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liskantope · 4 years

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Some brief (and sometimes not-so-brief) reactions to major Disney films 1937-1967

Around a month ago I made a temporary switch from Netflix to Disney+ with the goal of watching all major Disney movies in order, roughly paced so that one year of Disney film-making equals one day of real life. I should clarify here that by “major Disney movies” I mean mostly just all the animated ones plus a few hybrid live-action/animated ones, and a few of the most popular live-action ones (at least the ones I remember having a song considered good enough to feature on one of the Disney Sing-Along videos, a staple of my video-watching as a kid growing up in the 90′s). I would have been interested to see Song of the South, which I’ve never seen in its entirety, but it’s not included on Disney+ for fairly obvious reasons. As I get further into modern Disney, I’ll probably skip over most of the sequels and other features I strongly expect not to like (with the exception of Belle’s Magical World, which is said to be so legendarily bad that I just have to see what the fuss is about).

This time range of three decades happens to include more or less exactly those Disney productions that Walt Disney himself took a major role in (he died shortly before the final version of Jungle Book was finished). I’d like to do this again in another month, when I will have gotten up through the late 90′s, but honestly this post wound up way longer than I was imagining and took several more hours than I expected (or could really afford), so I’m not promising myself or anyone else that.

Looking at Wikipedia’s list of Disney productions, I’m a little taken aback at what a low percentage of these are animated features, which to me form the backbone of that company’s legacy; visually scanning the list makes the line of animated films look shorter than I had always imagined, but really what this is showing is that Disney produced far more live-action movies than I ever knew about, including (and perhaps especially!) in its early days. Right now I’m continuing on through the 70′s films, but this set of mini-reviews represents the first month of watching and three decades of Disney magic.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, 1937

This is the full-length feature that began them all and which had the burden of defying contemporary skepticism that a full-length animated feature could be taken seriously at all. We are already far beyond the earliest days of animation and have progressed lightyears beyond the quality of “Steamboat Willie”; throughout the film I marveled at the sophistication of the animation with a newfound appreciation of how groundbreaking a lot of the sequences must have been.

I know I watched this at least a couple of times in childhood and I think once when I was a bit older, but even that was long ago.

Snow White is based on one of the simpler classic fairy tales, and the writers had to come up with ways to flesh out this very short story enough to occupy well over an hour. This was done not by exploring the character of Snow White or the Queen or even filling in extra plot details (the fate of the hunter is never addressed) but by spending a lot of time on the dwarfs. The detail spent on individuating them took a lot of work from the animators, but I think their efforts paid off. I can’t say the same about the attention paid to Snow White or the Queen (pretty much the only remaining characters). Snow White has an almost entirely flat personality, with no sense of curiosity or concern whatsoever about the Queen’s designs to have her killed, just having literally only one goal in mind: to marry this Prince who she’d only seen for about two minutes and run away from out of shyness. (This is of course a trend we’ll see with Disney princesses for a long time.) The Queen similarly only has the goal of being “the fairest in the land”. Something about the particular harshness of her voice strikes me as The Quintessential 1930′s Female Villain Voice (“I’ll crush their bones!”), whatever that means -- maybe I got my idea of what this should be from the movie Snow White in the first place.

I still think “Heigh Ho” (which I’ve known well since early childhood) is an excellent song in its utter simplicity, especially when complimented with the “Dig Dig Dig” song (which I did not remember at all until a few years ago when a Tumblr mutual posted the excerpt containing it!). I’m not enormously fond of “One Day My Prince Will Come”, although I did enjoy playing it on the violin at a couple of gigs with one of my musician friends back during grad school -- I was convinced then, and up until watching Snow White just now, that it belonged to Cinderella.

Pinocchio, 1940

This was a favorite movie of mine in earlier childhood; we owned the VHS and I watched it a lot. As a child, I had no sense of one Disney movie coming from a much earlier time than another one; it was only much more recently in life that I understood that Pinocchio really comes from all the way back eight decades ago. Pinocchio taught me the meaning of “conscience” (both in the dictionary sense and in a deeper sense), and it shaped my notion of what fairies may look like -- for instance, my mental picture of the Tooth Fairy, back when I believed in her, was inspired by the Blue Fairy in Pinocchio.

It’s amazing just how much the quality of Disney animated features improved from the first one to this one, the second. It helps that both the story and the characters are far more complex than those of Snow White. The plot from the original book (which I’ve read in Italian and English) was more complex still, of course. There is one gaping hole where it’s never explained how Gepetto somehow found himself in the belly of a whale (I don’t remember whether or how this is explained in the book), but I’ll forgive that.

It’s interesting to see the 1940′s caricature of “bad (early teenage?) boy” shown in the animation and voice of Lampwick. Phantom Strider talks about the turning-into-donkeys scene as a notoriously dark scene for adults who didn’t find it as terrifying when they were children -- count me in as one of those adults! It’s especially terrifying to see the whole mass of boys-turned-donkeys being treated as slaves in the hellhole known as Pleasure Island and realizing that this is never going to be resolved in the movie -- it’s rather unusual in Disney stories for some great evil to be left unresolved with no recompense even for the chief villain. In fact, Pinocchio is pretty much the only Disney story I can think of where the worst villain doesn’t meet some kind of dire fate. Really, the range of Pinocchio’s view is much narrower: it’s just the coming-of-age story of one puppet in his quest for Real Boyhood. (And yes, I still giggle at how intricutely Jordan Peterson analyzes particular scenes from the movie to support his beliefs about neo-Marxism or whatever.)

Disney+ heads many of the descriptions of the older movies with “This program is presented as originally created. It may contain outdated cultural depictions.” I’m a little surprised they don’t do this with Pinocchio, given what appears to me a rather derogatory depiction of Gypsies.

“When You Wish Upon a Star” has become a timeless hit, for good reason. And I still find “Hi Diddle Dee Dee” extremely catchy.

Fantasia, 1940

I saw this one multiple times growing up (for earlier viewings, I was not allowed to see the final number “Night on Bald Mountain”). My mom, for her part, saw this in theaters at the age of around 4 (even though it originally came out long before she was born) and thought for years afterwards that there was no such film in real life and her memory of seeing it had been just a pleasant dream.

I have nothing much more to say about this one except that, representing a very different approach from most animated films, Disney or otherwise, 1940′s or otherwise, it succeeded exquisitely. The “Sorcerer’s Apprentice” number was particularly perfection; it was as though the composer originally had every motion of the story in mind when writing the music. At the same time, having the main character appear in the form of Mickey Mouse in some way seems to cheapen the effect.

The Reluctant Dragon, 1941

I watched this for the first time, not having known it existed. There isn’t really much to say. All that stuck in my mind was one of the shorts, “Baby Weem” (amusing in a disturbing way), and the longer segment which gives the movie its title (also amusing, in a different kind of disturbing way). It was especially interesting to see a 1940′s cartoon portrayal of a very effeminate man, or should I say, male dragon.

Dumbo, 1941

I saw this maybe two or three times growing up, and not in very early childhood. It was never one of my favorites. Later on, I learned that it was done very low-budget to make up for major financial losses in the Disney franchise. This definitely shows in the animation. However, if there’s one thing I can say in praise of Dumbo, it’s that it’s incredibly daring in its simplicity, not only to have such elegantly simple animation but in having a mute title character (instead the main “talker” in the film is the title character’s best friend, who had much more of a New York accent than I’d remembered).

In some ways I find this film incredibly cold and dark by Disney standards, for reasons I can’t entirely explain, and I remember feeling this way even on earlier watchings when I was much younger. The stark cruelty of the humans running the circus, as well as the elephants other than Dumbo and his mother, just really gets to me. (I vividly mis-remembered one of the lines I found most memorable in childhood as “From now on, Dumbo is no longer one of us.” The actual line is, “From now on, [Dumbo] is no longer an elephant”, which in a way, is even more chilling.) In this regard, there was no need to make a modern, woker remake of Dumbo containing an explicit anti-animal-exploitation message -- the 1941 version conveys this message loud and clear. Now that I’m writing this, I suppose it could be argued that this is another instance of what I described under “Pinocchio” of leaving a major evil unresolved in a Disney film. And apart from that, while the ending for Dumbo is meant to be a very happy one, as an adult I find it incredibly naive: Dumbo is now super internationally famous for his extraordinary gift and is entering the life of a child celebrity, and it’s just going to be smooth sailing from now on? I hate to say it, Dumbo, but your troubles are only just beginning. (I was glad to see Dumbo reunited with his mother in the last scene, however, which I hadn’t remembered happening at all.)

“Look Out For Mr. Stork” is a skillfully-written song I’d completely forgotten about for two decades or so but remember knowing well when I was young. I still think “When I See an Elephant Fly” is a fantastic song, especially with all its reprises at the end -- I’d had some bits of it confused in my memory but had kept the main chorus with me over all the years. Now it’s widely decried as racist, or at least the characters who sing it are decried as racist caricatures. For whatever my opinion is worth, I’m inclined to disagree with this, in particular on the grounds that the crows seem to be the most intelligent, witty, and self-possessed characters in the movie. I’m also pretty sure I heard critical things about it over the years which are false. For one thing, not all of the crows are played by white actors -- only the lead crow is, while the rest of the voices are members of a black musical group called the Hall Johnson Choir. Also, I’m not clear that the lead crow was actually named Jim Crow by the time the movie came out (no name is given in the movie itself). Now an earlier, much more forgettable song featuring black men singing about how they like to work all day and they throw their pay away... yeah that seems awfully racist.

