Tag: movie

Review

Review: Anywhere Can Be a Cinema with LUMOS AURO v2 Projector

Post author By Suzanne Robinson
Post date July 8, 2024
No Comments on Review: Anywhere Can Be a Cinema with LUMOS AURO v2 Projector

So, 1st Blackheath Scouts had a movie night at the Scout hall, and we needed a solid data projector to show the movie. We’ve used a very old Epson projector in the past, but this time, we got our hands on the brand-new LUMOS AURO v2 Home Cinema projector. Big shoutout to LUMOS for letting us try out their latest model. Spoiler alert: It was a game-changer.

Unboxing and Setup

The kit arrived in two boxes: one for the stand and one for the projector. Setting up the stand was a piece of cake – join the two poles, attach the base plate, and top it off with the 360-degree ball head. It took less than five minutes, and voila! A rock-solid stand ready for action.

Unboxing the LUMOS AURO v2 was like opening a present. Inside, there was the projector, a remote control, a power cable, and an HDMI cable. The only thing missing? Two AAA batteries for the remote. No biggie, though.

Setting up the projector was just as easy. I attached it to the ball head adapter on the stand, plugged in the power cable, and switched it on. That’s it. Simple as that.

Projection Magic

I initially placed the projector in the middle of the Scout hall, thinking I needed some distance to fit the screen I had set up. Boy, was I wrong! The image filled the entire back wall of the hall, which is 9m wide and 3m high. Next time, I’m bringing a bigger screen to take full advantage of this beast’s capabilities. It can project up to a massive 200-inch screen if you have the space!

Once I adjusted the projector’s distance to the screen, it went into an auto-focus routine that left me in awe. In just a few seconds, the image was pin-sharp. Super impressive.

Testing and Performance

The LUMOS AURO v2 is Wi-Fi enabled, so I quickly connected it to my phone’s personal hotspot. Streaming YouTube videos was a breeze, and the preloaded officially certified apps (YouTube, Netflix, Prime Video, and more) worked flawlessly. Just log in, and you’re good to go.

The image resolution is top-notch – super sharp, with vibrant colours and great contrast. Even with the hall lights on, the brightness was incredible. A quick peek at the manual revealed why: 1080p native resolution and 6000 lumens. No wonder it was so bright!

The audio was equally impressive. Despite its compact size, the AURO v2 pumped out loud, clear sound with decent bass. Its certified Dolby Audio Dual (2) Speaker system had rich, strong bass and immersive sound. It was more than enough for a home cinema setup, though I added extra speakers in the large Scout hall to combat the inevitable Scout chatter and popcorn fights.

Next, I tested a film loaded onto a USB stick. Again, the AURO v2 didn’t disappoint. The image quality, colour vibrance, and contrast depth were superb. The Scouts started arriving, popcorn was popped, bean bags were prepped, and we were ready to roll.

The remote control was a pleasant surprise too. Easy to navigate in the dark and worked all the way from the back of the hall. A big win in my book.

Additional Features and User Experience

The projector’s user interface was a breeze to navigate. Everything was intuitive and easy to find, with no confusing menus. The remote control was just right – no unnecessary buttons, making it easy to use even in the dark.

The AURO v2 was silent during operation, a delightful contrast to the noisy old Epson. And it stayed cool throughout the movie, just lukewarm at the end, so we could pack it away immediately without waiting for it to cool down.

One standout feature was the automatic keystone and focus adjustment. Move the projector, and it quickly and accurately adjusted itself. Super handy and very impressive.

Final Thoughts

Overall, the LUMOS AURO v2 Home Cinema projector is an impressive piece of kit. The build quality is solid, the image and sound quality are mind-blowing, and it’s incredibly easy to use. At $498, it’s a steal compared to other projectors that cost three times as much. The Scouts loved the viewing experience, and so did I. It’s five stars from me.

Top marks, LUMOS. You’ve got a winner here.

Grab A Discount

If interested, you may use the promo code “MUMTPO25OFF” for a special -$25 off any purchase during website checkout.

