First off: HAPPY NEW YEAR! Today is New Year's Eve and also the 'One Week 'Til Florida' mark! I leave next Tuesday at 9:30 am and will arrive in Orlando at 7:30 on Tuesday night. I got the email from the people at the DCP to register for my housing and roommates--fingers crossed that all of that works out :) I haven't unpacked TOO much since coming home for Christmas so I'm hoping that packing everything won't be a complete and total nightmare...but we'll see.
I. Am. So. Excited.
But anyways:
Disney Challenge #17: Least Favorite Classic
I have to go with Pinocchio on this one.
For whatever reason, I just have always thought this movie was just...dull. I wish I had more words to justify my standpoint on this one but I really don't. It was just weird to me. He turns into a donkey and then is eaten by a whale. That whale is terrifying to a young child by the way. I don't know why but Pinocchio didn't do it for me.
Disney Challenge #18: Favorite Pixar film
This one is so hard because I feel like Pixar really knocks it out of the park with the majority of their movies. Pixar is really hit-or-miss with me: I absolutely love them, or I'm not a fan. They're definitely not mediocre by anyone's standards.
I have to say my all-time favorite is "The Incredibles".
What's not to love? The family is hilarious. I grew up thinking that my dad basically was Mr Incredible--he was the strongest man in the world. My mother could absolutely be ElastiGirl. I was the living embodiment of Violet throughout middle school and my younger sister would absolutely be Dash. Jack-Jack is so precious.
My sister has the scene between Frozone and his wife memorized. She's not afraid to bust that sucker out whenever the situation calls for it.
Start 2014 out with a laugh...I couldn't resist
I'm still waiting on a sequel to this movie. It totally highlighted the
beauty of a nuclear family. There are very few Disney movies that have
Mommy and Daddy in the picture. This one shows the chaotic dysfunction
of a normal family...but then shows how awesome it can all be if we're
all on one team. I love it. Absolutely love it to pieces.
Disney Challenge Day #15: First Disney Movie I Saw
I had a sneaking suspicion that I knew the answer to this one, but I did my research and verified it with my mother.
The first Disney movie I ever saw was "The Lion King". Coincidentally, it remains to this day my very favorite Disney movie ever.
Now I don't remember going to see this movie, but I've heard many stories from my grandparents and multiple aunts/uncles whom I would request to sit and watch this movie with. As the oldest grandchild on my dad's side of the family, I pretty much had everyone wrapped around my finger so an adorable 2-year-old Sydney was nigh unto impossible to resist. I watched this movie hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of time. Timon and Pumbaa were my favorites. Although, being only 2 years old I couldn't quite pronounce the 'Ti' in 'Ti-mon' so his name was simply 'Mon'.
My favorite part was when Simba and Nala were wrestling outside of the elephant graveyard. Nala pins him down and triumphantly announces, "Pinned ya!"
Simba, being the prideful male, tries to pounce on her again and Nala beats him once again.
"Pinned ya again!"
I have gazillions of stories from my dear ol' Uncle Dave telling me that I'd 'pin' him down and gleefully announce in my adorable toddler voice "Pinned ya again" in my best Nala-impression.
I don't know why I dislike this song so much...but I do. I really do. I love Cinderella because she's a classic and because she's a quintessential part of every little girl's childhood. But as far as quality character development and plotline...eh not so much.
She has her strengths, don't get me wrong. There are dozens of good things that I could say about Cinderella. I'm just too big of a story-loving nerd to appreciate the love story aspect. As far as being long-suffering, humble, incredibly compassionate, and forgiving: Cinderella takes the cake. But the whole 'one dance with your soulmate will make you fall head over heels in love' aspect....too much for me. 'One pair of shoes can change your life'. False. I don't buy into it.
Let the hate reign. Maybe I'm heartless and bitter. Entirely possible. But Cinderella and the song "So This Is Love" doesn't do it for me.
"We're not saying you can change him, 'Cuz people don't really change. We only say that love's a force That's powerful and strange. People make bad choices when they're Mad or scared or stressed. But throw a little love their way And you'll bring out their best!"
And that my friends, is wisdom. Plain simple truth stated in a song sung by trolls. Therein lies the magic of Disney. The song "Fixer Upper" from the new movie Frozen takes the cake for my favorite love song simply because it's true. No unrealistic expectations here. No 'smoke and mirrors' effect where someone tries to hide their flaws from their love interest. No deception. Just brutal honesty from his 'family' because they want to see him end up with someone who accepts and loves these flaws of his.
What more could you ask for?
I say yet again: if you haven't gone to see 'Frozen'...just go see it already. It's wonderful.
