Far far away, in a galaxy four decades ago, there was a man named George Lucas who had a brainstorm for a series named “Star Wars.”
Around the world today, there are thousands of Star Wars fans who would give up everything to see what you can see right now at the Denver Art Museum.
“Star Wars: The Power of Costume” showcases original costumes from all seven fi lms, including Jedi/Sith robes, Queen Amidala outifi ts, and the shells of CP30, R2D2, and BB8.
When we arrived at the press preview, we were welcomed by Storm Troopers and then went into one of the theaters to learn more about the costumes before we saw the exhibits.
Governor John Hickenlooper spoke about his experience with Star Wars.
He explained how he went to the fi rst movie when it came out and felt like he was actually in a whole diff erent world.
Then all the reporters, press, and guests were separated in groups and went up stairs one group at a time.
That’s when the exciting part began and we got to see all sorts of costumes.
It all begins with drawings and how to make those
drawing come to life in the movies fully revealed. Iain McCaig, is one of the most famous sketchers
for the Star Wars saga, an award winning artist and founder of Ninth Ray Studios LLC.
He has many accomplishments to be proud of but said he is most proud of his service working for the animation and drawing for Star Wars.
McCaig was at the media preview, but he was surrounded by so many diff erent reporters and press that unfortunately I did not get to talk to or interview him!
After the artist draws the costume, the designer has to try and create a 3D replica of it.
Trisha Biggar, a famous, brilliant designer for “Star Wars,” experimented a great deal and employed 60 seamstresses to make costumes that would work with the actor’s movements on camera.
Biggar had hundreds of high class designers to help her create the drawings in 3D.
In one case, the designers made a beautiful dress that was to be worn by Queen Amidala in one of the movies.
It took them a long time to create that dress and then the part when she wore it was cut out of the movie.
I know I would have been a little upset but they weren’t because every other costume they created was in the movie.
Every costume was separated into sections. Siths with Siths, Jedi with Jedi, aliens with aliens, and droids with droids. There was a little mixture sometimes between Jedi and Sith costumes, but only to make a cooler aff ect.
And speaking of cool, have you ever wondered how Chewbacca kept cool?
Well, he had a brown camelback under all that hair, which is on display at the museum.
So, make sure to visit the Denver Art Museum before April, while everything is still available.
You may never get this chance again!
December 6, 2016
Clothing is also part of the magic in this novel“100 Dresses: If The Magic Fits,” by Susan Maupin
Schmid, is about a young Under-Scrubber (dishwasher) named Darling Dimple who discovers
there’s a magical world just out of reach. Darling’s mom died when she was born and she is forced
to spend all of her time in the Under-Cellar of a large castle. When a request from the Upper-Attic comes down asking
for a girl to fi ll the spot of an Under-Presser who just lost her job, Darling is sent away to go work for someone else in the castle.
Along with her new position comes homesickness and a terrible roommate who puts sand in her bed and glue in her brush.
Darling’s inexperience with ironing means she has to start on stuff that does not touch the princess‘s skin.
While ironing she starts to daydream and accidentally scorches a napkin. If her boss Lindy found out she would never be able to show her face in the castle ever again.
While trying to fi nd a place to hide the napkin, a girl who dresses the princess gave Darling a canary for her to put some place where the princess would not hear it singing.
To hide the canary and napkin, Darling goes into one of Princess Mariposas’ closets and fi nds a small table and places the canary’s’ cage on top of the napkin.
When she fi nally looks around she fi nds that she is in Queen Candace’s old closet.
Suddenly the dresses stirred! Was she being watched?This book is fi lled with magic, mysterious characters,
mythical creatures, and a young girl’s desire to escape into a better life.
If I were grading this book I would give it an “A” and recommend it to girls aged 8-12.
“Colorado Gives” runs a massive online program that allows people to make easy donations to over 2,000 non-profi ts, and it’s also the source of Colorado Gives Day.
It’s easy to donate: The only thing you need is a credit card.
But that happens to be something many kids in the 14-and-under age range don’t have easy access to.
A new program aims to change that, and make it easier for kids to be generous too.
“Kids for Colorado Gives” is a recently incorporated part of the extensive Colorado Gives website.
Instead of needing access to a credit card, or having to input personal information like name and email address, “Kids for Colorado Gives” works through a gift card.
These gift cards, which range in price, can be purchased on the main site using a credit card, and then used for donations to any non-profi t on the “Kid’s For Colorado Gives” website.
KidsForColoradoGives.org diff ers from the main site in its selectionof organizations.
All of the non-profi ts represented are kid-friendly and kid-orientated, making it easier for kids to help other kids with only limited help from adults.
The program plans on expanding too, according to Kayla Arnesen, one of the directors.
One of their plans for the program includes the establishment of a kid advisory board for kids of all ages to propose ways to improve the site.