Things to do

Cheap School Holiday Fun

Note: First published July 2014..although this is great no matter what year.

Have you wondered what to do with the kids these school holidays? Worried that if you take them somewhere or do anything it will cost you? Well, I have a list of fun things to do that will not break the bank. Yes, these fun things will keep the kids happy as well as your bank balance.

1. Playdough Fun

The night before I made a whole batch of playdough. I created multiple colours and also some had glitter in them as well. I added the food dye to each batch and made sure they were very bright vivid colours to make it even more fun. (Make sure you wear gloves as my hands were stained for a couple of days – yes I had green and red hands)

Playdough - In resealable bags so that the dough remains fresh and does not dry out. — Playdough – In resealable bags so that the dough remains fresh and does not dry out.

I gave the kids cookie cutters, rolling pins, toothpicks and more so they could make patterns and be as creative as they wished.

I made the playdough recipe from McKenzie’s Cream of Tartar for playdough as it gives a nice smooth fluffy feeling. If you use this way to make playdough it will come out so nice and soft, just like the ones at the store. Yes, you heard that right! Give it a go and see. Make a big batch and put it all in containers for a rainy day. The kids loved this and played with the dough and their creations for hours.

All the kids playdough creations drying. Once all done we can have them on our shelves to display. Don't they look amazing. — All the kid’s playdough creations drying. Once all is done we can have them on our shelves to display. Don’t they look amazing?

2. Baking Fun

My girls love to make cakes and of course, after the cake is in the oven, they love to lick the mixing bowl and spoon. I did that as a kid and it is the best as the mixture always tastes wonderful and is so chocolatey!

I created a marble cake and added a vanilla cake mix to a chocolate one that had chocolate bits added to it as well. Once mixed in it created a marvellous marble mixture and looked great once it was cut into. Sorry I did not get any other pictures than the one before it was all eaten. Yes, it was that good. Maybe I should be a Masterchef????

Yummy Marble Cake - Get your little chefs busy with this easy to make cake — Yummy Marble Cake – Get your little chefs busy with this easy-to-make cake

If you have a packet of cake mix this keeps things easy and all you need to do is add the eggs/egg and milk, stir and then put it in the oven. Simple cake made! You can ice it or add chocolate bits as we did, the choice is yours. Enjoy!

3. Painting Fun

I wanted to get the kids painting, and I did not want paint that causes issues with clothes or bad if you accidentally eat it. So I made my own paint. How do I hear you ask??

These are the ingredients I used:

Cornflour
Water
Food dye

I started with 1 cup of cornflour and enough water to make a paste. I created all the mixture before I added the colour as I wanted different colours that would allow the kids to paint a picture and not be restricted to two colours only. I added the mixture without the colour into a cupcake tin and then added the colour to each area of the tin.

I decided to make, yellow, purple, orange, blue, green and red. I ended up using more cornflour as it was not quite a paste consistency and I used more water than I should have as it was my first attempt at making this. To make each paint set I put it in the freezer to set. I am not sure if that is the done thing but it worked out quite well.

It might have been in the freezer for a bit long but after adding a bit of water with the paintbrush the colour melted a bit and it was just like real paints but with cornflour and water.

Having fun painting. Such creative artists.

Great paint mummy! What else can I paint?

4. Movie Fun

It is always fun to watch a film you have never seen before and to have lunch. I fed the kids some food while they all sat and watched Frozen. Yes, we are late to the party and have just seen Frozen.

Mesmorized watching Frozen — Mesmerized watching Frozen

Now all the kids are singing is, “I want to build a snowman!” AHHHHH Oh well, so glad they loved it and sat still to watch it. Winning I think!

So grab a film that no one has seen as it will capture their interest for longer. If you want why not make a bed on the floor of the living room and make a treat of the film. You can even popcorn if the kids like that.