Bambi, 1942

I have surprisingly little to say about this one -- it’s just very distinct from other Disney films of the time, in its story’s lack of magical elements, its characters all being animals and animated in to realistically model animals’ movements, its lack of musical numbers, and its plot reaching the same level of simplicity as that of Snow White. Not to mention actually having a benevolent character die, which I don’t think had been done up to that point. I remember watching this a couple of times as a kid; I was never terribly eager to watch it again and I feel the same way now, despite having majestic beauty that I can really appreciate.

The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, 1949

This is the first of Disney’s animated features that I never had seen before. What a strange movie, or should I say, two smaller, unrelated movies rolled into one. I liked Mr. Toad’s half better than Ichabod’s half, or at least I found it more entertaining. I was brought up with the book The Wind in the Willows and recall seeing a non-Disney animated rendition of it (which was better and somewhat more thorough than this half-movie-length rendition). I was kind of excited when the “The Merrily Song” started because it unlocked a song from my early-childhood memory that I’d forgotten about for more than twenty years but knew from one of the Disney Sing-Along videos. I still think it’s a not half bad song, especially with the harmony.

The Ichabod story was not at all what I expected, not being familiar with the original book version (I had always assumed that Ichabod must be the name of a villain). I found it completely boring until the final horror sequence. As a child I would have found the courtship part even more boring (at least now I can muse on how man-woman courtship dynamics were shown in the late 40′s), and I would have found the horror part at the end very scary (in fact, maybe this is the reason my parents never showed the movie to me). It is a little shocking in being the only Disney story I’ve seen so far with a decidedly unhappy ending.

Cinderella, 1950

This one I only ever saw once or twice as a child. This is not counting a very vivid memory I have from around age 6 or 7 when I was watching a part of it over at another family’s house and their child, who was almost my age and nonverbal autistic, rewound and repeated the same 2-minute sequence involving the mice for probably about an hour (I was impressed because I at the time didn’t know how to work the controls of a video player).

I suppose this could be considered the second in the main trifecta of the most conservative fairy tale princess stories that Disney did in the earlier part of its history. I think one can argue that Cinderella has the strongest and most fleshed-out character out of those three princesses. I like the spirited internal strength she reveals in her very first scene. That said, like the other earlier princesses, she seems to have one singular goal in life, and that is to find her true love, not, say, to escape her abusive stepmother and stepsisters.

My reaction to this movie is overall positive. The mice were fun (I also like how their voices seemed a lot more like how mice “should” talk than in most other Disney cartoons); the dynamic between Cinderella and her evil relatives, and the dynamic between the stepmother and stepsisters themselves, was shown in a rounded way; and the fairy godmother is a great character despite having only one scene. The character of the king is pretty odd (very selfish yet his main dream is of getting to play with his future grandchildren) while not especially memorable or well fleshed out. There are certainly some great classic songs in this one -- not the most stellar that Disney has ever produced, but solid.

Alice in Wonderland, 1951

I was curious about what I would think of this one, since we owned the video of this at my home growing up and I watched it many times during childhood but as I got older I fell in love with the original Lewis Carroll books which, together, I often consider my favorite work of written fiction ever. I had not seen the Disney film Alice in Wonderland for around two decades, although I made the mistake of catching parts of more modern, live-action adaptations of the story more recently. I wondered what I would make of the old animated Disney adaptation after getting to know the books so well.

There is simply no way that any movie can recreate the true flavor of the books, but Disney’s Alice in Wonderland does a fine job of creating the general nonsensical, sometimes bewildering dream atmosphere, and, perhaps more importantly, capturing the essence of Alice’s personality. I give a lot of credit to Katherine Beaumont for this -- she has the major girl’s role in the next movie on this list as well, but she especially shines as Alice. Two other very distinctive voices, Ed Wynn as the Mad Hatter and Sterling Holloway as the Cheshire Cat, also add a lot to the cast of characters.

While mixing around some of the scenes of the original book Alice in Wonderland, with some scenes of Alice Through the Looking Glass inserted, the progression of the plot is a long, dreamlike sequence of strange situations with only a few common threads, true to the original first book (Looking Glass had a little, but only a little, more structure). In the movie, everything breaks down at the end with many of the previous scenes and characters swirling together and Alice frantically trying to wake herself up. One could object that this is not how the dream ends in the book Alice in Wonderland, but there is a similar sort of breakdown at the end of the dream in Looking Glass and it feels very real somehow, as in my experience this is sometimes how vivid dreams disintegrate.

Oh, and did you know that Alice in Wonderland has a greater number of songs in it than any other Disney film? There are nearly 25 that made it into the film, even if lasting just for seconds, with a around 10 more written for the film that didn’t make it.

So, does the Disney film do a good job of conveying one of my favorite books of all time, within the confines of being a children’s animated film? I would say yes. For reasons I described above, and from the fact that it manages to avoid working in a moral lesson for Alice, or depicting Alice as a young adult, or manufacturing an affair between Alice and the Hatter (ugh), like some film adaptations, I would say that this classic Disney version is the best Alice in Wonderland adaptation that I know of.

Peter Pan, 1953

Although I never knew this one super well, this movie has a special place in my heart from the way the flying sequence enchanted me in early childhood. I have to differ with the YouTuber Phantom Strider when he dismisses the 40′s/50′s-style song “You Can Fly” as just not doing it for him, because that song along with the animation of the characters’ journey to Neverland had a major hand in shaping my early-childhood sense of magic and wonder and yearning. I distinctly remembering a time, around age 6, when I just didn’t see much point in watching other Disney movies, or movies at all, which didn’t have flying in them, because what could possibly top the sheer joy and freedom of feeling able to swim through the air? I’ve had hardly any exposure to Superman, and so the kind of bodily flight I imagined in fantasy or performed in dreams was almost entirely shaped by Peter Pan. (At the same time, the crocodile in Peter Pan influenced my nightmares at the same age.)

I only ever saw this one a few times, but I distinctly remember the most recent of them being when I was a teenager, perhaps even an older teenager, and I remember thinking at the time that it was a pretty darn solid Disney movie. I still think the same now, while granting that some aspects of the movie seem a little antiquated and certain sequences with the Native Americans are quite cringe-worthy from the point of view of modern sensibilities. Only a couple years ago, when visiting my parents’ house, I finally took down the book Peter Pan from the shelf and decided to give it a read and found it a beautiful although slightly strange and offbeat story. In particular, I was shocked at how nasty and vengeful Tinker Bell was (particularly in trying to get Wendy killed), when I had remembered her as sweet and naive in the movie. It turns out I was wrong about the movie -- Tinker Bell tries to get Wendy killed there also! -- but somehow the tone is moderated well enough that in this version I never really feel horrified at her behavior, nor do I feel disturbed at the situation of the Lost Boys in the way the book made me view them. The song of the lone pirate who sings about how a pirate’s life is short, right before Captain Hook fires his gun and we hear a dropping sound followed by a splash, is one of the more masterful executions of dark humor that I’ve seen in Disney animation for children.

While most of the songs in Peter Pan, considered as songs on their own, are pretty good, I think the best one is the one whose lyrics didn’t make it into the film: “Never Smile at a Crocodile”.

Lady and the Tramp, 1955

Despite being more obscure than most of the old Disney animated classics, I used to know this one quite well since we had it in our home. I’ve always considered The Great Mouse Detective as the most underrated Disney film of all time, but I think it has serious competition here. Lady and the Tramp is an absolute gem. While not quite as Disney-fantasy-ish with its lack of magic and other fairy tale elements, in my opinion Lady and the Tramp is, in most ways, superior to everything else on this list save Mary Poppins. Beautiful animation which shows Lady and most of the other animals moving realistically in a way we haven’t seen since Bambi*. Everything visually and conceptually framed from the dogs’ points of view. Great voice acting. Consistently solid dialog without a single line too much or missing. A story evoking the dynamic between humans and pets, class inequality, and deep questions about the place of each of us in society and choices between a stable existence among loved ones and striking out to seize life by the horns. Our first female lead who stands on her own two four feet and whose sole goal isn’t to get kissed by her true love (one could argue that Alice was the earlier exception, but she is a little girl whereas Lady is actually a romantic female lead). When Lady is approached by her two best (male) friends in a very awkward (perhaps especially from a modern sensibility) but sweet scene where they offer to be her partner, Lady makes it clear that she doesn’t want or need a husband just for the sake of having a husband to make babies with -- her standing up for her own wants in this way doesn’t in the least turn into a Moral Stand that dominates the movie. Excellent music all the way through.

Oh, and this movie was my very first introduction, in early childhood, to the Italian language (”Bella Notte”), which some 25 years later sort became my second language of sorts.

Criticisms? Well, the baby was animated rather stiffly and unnaturally, but that was like half a minute of the movie at most. And there’s the whole segment with the Siamese cats, which produced a great song purely music-wise (fun fact: Peggy Lee provided the voices of the cats) but nowadays comes across as rather racist. I’m not entirely sure how I feel about it, but I will say that I’m sure in the minds of the creators this was no different than having animals of all other nationalities (Scottish, Russian, Mexican) appearing in the film with voices reflecting the respective accents.

