She Scribes

Tiger, Tiger, burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

Have you ever heard of the poem The Tiger by William Blake? The first time I heard of it was when I watched the movie Burning Bright. Burning Bright was recently released on DVD by Lionsgate on August 17, 2010.

Burning Bright is the story of Kelly and her brother Tom. Their mother committed suicide leaving Kelly to care for her younger Autistic brother Tom. The pair live with their Stepfather Johnny.

Tom has these big dreams of opening up a Safari Ranch on the site of their home. Kelly doesn’t care what Tom wants to do. She has plans to attend college.

 Before Kelly can leave for college she needs to get her brother settled in at a facility that will take care of him while she’s away. Unbeknown to Kelly her sleazy Stepfather drained out her bank account, money that was left for her and Tom from their mother. Tom used the money to purchase a ferocious Tiger nicknamed “Lucifer” because he was pure evil.

Kelly and Tom return to their home so Kelly can confront Johnny. When they arrive home they find Johnny boarding up their home and the animals because a massive hurricane was heading their way. Kelly confronts Johnny only to learn that the money was gone and basically there was nothing she could do about it.

Distraught over the whole situation of not knowing what to do with Tom so she can go to college Kelly turns in for the night.

Unbeknown to Kelly and Tom someone releases “Lucifer” into the house and then boards it up. Who would do such a thing and why?

Kelly and her Autistic brother have to fight for their lives against a massive, vicious Tiger who hasn’t eaten in two weeks.  He will stop at nothing to make the children his next meal. There is no way out. They are completely sealed inside their home during a hurricane and there is now way out.

Will the pair survive? Will anyone come to their rescue? Who released the Tiger into the home and why? To learn more you’ll need to rent or purchase Burning Bright.

The part of Kelly is played by Briana Evigan. Those of you around my age (40′s) might remember her hunky Father, Greg Evigan from BJ & the Bear. Tom is played by a young actor name Charlie Tahan who was most recently seen in Charlie St. Cloud and Nights in Rodanthe. The singer Marvin Lee Aday, otherwise known as “Meatloaf”, also has a small part in the movie.

The movie was a bit slow at times and there were a few part of the movie that seemed a bit silly to me. For example, the Tiger is able to break through locked doors yet it took him a long time to break into a closet door where the children were hiding, giving Kelly enough time to tear a hole into the wall for them to escape. That seemed a bit far fetched for me.

The over all idea of being locked in your home with a starving Tiger running lose does keep you on edge. I couldn’t imagine being in that situation. I would be lunch meat for sure!

This was a good suspenseful movie. I wouldn’t call it a horror movie. I’d classify it more so as suspense and drama. There are a few edge-of-your-seat moments. The only “gross” part comes at the end when someone ends up being breakfast for the Tiger.

This would make a GREAT slumber party movie for teens and ‘tweens. There is no nudity, no gore (except for a minute at the end) and I honestly can’t remember any bad language. The main character of Kelly does run around in short shorts and a tank top but that is about it. I can see this the kids freaking out over this movie. Its rated PG-13.

I wouldn’t say this was a movie so great that you had to drop what you were doing and run right out and buy the movie. But I do think its a good enough movie if you love suspenseful movies that will keep you on your toes.

Burning Bright is available for purchase where most DVDs are sold such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Its also available to rent on Netflix.

Kimberly

*I received a free copy of the film in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.

Do you watch the Animal Planet channel? Its one of my family’s favorite channels to watch. I find the show “Animal Hoarding” so intriguing. Its a series about people who “hoard” animals. I’m talking about people with 60 dogs, 90 cats… things along those lines. I love our five pets dearly but I couldn’t imagine having anymore. It would be impossible to get them each the love and attention that they deserved.

The show “River Monsters” makes me never want to go into water again. LOL! There are some pretty freaky and HUGE things lurking in rivers. Eww!

Another show I find fascinating is “Whale Wars“. I admire how dedicated these people are in effort to save the whales, even risking their own safety and well being.

Animal Planet offers a lot of great family programing. Some of the programs I think might be geared more towards older viewers. I’m sure some of the shows might scare the little ones.

There are a lot of Animal Planet related products available on the market such as DVDs, toys and books. Now they have added pet products to their line up.

I L♥VE the Animal Planet pet toys. They resemble exotic animals you would find featured on the Animal Planet channel. The Animal Planet line consists of nearly 50 assorted products modeled after animals from around the world. 

Animal Planet also offers apparel, accessories and beds for cats and dogs. Additional items are being designed for smaller animals such as chews and edible environments.

The product line’s packaging will feature vibrant colors and animal facts.

The Animal Planet pet products are sold exclusively through PetSmart (www.PetSmart.com). A portion of the proceeds will benefit Animal Planet’s national non-profit campaign R.O.A.R. (Reach Out. Act. Respond.), which aims to serve as “a voice for animals.”

We were sent a few products to review with our pets. My dog went nuts for the fuzzy Meerkat plush. It looks just like the Meerkat you see on “Meerkat Manor” on the Animal Planet Channel.

We also recieved  a big Gorilla. Our dog Espn (pronounced Es-pin) loves his “Monkey”. I know its a Gorilla but the kids kept saying “Monkey” so now Espn knows it as Monkey. I had to explain the difference between Gorillas an Monkeys to the kids.