In addition, “Kids for Colorado Gives” may be the beginning of an expansion for the organization.
Playing on the natural generosity of kids, Arnesen said, the program is considering expanding to connect kids with volunteering opportunities, which would allow kids to see the nonprofi ts they have the chance to help fund.
For the moment, though, the current focus of “Kids for Colorado Gives” is on education.
The site was designed to “encourage the next generation to experience giving,” says Arnesen.
It was developed as a natural extension to Colorado Gives, and aims to make giving more effi cient and fun for a younger generation.
Kids can now be generous to charities
Health group calls for more, better allergy informationIt seems hard to keep track of
all the allergies people seem to have, and it only makes it worse when labels are not helpful.
It’s also not helpful that schools, restaurants, airlines and other public places don’t always know what to do when someone has a serious allergic reaction, or how to prevent it in the fi rst place.
But things may improve, if a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineer-
ing, and Medicine is listened to.The report says that we need,
fi rst of all, to decide how many people are actually allergic to things, rather than perhaps sensi-tive to them in other ways.
We should also determine what is a reasonable risk and what is dangerous: How much does it matter if the same machine used to mix peanut cookies is cleaned and used for cookies that don’t contain peanuts? A lot? A little?
There also needs to be better information for restaurants about food preparation, it says, and for all public places about what emer-gency supplies they should have ready and how to use them.
The report calls on the Center for Disease Control to bring to-gether information on allergies to end the confusion and misunder-standings that make the situation more upsetting and dangerous than it has to be. photo/Texnik
By Thandi Glick,13, a CK Reporter from Denver
(The Unlucky One is seeking to change his life. The White Beaver has given him a magic stick and sent him to seek the Coyote.)
On down the river the Unlucky-one travelled and the sun was low in the west on the fourth day, when he saw the Coyote on a hillside near by.
After looking at Coyote for a long time, the young man commenced to sing the song the old woman had taught him.
When he had fi nished the singing, the Coyote came up close and asked: “What is the matter? Why do you sing that song? I never heard a man sing it before. What is it you want of me?”
Then the Unlucky-one told the Coyote what he had told the white Beaver, and showed the stick the Beaver-chief had given him, to prove it.
“I am hungry, too,” said the Unlucky-one, “for I have eaten all the dried meat the old woman gave me.”
“Wait here,” said the Coyote. “My brother the Wolf has just killed a fat Doe, and per-haps he will give me a little of the meat when I tell him about you and your troubles.“
Away went the Coyote to beg for meat, and while he was gone the young man bathed his tired feet in a cool creek.
Soon the Coyote came back with meat, and the young man built a fi re and ate some of it, even before it was warm, for he was starving.
When he had fi nished the Coyote said: “Now I shall take you to Old Man’s lodge, come.”
They started, even though it was getting dark. Long they travelled without stopping -- over plains and mountains, through great forests and across rivers, until they came to a cave in the rough rocks on the side of a mighty mountain.
“In there,” said the Coyote, “you will fi nd Old Man and he can tell you what you want to know.”
The Unlucky-one stood before the black hole in the rocks for a long time, because he was afraid; but when he turned to speak to the Coyote he found himself to be alone.
The Coyote had gone about his own business -- had silently slipped away in the night.
Slowly and carefully the young-man began to creep into the cave, feeling his way in the darkness.
His heart was beating like a drum at a dance. Finally he saw a fi re away back in the cave.The shadows danced about the stone sides of the cave as men say the
ghosts do; and they frightened him. But looking, he saw a man sitting on the far
side of the fi re. The man’s hair was like the snow and very long.
His face was wrinkled with the seams left by many years of life and he was naked in the fi relight that played about him.
Slowly the young man stood upon his feet and began to walk toward the fi re with great fear in his heart.
When he had reached the place where the fi relight fell upon him, the old man looked up and said: “I am Old Man. Why did you come here? What is it you want?”
Then the Unlucky-one told Old Man just what he had told the old woman and the white Beaver and the Coyote, and showed the stick the Beaver had given him, to prove it.
“Smoke,” said Old Man, and passed the pipe to his visitor.
After they had smoked Old Man said: “I will tell you what to do. On the top of this great mountain there live many ghost-people and their chief is a great Owl. This Owl is the only one who knows how you can change your luck, and he will tell you if you are not afraid. Take this arrow and go among those people, without fear. Show them you are unarmed as soon as they see you. Now go!”
Out into the night went the Unlucky-one and on up the mountain.
The way was rough and the wind blew from the north, chilling his limbs and sting-ing his face, but on he went toward the mountain-top, where the storm-clouds sleep and the winter always stays.
