Ten in a Bucket

Inspired by my friend Anne. Oops, I mean Ann. Without an e. I don’t know why. She wrote a post about the ten most important things on her Bucket List. Do you have a Bucket List? I’m sure you have. I have never seen the movie, but I have one; it’s a “Before I die, I want to…” sort of thing. Ann’s got me thinking. There are always, constantly, forever things that I casually say ‘someday I’ll do that’, but… will I? Will I even care next week? What are the things that have endured on my list for years, and will stay there until accomplished? Things I’m quite sure I won’t change my mind about. Ever. Until I kick the Bucket. Bwaha.

1) Hang-gliding. The closest man has come to actually flying. This has been on my list since I was just 3 years old and my family visited my Aunt in Georgia. We took a trip to Lookout Mountain TN, and I watched the hang-gliders launching from the top of the mountain and fly down to the valley below. (There are even pictures of me watching, but there’s a baby sleeping in my lap so I can’t go look for them right now.)  It is magical. I can imagine how absolutely free you feel.

2) Visit Scotland in general, and Foulis Castle in Particular.   It’s not a huge, romantic, fairy-tale castle. But it’s very real. And it’s the seat of my family’s clan. So… that’s a no-brainer. 🙂

30 Day Meme, Day 16: Disney Princess

16. Your favorite Disney Princess movie

I thought this would torment me since I love Disney movies in general, but surprisingly I know which one is my favorite!

Tangled comes very close. I adore that movie. But I found that it’s confusing the children. I’m not suggesting a boycott or any such silly thing, but most of the kids I know who like Tangled did not know the story of Rapunzel before it, and so their idea of the story is the backward version Disney put forth. HE was a prince, SHE was the daughter of peasants, and they wandered TWO YEARS before finding each other again. For me, part of the charm of the movie was seeing the re-interpretation of the story, but sadly, too many think it IS the original. Take my advise – go forth and read unto thy children the original before they watch the Disney. This goes for pretty much all the fairy tales.

Enchanted also bounced around in my head for a few minutes as a possible favorite candidate. I like how there are references to all the classic princess movies throughout. I love how Disney was laughing at itself. I like how she fell in love with a normal, imperfect guy and saw how unrealistic the love-before-first-sight thing is. But it didn’t quite make the cut because frankly, I hate the scene toward the end with the witch turning into a dragon. It’s really painful to watch and listen to. The dialog is painfully cliche and awkward. I feel like a five year old wrote it. I sometimes fast-forward to where she dies and just watch the kiss at the end. 😛

So, the winner iiiiiiiiiiiiis:

Cinderella.

As cheesy as it is, as un-empowering as it is for girls, I love Cinderella. From the first bit of narration while the book is opening, it will give me goosebumps. I wish my voice would split into multiple parts so I can sing all of the harmonies in Sing Sweet Nightingale. Jak-Jak and Gus’s attempts to get the key and climb up that huge flight of stairs makes me break out into a cold sweat. Okay, maybe I’m getting a bit out of hand, but I did beg for the newly released DVD for my 18th birthday, and as a child I did once have a dream that I was Cinderella and Prince Charming gave me a box of chocolates. Yes. And part of it is the beautiful, beautiful artwork. Aaaah, they rarely create animated movies with that quality of artwork any more.

30 Day Meme – Day 12: Harry Potter

12. Your thoughts or opinions about Harry Potter.

 

I have not read Harry Potter ( I read about two pages of the first book once, and enjoyed it while it lasted.) or seen any of the movies, so I have no right to an opinion on him (thank you, C.S. Lewis for making that clear in my mind.).

I do have thoughts though. Growing up in a circle of Christian Homeschoolers, there was a huge amount of debate and general hubbub when Harry burst on the scene years ago – I hate to think how many years – about whether he was teaching children that witch-craft was okay, even cool/fun/whathaveyou. I am quite sure that a lot of kids did look into it as a result of reading Harry Potter. Whether this means Rowling is evhul and HP books should be burned in a Nazi-style mound on the village green – I highly doubt it. In fact, I expect that any book, regardless of how innocent or blatant it is, can be used for good or bad. I expect the huge popularity of H.P. has something more to do with interesting characters and intriguing writing on Rowling’s part. I’ll read the series by and by (Especially now… we have foster children coming to live with us soon, and one girl was just telling me she is reading H.P. I want to read them in order to know if THINGS need to be discussed with the children.). Just haven’t gotten through the shocking number of un-read books that already sit on my shelves.

