Week Three

It's absolutely terrible to think that I haven't posted at all since last week's update on my life. Again, I didn't have enough time during the week, especially the beginning, because I had to finish a lot of work early for Wednesday night band rehearsal. Thursday I had time, but I wasn't sure what to write about, Friday I had a football game, and Saturday I was just too lazy.

My mom was out of town all this week, so I didn't get to go to the gym during the weekdays, not that I really have that kind of time. Still, I went running on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. I accidentally went much farther on Thursday than I had intended to and ended up running 6 miles, but amazingly I wasn't sore the next day, which means I can run much more. Wednesday I had band rehearsal, and I brought chocolate chip cookies for the clarinet section. Friday was the football game, and although I messed up a little in the field show (everyone did), it still looked really good in a video I saw. It was the home opener, and we lost 40-0 against Crespi, although I hear they're very good.

I had a test in AP Chem on Tuesday, I got a 19/20 on it and I have an 86% in the class, which is relatively high. I got an 85% on my precalc review test in Calculus, which is also pretty good. Also, in history class, since we're learning about colonial America and the Revolution, I'm constantly getting the theme song to "Liberty's Kids" from PBS stuck in my head. It was this show I really liked as a kid about the Revolutionary War. The song is kind of childish and even irritating, especially when you're trying to concentrate, but I still love it.

Song of the Week

Song of the Week is the main titles from 101 Dalmations. I'm going to put up two versions, one with the music only (the spots are rather distracting), and the original title sequence.

TECHNICOLOR!!

Two Weeks In (Hardly)

Weekly update on my life! Yay!

I wasn't really able to post at the later part of the week because schoolwork started to get out of hand after Wednesday. Monday and Tuesday were cool, I was able to make it to the gym on the latter day and felt pretty awesome. Wednesday was a band rehearsal from 5-8, which was an hour less than last week's. Still, it impacted my homework situation and I went to bed at one in the morning, which made me really sleepy the next day (although, thankfully, I didn't fall asleep in class). I was pretty lethargic in French, and I hadn't even finished the homework from the night before :\. That night I had a ton of trouble with the last couple problems of my AP Chem homework and I was getting really frustrated that I had gotten a couple of the questions wrong, because I really need to be on top of that class when things got hard. I went to bed pretty late, again, and came to class early to ask about the problems. It turns out I had been setting up the formula wrong the whole time.

Band this week was cool, rehearsal and a Friday night football game. It was supposed to be a home game but the field wasn't availiable (thank goodness, or we would have had to perform the field show). Since we were playing Samo (Santa Monica HS) they decided to host it, but since their field is being redone, it was held at SMC, the local community college. We lost, of course, but I had fun, and we got to meet the Samo band. They're really good, as I've heard. It was a really nice way to end a stressful second week.

Today I went to the gym and got some food from Trader Joe's and did homework. :)

Oh and I've decided to have a Song of the Week, which features a song (Disney, score, or not) that pertains to my life somehow or is just something I've listened to 1.942867350 x10^6 times (thanks, AP Chem). It may be something important or something I find meaning in or something catchy or something I really like for reasons I am unable to explain. If anyone wants to know why I chose that particular song I'm willing to tell you, but I'm not going to go all analytical over it here.

Song of the Week (1)

Since I started this thing this week I should do one for last week too. Last week's song is Part of Your World (Reprise) from The Little Mermaid on Broadway.

Song of the Week (2)



Song of the Week for the second week of school is I Won't Say I'm in Love from Hercules. Most everyone loves this song. Enjoy!

French Doodles

I draw a lot. Which also means I doodle a lot too.

Last week I was mainly doodling the Disney Princess Designer Collection, which is a post I started but didn't finish due to it's sheer awesomeness and my lack of words to describe it and my happiness when it came to the subject. This week it's more simple, cutesy stuff.

Yesterday I drew a couple cats and a dog in my math (calculus) binder, and today I drew another cat in my French binder, which rooms with my calculus papers. But the main focus of my doodling time in French class was spent drawing Toothless, from How To Train Your Dragon. I learned how to draw him this weekend.

I love How To Train Your Dragon (from now on, I will abbreviate it as HTTYD). I saw it in theaters when I came out, and I didn't really appreciate as much as I did now. Well, let's start at the beginning. Before it came out, I thought it sounded kind of stupid, partially because the name wasn't particularly appealing. When it came out, I thought it was pretty cool. I think I saw it in 3D. Sometime after that I got part of the soundtrack and I was all "OMG THIS IS AMAAAAZING!!!!" but more about the score later. After that is when I started to really like the movie, and, over time, I've come to absolutely love it. I'll probably do a whole post or two dedicated to the movie.

