12/31/10

The Idiots Who Run Disney And Why It's Not Just Them

Before we begin, go read this: Disney and fairy tales parting ways

First off, I want to know how I missed this piece of information until now. Really, the only reason I found out is because I was trying to think of who else could become a Disney Princess and my Google search led me to the article.

See, now, the main problem behind this is America and her values. (Which I have major issues with anyway.) Specifically, in this case, the idea that money is everything and you have to please everyone or it’s just not worth it. Whatever happened to taking chances? And you know the irony with that is they make popular movies (behind which the idea is money is everything and you have to please everyone) that are about taking chances. UGH.

I’m also curious... There was a big break between all those “classic” Disney Princess movies that came out in the 90s and The Princess and The Frog. Wouldn’t that be called “coming back later because someone has a fresh take on it”? Definitely was fresh... Set in New Orleans, in the 20th century, and an African American Princess (plus a... whatever race he is Prince). Tangled went back to the “classic” a bit more but with completely different animation. Both of them have more focus and more developed Princes. I would call that a fresh take! Wouldn’t you? To be honest, the jazz feel of The Princess and The Frog almost bugs me and the new animation for Tangled bothers me slightly because it’s not the “classic” feel of Disney Princess movies.

And, really, who cares if it appeals more to girls? Oh, wait, those who believe in the idea that money is everything and you have to please everyone or it’s just not worth it. LAME. It doesn’t just appeal to girls of a certain age, either. Or maybe I’m just weird and have weird friends. Because all my friends (including a good number of males, I might add) loved The Princess and The Frog and loved Tangled. I know grown women and men who love these movies. I know one male in specific, in his mid-late twenties, who has all the lyrics to Tangled memorized. And he’s not gay.

Another question. If they don’t want to be known for their Princesses why do they market it? All the CDs, the posters, the coloring books, etc., etc., etc. Magic Kingdom is centered around Cinderella’s Castle!

So, maybe they don’t exactly give girls the best ideas about what they should be. It’s true, life is not a fairy tale. But at a young age you should be given the opportunity to pretend. You should be given the opportunity to dress up in princess dresses and sparkly tiaras, then look in the mirror and believe that you’re a beautiful princess. Even in an older age it’s still fun to pretend, isn’t it? Even though we know it’s not real, we can still imagine. And now I’m in danger of getting into another point I strongly believe in so I’ll let it go.

The point is, there is a bigger issue--several bigger issues behind this. And something needs to be done about it.

12/24/10

Christmas

I've always tried to think of the most memorable Christmas I've had and I've only ever been able to think of interesting presents that we've been given: a trip to Disney, tickets to see The Lion King Broadway. It's kind of annoyed me that I've never been able to think of something less secular, less surface.

This isn't what I was hoping for.

My grandma, the one I was named after, the one who lives two hours away from school (part of the reason I decided to go to that school) just passed away this morning.

I've never had to deal with a death even close to this close to home. I've been to two funerals in my entire life. One of them I don't remember, the other one was a lady in our ward and I didn't really know her that well (yet I still cried like a broken faucet). So I'm... well, it hasn't sunk in, that's for sure.

So I've decided that, at this time, I'm going to share some memories with you.

For five years when I was young, we lived just an hour away from them so we saw them a lot. Before I was in school and over the summer we would go over to help clean the house every Wednesday. Well, it was my mom cleaning and I'd either play in the children's room or spend time with Grandma in her room. We'd watch movies on her big water bed, snuggle with the cats, go through her copious amounts of jewelry (I'd usually leave with some that she'd given me), etc. I believe the one time that I've seen Sleeping Beauty was on that bed with her. To this day, most of my jewelry is Grandma jewelry. I owe my love of cats to her.