NEXT WEEK: The Ghost People
Adaptation c. 2005, Mike Peterson, illustration c. 2005 Christopher Baldwin
Old Man Tales: The Unlucky One, Part TwoThese stories were collected from Blackfeet, Chippewa and Cree storytellers
in Montana in the early 20th century by Frank Linderman.
The Denver Post • 3
Last week, we wrote about a tragedy your grandparents will never forget; tomorrow marks
another sad anniversary, this one for your great-grandparents.
Seventy-fi ve years ago, the world was in the midst of the largest war in history, with both Europe and the Pacifi c areas in turmoil.
The United States had kept out of the war, though it supplied material to its allies, particularly Great Britain, to help them fi ght off the attacks of Germany, Italy and Japan.
But peace would not last forever, and Japan felt it would be best to start by attacking the United States and wiping out its great battleships so they could not be used when the US entered the war.
And so, on Sunday, December 7, 1941, the
American naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, awoke to fi nd that it was under attack by bombers and fi ghter planes.
The surprise was complete and the destruction was horrifying: Sixteen naval ships were damaged or sunk and 2,403 Americans were killed. Many aircraft were also destroyed, with the only good news of the day being that the Navy’s aircraft carriers had not been in the harbor.
America quickly declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy, and began rebuilding the Japan Pacifi c Fleet. Four years later, the war was over and the US and its allies had won.
But few who were alive then will forget that Sunday and the shocking news of the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor.
Tomorrow marks 75 years since US awoke to Pearl Harbor attack
Space tourism has certainly not come to the point where anyone can just
decide to pop up and visit the International Space Station to have a look around.
However, NASA has released a new, ultra-hi-defi nition video tour of the Space Station that may be the next best thing to being there.
The tour is one of several new UHD videos released by NASA, to which you will fi nd a link at ColoradoNIE.com
Others include a look at the Northern Lights and at a solar fl are, as well as views of work at the International Space Station.
Some are serious science, others seem to be mostly fun, though even the “liquid ping-pong” video demonstrates how common things work in a zero-gravity environment.
The ISS tour is 18 minutes long and has no narration, just soothing music, so you can enjoy exploring with little to interrupt your thoughts.
However, there is a small strip of words in the upper left corner of the screen, small enough that it doesn’t block your view, but large enough to let you know what you’re looking at as you fl oat by.
There is also a red diagram of the Space Station in the lower right hand portion of the screen, in which the area you are cur-rently exploring is lit up in yellow to let you know where you are in the gigantic structure.
UHD video uses four times the usual number of pixels to provide an extremely sharp image, which means that the picture you get will depend more on your equip-ment than on NASA’s.
But the agency plans to release more videos, using the UHD equipment now available and also remastering video from historic missions.
It’s not the same as being there, but until you can get your own rocket, come on by ColoradoNIE.com and catch a live link to the ISS, and beyond!
NASA o� ers hi-de� nition video tour of ISS
John Flanagan’s newest book, “The Battle of Hackham Heath,” presents the biggest war in Araluen history.
If you are a “Ranger’s Apprentice” fan, you will know the name Hackham Heath.
If not, Hackham Heath is the place where rebellious Baron Morgarath’s creatures battled King Duncan’s small army.
It is a battle of 250 royal troops against over 1000 Wargals, a horrible beast that is a fearless mix of an ape and a bear.
Wargals have two weaknesses, though: The first is that they are completely terrified of horses.
The other is that they are controlled by any person who has a strong enough mind to get complete control of them.
If their controller feels fear or dies, then the Wargal turns into a hopeless baby, making it useless in battle.
However, the battle was made fair by the fact that the royal army has 20 archers, called rangers, who can shoot 3 arrows a second. This tends to even out the numbers.
Also, the Wargals can only follow basic commands like attack and retreat. This means that none of them ever went for the rangers.
Halt, the famed ranger from another kingdom, leads a cavalry charge into the exposed backs of the Wargals,
making them die and flee in fear from the relentless battering and destruction caused by the enemy horses.
This leads to Morgarath’s ultimate hatred of Halt.“The Battle of Hackham Heath” is the second book
in a new prequel series from best-selling author John Flanagan called “Ranger’s Apprentice: The Early Years.”
This is Flanagan’s second series attached to “Ranger’s Apprentice.” He also wrote the six books of “Brotherband Chronicles” which takes place in a country across a vast ocean.
This book has a great plot. At least twice in every chapter,
there is something that keeps you reading unless someone steps in and stops you.
I think this novel would be best for people who have read “Ranger’s Apprentice” series and are ages 9 and up.
‘Apprentice’ prequel strong addition to series
photo/National Archives
Rules: Every row across, every column down and each of the six smaller boxes must contain numerals 1,2,3,4,5 and 6, one time and one time only.
The solution to this week’s puzzle is on the back page.
On this date in 1865, the 13th Amendment to the Constitution was ratifi ed, ending slavery, so our answers this week will begin with “F” for “Freedom.”
