World of imagination, magic, and excitement

Have stumbled onto new (re)discoveries...!

*During the past week I've been watching on YouTube fanmade trailers of the 2015 Cinderella in Non/Disney styles. Very cool! They have reintroduced me to the interesting notion of crossover pairings, too!( Read more... )

*Another discovery I made on YouTube is Grimm Reflections, a fairy tale webseries which has retold the stories of Snow White and Rapunzel. It is an excellent series. In Snow White the characters are layered, there's surprising twists, and the end...! Rapunzel is like a miniseries, short yet brilliant. Suspenseful, beautifully shot and edited, great music. I will go down as a hardcore Will/Rapunzel shipper. Great casts in both seasons. And June 1st kicks off season three: Cinderella. Bring it on!( Read more... )

*So I've seen Disney's The Jungle Book twice at the movies now. I actually wasn't interested in seeing it at first. Growing up I watched the animated cartoon a lot, but it never was among my favorite Disney films. It wasn't until after the live-action movie came out and I kept hearing so many good things about it I finally decided to check it out. And...WOW. It blew me away. Favreau's The Jungle Book may now be my definitive version. Not only was it visually stunning, but had story with heart. The voice cast was all perfect. Neel Sethi made me totally believe in him as Mowgli and in his world. Shere Khan has catapulted into my top 5 Disney villains. Kudos to (terrifying) Idris Elba! I love so much the relationship between Mowgli and Bagheera. Unlike the cartoon, I felt their friendship was stronger, more of a focus point than compared to Mowgli's and Baloo's. (There is no "Papa Bear" or discussion of Baloo adopting the boy in the new film.) Instead Mowgli longs for Bagheera's approval, looking up to him very much as a father figure. And it is so touching.

The Jungle Book I think ties with Cinderella as my favorite live-action Disney film (both are head and shoulders above Maleficent). After the release of that stunning teaser trailer (the music!!!!) last week, I am looking forward to seeing what Beauty and the Beast has in store. :)

*Can't believe I've worked at camp for 10 years. It does not seem that long, nor did I ever imagine I'd be allowed to do so. It has been a gift.

*Was introduced to Spotify this summer. Pretty cool.

*Was also introduced to "Duck Dynasty." Now that is an odd, funny show.

*Recently saw "The Incredibles" for the first time in years. I'd forgotten how awesome a movie it is: plot, characters, music, animation, issues/lessons. One of Pixar's best. Have been searching for fanfiction.

*Have gotten into the cooking show "Chopped" for some reason.

*"Carousel" was on TV recently. Forgot how long the dance sequences were. Still love the music and acting.

*Am definitely turning into a figure skating fan. Can't wait for the season to start, and see all the new programs. While waiting, I've been eating up the very informative The Skating Lesson podcasts.

*A lot of my summer reading centered on Jane Austen. I didn't read any of her books, but books about her. "Jane Austen for Dummies" was a favorite; I really liked learning the context in which her writing took place. I learned a lot about the times, events, customs and issues, which I think will shed more light on her writings when I reread her books. I am currently working through the Jane Austen Mystery series which are proving to be quite the delight.

*Way back in the 1990s, Olympic Gold Medalist Dorothy Hamill starred in an ice show, "Cinderella...Frozen in Time." I have it on a very old VHS and used to watch a lot when I was little. To my surprise I discovered the music for the show was available on CD and was able to get a copy. The music is so lovely. It was one of my favorite things about the show.

*Dear little Ori! He can be so sweet and polite. I think I will have change my ranking of the dwarves!

*Fanfiction recs:
No Living Man (LotR)
Jack Jack vs Edna Mode (Incredibles)
Green Tea Monsters (Incredibles)
Oblivion

I have a few tiny obsessions at the moment...

*Rogers and Hammerstein's Cinderella. I've been combing YouTube for this delightful musical for a few weeks now. An interesting thing I've discovered is that there seems to be two stage versions of the musical. The first one is based on the 1957 original production starring Julie Andrews. The second is based on the 1997 Brandy version. I found high school performances of both versions on YouTube; it was very fascinating seeing how the versions differed not only from each other but also from the TV productions they were based on. Rogers and Hammerstein were geniuses.







*I accidentally discovered a TV series of fairy tales that aired in Germany last year called Acht auf einen Streich (in Engllish Eight in One Go) that was put up on YouTube. The series include popular tales like Sleeping Beauty and Rapunzel and less well known ones such as The Clever Peasant Girl and The Goose Girl. I've watched almost every single one and like them very much. They are all wonderful adaptations with some neat changes and touches, beautifully filmed, wonderful music, and seem to be well cast. Ones I've liked best so far have been Rumpelstiltskin, The Goose Girl, and Snow White. If only there were subtitles or I knew German... *sigh*



*I found the First Look at Toy Story 3 yesterday and can't get enough if it! Did anyone else go "AWWWWW!!!" when Andy choose to take Woody to college? (Shows what Stinky Pete knew in Toy Story 2.) Seriously, my heart melted so much. Can't wait for June 18th!



Have a wonderful weekend everybody!! :)