Fun at a sing-a-long

Yesterday, I went to a Beauty and the Beast sing-a-long and it was fun! There were surprisingly few people there, though, but I thought about it and today's kids weren't even BORN when the movie came out (1991) and maybe not even when it came out on DVD (end of middle school for me)!!! So maybe they aren't quite so attached? Plus, it wasn't advertised all that much. Anyways, before the movie there was an introduction with Jordin Sparks that talked about some interesting facts and showed parts of her music video (she recently released a version of the title song, "Beauty and the Beast"). I'll admit, I didn't really sing that much, but I only heard the family behind me singing anyways, so...yeah. It was cool to see the lyrics though because there were parts of songs that I'd never known the lyrics too. There are some really funny/witty lines! Like in the villain song, "Kill the Beast." Here are some of the lyrics:

"We don't like what we don't understand, in fact it scares us and this monster is mysterious at least"

"Here we come, we're fifty strong, and fifty Frenchmen can't be wrong"

(especially love the last one =D)

I also notices some interesting things, such as:

*I'd noticed it before, but I wonder why no once checked up on the very faulty math when making the film (unless they did notice it and kept it in as an inside joke or something?). The prince looks about 18ish when the curse is set, and he has to find love before he's 21, and they've been under the spell for 10 years when the last petal actually falls...so he was 11? Hmmm

*Belle is STRONG! She lifts the Beast not once, but TWICE! (Once after the fight with the wolves, and again when the Beast almost falls after the fight with Gaston)

*I also noticed that Belle & Phillippe (her horse) fall through the ice into the river and then keep going & fight off wolves. The water has to be freezing, so Belle is really truly resilient. Go Belle!

I finally finished the Art & Making of Beauty and the Beast, and it was nice to have finished it before re-watching the film because I appreciated it that much more and noticed things I hadn't noticed before. For example, the book talks about the progression of Gaston. In the beginning, he's conceited, but fairly normal, but by the end there's a "near insanity" about his character, and I really noticed it yesterday. By the end, his hair is somewhat unkempt and he's obsessed with winning Belle and there's a craziness in his eyes.

All this to say, Beauty & the Beast comes out on DVD & Blu-ray on Tuesday, and you should go buy it. I know I will!

Gotta love the Redbox

I just tried the Red Box (a movie rental vending machine, in case you didn't know, but you should know unless you live under a rock), and I like it. The downside is that you have to take it back to the redbox to return it, but there's one near the Starbucks, so it works out. The nice thing is, it's super cheap. I plan on using the iTunes rentals more, but sometimes you can rent things on iTunes. Recently, I wanted to rent Prince of Persia. First, I tried to rent it from iTunes and watch it on the iPad while I was in Monterey, but you could only buy it. I remember having the same issue with Alice in Wonderland a few months ago. It might be a Disney thing. SO I rented it from the redbox and saved about $2, so, to Whoever decided not to let the movie be rented on iTunes: you just lost $2. Ha!

Secondly, I just received a catalog type thing from a Halloween store, and I noticed something:

Either the only adult women who wear costumes on Halloween are somewhat...risqué, or women can't have normal Halloween costumes. So not fair. The men's sections had super normal costumes that weren't trying to be super provocative or anything, but maybe 90% of the women's costumes were like what you see above: tight, short skirts, low cut bodices...hmph. Society.

Added question: why is Snow White the only princess they have. She's got to be my least favorite princess (because her voice is really annoying and she's just too sickly sweet. I like the princesses with a little more personality like Belle and Jasmine), so why just her? Hmph...again.

Here we go again

(yes, my blog posts are often song titles. You got a problem with that? =D )

So...remember my post on hospitality? The lack of that gene is a problem again (but this isn't a long weekend...theoretically). I'll try to keep positive and pretend like I have that gene. After all, Love is patient, Love is kind...That's all I'll say so posts don't come back to haunt me. Anyways, it's kind of weird being here during the school year because now it's like "ok. what do I watch on TV?" because 1) In the summer, Playhouse Disney changes into the regular Disney channel at like 10am, so it's on the regular channel the whole time I'm awake, really whereas now it doesn't change until 2PM 2) all of my shows (like So You Think You Can Dance and the Closer) are off. Well, most of them. There's a new season of Hell's Kitchen which just started up this week, which gearing up to be an...interesting season, to say the least. I SERIOUSLY think that two of the contestants could be certifiably, psychologically crazy. They are just too out there mentally to be normal. Most of the time, the chef-contestants are normal, although sometimes a bit delusional (as in, they think they're the greatest chefs ever but there dishes show just the opposite), but this season, two chefs are seriously out. of. their. minds. The previews for next week show ambulances arriving, and I bet that those two have something to do with it, either directly or indirectly.