Anyways, Toothless is the main, black dragon. He is adorable. Just, incredibly round-faced and no-fangs and smooth and all-around cute. The animator who designed Toothless also designed Stitch from Lilo & Stitch; you can easily see the resemblance.

So yeah, pretty much on my French warm-up there's a picture of an adorable flying dragon and a cat. :D



This is Toothless.





This is Stitch. See the resemblance?

Remembering September 11, 2001

Okay I only have about ten minutes to write this so let's see what I can get done.

Honestly, I don't remember the actual day. I woke up as usual, got ready for school, and walked there with my dad and my brother. I was not a child who often watched the news and kept up with current events; it's probable that mine (and others') parents didn't want us to see the World Trade Center burning and then crashing to the ground. Perhaps I saw adults acting different, perhaps I didn't notice, but I have no memory of that.

However, I do remember sometime shortly after a boy at my table telling me a plane had crashed into a building. I asked him to repeat it several times because I could not understand why a plane had crashed into a building. I think that at that time I was too young to understand and thought the plane had crashed on accident, which I still couldn't comprehend. I don't know how long it took for me to realize it was on purpose, it was a planned terrorist attack, it was at the World Trade Center, etc.

I've thought this several times before, and even last year's history teacher has told us, that we are the last generation to actually remember 9/11. Anyone younger than us is too young to have remembered that day in 2001, and even I can barely recall those vague memories.

Never Forget.

Synfig Animation

As I probably have mentioned before, I would love to go into a career in animation.

Sometime at the end of the school year (I think), I was searching for free, simple animation programs online and I came across this list. I guess I had forgotten about it until now, but I looked at it again and finally downloaded one of them this morning.

The list consisted of 2D, 3D, and photo animation programs. Most on the list are something you have to buy at a store, but a couple are free and you can download them straight from their respective websites. I believe all the 3D programs do cost money (some are relatively cheap) but a three of the 2D programs are free, which is a good thing, considering 2D is probably the simplest, and my preference. 3D is considered mainly for professionals, but I guess a few systems are available to the public. Photo animation.....yeah I've never really thought of that before. Never really heard of it, either. However, some programs are only available to Windows and others to Macintosh, so watch out for that.

According to my dad, animation programs are vector based (also bitmap and stuff) and all sorts of computer words I don't understand. The one I downloaded (Synfig) is probably the most complex out of the three, according to the description, which is why I got it. I read some of the documentation and I had a little trouble finding the tools, but I got as far as drawing two circles and manipulating the radius. It sounds simple, but once you look at the actual program it looks super complicated. I had to stop to read The Crucible (which I finished in a day) but I'll probably take the tutorial and read more of the documentation after I make this post, then fool around with the tools some. Apparently this program is so advanced you can create movie-quality animated shorts (or something longer, if you wanted, I guess). I would put up a short from their website, but I can't even watch it because I don't have Adobe Flash, which stinks.

Oh, and someday, in the way future, I'd love to get one of those pressure-sensitive pens that goes with the tablet that you hook up your computer. Then you can draw on the tablet and it shows up on the computer. That's all I know about it, other than that it's really expensive.

It'll be a long time before I even understand how to use this program.

One Down, Thirty-Nine To Go

Daaaayyyuuuummm.

It seems like just yesterday was the last day of school. I remember the days leading up to the end of school very well, and the last day of school in particular. I don't know how the summer slipped through my fingers like it did, but now we're back in school. Classes I'm taking: AP Chem, H French 3, Calculus, AP Lang, H US History, and Marching Band. As the title states, there are approximately 39 weeks of school left. Fun stuff.

Highlights of this week (I may continue this throughout the school year): I cleaned up my room, vacuumed a crapload of turfbuddies from my floor* , started school, re-discovered Pandora (and showtunes, in a way), managed to blog on a school night, and had my first [awesome] night rehearsal for band. I guess it's a good way to start off junior year. The hardest year. Oh gosh.

The reason I chose this as my post subject is because I like writing about my daily life outside of Disney stuff and I also have only a little more than 20 minutes to write this post, and this was simple enough.



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*crapload (as defined by me, since this is my blog and not yours): (n.) a US customary unit of mass that describes anything smaller than a shitload, but still a fairly large amount. note: it is largely considered a US customary unit because, according to the stereotyped American perception of British people, they do not swear nearly as much as we do and are more proper in nearly every way.

Pandora

<3

I don't know who invented Pandora, but you are a genius.

I don't remember how long ago I made an account but I checked it out again this weekend. I remember trying to make a "Nat King Cole" station but apparently my taste in music is so outdated it took forever to load and I got extremely frustrated and made a "Part of Your World" station. So I clicked on the "Part of Your World" station and of course that's like heaven for a Disney fan like me. I've basically had a random variety of Disney music, with some Broadway and a little pop thrown in too.