At first glance, I thought today's category was a bit redundant. Favorite original character? Seriously? I mean, I already answered who my favorite character was! What. The. Heck. But then I stopped to think about it:
Technically Simba isn't a truly original character. Diehard 'Lion King' fans know there's pretty strong evidence that not only is he an animated children's version of Hamlet, but he also is probably based off another cartoon lion ('white lion' something or the other...I should remember this...but I don't).
And by that logic, neither are Belle or Aladdin. Both are based off of stories written hundreds of years ago that have been passed down orally that Disney took the basic plotline and added some of his own magic to them. Not that I'm complaining. I'm not. At all. Why reinvent the wheel? Good storylines are out there. Use them to your full advantage. Some people may call this plagiarizing, but I don't. Disney never takes full credit for inventing this characters on his own. Credit is given where credit is deserved.
So who is my favorite original Disney character?
The first that comes to mind is the adorably lovable Vanellope von Schweetz from the movie 'Wreck-it Ralph'. I fully admit: I have no researched this at ALL so it's very possible that it isn't really all that unique...in which case, I claim Pluto as my favorite.
During my first few semesters at school, I realized that living in a small-town is drastically different than living in my hometown of 2-million + people. One of the foremost ways that I noticed is that I felt completely and totally cut-off from the outside world. We're all college kids. We didn't have a TV and I wasn't in the habit of reading CNN online or anything. I didn't see any newspapers besides our on-campus paper. Current events were non-existent in my world unless they showed up on my Facebook newsfeed. Yes I know, I'm pathetic.
So when 'Wreck-it Ralph' came out, I hadn't even heard of it, let alone see any trailers of it. I remember when it hit Redbox because people were complaining that every single Redbox in town was out of this DVD and it was so dang cute and you just had to see it ASAP. Seriously people: new Disney movies and Mormon college kids. It's a goldmine.
"It's about this video game and the guy is a villain and it's SO cute!"
That's the extent of the reviews I heard from my peers and honestly, it didn't pique my interest in the slightest. I'm not a video gamer. Never have been. I got decently good at playing 'Monkey Ball' on our GameCube because the controls were incredibly simplistic but to this day I'm notoriously terrible at playing even 'MarioKart'. I cannot for the life of me figure out how to stay on the road and I'm incredibly slow. My competitive juices get the better of me and I forget how awful I am at playing, so I'll get stuck playing with my cousins for hours...but I never win. Ever. So a Disney movie about a video game character sounded like a snoozefest.
Spring Break 2013 was spent in St. George, Utah at a condo we rented out for the week with my immediate family and my mom's cousin's family. My youngest sister is a freshman in high school, and the oldest daughter of this other family is in third grade. So there was quite a big age difference. We spent the day playing with their kids and loving it and swimming and all that jazz, and my family would stay up WAYYYYYY too late watching season 3 of Downton Abbey (ohmyheart. Sybil. Heartbreak central). But this family introduced us to 'Wreck-it Ralph'. We probably watched it at least 8 or 9 times that trip.
I fell in love. Total and complete love with Vanellope. She was cute and small and feisty as heck. She didn't take crap from others players. She was competitive and fierce, but also kind of vulnerable because other people looked at her as a glitch. She was the full package for me. I'm really really hoping I get the chance to meet her in Disney. I really hope so.
I'll be honest: I have no idea how Wreck-it Ralph ends. The DVD we watched was scratched so as far as I know, Vanellope orders that everyone who was ever mean to her shall be executed...and that's where it ends. I assume that characters are not executed...but you know what, I'd be totally alright with it if they are. You go Vanellope! Go girl go! :)
Just in case diehard Disney fanatics oppose me and claim t hat Vanellope doesn't fit the bill of an original character, I'm going to choose Pluto as my runner-up.
Growing up, I never had a dog but Pluto made dog ownership seem heavenly. He was so loyal and so loving and downright hilarious. We went to Disneyland a couple of times as a kid and one of my few memories involves waiting in a ridiculously long line because I wanted to meet Pluto. I remember that for whatever reason, I never ended up meeting him that day. Whether Pluto had to go home to his doghouse for the night or because my parents were pooped out and didn't want to wait anymore...I have no idea.