I just went to the new Disney Store today. I mean, I'd been to the one in Santa Monica before, but there were SO many people that I couldn't really look around easily. This time, I went to the one in my home mall (which just opened this week), and it's so cool. It's so colorful and interactive and it has so much cool stuff in it. Of course, not much for adults, but that's to be expected. If adults want adultish Disney things, they've got to go to Disneyland (or at least Downtown Disney, where the World of Disney store has a whole section of Disney collectibles and things (like Thomas Kinkade's Disney series of paintings, the Precious Moments collectibles, nice jewelry & silverware, and really pretty shirts & bags). Or online. It'd be nice, though, if there were *a* section (even if small) of adult merchandise in the regular Disney Store...oh well. It's still a cool store. When (if) I have a daughter, she's SO going to be dressed up as every princess just because I say so. If she doesn't like girly things or Disney, she'll so be in military school. That's tough love à la Corinne.

Oh, the AWESOME-NESS! I got iWork with my new Mac instead of Microsoft Office, so to insert foreign language characters, I have to use the Character Viewer which I've decided is better because I can use it anywhere, not just in Pages (Word for Macs). So I used to go through Word in order to put accents in my blog posts, but now I can open Character Viewer and just type it directly in here. So great. I love Macs. Yea for Apple.

Tale As Old As Time

I recently got the book Tale as Old as Time: The Art and Making of Beauty and the Beast by Charles Solomon, and it's so interesting. I was really excited to read it after reading Mouse Under Glass because this book will focus in just on Beauty and the Beast (my favorite Disney princess movie even though Aurora is my favorite Disney princess. Not sure why. I've always had a thing for blond hair. In kindergarten, I think I went so far as to ask my mom if I could have blond hair which, of course, failed and it's a good thing because I'd look TERRIBLE with blond hair. Plus, I'm a lot like Belle already, so Aurora is more exotic/interesting. Seriously, whenever I take the "which princess are you?" quiz, I get Belle. Probably because I read...) and get more into the process of making a film, which I'm also very interested in. I like learning about how the filmmakers and artists came up with the various aspects of the film; the process is so much more complicated and topsy turvy (a great phrase I learned from The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Yea for Disney movies!) than I would have imagined. I only just started it, but I really like it so far. Here are some pix:

The bottom two pictures are of the research that goes into all aspects of the film- characters, backgrounds, etc. The lucky artists got to go on a "research trip" to France! =D Oh, the life.

Asked & Answered

So, previously I wrote about a comic that I'd read in the NY Times about MTV and music videos, and today I found (well, my mom found and told me about it) this article ("Left for dead by MTV, music videos rebound on web" by Jake Cole, on Yahoo news) talking about music videos. The article states: "MTV — which will hold its 27th annual Video Music Awards on Sunday — phased out videos in favor of reality programming and other shows that attracted better ratings. At the same time, the music industry was collapsing and slashed budgets no longer had room for elaborate clips." So...my question has been asked and answered. And now you know too (in case you wondered or cared).

Commercials

So they say that commercials are on the decline because now so many people have a DVR and tape their shows then fast forward over the commercials, and so people may see them flash on the screen, they aren't getting the full impact of the commercial, just the brand, the product and maybe the actor/actress doing the commercial. Which is totally true. My parents tape anything they might want to see (I don't tape as much because the two TVs that I generally use in the house don't have that ability; they're just regular cable) and skip over all the commercials. And it's super nice. Anyways, what got me thinking about this was that I've noticed an increase in commercials on the Disney Channel and it's just...interesting. I suppose it makes sense, kids (and 22 year-olds) just sit there watching the TV not for any particular show necessarily, but just because. So we're more likely to watch commercials? But I still think it's interesting. Especially that the commercials are sometimes geared at the parents more so. Like the Verizon commercial, or one that they just started putting on: a commercial for the Honda Odyssey! They're aiming it at dads (according to the voice over), but isn't that kinda weird? A car commercial on a channel aimed at kids aged 6-14ish? Hmmm. Interesting.