Stuff that's shown up:
-Original Disney songs
-Celebrity covers of Disney songs (Elton John, Christina Aguilera, and the like.)
-Disney Broadway showtunes
-Other showtunes (like Wicked)
-Other songs from movie musicals (The Sound of Music with Julie Andrews)
-Occasional pop music (Mandy Moore)

And yes, I know most of the lyrics to most of the original Disney songs (and therefore covers and showtunes), I do know all the lyrics to Wicked, and all the lyrics to The Sound of Music. However, I am a terrible singer, so don't expect me to sing any of those.

As I am writing this, I am again listening to Pandora, except this time my "Nat King Cole" station is working and I am listening to "Papa Loves Mambo" by Nat King Cole. I also recommend "This Year's Kisses" by Ella Fitzgerald and "Sway" by Michael Buble.

I love you, Pandora.

My Adventures at Goodwill

If you're going to donate to Goodwill, make sure you put the VHS in the case. It doesn't count if you just donate the box.

I went to Goodwill today hoping to find Alice in Wonderland, because I thought I had seen it there a while ago. I couldn't find it, but I was able to find Fantasia (the old one), The Jungle Book, and Oliver & Company, none of which I have seen. And despite the fact that I have not seen any of them, I still chose to watch The Little Mermaid because it's been about 2+ weeks since I've seen it and I love that movie waaaay too much.

Anyways, I saw the box for The Prince of Egypt ( Dreamworks) which I also really really love. I was set on getting it as soon as I saw it there but I picked up the box and it was really light AND THERE WAS NOTHING IN IT.

WHY. WHY WOULD YOU DONATE A BOX WITH NOTHING IN IT. That's the whole point of donating stuff. I wouldn't donate a bag full of hangers. Why do you donate just the VHS box?

There might be a girl out there who loves collecting VHS movies. She might also love The Prince of Egypt.

YOU JUST CRUSHED MY DREAMS.

I AM IN LOVE

not really :P

Well, with a song, yes. With a man, no.

So I was watching Cinderella late at night a little over a month ago and it was at the point in the movie where she's dancing with the Prince out in the courtyard and they sing that little duet. It was one of those instances where you suddenly realize OMG THIS IS THE BEST SONG EVER!!

If you don't know what I'm talking about, try this:

Isn't it beautiful?

I had forgotten about it until tonight, but then I came home from band camp and listened to it once and I CAN'T STOP!!

What first got my attention was the style; this song is so incredibly fifties. If you've ever listened to "old" music, you'd know what I mean. Cinderella's voice is light and somewhat dreamy, as if she's dancing on a cloud instead of in the courtyard; but her voice also sounds a bit muffled and unclear (due to the recording equipment people used back then, I would assume). I don't mind that it sounds a tad muffled because that just adds to the to the effect (although I don't think they were planning for it to sound that way), it just reminds me of an old LP. And the male vocals have that light, sweeping feeling reminiscent of the 50's. Overall, very dreamy.

The harmonies of the duet work together perfectly and when you listen to it you feel like their voices are detached, they're that dreamy. Not in a bad way, in a good way. It seems like their bodies are dancing and singing separately, but they just don't notice either one. Like when you're just staring into someone else's eyes...and you can't...possibly...look...away...ever.

And the way they dance through the courtyard and the gardens and over the bridge (like "Bella Notte" from Lady and the Tramp!) not even noticing the night flying away is just so incredibly, beautifully romantic.

This song is so amazing it actually makes you feel like you're in love. Or at least that you want to dance. Perfect, graceful steps across an imaginary dance floor on a cloud, staring into eyes that lock your own, making it impossible to look elsewhere. To the point where you don't even know you're dancing anymore.

Vanessa's Song

(A.K.A. Poor Unfortunate Souls-reprise)

I don't see how anyone could hate this song. True, it may not stand out as an amazing song to some, but I see not reason to dislike it for any particular reason. I'd say it doesn't get enough credit because it's really short. Like, haiku short.

First of all, Vanessa. She's a great villain. True, she may be Ursula in disguise, but let's face it; Ursula doesn't exactly have the looks. And other antagonists like the Queen from Snow White or Mother Gothel from Tangled are in search of beauty, which is exactly what turns them into the "bad guy". But the thing that separates Vanessa as a character (and as a villain) is that she is competing with Ariel for Prince Eric. Ariel gave her those resources (her voice) and then Ursula turns into Vanessa and Eric falls under her spell, believing she is the girl who rescued him from the shipwreck. Ursula has gone from the "bad guy" to the "bad bitch" in a matter of spells.