*There may be a few exceptions, like Peggy, who seems to be modeled after the musician Peggy Lee and moves like a sexy human woman. The way that human sex appeal is conveyed through the animals’ movements in this movie is quite impressive: my mom confesses to having somewhat of a crush on Tramp growing up and not quite understanding how that could be possible when, well, he’s a dog.

20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, 1954, and Old Yeller, 1957

I don’t want to say about these movies, as they don’t really fall under the category of animated classics. I just want to say that, while I saw each of them once growing up, on seeing them again I recognize each as a great movie in its own adult point of view way that is not necessarily very Disney-ish.

Sleeping Beauty, 1959

I think this was the movie I was watching at the time I decided it would be fun to write a bunch of mini-reviews for Tumblr, as my reactions were changing a lot as I was watching. I went into the movie very curious, because while I only remembered enough of the fairy tale story to know that it was another of the very simple ones, and I remembered the one song as a waltz by Tchaikovsky, and I knew I had seen the movie once (and probably only once) as a kid, I couldn’t remember anywhere near enough to possibly fill a full movie time. What was actually going to happen in this hour-and-a-quarter long film?

I wasn’t watching long before I came up with the description “spectacularly forgettable”, in part to justify why I’d managed to forget practically all of my one previous viewing. The story doesn’t have much substance and feels sillier than even the other fairy tale Disney plots, like even minor twinges of critical thought, even granting the magical rules of the universe, are liable to make the plot topple. There is some filler to flesh out the movie, but (unlike with Snow White’s dwarfs) none of it is as amusing as the creators seemed to think it was. The only characters with actual personality are rather boring -- the capers between the members of royalty and the jester are a bit on the annoying side in my opinion. Maleficent seems to have no motive whatsoever. She actually calls herself something like “the mistress of evil” later in the movie. This is pretty black-and-white even by Disney standards, where the bad guys usually at least want to think that they’re on the right side of things or justified in their aggressive behavior. Aurora (the title character) has the least personality of all the Disney princesses. Literally all I can say to describe her is that she has the Disney Princess Trifecta of characteristics: she has a good singing voice; she is friends with all the “nice” animals; and her only goal in life is to be reunited with her True Love who she met once for all of a few minutes. The reason why I couldn’t remember any songs other than the Tchaikovsky one is that there aren’t any.

The one thing I consciously really enjoyed while watching was the fact that the score throughout was Tchaikovsky; the idea of having one work of classical music as the entire score seems like a bold one for a Disney film. As I was digesting the movie afterwards (and watching the short documentaries supplied on Disney+ helped here!), I came to realize that this classical music backdrop was complimented in quite an interesting way by a fairly unique animation style. I had been disappointed by the animation early in my watching, disliking how a lot of the figures in the beginning castle scene (for instance, various people’s faces), looked very “flat” somehow. But I’ve come to see this as part of a style where everything looks almost like a series of cut-outs superimposed on each other, to incredibly beautiful effect in a lot of the outdoor scenes.

My conclusion? If you watch this the same way you watch most Disney animated movies -- focusing on plot, characterization, action, and meaning of the main story -- it will just be kind of forgettable at best. But if you watch it as more of a purely visual and musical piece of art without trying to make much “sense” out of it (so, more like I would watch a ballet), you may find it uniquely beautiful among Disney classics.

One Hundred and One Dalmations, 1961

Whew -- what a complete and utter contrast from its predecessor! I can hardly imagine a film that’s still distinctively Disney while being more different from Sleeping Beauty in every aspect.

I remember seeing One Hundred and One Dalmatians a handful of times in childhood (when I was around 5 and it had just come out on home video, my mom almost bought it for me but decided to go with Beauty and the Beast instead explaining that it had better music -- I grew up knowing the preview for Dalmatians that showed at the beginning of our Beauty and the Beast VHS than the dalmatians film itself). I remembered a number of scenes very distinctly, including a lot of the Horace and Jasper bickering and Cruella smashing one of their bottles of beer into the fire and knew Lucky’s line after getting stuck behind in the snow almost word for word, while I had entirely forgotten all of the country/farm characters and entire sequences involving them. I had forgotten, but soon remembered, the television scenes including the Kanine Krunchies jingle. (Some years later, I think as an older teenager, I read the original book with some interest.)

Although I wasn’t around in 1961, everything about this movie’s style strikes me as very contemporary -- the animation in particular seems like the current style for 60′s cartoons. Something about the dialog and humor feels that way as well, as though it closely represents a sort of 60′s young-people-in-London culture that I’ve never seen myself (I was struck for instance by Cruella being asked how she’s doing and cheerfully answering, “Miserable dahling as usual, perfectly wretched!”). It was a little strange and offputting to see television so prominently featured in Disney animation from so long ago, and to see such a decrepit bachelor pad (with the accompanying lifestyle and attitudes) as Horace and Jasper’s in a children’s movie. The crazy driving in snow at the end startled my adult sensibilities (as I now have some memorable experiences driving in snow) in a way that didn’t affect me as a child -- scenes like that just didn’t feel like Disney after having just watched all the previous films. All in all, these novel features made the whole movie a wild ride.

I’m bemused by the fact that, despite taking place in London (which I hadn’t remembered -- I thought it took place in America), the only accents which are fully British are those of the villains Cruella de Vil, Horace, and Jasper.

Main criticisms: I found all the stuff with Rolly being characterized by his body shape and only ever thinking about food to be in poor taste (although not surprising for the times). And while “Cruella de Vil” is a great jazz number, the movie has no other music to speak of -- my mom was quite right to choose Beauty and the Beast over it.

(I realized when finishing this review that this is the only one of all the movies in the list that I’d actually enjoy seeing again sometime soon. Not sure what to make of that. Something about it is more interesting than most of the others? Especially the human-centric parts?)

The Sword in the Stone, 1963

I never saw this movie until later childhood or maybe even early teenagerhood, when I quite liked it. On watching it again, I was overall pretty disappointed. This movie has some decent songs and some fun aspects to the story, but a lot of it is kind of weak and forgettable and it’s all just sloppily done.

The story has a clear moral message which is generally pro-education and about reaching one’s full potential, but in my eyes it comes out kind of muddled because the story shows Wart ending up as a legendary king only out of the arbitrary happenstance that that happens to be his divine destiny. Merlin’s motives seem kind of inconsistent as well, with him sometimes seeming to support Wart in his desire to become a squire, then flying off in a rage when Wart chooses squirehood over fulfilling a “greater” destiny, then joyfully returning after Wart pulls the sword from the stone and is now set on the fixed path to being king, even though this involved exactly zero change of attitude on Wart’s part. The message that actually comes across looks more like, “We have to just follow whatever fate has in store for us” than “We must strive to be the best we can be”. And, it arguably even comes across as subtly disrespectful to more mundane lifestyles and career paths.

The animation is not great by the high standard of full-length Disney features (I noted how I especially disliked how tears were shown). Wart’s voice seems to change a lot, sometimes broken and sometimes not yet broken. I found out after watching that this is because the character was played by three different actors, sometimes with more than one of those actors in the same scene! This was purportedly because the voice of the first actor cast for the role started to change, but then why does Wart sometimes sound like his voice has already changed anyway? Sloppiness all around.

Still, some parts of The Sword in the Stone are fun even if none of it is stellar, and it entertained me more when I was younger, so worth watching once, especially if you’re a kid, I guess?

Mary Poppins, 1964

I came into this one far more familiar with it than with most of the other Disney movies, including the ones I watched many times when I was young, so it feels a little strange to try to summarize a similar-length review of it. Mary Poppins is in my book without a doubt one of the top three Disney movies of all time, in some respects the very best, and certainly the masterpiece of Walt Disney himself, the culmination of literally decades of determination on his part to turn Pamela Travers’ children’s works into a movie. (I would feel sorrier for Travers about how strongly Disney twisted her arm to turn her books into a movie whose style was entirely antithetical to hers, if it weren’t for the fact that the Disney version of the story is just way better than her rather weak set of stories. I give Travers ample credit for having created an amazing character in the person of Mary Poppins, but for coming up with good stories, not so much.)

I didn’t see the full movie Mary Poppins until later childhood (although I knew many of the songs) and it quickly became a favorite of mine. I went a gap of a number of years without seeing it before I copied the soundtrack from someone when I was in college, which spurred me to go out and rent it (back when Blockbuster was a thing) and so I managed to reconnect with it at the age of 20. More recently I’ve become somewhat of a Mary Poppins enthusiast -- feeling pretty alone among my generation in this regard, with the possible exception of the theater subculture -- having seen probably most or all of the documentaries there are on its production and learned a ridiculous amount of trivia about it, not to mention knowing the whole soundtrack pretty much in my head.