We never have family reunions on my dad's side, not official ones anyway since it's just him and his sister and then his mom. We used to have family reunions on my mom's side every single year. Not so much since the grandparents started spending so much time in the hospital, but... It was always on the east coast beach. Either North Carolina or South Carolina. Grandma would go out deep into the ocean with all us cousins and ride the waves, teaching us how best to not get toppled and how easy it is to float in the salty water. Who cares about boogey boards and other contraptions they make to make beach fun more fun? My favorite part about going to the beach is riding the waves way out deep when my feet can't touch the floor of the ocean anymore.

A few years ago when I was still in high school I flew out to Virginia to spend a month alone with my grandparents and work in the garden for them. It was then that the child-like love for them started to fade. Spending so much time with them without the filter of my parents and siblings revealed a lot of their faults to me and I got annoyed. Plus, you know, I was a teenager. This trip was also the first time I visited the campus that I now call home. At that time I was very determined to be a BYU student and was appalled when, for example, SVU's auditorium proved to be smaller than my high school's. However, Grandma was determined (and wouldn't let it down until I actually decided to go to SVU) that I was going to SVU. It was perfect for me, etc., etc. I hated it.

I remember the first time they were able to make it to one of my events at SVU. It was a choir concert, the first one of the Spring Semester. They took me out for dinner and I was really excited in the days leading up to the concert for them to be there. However, about a week before I had stayed up until something like four in the morning chatting online with someone I happened to have had a ginormous crush on. This news was passed on to my grandparents by my mom and, therefore, it came up within the first fifteen minutes that they arrived. I was given a small lecture about not falling behind on studies by my grandma, etc., etc. and spent the rest of the ride to dinner biting my tongue and really, really annoyed.

I was going to spend Spring Break with a friend who lived fifteen minutes away from my grandparents but it didn't work out, so I spent it with my grandparents. At the time Grandma was in the hospital for the bajillioneth time and Grandpa was still working. It was miserable. Most of the time I spent at the hospital visiting Grandma was spent on my computer, writing, avoiding topics of conversation with her.

I spent this last Thanksgiving up there. I have cousins who live there as well, so I was determined to stay at cousins' house rather than Grandma and Grandpa's. Just before I had gone through a really hard and complicated breakup. The relationship was short but had moved extremely fast and had made an impression on my grandparents which was obvious by the first conversation I had with them that break. Grandpa asked me if I "had a boyfriend this week" and Grandma made the ex sound like a villain. I quickly corrected her and told her the situation was complicated.

The next day I was able to spend a good amount of time with just the two of them and took the opportunity to explain the situation to them. To my surprise not only was I able to tell the whole story and where my head and heart was at at the time with little interruption, but also they seemed to understand. Grandma even gave me some real heartfelt advice, giving examples from her and Grandpa's courtship and my own parents' courtship.

And that was the last time I talked to her. Despite my frustrations and annoyances with her, the last conversation I had with her was a good, serious one that left me feeling satisfied and happy. I am so eternally grateful for that.

Merry Christmas, Grandma. I know this is going to be your best one yet. We miss you. We love you.

Hugs And Kisses!

12/23/10

Magic

Which is more magical: Disney or Harry Potter?

Or, more specifically, Disney World or the Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter.

I say, depends on your definition of magical.

Yeah, that was how my Winter Break started. Now I'm home but we'll get to that. As for degree of magical-ness...

Best ride: Forbidden Journey in the Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter. (The main ride that's gotten all the hullabaloo.) And all that hullabaloo is very well deserved. If you've ever been on the Busch Gardens Curse of DarKastle ride or the Spider-Man ride in Islands of Adventure, it's like that-ish. Basically, it's this virtual ride where it feels like you're actually flying, except the Forbidden Journey is better than those other rides because it's the live characters (Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, etc.) and NO 3D GLASSES. And it honestly feels real. You run into a dragon, the large spiders, Dementors... I was screaming. It was fabulous. Despite the ridiculous wait, I went twice. SO. GOOD.