Then, Jodi Benson. She's got this amazing singing voice and voices Ariel. When Ariel gives up her voice to Ursula who then uses it as Vanessa, of course Jodi Benson is going to voice Vanessa too. But her personality is obviously not the same and it makes such a difference, especially in the singing. It's extremely hard to describe this way, and you might think I'm crazy, but I'd say if I were to visually describe Vanessa's voice it would be full of sharp angles. Beautiful? Of course. It's not harsh or crude or rough, it's smooth and pretty but jagged in places, which is the evil coming out. Ariel's voice is also smooth but more light and fluffy and curvy, like the gentle rocking of a ship on a calm sea. That's what makes Ariel so much sweeter.

And the lyrics!

What a lovely little bride I'll make; my dear, I'll look divine
Things are working out according to my ultimate design
Soon I'll have that little mermaid and the ocean will be mine!!

From http://aquamarine.nu/lyrics/disney/littlemermaid89.php

Combined with the ominous laughter, this song is so delightfully evil I end up listening to it again and again. Although I am sad it is so short, I believe I would keep it the way it is, given the option to change it. A full song or even a full reprise is not necessary to get the idea across, and might drag the movie along a bit.

Thanks for reading! Sorry I haven't written in a while.

Mystery Maiden

Since maybe about May or June I've been searching for a Mystery Maiden. She showed up on this awesome wallpaper I found online.



Yes, this is the screen I logged onto every day since then. Isn't it amazing? Not only are the Disney Princesses present, but all the heroines and not-so-famous characters, even the animals. The one character I didn't recognize is the one sitting, below Mulan and Meg to the right of Anita, right in the center. I have nicknamed her the Mystery Maiden, for that is who she is.

And so my search on Google Images begins.

I've tried searching before, but today I searched again, going through 9 pages worth of Google Images "disney heroines", finding only collages of various princesses and occasionally non-princess characters. Even some non-Disney ones at that. I finally came across a collage of all the female Disney characters starting with Snow White and ending with Rapunzel, meaning it was in order in which the movie came out. My Mystery Maiden was at the end, before Tiana and right before Penny. I still couldn't think of a classic hand-drawn animated Disney movie that had come out in the late 2000's, and I didn't think looking through the list of Disney movies would help, because I did that the other day and hadn't found anything.

Luckily for me, under each character was her name, so I found out Giselle was the name of the Mystery Maiden. If I didn't know her movie off the top of my head, I always had Wikipedia.

I was very surprised to find out what movie Giselle was from. Meet Giselle, from Enchanted. I haven't seen Enchanted in about three years, but it's a really awesome movie. Part animated, part live-action, it begins in the animated kingdom of Andalasia, where Giselle live amongst her singing woodland animals. On her wedding day she falls down a magical well and appears in live-action New York City. It's quite an amazing movie. I can't believe I forgot the beginning though, I really shouldn't have. Ah, well, I've found out who the mystery maiden is.

'Tis Amy Adams!!



Just 'cause.



I Cut My Hair

Yes, I have finally cut my hair short.

As a child, I wanted to be Rapunzel, so I let my hair grow long. Whenever my parents said "Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!" I tipped my head back, making my hair slightly longer. I let it be long, but in middle school, I started trimming it more often and instead of going all the way down to my butt, it went to lower-back and then mid-back.

And I knew I'd cut it short and donate it, I just wasn't sure when. About a month ago, I got bangs (straight-across bangs) just to see how they looked. Today, I went into the salon and got my hair straightened and then cut. If I had straighter hair and the right kind of face, I'd get something shorter, but I'm fine with the way my hair turned out. It's to my shoulder, a little longer in the front than in the back. I'm just worried about keeping it straight without using chemicals or heat, because I don't want to ruin my hair. I'm open to any suggestions.

SPOILER (Tangled)

And just to connect this to a Disney movie, anyone who's seen Tangled would know Rapunzel's hair is cut at the end, so Mother Gothel doesn't use it. Her beautiful, magical, 70 foot long (stick-straight) hair is cut pixie short by Flynn. Although mine is actually several inches longer than hers. More like Mulan's hair when she cuts it. Then again my long hair was nowhere near as nice as either Mulan's or Rapunzel's to begin with.

Well, hopefully my hair won't curl too much.

Lilo & Stitch: Stuff I Forgot

Oh my gosh I forgot to tell you some very important things related to this movie.

First of all, I took hula classes from first grade to sixth grade (Lilo & Stitch came out the summer between first and second grade). I have no idea what I thought when this movie came out, I'm not sure if I connected Lilo & Stitch to hula class at all. I stopped in sixth grade because of the work load, and I had become more serious about basketball and softball at that point and didn't have time for hula. I remember thinking over winter break that I should take hula classes again in the summer, if they were still offered. Summer's here and I'm not taking hula, because I had forgotten about hula classes shortly after winter break ended. I would take classes during fall, but they're on Saturdays and that's when marching band competitions are, as far as I know. Perhaps I'll take it up in the winter.

