Prince of Persia: Sands of Time (The Movie)

"Most people think time is like a river, 
that flows swift and sure in one direction.
  But I have seen the face of time, 
and I can tell you they are wrong.  
Time is an ocean in a storm.
  You may wonder who I am and why I say this.
  Sit down, and I will tell you a tale like none you have ever heard..."

Prince of Persia to Farah

Last night Chris surprised me with the midnight release of a movie I've been anticipating for over two years! He set up a free babysitter (try finding that at midnight) and everything. It was so much fun and a much needed date night.

I have been so excited to see this movie ever since I heard they were making it into one. This movie definitely held some serious nostalgia for me. It was the first video game he and I found to play together. He liked video games, I did not. Now we play together because the stories are great (for me), the puzzles are difficult (for us both), and the combat is fun (for him). But this one was our first and therefore special.

The movie itself was a great ride. The characters were so much fun to see on the screen.

Jake Gyllenhall did a great job!

Gemma Arterton was sarcastically beautiful like she was supposed to be as the princess.

Ben Kingsley was super good at being a bad/good guy. You just weren't sure!

Looks just like the game!

Here is a link to the trailer if you haven't caught it on tv. www2.disney.co.uk/.../ official-trailer.jsp

My Take on the movie "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time"

If you like movies by Jerry Bruckheimer than you should like this one.  It seems that Bruckheimer has found a two-fold formula with Disney.  One, movies like National Treaure- adventurous, fun, family friendly.  Two, Pirates of the Caribbean- dangerous, dark, and mystical.  Prince of Perisa follows the later.

In my opinion Bruckeimer is a brillant director, he took parts of the game that worked: acrobatics, wit of the characters, and the sands of time.  And then he took the liberty to make it his own: new story, new characters, and awesome villans.

The opening scene was a total homege to those who have played any of the games, and it still has some of my favorite parts.  The great city that the story takes place in is the fabled Alamut- HQ for the infamous Hashashin (AKA Assassins).  The irony is that the city is a refuge from the villians.  The writers took a rather traditional approach in creating the culture and mythology of Persia- namly mixing time periods together, and creating something new and exciting- I loved it.  The villians of the movie were a total surprise to me, and I loved them.  They were mystical, deadly, and dark.  Bottom line is, I can't wait to see it again!

Prince of Persia (The Game)

The Legacy of

Its hard to believe that Prince of Persia started over 20 years ago. 

1989 Original Game

The first game came out in 1989- I remember playing it on my father's IBM computer.

                                                                                                                

                                                              

            

Sands of Time (2003)

Story
This is the first game that Tamy & I played together.  We had been married for just about 2 years and we were working on developing our relationship by building on common interests.  I liked playing video games, Tamy loved watching a good story visa vi movies.  Tamy's brother, Jim, let us borrow his PlayStation2 for a while.  One night, we decided to visit one of our favorite places, Hastings (Video/Bookstore).  We went over to the used video games looking for something that seemed interesting to both of us, and selected Prince of Persia, for only $12.99.  We went home to try out our new game and we both fell in love with the story and the game.  A new relationship was born that night that has followed us up to the present day.  Tamy & I have played almost every game we have bought, together.  We both love the storys, the game play, the cuts scenes.  Sands of Time was a blast to play and filled with beautiful scenery, danger, and puzzles.  Puzzles that Tamy was eager to help her 'hero' (me) solve.  The brave prince had discovered a mystical device that has the power to turn back time.  At the beginning of the game the Prince has suffered a terrible tragedy, and unleashed a terrible power.  His only course of action is to go on, face death defying odds, and perform feats that he wouldn't dare.  Along the way he meets a woman that would change his life, Farah.  We enjoyed the wit of the game, the brand new concepts- such as the dagger of time, the perilous obstacles and acrobats, and most importantly a great ending.

Warrior Within (2004)

  

The next year Ubisoft (Game Developer) came out with the brand new 'Warrior Within.'  This installment of the franchise was completely different from the previous versions.  Dark, gritty, with hard rock music for the soundtrack.  The prince was back, and fighting for his survival.  The fearless Prince is fleeing for his life in the face of a devastating creature, the Dahaka.  The Prince sets on a quest that defies time itself, but can he elude the guardian of time who hunts him...  This story appealed to the dark side of Tamy and I and we loved it!

 Two Thrones (2005)

   

This was the conclusion of of the trilogy.  In this adventure we got to witness the fabled Gardens of Babylon.  The Prince is in an internal battle for his soul, and everything that he cherishes is at stake.  This game demonstrated how much better graphics and sound had become on the PlayStation2.  The ending was extremely satisfying for those who had played all three.

Prince of Persia (2008)

   

                                          

 "I am the darkness.  I am your end..."