1. A type of simple fl ute used by military bands in Revolution and Civil War times
2. Capital of Kentucky or a German city that hosts a major American military base
3. This incense is one of the traditional gifts the Three Kings brought to Bethlehem in the story of the Nativity.
4. Her diary told of her family’s life hiding from the Nazis during World War II.
5. Colorado county that is home to Cañon City, Florence and Coaldale.
6. In “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” Mr. Tumnus was a kindly one, but in Greek mythology, these half-man, half-goat characters were somewhat nasty.
7. The most popular type of amusement park ride, the fi rst of these was built in 1893 for the World’s Fair in Chicago. The famous one in London is Europe’s tallest.
8. Four-time Olympic gold medal swimmer, she’s a graduate of Regis High in Aurora.
9. Helsinki is capital of this European nation.
10. Small, seed-eating bird; some types like Gouldian or Zebra are kept as pets(answers on the back page)
5
1
45
6
2
3
2
5
4 6
3
By Jack Vanourek,11, a CK Reporter from Littleton
At least twice in every chapter, there is something that keeps you reading unless someone
Rich has been away from home and fam-ily for 4 weeks. Search the newspaper and internet to identify news of interest to Rich aboard Great American IV. Write a news digest for him. If you’d like to send Rich a letter of encouragement, email it to [email protected].
At sea, we see great swaths of ocean, and thereby of the planet. Sometimes on a long ocean voyage, we may be close to land, but more often we are hundreds of miles off any land.
In either circumstance, I like to think about the people, the places, the cultures – just over that horizon!
In this voyage, we were near Cape Finisterre, and I could see the lights of Spanish towns. On our 2003 voyage Hong Kong to New York, we passed between Java and Sumatra in Indonesia, and could smell the spices of Sumatra. On our San Francisco – Boston voyage in 1993, we saw the lights of Recife, Brazil as we sailed past, and later were covered by dust blown two thousand miles from the Sahara Desert. These were direct connections to the lands we passed.
Yet if there is no such direct connection, you must use your imagination. Who are they just over there? What language do they speak? What religions to they follow? What is their culture like, and their art, literature and music? What is the geography and topography, the politics and the government?
It’s a simple and friendly curiosity about our neighbors on the planet. Likely, they are more similar to how we are, than they are different. Likely they too will want a peaceful existence, good health for their families, adequate food and shelter, and a brighter future for their children than they themselves might have had.
Just as a huge night sky full of stars lures one to imagine one’s place in the universe, this imagin-ing among mariners about who and what lies just over the horizon, helps us ponder our role and place on earth.
By Rich Wilson, Skipper Great American IV
The first time that I went to sea on a boat (I was 5 years old), I felt several very strong feelings: entering another world with different colors, a different smell and different sensations; the im-
pression of travelling on a living being, which moved and smelt very salty. I also felt a certain humility, the impression of a great vulnerability but also the strong desire to discover, to experience and tame this world full of mysteries.
The first time that I crossed the Atlantic Ocean, I discovered the immensity of this liquid dessert and I realized that our planet was really very big. We were heading westward, towards America, the days and weeks passed and we still hadn’t seen land in front of us yet. Life seemed absent: no sea birds or fish and few whales. A solitary and wild world, with no other guide than the stars and so far from man and civilization.
At night we progress without seeing the landscape pass-by, the celestial sphere is our only vision and we feel alone in the universe.
In the day, the sea is there with the waves, the clouds, the sun and sometimes a sea animal or a bird of passage; we can get very close to land with-out seeing it and that is very frustrating. I remember having come close to the island of Madagascar in the Indian Ocean; the land was roughly twenty miles away and we could smell the slightly spicy odor of its vegetation, see the coastal clouds and simply
sense the presence of this great island, but there was nothing on the horizon, it was as though the Earth was imaginary.
The competitors in the Vendée Globe Challenge will cover over 24,000 miles, or right round our planet without ever seeing land unless it is a few faraway summits of some isolated island. For three months they will only see millions of cubic metres of salty water that make up the sea and the oceans. In these great desserts of solitude that they will cross, civilization will seem very far away to them and everyone, at a given moment, will wonder if man-kind still exists. Is it real? It is in these great liquid desserts that man feels insignificant and vulnerable, and it is there, more than anywhere else, that he must be aware of the need to preserve and protect what is, after all, a fragile sphere of life.
(Excerpt from full essay, which can be viewed at http://vg2016.sitesalive.com)
By Captain Yann CariouCaptain of the Hermione
Next Week:AntarcticaWEEK
5INVISIBLE PLACES INVISIBLE
Position: -34.4067, -5.62222Time: 2016-12-01 08:24:00 UTC
NIE 5 COLOR 4.889 x 9.75.indd 1 12/1/2016 7:46:47 AM