Mary Poppins seems to be Disney’s longest children’s classic, at 2 hours and 19 minutes. All it lacks, really, is an animal-themed or classic fairy tale atmosphere and a proper villain. But what can you get out this movie? Stellar child acting (especially for that period) and excellent performances all around, apart from some awkward but endearing aspects of Dick Van Dyke’s acting (while his singing and physicality is superb). A complex and multi-layered story combining magic, comedy and a little tragedy, appreciable in equal measure from a child’s level and from an adult’s level. Revolutionary special effects which include the first extended hybrid live-action and animation sequence. Timeless words and phrases which have permanently entered the lexicon. One of my favorite extended musical sequence of all time in any movie (”Step In Time” takes up 8 minutes and change, and I’m glad they didn’t go with the “common sense” measure of cutting this “unnecessarily long” number). The Sherman brothers at their very best, in a musical soundtrack that easily scores in my top two out of all Disney movies (the other one being The Lion King). A beautiful message (among several big messages) about the little things being important (or at least, that’s a very crude summary), exquisitely encapsulated in the most beautiful song of the movie, “Feed the Birds” (this apparently became Walt Disney’s favorite song ever, and I’m pretty close to feeling the same way -- I’m determined that one day when I finally have a piano I’m going to learn to sing it along with the piano). I could go on and on here.

If I try really hard I can come up with the sole nitpick of feeling that maybe the parrot head on the umbrella’s handle shouldn’t only reveal itself as a talking parrot head in only one scene right at the very end -- this should have been shown at least once earlier. Even granting that, this film is still practically perfect in every way.

The Jungle Book, 1967

(Let’s get the Colonel Hath in the room out of the way first: “The Jungle Book” is a terrible title for a movie. You know, when you base a movie on a book you don’t have to give it the same title as the book...)

I saw The Jungle Book several times as a kid and, despite not considering it nearly as good as Mary Poppins, similarly reconnected with it in adulthood (particularly the soundtrack). Only several years ago I found myself thinking of getting hold of a double album of classic Disney songs that I thought I’d heard about but couldn’t seem to find online. It soon occurred to me that mostly what I really wanted was some of the songs of The Jungle Book, so I got that movie’s soundtrack instead. I soon learned for the first time that The Jungle Book’s songs were written by the Sherman Brothers*, precipitating an “Ah, that explains why I remember them as so good!” moment. (“I Wanna Be Like You” seems like the clear winner among the songs.) Of course hearing the soundtrack made me curious about the movie, which I did eventually get hold of several years ago; thus I had seen this film exactly once already since childhood.

It says a lot about the music and the overall technique behind this film that I still look back on it as one of the great classics, considering how weak the story is. In particular, I consider a story arc to be pretty flawed when characters that seem significant and/or memorable come in without really living up to their expected big role: the wolves who raised Mowgli play a crucial role in the beginning before more or less disappearing (and it doesn’t entirely make sense to me why Bagheera, rather than they, is guiding him to the man village), and King Louie (who is a well-formed character that I particularly enjoy watching) really ought to come back into the story later somehow (an alternate, and much more complex, ending had him make a reappearance). The villain Shere Khan is not especially well developed in terms of his character and motives, but I do enjoy his menacingly bass voice. Still, the voice acting, the action, the animation, and the overall setting are all very solid here.

I’ll end with some random observations about the song “That’s What Friends Are For”. I think the likeness of the vultures to the Beatles was mostly lost on me as a kid (along with the recognition that this movie came out in the Beatles’ heyday). More interestingly, even when I was old enough to understand how vultures eat, the fact that every single line of the song is a clever macabre double-entendre went completely over my head. I do think it was a very obvious mistake, by the Obvious Standards of Cinematography, to give Shere Khan the last line of the song and begin that line with the “camera” on him, rather than have his voice come in “off-camera” and Mowgli and the vultures looking thunderstruck before panning to him, but maybe I shouldn’t be pushing for overdone techniques here.

* An exception is “Bare Necessities”, which was written by Terry Gilkyson, the original songwriter Disney received submissions from, who wrote two hauntingly beautiful other numbers which were deemed not Disney-ish enough to be put in the film.

Some general stray observations:

These older Disney films love gags involving alcoholism and drunkenness, a bit of a questionable emphasis given that the audience is children. This trend continues into the 80′s at least, but I don’t think one sees it much in modern Disney movies.

Watching these animated films I often find myself flinching as characters’ heads smash into things or gigantic objects smash over their heads, feeling almost surprised when they come out of it pretty much fine. I guess this a staple element of cartoon action throughout the decades, but I can’t recall a more recent Disney animated film where we see this (guess I’ll soon find out!)

There is a certain style of vocal music, with unified rhythm and lyrics but complex harmony and a capella, which seems to have been immensely popular in the 40′s and 50′s and distinctively appears in practically every single one of the 40′s and 50′s films above (“You Can Fly” is a typical example). I recognize it also from some non-Disney-related old records my parents have that were passed down to them. I’m curious about whether this style has a name.

For years I thought the Sherman Brothers did only the soundtrack for Mary Poppins and Bedknobs and Broomsticks, only discovering they did The Jungle Book songs rather recently as I explained above. It turns out they were involved in most of the major Disney films around that period, including The Sword in the Stone and The Aristocats (although not its best-known number “Everybody Wants to Be a Cat”).

There is a particularly sad instrumental passage, played by the string section starting with a minor-key violin melody going downward and joined by lower string instruments, which I knew well from my Jungle Book soundtrack (partway through “Poor Bear”) but was surprised to hear in desperately sad moments of several of the other movies around that time (including One Hundred and One Dalmatians and Robin Hood, or at least a close variant of this passage with slightly different endings). I have no idea who wrote this or how it came to be reused so many times.

I knew the name Bruce Reitherman as the voice of Mowgli in The Jungle Book, but in watching all of these other features back to back I’ve noticed that there are some other Reithermans in the front credits of quite a few of them.

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animepopheart · 5 years

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Ranking Every Studio Ghibli Movie

Studio Ghibli's contribution to anime (and animation in general) cannot be understated. Founded by directors Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata, and producer Toshio Suzuki, the studio has produced many of Japan's most hallowed films, movies that are both critically acclaimed and monsters at the box office. In 1996, Disney partnered with Studio Ghibli to bring their movies to North America, developing a new audience that has since come to age; now, Ghibli is as much a part of American childhood as Pixar and Dreamworks releases.

On Anime Pop Heart and @beneaththetangles, we are commemorating the studio with Ghibli Month all September long! I’m kicking things off by ranking Ghibli's twenty-one releases, plus Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, which is often honorarily included among the studio's slate, ranked from first to worst (including alternate viewpoints on a couple of the selections).

22. Tales from Earthsea

Miyazaki famously quarreled with his son, Goro, over the latter's ability to direct Tales from Earthsea, and indeeed, the final product feels like the result of a young man who was in over his head. The movie deserves its ignominious reputation, as it is inconsistent, poorly staged, and often terrible. It's a shame, too, for there are some strong elements to the film and enormous potential, with the outlines of an epic tale and compelling characters in Sparrowhawk and Cob (who are wonderfully dubbed by Timothy Dalton and Willem Dafoe, respectively)—it just never comes quite together and totally unravels at the end, resulting in the only bad film in Studio Ghibli's outstanding run.

21. The Cat Returns

Most Studio Ghibli films are family features, made for children. However, they still capture the imagination of youth and adults as well. The Cat Returns, the only "sequel" in Ghibli's film catalog, doesn't do the same however. It is purely for kids, and aside from flourishes here and there that speak of fantasy adventures and feature whimsical characters, fails to engage viewers of a certain age—maybe anyone older than about twelve. A neat companion piece to Whisper of the Heart, it's worth watching, showing to your children, and then giving away to parents who need better-than-average entertainment to busy their children.

20. Ocean Waves

At one time, Ocean Waves was considered a black eye in Ghibli's filmography, an overpriced television movie that wasn't all that good. In retrospect, the intial judgments were only partially right. Ocean Waves is very much a TV movie, melodramatic and small in scale. The animation, too, is sometimes shoddy, but more often than not it's far better than it has the right to be. Ocean Waves is lovingly made, and the characters are almost frustratingly sincere—and oh so early 90s. While on the lowest tier of the Ghibli scale, Ocean Waves is far better than a simple curiosity.

19. Arrietty

Like Poppy Hill before it, there's nothing terrifically wrong with Arrietty—it just lacks the magic of the great Studio Ghibli films, making it rather forgettable. It's also sometimes dull. While beautiful colors, a foreshadowing of the spectacular animation to come of Yonebayashi in Mary and the Witch's Flower, shine through in the film, and some of the action sequences are highly engaging, our hearts are never fully in it. Maybe that's because we lack a loving connection to many of the characters, particularly to the pensive Sho. A nice watch, but one that's lacking.

18. From Up on Poppy Hill

Much maligned for our lowest ranked movie, Goro Miyazaki returned from that entry with a stronger film, one that functions as an ode to historic preservation while presenting one of the studio's most lovely relationships—that is, until it gets a bit tricky, unfortunately begining to enter a zone unusual for Studio Ghibli, if standard fare for other anime. But that's a relatively minor issue in what's a perfectly lovely film that does well in evoking nostalgia in a movie that reminisces about the past and a Yokohama that no longer exists. Not every emotional moment hits as it should, but enough do to make the film Ghibli's best "date night" entry.