5. Park Fun

Around the corner of the house is a park. So I walked the kids to the park and they all ran amok at the park. One went on the swing, the other on the monkey bars and one other was going down the slippery dip. Fresh air and exercise always help keep kids happy.

The park is free and if you are not near one you can drive to one and bring the bike/scooter the child can get more enjoyment out of playing with their toys.

Swinging is fun! I am doing it all by myself now mummy!

Look at me, I can do the monkey bars all by myself. How clever is she!

I hope this list of some fun things to do with kids helps while they are on school holidays or for the weekends. Enjoy!

Review

Movie: The Biggest Little Farm

Post author By Suzanne Robinson
Post date December 13, 2019
No Comments on Movie: The Biggest Little Farm

The girls and I were invited to the premiere of The Biggest Little Farm, Open 16th January 2020 in cinemas.

I knew it was about a husband and wife that ditch city living to start their own farm, however, I didn’t realise the size of the farm, what was involved and of course how stunning the film would be.

The kids and I were transfixed and amazed at John and Molly Chester’s journey.

John was a filmmaker and Molly was a chef to the stars, they both lived in Los Angeles (LA) and did have a dream to one day buy a farm. However, this dream was never realised due to not enough money, not knowing how to start and of course, being busy in LA.

It wasn’t until John shot some footage about a house that was housing hundreds of dogs that he met “Todd”, a gorgeous and well-mannered dog. John couldn’t let this dog go the pound, so Molly and he adopted him.

John and Molly lived in an apartment and it really was not for dogs. When they would leave for work Todd would bark all day and these caused complaints from neighbours and finally, they got asked to leave by the landlord.

Not wanting to go to another apartment and repeat what had happened previously, Molly said that she thought that this was their time to make their farm dream a reality. The issue was still money and no land or options, but she thought that it could happen.

Both John and Molly approached friends and family and they spread the word and then finally got told about over 200 acres of land that was in desperate need of revitalisation.

When John and Molly first saw their new farm it was barren. Nothing was living there, in fact, they found dead bees, dead everything! It was miserable and depressing.

The soil was so hard it was hard to dig into and when finally cut into wouldn’t break apart as it was more like a massive big stone.

So how did they get the farm (Apricot Lane Farms) looking green, lush, return wildlife and have the soil be so productive for crops and other plants?

“Alan York, one of the foremost experts on soil and biodynamic farming, is on hand to help them create an ecosystem. Farming, he tells them, has rhythms. It will take a few years, he says, but eventually farming will become “like surfing” to the couple.” (From Quad City Times)

With Alan’s help and advise John and Molly get more animals to help the biodynamics of the farm. The Chesters get pigs, ducks, chickens, goats and more to help the farm grow.

The first couple of years were tough but even by year two, there was a massive change in the soil and the environment. By year five many animals were creating a home on the farm. They had created a habitat for animals and plants, and it was a far cry from the drought-stricken wasteland that it started off as.

I was taken with the fact that Alan York insisted on having a ground cover for the soil – plants and grasses. In one scene there was a huge rain and wind storm that washed topsoil off others lands, but not the Chester’s. Since they had the ground cover on their soil they managed to not have the topsoil runoff and harness the water that dripped down into the aquifer to harness the water for their land.

Interview with John and Molly Chester – LRM Online

The cinematography was stunning and a few scenes were truly magical. There is a sequence when you are looking at the night sky and the stars are moving as well as the clouds, this is simply amazing to watch.

The other amazing moment is when you see a close up of a ladybug fly, it is so detailed, it is like you are right in front of these insects.

The Biggest Little Farm makes you think if a couple from LA can overcome such adversity on a drought-stricken parcel of land then it is achievable for others. Why don’t other farms use the same model? If they did I wonder how much better off they would be?

The Biggest Little Farm - In Cinemas January 16th — The Biggest Little Farm – In Cinemas January 16th

As we are facing a lack of water, hotter days and more due to climate change I believe that this film is a must to see as it shows us what can be done and how biodynamic farming is the way forward for a better environment and also healthier food.

