Misconceptions about Sex

While reading this article, I can only reiterate my issues with abstinence only education. I have no problem telling kids that they should wait, that they should be prepared. I also have no issue explaining that the only thing that is 100% effective is abstinence. But I also think that kids, of appropriate ages, should get the whole facts about sex. I mean really, for heaven's sakes:

The survey of 1,800 people age 18 to 29 was conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy....Myths about pregnancy and sexual activity continue to permeate circles of young people. For instance, 28 percent of men incorrectly believe they will get extra protection from wearing two condoms at once, a practice that actually leads to condom breakage. At the same time, 18 percent of men wrongly believe that having sex standing up reduces the chance that they will get a female partner pregnant. (Emphasis mine)

This is the problem with abstinence only education! To mislead our kids and give them false information not only showcases a lack of trust and honesty with our kids, but it sets them up for failure and disappointment. It also shows that we don't think we've done a good enough job raising them because we feel the need to lie to them instead of simply explaining the situation at hand.

To quote an episode of Roseanne:

Jackie: Remember, Mom told us that if we let a boy go all the way, we'd be called loose or slutty. Like that was gonna stop us.
Roseanne: Yeah. She shoulda told us we'd be called Mommy.

The truth works far better than any lie. And it's also much scarier. But it has to be the whole truth. Telling our kids that putting a condom on will give you a disease or that taking birth control guarantees cancer just leads them to believe that not doing either is better for them. It's best to explain the pros and cons of each aspect. That yes, taking birth control can raise your risk for certain cancers, but it can also help regulate a woman whose periods never come regularly. That yes, having sex with a condom is safer than not, but that you also need to use a condom or dental dam whenever possible even with oral sex. The number of young people out there who don't believe oral sex to be sex is astounding. I have seen studies (here, here, and here) where people don't recognize the fact that they can get cancer from HPV in their throats from oral sex. If they used a condom or a dental dam, they wouldn't need to worry.

Now of course, I have no children, so anything I have to say could be biased based upon the fact that I've never had to sit a child down and discuss this. But at the same time, I was raised this way. My parents were never shy about anything. I remember being on the way to religious school, asking my dad what each of the different curse words meant and having him explain them to me.

Schoolhouse rock was right. Knowledge is power!

Bolt

Last night, Sweetie and I finally made it to the last of the Disney movies - Bolt. We hadn't made it to the others for a while (cuz they were bad) even though we really wanted to go to Meet the Robinsons (one of our favorites but there was a service for Sweetie's father's passing).

Wow. Bolt was, well, bolted. It never quite got off the ground. It was cute, but the storyline was kind of, um, I dunno, weak. An overactive, overacted hamster, an idiot dog who needs to be taught things and a cat who knows all the tricks. There were some cheap laughs and of course everything is wonderful in the end, but it wasn't a great story. Nothing much to complain about as this blog goes (besides there being some sort of classism against the cat that dissipated once they learned that the cat wasn't evil) , but just really not a great story.

Update

It's been a really long time since I've posted. I hope no one was worrying, it's just been a very hard time.

Things have been stressful as Sweetie is not enjoying work. It's boring and tedious. We went on vacation to celebrate our anniversary and at times, all Sweetie could thing of was how horrible it was going to be to go back to work. Sweetie has been getting closing shifts after being with the company for 12+ years and is sick of it. So now we're looking for a new job for Sweetie, but the economy blows!

On top of that, we've been looking since January and nope, no house for us. Totally blows.

The day after Thanksgiving, Sweetie's dad died.

The Wednesday after Thanksgiving, my Bubbie died.

So it's totally sucked. Massively. I can't even begin to describe it.

Our friends and family have been amazing through it all. We are so fortunate to have them in our lives.

We are looking forward to the beginning of a new year where hopefully, wonderful things reside.

Random Teeth Thought

Okay, so how often do you floss? Once a week? Twice a week? Once a month? Right before you see your dentist?

I've been thinking a lot about floss lately (mostly cuz my dentist said "FLOSS DAILY" and so I have been). And what comes to mind is my in-law's thing of floss they have.

Yeah, maybe that's a weird thing to think about, but here's why.

It says Fedco on it.

Yes, Fedco.

It was also 1000 yards long when they bought it.

I've often thought that that was weird and kinda gross. Like they hadn't used enough floss over how many years since Fedco went out of business.

But today I changed my thought process.

I took off some floss from my container and measured it before I used it. It was 9 inches long, which is probably a little short. Let's assume that an average piece of floss is 1 foot or 12 inches long.

1000 yards is 3000 feet.

If you flossed every day, that container of floss would last you 8 years.

If you flossed once a week, that container of floss would last you 57 years.

If you flossed just before you went to the dentist (i.e. 3 times every six months), that container of floss would last you 500 years.

I think that's insane! But now I wonder about my Dad (Happy Birthday Dad!!) and why he buys so much floss. Maybe he didn't get in on the Fedco deal of the century.

Emperor's New Groove

It was interesting. Fun, silly. Not any problems that I could see from a feminist perspective. The he main woman was the bad guy, but that happens sometimes. What I thought was interesting was that Cronk and Pacha were both large fellows, much like their voices Patrick Waburton and John Goodman and Kuzco and Isma were both smaller people, much like their voices David Spade and Eartha Kitt.

While the skin color was a good thing (if made in the 50s, I'm sure all of the character's skin color would have been white), I feel like maybe they could have made it darker.

On the other hand, this is the first Disney movie to showcase one type of character. Can you guess what it is?

Think

Think

Think

Think

Give up Pooh Bear?

It's a pregnant woman. Pacha's wife is pregnant and makes mention of that a few times. She's also brilliant, quick witted and beautiful. What a wonderful woman to showcase in the movie.

#100

I think I FINALLY found what #100 should be!

First of all, read this and then come back to my post.

And no, this is not going to be an "I hate Republicans" post. Shouldn't you know me better than that?

Okay, whether or not Meghan McCain meant to advertise her, um, assets, to the world, I could care less. Whether or not her apology is meaningful, heartfelt or even allows her to give a damn makes no difference to me.

What I want to focus on is her words.

"apparently anything other than a pantsuit, I am a slut"

I teach 8th grade at my Temple and on the first day, I made a point about language. I mentioned the difference between Ms., Miss and Mrs. versus Mr. I pointed out how we use language, especially between men and women. Without Jessica Valenti's He's a Stud, She's a Slut, that would not have been possible.

I think it's very important to focus on how we use our words and what the focal point of our words are, what words are there that don't need to be, etc. For example, there is a story about Avril Lavigne's divorce. The story said (and now I can't find it anymore) "punk rocker chick Avril Lavigne..." Why did we need to say that she was a chick? Why can't she just be "punk rocker Avril Lavigne"? What is the purpose of the extra words?

And I know that not everyone likes or wants to speak the PC way (some might even call that nanny-ing), but for some things, I think we need to change our perspective.

Going back to Ms. McCain's statement. Her statement means that, apparently, she is not allowed to be a person, a human being, to be in PJs, to take silly photos. And I sympathize with her. I really do. But I have to say, when I saw that photo, all I could think of was "wow, do you really not have a brain in your head? The tabloids/pundits are going to eat you alive!" What did she think was going to happen? If her phone just sent the photo before she had a chance to review it, fine. But instead, she okayed the photo and then posted it. For the world to see. If she had a private twitter where no one else could see it, fine, do whatever you want. But if you're going to be in the public life, then yes, you do not get to be a normal person. You don't get to be in your PJs; you don't get to take silly photos (who remembers the Miley Cyrus incident where she and her friends made "silly faces" aka stereotypical "Asian eyes"?); you don't get to be ill-dressed (thank you TMZ & PerezHilton), bad make-uped, blurry-eyed, club too late, eat too much or drive too fast. You can't do whatever you want.

Okay, that's over. Sorry, I didn't expect to get so passionate about that.

Back to her statement. "apparently anything other than a pantsuit, I am a slut" The term slut has always meant someone who is promiscuous or slovenly, two things I don't necessarily think go hand in hand. Her statement is obviously a bad one, for I'm sure she has been photographed in many other things rather than a pantsuit and no one has made said insinuations. But I don't think her statement is wrong. I am appalled at our society - it makes women feel bad for wearing low tank tops, comfy clothes and things that make them feel good. When men want to feel good, they either go to the gym, put on something nice looking (aka a suit or a tuxedo) or something else (I dunno, I'm not a man, so I couldn't come up with a third thing). But if a woman wants to feel good and dress well, she puts on makeup (not too much, she'll look like a harlot), does her hair (don't make it too firm, she'll look like she expects it to get messed up) and maybe a nice dress (not too short, or she's asking for it) or jeans (not too tight, you know what that means) and a top (nothing too revealing or there's no point in even going for it).

Why does fashion dictate these things? And why aren't men subject to the same criticism and problems that women are? If Joe Biden's son (sorry, I tried to find someone who could be in the public eye in the same category as Meghan McCain and I felt like he was the best choice) took a photo of himself in low sweats, no top and defined abs, the world would say "wow, he takes care of himself" or "wow, he looks great" or something else to that effect. No one would say "oh my goodness! What a publicity stunt! He must be asking for trouble" or "what a man-whore." Those words wouldn't even enter into our vocabulary! And yet they do for Ms. McCain!