3 years later Ubisoft decided to make a whole new story with the Prince of Persia franchise, on the 'next gen consoles' X-Box 360 & PlayStation3.  The story was a great adventure, the game play was fresh and unique, and the art was like looking at a water painting.  With the advent of the 'next gen consoles' games have been taken to a whole new level. 

In most cases the cut scenes found in games rival the movie screen, in every case, the sound and music outperformed even the best blu-ray.  The 2008 game has become Tamy's favorite Prince of Persia, excluding the 2003 'Sands of Time.'

Forgotten Sands (2010)

                                                                                       

                                                         "I am more powerful than a sandstorm" 

Now, we have arrived at the game that Tamy & I are playing right now.  The Prince has new challenges to face, with a new power of his own.  The prince can freeze water, making it possible to run, climb and swing off of.  His only companion in this new adventure is a Djinn, Razia, who belongs to a time long forgotten that paralleled the age of King Solomon.  So far, we have enjoyed every game the Prince of Persia franchise has thrown at us.  Ubisoft, I dare you to make another one.

ShawFest 2010

I know it's a bit late, but the same weekend that we celebrated Evie's birthday the Base held "Shawfest 2010". That's a fancy way of saying we went to the air show held on base that Saturday. We had so much fun. Beyond the food, the planes, the fun, not one person came home sunburned! A definite win on our part.

JC loved the jets. I thought originally he'd be scared, but every time he saw a jet fly over his head he was as excited as if it were the first time. Most of my pix of him show him pointing at a jet. He pointed at every one and went "ooh" or "wow". It was so cute and such a boy thing to do.

Evie had fun, though she tired of the jets relatively quickly. The bouncy toys toward the end won her over. She was a great big sister making sure Lizzy was happy, keeping JC entertained and making sure I knew what everyone was doing all the time. She liked the planes, especially the one she sat in. So many buttons so little time!

Lizzy did a great job. She slept, ate, and even cracked a few smiles. I was grateful when Chris purchased ear plugs for her and Evie though. I wasn't sure they would stay in, but after the first jet scared her pretty badly, the rest were easy going.

Chris and I had so much fun. We love the air shows. We went to a couple at Fairchild when we were in Spokane and if you happen to see their air show this year in July, you'll see the same aeronautic acrobatics that we saw here earlier this month! What a way to keep in touch. I think we enjoyed it even more this year because we had kids to take.

I know it sounds funny, but I sure love taking my kids with me when we go to things like this. Movies, not so much. Fun family-like things, very much. Seeing the air show from JC's perspective was priceless.

That's four different jets

Look, daddy

So flexible!

Such a big boy

Inside the jet

Bouncy toys

Evelynn Update

So Evie just had her four year old well child check up. That's the fancy way of saying Evie had a physical. So anyway, we discovered that she's wonderfully healthy. She is 40 1/2 in tall and 33.7 lbs. That puts her in the 75th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight. Dr. Key said that though others might think her skinny, she is all he could hope for in an active four year old.

Okay, so to be honest, I couldn't help beaming after that information. Here I am with three very tiny children who wear me out on a daily basis and I usually here how I could be doing things better. So to hear that he thinks Evie is doing great and is what he would hope most kids her age would look like made me very happy.

She also got her last set of immunizations until she's 12! Thank goodness. And I finally remembered to bring up the issue I've noticed with her left foot. Evie's foot curves inwards quite severely. She walks all right, but if you hadn't noticed she's a bit clumsy. I originally thought it would just go away like our last pediatrician had said, but she wants to be a ballerina. A girl can't dance well with a foot that isn't correct. So I took the plunge and mentioned it in the appt. The doctor looked at it and then gave us the orders for an X-ray and an appt with one of the best foot doctors in the south. He said that if the bones aren't fused she won't need surgery, but we'll have to be ready for that if the other guy mentions it.

It's a little scary to think of your child needing surgery at such a young age and I'm pretty angry that no other doctor had thought of looking at her feet in this way until now. Even Dr. Key didn't notice until I said something. Thank heavens the Lord helped me to remember that it bothered me while I was standing in the exam room. Wish us luck and keep Evelynn in your prayers on this one. At least if she does need help we have the insurance now to take care of her.

Evelynn is FOUR!

I know it's a bit late, but it was such fun. I can't believe my daughter is four years old already. Being a parent is very much like a mission in one very specific way: Each day feels like a year and each year feels like a day. The time goes so slowly when you're looking at each day, but then, like now, you wonder where the time went. That's why the little things are so important. I don't want to look back when she's 12 and say what happened? Or see her getting married and think, did I spend my time well? She is so smart and special and so wonderful. I know where each day has gone and though there are some I wish I could just ignore (the ones when I was so far from being super mom) most are good memories.