I had a Disney Sing-A-Long video on VHS that I watched religiously when I was kid. We had one that focused on Disneyland park in Anaheim, and the cover of that was blue. And we had one that was green that showcased Disney Animal Kingdom. Watching that blue VHS tape, there's a part at the very very end when they're singing their last song ("When You Wish Upon a Star"), Pluto goes in and licks the cheek of one of the little girls. And it has been my wish for the LONGEST time that Pluto would lick my cheek like that. I met him last Thanksgiving (Thanksgiving 2012) and sadly his costume has changed so he's no longer physically able to lick children's cheeks. Heartbreak is real, my friends. I want my cheek to be licked by Pluto :(
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUhL947dLuA
^^So I've included the link to the song I'm talking about. Pluto licks the girl right at like 1:14 so fast forward and let your heart melt. Add another thing to your Disney bucket list.
So many choices. So many classics. So much comic relief. Nearly impossible to narrow it down. So now it's a tie:
Choice #1: Tantor from Tarzan. He's big. He's red. He's supportive...but he's just so anxious and comical that you can't help but just want to snuggle him. What other child is aware of piranhas and bacteria in the water? He's incredibly intelligent and his little child voice is just too darn cute for me to handle. Terk was a bit too obnoxious for me to fully love, but Tantor was perfection.
Choice #2: Grumpy from Snow White
Maybe it's because my family insists that I'm Grumpy and therefore buys me all Grumpy merchandise, but I think he's fantastic! He's determined to have a bad time regardless of anything that happens to him. Snow tries her very best to get him to soften and be happier, but he is so gosh darn stubborn.
I have a canvas bag with Grumpy on it that, I discovered last summer, was the perfect size to take to the river when I went swimming after classes (woot woot college life!). It fit my water bottle, towel, sunscreen, and assorted snacks without becoming too big and bulky. There was one week last spring where we went swimming 5 days in a row. When there's no AC and you're stuck in rural Idaho with minimal amounts of homework, you go swimming a lot.
But anyways, there was one day that I was hastily packing my things and I turned to my roommate frantically: "Hey have you seen my Grumpy bag?"
My dear guyfriend (name withheld to protect his dignity) was sitting right there and got the strangest look on his face, "Ohhhhhhhhhhh, I get it. Say no more, Syd. I understand".
My roommate and I exchanged looks. We weren't talking in code (though to be fair, we spoke in code quite frequently around him) and had no idea what he was talking about.
"Well...you know... your grumpy bag. Don't worry, I have sisters. I get it. Your monthly circumstances come with being a girl. Don't feel embarrassed," he said, giving me a hug in some weird attempt so I wouldn't feel awkward.
At this point, I busted into laughter and had to explain that my bag literally just had Grumpy the dwarf on it and was not my secret codename for a bag that stored my tampons. He was blushing pretty hardcore every time we brought it up for the rest of the day.
First off, if you're still reading this...kudos to you. You're a patient soul.
Christmas dinner was wrapping up. Ham was delightful. Funeral potatoes are always a delight. Red Hot Jello will always be a favorite of mine. Life was good. We had four Mormon missionaries from our local ward (aka congregation) over for dinner: a pair of elders and a pair of sisters. The conversation had been lovely and the company was oh so grand.
Checking my phone, I had the final voicemail from the mysterious unknown number. I put in on speaker phone so everyone at the table could hear and participate.
The regular cast of characters were back: Mountaineer, Freelancer, Phoenix, Oracle, and Raptor. But we had some new friends joining us for the ride! The missionaries were given code names as well in order to protect their identity (because, you know, the badges on their chest weren't going to give anything away): Alma and Amulek, as well as Sariah and Abish.
The first clue was left on the windshield of Freelancer's car. The instructions were simple: go Christmas carol to each of the houses we had visited earlier in the day.
So we did!
Hats off to the kind and patient souls of the S, J, N, and P families who allowed us to interrupt their Christmas festivities not just once--but twice. That's a whole lot of love.
Thankfully we had the missionaries with us so we could truly tap into that righteous power as we went to sing. Our family can be described many ways with many choice words but "good singers" are not really accurate descriptors. We got really good at singing the first verse of "Joy to the World" (spoiler alert to those families involved: yes, we sang that song at every single house). And it honestly was the nicest way to wrap up Christmas. At least for me :)
I've grown up with these families. Coming home from college is as much about seeing these people as it is about seeing my own immediate family. It takes a village to raise a child...and holy cow I definitely needed a village. I could go into specifics on how each of these families and each of these people have touched my life...but they know who they are. They know (or at least SHOULD know) how much they've meant to me. You're all fantastic and I love each of you to pieces. Thanks for allowing us to come be totally goofy today :)
At each house, these kind people patiently gave us yet another clue: each containing one word to spell out a final message. Piecing it altogether, we obediently followed the instructions to go sing to the G-family.