We need to spend a lot more time figuring out why we do what we do, why we say what we say and the point of it all. If we say things to women like "ugh, what a slut" or "could you BE any more obvious," if we assume that single women are out to "steal" our men, if we put down other women to build ourselves up, that's not feminism or humanism or any other positive-ism. That's just mean girl syndrome. And it needs to stop.

Hunchback of Notre Dame & Hercules

Okay, so this should be a loooooooong post, but it needs to be one post because it'll be my 99th post and I wanted to do something a bit more special for 100 than just another Disney post.

The Hunchback of Notre Dame

First of all, let's set one thing straight. Disney knows how to create a happy ending when the original writer kills everyone. Hunchback is a weird movie, full of sexual references and innuendos and yet still rated G. One of the main songs is about lust and yet Disney greenlit this.

The story opens with Judge Frollo killing a baby's mother. The archdeacon of Paris (David Odgen Stiers, the bad guy from the previous movie) threatens Frollo with eternal damnation if he also murders the baby. Frollo argues that the child is a monster and should be put to death. The archdeacon insists and for once, Frollo is actually frightened by religion and damnation. He agrees to raise the child as his own if the child can be kept in the bell tower. The archdeacon agrees and the scene changes.

Religion is an interesting character. It can be used to frighten but also to comfort and soothe. It can be used as a torture device but also as a mother and father. I'm not completely sure which it should be used as in literature, but I suppose it depends on the direction of the story and who the protagonist is.

In any case, years go by and we see the festival of fools being put on by the gypsies. One of these gypsies is the beautiful Esmeralda, who in Victor Hugo's book is the daughter of the King of the Gypsies, Clopin. Which by the way, since Disney does not refute this, officially makes her a Disney princess, and certainly the one with the most attainable body. Should we reinforce this for our girls? Your thoughts would certainly aid me.

The mutant child has grown and Frollo has named him Quasimodo or half-formed. Frollo forbids him from going to the festival of fools, telling Quasimodo that he is a monster and should never be seen in the public. Quasimodo goes against his master's decree and goes out into town for one day, to see what it is like. Even the fear of religion, damnation and a horrible parental figure cannot stop the rebellion that all children have. An interesting footnote.

Esmeralda challenges Frollo who sits idly by while Quasimodo is viciously attacked by the townspeople. Frollo is enchanted by her and enraged by her. Here she is, a beautiful, heathen, gypsy woman, and he a God-fearing, law-abiding man who is supposed to rid the city of Paris of the gypsies. Esmeralda helps Quasimodo escape and claims sanctuary in Notre Dame after Frollo tries to have her arrested. She sings a song asking "God Help the Outcasts" and she is seen wandering through the Church, asking for God, whatever or whomever it might be, to help her people while the rest of the worshipers are asking for wealth, riches, etc. It shows her caring, her compassion and her beauty to see what is important in the world. It shines a beautiful light on the gypsies, a misunderstood group of people just trying to get by, and a terrible light on the Catholics, a group of people expecting worldly possessions. While this might have been better used in a different setting, it is an interesting topic nonetheless.

Quasimodo helps Esmeralda escape and is forever worried for her safety. The new captain of the guard, Phoebus, is at first going along with what Frollo wants. He wants to catch Esmeralda and he wants her to burn at the stake. Why I'm not fully sure. She had not been convicted of being a witch although she had used trickery. In any case, Phoebus finally comes over to the correct side of things and Esmeralda and he fall in love. Quasimodo has already fallen in love with her but realizes that they could never be together after she falls in love with Phoebus.

Frollo realizes that he's not getting anywhere with his search for Esmeralda and he gets angry. He realizes he is in love with her but, because of the rules of the law and his own religious thoughts, knows he cannot have her. He is enraged that his thoughts go to her and he realizes he must save her or let her burn (with the song Hellfire, which is incredibly not rated G). Frollo then tricks Quasimodo into showing him where the hiding place of the gypsies is.

With Quasimodo being duped, Esmeralda is set to burn. Quasimodo is in chains and is forced to watch. Frollo gives Esmeralda one last chance at life and she spits in his face. What an amazing woman. She chooses who she is over her life. Wow.

Quasimodo breaks free and saves Esmeralda. In the end, Frollo dies by falling from the steeples of Notre Dame and Quasimodo and Phoebus are in love. Everyone is happy, including Quasimodo.

What I thought was really weird was that the people are lead in revolt by Phoebus against Frollo to save the gypsies. They don't like the gypsies. They never have. So why all of a sudden are the down with helping them? Really odd.

Also, not going too much into this, but um, burning lava firey stuff falling from Notre Dame? Yeah, not happening, never ever ever.

Talking gargoyles? Eh, it's Disney, what else do you expect?

Interesting movie. Not one of my favorites and while Sweetie loves Clopin, not enough to let our imaginary children watch it.

Hercules

Everyone knows this story. A child of the gods is stolen, turned mortal except he retains his god-like strength. He is raised by mortal parents because only gods can live on Mount Olympus. At 18, he is told that he is the child of the gods but was stolen away. He becomes a god by the end of the story but chooses to remain a mortal to be with his human lover.

Okay, yes, this is the story, but let's add to it. First of all, the Titans are an interesting brood. They are angry at Zeus for imprisoning them and when the planets align, Hades allows them to come out and wreck havoc. Okay, kinda cool. Except they seem really really dumb. And there were no female Titans. Which makes absolutely no sense because that's where the rest of the gods came from. Remember, Cronus kept eating all his children because he had heard that they would overthrow him? Rhea kept Zeus a secret until he was old enough to overthrow his father?

Megara. Now there's an interesting woman. She saved Adonis from death by giving her life to Hades and then he fell in love with another woman. She has sworn off love and men, living only with Hades by her side. When Hercules (or Wonderboy as she calls him) comes along, all that changes. She is truly a headstrong woman, who has made some bad choices, but seeks to rectify them. In the end, she wins the guy by being herself, which is all anyone can ever ask for.

In the end, an interesting take on the Greek myth. The muses were interesting as well. 4 of the 5 muses are pencil thin and one is large and plump. She seems content with herself but it seems unfair that there is no one in the middle, size-wise.

James Woods does an amazing job as Hades. I rarely mention the actor who provided the voice for the character but James Woods does a wonderful job.

Okay, next Disney flick is Mulan, which I love. Til then, enjoy post #100 which should be something extra special. :)

Tech-nical difficulties

I've been speaking about this to some friends lately and now that the report is out, I think that people might start to pay attention to it.

Here are a few of my thoughts on the problem of non-face-to-face interaction.

• JUST BECAUSE I TYPE IN ALL CAPS does not mean I'm shouting. I could have accidentally done it and not cared to go back and change.
• People will forget how to spell. When someone types something worng, there is a little red line that comes underneath it. All I have to do is right-click on it, and the correct word will be brought up.
• For someone who chooses not to use punctuation the internet can be a frightening place I mean really how difficult is it to understand that I hate melons potatoes and fish fries are yummy though

Even using proper capitalization has gone by the wayside. And also, with the advent of twitter, "Would you like to meet me today at the park for a game of baseball? Susie, James, Fred, Daphne and Luis will all be there and haven't seen you for a while. Oh, and can you bring some beer? Thank you." becomes "wanna play baseball 2day? B @ park w/ beer & hang with us". That's 199 characters down to 57 and a thought out sentence down to drivel. Incredible. Most people would say that the language used in the first statement is too flowery. Things don't need to be that complex, people would say. Well I disagree.

Part of what separates us from animals is our ability to have a language - oral and written. And while our oral language is going downhill (as can be seen from the Budweiser commercials slovenly stating "wazzup"), that is for another post. Our ability to understand Shakespeare comes from the fact that we are part of the later English movement. First there was Old English, then Middle English and now our English. We can understand Shakespeare and he could understand us, but neither of us can understand Chaucer.

And yet language is always changing. Always attempting to be perfected by some, altered by others, improved upon by a few and simplified by most. People are mystified by the "classics," most stating that we don't read them enough. Is it because they are boring, slow, depressing? Sort of, but mostly it is because of a few things: 1) We do not have the attention span to sit down and read a book; 2) The imagery is too old and thus unrelatable to modern students; 3) Most people simply think, why read the book when I can rent the movie?

Our fast-paced life has given us such little time to truly appreciate things. I mean really, when was the last time you actually took the time to smell the roses? Watch a hummingbird? Watch your (if you have them) children sleep and wonder what they're dreaming about? But must our speech and diction reflect this?

Oh, sorry. Back to the topic at hand. The point of what I was trying to say is that so much of how we communicate is based upon the pauses and inflections we use. How and when we pause. How long we pause for. Which section of the sentence we are focusing on comes from the inflection, which is why in looking at "the dove dove," we are unsure if we are speaking mostly about the animal or the action.