Second of all, I had a dream last night I was in Hawai'i. I didn't really remember it when I was watching the movie. In my dream I was going up a ski lift (with skis), although I didn't register that until after I woke up. It was very high up, and it was absolutely terrifying. You know how, in dreams, you don't know depth? Things can be really close and really far at the same time. That's what it was like in my dream. Somehow the cable of the ski lift was above me but also in my hands and I was holding onto it for dear life, despite the fact that I was sitting in the chair. It looked like one of those stretchy rubber physical therapy/warm-up bands; not the flat ones, but the round ones. I got to the top and got off, and it was very, very high up. I think I saw Hawai'i below me. It was a bit like a resort at the top. Why I had skis and was sitting on a ski lift I do not know. But I knew since I was at the bottom of the lift that I was in Hawai'i.

Last of all, perhaps the part that pertains most to Lilo & Stitch, is the music. I don't know how I could have missed the music, because I love movie scores/soundtracks. I believe the Lilo & Stitch soundtrack consists of mainly Elvis Presley songs and others performed by A*Teens and Wynonna, although there are three tracks composed by Alan Silvestri. My two favorites are Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride and He Mele No Lilo, sung by Mark Keali'i Ho'omalu and The Kamehameha School's Children's Chorus. The first is played in the scene where David takes Nani, Lilo, and Stitch surfing. I believe the lyrics are mainly in English, but there is a section in the middle sung in Hawaiian. I remember dancing to this song in hula classes when I was younger. It was also a played at our Hawaiian-themed elementary school graduation. The second song, He Mele No Lilo, is my favorite, sung entirely in Hawaiian. This is the song that opens the movie, as Lilo swims through clear tropical waters of Hawai'i to bring Pudge the fish (who controls the weather) a peanut butter sandwich. If you listen closely, you can catch some of the words of the song (Mauna Kea, etc.). Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll have to Google the lyrics and a translation. It reminds me of when I took hula classes, although I'm not sure if we ever danced to it. It's quite a relaxing song.

Oh, and the song Nani sings with Lilo is Aloha 'Oe. It was written by the last queen of Hawai'i, Queen Lilo'uokalani, in 1877.

Lilo & Stitch

Lilo & Stitch was the first movie I've ever seen in the theatres, as far as I can remember. It was at a field trip during Rustic Canyon Summer camp, and I was in the youngest group, named the "Sixers" for obvious reasons. I don't remember much about where I went to see it, I just remembered the main plot and none of the details. I also remember having to go to the bathroom near the end, therefore I didn't see the last bit of the movie.

Seeing as I'm watching this movie right now, I thought it would be appropriate to blog about it. It was one of the last "classic" Disney movies, before live action and CGI took over. So not only is the hand-drawn animation better, but the quality of the plot is much higher than, for instance, Spy Kids: Island of Lost Dreams, Country Bears, or Inspector Gadget II, as shown in the trailers before the movie.

I love how the animators of every single classic Disney movie work together to create characters with a similar style. As far as I know, only a few people design each character, instead of everyone working on all the characters at the same time. But they communicate so each face is drawn with a similar style, as if one person created them all. No two Disney movies are drawn with the same technique, although many of the same animators may have worked on different movies. The faces of this particular movie are drawn with full curves and large, somewhat egg-shaped eyes. Instead of almond-shaped or cat-like as in some other movies, the eyes are composed to match the roundness of the face and nose.

If you are familiar with the story, you would know that Lilo has no friends and is the outcast of her class. Lilo means "lost" in Hawaiian, and is allowed to pick out a puppy from the shelter, despite the fact that her sister, Nani, is struggling to find a job and watch Lilo at the same time. Nani is legal and therefore can take care of Lilo, but a social worker, Mr. Cobra Bubbles, is called in to monitor the family and determine whether or not to take Lilo away. Lilo picks out a "dog" from the shelter, who she names Stitch, who is actually an illegal genetic expirement (Expirement 626) on the run. I think the reason the name Stitch was chosen (by the creators of the movie) is because by the end of the movie, the broken pieces of the Pelekai family are stitched back together. Also, David, Nani's friend and crush, is named after the last king of Hawai'i. Or so I would think. I should probably Google that before I publish.