17. Pom Poko

Often criticized for being too over-bearing in its ecological message, Pom Poko's main issue instead is that it's meant to a collection of stories that to flow into one another, based on one group of tanukis' fight against urban development, but the movie doesn't feel cohesive, partly because there is no central protagonist. We only get to know each main tanuki so much, and none feel central to the tale—any could step in and play the necessary roles. Still, Pom Poko is unreservedly charming and often hilarious. It's also a peek into Japanese culture that we often don't get, a look at a country transforming in landscape and in values.

16. Ponyo

Why is Ponyo the low point of Miyazaki's output, the only film of his that doesn't attain the level of classic? It is wonderfully animated, bursting with energy and featuring a story that is never disingenuous and a heroine that is funny, cute, and breathtaking even. However, the film proved that Miyazaki was on a downward trajectory after Spirited Away. Repetition seen in Howl's Moving Castle was on full display in Ponyo, a new movie that too often feels like a rehash, featuring characters that other than the title heroine, fail to connect, and a story that is muddled and often just strange. Ponyo is a fun film and a better one after repeated viewings—the problem is that such defenses do not have to be made for any of Miyazaki's other works.

15. When Marnie Was There

The last feature film from Studio Ghibli to date is both quietly personal and a surprising risk. When Marnie Was There is the studio's first true mystery tale, and has a tone that's slightly haunting. The lead characters, also, are unusual for Ghibli—neither Anna nor Marnie are as embraceable as most of the heroines from Ghibli's past, but that seems be purposeful. What they demonstrate to us is not as much of "who we can be" but "who we are" and even so, how we can overcome. The creative energy of past Ghibli films is missing, but the replacement here by a surprising intimate tone in a modern setting is welcomed.

14. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya

While this notoriously expensive film flopped at the box office, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya was well-received by critics, and for good reason. Adapting a famed folk tale, the film is animated in style befitting its origins, creating the sense that the viewer has fallen into a some traditional Japanese painting. But the movie is not as pastel as its colors indicate—the storytelling is bold. It doesn't sit in the past, instead feeling remarkably current in the fable of a princess imprisoned by seemingly everyone and everything, without ever feeling worn or heavy-handed. Mystical and fantastical elements are both woven into the foundation of the story and come alive in key moments, keeping the film compelling (for the most part) throughout its two hour+ run time.

13. Howl's Moving Castle

An underrated aspect of Studio Ghibli's brilliance is in how they often adapt already-beloved works. Adapted by the master, Howl's Moving Castle, based on the novel by Diana Wynne Jones, is gorgeously animated and bold in both design and character—Howl and Calcifer, particularly, are memorable (and give strong emotional weight to the tale). While it suffers in comparison to its predecessor, Spirited Away, by being a little unwieldy, it remains a classic and an example of how well Miyazaki can bring themes and plot points across subtly (think of the flashback of Howl) in a movie that's otherwise fierce and larger than life.

12. The Wind Rises

From conception, The Wind Rises was a challenging film—how do you tell the story of the man who designed a fighter essential to Japan's WWI efforts, and show him as a patriot and dreamer without excluding the crimes of the nation, or making a film that goes against Miyazaki's anti-war values? It's difficult to say if he succeeds, but the film itself is beautifully crafted. The supporting characters here are less important than in other works, so it's vital that the audience admires Jiro Horikoshi, and we do—his character and positivity make him easy to root for, and dream sequences in the film both flesh out his thought process and keep us captivated. Once believed to be Miyazaki's last film, if it had been, The Wind Rises would have been worthy of that designation.

11. My Neighbors the Yamadas

The oddball in Ghibli's filmography, My Neighbors the Yamadas is presented through half-a-dozen or more short stories in the style of comic strips come to life, with animation that matches. The magic in the film is that the Yamadas are as over-the-top as the movie's aesthetic is, yet maintain an authentic feel. Think of some of the most popular family sitcoms of the 1980s and 1990s, but with an addition those shows could not feature—fantastical sequences that break in without warning and bind the ties of family further. We may not want to live like the clumsy Yamadas, but the heart of the family will make you consider whether they're the ones who really have it all together.

10. Porco Rosso

Studio Ghibli films share animation styles and themes, but one can never say they lack in variety when it comes to story. The tale of Porco Rosso is of an ace pilot cursed into living as a pig—but not to worry! He is still adored by women as he flies fantastic missions while running from fascists, pirates, and fame-seeking assassins. Porco is gruff and unattractive, but both he and the tale are sweet, as what's already a compelling story of WWI aces and dogfights is buffeted by grief, romance, and two strong heroines of very different types and roles. Perhaps the film with the largest range of opinion among the Miyazaki classics, Porco Rosso is nonetheless fantastic, and require viewing if you haven't watched it already.

9. Whisper of the Heart

Ghibli's most unabashedly romantic film is one of its most formulaic, but still among its best. The debut film by Yoshifumi Kondō, Miyazaki and Takahata's proposed successor before he died just a few years after the movie's premiere, is at once encouraging while also refusing to shy away from the melancholy experienced by children—and adults, too—when one doesn't seem to have what it takes to become great. In joy and sadness, Whisper of the Heart lets the kids at the center of the film be kids. They are at times stubborn, silly, and immature, and by treating them that way, the movie never drifts into something banal (with the possible exception of the famously abrupt ending)—it's a lovely lesson in growing up and meeting challenges, and a personal favorite.

8. Kiki's Delivery Service

The charm of Kiki's Delivery Service is two-fold—in the setting, a northern European-style town that is alive, forcing the events of the story through its residents, cozy cafes, and early 20th-century transportion, and in Kiki's journey itself. Her community's tradition of sending of young witches to live by themselves at the age of thirteen sets the story in motion, and Miyazaki captures the spirit of a girl that age perfectly—in all its confusion, energy, enthusiasm, and difficulty. Kiki is not a subtle character, but her growth is. When she takes to the air for the finale, Kiki isn't experienced enough to know if she can save the day—and so we cheer when she realizes what the rest of us already know, what we've all experienced ourselves, that it takes time and failure to mold us into becoming the hero.

7. Castle in the Sky

Miyazaki created classic film after classic film for decades, in a streak that started with Lupin III and ended, I'd argue, with Howl's Moving Castle. Often forgotten among the wonders is Castle in the Sky, a steampunk entry that is a joyous adventure, akin to Treasure Island but developed for an audience of both boys and girls. Sumptuous cloudscapes fill the screen, as do colorful characters with meaty roles, including a group favored by Miyazaki—pirates (in this movie, air pirates led by Dola, an older female). Reflective of Miyazaki's ability to master genres, Castle in the Sky again crosses fantasy and sci-fi in perfect proportions, underscoring an uplifting tale with an apocalyptic story line.

6. Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind

Unofficially part of of Ghibli's canon, the success of Nausicaa, based on Miyazaki's own manga and exploring the ecological, anti-war, and feminist themes for which the studio's future films would be noted, launched Studio Ghibli. Nausicaa herself remains one of the studio's most iconic and compelling heroines, a physically powerful and feminine hero who must grow into adulthood very quickly while putting aside deep flaws to offer salvation to her people and land. The beautiful landscapes speaks to the epic story, better fleshed out in the manga, while reminding us that Ghibli films are giants not only in animation, but in fantasy and sci-fi realms as well.

5. Only Yesterday

How do you create an animated film about a twenty-something woman that waxes nostalgia while on a trip to the countryside, and at the same time make it entertaining and accessible? It's not an easy task, but Only Yesterday accomplishes it fully. Taeko, the protagonist, explains, "I didn't intend for ten-year-old me to come on this trip, but somehow, once she showed up, she wouldn't leave me alone." We experience her nostalgia for and complicated feelings about the past through a family that's genuinely flawed, while experiencing her visit to relatives in the countryside in the present, a trip that is subtly life-altering, one that pushes her to consider who she is and who she wants to be. Oh, and the film also features one of anime's most wonderful endings, set to a cover of a now-classic love song.

4. Grave of the Fireflies

It's a testament to Miyazaki's stature that the first three Ghibli films on the list are all directed by him, and also to the supreme talent of the other directors that their films rise above some of his other tremendous work. Directed by Studio Ghibli co-founder, the legendary Isao Takahata, Grave of the Fireflies is the most painful and emotional movie in the canon; it is also one of the greatest war movies ever made, using animation to deftly explore the how war victimizes children. Opening and closing shots, both of which express the uncaring nature of bystanders (and by extension, the world) toward children cause us to wonder what we really feel about the world's most vulnerable population.

3. My Neighbor Totoro

It's often said that nothing really happens in My Neighbor Totoro—but that's part of the magic of the film. A child's movie in all ways, including in the action, which revolves around a sick mother, a move to a new house, and a lost child, the film finds its center in a magical being that never says a word (Totoro only growls), and about whom many theories abound. If Totoro is a figment of Satsuki and Mei's imaginations, he is then similar to Winnie the Pooh, a necessary presence in the lives of a child character (two of them, sisters, in this case) who is growing up in a difficult situation, not to adulthood, but to the next step in the journey of life.

2. Spirited Away

Miyazaki has retired and unretired several times—when did so following Princess Mononoke, he returned with what is often considered his magnum opus, Spirited Away. At once deeply Japanese and completely accessible, the movie takes viewers on one of the most remarkable visual journeys ever put to film, a feast that never relents through its entire run time. Perhaps underrated is Miyazaki's decision to move the action away from the bathhouse for much of the final act, a quiet last leg that is key to Chihiro's journey, as well as for many of Spirited Away's supporting characters. Absolutely deserving of all love and acclaim.