Children who grow up solely on the technologically advanced software will most likely have large issues with this subject, as well as any sort of human interaction. I just hope that we as parents and to-be parents (note that I did not write SOON-to-be, just to-be, you know, in the next ten years or so) can see this coming, dodge the bullet and raise our children to be happy, healthy, well-adjusted, eloquent and gracious individuals.

Pocahontas

Wow, talk about one sad movie after another. As a kid, we rented this and we had to pause the movie because I started hyperventilating when Kocoum died. In any case.....

Pocahontas is an incredibly different type of Disney movie. Okay, maybe it has incredibly odd Disney ending. But I'll get to that in turn.

Pocahontas opens with the most beautiful landscape of 1600s America. You often wonder why we didn't stay like that, and then you go to the bathroom and thank your lucky stars that we didn't. Such a Catch 22. Anyways, we meet the Native Americans who are returning from battle. I think that part is never emphasized enough. Critics always say that the Native Americans were so peaceful, but the reality of it is, they were killing each other through war all the time.

Pocahontas tells her father that she misses her mother and he says that she's not gone, but in the wind. He then tells her that Kocoum, one of the warriors, has asked to marry her. Because of her lack of a mothering figure for the movie, Grandmother Willow was created. She serves as the advice that she needs from a nature standpoint.

The Native Americans investigate when the white people land. Pocahontas is one of the first to do so. She finds them interesting and runs when John Smith almost finds her. He goes to look around and she follows. I have two favorite scenes of the movie. One is when he jumps through the waterfall to see her standing there. Her beauty cannot be escaped. She is incredibly strong, tall and elegant. She runs away from him in fear. She gets to her canoe and tries to escape but he just wants to talk. She listens to the wind (her dead mother? grandmother Willow?) and all of a sudden, speaks English. She tells him her name, he tells her his name and she takes his hand. My second favorite scene in the movie is when she gets out of the canoe and stands up. She is so strong, so empowered and so curious that it makes that exact moment worth remembering.

She and John Smith get to know each other ("Colors of the Wind"), teaching each other, but mostly Pocahontas teaching John. They begin to fall in love while at the same time, her people and his people are engaging in a fight. Smith's leader, Radcliff, says they need to fight off the savages so that they can get to the gold.

It's exposed that Smith and Pocahontas have been seeing each other and neither side is happy. Kocoum follows Pocahontas to Grandmother Willow's tree as does someone from Smith's camp. Kocoum doesn't like that Pocahontas and Smith are kissing and attacks Smith. As they are fighting, the guy from Smith's camp kills Kocoum with his gun. He is visibly shaken by this. The Native Americans come and take Smith away and decide he should die at sunrise. The kid from Smith's camp goes and tells Radcliff and they all prepare to fight.

Pocahontas goes to Grandmother Willow for advice. We see the spinning arrow from her dream and she knows she must save Smith's life. We get the best song in the whole movie (from my perspective) at this point: "Savages." It's so full of hate and anger. It just shows what two peoples will do without any communication and understanding.

Pocahontas saves Smith's life and tells her father "this is the path I have chosen. What will yours be father?" Powhatan recognizes his daughter's intelligence and backs down. Radcliff seizes this opportunity to kill Powhatan but Smith jumps in the way. Radcliff is arrested and thrown on a barge to go back to England.

This is one of the VERY few movies where the two main characters don't end up together (Fox & the Hound being another) as well as where the bad guy doesn't die (Bambi being another). It has a most bizarre ending as we have no idea if Smith lives or dies in England.

All in all, a wonderful way to introduce some color and diversity to the princess collection. Until Tiana comes along in November/December, Pocahontas is our only princess of any color besides white as Mulan is not a princess. The art is incredible, the images amazing and the message clear: Do not hate. Save the land.

The Lion King

An interesting take.

I was always told that this was Disney doing Hamlet. But Hamlet begins when Hamlet returns to find his uncle on the throne. The Lion King joins Hamlet with an inkling of Nazism.

The movie opens with the rising sun, the singing in Swahili and no words. I think it is honestly my favorite thing. The words were just not needed and it gives such power to the words. We recognize that words have power, but many a time we fail to realize that words not in our language have power; words we don't understand can evoke such amazing emotions. Just think about the opening few words and try not to have your skin awakened or your mouth creep into a smile.

We have the introduction of the different characters: Mufasa, Scar (who apparently had no other name until he was maimed), Sarabi, Simba (who's name means "lion" in Swahili), Nala, Zazu and the hyenas Shenzi, Banzai and Ed. We have some fun songs - "I Just Can't Wait to be King", "The Morning Report" - and then we get to the real lessons. The fact that the kings of the past watch over us from the stars is so important for the rest of the story. The fact that Simba is incredibly impressionable is incredibly important.

The song "Be Prepared" shows a vast change from the story of Hamlet. The marching, the way Scar is talking to the hyenas, is all meant to showcase that Scar is like Hitler. Which is incredibly interesting to me. As a kid, I never recognized that (but then again, this came out in 1994 - had I heard of Hitler or the Holocaust yet? I'm not sure). Watching it again, I absolutely recognized it but also had to ask why, when Scar tells the remaining members of Mufasa's pride that he's now king, the hyenas are such a terrible addition. The questions begged themselves, if this is who Scar associates himself with, 1) is he the same? and 2) what is wrong with trying to get two groups of creatures together to live together in harmony? Sweetie and Lola informed me its because hyenas eat and destroy everything.

Next we have Scar setting up so that Mufasa gets killed and Simba runs away (should have been killed, but the hyenas don't want to get hurt on the prickly plants). We meet Timon and Pumba (who's name means pig in Swahili) who introduce us to "Hakuna Matata" (which of course we know means "no worries") and living the good life. It is here that we truly see Simba's childishness come out. Because he did something wrong (well, not really, but he thinks he did), he knows he can never go home. I am curious to know whether that had to do with Scar saying "run away and never return" or if he was just that angry with himself. Mistakes can be forgiven and that becomes a large part of the rest of the story, but it takes Simba quite a while to realize this.

Timon and Pumba become family with Simba and all is going swimmingly until Pumba is attacked by a lioness who turns out to be Nala. Something interesting to note. When Nala is chasing Pumba, her eyes are as bright green as they can possibly be, the color of Scar's eyes, especially during the "Be Prepared" scene. Once we realize that she's on the side of good, her eyes become a lovely shade of blue. I suppose this is done to confuse the viewer as we should think she's evil, but its very interesting. Why green? Why not jet black or brown? What is so interesting about green that it should be the color of evil?

We have the reunion of two friends. We see that Simba has stayed a child almost all of his life: "I just needed to get out on my own. And I have. And it's great!" Only a selfish prince would say that. And when Nala responds with "we've really needed you at home" he responds with "yeah right." He really doesn't understand anything and they have a fight.

Simba runs to an open grassland area and begins to yell at the sky. It is now that we hear a familiar voice singing "asante sana squash banana" over and over again. The monkey from the beginning (who has no name yet mind you) tells Simba that he knows that he's Mufasa's boy. Simba needs to see for himself and fallows "old Rafiki, he knows the way" to a pool of water where Simba is told "see, he lives in you."

The skies open up to reveal Mufasa talking to Simba, reminding him of his familial duties and telling him never to forget who he is. Simba runs after him, learns a valuable lesson from Rafiki: "the past can hurt, but the way I see it, you can either run from it, or learn from it."

Simba goes back to Pride Rock, Nala follows as do Timon and Pumba (Rafiki helps as well). They fight off Scar who lies to Simba saying that it was the hyenas idea to kill Mufasa. Betrayed, they are able to get their revenge when Scar falls and is defeated by Simba. I think this really lessened the character of Scar. I really wish he had just taken the blame and then, I don't know, pulled a Disney death (falling to his death) instead of taking the cowards way out.

The movie ends with the birth of Simba and Nala's daughter and you can see the circle continuing.

This movie is incredibly hard for me to watch. I am incredibly close to my dad and just the thought of the situation here being mine just makes me lose it. I cried while writing this post so you can see just how much it affects me.

On another note, thank you to Mel Brooks for putting Ernie Sabella as the drunk in the cafe that Bialistock and Bloom (Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick) go to in the Producers. It was the first time since The Lion King that they had all been on screen together.

Name Change, Thoughts, Etc.

I've been reading a LOT about that stupid name changing poll that was taken. I've also talked to quite a few people and have thought a lot. Here's some of my thoughts:

I don't care what people do with their names. I don't give a rat's ass if you choose to call yourself Princess Consuela Bananahammock or Crap Bag. But if I don't care what you call yourself, why do you care what I call myself or what Sweetie is called? Why is it that in order for a man to change his name, he needs to go to court, file charges, etc.? Why? Thank goodness this made it easier in California for a man to change his name, but the fact still remains. If I want to be known as Devin Middle Name Mother's Maiden Name-Sweetie's Mother's Maiden Name-My last name-Sweetie's last name, who the hell cares? I'm going to be the one who has to deal with the looks, the questions, the sneers and the numerous bubbles to fill out when taking my SAT9s (well, not anymore, but in school, yeah). Why do you care if Sweetie becomes Sweetie Middle Name Sweetie's Mother's Maiden Name-My last name-Sweetie's last name? Why does your feeling on the matter of mine and Sweetie's life matter to me?