As much as I had been enjoying these secret missions, it required us to be pretty much constantly on the go all day. Which was fun. It made the presents portion of our Christmas stretch for a good solid 10 hours--which is pretty impressive when the youngest in the family is 14. But it was also kind of tiring. There was no vegging in pj's all day and picking at leftover monkey bread. It was go-go-go-go-go all day. So by the time the third mission rolled around and we'd already gotten two batches of pretty huge gifts, I was telling Mom in the car: "If we get to the end of this and it's like 'Merry Christmas your gift at the end of this mission is the gift of Christmas cheer!' I'm going to be upset!"
I sound like a Grinch. I know. I said it to Mom like 5 times though.
Lo and behold, what does the family clue from the G-family say: "Your gift is FAMILY because families are eternal!"
We all groaned and rolled our eyes and I gave my Mom a hard time about it while we walked back home.
Getting home, there were envelopes with each of our names on it. We got Disney giftcards for us to spend when my family comes to visit me in Florida in April. Merry Christmas to me :) I'll get to wrap up four months of living at Disney World (I'm so excited. So so so so SO excited. Can you tell!?) by my family coming to visit me and we'll party it up down in Florida. I think that'll be really neat.
So...if you're reading down here at the bottom than you are really dedicated or, and the more likely option, incredibly bored. Kudos to you for reading four posts about how Christmas went at our house this year. You're a trooper.
This is the spot where I should make some profound statement about how none of today really matters because at the end of the day, it's all about Christ and what He did for us. And that's true. That's what today is really all about. But, as it was so nicely put on Sunday, if we're living our lives with Christ as the focus...that's what every day should be about.
I have not a clue as to how spending Christmas day being a secret agent with my sisters has some big profound, life-altering, metaphorical meaning. I don't. Not a clue. Maybe tomorrow inspiration will strike and I can come in here and tie this up with a nice clean ending. But hey, it's 12:30 in the morning. It's the 26th now. Christmas 2013 is officially over. A lot has happened in 2013. I've been incredibly lucky and it's taken 20 full years for death to finally be a real scary personal force in my life. I lost people in my family that I was close to...and others that I wasn't as close to. Maybe there isn't some profound spiritual message this year so much as just a really awesomememory that I'm always going to hold onto. Because if nothing else, I got to witness my baby sister kiss a boy on the cheek today and watch her turn a shade that would put even Rudolph's nose to shame. That was pretty darn cool. There are going to be years that I'm not going to get to spend Christmas with my family because I'm busy with my own family (fingers crossed knock on wood).
Dad asked me this year what family traditions were important to keep around this year. I mentioned that the scavenger hunts we did as a kid were always super fun. I don't remember the presents we got or what the clues said or even where we had to look. My memories just involved us running around our house like complete psychos as we tried to find the next clue. We did that this year. Just on a much larger scale using cars and latitude/longitude coordinates and mistletoe and Norwegian.
Growing up, I loved riding in the car with my Aunt Cheryl but she never had any good music that would please a kid. Except for one tape. She had a Sesame Street Christmas tape that I loved and we would listen to it in the middle of the summer when we were going to the Monterey Bay Aquarium or to the beach or on whatever aunty-Sydney adventure she had planned for us. To this day, I can't hear the "Twelve Days of Christmas" being played without hearing the different Sesame Street voices singing all of the parts. It's my favorite version of that song. But anyways, there was a song on that tape that I haven't been able to find anywhere else and even as a kid I remember listening to it and realizing that there was some real profound truth in it.
So. Even though I'm not capable of a clean concise 'concluding paragraph' that would satisfy my high school English teachers, hopefully including this song will get me off of the hook.
Keep Christmas with you :) I'll post the URL in case the video isn't working.
IMF was kind enough not only to give us advance warning that it would be prudent for us to be showered/dressed/put together for the day, but also to give us advance warning to do so. Secret agents or not, we're still three teenage(ish) girls sharing a bathroom so we took our sweet time getting ready.
Another unknown call. Another voicemail.
This time, our first bit of intel was taped to our mailbox. The mission was to involve the same team as before: Mountaineer, Freelancer, and Phoenix with logistics/transportation by Oracle and communications by Raptor. This mission was to be set with the premise that we are contestants on the 'Amazing Race'. In order to achieve the next clue, we would have to complete some sort of obstacle at each checkpoint. Finding the first clue behind a utility box down the street, we discovered that we were going to go visit some family friends. So off to the S-Family we went (Name withheld for the safety of the families involved with this secret mission).