So Evie's official birthday fell on the Sabbath this year so we celebrated on the Friday before, the 7th. We had a water party! We filled three separate pools, added a double slip n' slide, a fun sprinkler, water balloons, water guns, and just buckets of water with toys in them. It was so neat and relatively inexpensive. I sure had fun putting it together. Evie had a great time though most of her friends didn't attend. For some reason only one friend came. I know that most of them were available, but for some reason it just didn't work out. Oh well. It was hard the day of and a day or so afterward, but the Spirit quickly helped me to realize that I would have done all of it just for her because it was her birthday and I love her. Her one friend, Aiden and his family had a great time. Thankfully, she did have someone and she's not quite old enough to understand why mom was disappointed. I've already learned my lessons for next time.

Anyway, so here are some pix of the "party", the cake (provided by one of the moms invited), the presents (both sets of grandparents made their presents on time), and of course my little-big girl! Thanks to all of you who love my daughter like I do.

Aiden and Evelynn

The Fosburg Fish

My Little Ones

Swimming Lizzy

Cake and Presents!

Yum, birthday cake!

Our Princess

Charlotte, NC

So we finally left the state! We've been to Columbia many times, Florence twice (three for Chris), and Myrtle Beach once (posts on the way). Now we have been to Charlotte, NC. It's actually a shorter drive to NC than it was to the beach! It was freeway all the way.

We had a day off all together and Chris just started the swing shift, which means that he can sleep in if he needs to. So we woke up about 8am (late for my kids!) and decided after a whole 30 seconds that we wanted to go somewhere different. Chris decided we should finally do NC. It was fun and adventurous and exciting and long!

We arrived around 12:30pm after returning to the house at least 4 times for something we forgot! I know, terrible. Anyway, the kids slept or played the whole way like great little travelers. We stopped at the visitor's center (a must for any big city or new location visit) and then decided on a few places.

We mostly just wanted to check things out. First we ate lunch at a Wendy's we found just outside of the city. Then we found a great place called 'DISCOVERY PLACE' that we're trying next week. It's a bit pricey (30$), but it lasts all day and I'll tell more when we actually visit it. By that time it was 3:30pm so we went to the largest mall I've ever been in!

The mall, Carolina Place, is by far the best mall I've visited. It gets a 10 and heres why:

1- The first thing I saw was the most beautiful bathrooms. I know who likes a mall for bathrooms? Well a mom of three young ones that's who! These had separate sections for men and women of course, but then also a family bathroom that was actually made for little ones with a small potty, low sink, low soap and low hand drier. Evie was happy just to be there! There was also a changing room outside the official bathrooms (no smelly rooms) with a carpeted floor and oval little dents in the table top to keep the baby from rolling out. No echoes there, thank goodness. There was even a mother's room with one of those nice new rockers and a sitting room with leather couches and ottomans for waiting members. The whole things was enclosed with frosted glass. It was beautiful and smelled great, not your normal bathroom.

2- It's huge! We decided it's like a castle of stores with so many wings we couldn't have possibly seen them all. It was so huge that even after a good 4 hrs we hardley saw any of it. It had at least 2 levels and some stores had 3. Some of the stores I haven't seen since Northtown. It was so fun.

3-We hit the Disney store biggest. The woman was super nice. She allowed Evie to run amok and I mean, AMOK! She tried on every dress and pair of shoes along with every peice of jewelry she could get her hands on. The woman just smiled and said that's what the store was for! I wish more people were like that in stores for kids. It's so hard to keep them in check 100% in a place that is like a dream come true (Barnes and Noble is like that for me). So as Evie went wild and JC was occupied with daddy, I took the liberty of picking up a few "needful" things for Evie's birthday. We are celebrating it this Friday. So Evie had a blast, the woman hid all my purchases craftily (I think somehow she'd done it before?) behind the counter until we were ready to go, and Joseph got a new Buzz Lightyear cellphone. The kids loved that store and I loved the salesperson who also gave me some great insights into planning our own trip to a Disney location at some point.

4- After that we continued to wander for a bit, poking our heads into several stores and then of course, hitting the three-level B and N for some great book looking. The kids section in the larger stores is always

worth a look. This one had a train table set up with lots of cars. The kids were enthralled the whole time dad went searching.

5- We passed through the largest most luxurious food court I've ever seen. As with the rest of the seats, the chairs were leather and plastic and very comfortable. We ate here later and low and behold, it had a cheapy McD's that the kids love instead of only super expensive food!

6- Last, but not least, we then found the little playcenter with the soft toys and soft floor for little kids. At this point I was pretty sure it couldn't get better (or later) so we took our leave of the great and spacious mall.

Evie's hiding place

having SO much fun!

Lizzy watches the Big Kids!

Thankfully, I was wrong. On the way out of the mall complex Chris stopped at a favorite restaurant: Olive Garden. I had the wonderful dinner and the ride home as I fed Chris. We shared a huge Chicken Parmigana. It was great.

What a fun and exciting day. We so enjoyed being together and exploring new places. Can't wait to go back.