Something that bugs me about commercials is when they show the same commercial all the time. Sometimes twice in one commercial break! That's super annoying. I must have seen the Target commercial with the triplets a billion times this summer. It must come on at least once during EVERY commercial break on the other channels (like TNT) that I watch. So apparently commercials aren't dead, and don't plan on dying anytime soon...even though I totally wish they would...please...

I didn't get that gene

Hospitality: a human gift, and even a spiritual gift...just not one that I have. Ok, before I explain, understand two things: 1) It's not that I'm not a people-person. I am introverted, but I do like pretty much everyone, so it's not that I don't like guests as people; 2) This doesn't apply to places that aren't included in my "personal space" (to be explained). So don't take this as me saying "people? yuck!" because that isn't at all true and that's not where I'm going with this, and don't take this as "well, why are you thinking about the hospitality business?", because in that business you don't invite guests into your own house, but into a hotel or something. COMPLETELY different. Ok, now let's begin. I don't have that gene or spiritual gift. It's not in my nature. I have definite personal space issues. I have my arena, and I like to be left alone there, or if someone enters it, I expect them not to ruffle it but to leave it be. But does that often happen...? No. I guess that I just like things to be a certain way: organized a certain way, done a certain way...I'm just particular, and I recognize that. I have issues, it's true. Not that I say them out loud (well, maybe to my mom), because I do have some people-skills =D So, yeah...when I told her all this, she said, well, you wouldn't like people you visit to be like that/ think like that, would you? And I thought about it. Of course I wouldn't, but I'd also so much rather stay in a hotel than stay at pretty much any one's house/ apartment. I like my own space just that much. Plus, I worry about infringing on *their* space (because they might be like me). So...yeah. There's your interesting fact about me for today. (I know. Now you're thinking: "OK, I'll never visit you, and I won't invite you to visit." But don't worry, sometimes seeing the person/people is definitely worth the trouble. Especially in small numbers (aka. one at a time because I have to share my bathroom with all guests (my lucky parents have their own bathroom, so they don't feel all of my personal space invasion issues), so the fewer people, the happier I am).

Well, it's not a mystery

I just thought about something yesterday. You know how a lot of organizations need donations and maybe aren't getting as much as they can and stuff? Well, I think I've figured out one reason: Once they've got your information, they won't stop bugging you! And some people (i.e. me) find it SUPER annoying and knowing that might happen keeps them from donating later on. Some organizations are worse about this than others, though. From one organization, I really only get emails around the time of their major fundraiser. From another, I get emails somewhat frequently, but it's not too bad. But one...wow. I donated some money to the ASPCA as a part of a birthday present for my friend who's really involved in animal rights and shelters and things like that. I've gotten some sort of snail mail almost every week (maybe every other week) from them or PETA or some similar organization and it's getting SUPER annoying. Like, really. If I could rewind time, I would just get her a gift card to somewhere like the Body Shop that's environmentally responsible. Isn't that a terrible attitude? But they drove me to it! Sooo, yeah. Not a mystery why getting donations can be an issue. One time donations might just translate to a lot of pestering.

Wow, two days in a row!

Yes, I've written two days in a row. I think that's a record since I've gotten back from school. Maybe even since I got back from abroad! Well, I went to my interviews today, and I think (HOPE) they went well. I was surprisingly calm and not to nervous...once I was there. I slept horribly last night and even though I'm not much of a napping person (I really only take a nap if after a red-eye flight because I can't really sleep on airplanes), but I'm SO tempted right now. And I can't go to Starbucks again. Twice in one day is really enough, tempting though it may be to go a third time (why did I go twice? Well, as I mentioned, my interview was up in LA, so I left early enough to be sure that I got there on time, and I arrived about an hour early, so I went to Starbucks, got my morning iced tall nonfat chai, and waited until I wasn't quite so early for my appointment, and then I got out of my interviews early, and as I waited for my mom to arrive and pick me up, I got another Starbucks drink (an iced tall nonfat toffee mocha) and sat in the Starbucks that was actually IN the building in the lobby. Soooo nice. That's my kind of office! So...yeah. I enjoyed the toffee mocha, but the toffee taste was maybe a little too strong for me. 1 maybe 2 fewer pumps (well, I don't know how many pumps they put int, so I guess it's hard to say) of toffee would be better, I think.