The Weekly Write-Up #38
5 Books, 15 Movies, 1 Feature, and 63 Places
In this newsletter…
A series at first I didn’t like, then liked, then tolerated.
Another remake of this classic movie?!
This may be the most underrated feature on Apple devices!
63 places in the US that I really want to visit!
Literary Picks
THE WORMLING
Honestly, I didn’t really like The Wormling series when I started it. I talked about this series a long time ago in a newsletter when I talked about books I wanted to read. When I actually picked up this series, I wanted to hurry and read it quickly because there were some other series I wanted to get to, but I made myself read this one first. I honestly didn’t really get hooked until late in the 2nd book. Once I got hooked, though, I truly enjoyed the rest of the series. The Wormling is a five-book series written by Jerry B. Jenkins (you may have heard of him because he wrote the Left Behind book series) and Chris Fabry.
The Wormling focuses on Owen Reeder, who thinks he is just a regular boy who lives with his father in a bookshop. Later, he discovers that there is another world besides ours (the Lowlands). He finds out that he is the Wormling, who is destined to find the Son and help the Son unite the Highlands and the Lowlands. Will he be able to find the Son, or will the evil Dragon gain control and rule over the Highlands and the Lowlands?
Like I already mentioned, at first, I didn’t really like this series. It took me a while to get into it. I just didn’t find the first book or two very interesting. The main reason for this is that this series was definitely below my age level. This book series is probably targeted to 8-12 year-olds, which puts me a few years above this age level. This made parts of the book predictable and not as intense for me. Even being above the age level, it was still enjoyable, but it would likely be more enjoyable if I were within this age range. The other reason is that I could predict what was going to happen with most of the plot. I knew what the ending would be like, who would die, who would survive, and most of how the plot would go. This was mostly because this was an allegory to the Bible. Since I know the Bible and have read many other allegories of the Bible before, I knew most (but not all) of what was going to happen. Therefore, many of the “plot twists” were not really surprises for me, although there were certainly parts in which I was on the edge of my seat!
These reasons caused me to not enjoy this series as much, but I continued reading the rest of the series, which I’m glad I did! The 3rd and 4th books were definitely my favorites of the series, since the first two weren’t as interesting, and the final book was predictable. Overall, though, this was a pretty good series! I would recommend this series to those in the 8-12 age range. It isn’t my favorite series that I have read, but at the same time, I quite enjoyed it! I’m glad I finished reading it! You can check out this book series on Amazon.
Watchlist Wonders
PETER PAN AND WENDY
Yep, there is yet another Peter Pan movie! Depending on which source you ask, there are five, ten, eleven, or even fifteen Peter Pan movies! Why are there so many? Honestly, I don’t really know the answer to that question! I mean, there are most likely two reasons. First, Peter Pan is a very iconic Disney character. People love him, and Disney takes this and makes more movies with the same character. The other reason is almost always money (even though this movie didn’t make Disney much money). Besides these two reasons, I don't understand why Disney made another Peter Pan movie because I doubt anyone was asking for another one!
Peter Pan and Wendy is about…well… Peter Pan and Wendy. It is pretty similar to some other Peter Pan movies you have probably watched. Kids would rather not grow up, Peter Pan takes them to Neverland, Captain Hook battles against Peter Pan, and so on. Most of the plot was the same as many of the other Peter Pan movies, although there were a few parts of the plot that were different. Nonetheless, the basic plot line was the same as the other Peter Pan movies. Honestly, if this was the first Peter Pan movie ever, I would think it was a great movie! The plot, acting, videography, and almost everything else was great. The issue is, we’ve basically watched this movie before! I was pretty bored during this movie because I already knew what was going to happen. We’ve watched the story of Peter Pan multiple times, and while this movie is slightly different from some others, it isn’t much different!
It is disappointing to have another movie be a remake. We have had so many remakes recently. Almost every movie that comes out now is either a sequel, prequel, or remake. The presence of original content is slowly declining, and this is quite disappointing! I wish filmmakers would choose more original plots and give us new content, instead of old recycled plot lines and characters!
In conclusion, Peter Pan and Wendy isn’t a terrible movie, but if you have seen some other Peter Pan movies, it will be very predictable and boring. If you haven’t seen any of the Peter Pan movies, this wouldn’t be a terrible first Peter Pan to watch. Overall, it isn’t the worst movie ever, but there are many other movies that are significantly better! This movie can only be found on Disney+, so head over there if you would like to watch it!
Tech Thoughts
TECH HACKS: FOCUS MODES
Today, I want to talk about one of my favorite features for Apple products: Focus Modes! Focus Modes came out a few years ago with the release of iOS 15, iPadOS 15, watchOS 8, and macOS Monterey. Most of you probably use Do Not Disturb, which is a focus mode. Focus Modes are much more than this, though, and can help you be very focused and productive. First, they allow you to silence notifications from specific people and certain apps at designated times. Rather than silencing all notifications, you can let in a few people or apps that you need to receive notifications from at that time. Focus modes also allow you to tell people that you have notifications silenced. Besides allowing you to silence notifications, here are the 3 things I love the most about focus modes…
Customizable Home and Lock Screens: With each focus mode, you can set specific home screens or lock screens to appear. I frequently use this on my iPad because it is outstanding to have different home screens available at different times. This allows me to stay focused more, as I’m only seeing the apps and widgets that relate to my current task.