Next, I started thinking about regulation, and what it does to our lives. The statement was posed to me of this is "another reason why U.S. and state govs should just stay out of marriage." I said that I agreed, make everything civil unions and leave marriage to the religions. He said "no - stay out of it COMPLETELY. no registration, no nothing. if a woman or man wants to change his/her name for any reason, he/she may do so, you don't need a marriage license for that." I asked if, under this plan, people would be allowed to file jointly. The response I got was really interesting:

Allow any two people, even non-romantic roommates, who live at the same address and share bills, to file jointly. Or even better - get rid of the whole concept of filing jointly and just have every wage earner file seperately. Might increase paperwork.

I then asked if that would destroy the ideal of family in the US. He said he didn't care about the US since he doesn't live here. He said that "the U.S. has no official religion, it has no reason to regulate what is essentially a religious institution. Here [Israel], on the other hand, the gov has a very big interest in ensuring that Jews only marry other Jews, so it is very involved in the marriage process."

Then I started thinking about what I didn't like and how that might affect other people. The fact that, as previously debated, I am not a fan of polygamous marriages. But yet, I stand by the fact that I say whatever you do that doesn't hurt anyone else is fine by me. I feel like that makes sense to me - polygamous marriages hurt the people in them. The women have to deal with sharing a man (or vice-versa, it just doesn't tend to happen that way too often if at all) - but at the same time, what do I know? I'm not in a polygamous marriage (nor will I ever be).

Sometimes thinking is fun, and sometimes it can lead to dastardly results.

ICK

I hate people

I mean really

Come on

I'm for people making their own decisions

But SERIOUSLY?!

Disgusting

Aladdin

This was a nice follow-up to Beauty and the Beast. After reading on the internet about how BATB romanticizes domestic abuse, I was ready for something new.

We know the story of Aladdin. It's the rags-to-riches story. What's really nice is that Jasmine has the ability to stand up to her father. He is forcing her to get married instead of changing the law, which he does in the end.

First of all, Jasmine throws away the suitors she can't stand, such as the "over-dressed, self-absorbed Prince Achmed." She then tells her father "if I do marry, I want it to be for love." I love the fact that she says "if," as if it's not always been her dream. She is exactly like Belle in that sense.

Seeing her learn from Aladdin (jumping over the rooftops and saying "I'm a fast learner") was awesome. She can handle her own and isn't afraid to tell a man how amazing she is. When Aladdin is trying to get Jasmine to go on a date with him and she toys with him, it's incredible. She shows she can have a sense of humor ("go jump off a balcony") while also being incredibly serious ("stuffed-shirt, swaggering peacock I've met").

She can fall in love, be happy, angry and surly. A wonderful follow-up to Beauty and the Beast.

Aladdin is a wonderful representation of an equality seeking man. He enjoys that Jasmine can keep up with him (when Jasmine plays along [calling the camel "Doctor"] and then watch his expression when Jasmine says she's a fast learner), he treats her wonderfully when she stands up for herself (see his reaction to when she tells him to jump off the balcony) and he really believes in love at first sight. While marrying her does allow him some privilege and money, he'd be with her even if it didn't, which is what is so severely lacking in the early Disney Princess movies. Not that they wouldn't, but the emphasis of the movie is about the girl and how she runs away from her wicked something or is hidden from something horrible, etc. etc. We can see how Aladdin feels and it permeates the screen.

This movie really gives some amazing insight for young kids and they don't realize it until they get older. For example, when Jasmine has made her father angry, he looks at Rajah and says "Allah forbid you should have any daughters." Or when the merchant at the beginning references both the dead sea and a hookah. Or when Jafar tells Jasmine "you're speechless I see. A fine quality in a wife" and she takes offense to it (I see that as the old world versus the new world - evolution and change). Or when the Genie says "Genie, wake up and smell the hummus." I say it culminates when the Genie says "I'm history, no I'm mythology, I don't care what I am I'm FREE!" What an amazing way to introduce kids to a new culture!

After doing a bit of reading, I have come to find out that Jafar was based upon Maleficent. Both have a staff that helps them with their power. Both have birds for sidekicks (for lack of a better word) - the crow & Iago. Both have a cape and similar features. Both turn themselves into large beasts. Truly an interesting thought process.

Next week, the Lion King. :)

Beauty and the Beast

What a beautiful movie. Not just in the story line, but the art is incredibly gorgeous. I remember it being even more beautiful in the theatre, but still, incredible. The theatre was packed. There were 130ish people there. Usually, a decent movie gets 40 to 50 people, so this was insane. But enough about that. Onto the critique.

I don't think that I can begin by saying any better than Oskar did when I read this on June 2 of this year

I've said it before, and I'll say it again until my face turns blue: Beauty and the Beast is an underrated feminist masterpiece, and easily the best Disney movie ever made. The movie is all about turning gender stereotypes on their head (Prince Charming is the antagonist, and it's the girl who saves the boys, not the other way around).
And not for nothing, but Belle is as bad-ass as they come, and she ain't no princess or damsel in distress. She's a total social outsider, and her entire town thinks she's a "peculiar madmoiselle" just because she'd rather read a book than chase after boys. She never lets anyone tell her what to do (whether it be her father, Gaston, or the Beast), she always follows her own path and chooses her own destiny.

Belle is a strong willed, incredible and amazing woman. She is disinterested in Gaston, no matter his advances. This is a man that Ariel would have gone gaga over. Someone that would have swept Snow White and Cinderella off their feet. But not Belle, she "wants much more than this provincial life" and we jump to our feet to applaud her for it. The stupid trio (red, yellow and green) wants so badly to be with him that it makes the rest of us sick. I'm not really sure who they are meant to represent, but thank heavens they aren't important.

If you'll notice, Belle wears the color blue, and she is the only one in the town to do so. It helps visually to show her as the outcast. (Coincidentally, the Beast wears a lot of blue as well, to help in assuming that they should be together.)

Belle loves to read. She loves to to learn and isn't afraid to tell people how she feels about it. When Gaston admonishes her for reading ("its not right for a woman to read. Soon she starts getting ideas and thinking...."), she retorts back with "Gaston, you are positively prime-evil." I think it's amazing. She doesn't lose her calm, collected nature and still shows him how much she can't stand him.

Belle believes in her father, so much so that when he has been imprisoned, she offers herself in place of him. Why, we'll never know. But the fact remains that she does. The love she has for her father can only show what an amazing woman she is.

After she stands up to the Beast (she won't join him for dinner) very defiantly, we see her venture out. After the wonderful "Be Our Guest" number, her curiosity gets the best of her and she seeks out the West Wing, which she has been told is forbidden. She is confronted by the Beast who loses his temper. She runs out and, like a gallant young man, he goes after her (but you don't know this til later). He gets hurt and falls to the ground. She sees her opportunity to escape but realizes she owes him her life. We then see her nursing him back to health. He yells at her and she yells back. Its really nice to see as so many women are afraid to talk back to scary men. It shows that she can have just as bad of an attitude as he does, but she chooses not to have it.

And the funniest part to me is the fact that him saving her life is sort of an after thought. She says "oh, by the way. Thank you. For saving my life." He realizes what this means, that she needed help and she was very grateful he was there to help her, and tells her she is welcome.

I won't touch too much on Gaston now as I'll save it for the end, but I really loved this website that compared him a bit to Frank-n-furtur.

We see the Beast starting to change. As Belle walks Phillippe around, the Beast realizes he wants to do something for her, as she mended his arm from the wolf attack. Cogsworth comes up with the ingenious ideas of "flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep" when Lumiere comes up with the idea of the library, which from the first part of the movie we know she'll love.

The Beast's attitude towards Belle is changing and he is changing. Belle's attitude toward the Beast is changing and she is changing as well. She's seeing what amazing things she could have if she stayed there, true to her promise, forever. After a wonderful night of dinner and dancing ("Beauty and the Beast"), she sees it all dashed away when her father is ill. The Beast tells her that she is no longer is prisoner (which we all know that she hasn't been for quite some time) and tells her to go to her father. He has truly changed. He has be come an amazingly charming, sweet man who has learned the value of love and has figured out how to work with it instead of against it.

She takes him up on his offer and she goes to Maurice. The whole town has it in for Maurice though, believing him to be crazy. When Belle shows them the Beast in the magic mirror, they become the precursor to "Savages II" in a few movies.

"We don't like
What we don't understand
In fact it scares us
And this monster is mysterious at least
...
Raise the flag!
Sing the song!
Here we come, we're fifty strong
And fifty Frenchmen can't be wrong"

Xenophobia is truly rampant in the days. And it seems as though nothing has changed.

Heartbroken, the Beast waits for death at the hands of Gaston in his castle. His servants try to prevent it, but Gaston slips by. Just as Gaston is about to kill the Beast, Belle arrives to stop Gaston. The Beast is reinvigorated and fights with Gaston, ultimately ending in Gaston's death, but not by the Beast's hands.