1. Princess Mononoke

Studio Ghibli's finest film is also perhaps its most surprising. Visceral, violent, and conflicting, Princess Mononoke is no easy tale to absorb. There is no "good guy," not in the traditional sense, as Miyazaki explores hist favored ecological theme but through the lens of humanity struggling to survive in a world where they are just surpassing nature, the beast gods and goddesses who had previously ruled. It is an epic in the vein of films from decades before with vibrant and complex characters, ground-breaking animation, and an English voice track that is second to none. The studio's most intricate work, Princess Mononoke requires multiple viewings to fully appreciate.

All Studio Ghibli movies are available for sale, including many in special collectible editions. We encourage you to go check them out!

#studio ghibli #ghibli month #spirited away #my neighbor totoro #howls moving castle

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sluttyten · 5 years

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I did very, very briefly dream of Jaehyun last night before the dream just went really, really weird. So like I was at “Disney” (in quotes because dream-me said it was Disney but it’s not any Disney Park I’ve ever been to or seen) and I’d like made plans somehow to meet up with Jaehyun and I had a coat for some reason?? And I walked up to the car he was in and got in and he just accepted that and then a few minutes later I looked up and noticed there was a rainbow and I was like “oh look” because the rainbow was blue yellow and pink and not totally rainbow shaped now that I think about it and there were storm clouds behind it that really didn’t have a shape but were just taking up the sky darkly and lit up within with lightning and when I took pictures on my phone it was like more of an aura in the sky than anything else and it looked strange and beautiful but then it was blocked off and I realized that there was like heavy fog coming down this lake/river toward us and so we all (because now there was some other girl in the car with us) started hurrying to like put on hoods and stuff since it was rain coming at us and we were sitting in a convertible with the roof down, all of us in the backseat and no one in the front so I put my coat on and pulled the hood up and then the rain was on us so thick and dark that we couldn’t see at all and I don’t actually remember if it ended up with actual rain or if it was just a darkness really but then I remember the other girl like wrapped her arm through Jaehyun’s and I was like thinking “why’s she doing that? He’s mine?” and then I just like hid my face in his shoulder and he was warm and his shoulder was soft and kinda fleecy (which I now realize is exactly how my pillow feels lol) and then suddenly the car was driving and we were still like that and the roof of the car was down and we were in like some Disney Caribbean resort, driving along some winding coastal road and there were like shops and stuff below on the beach and big over-the-tip like decorations? Like a huge tree that was a palm tree and it was just big and very kinda Disney. And then things finally got really weird and Jaehyun just kinda phased out and we started flying in the car or on something a little smaller and I think maybe I was riding behind him like holding onto his waist as I took videos and pictures and we flew over all of these places and there was a helicopter and then we got closer to this huge huge huge resort where my brother was with his ex boyfriend I believe?? And then a girl I went to highschool with who was casual friends with my best friend who was suddenly there and then we were all together at the resort and everyone went to the bathroom then we were setting off with this huge group of people but before we left I had to pee so I went to go but there was a weird girl in there who told me I couldn’t use any of the stalls in this huge bathroom (and she was either nasty bring, having sex, or just like.,... peeing on the floor of the stalls and being a general nuisance) so I left and then two of my friends went with me to look for a bathroom and when we finally found one some other girls came in at the same time and went into the stalls and as we stood there waiting an enormous line formed and people kept cutting in front of us and soon someone came and organized us into lines and we waiting for forever and James Charles was there??? But not as like the Youtuber but as someone that my friend knows? And a few of her other friends were there as well as my childhood best friend who I started talking to about line dancing?? And then a girl finally came back from the bathroom and everyone was mad because they realized we’d all been sitting there for so long and no one had actually been able to go and what had taken her so long? And then one of the employees of the place said something and everyone in my row went running and we had no idea where the bathroom was so we had to search for it and the only clue was the number 6

And then we passed a building that had a few doors with number but the 6 was just on like a beam between two doors and the girl beside me pushed on it and we were all cheering but then it showed up like a thing that had to do with Pirates of the Caribbean the most recent one which I’m also sure existed in this dream but not reality. And I could read the words in the dream but now I can’t really remember them, but it was like it was a teeny tiny book and there was two pictures kinda like a locket and you flip them over or something into one page or the other and one side said something like “this is fact” or true or something and the other one was something like “this is unproven” and one was a native guy and the other was some white colonizer and I used my “movie knowledge” of this movie that doesn’t really exist and remembered that in the “movie” a native guy had claims that no one believed and the white guy had claims everyone believed although they weren’t proven and at the end it turned out he was a liar and the native guy truthful and correct. Anyway so we though then we’d be able to use the bathroom but no luck the thing then transformed into a clock and the girl beside me pushed me away like she knew what she was doing and several other girls hands came in and started trying to make it work but they ended up making the hands point you like 9:00 or something like that like what on earth I couldn’t believe they were that dumb. Our clue was six so I pointed it at six then realized I had to wind the hands around the clock until the hour hand pointed at six and the minute hand at 12 and finally it clicked and was about to open

And then my alarm went off and I woke up and let me tell you I was fucking annoyed because I spent all that time in the dream just trying to pee and find an open bathroom and I solved those dream riddles and then what the fuck I didn’t even get to see the bathroom I’d worked so hard for

But I didn’t even really have to pee when I woke up either which was the weird thing. And I realize I could’ve just told y’all about the Jaehyun part but I just thought the rest was weird and I wanted to document it before I forgot it all. It featured a whole cast of random characters from my past which was weird on top of the actual strange content. Oh and at one point I was telling someone in the dream about the weird bathroom girl and a girl I went to highschool with and actually saw yesterday guessed that the girl was peeing on the floors and I was like wtf?? Why would you guess that how did you know and she just like shrugged and said that she used to do that just to be like a bitch or something. So even in my dreams I don’t think she’s a nice person which is interesting. Anyway. I spent too long typing this out and now I really have to get ready to actually be awake today.

#sorry about this long ass post about my dream #please ignore and probably don’t reblog it lol #but also as i said jaehyun was only briefly in it but he was warm and sweet and that part was really nice #also!! i thought you couldnt read in dreams? like usually my brain doesnt really process when i try to read in dreamd #like the words slide around or rearrange themselves or just are all out of order and nonsensical to begin with #but these words even though they were only a few were clear

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cavalier-life · 5 years

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Get To Know Me

1. Dogs or Cats?

Dogs: Jasmine, Olivia, Audrey (oldest to youngest, Audrey/Dree is my icon).

Cat: Rhys

Ball python: Louvia

Bearded Dragon: Seren

Future second cat: As yet unnamed and not ours yet.

I’m not an “or” person, you’ll find as you get to know me. I’m an AND person. ;)

2. YouTube celebrities or normal celebrities?

Normal.

3. If you could live anywhere where would that be?

The South of France, and I’m looking at property there now.

4. Disney or DreamWorks?

Idk, Disney I guess if I have to pick but again I’m not an ‘or’ person. ;)

5. Favourite childhood TV show?

X-Men cartoon probably, or GI Joe (I was madly into Snake Eyes)

6. The movie you’re looking forward to most in 2020?

Godzilla Vs Kong, or Wonder Woman 1984. I am a huge Dune fan but I’m only cautiously anticipatory at this moment about that one. We’ll see. ;) 7. Favorite book you read in 2019?

I had about ten, but I’ll give you three. My partner wrote a book and I enjoyed that. And the latest Jane Yellowrock and Mercy Thompson books were solid reads.

8. Marvel or DC?

Marvel. (I am a huge Superman fan, though, but I dislike Cavill in that role enormously so... yeah.)

9. If you choose Marvel favorite member of the X-Men? If you choose DC favourite Justice League member?

Storm.

10. Night or Day?

Night. I usually go to sleep around 7 am.

11. Favourite Pokemon?

Mantine, cause I love manta rays and sting rays.

12. Top 5 bands/artists:

Floater, Nina Simone, Berlioz, Prince, Janet Jackson

13. Top 10 books.

Jane Yellowrock series, by Faith Hunter

Tailchaser’s Song, by Tad Williams (lifelong favorite book)

Shardik, Richard Adams

Hero and the Crown/Blue Sword/Deerskin, all by Robin McKinley

Forgotten Beasts of Eld

Kushiel’s Dart trilogy and the following trilogy with Imriel

The Black Stallion books. ;)

Dune, by Frank Herbert

That’s more than ten in total. 14. Top 4 movies

Ladyhawke

Legend

Black Panther

Pride & Prejudice (The A&E version so technically a miniseries, but it’s staying)

15. America or Europe?

Europe (though I will admit to preferring some countries to others)

16. Tumblr or Twitter?

Tumblr

17. Pro-choice or Pro-life?

Pro-choice

18. Favorite YouTuber?

Jenna Marbles

19. Favorite author ?

Jane Austen

20. Tea or Coffee?

Both. Both is good.