The S-Family presented us with two different options. The options were very cleverly named but I cannot remember what those names were...but I know we picked option one! As the two options were uncovered, we discovered that this first challenge was an eating challenge. Option two required us to each eat two very long very stale gummy worms. Phoenix and I wolfed them down without a problem. Freelancer...struggled. Phoenix and I were grateful for the option we had chosen because the alternative choice would have left us each chugging an ENORMOUS glass of milk...and the two of us are not big milk-drinkers.
Our next stop was the J-Family. This family informed us that the title of the challenges taking place in their home were Mistletoe-themed. Freelancer, feeling like option one hadn't served us very well the last time, decided we should choose option two. Option one would have required each secret agent to stand at least 10 feet away and shoot her sister in the foot with a Nerf gun (get it? Missile. Toe. Mistletoe. Bahahahahaha). Yet unfortunately...that is not the option Freelancer stuck us with.
Instead, we were told that we each had to kiss every eligible bachelor in the room.
Blushing. Cue lots and lots and lots of blushing.
Now thankfully, there were only two of these eligible bachelors to be found. And they both were gentlemanly. Though I will say, Mr A. J-Family leapt to his feet pretty dang quick after hearing this challenge read aloud ;) I won't reveal his identity but I've known him for a while. A long while. Like...back in the days of Joy School a long while. He and his brother Mr M. J-Family were good sports and were each kissed on the cheek by the three of us.
Let's be real right now *to be read in a very airy high princess-like voice*: at that point, this mission was no longer about the reward. It was reward in and of itself to just have the chance to kiss the cheek of such fine men.
Ahem. Anyyyyyways ;)
Phoenix was still blushing furiously when we got the N-Family. This family required that at least two sisters do a song/dance routine to the song of their choice from the new Disney movie 'Frozen'. I opted out, but Phoenix and Freelancer rocked it with a charming duet of 'Do You Want to Build A Snowman'.
The P-Family was our last stop for this adventure. We had two choices at this stop: Popcorn or Wiseman. Phoenix went with Popcorn (coincidentally, her guilty pleasure of choice) and we were told that we had to sing the beloved LDS Primary classic "Popcorn Popping on the Apricot Tree" with full finger movements and everything. The P-Family patriarch reserved the right to make us sing it multiple times if he didn't feel that we were singing loudly and enthusiastically enough. Suffice it to say, we sang that song a total of three times out in the middle of their yard. A woman on a bicycle was even flagged down to stop and listen to our performance. No, we had never seen this woman before. But she had very high praise for our singing capabilities.
All that said and done, we returned home where we had recovered intel leading us to yet another hidden Christmas present. Phoenix got a new phone. Freelancer got a 'new' camera (the same one that she'd lost at Girl's Camp but was found just before Christmas) and I got a new digital camera to take to Florida with me woot woot!
If you're still reading this and actually give a hoot as to how the whole saga wrapped up, there's another blog post for that! Keep reading! :)
A garbage bag stuffed with discarded and shredded wrapping paper lay in the middle of the empty living room floor. The television held images of a dancing fire burning brightly in someone else's fireplace while Christmas music played. Each of us were still pajama-clad and sitting around the dining room table feasting on traditional Christmas morning breakfast: monkey bread and cocoa moo (aka chocolate milk). Knowing that we were awaiting a call that would relay details of the initiation process into IMF, my phone was sitting next to me at the table.
My phone rang.
A call from an unknown number.
Father questioned my choice of Fantasmic music as my ringtone but hey, I love it. Don't judge me.
This blogpost would be WAYYYYYY too long if I typed out every single cryptic message we received, so I'll summarize:
All three secret-agents-to-be would receive codenames. I, Mountaineer, was the team leader. Freelancer and Phoenix were my teammates. Oracle (Mother) was in charge of logistics and transportation. Raptor (Father) was in charge of communication between the team and Headquarters. There were three missions that would take place over the course of the day. Mission one was focused on retrieving a thumbdrive containing project 'Whetstone' that had critical information contained on it. Civilians were NOT to know of our mission and in the case that we were captured or killed, the Secretary would disavow all knowledge of our information.
Each of us (Mountaineer, Freelancer, and Phoenix) were texted identical set of longitude and latitude coordinates. With the magic of GoogleMaps, we were able to discover the location where Raptor had scheduled intel to be dropped. Discretion being key for the safety of any civilian eyes who might be reading this report...intel was found in the designated location (under a bench at a bus stop).
This started us on a hunt that last for about an hour as we traveled across the city following these different clues. Tasks included wishing a family 'Merry Christmas' in Norwegian (please note: GoogleTranslate makes the pronunciation much more difficult than it actually is), traveling to the classroom where Freelancer attends early morning seminary five days a week, and locating a handicapped parking sign at a local park.