Focus Filters: Focus Filters allow you to filter out or focus on specific items. For example: hide messages you receive from certain people, show only specific calendars, or toggle dark mode. Focus Filters make it easier to stay focused and customize your focus. Sadly, not many developers have implemented this, which is disappointing.
Automatic Activation : Let’s be honest, none of us are going to remember to turn these focuses on when we need to. That is where automatic activation is helpful. This allows your Focus to automatically turn on when you need it. You can set it up to turn on at a specific time, place, or when using a certain app!
Okay, so hopefully now you see that focus modes are awesome, but you may need some ideas as to what focus modes you should have on your device. Here are some examples of focus modes that I use and that you could also use:
Work/School: Obviously, you will want to have notifications silenced at work/school, so you can focus on what you are working on. You can set up your device to display specific home screens containing apps you use for work/school. You might have it silence everyone except for important people (family members) that may need to get to you. Furthermore, you can also use focus filters to only display your work/school email or work/school calendar. Finally, you can have the focus activate during the hours when you are working or when you arrive at your workplace/school.
Personal: I use “Personal” for multiple different reasons. I use this when my family is eating dinner, when I’m at church, or other times when I need some notifications silenced. I have it silence everyone, except for some of my family members. This focus isn’t super specific, but I use it when I want to silence everyone but my family.
Sleep: Sleep focus is pretty self-explanatory. I have it silence all notifications, except for my parents. It also activates dark mode. With sleep mode, you can have it activate when you normally go to bed and turn off when you normally wake up.
Driving: Driving focus is unique from the other focuses because it can automatically activate when it knows you are driving. Driving focus can even send people a message telling them that you are driving and will get back to them later. This focus is great for eliminating distractions while driving!
I hope those give you an idea of what you can do with focus modes! Focus modes are straightforward to set up. Just go to setting, focus, and hit the plus icon. Your device will lead you through the steps to create your new focus mode, or you can select from a default one. I’m serious, you should really use these if you aren’t already, because this is one of the most underrated features on Apple devices! I use it in my everyday life, and I hope you start using it too! Read more about focus modes and how to set them up here. If you have any questions about how to set them up, please drop those in the comments section!
Wild Card
THE US NATIONAL PARKS
I love traveling! It is one of my favorite things to do, and I love seeing new places that I haven’t ever been to before! Today, I’m going to share 63 places I want to visit. Why 63 places, though? That is a strange number! Well, the reason I chose 63 places is because there are 63 National Parks (plus a few possible additional parks waiting for Congress to approve). Simply put, I would like to visit all the National Parks. The National Parks are simply beautiful, and having visited a few before, I’m hungry to visit many more!
First off, why should you visit the national parks? These National Parks are simply stunning! The National Parks have mountains, glaciers, forests, deserts, waterfalls, caves, oceans, wildlife, dunes, volcanoes, and so much more! I love being out in nature, and the National Parks have some of the most stunning scenery. The National Parks display how beautiful this planet really is!
See how beautiful they are with the pictures in the PDF below!
Second, which National Parks should you visit? Honestly, it doesn’t really matter which ones you visit since they are all beautiful! Nonetheless, there are other factors to consider when deciding which to visit, such as location. Since there are parks in most areas of the USA, you can always spend a day at one if you are already in that area. You could even do multiple parks in one trip, since some are very close to each other (view a map of all the National Parks here). A great resource to help you decide what National Parks to visit is the More Than Just Parks website. Specifically, they do a ranking of all the national parks based off 5 categories: accessibility, recreation, crowds, amenities, and scenery. I found this ranking very useful! There are many other people out there who have suggested great parks to visit, but honestly, I’m sure they are all great! Once inside the park, you have to decide what trails to hike. To help with this, download the All Trails app on the App Store or Google Play to learn more about trails you can hike in the National Parks (and other parks around the US)!
Finally, how are you going to remember which National Parks you have been to and which ones you haven’t been to? To solve this problem, I created a Notion table that allows you to record what National Parks you have been to, what state they are located in, and when you visited them. I spent hours upon hours creating this Notion table, so it would be great if you would use it. To download it, follow these steps:
Open the Notion table here.
Click “duplicate” (in the top-right corner)
Log In or Sign Up with Notion (it is free to use)
If you would rather not use this Notion table or can’t make it work, download the free PDF that I created below. This allows you access to a similar table, but you don’t get as many features.
Wow, that was a lot of information, but I hope it helped you learn more about the National Parks and convince you to visit some of them yourself! Post down below in the comments: What National Parks have you visited? Which ones do you want to visit? Have fun exploring!
I hope you enjoyed this newsletter and found it helpful! Thank you so much for continuing to read my newsletter every week! If you could like this newsletter and share it with your friends, that would be great! I’m sure they would enjoy it, so be sure to share it with them! See you next week!