Best park: Magical Kingdom. Seriously, is there a contest? No. This is the third time I've been and I never get over it. Ever. Randomly meeting characters (yay for being a college student and still geeking out over meeting Disney Princesses), fabulous rides (yay Buzz Lightyear, Space Mountain and Splash Mountain), beautiful park, classic Cinderella's castle, parades, nice and spaced out... I could go on.

Best employees: Magical Kingdom. And in this case, we don't call them employees. We call them cast members. That alone is a win. They know their park, they know their job, they're beyond friendly, they stay in character... We even gave one cast member a commendation! Danny from Indiana on the Jungle Cruise. He was hilarious. Mom, especially, was cracking up.

Best overall: Look above. Guess. Magical Kingdom. Honestly? The shop to ride ratio is better there (more rides as opposed to shops), it's less crowded, the employees/cast members are friendlier and know their stuff better, and there are characters that you've known since you were a wee one! Really, Islands of Adventure had the Spider-Man ride and Harry Potter world. Which was somewhat of a pain, actually...

First off, you couldn't just walk into Harry Potter world. You had to standby (shortest wait we saw for that was sixty minutes) or get a reservation time. Once you got in it was packed to the brim. Seriously. Everything and I mean everything had a wait time. To eat during lunch hour was twenty minute wait, shortest ride wait was fifteen minutes, to get into Ollivander's (the wand shop) or Dervish and Banges (everything else shop) ranged from forty-five to an hour and a half wait. TO GET INTO THE SHOP. Ridick.

It was fun, yes. I'd recommend it... A couple of years from now when the hype has died down. Forbidden Journey is one of the top three rides I've ever been on in my life. Frozen Butterbeer is EEEE-YUM-EEE. I got an official Slytherin scarf. (Yes, Slytherin. I'm Slytherin. Haters leave now. I'm proud to be evil.) I got an official Chocolate Frog (Rayona Ravenclaw card). I got my missionary friend/brother a Gryffindor tie. ...Yeah, see? Mostly shops. The Dragon Challenge was a good roller coaster, but compared to some other coasters I've been on it was meh.

Now I'm home. Went from seventy degree weather to... snow and frozen.

And there might be another post soon... A bit of a downer. Maybe. Just a warning.

Hugs And Kisses!

12/11/10

Eugene and Chameleons

So... Tangled.

I'm a bit obsessed with it right now.

I've watched it twice illegally (shhh...) and finally saw it in the theater tonight. And the only music I've been listening to all week has not been Christmas music, but the Tangled soundtrack.

Thoughts:

I want to BE Pascal. I don't want to own a Pascal (I want to own a Toothless... From How To Train Your Dragon), I want to BE a Pascal. I spent a good portion of time after the movie tonight making his cute little squeaks and purr/growls.

Also... Who would want a prince after watching that movie? I want a thief!! Specifically, Flynn Rider. AKA Eugene Fitzherbert. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I never thought Disney could beat their success of Prince Naveen from Princess and the Frog, but, well, here we are.

Last but not least, though it's not the right color, Gothel has my hair!! Which makes me really want to find a dress like hers and dress up. And I know exactly who would be my Rapunzel.

In Other News...


I'm going to Hogwarts.

No, legitly. I'm going to Hogwarts. True, it's not in England, it's in Florida, but...

Yeah, that's right. I'm going to The Wonderful Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Universal Studios, Orlando, Florida. Leaving next Friday and meeting the family there. This time next week? I'll be in 70 degree weather. And in FREAKING HOGWARTS. *flail* Not that I'm, like, excited, or anything. Nah.

Hugs And Kisses!

12/5/10

Of What Matters Most

First item of business, I promised you pictures...

Spanish...

Chinese...

Flowers...

Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier (he's not in costume yet)

Nutcracker!

My lovely husband and I...

After the Winter Ball...

Yeah, I'm insane. And I might point out I have no shoes on either...

As you can see, I had a fabulous, wonderful day. At the Winter Ball it sort of hit me how many beautiful friends I have. It's rather ridiculous! I love it.