It was at this point, we were giving coordinates to a safehouse where the thumbdrive containing Project Whetstone was hidden. As we received text messages from an unknown individual that I began referring to as 'Q' (Seriously people, the humor is much better if you've seen James Bond movies and/or the tv series 'Alias'), we were warned that hostiles were in the area of this safehouse and they might fire at us with super soakers. Having a twenty minute drive between our current location and this safehouse, I texted Q to ask him how many hostiles our intel suggested were in the area. We were told that the information was unknown at this time. I asked again, asking for just an estimate so the three completely unarmed still-basically-in-pajamas agents could have some idea of what to expect.
Q responded thusly: "Cannot say as this is a party line. Comms being monitored. This line is being cut. Good luck IMF. This message will now self-destruct".
I sent one final text message in response, informing Q that he had been fired. (To this day, the three agents do not know the formal identity of the agent referred to as 'Q'. We would like to take this opportunity to commend him for his impressive improvisational skills and wish him a Merry Christmas).
To say that we were paranoid to approach this random house in the middle of suburbia California was an understatement. I stood watch, looking frantically up and down the street for the first sign of hostiles armed with super soakers, while Phoenix and Freelancer went to work looking for the thumbdrive. We found an odd duct-tape-wrapped object about the size of a thumbdrive and unwrapped to discover that it was, indeed, the necessary object. (No, there were no super soakers involved. Yes, we were all a little disappointed).
Returning home, we plugged the thumbdrive in to see a message informing us that Project Whetstone had been safely recovered and the Secretary had left a Christmas present out by our recycling bin.
I would gladly tell you what that present was....but if I told you, then I'd have to kill you ;)
END OF MISSION ONE.
Confession: I was too lazy to write all 3 missions up in 1 big long post. The other missions have been written about, just in two different posts on this same blog. They're pretty easy to find and not cleverly named so there shouldn't be too much confusion.
I have to say, Hercules is the man. He's the epitome of an underdog: small and scrawny, not well liked, constantly in trouble, and not a whole lot of self-esteem. The storyline is beautiful. It's not about loving yourself for who you are, but discovering how you can better the world and become the person that you want to be. The Hercules of ancient mythology isn't a very kind and uplifting individual (murders his wife and family blah blah blah) so I absolutely love the Disney spin that was put onto this character.
Not to mention that the song "Go the Distance" is the ultimate Disney jam. I got to play it in a piano recital in either my junior or senior year of high school and absolutely fell in love with it. Coincidentally, I was also reading the 'Percy Jackson' series at that moment in time so it was a Greek mythology overload. Can we just fall in love with the beauty of the soundtrack from the entire movie? I mean, the Muses are fantastic. If they could provide the backup music for my life, that'd be swell. "I Can't Say I'm In Love" is possibly the ultimate love song. It describes my feelings of love and romance in a way that no Taylor Swift song could ever possibly come close to doing so.
Herc is great but the minor characters are fantastic as well: Meg is the best romantic interest ever, Phil is hilarious, and Hades is a great villain. I'd be a little bitter too if my grand old brother exiled me to take care of dead people for eternity. Can't say that I blame him too much for trying to upset the balance of the universe and overthrow Olympus. I don't necessarily agree with him for putting everyone in shackles and having the Titans kind of destroy the earth....but I can empathize with him.
Sorry, I found this hilarious
I'm all about romances that lead to some bit of sacrifice and make you a better person in the end. Hercules and Meg definitely fit that definition. She shoves her suddenly-weak-demigod-boyfriend out of the way and allows herself to be crushed by a stone pillar that was toppled over by a Titan out to kill the previously mentioned boyfriend. That does NOT sound like a pleasant way to go, but it was an incredible act of selflessness. Then there's Herc who willingly swims through a sea of dead souls (Ewwwwww. Ew ew ew. EWWW!) to reclaim Meg's soul. That's some major commitment.
Last but not least, he gives up the chance to be a full-fledged god and live with his family and his peers on Mount Olympus with intense cosmic power...to be a mortal on earth with Meg. He doesn't even put it up for debate. As soon as realizes that Meg can't be with him on Olympus, he's like "Ooh sorry Dad! I'm out!" Even Arwen in LOTR had some sort of internal debate spanning 3 movies about giving up eternal youth to be with her man. Way to go Hercules! You go Herc!
Disclaimer: I solemnly swear that the following events are being truthfully and accurately reported as they happened at the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black on the 24th of December in the year 2013.Also, if you do not understand the reference made in the title of this post please find a Netflix account and watch the television series 'Alias' ASAP. It is critical for your joy that you do so.