At Newtown Dendy to watch the Premiere of The Biggest Little Farm

Oh and a HUGE thank you to the amazing woman who gave us her parking ticket.

The machine was not letting me use my credit card and I, of course, had no cash. I was about to make the trip to the ATM when she said she was leaving and didn’t need it. She paid for the whole night and it made our day, thanks again.

5 stars: We loved the film, the photography was exquisite, we laughed, cried and got angry with The Chesters in times of hardship, and felt joy when their hard work paid off.

The Biggest Little Farm - One of the best documentaries I've seen — The Biggest Little Farm – One of the best documentaries I’ve seen

Warning: If you take young kids you’ll need to be aware that there are scenes when animals are sick (don’t worry Emma lives but it is sad when she is sick) or killed due to being a pest (Kyote for killing many chickens). You don’t see anything horrible so you will not have to shield anyone’s eyes.

A BIG Thank you to Anne from NIXco for our tickets to see this fabulous film. We had a great night out at the movies and in Newtown.

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Tags Alan York, Apricot Lane Farms, biodynamic farming, dads, farming, John Chester, Molly Chester, movie, movie review, mums, Review, The Biggest Little Farm

SING Movie A Perfect Night In

Post author By Suzanne Robinson
Post date April 3, 2017
No Comments on SING Movie A Perfect Night In

Having movie night with my girls. We are so happy and excited to be watching SING on DVD.

This post is in partnership with
Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Movie nights with family are so much fun. It is so nice to spend some quality time with my girls.

SING DVD that we are so excited to watch and our Rosita (Pig) cupcakes and Buster Moon (Koala) cupcakes. Learn about how we made them.

Movie nights are even better when the weather is getting cold, and you can snuggle up, and watch a fabulous and much awaited film.

We were all super excited to watch SING on DVD.

From the creators of Despicable Me, Illumination presents SING, a musical comedy about finding the shining star that lives inside all of us. Sing your way into stores today to pick up a copy of SING Special Edition on Blu-ray and DVD featuring 3 mini movies and more music!

We saw SING at the movies, however since then the kids have been asking to see it again.

The twins were so excited and happy to finally have their own copy of SING. Now they can watch it whenever they wish and can entertain friends during the school holidays.

SING is a heart warming film that kids and parents will all love. The music is fabulous and you will catch yourself tapping your feet and singing along. While others might want to get up and have a dance while the characters in the movie strut their stuff.

My happy girls loved sharing the SING film on DVD with their Meena the Elephant plushies.

Snacks and Treats for SING Family Night

To make the whole movie night more fun the twins and I made cupcakes.

Now these weren’t ordinary cupcakes. We decorated some as pigs for Rosita and koalas for Buster Moon.

Buster Moon (Koala) and Rosita (Pig) Cupcakes inspired by the movie SING.

If you wish to recreate my pig and koala SING inspired cupcakes here is what you need to do.

1. Make 12 cupcakes. I chose to have vanilla cake mix to make it easy. You can either have chocolate or make the mixture by scratch.

2. I added dark chocolate bits to the mixture. It is up to you, you might prefer to add something else like say banana instead. Be inventive and have fun!

3. Once the cupcakes cooled down I decorated them.

Koala icing: To get the grey icing colour I added some black icing pen to just icing sugar and water. You can add as much black as you wish to get the desired colour. I did read somewhere that you can get black food colouring but I have never seen or heard of this, so I did the next best thing. I think it worked out well.

Pig icing: I mixed icing sugar, water, and some red food colouring to get the pink colour for the pig cupcake. Mix until the desired colour of pink is achieved.

5. I created 6 koala cupcakes for Buster Moon and 6 pig cupcakes for Rosita.

6. Decorations for Buster Moon: Marshmallows for the ears, dark chocolate bits for the eyes and a chocolate coated almond for the nose.

7. Decorations for Rosita: Marshmallows for the ears (Pink), dark chocolate bits for the eyes, a marshmallow stuck horizontally with 2 dots of black icing for the nose.