Not only is the "Prince Charming" character the antagonist in this movie, but the good and bad guy seem to switch roles throughout the movie. In the beginning, Gaston is basically harmless. He wants to marry Belle, but hasn't really done anything to incur anything but her pity. The Beast is a terror who locks her father away for no reason at all. In the end, the Beast has become someone that Belle can love. He is kind and he fights to save his life, not to control hers.

As Gaston and the Beast are fighting, Gaston throws in a few one liners that really stuck with me.

• "Are you in love with her Beast? Did you honestly think she'd want you when she could have someone like me?" Gaston, if you had been paying attention, you'd know that she didn't want someone like you, as is evident by the fact that she turned down your marriage proposal.
• "It's over Beast. Belle is mine!" Proving his arrogance and dispicableness (yes, I created a word), Gaston has shown that he does not care for her, her choices or her thoughts. While the Beast may not know that Belle loves him, he does know that she does not love Gaston and thus fights for her choice in the matter.

When the Beast tells Gaston to get out, he turns around and Belle is there, waiting for him. He climbs up to her, amazed that she returned to him. It is at this point that Gaston stabs him in the back - a true stab int he back too. Not just figuratively or literally, but both. Belle hangs onto her choice and the one she does not choose falls to his death.

It is on his deathbed that Belle is finally able to admit her true feelings for the Beast. At that admission, he is changed back into the prince that he always was underneath. At first, Belle is frightened and does not believe that this could be her Beast. But the eyes, they tell all.

Everyone is then changed back into their human form and they live happily ever after.

Such a wonderful movie and story.

Oh, and if you haven't seen the special edition, there is an addition of a song that got cut. It is fully animated and incredibly enjoyable. It is called "Human Again."

Happily Ever After. :)

Wow, just wow

This is reprehensible. Not the ACLU's decision, mind you.

I'm not saying pregnant women shouldn't follow their doctor's suggestions. But this is insane.

The Rescuers Down Under

There isn't much to comment on here, if there is anything at all. Unlike the original, the one needing to be saved is a little boy and the villain is a man. I liked the original better, although McLeach is an awesome villain, one who does not get nearly enough credit.

Best Disney Movie is NEXT WEEK!!!!!

Have a doula in the room

Dear New Jersey,

You suck. This is disgusting.

Sincerely,

The world.

100 Things Your Kids May Never Know About

HAHAHAHA!

The Little Mermaid

Wow. All I can say is wow. Good grief, maybe. Oh lordy be, perhaps.

First of all, I must preface this with saying I have not seen Cinderella yet.

The movie begins with scatterbrained Ariel not wanting to do what her father asks her to. Yes, she's 16. Yes, she's a "rebellious" teenager (I'd hate to think of what Triton would have done if she has gotten pierced or tattooed). She falls in love with Eric (a human) even though her father has told her repeatedly not to go to the surface. While Triton is trying desperately to keep Ariel safe, she defies him by saving Eric's life. Triton ends up destroying all of her earthly possessions and in tears, she goes to Ursula to get what she wants.

Okay, let's stop here. First of all, she wants what she can't have. She wants what she shouldn't have. To put it in Disney terms, she has a dream that her heart is making. Usually, in the case of Cinderella (I think) and Snow White, this wish can come true, with no one else really getting all that hurt or angry. Yeah, Snow White's stepmother falls to her death and yeah, Cinderella's stepmother doesn't get to live in the palace, but I wouldn't call those things all that terrible in the grand scheme of things.

To (loosely) quote Footloose, 'how can I plan to rule over a people and ask them not to go to the surface when I can't even do that in my own house?' Not that all children should be obedient to a T, but don't you think she should have given her father some sort of respect? She completely ignores him, being the selfish little prat that she is. It's true! She's selfish, narcissistic and completely whiny. When she doesn't get her way, she finds ways around it.

Enter Ursula, whose back story we don't fully get. She wants to rule the seas and she was banished from Triton's kingdom, but we don't know why. She does say that she has "withered away" to nothing and I'm not sure what that is supposed to mean as she is a rather large creature. She offers to give Ariel what she wants, the ability to be with Eric, and in essence, Ariel makes a bargain with the devil.

Now, I think that Ursula is pretty cool, I mean, as villains come. She she turns people into muck, she is incredibly clever and she really really wants power. She also has a very interesting view of the world. I can't discern exactly what it means when she sings the following words:

The men up there don't like a lot of blabber
They think a girl who gossips is a bore!
Yet on land it's much preferred for ladies not to say a word
And after all dear, what is idle babble for?
Come on, they're not all that impressed with conversation
True gentlemen avoid it when they can
But they dote and swoon and fawn
On a lady who's withdrawn
It's she who holds her tongue who gets a man

It just, um, seems, WRONG! I can't decide if it's making a farce of whatever time period this is supposed to be or if it's showing how far we've come as a society or if it's something else. Is it the truth? Is it how people really feel? The animators? The lyricists? The musicians? I can't decide and it's really making me angry.

Although, not as angry as this next part. SHE CHANGES WHO SHE IS FOR A MAN!!! And not just like, her hairstyle or her mannerisms. She physically changes her body, her persona. She goes mute. She tries to rely on her, as Ursula puts it, "body language," which is especially hard for someone who can't even walk. The other part of it is that when Ariel says "If I become human, I'll never be with my father or sisters again," Ursula replies with "but you'll have your man. Life's full of tough choices, in't it?" Does this mean that which the Bible does not say? Genesis 2:24 states "Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh." Is Hans Christian Anderson (the original writer) stating that it is the woman who should leave her father and mother? Are the animators? The lyricists? The musicians?

The statement gets made that to "have a man" is one of the best things. When you have a man, nothing could be better/food tastes better/your eyes see better/etc. is sort of the kind of sentiment I get from this. And its so very sad. Especially because I still see it happening today. I have a few friends who, when they invite me somewhere but Sweetie and I are doing couple-y things, tell me to have fun with "your man" and that we'll hang another time. I don't know why it bothers me, but it does. To have Sweetie called my "man" in that tone just seems disrespectful, like it's a bad but a good thing. Like my friends are jealous but also angry and happy for me at the same time. I don't really understand it.

In the end, Ariel gets what she wants - to be human - but at what cost? She has fully changed who she is, physically and, if you look at the original story, spiritually. What has he done for her? What do we expect him to do for her? And not just that, but why should we tell our children that just because we want something really really really really bad, even if it's not safe, good or makes anyone but ourselves happy, we should have it? But then again, I guess that is sort of the motto for all Disney movies.

It makes me so sad because we have the very very very very very best story in 2 movies. I won't spoil what it is, although you can probably guess (nominated for Best Picture) and I CANNOT WAIT to report on that one.

Oliver & Company

So this is the story of Oliver Twist with a twist and told as cats and dogs with some human interaction. You have the dogs and cat who steal so their owner (Fagin) doesn't get killed by the guy who he owes money to (Sykes). Why Fagin borrowed the money we never find out.

The little kitty comes in and makes friends with Fagin's doggies. Unfortunately (?), he gets "kidnapped" and taken to the rich little girl's (Jenny) home. Sweetie informed me that there is a reason why her name is Jenny, as this was supposed to some sort of sequel for Ms. Penny from the Rescuers. Jenny's parents are away and so she is in the care of her slightly bumbling butler. It seems as though her parents care more for Georgette, the pampered, prize-winning poodle, than for Jenny, but it's never known.

Jenny adopts Oliver (and names him such) and while she is away at school, the doggies come in and un-kidnap (?) him. Fagin finds the expensive collar on Oliver and threatens Jenny. Jenny comes with all the money in her piggy bank to get her cat back, but Fagin has a change of heart. Sykes sees all this, tells Fagin they're square and kidnaps Jenny. The doggies, Fagin and Oliver go to rescue Jenny. Georgette has tagged along for all of this.

In the end, the good guys win, Fagin and the butler make friends and Oliver goes to live with Jenny. Fun music and happiness galore.

What really bothered me in the movie was the fact that Jenny had her ears pierced. She's old enough to read, which could make her 6 and she's rich. But why does that mean she has to have her ears pierced? Sweetie said that it has something to do with coming of age in the 80s. So, since I did not do that, I asked those who did. I was told by my sisters-in-laws that they were twelve or older, which Jenny is not.

And honestly, I cannot understand why it bothered me so much. I really can't. I don't really it has anything to do with being property, since I have two sets of holes in my ears. I think it had to do with the fact that she was not old enough to care for them herself, but I've been wrong before. I really have no idea.

I liked that Rita was a female dog in Fagin's gang. While she was the only one, it was nice to see her there.

So next week (i.e. today) is the Little Mermaid, which I am very intrigued to see. It's two movies before the best Disney feminist movie to date (Beauty and the Beast) and yet it seems like a throw-back to the earlier princesses. Well, I'll make the decision after I've seen it. And yes, I still need to see Cinderella, Winnie the Pooh and Jungle Book. We don't own WTP and Sweetie won't watch Cinderella with me, so it'll still be a while I'm guessing. Unless my niece has a huge desire to see them all of a sudden.

Odd News

Had to post it, just had to. It would be the coolest way to get people to quit smoking!

