent-news |
The Diary of a Wimpy Kid books, written by Jeff Kinney, have sold more than 150 million copies around the world.
Based on character Greg Heffley, the books follow him through his life at school and on adventures with his friends and family.
Jeff first came up with the idea for Diary of a Wimpy Kid in 1998 but it wasn’t until six years later, that it was first published online.
Now Jeff has just released his ninth book in the series called The Long Haul and will be speaking to Newsround this week.
We want you to send us your questions for Jeff and we’ll ask him as many as we can.
Maybe you want to know how he comes up with ideas for the books or perhaps you want to know why he wanted to become an author.
Whatever you’d like to ask him, get in touch and let us know.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 10, 2014 | Minecraft News |
The director and co-writers for Warner Bros.’ adaptation of Minecraft have left the project, Variety reports.
Director Shawn Levy and writers Kieran Mulroney and Michele Mulroney reportedly exited the project because their ideas “didn’t mesh” with those of the Minecraft video game developers.
Minecraft is based on the wildly successful video game of the same name, which has won multiple awards and sold nearly 54 million copies across all platforms — making it one of the bestselling games in history. The game takes place in an open world that has no specific goals. Rather, it’s up to the player to decide how best to play the game, which revolves around breaking down and placing blocks to build different structures and shape the world as they see fit. During the course of the game, players will also encounter non-player characters including non-hostile animals and hostile monsters.
Warner Bros. acquired the rights to Minecraft in February. According to Variety, the property is still very important to the studio, which hopes to bring on a new director by the beginning of 2015.
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 9, 2014 | parent-news |
‘Tis the season to be Harry
On the first day of Christmas, J.K. Rowling will give to you: new Harry Potter material. On the second day of Christmas, she’ll give you some more. And so on, through the 12 days leading up to Christmas Eve.
The author announced the new stories in a newsletter to Pottermore members, explaining that each new installment would be posted at 1 pm GMT (8am ET) every day beginning Dec. 12. The email promises “wonderful writing by J.K. Rowling in Moments from Half-Blood Prince, shiny gold Galleons and even a new potion or two.”
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by Stone Marshall | Dec 9, 2014 | parent-news |
The actress, who appeared in five Harry Potter films as Cho Chang, is starring in SundanceTV’s miniseries One Child, in which she plays a British woman who was born in China and given up for adoption. When her birth mother contacts her, she learns she has a brother who was wrongfully convicted of murder — and that it’s up to her to get him out of prison.
“They are emotionally draining,” Leung tells The Hollywood Reporter of her heavy scenes. “At the same time, they are very real.”
In a chat with THR, Leung also reveals what she thinks of the upcoming Harry Potter spinoff films, why she chose One Child, and how she prepared.
What was the audition process like?
I auditioned for it way back. Three or four years ago. I fell in love with the script, but it took quite some time for it to happen.
What kind of preparation did you do?
I watched the documentary Somewhere Between, which was very helpful for the role. It’s the journey of four teenage Chinese girls who had been adopted and are living their lives in America with Caucasian parents. It was interesting to see from their perspective where they were in life.
There are a number of powerful scenes in this, like when your birth mother explains why she gave you up. What was it like shooting those scenes?
They are very emotional and emotionally draining. At the same time, they are very real because it’s not difficult to get into that frame of mind of what it would be like without a mother — to have gone through 20-something years thinking you were abandoned because your family didn’t want a girl. To discover that was the case, and that your mother is living in poverty and your dad wanted a son hurt her more than she thought.
What was the best part of this project?
Being involved in such a heartbreaking story makes you very appreciative of your own life.
Do you still get fan attention from Harry Potter?
I still get a lot of mail and contact from fans, especially on Twitter. They are so lovely and dedicated. You would think after the films are finished and the books written, it would diminish, but that is not the case. They are keeping the world alive through social media.
And they’ll make the spinoff movies.
I can’t wait to see what they’re doing with it, especially because David Yates is directing again. It’s going to be amazing, no doubt.
One Child airs Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m. on SundanceTV.
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