8. Now all the SING cupcakes are done, the only thing left to do is to eat them!

All the SING cupcakes ready for our movie night. Rosita (PIG) cupcakes and Buster Moon (Koala) cupcakes.

You must have popcorn for movie night and that is why everyone had their own box of special homemade popcorn.

The girls loved watching the popcorn pop in the microwave and were amazed at how much each bag made.

To make it more of an event I got little popcorn boxes. This made sure that each person had their own popcorn while watching the film.

The SING DVD has great extras

They are:

• Gunter Babysits
• Love At First Sight
• Eddie’s Life Coach
• The Making of the Mini-Movies

Love at First Sight Mini Movie Sneak Peak

Movie Night is Great Family Time

Sharing a film with your kids is so nice. Laughing at the same things is also an enjoyable moment.

Do you love having family movie nights? For your family movie nights do you ensure that you have ample treats on hand to enjoy your film?

My kids love to have movie days also and more so in holidays.

The living room becomes one big bed. Pillows, blankets and more are added to the floor and then we all get very comfortable to watch some favourite films.

Soon it will be holidays and I’m sure your little ones will be wanting to relax and have fun watching SING. Have fun dancing, singing and more!

Movie nights are so much fun, especially with a fun film like SING.

Enjoy your home movie night. I hope that you all have a fun time.

3 years and beyond Pre-School University Study

Little people don’t eat salad

Post author By Suzanne Robinson
Post date March 28, 2012
No Comments on Little people don’t eat salad

The kids are home yet again due to being ill. I was reading them some stories; we have a series of books about dinosaurs. One of the books is Wilbur the Dinosaur who wanted to Fly, Wilbur is a triceratops, and in the book it has a blurb about this type of dinosaur. It talks about eating plants, so I told the girls that plant eaters are called herbivores. I explained that plants are salad, and vegetables.

This then prompted Julia to tell me, “Little people don’t eat salad” and then she said “We might eat it when we are grown mummy”. I did explain that salad and vegetables are yummy, but this was not believed by the girls, they still think that little kids should not touch salads. Now I need to expose them to more salad. Just another food that they have decided they don’t like.

Today has been a bit better than yesterday. All three of us had a Shrek A Thon, well just the first 2 films, then we did a puzzle, had some lunch (the girls picked at it and told me they were not hungry), due to no body being hungry they both went to their room for rest time.

As they share a room this rest time is more like enforced play time in their room, this gives mummy a little break, but not long enough. I managed to get some laundry done, have some lunch, watch Being Human which I love (it is based on the BBC Series, I am watching the US version), and after the show they had successfully opened the door and where free to be trouble makers again. Glad that I got to see this show by myself as it would be scary for little kids.

Yesterday it was open all the toys and make a huge mess, It was a task in itself to keep them occupied and every so often there were tears and upset due to not being well. I managed to get their room sorted, new sheets on the bed and at least there is more floor space. However today, it seems like it is in the same situation as before I started to clean yesterday.

The girls have not eaten that much, however they did eat a big breakfast. I was asked to get more vegemite sandwiches for lunch but the new ones that prepared were not eaten in full, but some were so not a total loss. I think it might be due to them not being well, but maybe it was due to have a big breakfast?

The girls seem to a bit better and that is good as I need to go to a board meeting at the child care centre they used to attend. If I make sure that they have their medicine and are showered and all ready for bed, then they can just go to bed once home. The centre gives them dinner while I am in the meeting so that is good for me, makes it so much easier.

This week has been a right off with housework and university study. I am aiming to get more done next week. I was able to secure an extension for my assignment but I only have an extra week. The girls need to be at school next week and glad that they will be ready to go for the last week before school holidays.

What activities have you organised for your sick child/children? What funny things have you learnt from your kids? Monday I was told not to run inside the house. “Mary at school says don’t run inside” said Julia. This was while we were running in a circle to music. Now I am getting told, “Little people don’t eat salad”, what is next? Send in your comments.