NH man charged 23 quadrillion dollars for smokes

Thu Jul 16, 9:11 am ET

MANCHESTER, N.H. – A New Hampshire man says he swiped his debit card at a gas station to buy a pack of cigarettes and was charged over 23 quadrillion dollars.

Josh Muszynski (Moo-SIN'-ski) checked his account online a few hours later and saw the 17-digit number — a stunning $23,148,855,308,184,500 (twenty-three quadrillion, one hundred forty-eight trillion, eight hundred fifty-five billion, three hundred eight million, one hundred eighty-four thousand, five hundred dollars).

Muszynski says he spent two hours on the phone with Bank of America trying to sort out the string of numbers and the $15 overdraft fee.

The bank corrected the error the next day.

Bank of America tells WMUR-TV only the card issuer, Visa, could answer questions. Visa, in turn, referred questions to the bank.

The Great Mouse Detective

Okay, so it was Sherlock Holmes. So what's new?

What was interesting was that the bad guy sang a song. When was the last bad guy to sing a song? I don't think ever. It was a little strange, but other than that, twas good.

And yes, I'm still missing Cinderella, Winnie the Pooh and the Jungle Book. Haven't seen them yet, so I can't comment on them.

New Delhi

YAY!!!

The Black Cauldron

Wow, talk about a baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad movie! I'll give you all a good understanding of the movie as well as critique it as I'm sure none of you have ever seen it.

This was the first Disney movie to receive a PG rating and I have to admit, the villain in this movie is probably Disney's scariest. He looks like the crypt keeper but with an evil-er voice and glowing red eyes. At first look, I thought he was death incarnate.

In any case, the movie opens and we learn about the Black Cauldron. It's got an evil magic to it and whoever controls it will have an army of those that cannot die (Pirates of the Carribean anyone?). The Horned King (the really scary looking bad guy) wants to be able to do this so he can rule the world.

We then meet Taran, the hero of the movie. He seems like an average boy in the Disney 'verse: lanky, white and full of dreams. But then, he opened his mouth. I'm sorry, but Grant Bardsley was the wrong choice for this character. The dialog he was given didn't make things any better. He is woeful and annoying, pitiful and a daydreamer, but not in a good sense. Snow White was a daydreamer, but she was good at it. Taran is terrible. He is an apprenticed pig farmer/watcher-overer or whatever you want to call him. I get that he is British and that's why he sounds the way he does, but come on! No one laments like that! No one whines and complains the way he does. It is such a flash to Belle in Beauty and the Beast. She complains while on the farm, but she does it well. She's strong willed and amazing, he's pathetic and annoying.

In any case, he wants to be a warrior but he's a "pigboy" as it gets mentioned so many times. His pig, Hen Wen, freaks out and we find out that she has magical powers. The main pig keeper man, Dallben, tells him to take Pen Hen into the secret cottage in the forest and keep her there. While out and walking, Taran gets to daydreaming that he's a famous warrior and he loses Hen Wen. Enter Gurgi, a bizzare sort of animal who wants "munchies and crunchies." Hen Wen gets scooped up by a dragon sort of flying animal and taken to some horrible palace. Taran goes after her and, after a bunch of stupidity (including giving in when the Horned King threatens to chop Hen Wen's head off. All I could think of was, you idiot! What do you think he's going to do with you when he gets the answer!?), gets locked away in a dungeon after getting Hen Wen to "safety" (he throws her over the side of the castle into the moat), where he begins to feel sorry for himself. He pouts and begins to cry. Fast forward to Aladdin who never does any of the sort and has lived a much harder life than Taran. Again with the lameness of Taran.

Enter Princess Eilonwy, a captured girl with a magical bubble-light-thing. She rescues Taran and they are able to escape with a magical sword and after freeing Fflewddur Fflam, whose purpose I never quite figured out. He was a bard with some sort of weird magical harp. In any case, they all escape and Gurgi shows up to tell them where Hen Wen went. They follow her tracks and find a whirlwind sort of tornado-y thing that takes them to another place, or something. There, they encounter these fairies of some sort (I don't really know why they were there either) and one of the fairies takes them to where the Black Cauldron is.

Then we meet 3 sister witches, Orddu, Orwen and Orgoch, who like to turn people into frogs and eat them. One of them, the largest one with enormous boobs (and we're talking enormous here) falls in love with Fflewddur Fflam, and tries to marry him. At one point, one of her sisters turns him into a frog and he gets lost in the big boobs. And I mean lost, like the image here (sorry, not a great photo, I know)















But you can see her boobs here --------->

In any case, Taran trades the magical sword (which helped them escape the Horned King) for the Cauldron and the Cauldron springs up out of nowhere. The witches then inform us that there is no way to destroy it but you can stop its powers by climbing in, but that you'll never get out alive. Taran, Eilonwy and Fflewddur Fflam are all very depressed because they cannot get stop it and as they start to mope, the Horned King's cronies find them. They take the Cauldron back to the castle and tie up Taran, Eilonwy and Fflewddur Fflam to watch as the world cries in horror.

The image is quite what you'd expect of these dead soldiers, especially if you've seen Pirates.
Gurgi had run away and comes back to untie the three heroes. Gurgi realizes he has no friends and thus would be sacrificing nothing and jumps into the Cauldron. The Horned King realizes something is wrong when his soldiers begin dying and goes back to see what's going on. The Horned King gets sucked into the Cauldron and everything is well again.

Then the three witches show up again. They want the Cauldron for whatever reason and decide to take it. Fflewddur Fflam agrees to trade with them and they offer Taran the sword. Taran turns them down, saying that he'd rather have Gurgi back, realizing that Gurgi is indeed the true hero. They grant his request and Gurgi returns, alive and happy. Gurgi makes Taran and Eilonwy kiss and then the movie ends.

REALLY? REALLY? Disney, for gods sakes! Get a grip! The 80s must have been wrought with really bad ideas if this is what came out of it. Although, I can't even say that because apparently, from the first time this was mentioned, it took 12 years to make, so really, the problem was in the 70s? Ugh. What a terrible movie. Nothing was explained, nothing made any sense. There was no reason for the weird fairies or for Fflewddur Fflam. There was almost no point to the entire story!

And while Eilonwy attempts to be a strong character, it seems almost like the 80s TV backlash against women was coming through in the movie as well. She was the one who got them out of the castle, having been a prisoner herself, but then she cries when Taran calls her a "silly girl, even if she is a Princess." How ridiculous is that?

UGH
UGH
UGH
UGH

I'm glad it's over. I never have to see it again. Although, I'm a little worried as Sweetie says Chicken Little is worse. Oy.

Next week, another movie I've never seen. The Great Mouse Detective. 'Til then....

Figuring things out

So the past few weeks, I really haven't felt like myself. It's sort of a weird feeling, to know that you aren't yourself. I keep thinking something is going to snap me out of it, and yet I just keep delving deeper and deeper into it.

I can't really say when it started, but I'd like to say when we really started looking at houses hard-core. It was sort of a "OMG, I'm an adult" type of a moment. As many of you know, I still feel like I'm 16 most of the time. Getting married was a little weird, but since we'd been living together, it didn't feel like much had changed. We're both so vibrant and young at heart, it seems like I just live with my best friend whom I share a bed and intimacies with.

I thought things would change when we got married. They didn't really, but now I'm realizing just how much they have. I worry about things more. I worry about money, I worry about finding a house. I worry about having kids (see further below) and I worry about my Sweetie. Worrying has become a part of my every day life and I think it's taking its toll on me. My worries are invading my dreams, my head and my fantasies. I keep fantasizing about winning the lottery and not having to worry anymore. I don't think about the great this I could buy or the great that I could buy, but about being okay.

Sometimes just a touch from Sweetie will momentarily bring me back to sanity. But most times, I'm in a dream state, just drifting from one place to another, from one experience to another. That's not to say it isn't me, but sometimes I feel like someone different. It's much better than when I was on the other birth control pills, when I couldn't control my temper and anger, when I rolled my eyes when I should have consoled, when I fought when I should have hugged. Things are better now, but I need them to be even better.

Talking to a doctor just seems stupid. There are no tests to prove if you are crazy, no exams to show you need help. There is no tutor that can help though life and I just feel like I'm spinning out of control.

A lot of it I feel probably has to do with the 6-8 people I know that are pregnant and due between now and September. That's not a lot of people, you might say. People have babies every day, you might say. And yes, I know this. But when so many people close to me are having babies and I still feel like I'm 16 years old, it begins to mess with my head. One of my oldest childhood friends is pregnant and I saw her on Sunday. She looked wonderful, but really big. I asked if I could touch her tummy and she said yes. Doing so creeped me out. It put me in a daze I'm not sure I'm out of yet. It scares me. It honestly does. I watched a show called "16 and Pregnant" on MTV and got the shit really scared out of me.

I know Sweetie will be ready before I am, but part of me worries that I'll never be ready. The coworker said that when you don't think you are ready, you more than likely are. I don't think that's true and even the mere suggestion makes me almost want to hurl. I can't really explain it. All I know is that babies are fun; I like to play with them, but my FAVORITE part is giving them back to their parents. And I know I joke around about that, but its the gods to honest truth. I am actually afraid of babies. About where they come from and about the process that creates them.