As for the aliens, there's Dr. Jumba, an "evil genius" who created Stitch, sent to Earth to recapture his expirement. Pleakley is sent to monitor and help him as an expert on Planet Earth by the Grand Councilwoman (hooray, a woman in charge!) Gantu is ordered when Pleakley does not bring Stitch back fast enough. Also, in the beginning, when Stitch is sent hurtling towards Earth, the Grand Councilwoman speaks to another alien at the dashboard, who tells her where Stitch is. Anyone who is familiar with Winnie the Pooh would recognize the similarities of the little rosy-colored alien to Piglet, our lovable, nervous pink friend. And right next to the Little Pink Alien is guess who? Yes, that's right, it's Big Striped Alien. Also known as Tigger, in my mind. The bouncy-trouncy-flouncy-pouncy-fun-fun-fun-fun-fun! Tigger we all know! Two other unmentioned aliens closely resemble animals; the Hammerhead Shark Captain and the Armadillo Alien.

Also, Gantu closely resembles a manta ray. According to Wikipedia, he tells people he is Samoan, in later spinoffs.

VHS Collection

Disney movies used to be on YouTube in ten minute segments until they were taken down due to copyright infringement, etc. So at the beginning of June I went to a Goodwill store and bought several movies on VHS, mainly Disney. Since then I've collected many Disney movies on VHS from Goodwill and The Record Surplus Store for about two dollars each.

I also have several non-Disney movies on VHS, like My Fair Lady, The Sound of Music, Sense and Sensibility, and Dreamworks movies, like Ice Age, Sinbad, and The Road to El Dorado.

If anyone knows where I can find Mulan or Pocahontas on VHS, or The Prince of Egypt, or any other Disney movie, please tell me.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves

Yesterday was my first time watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Yes, after 15 years, I have finally seen it. What a deprived child I was.

I've actually owned the movie on VHS for about two months, but I've been putting off watching it. The reason why? I never really liked her hair. In ballet classes I took when I was younger, we got stickers, and when we got princess-themed stickers I never wanted Snow White simply because I did not like her hair. In fact, the reason her hair is styled that particular way is because that was the style in 1930's America. I've never really liked their hair either.

I find it appropriate that Snow White is my first official blog post about a Disney move, as it is the first full-length film produced by Walt Disney. It is also the first full-length animated film and first full-length film to be in color. Something like that. Basically, everyone thought the movie would fail. It was incredibly pricey for a movie of its time, but it ended up a success and was nominated for several awards and remains one of the highest grossing films of all time, after adjusting for inflation.

As for the movie— it was much better than I expected it to be. Not that I expected it to be bad, it's just that I was expecting myself to be somewhat bored. Aside from the hair, and maybe the high-pitched voice of Snow White, I find the movie quite enjoyable. Snow White is probably the most feminine of all the Disney Princesses/heroines, but I believe that is because that's what women were like back in 1937. They all stayed home, cooking and cleaning and taking care of the children. It was not until WWII when many started getting jobs. As for the dwarves, who couldn't love seven little bumbling men dedicated to Snow White? Though I couldn't name a favorite dwarf yet, as I've only seen the movie once. Possibly one of my favorite characters from the movie is the Evil Queen. I really loved the scene where she makes the potion to turn herself into a beggar woman and poisons the apple. It reminds me of the scene from Sleeping Beauty where the three fairies give their gifts to the baby Aurora, in an ominous sort of way.

I think it was a brilliant way to start off hand-drawn animation.

Tangled, err, Disney, Part 2

Picking up from where I left off before, I didn't really know much about Disney movies until about two years ago when I got this laptop and discovered that a lot of people have put Disney movies on YouTube in ten minute sections. That's when I started watching them. I don't know how long it took for me to memorize every single word of Part of Your World, A Whole New World, and I Won't Say I'm In Love, but it wasn't very long. I also went to Disneyland that summer, for the first time I can remember.

This past Christmas I got three CDs from the Disney store, three volumes of Disney's Greatest Hits (not Disney starlets, from actual movies) and I know the words to the majority of the popular songs. My obsession with the whole thing intensified around the beginning of April. It's really hard to explain— I mean really, really complicated. I can't even find the words for it now.

I also can't remember when I started listening to the score to the movies in addition to the songs. If I could remember when it would probably help, but I simply can't remember. All I know is that Alan Menken has done an amazing job composing the music for the majority of the Disney Renaissance movies. I've also learned to draw some of my favorite characters: Ariel, Briar Rose, Belle, etc. My dream job would be to be an animator at Disney studios and bring back hand-drawn animation.

Essentially, I love just about everything about Disney movies. Sorry my post is so scatter-brained.

Tangled, err, Disney

First of all, Tangled is an amazing movie. And I know I'll probably say that about a lot of [animated] movies, but most every Disney movie is truly wonderful. The effort the whole entire team puts into each movie results in not only entertainment but a work of art. It's why Disney is known for its masterpieces. I wouldn't be surprised if Disney were the most successful producer of animated movies.