'Twas a typical Christmas Eve scene.
It was mid-afternoon. I was reclined on the couch, blanket on my lap, puppy dog lying on my feet, and laptop propped open on my lap. The Christmas tree was sparkling. I had finished up my wrapping earlier in the day and all of my presents were gleefully hidden underneath our tree. Mom was in the kitchen making her annual cinnamon sugar pecans so the house smelled lovely. All was well.
Feeling like I should get up and grab an ice pack for my neck since whiplash is a doozy (or, more realistically, holler at mom to bring one to where I was lounging), I stretched and prepared to tell the sleeping dog to get up off of me.
Then suddenly: my cell phone rang.
An unknown number was calling my phone.
Instinct told me to just ignore it. Probably just my sister trying to prank call me. Again. Oooh wait. No. No it's no a sister. I'm home and I can monitor their movements. Neither one of them are on the phone right now.
I was intrigued (and bored) so I answered the phone.
"An important message for Miss Black" a deep mysterious voice was on the other end of the phone
Cue the Mission Impossible theme music.
No, seriously. The music started playing through the phone. I've included a link for your own listening pleasure so you can get a sense of what I was experiencing ;) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3snywZWT6WE
"Due to your driving skill and your high intelligence,you have been selected for special agent training with I.M. Force--the I.M.F. Your cover story is that you are preparing to work as an intern at Disney World. Your objective today involves three critical missions that you must complete successfully. Your first mission will test your knowledge of spycraft and your ability to think on your feet. The second mission will test your social interactions and the ease with which you can move about our society. This will require you and your team to be polished, refined, and presentable. The third mission involves your ability to recruit others to this agency and how well you can lead a team in solving the puzzle."
That was it. There was a beep and the message was over. I half-expected to hear a voice warn me that my phone was going to self-destruct at the conclusion of this message (c'mon, I've seen The Incredibles).
My dad recommended that the next time I get a call from an unknown number, I let it go to voicemail so the message can be saved and heard by a large group as many times as needed. Thankfully, this IMF recruiter called me again and left a voicemail with the same message. I was feeling highly unique and privileged to be recruited for such a top-secret mission....
...and then my two younger sisters got calls from the unknown number :(
I got over my disappointment of not being The Chosen One, and realized this was probably IMF recruiting the team that they spoke of. A team of sisters? Uhhh AWESOME.
"Kelsey! Don't answer the phone! Let it go to voicemail!" I screeched.
She answered the phone. *Facepalm*. She literally had just one job and she couldn't even do that. Sigh. It was going to be interesting with her on my team if she couldn't even let a phone call go to voicemail (teehee love you Kelsey). Britney's phone call was soon to follow and hers went to voicemail.
We each received the same message, but with no further instruction. We anticipate further instructions will arrive tomorrow (Christmas day).
Update: An envelope was taped to the front door from the IMF with a formal written transcript of the messages that we were each left. It will be interesting to see what the future holds.
Maybe I'm cheating a little bit on this one, but I maintain that it's still fair. While Anna from 'Frozen' is my favorite Disney character, I have to say that Belle from 'Beauty and the Beast' is my favorite heroine. Technically, Belle isn't a princess throughout like 99% of her movie and therefore she's more of a heroine than a princess.
I feel like there's very little that needs to be said about this topic. She really is the best. She's well-read, open-minded, loyal to her family, and--above all--she's not desperate! We don't really know much about Cinderella's dating life, but I'm going to go out on a limb and suspect that she didn't really have much time to go out on many dates after working all day. She fell head over heels with literally the very first guy she danced with and knew nothing about him other than that he's charming.
Belle had Gaston wrapped around her finger. He was the most popular boy in school (or in their case, the most popular guy in their poor provincial town) and he was nuts for her. He wanted her to marry him and bear him lots of little babies. And for every other female in that town, that seemed like the ideal life. But Belle was not only wise enough to see that Gaston wasn't exactly the kindest fellow, she also had enough self-respect to turn him down. She wasn't so desperate for love and affection that she settled for the first bozo that came knocking. Not only that, but she was incredibly polite in her rejection of Gaston. Belle is just a classy lady.
In my limited-yet-often-awkward-and-humorous dating encounters, I know
that it can be difficult to distinguish between attention/affection and
actually having true feelings for someone. Kudos for Belle for being
able to not only tell the difference, but being brave enough to act on
it. While she had a severe case of wanderlust, she realized that her
chances of leaving the town were slim and her chances of finding a
suitable man were even more slim. Gaston was potentially the only
marriage offer that she was going to get. She chose to live the single
life rather than settle for a man that she didn't love. Coming from
living in a Mormon college town where it's pretty taboo to not find
yourself a man and get hitched at a young age, Belle is pretty much a rockstar in my humble opinion.