The toys are made very well. Espn can be rough on his toys. The poor Meerkat has seen the most “wear and tear” but it still in great shape. Espn LOVES to “un-fluff” his toys too (rip the stuffing out) and so far he has not done that with these toys. He has managed to rip some of the Gorilla’s fur off (I find little tuffs of black fur here and there) but nothing major.

I think its cute that they use other animals for their pet toys. 

Animal Planet makes toys for BOTH dogs and cats. They also make pet accessories. 

We were sent a REALLY nice plush pet blanket with paw prints on it. I was going to give this to our dog but I ended up giving it to one of our four cats, Kitty (I know, not really an original name). We have pet pets plus our pets are allowed on the furniture but for some odd reason Kitty sleeps on the carpet in front of the “woofer” for our surround sound. It has nothing to do with the woofer because she sleeps there if the TV is on or not. Its the weirdest thing! While all of our other cats or our dog are nice and comfy in a pet bed or on a real bed, Kitty prefers to sleep in the same spot in front of the woofer. That is where I put the pet blanket. We folded it up and put it where Kitty sleeps. Now she has something soft and plush to sleep on too.

In the one photo you can see our dog bed (or shall I say cat pet) with our eldest cat, Velcro, sleeping on it.   

We do have a very soft and cushy pet bed from the Animal Planet product line. It is more ideal for our cats but Espn has laid claim to it. He can fit in it when he sleeps (he curls up into a little ball), but he looks too big for it. He won’t let the cats anywhere near it. Its HIS bed. LOL!

The bed is really soft. I wish they made “people beds” this plush. Its no wonder that Espn loves it.

The Animal Planet pet products are quality made products. I wouldn’t expect anything less from them. They offer a variety of products and designs sure to appeal to any our your four-legged family members.

To learn more about Animal Planet visit www.AnimalPlanet.com. You can also find them on Facebook, http://www.Facebook.com/AnimalPlanet and on Twitter, http://Twitter.com/AnimalPlanet.

For more information about PetSmart or to find a location near you please visit www.PetSmart.com.  PetSmart is also on Facebook, http://www.Facebook.com/PetSmart and Twitter, http://Twitter.com/PETsMART.

Kimberly

*We received a few product samples free to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.

If there is one thing I dread most about going on car trips its how quickly bored the kids get. When kids get bored they often end up bickering with one another. That makes the car ride even WORST!

I remember when I was a child. Even a half hour car ride seemed like torture. As an adult I can sit in the car for hours at a time and not give it any thought. I guess kids just have a different perception of time then adults do.

When I was younger my cousin and I had this game where bad people were after us and whenever we saw another car we would have to duck down in the seat until it was gone. My cousin lives in Pennsylvania and the roads are usually deserted so when we saw another car we pretended it was the bad guys. It seems so silly now but back then we had a blast.

We also used to love to make the truck drivers honk their horns at us. That is until I did it one time and it scared the heebie jeebies out of my Father and he got mad at me. So I never did it again.

I think its important to have a “Car Trip Kit” to not only keep the kids occupied but also to keep YOUR sanity. Ha Ha. Personally I always make sure the kids have their iPods and that they are fully charged before we leave our home. This helps to avoid all the fighting over what to listen to on the radio.

A portable DVD player also used to come in handy for my kids, for a while anyway. That is until they started to fight over what DVD to watch. So we tossed that idea.

I wish they still made Color Forms. Anyone who around my age (42) probably remember them. They were vinyl reusable “stickers” that you could set up on the scene that was found inside the box. Those were fun!

Portable games are always handy as well as drawing paper, crayons, coloring books, reading books and of course small toys. I used to rotate the toys that went in the car so that the kids didn’t get bored with them.

Books on tapes were another great idea. We had this one tape about a train (I forgot the name of it) that my son would want to listen to over and over and over again. So much so I think I dreamed about it in my sleep!

Going on a car trip with your child doesn’t have to be “torture” as long as you bring along plenty of fun things to keep him/her busy.

A Nissan Dealer here in the Northeast would love to help you keep your sanity on your next long car trip. They would like to give a lucky She Scribes reader a fun car activity kit valued at $40. The kit includes…

- 2 coloring and activity books with over 100 pages of coloring and drawing exercises.

- One pack of crayons for coloring and activity books.

- One toy (toy motorcycle for a boy or a small stuffed animal for a girl).

- One travel friendly Milton Bradley game (for example, Hungry Hungry Hippos or Connect Four).

- One Johnson and Johnson First Aid kit which includes 70 items in case of emergency bumps and bruises, including 54 band-aids of assorted sizes, 6 hand cleansing wipes, 4 gauze pads, Tylenol, 3 antibiotic ointment, and a compact carrying case.

 - One Johnson and Johnson supplemental First Aid kit with 12 more assorted items in a smaller case.

To enter please comment on other fun ways to keep kids occupied on long car trips, or even trips around town while running errands.

For extra entries you can do any or all of the following. Please be sure to leave a separate comment for each you have done. Extra entries are optional. Most options are found on the right side bar.

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This giveaway is open to US residents only and will end on September 12, 2010 at 11:59 PM (EST). The winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator from all eligible entries. The winner will be contacted via e-mail and will have three days to reply with a name and mailing address (no PO Box) or a new winner will be selected.

Other great giveaways are found on the right side bar under “Win It”.

Interesting car, isn’t it?

Kimberly

*I was not compensated in any way for this post. I posted this for the benefit and enjoyment of my readers. A sponsor will be supplying the prize.