Okay, I might as well make this blog post about Disney. It was going to be about Tangled, but I'll save that for another day. As you may have realized, or perhaps not, I am a huge Disney fan. If I were a good artist, I'd work in the studios creating movies. If I were good at math, I'd be in another studio designing rides/ designing the whole park (aka Imagineering). If I were good at music, I'd compose music for the movies. If I were a good singer, or even voice actress, I'd voice the role of the character. You know what I mean. Anyways, that's not going to happen. At least the latter two. I have a better chance with the former two.

My obsession with Disney movies didn't appear until about two years ago. When I was younger, all the Disney movies that I owned were Peter Pan, 101 Dalmations, Pinocchio, Bambi , and later, The Aristocats. I always assumed I had those four movies because all my elder cousins were boys, at least the ones who were young enough to still have Disney movies. The Aristocats was given to me at around six or seven because of my love of cats. That, along with Peter Pan, were my favorites. I also had five Disney computer games: Mulan, Pocahantas, two different Lion Kings, and a Beauty and the Beast. The first two were my favorite, and usually when I went to Blockbuster I got Mulan or Pocahontas.

To Be Continued...

Bells of Notre Dame

Today I watched the Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney). And I've got to admit, that is pretty scary for a child's movie.

It has a lot of references to religion (Catholicism in particular) and adult-ish themes, I guess, that kids wouldn't really understand. This is only the second time I've seen it, the first was about a year and a half ago and already I understand it much more. Heaven's Light/Hellfire is a song about Love/Intense lust and in the latter half there are all these robed shadows and it's so creepy. It's also really depressing how Frollo treats Quasimodo.

"A?"
"Abomination!"
"B?"
"Beast!"...
..."D?"
"Damnation!"
"E?"
"uhhh, umm...ETERNAL damnation!!"

So degrading.

I also just love Esmerelda the gypsy. She's so pretty and, I don't know, just a really likeable character.

Also Captain Phoebus (Phoebus=Sun God of Ancient Greece?) has a horse named Achilles. And then he tells the horse to "heel". Love that.

There was also a reference to the Wizard of Oz when the old gargoyle sent the birds flying and the Wicked Witch of the West theme played, the one with her and the flying monkeys. Another gargoyle has a thing for goats (specifically, Esmerelda's little goat).

But the thing I mainly see in the movie is that religion can really ruin your life. Well, if you're too religious or something, like Frollo who sees sin everywhere but in himself.

Also, prayers go out to Japan.

Facebook Ads and Maximum Ride

Among the many Mary Sues of the published world is Maximum Ride (believe it or not).

But I'll talk about that later.

Lately, I've been seeing these annoying facebook ads for the newest Maximum Ride. I believe it is called Angel. The ads are along the lines of this:
"Like Glee/Percy Jackson? Then you'll like Angel. Like and read the first 23 chapters for free online!"

• First of all, yes, I do like Glee and Percy Jackson. Very much, thank you.
• Secondly, I don't like Angel. And don't assume I will, because I never, ever will. My favorite characters of the Maximum Ride series (even though I've only read the first 2) are Nudge, then Iggy and Gazzy are tied for second. Nudge is my favorite because she's the most natural-acting of them all. Max kind of bothers me, and Fang is her dearly beloved, so I'm not a big fan of his either, and Angel annoys me too (her personality is like...well, look at her name). But Nudge is so normal and that's what I like about her. And the fact that Max doesn't speak of her as much as everyone else makes me sad :(.
• According to my friend, there are 77 chapters of Angel. Why do they let you read the first 23 online? For free? After liking their page? No. Usually authors let you read one glorious chapter online, a sneak peek, but since this author's chapters are so short, it would make more sense to give the audience like, five chapters. For some reason they give us a good third of the book. Imagine J.K. Rowling giving us a new Harry Potter book with six hundred pages and letting you see the first two hundred. Then you already know what the conflict is and you feel sad and let down once the "sneak peek" ends.
• Finally, I hate those pages where you're supposed to click on a link that is only exposed after you like the page. They never work, and the person who made the page just wants likes. Is this a competition?

Eh, I just really hate these ads.

83rd Oscars

After the 83rd (?) Oscars last night, I thought I might talk about them a little.

So I've only seen a few of the movies that were nominated for various awards: Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, How to Train Your Dragon, The King's Speech, The Social Network. Wanted to see Inception and Toy Story 3, but I had only seen Toy Story and not the second one (but I love Disney and Disney-Pixar movies), and I started watching Inception on my friend's iTouch during English but I got like ten minutes in.
      There were mainly three awards I paid attention to and they were: Best Picture, Best Animated Feature (or whatever), and Best Original Score (something like that).
      Okay, anyways, I had wanted The King's Speech to win for best picture, obviously, becuase it was amazing and I'm not sure any of the other one's I had seen had been nominated, other than The Social Network, which was good, but not my favorite.
      I wanted How to Train Your Dragon to win for best score and best animated becuase it was the only one I'd seen in the animated feature category and I liked the score, although the score to The King's Speech was pretty good too. But more on this tomorrow! for I have a test in AP Biology tomorrow, and I have NOT studied yet.