I am afraid for the future of our lives, with the talk of war with North Korea and Iran. I actually ignore that section of the news so I don't deepen the pit that is this daze. Death is not something I can discuss well and it is the "unfortunate side effect of war" as so many would put it. And having children just means that they'll die in the long run as well, which is probably what this is all about.

As you can see as I've turned off the comments section. I just needed a place to write, a place to type and a place to let loose. Talking usually helps with this, but since I have no idea what the problem is, it's hard to discuss.

The Rescuers

So I will NOT be seeing the movie that aired yesterday (The Fox and the Hound) and therefore will not be reporting on it, but since I hadn't yet reported on the previous movie, here goes.

The Rescuers is an interesting movie. On the way home, Sweetie commented how slow it was. I thought it was a good development. You have a little girl in peril (shock!) who gets rescued by a male and a female (now that is a shock). The male character, Bernard, is sort of a wavery character. Somehow I don't doubt that his mannerisms were based upon the voice, Mr. Bob Newhart. He is happy to do the job of the rescuer, but he has to be talked into it. He is very superstitious and just sort of goes along with Bianca, the female character, voiced by Eva Gabor.

It's interesting to note that this is Eva's second Disney movie, having already played Dutchess. Both characters were very upright and proper, but Ms. Gabor gets a stronger, more intelligent character to play in this movie. Miss Bianca is gentile and poised while also being headstrong and extremely diligent. She encourages Bernard to do all that he might and she is the driving force for him.

It's sort of a rags to riches story for Bernard. Usually, you have the lowly girl (Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady, Maria in the Sound of Music, Fred in Angel to name a few) who gets plucked up by the doting yet lovable strong man (Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady, the Captain in The Sound of Music, the boy(s) who fall in love with Fred in Angel [you're welcome for not spilling anything Joe]) and her life is altered for the better. She learns new and incredible things, falls in love and is a better person. This is the total opposite. Bernard was the janitor and Bianca was the delegate from Hungary. A nice change I'd say.

Bianca is a wonderful character, but I would have liked her to have a little more depth. The villians always have a bit more depth to them than the female lead, which is rather frustrating. Madame Medusa is greedy, but she has a fear of mice, a raving temper, a terrible taste for fashion and makeup and a keen mind. Bianca is pretty, courageous and resourceful, but I think there was a little lacking.

I am very glad to say that there was not a huge amount of romance. A lot of the time, there is a love story in the background (Robin Hood, the Aristocats) but there wasn't one here.

The female villian is so much better developed than the male villian. He is a stupid, slovenly, obnoxious piece of work. I really liked that we had a very strong female lead that was the hero and a very strong female lead that was the villian. Since this was 1977, the women's movement was in full swing and I think this was a really nice representation of it.

As I mentioned, I will not be seeing the Fox and the Hound, which means the Black Cauldron is next. This should be interesting because until I met Sweetie, I did not know this movie even existed.

The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

The sis- and bro- in law were nice enough to encourage Little Miss to watch the Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh last night. So now I don't have to borrow it (because for some bizarre reason, we don't own it) and I don't need to worry about trying to figure out when to watch it.

It was interesting. I was never a Pooh girl. I was okay with Eeyore but mostly, I'm not a fan of the popular characters. And that was the main reason growing up, because they were popular. I didn't want to love Mickey or Bugs Bunny or Pooh, so I went for the second characters. I LOVED Donald and Daffy Duck and was an Eeyore girl, but in as so much as when we'd watch the show (having a younger sister meant we watched the New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh on the Disney channel growing up), I always was more intrigued by the characters that weren't Pooh.

Growing up, we had the Blustery Day on tape (recorded off of TV of course), so I had no idea that there were others, with the exception of the phrase "I'm a lil black rain cloud of course" which was before/after our Mary Poppins tape (that yes, I warped because I watched it so much). So this was definitely interesting for me.

There wasn't much to report on, feminist or equality-wise. I rather enjoyed Gopher telling Rabbit and Owl that he wasn't in the book but here's his card. That is in reference to the fact that A.A. Milne didn't write about him.

What is intriguing is how Milne wrote about the current mental diseases of his time by using cute and cuddly animals. Of course, we all know that Eeyore represents depression, Pooh is gluttony or some sort of eating disorder. Tigger represents ADHD and Rabbit is indicative of OCD. I was always aware that Piglet played the role of the homosexual and that Owl represented pseudointellect, but what was new to me was Kanga and Roo representing the single parent and bastard son.

Even if those aren't true, still a dandy story, I suppose. Not my favorite, which is prolly why we don't own it.

But YAY! Now there are only 2 I haven't seen and will (I will not be seeing Fox and the Hound. WAAAAAY too sad for me.

Robin Hood

Okay, so this post is late, but I figured I'd posted a lot already last week and since we have dinner plans this week (sorry, Pooh will be later, just like Jungle Book and Cinderella), I figured this was a good day to post this.

Not much to say about the story. Yes, it was written at a time when women were things to be passed around and owned. Yes, getting a kiss was a thing that was to be treasured because it never happened, bla bla bla. I just have a few points.

#1
When Maid Marian is trying to get away at the archery championship, she cries out, "Robin! Help!" in the most pathetic voice imaginable. I thought I would burst out laughing from the stupidity of the way the line was delivered. And that has nothing to do with Disney, but with the actress. Stupid stupid stupid.

#2
I love Clucky. She's fabulous. She is line backer in size, but can pull her weight; she knows who she is and doesn't mind dancing along. In essence, she rocks!

#3
Despite my love for Clucky, she makes a statement that got me upset. Prior to Maid Marian's stupid statement, Clucky tells her to get out of there because it's "no place for a lady." So in other words, a lady is someone who cannot defend themselves, refuses to and swoons into the arms of a man. UGH. I mentioned this to Sweetie and Sweetie said that this was true. An example Sweetie gave was Lady from Lady and the Tramp. A true Lady, Sweetie said, who cannot defend herself no matter what. I said, so Belle is not a lady? Sweetie said no. And I have a problem with this, because to me, Belle is one of the most graceful, beautiful and wonderful character Disney has ever come up with. And maybe that's a sign of the times (as it was the 90s when she was created), but I don't know.

Dictionary.com defines the noun "lady" in the following manner:

-	a woman who is refined, polite, and well-spoken

-	a woman of high social position or economic class

-	any woman; female (sometimes used in combination)

-

wife

-	Slang. a female lover or steady companion.

-	(initial capital letter) the proper title of any woman whose husband is higher in rank than baronet or knight, or who is the daughter of a nobleman not lower than an earl (although the title is given by courtesy also to the wives of baronets and knights).

-	a woman who has proprietary rights or authority, as over a manor; female feudal superior.

-	(initial capital letter) the Virgin Mary.

-	a woman who is the object of chivalrous devotion.

-	a. an attribute or abstraction personified as a woman; a designation of an allegorical figure as feminine b. a title prefixed to the name of a goddess

Nowhere in there does it say that a lady must be helpless and defenseless.

I call shananagans!!

I'm sure the subject of "Lady" will come up later (or earlier, after I've made mention of "Lady" Tremain [the wicked Stepmother in Cinderella]) so the discussion can continue

"Why is rape even a crime?"

I can't even imagine this situation. The whole thing is mind-boggling, mind-blowing and beyond ridiculous.

On top of that, I think this situation brings up something the coworker and I talked about yesterday. The words rape, sexual assault, date rape, etc. are used in terrible, horrible situations. But who are the used by? They are used by those the event happened to, those that it adversely affected. But is the media affected? So many times in our society, that which we call rape is called a "sexual experience" or it is said that the two (sometimes even mentioned as "the couple") had "intimate relations." No. I'm sorry. When these articles surface, it is because someone did something wrong. Coworker mentioned how the same goes for terrorism as well as some other problems society has. I suppose it has to do with the media not wanting to worry people, but at the same time, it's like, why is rape even a crime? If it does not get prosecuted as such, if it is not talked about as such and if we use lesser words to discuss the topic, doesn't it seem like we are brushing the issue aside? Or perhaps just trying to say that it's not a big deal because, well, he's famous (i.e. Kobe Bryant) or he's respected or he's a bit older or it's in a country we don't care about (i.e. the amount of rapes that happen in Africa that are NEVER reported or talked about).

This also leads to the conversation about how else we use the word rape thus lessening it's potency. When a man is a bad kisser, he can sometimes be referred to as "raping her face" (Sex and the City). I know from others (coworker included) that the term is widely thrown around in the gaming world. Sometimes, people use it instead of the word raid as in "you raped my kitchen. Now I have no food" or "it looks like the rabbits really raped my garden." These comments simply lesson the impact the word has. This goes for the Holocaust as well. No longer is it something to be feared, something to worry about. It is thrown around so simply, it's as though they could be the word potato.

Words are so important in our society and its so important to use the correct words when we speak and when we write. It's too bad that the media doesn't feel the same way.

#6

New Hampshire!

National LGBT Pride Month

It's too bad this didn't get more play yesterday.