That's even before you get into any of the awesomeness that occurs as she encourages her dad to follow his dreams despite how badly his mere existence embarrasses her with the cool kids in town. Or how she immediately jumps on a horse to head off into scary wolf-infested woods when her dad goes missing. Not to mention how perfectly selfless she is when she doesn't even hesitate to take her father's place in jail for the rest of her life. Then we get into how she sees all of the Beast's flaws and insecurities and character defects and his terrifying physical appearance, and still falls in love with him anyways.
Please, find me a better Disney heroine. Belle is the cream of the crop.
Finals are over. The apartment is cleaned and moved out of. I have evacuated out of the cold frozen potato-infested region. I survived one heck of a car accident (goodbye Phyllis the Toyota Camry! I have never had a noble steed to call my own, but I do believe you were the noblest of the noble as far as car/steeds go!). My 15 hour road-trip morphed into a 30+ hour road-trip due to the complications that come with totaling a vehicle in the middle of nowhere.
But all is well! I am home at last in the Golden State where you can step outside in a tee-shirt and not catch hypothermia. As much as I love that quaint little college town, I do not miss my nosehairs freezing when I'm outside. Life is beautiful. There's nothing before me now except for four months of pure magical bliss. Yes, Christmas is going to be wonderful. This is my favorite time of the year for all of those happy warm fuzzy reasons. But for me, the joyous feelings aren't going to stop and I can postpone the entrance back to the real world for a little bit longer.
Why, you might ask?
Because I'm going to go live and work at Walt Disney World for four months. I'm under no illusions: I'm hired because college kids are totally cheap labor and yes, my pay is going to be less than it would be if I had a minimum wage job here in my hometown. I'm totally aware of it. But on my days off I can take a picture with Flynn Rider and ride Space Mountain...so I'm not complaining :)
In order to channel my somewhat-obsessive/overly excited feelings towards this new adventure, I turned to Pinterest for some ideas on how to keep myself busy/distracted. And I stumbled upon a 30 Day Disney Challenge for bloggers. According to the beautiful CountDown App on my phone (hush, don't judge me), I have 14 days until I catch a plane to Orlando which means that I'll have to double up and do two days worth of challenges at a time butttttt that's totally fine with me :) So....let's do this thing!
Day Number One: Favorite Character
The issue with me (and trust me, I have many many issues) is that I have so many favorites that I really struggled to nail them all down into one category because they could fit in so many. For example: Belle is my favorite princess but technically she's a heroine. But anyways, I digress.
For the issue of favorite character, there really was no debate. If you know anything about me and my love of Disney, it's that I absolutely adore the Lion King. So my favorite character is, naturally, Simba.
It took me many, many moons to understand the themes and the dynamics all at work in "The Lion King". No, it's not completely original. Yes, it's based off of Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. But man oh man do I absolutely love it. 20 years of life later and I can still enjoy it. I have way too much of it committed to memory and I'm at the point where I have to monitor who I'm with when I watch it because I will do the full running dialogue throughout the entire thing.
Last Christmas the Broadway stage production of "The Lion King" came to San Francisco and my Christmas present to myself were two tickets to go and see it. My younger sister accompanied me and while she enjoyed it, I don't think she geeked out nearly as much as I did. I was in absolute heaven. If you ever have the chance to go see it GO. I'll be going again in a heartbeat if it ever comes to my neck of the woods again. The costumes are incredible and the way that the actors have taught themselves to move like wild animals...it's pretty amazing to watch. I'm a fan.
The nerdiness has continued since my discovery of using 'Spotify' to listen to movie/musical soundtracks while I work on homework or write. The soundtrack for the Broadway version of the Lion King is powerful. My personal favorite song: "Endless Night". So much beauty and depth. It's more than a story about a lion and his silly meerkat/warthog friends. It's a movie with powerful themes and motifs on life and accepting who you are despite the mistakes that you've made. Plus...c'mon, Pumbaa is adorable ;)
I'm including a link to a YouTube video of a performance of 'Endless Night' on the Rosie O'Donnell show back in the day. Seriously go watch it and just fall in love. Plus: look at that costuming. A man. But a lion. At the same time. Pure genius.
This one is so hard because I feel like Pixar really knocks it out of the park with the majority of their movies. Pixar is really hit-or-miss with me: I absolutely love them, or I'm not a fan. They're definitely not mediocre by anyone's standards.