The going out in the snow with no coat or shoes and taking pictures thing was completely spur of the moment. I couldn't believe I was doing it... I walked home with no shoes on and I'm pretty sure my panty hoes turned into ice. Literally. I haven't done something like that that's given me so much adrenaline in so long and it felt so good. The dance itself was a lot of fun with good people, beautiful people who I'm lucky enough to call my friends.
The Nutcracker was fabulous. It was the first Nutcracker I've seen that I actually appreciated the difficulty of what they're doing... Because I'm in Beginner Ballet and, though I don't know the full extent of it, I can still now see someone do some ridiculous lift or spin or something effortlessly and my jaw drops. You gotta love it.

These are the things that matter most in life.  Friends. Fun. Being on stage. Going to a dance. Dressing up. Doing something insane on the spur of the moment. Snow. Laughing. Dancing. Singing my heart out like there's no tomorrow. Getting snow shoved down my dress. Not many other things matter as much. At least not anything that happened today.

Hugs and Kisses!

12/4/10

It's Beginning To Feel A Lot Like Christmas...


I'm in The Nutcracker tonight! Just playing a mom in the beginning party scene, but it's still so much fun. It also happens to be the first thing that I've done on stage in over a year now so it's really nice for that reason as well. Currently, I am at rehearsal watching Act II... The costumes are so much fun! I'm actually rather impressed, considering budget. And, yes, I'll post pictures later.

In other news it's supposed to snow today! I'm so excited and I hope we get some decent snow that sticks and at least gives everything a nice little layer of white. That's always so pretty! It'd be even better if there's enough for a snowball fight... Not that I have time for that, with finals and final performances and whatnot.

Speaking of, I'm really excited for the end of the semester. My sister, Kate, and I are going to be tackling this project: The Fiction Project. Me, being an author, Kate, being an artist. Both of us have a little bit of the other in us as well. That's our Winter Break excitement.

Oh, yeah. Also, after the performance tonight is the Winter Ball. I'm actually going... It'll be my first formal dance since Senior Prom. Funnily enough, I'm going in the same dress. That was not planned, I promise.  And, yes, I'll post pictures of that as well.

Tomorrow is the Christmas First Presidency message! Yay! I always love hearing from President Monson, Eyring and Uchtdorf. All three of them... You just want to give them a big hug. They're so precious.

I apologize for this post being so... haphazard. True, that is the title of the blog, but I promise I'll be less all over the place most of the time. It's a bit distracting right now with all these dancers and theatre people, you know.

Hugs and Kisses!

And So It Begins...

I've kind of always wanted to start a blog...  So here I am.  Starting a blog.  Yay!

Well, let's begin with me and what I hope to be putting in this blog. I'm Nora Rose and I'm just your typical college student. I go to a small liberal arts school in Virginia called Southern Virginia University. (Yes, SVU, Special Victims Unit, hardy-harr. We got that out of the way? Okay, let's move on now.) SVU is unofficially affiliated with my church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and, yes, my religion will play a part in probably a number of my posts. It's a big part of my life and becomes more so every day.

I'm a theatre major, creative writing minor. So that should tell you a lot about me right there. I'm crazy, I'm hyper, I'm an extrovert and an introvert at the same time. I'm a romantic, yet a feminist. I'm a realist, yet an optimist. As the character Victor in my favorite television show, Burn Notice, says, I'm "an enigma wrapped in a schizophrenic".

Since I go to school in Virginia, I'm about a thousand miles away from home in the Midwest. It's nice, but I always love going back. I rely on my parents' wisdom a lot, probably more than I should. I'm the oldest of four. Kate is in high school and a good four years younger than me. Allie is in middle school and... seven years younger than me? Yeah, I think that's right. Last and not least is Tucker, my little brother who's a whole eleven years younger than me. We've got two cats and I miss them dearly every time I'm away... I will most definitely be an old cat lady one day.

Well. There's a little insight into me. If I think of anything else, I'll just go into it later.

Hugs and Kisses!