Does this mean that sometime this month DADT will be repealed?

I can only hope.

Communication is so very much needed

The George Tiller atrocity has hit so many bloggers so deep. The pain is so fresh, so new. He was shot in front of his wife and daughter in church. It doesn't get much worse than that.

And yes, this is not a new phenomena. It's been happening for years. But don't you think, in a time like this, with an African-American president, an attempt at middle east peace and an advancement in alternative energy sources, we should try to make the best of the situation? Yes, it was a horrible event. My heart absolutely bleeds for his family. Yes, I think the killer should be put to death (I'm a fan of capitol punishment. Death on both ends of the spectrum. I'm very consistent). But I also think this could open up lines of communication.

I mentioned this story to my Conservative, Republican, pro-life coworker (believe it or not, we get along rather well). I didn't even finish getting the words out of my mouth when he said "that's not pro-life. How can you be pro-life and murder someone?" I am so thankful for people like that, who can see that this idea makes no sense.

He mentioned that now all the pro-choice people will label pro-lifers as such and that there was a severe lack of communication. And I think it's true. For years, growing up, I understood pro-life in the following manner (kudos to those of you who know where this is from):

"Pro-life. Pro-life. These people aren't pro-life, they're killing doctors! What kinda pro-life is that? What, they'll do anything they can to save a fetus, but if it grows up to be a doctor they just might have to kill it? They're not pro-life. You know what they are? They're anti-woman. Simple as it gets: anti-woman...They believe a woman's primary role is to function as a brood-mare for the state. Pro-life. You don't see any of these white, anti-abortion women volunteering to have any black fetuses transplanted into their uteruses, do you? No, you don't see 'em adopting a whole lotta crack babies, do you? No, that might be something Christ would do."

And guess what? Not all pro-lifers are like that. But I had no idea! And I was not raised as a radical pro-choicer. I wasn't even raised as a pro-choicer. I made the decision on my own. But again, the lack of communication is immense.

Neither side will sit down with the other and find common ground. So many pro-lifers think that pro-choicers want every woman to have an abortion. And that's not true! So many pro-choicers think that pro-lifers don't care about anything except preserving their way of life, and anyone else who gets in their way be damned. And that's not true either!

It seems that we will not be able to have the more perfect union that we had dreamed of. When each side is too stubborn, too set in their ways and too hateful of the other side to even begin to be able to talk, we have a problem. The American Dream has always been to be able to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, to have a large sense of patriotism and to feel like this is one big melting pot. Unfortunately, none of these seem possible anymore.

Oh sure, there are those lucky families who come to America with $1.70 in their pockets and 50 years later, they are doing well enough to travel 5 times a year. But unfortunately, not everyone is as motivating.

And yes, there are those who have a large sense of patriotism. But unfortunately, those who feel patriotic usually attack those who might not feel as patriotic. And as one of those who has felt the attack, from my perspective, it seems as though the patriotism has become part of the Republican definition. When Bush was in office and Barak Obama was running, the tabloids, newspapers and news stations had a FIELD DAY when Michelle Obama said she was "finally proud of her country" or something like that. They went after her, saying how could she expect her husband to get elected if she's not patriotic. This led to, or was part of, I cannot remember, the whole American flag pin fiasco which in and of itself was ridiculous.

As to the melting pot. There are so many people in this country who feel like it is their duty to tell others to "go back to where they came from." And some people who get this treatment have been here for years and years.

The hand out generation is coming into play in the world spectrum. And I'm really worried of what it will do to our reputation. Yes, our reputation is in the process of being repaired, but can you imagine a Secretary of State who throws a temper tantrum because they get a dirty spoon at a State Dinner? That is my ultimate fear.

In any case, I guess this turned into a lot different of a post than what it started as. Talk to people. Open lines of communication. Even with people who you don't think would EVER want to listen to you. It's good to get other ideas. You might even expand your own thoughts.

Shock the heck out of me

Who knew musicians could write so well?

Impressed.

Ugh

California.

Can't you get it right?

Disgusted

The Aristocats

I hadn't seen this movie in a very long time, but the general premise is easy to remember. Cats will inherit so butler gets rid of them but they come back. This is the last movie that Walt Disney approved but he died before seeing its completion. I took my sister to this one as Sweetie returns tonight from the 2 week trip to Asia without me.

The movie opens with Madame (which my sister asked me later "like a real madame?") riding along with her cats. Madame is a retired Opera singer who it seems never married. She lives in an amazing mansion and feels her life is perfect with her cats. I love this! She doesn't need to be defined by a husband or children, but her cats will do just fine. I also love the fact that society doesn't shun her as this is Paris in 1910. Who would have known?

In any case, Madame goes and asks for George, her lawyer, to come and help her make out her will. Edgar, the butler, overhears that he'll inherit her money after the cats do and he sorely displeased. He decides to do away with the cats so he can inherit millions. Another movie about greed.

We see Duchess, the mother, and her children, Marie, Berlioz and Toulouse, as being extremely well cultured and refined. Duchess is voiced by Eva Gabor, so she has that air about her, though she is not snobby but completely charming. The kids fight a bit and Duchess asks them to stop and go to their (whatever it is she calls them). Toulouse paints and Marie and Berlioz sing and play the piano respectively. After Duchess asks them to stop fighting, Berlioz and Toulouse blame Marie for beginning the fight. This is where one of the best lines comes from: "Ladies do not start fights, but they can finish them." I love it!

Edgar gets the cats into sleepyland (I almost wrote "put them to sleep" and realized that was the wrong terminology) and takes them off to the countryside where we come in contact with Napoleon and Lafayette who take some things of Edgar's (he'll go back to get them and while it's funny, I won't comment on it here).

The cats wake up in a rainstorm outside of their home. They end up sleeping through the night and meet Abraham de Lacy Giuseppe Casey Thomas O'Malley the alley cat; a rather sleazy cat. He is everything that a stereotypical Casanova is. Sly, shady, charming and not interested in children. He offers to get Duchess back to Paris on a magic carpet and then when he finds out she has children, the offer is rescinded. Duchess understands completely what is going on and just brushes it off. She's met enough of those kinds of men in her time. They begin to leave and he says to himself "come to think of it O'Malley you're not a cat, you're a rat" and offers to help them.

Had it not been for Marie falling off the magic carpet (read: milk truck [the same one used for the bad guys in 101 Dalmatians]), the story would have gone differently. Thomas gets her back on and, after a briefly negative encounter with the driver, explains his view of humans. He says that they "don't really worry too much about their pets." While Duchess tries to explain that this is not indeed the case, a train comes over the tracks they are on. Marie, yet again, falls into the water and Thomas goes to save her. I'll be the first to admit that I was getting tired of the "I'll save the girl" routine, so I'm glad this was the last one.

After saving Marie, Thomas comes across Amelia and Abigail Gabble, two geese who are on Holiday from England. They attack Thomas after finding out he is not Duchess' husband and then suggest that they should all go to Paris together. It is at this point, I think, that I realized how bothered I was by the pet names that Thomas was giving Duchess. He kept calling her "baby" and "honey" and not in the "oh sweetie darling you're so cute" kind of way. In the "Bess, you is my woman now" kinda way.

They get to England and we meet Uncle Waldo who gives a wonderful line. He went into a restaurant where they were serving goose basted in white wine. He says "Dreadful! Being British, I would've preferred sherry."

We then leave the geese and move onto O'Malley's "pad" as he calls it. We find out that ScatCat is there and he suggests they leave and go somewhere else for the evening. In the most innocent and charming way possible, Duchess responds with "no, I would like to see your pad and meet your ScatCat." They go in and dance the night away to a swing and jazz blend.

After the kids are in bed, O'Malley and Duchess are talking outside and he basically says he wants to marry her. She says she cannot for she cannot leave Madame alone. He is disappointed, but respects her decision.

The next day, they go home, Edgar captures them, throws them in a trunk, Roquefort (the mouse) goes after O'Malley who tells him to get ScatCat. The best scene is when the ScatCat gang is going to the house, they run past a man drinking wine. He realizes that he is seeing a mouse chasing the cats and pours out his wine onto the street.

O'Malley and ScatCat help Roquefort and Fru-Fru (the horse) save Duchess and the kittens and Edgar ends up going to Timbuktu instead of the cats. The movie closes with George redoing the will for Madame, O'Malley joining the family and Madame saying she was going to open up her house for all the alley cats in Paris.

I really liked this movie. I feel like it is the first movie with a real feminist adult character. Duchess is so prim and proper, but she's also in control and not subject to whatever the evils say will happen (Sleeping Beauty) or might happen (Snow White), etc. etc. Yes, it's not a fairy tale, but I feel like it's so much higher up in the scheme of stories. I also love that the characters of ScatCats gang help Duchess for friendship of O'Malley and not for love of Duchess. If this story were made now, ScatCat and O'Malley would have gotten into a fight over Duchess and she would have been forced to pick one.

Yes, Jungle Book will be coming at some point. I missed the movie and haven't seen it yet so I can't comment. And yes, at some point, Cinderella will come as well. Robin Hood is in 2 weeks, so yay for Memorial Day!