21. OTP ? In direct defiance of the ONE part of that phrase, I have many. (See above about and, not or.)

22. Do you play an instrument/sing ?

Yes to both. I can play piano, a number of woodwinds, and I’m teaching myself violin (on a violin that belonged to my mother, and my grandmother before that). I had professional voice lessons for years but I’ve been singing since I was very small. ;)

I was tagged by @avashnea ! Thank you for thinking of me :)

Tagged: @melissagt , @rhunae, and anyone else who would like to do it.. it’s personal enough in one spot that I don’t want to make anyone feel pressured to do it.

#memes #get to know cavalier-life #tagged by avashnea #thank you for the tag!

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madhattermoffits · 5 years

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by Rhonda Moffit, Moffits-Mad Hatter Adventures March, 2020

With such very busy lives, every so often we love to unwind with a weekend adventure. This recharges our batteries and allows us to find inspiration and appreciation that propels us into the forthcoming work week and beyond. Our most recent weekend adventure took us to Martin’s childhood, as his relatives lived in Hannibal, Missouri, when he was a boy. He, much like Tom Sawyer and creator Mark Twain, ran around this historic Mississippi River town as a youngster having fun and learning life’s early lessons. What many do not realize is the incredible history of this locale….so read on and see what we discovered.

One of the places that I, Rhonda, book for our clients that visit Hannibal that has had great reviews is the Garth Woodside Mansion Bed and Breakfast. We were anxious to check this place out for ourselves.

John Garth and Helen Kercheval were married on October 18, 1860. They had two children, John David and Annie. Sometime after the Civil War broke out, in 1862 or 1863, Garth moved his family to New York City. There he was engaged in banking, brokerage, and manufacturing. They returned to Hannibal in 1871, and Garth started a successful business career. Garth purchased a farm southwest of Hannibal and constructed his Italianate Second Empire summer residence about a mile outside of the hustling city in 1871, which he named “Woodside”. On the farm he raised and bred shorthorn and Jersey cattle.

As a businessman Garth entered many ventures. He was one of the organizers of the Farmers and Merchants Bank and served as its first vice-president. He became president in 1880, a position he held until near his death in 1899. He was also president of the Hannibal Lime Company, president of the Missouri Guarantee Savings and Building Association, and president of the Garth Lumber Company in Delta, Michigan. His wife and daughter funded several memorials to him, including the Garth Memorial Library Building, dedicated in 1902, and a tower and set of bells at the Trinity Episcopal Church.

Son John perished at the age of 21, sadly, while he was undergoing an appendectomy. Family photos adorn the walls of Woodside.

Samuel Langhorne Clemens, better known by his pen name of Mark Twain, not only grew up in Hannibal but had multiple visits back to visit friends during his lifetime. One of his childhood friends was in fact John Garth. Samuel Clemens visited Woodside on several occasions, preferring to stay with his friends. He had his own particular favorite bedroom in the house and spent many hours laughing with the family in the downstairs parlor. When he published Life on the Mississippi, Clemens sent the Garths a copy. John Garth replied, “Thanks for the book. Each and every one at Woodside has enjoyed it greatly.” A note from Clemens to his manager requested a copy of Huckleberry Finn to be sent to the Garths upon its release. John Garth died in 1899.

There have only been six owners of the mansion since it was built, and most all of the original furnishings are still used. This brings me to the beds. Oh, the beds! This particular bed is valued at $55,000, being one of the most valuable in the United States. It is said that Mark Twain slept in this bed and the hand carved craftsmanship is beautiful. Other furnishings are original to the house as well, and it is truly like stepping back in time. Because Woodside has changed owners so infrequently, many of the belongings of the Garth family remain. The current innkeepers/owners (very friendly!) allowed us to roam the entire house and grounds and we were able to see everything the house has to offer, which is a lot.

After exploring the mansion and visiting with the llamas (resident livestock), we ventured into downtown Hannibal and decided to eat at the Mark Twain Dinette. Martin regaled me with tales of when he was sent by family to the Dinette to buy and bring home a jug of their homemade root beer. They have made the root beer onsite since going into business over 76 years ago, and it does not disappoint! If you visit, you should try one of their pork tenderloin sandwiches- it is enormous and one of the main dishes that they are known for.

After dinner, Martin walked me around the Mark Twain historic buildings- my own private tour.

It was fantastic. We then journeyed the short drive back to Woodside and enjoyed the rest of the night with complimentary wine, a fireplace, and a large jetted tub that I really wish I could bring home with me.

The next morning, we were provided a yummy breakfast and had some wonderful conversation with other guests. There are cottages at the rear of the property and they provide a beautiful view and private hot tubs on their decks. These are quite popular, and from what I gleaned from conversation with the others many like to return a couple times a year just to rejuvenate.

The next part of our adventure took us to Lover’s Leap. The views from this historic location are remarkable, and it was a beautiful day to behold.

Next, we traversed to Mark Twain Cave.

Made famous in Mark Twain’s writing, this location is the real deal. They offer tours, so of course we were all in. We went 250 feet below ground and saw everything we could see in the miles of tunnels made of limestone. Samuel Clemens even signed the cave wall when he was young- if you look in the center of the following image you can see “Clemens“.

Many, many people have been to the cave over the years- here I am, wandering around trying to get a feel for it- and loving every minute.

There are over 260 passageways, and it is easy to get turned around in the labyrinth. There is also a “marriage rock” within that has a story. There was a woman who discovered one of her ancestors had signed the cave wall and she had her wedding in the cave under the signature as an homage to the relation. Also look carefully in the photos for the signature from 1865. There are so many echoes from the past.

The Mark Twain Cave was discovered in the winter of 1819 when Jack Sims tracked a panther into what appeared to be a small den. He later discovered it was an extensive underground network. Twain included a lot of the cave in his book “Tom Sawyer”, as he found it to be a true source of inspiration as a child. He and friends used to light candles and enter the cave to explore it. The “Discovery” entrance is the original entrance (green sign) that was used, as you can see in the image.

Also notable:

Joseph Nash McDowell – He bought the cave in 1848 and was the owner during Mark Twain’s childhood. He is infamous for putting his recently deceased daughter into a copper cylinder and placing the cylinder in the back of his cave hoping to further his theory of human petrification. When Hannibal residents learned of this act, they begged him to remove her and bury her as was deemed proper.

Here is an image of where both McDowell’s daughter’s corpse was stored and where Jesse James placed his signature in the cave.

Jesse James — After a botched robbery attempt he hid out in Tennessee. In 1879 he decided to head for Independence, MO to assemble a new gang. On his way through, he signed his name in the Mark Twain Cave which is dated September 22, 1879, sixteen days before he robbed a train in Independence with his new crew, and only three years before his death.

The cave was a remarkable adventure and we spent a lot of time exploring it.

Also in Hannibal is the home of the “Unsinkable” Molly Brown. Molly was born in this house just a few blocks away from the home of Mark Twain. Margaret Tobin Brown was an activist and survivor of the Titanic. Born in 1867, she was the daughter of Irish immigrants. In her lifetime, she and her husband rocketed to fame during the Gold Rush. In a lifeboat as the RMS Titanic sank, Molly shared layers of clothing and urged others to survive the disaster. She used her status to inspire others to fight for children’s and worker’s rights for the remainder of her life.

For all of us Disney fans, Hannibal is also a special place. It is the birthplace of voice actor and musician Cliff Edwards, better known as the voice of Pinnochio’s Jiminy Cricket. Edwards was born in Hannibal and left school at the age of 14 to move to St. Louis. He taught himself to play the ukulele, choosing it because he said it was the cheapest instrument in the music shop. He was nicknamed “Ukulele Ike” by a club owner that could never recall his actual name, and it stuck.

Hannibal has so many stories, and there is so much to do and to see. If you visit between April and November you can even take a riverboat cruise on the Mississippi courtesy of the Mark Twain- they even offer dinner cruises. We plan on returning again soon, and before we departed, we returned to the Mark Twain Dinette to grab a root beer for the road. OK, we actually bought a case to take home. What a wonderful getaway!

Hope you enjoy sharing our adventures- be sure to give us a like, a comment, or at least have a drink of this fabulous root beer next time you are in Hannibal for us!

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GET YOUR FREE VACATION QUOTE HERE!

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Are you visiting Disney in the future? We have some amazing packages available and can save you time and money so you and yours have the best time possible! After all, one of us is a former Cast Member. Fill out our form HERE to receive your FREE quote. Our services are completely free for you to utilize and you will get YEARS of experience on your side when booking with Moffits: Mad Hatter Adventures.

Always consider booking with an Authorized Disney Vacation Planning agency, such as Mad Hatter Adventures. We will be available to assist you with everything from finding the best value for your travel party to getting dining reservations and Fastpass+ attractions lined up. Just get in touch with us at [email protected] or watch our adventures on Facebook. We don’t just book travel, we LIVE it!

Images copyright Moffits: Mad Hatter Adventures, 2020

A $55,000 Bed, Mark Twain, Jiminy Cricket, Jesse James, Root Beer and Spelunking- It’s A Weekend Getaway Adventure to Hannibal, Missouri by Rhonda Moffit, Moffits-Mad Hatter Adventures March, 2020 With such very busy lives, every so often we love to unwind with a weekend adventure.

