Tag Archives: Disney

03/23/12

{365.83} I Watch Movies & Eat Pizza, Etc.

We were busy all day getting David ready for tomorrow’s imminent departure to New Mexico. Another nice day out here today, warm and sunny. We cleaned out both of our cars and David packed bags and such. Then we ordered a $10 dinner box from Pizza Hut (pizza + cheesy bread + Cinnastix = I know I’m going to hell but I’ll be laughing all the way down there) and watched our last episode of Sherlock. Which was awesome. I LOVE SHERLOCK. Where has this series been all my life? Why will it not be airing on BBC America until May?? Seriously a brilliant show and I think everyone should watch it. Also I’ve become enamored of the idea that the actor who plays Sherlock (Benedict Cumberbatch) should be first in line to play The Young Severus Snape if there is EVER anything made along the lines of a prequel. I mean, I know there probably won’t be, but he would be the BEST EVER. It totally suits him. Watch 15 minutes of Sherlock and you will see the light.

My next TV show endeavor: Downton Abbey, which is on Netflix, and which I will be amusing myself with while David is away. I wouldn’t go so far as to inflict Edwardian drama on him. I happen to have a bizarre fascination with the Victorian/Edwardian eras, as well as the Titanic and everything World War II, but this doesn’t mean I would expect others to share my historical obsessions. (Just bumped up to the top of the DVD queue: The Young Victoria starring Emily Blunt. *fangirl squeal* I have sooooo been meaning to watch that one!!!!) And now that everyone is staring at me because I’m super weird, I will slink away so as to avoid being judged.

Oh yeah, since I’m stepping out of character and talking excessively about watching TV (I rarely ever watch TV of my own volition, ask David), let me just say that today’s BIGGEST disappointment was missing Tangled Ever After on the Disney Channel. I had no idea it was playing until I saw a post from Tangled in my Facebook feed saying it would be on, and by then it was already over. SUPER LAME. I play to comb through the TV listings and DVR this if it gets played again. Grrrrr.

We also participated in the Tera Online beta for maybe an hour before becoming frightfully bored with it and reaffirming our belief that Guild Wars 2 will be the MMO to end all MMOs. I’m putting all that stuff under the cut.

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01/27/12

{Project 365.27} I Take Many Pictures of My Dog

(EDIT: Awesome, I’m retarded and clicked Save Draft instead of Schedule when I wrote this earlier, so it never actually posted itself at 11:00 when it was supposed to. Oops…)

Well guys, I was fully prepared to cook dinner again today as part of my I’m-Going-to-Cook-3-Nights-a-Week Plan, but David came home and declared that we were going to eat at Wendy’s. I prodded him to make sure he wasn’t saying that because he actually found my cooking to be atrocious, but he assured me that this wasn’t the case. So, we went to Wendy’s. But tomorrow, I’m back to cooking because I skipped a day. *determined expression*

Not much going on here, though I did manage to write another 935 words this afternoon. Sure, I went about this at a glacial pace, but whatever. 935 words is a lot better than 0 words. When I hit a writing snag, I grabbed Bubba’s brush (yes, he has his own brush, of COURSE) and took him out to our balcony. He really enjoys being brushed, as well as peering over the railing to be nosy and see what others are doing in the world below. Besides, David had the vacuum going inside the house and Bubba kind of hates the vacuum. He was better off being temporarily amused outside with me. But good grief, it’s amazing how much hair this dog can shed in a matter of minutes T-T Clouds of it, just flying through the air, then landing on everything like snow. He isn’t even a long-haired dog. At the rate that he sheds his fur all over the house, you’d expect him to be balding by now, five years into his life.

I have to say that Disney Movie Club has the absolute slowest shipping ever. I ordered The Lion King from them at a discount WEEKS ago and got an email that it shipped about a week after I ordered. Is it here yet? Nope. I can only wonder when my pre-ordered Lady & the Tramp combo pack will arrive, since it isn’t out until February 7th. I may get it in, oh, April. Oh well, I only paid $10.98 for The Lion King because of that pre-order, so it was a good deal in my opinion. Shipping was free, which most often means it’s going to be slower than I am at writing, but this seriously takes the cake. In fact, it’s been so long that I totally forgot I even ordered those movies until today when I saw a Disney Movie Club ad on Facebook. ~Lame~ I hope it hasn’t gotten lost.

Closing thought: Heidi Klum and Seal…. WHY???

01/21/12

{Project 365.21} I Hoard Disney Swag

So! 2 weeks ago I decided to spent some of my precious Disney Movie Rewards club points on one of their limited edition gift boxes. I had no idea they were even doing this, so I ended up missing the first two :( Luckily, they had three in the rewards list to choose from. I would’ve gotten the one for Tangled, but to be honest it didn’t look anything like Rapunzel and Flynn at ALL. The only real indicator that it was supposed to be Tangled-related was Rapunzel’s iconic hair. The guy she was dancing with could’ve been ANYBODY… haha. The Beauty & the Beast box, however, was a lot nicer. In fact, it’s perfect, as far as Beauty & the Beast goes. My box came today and I’m pretty happy with it. I wish it didn’t have lame glossy varnish all over, but it’s a lot bigger than I figured it would be and overall looks very nice. It’s even nicer because it was free~ I buy a lot of Disney movies, and I enter the codes inside every DVD or Blu-Ray into the Disney Movie Rewards website so they’ll be credited to my account. (Membership is totally free~) I had a lot of points anyway so I figured I could drop 900 of them on this box. It can maybe sit next to my Little Mermaid music box that I salvaged from the thrift store in high school for 99 cents. *Happy Disney Mood*

Okay, I admit, I’m also a member of the Disney Movie Club. WHATEVER LOL.