Fake Housewives

I don't have cable, but sometimes when I'm at my friend's house we would watch the Real Houswives of whatever. I'm not gonna lie, I used to like it, but when you pick the show apart it is really, really dumb. These women are not your average housewives.

      The definition of a housewife, according to Dictionary.com, is "a married woman who manages her own household, especially as her principal occupation." First of all, there are several "housewives" that aren't even married, so that defeats the whole purpose of being a housewife. Second, several women do have a job, which is how they got rich (rich enough to get on the show). Therefore, "managing their own household" is not their principal occupation. Third, the women that don't work and live off money from whatever, don't actually manage their own household. No, they have nannies take care of their kids, gardeners to make their lawns look nice and prune their roses, and a housecleaner to clean their stuff. What do we watch these women do, then?
       Well, we watch them talk to each other about dumb things, and we watch them pretend to care about each other because in reality, we know they don't. When the camera crew takes them aside they tell the audience how much they really do hate so-and-so. Then they all go to some stupid dinner party or something at a country club for who-knows-what, and they start cussing each other out and soon enough they're ripping each others weaves out.

Yeah. Grown women acting like high schoolers.

Teenage Girls and their Teenage Angst

I'm not going to lie, I used to love fanfiction.

But when you grow older, you start to realize how dumb it is and how stupid those teenage girls are. The thing is, these writers on fanfiction are the same age as I am.

        Since I've been entirely bored out of my mind this weekend, I've been reading them a lot but it ends up being so hard because they are all so bad. I can't say they don't have a plot, because they do, but they're all so cliched and cheesy. Apparently everything that ever goes through these girls' heads is romance and guys and such. Is there anything else in the world that is important to you other than that? Obviously not.

        Also, half of these characters are Mary Sues. I'll go into detail a bit here but if you want more info then Google it or something. Essentially, they're totally cliched characters that readers will end up hating because of that. These girls tend to put themselves in the story, and all they talk about is romance and guys and stuff like that. Also, they tend to be "unique" and "special" and maybe they have scars or special powers that keep popping up everywhere, or maybe they have a really strange eye color or a mysterious past they don't want to talk about. Maybe they have a strange name or they have a "normal" name spelled a different way. Oh, and when they describe guys, they take WAY too long. Here, I'll do one for you:
"A guy my age picked up my pen from off the ground and handed it back to me. He was so beautiful it was utterly breathtaking. He was tall and handsome, with dark brown hair swept off to one side of his face. He was wearing jeans, Converse, and a hoodie that said "Iron Maiden" across the front. A guitar was slung across his shoulder, and I looked into his bright blue eyes, the color of the Carribean, when he handed my pen back. I blushed and looked away."

      Sorry I couldn't do better with the Mary Sue attempt, it's just that I'm so against it that it's become so hard to write that way. It really makes me want to a) scream, b) vomit, or c) die.

      Obviously people these days aren't very imaginative and it really bothers me, because I actually want to read something good. I don't want to read stuff I want to hear, if you know what I mean. Twilight is very much like that in the same way. The reason why it's such a hit is because it's written so that teenage girls can read what they want to read (as in, one hearing or seeing what one wants to hear or see, only reading).

      The truth is, it's NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, SO SHUT UP AND BE MORE ORIGINAL.

Pick Up Your Trash, NOW

Assuming that the sanitation department is regulated by the government and is paid for through taxes, which I’m not sure if it is because I’ve never asked, then why do people still leave trash everywhere?

            If we aren’t putting our trash in the can, then why do we bother paying to have it picked up? It’s just throwing money away. Say, for instance, we didn’t pay to have our trash picked up, then everyone would be throwing their trash on the ground and in the streets and in the school quad and it would look little worse than is does now (obviously you haven’t seen my school but some parts are pretty gross). But since we don’t, we pay to have the “trash truck” pick up our garbage. But people still don’t throw their trash away, they just leave it on the ground. Therefore we are wasting money.    

            And if you’re thinking, well, why doesn’t she pick up other people’s trash when they leave it in the quad, let me ask you this: do you want to be picking up other people’s trash when they don’t pick it up themselves? No one wants to do that, and no one would have to if everyone threw away their trash in the first place.

In my opinion, this post is mainly aimed at my school, where people never throw away their trash. So, next time you eat your lunch, throw away your trash!