As a disclaimer, please don’t think that I take true witch-craft lightly. Whether you believe it exists for real or not, (I believe it does) the fantasy type and the real type can sometimes get confused, which is why a lot of people don’t like their children reading it. I totally understand that, and if you chose not to read it or let your children read it, that is completely up to you. That’s why I DO plan on reading them, so I can know first-hand if I would rather keep them from my future children until they are old enough to filter things for themselves. I didn’t read much fantasy until I was 18 or so, because mom didn’t like it (legends and fairy tales were okay – you know, King Arthur and Cinderella. That stuff.). I don’t view this as overly-protective; only protective. I actually think I enjoy fantasy that much more now because it’s newer to me. I also have a strong appreciation for books that are not fantasy. I could see myself as a child as being the type to embrace fairies and dragons and spells to the point of not being satisfied with ‘real life’ stories.

30 Day Meme: Day 3: Favorite TV

3. Your favorite television program.

I have  a hard time playing the favorite game with anything, be it books, movies, tv shows, colors, flowers, foods, anything really. There’s always a certain type or genre that I prefer, but pinning down one as absolutely better than any other… ugh. So to help myself along, I’ll ask the question “If I could watch any TV show right now, which would it be?”

Huh. I surprised myself. After a moment’s reflection, I would watch a few episodes of Alton Brown’s Good Eats.

I thought I’d chose something light and fluffy like Psych or I Love Lucy, or something fantasy related like Once Upon a Time. But nope, right now I want to watch Good Eats. I like the easy scientific break-down of why food does what it does, and of course, Alton’s goofy humor. Yes, I realize that an awful lot of my posts have been about food lately. Oh, and you should definitely check out his books “I’m Just Here for the Food“, (cooking) and “I’m Just Here for More Food“ (baking). I own and cherish both.

Mirror Mirror

Last night I went with my family to view Mirror Mirror, the latest fairy-tale re-telling to hit the big screen. The preview looked pretty funny, with a good chance of being rather cheesey. I have to say, the movie exceeded my expectations! It was one big lark.

The Queen was sufficiently evil/vain to wreck havoc on Snow White’s country, but her silly vanity was amusing at the same time. The Prince was VERY tall, dark, and handsome, brave and strong… yes they let him laugh at himself, and the glint of light off his perfect teeth in one scene cut through the ridiculousness of the slightly over-the-top story to let you know – THEY KNOW it’s over-the-top. They are enjoying it very much, thank you. The Seven Dwarves were, let’s be frank, HILARIOUS. They kept us in stitches  in every scene that includes them. The part where they are trying to break the spell on the Prince… well, you’ll just have to watch it to find out.

But my favorite aspect of the entire thing was Snow White herself.

For a little background, I am 100% a complete sucker for fairy-tales and re-telling of fairy-tales. I love Disney Princess movies and was rather devastated when they announced that Tangled was to be the last Disney Princess production. (Seriously?!?! I’m still highly doubtful that this edict will last!) But in re-tellings, how they handle the princess is very crucial to me. I realize that the fine lady languishing away until a hero comes to rescue her can get old. However, this habit writers have of turning a sweet, virtuous young woman into a leather-wearing, midriff-baring, ninja-warrior-princess is NOT the solution. At All. Ever. In Any Instance. In other words, it gets under my skin, just slightly.

So, to sum up here, I absolutely love how they handled Snow White in Mirror Mirror. She is beautiful. Skin white as snow, hair black as night and lips red as, well, strawberries.  She is sweet, thinking of others before herself, trying to help those less fortunate, and very feminine. (Note to World: this is not a bad thing.) She is timid at first, like a princess of old fairy tales, but gradually learns to stand on her own two feet and to take care of herself; not in a pushy I-don’t-need-a-man kind of way, but of a strong woman who can survive in a rough world.

And of course, Good overcomes Evil. And love conquers all. So I give Mirror Mirror 5 stars and will probably buy it was soon as it comes out on DVD.