Sorry for such short entries yesterday and today! It’s the weekend, David’s home, and we’re about to go watch a horror movie. We LOVE horror movies. I can’t explain why, we just do. We will watch horror movies in any language. By horror movies, I mean actual horror movies, not slasher flicks. Those are just dumb. Where’s the thrill in watching people die excruciating, bloody deaths? Except maybe predicting who’s going to die next. We primarily enjoy B.A.H.M.s (Bad Asian Horror Movies). Our verdict is that Korea makes the best ones, hahaha. As in, they make horror movies that are actually good, but the bad ones are so hysterically bad that we like them too. We highly recommend A Tale of Two Sisters for those who want to begin their journey into the awesomeness that is Korean horror films. But if you’re not a fan of subtitles, a remake was released in the US as The Uninvited. (We watched them both — Korea still wins) This is sad (or bizarre), but we’re probably going to spend our upcoming anniversary watching The Woman In Black (starring Daniel Radcliffe and a bunch of creepy children) because it comes out on February 4th. Tonight’s offering is Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark. Heard the beginning is really good but the latter half is kind of lame… oh well, the thing I love about horror movies is that they’re fun even when they’re terrible~

…How did I start with my Beauty and the Beast gift box and end with horror movies…? Hahaha

01/16/12

{Project 365.16} I Feel Very Strongly About Princesses

 

“My daughter (3)  is very princess-oriented despite our best efforts to the contrary. She asked if she could live in Prince Charming’s castle one day. I told her that was a possibility. She contemplated it for a moment before asking, “Is there a Starbucks in Prince Charming’s castle?”
—- From the February issue of Parents Magazine

That’s the spirit, I like a girl with her priorities straight. Hahaha.

Though, I do have to protest against the mom’s efforts to make her daughter less “princess-oriented.” So what if your little girl likes princesses? What little girl doesn’t have at least the tiniest inborn wish to be like one? I don’t think this is a problem at all. Sure, you can argue that I’m biased, considering my undying love for fairytales, Disney, and Kate formerly-Middleton, but I feel that loving princesses doesn’t necessarily mean you’re a fan of impossibly pretty heroines with fantastic hair and weak knees. Although princesses have traditionally been portrayed as damsels in distress in folklore and stories, have you noticed the dramatic changes in the Princess role and in the female role over the past decade? The modern woman isn’t a pushover. It makes sense that this modern woman would want to keep her child away from imagery and role models that might convince her it’s best to rely on a man for everything she needs, whether she’s wanting a little pocket money or needs saving from a ferocious beast with twelve heads. But, I contend that this isn’t what Princesshood means. (Yes, I invented that word right now for my own purposes.)

My own mother encouraged me to be as independent as possible, perhaps because she herself hadn’t really been raised to be independent. And this idea, that girls and women should be strong and confident, has become so prevalent today that the latest addition to the Disney Princess pantheon is spunky Rapunzel, who uses her 70 feet of hair as a lasso, holds her own with her male counterpart in action scenes (there’s more than one use for a frying pan), and made arrangements to get herself out of the tower and into the wide world outside. The last one before her was Tiana, the first African American princess to be added by Disney, whose dream was to become a restaurateur and business owner, not to marry Prince Charming. Have you seen the trailers for Disney’s upcoming Brave? Well, you should, because it’s only further evidence that the future of Princesses no longer involves sighing and waiting for true love to appear. This is an archaic idea. The Princess, and the heroine in general, has evolved.

This is true for more than just Disney. It’s everywhere in culture today, a revolution taking place across a broad range of mediums. Even in real life, the modern Princess doesn’t just float around in a ballgown and bat her eyes at people. Diana, Princess of Wales remains one of the most beloved figures in history, whose devotion to charity and philanthropy and dedication to positive change for those less fortunate has never been forgotten. To be a princess no longer means sitting in the backseat, or watching the world go by from a tower room.

So, I think it’s perfectly okay for any little girl to wish she was a Princess. It just means she wants to become a strong woman with responsibilities, who is also poised and compassionate. Someone that others look up to. Someone with the tenacity to lead a country (because don’t Princesses eventually become Queens?), but with empathy for those who follow her. And okay, having ahhhmazing hair is always a major plus.

Oh, by the way, today’s photo is of Malcomn, who is a glass rabbit that my sister found in a thrift store and gave to me as a gift a few years ago. He sits on my desk looking elegant and adorable, all at the same time. (He would make an excellent sidekick for a Princess.)

01/5/12

{Project 365.5} I Receive An Unwelcome Gift

“What’s mine is yours,” is an incredibly generous phrase, and when applied to something like marriage, is an even more generous idea. However, I wish it hadn’t applied to the achy-sore-throat-congestion-cold-flu ailment that David’s been dealing with for the past week or so, because it has now passed to me. Call me crazy, but I prefer to be given things like books, Toblerone, and coupons for free Shutterfly photo books. The sore throat stage began in the wee hours of the morning, progressing throughout the entire day except for the brief intervals when I was drinking hot cocoa (heat always makes my throat feel better) and when I had mac and cheese for dinner. Since David’s bout of sickness began with a persistent sore throat, I can expect to be achy and miserable for the next few days as it runs its course. Blah. I am seldom sick. Perpetually cold, afflicted with constant allergies, but not flat out ill. (The funny thing is that I have a doctor’s appointment on Monday.)

Anyway, despite beginning to feel like a train wreck, I spent the majority of today finishing up the Novel Insights website and forums. I think they turned out pretty legit, if you ask me. Being done a day early had me excited enough to take a picture of my monitor to show off my handiwork. I also finally bought The Dovekeepers today, which I am thoroughly looking forward to, and it will be fun to discuss the book with the others. This book was one of my own nominations to the list so I’m thrilled that we’re reading it, naturally, but I would’ve ended up reading it anyway even if it hadn’t been chosen. I downloaded the sample chapter on iBooks a while ago and fell in love with it. Except, I had just ordered Chris Bohjalian’s The Night Strangers and I felt bad about buying another book for about $18, since it’s still in hardcover. I have a Nook now so it took all of 2 seconds to download it, which is just about the most awesome thing about an e-reader. That and how portable it is. And my adorable pink leather case.

Best thing about today: I got an e-mail inviting me to take the exam for a job with the State of Nevada, presumably working at the College of Southern Nevada. It’s an admin assist position, which is yet again deviating from my career field, and not even in HR (my second, random career field that I ended up in somehow), but I need to be gainfully employed so I’m really hoping to get it. The exam is super early in the morning next week on the 18th. I actually have stuff to do between this week and the next; doctor on Monday, Clark County Reads orientation on Thursday, “Teaching As A Second Career” at the AFRC on Tuesday, and then this exam on Wednesday. Weird… I haven’t had much reason to be out of the house on my own since we got here, haha. Do I still remember how to drive…??? (You’d think I would hop into my car and go wandering over to the plethora of shopping centers nearby, but I always talk myself out of it because not going out means not spending any money… presumably…)

Well, I’m sure about this: I need my hair trimmed SOOOOOO BAD.  It’s getting to be horrible. It’s in the “blah” stage when it’s grown out beyond the length it should have, essentially running amok, and now it’s super long and also useless. That’s right — useless. I am the laziest person when it comes to my hair, which means my hair-related activities last about 10 minutes max and involve no more than two products. Three if I decide I need to use my flatiron that day. I need hair that just magically happens. Unfortunately, I am not a Disney princess. So I think I’ll have to go get it cut soon, maybe when I’m not feeling so yucky anymore. Hopefully being sick doesn’t last long. Ugh.

P.S. Beauty and the Beast in 3D starting January 12!!! And it’s even better because they’re playing Rapunzel and Flynn’s wedding (Tangled) before the movie starts!!!!!! I would go just to see that part. This is how much of a Tangled devotee I have become. LOL.

12/13/11

Tune-In Tuesday: Something That I Want – Grace Potter

Grace Potter on iTunes | Album on Amazon

Hold the phone — it’s time for some Tangled. Because I am the world’s biggest fan of this movie and have seen it multiple times as well as owning it on every format known to man (digital, Blu-Ray, DVD, I have the soundtrack, I have a charm bracelet, et al etc), which you may have noticed in this blog’s current theme. It seriously has everything that I could ever want in a movie. Rapunzel? Wields a frying pan to fend off attackers, has incredibly dextrous hair with mystical healing powers that also manages to look amazing ALL the time (a one-up on the usual Disney Princess trait of just having freaking amazing hair ALL the time), has more random talents and hobbies than I do. The verdict? AWESOME. Flynn Rider? Adorable, has fantastic clothes for someone whose career is adventurous thievery, AND helps carry Rapunzel’s incredible hair around when they’re escaping from the enemy. WHAT UP. Someone made this movie just for me, because of my endless devotion~~ The last time I enjoyed a modern Disney movie based on a princess was when they came out with Enchanted and Amy Adams became my favorite actress ever. Tangled was not only a throwback to the movies I’ve always loved, but it was also something new and refreshing. Disney’s goal was to make the movie attractive not just to little girls who wanted to wear tiaras, but to little girls who liked swinging a frying pan around as well. What’s more, they wanted to extend the magic to little boys too, bringing in more action and adventure. And you know, I really feel like they succeeded. I mean, my husband liked this movie so much that he talked about how awesome Flynn’s clothes were for DAYS. Hahahaha.