#Cliff Edwards #Garth Woodside Mansion #Hannibal #Jesse James #Mark Twain #Mark Twin Cave #missouri

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moonlightmadnessreviews · 5 years

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It’s Terror Time Again: The Benefits of Being a Scared Kid

Do you remember the first time you were frightened by a movie? Is the image burned into your mind? Can you still see it when you close your eyes to sleep? Many people who consider themselves fans of the horror genre make note of the fact that they remember being exposed to it at a fairly young age, often times thanks to cool parents. Though there may have been some sleepless night afterwards for both parties involved, it was all a result of family time spent together. For all its boogie men, and all the times we’ve triple checked under our beds at night, horror has long been a means of bringing generations together.

It should be noted that horror movies are not unique in leaving an impression on young children. It would be fair to say that those of us who grew up in households where movie night was a regular occurrence would grow up to be extra fond of those movies and often revisit them in later years. There are just as many people who have gone on to have a deep love for Disney movies, comedies or even Christmas movies when they grow up thanks to special memories they associate with them. I can still quote lines from A Goofy Movie, Forrest Gump and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but it was the fear and wonder that Jurassic Park sparked within me that has made it THE movie I associate most with my childhood. I can tell you where I was when I first saw it, who was there and even what part I started watching it from (this was during the “We’ll catch it on HBO.” era). Dinosaurs weren’t the only beasts giving me nightmares at a young age though.

My first experience with a true horror movie came in the form of Rick Baker’s amazing work in John Landis’ An American Werewolf in London. I can still remember silently making my way to the room of my older cousin that summer, as screams spilling out into the hall. I popped my head into the room just as the first transformation scene began. Not fully understanding what was going on, I was torn. I wanted to run back to the living room, horrified by what I was watching, but my feet were cemented to the ground. Watching David Naughton’s face distort and morph filled me with dread, and yet there was curiosity as well. As my jaw hung open, all I could think was “I know this is just a movie but... HOW are they doing this?”

Upon my return to school that September, the crazy werewolf movie I saw with my cousins was all I could tell my friends about. It has since become one of my favorite films, that astonishment from my childhood etching every detail, every scene, deep into my memory. The nightmares came shortly after that first night’s watch, the image of the enormous werewolf tearing Griffin Dunne to shreds haunting me. Every time I’d wake from a nightmare to frantically look around my room, I’d just hope I wouldn’t slip into the same nightmare once I got back to sleep. Despite this and other movies scaring me out of my sleep, I would still find my way back to them.

I would also consider myself lucky to have grown up in the era of kid-friendly, yet still very frightening, horror media. Shows like “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” were just as frightening as any horror movie you might catch in a theater in those days, the only major distinction between them being the lack of profanity and nudity. The episodes may have had some less than stellar performances by young actors, but the stories were just as frightening as anything available for adults. The “Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark” book series followed a similar template, one that knew children were intelligent enough to understand these other-worldly and frightening concepts and never made the reader feel as though they were being spoken down to. R.L. Stine’s “Goosebumps” series is perhaps the closest to “kid-friendly horror” from those days. The books and eventual TV show kept things fairly lighthearted while also trying to deliver important messages, yet they too felt like horror media that you could consume as a young kid or pre-teen without feeling like it was any less frightening.

I also owe a great deal of thanks to my dad for getting me interested in horror from a young age by way of his creative and creepy bedtime stories. He has the ability to tell stories in a way that paint a clear picture for you, and they would often leave me more frightened than I’m sure he intended. My dad would often take my mother to see horror movies when they were dating, so he’d love to tell me all about them when I was growing up. When I first watched Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, he told me how much the music reminded him of Return of the Living Dead and proceeded to convince me that acid rain would turn me into a zombie. On another occasion, just sitting in a car waiting for my mother to get out of the store, he managed to take me through the entire plot of The People Under the Stairs, one of his all time favorites. I’ll always be grateful for the interest, and fear, he instilled in me from so early on.

I tend to joke from time to time that when I finally have kids, I’m going to make sure I frighten them with movies like An American Werewolf in London, Return of the Living Dead and The Fly to make sure they turn out just like me. What I mean to say is, I feel it’s important for kids to be scared! I find that it helped to open up my creativity, and the search for things that frightened me became a life long passion. Children should be allowed to explore fear through different mediums, to an age appropriate and reasonable extent of course, as a way to help them feel more grown up and, to some extent, brave. I’m not saying we should torture our children in an effort to toughen them up, but if you expose them to different forms of horror and they’re receptive to it, it can now become a shared passion and part of quality time spent with them.

With the return of “Are You Afraid of the Dark?”, the upcoming Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark movie and even the sequel to Scooby-Doo on Zombie Island, it’s the perfect time not only for those looking to relive a piece of their childhood but also for new generations to be indoctrinated into the cult of fear. When seeing material from our childhood adapted for the screen, some of us will be staring our nightmares face to face, trying not to flinch. Others will discover these monsters for the very first time, and they may even seek out the source material. Whichever one you are, just know that you’re part of something special. Horror doesn’t need to be a dirty word, because when it helps to bring generations together, it’s frightening just how much fun we can all have.

#horror movies #horror #scary stories to tell in the dark #goosebumps #scooby doo #an american werewolf in london #return of the living dead #the people under the stairs #the fly #horror films #creepypasta #moonlight madness #moonlight madness reviews

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sholiofic · 6 years

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Prompts: In honor of me literally sitting on a bench in Disney World right now (Hollywood Studios, to be exact): Peggy/Jack/Daniel, visiting Disney Land or Disney World. Can be fluff, or action/adventure when some kind of trouble happens and of course the OT3 can’t help getting involved. (Land opened July 7, 1955; World opened in October 1, 1971.)

Okay, it ended up not being quite Disney Land but … related. :D Also, I hope you had fun!

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“You know, when you first started talking about this, I thought you were joking,” Peggy said, looking up at the enormous arching sign reading STARKLAND.

“As did we all,” was Jarvis’s poker-faced addition.

“Would I joke about something like this? I had to rush it into production –” Oh no, Peggy thought; this will certainly end well. “– since that insufferable egotist Disney is scheduled to open his amusement park next year, but ha! I got there first.”

Peggy, with a womanful effort, forebore to comment on the irony of Howard referring to anyone else as an insufferable egotist. “And you called us all to Malibu on a weekend for what reason, exactly?”

“A sneak preview, Peg. For my oldest and dearest friend.”

“Whenever you begin buttering me up like a piece of toast, Howard, I start to wonder what you’re up to.”

“Product testing,” Jack said, moving up beside her. “He wants us to make sure nothing is going to run amok and eat a dozen schoolchildren on opening night, doesn’t he?”

“I wouldn’t have put it quite like that,” Howard muttered.

***

“This place is nightmare fuel,” Jack murmured as they wandered the grounds. He was eyeing the giant animatronic Howard Stark head into which a loop of the roller coaster vanished before emerging out the other side.

“Parts of it are pretty swell,” Daniel said. “Either of you two go to the Stark Expo in New York, back at the start of the war?” Both of them shook their heads. “I went three times. The tech pavilion here is really similar to it, except he’s got ten years’ worth of new toys in there. I’d drop an admission fee to look at that, no problem.”

“As opposed to that one.” Jack waved a hand at the pavilion with the sign reading THE HOWARD STARK EXPERIENCE. Peggy had stuck her head inside just long enough to discover that it began with an animatronic tableau of what she suspected was a highly idealized and sensationalized version of Howard’s underprivileged childhood. (“Forced to provide his own education when public schools proved inadequate to his rapidly advancing intellect,” the recorded narration announced, “Mr. Stark completed the equivalent of a high school education by the age of nine and went on to file his first patent at eleven, winning nationwide acclaim and the feting of top-rated schools across the country. His contributions to engineering and medicine went on to jump-start the early development of antibiotics and revitalized the aviation industry by the time he was sixteen …”)

“So the entire place is a love letter to himself,” Daniel said. He nudged Peggy. “No big surprise there, huh?”

“I’m more surprised that nothing on the premises has – how did you put it, Jack? Run amok?”

As if on cue, there was a scream from the Howard Stark Experience pavilion.

Peggy sighed.

“You had to say that,” Daniel said.

“Jack said it first,” Peggy declared.

“If I end up getting chased across this place by a giant robot version of Stark,” Jack said, resting a hand on his service weapon, “I reserve the right to say ‘I told you so’.”

#agent carter #peggy carter #daniel sousa #jack thompson #howard stark #lazaefair

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onestowatch · 5 years

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Aly&AJ Talk ‘Sanctuary,’ Touring the World, and Their Highly Anticipated Return to Music [Q&A]

Beloved sister duo Aly and AJ Michalka carry an enormous amount of nostalgia. After breaking out as teen stars on Disney Channel, they launched a wildly successful pop-rock music career with their 2007 album Insomniatic. We know you listened to “Potential Breakup Song” to cope with your failed 7th grade relationship; we did too. After a decade of silence, they released the suitably titled Ten Years EP, delighting fans with their indestructible bond as sisters and updated synth pop sound. Their latest work, an EP titled Sanctuary, sparked their Sanctuary Tour, which took them all over the United States before heading to Europe for upcoming shows. Many of us grew up with Aly & AJ, making their return to music both evocative of our childhood and empowering as we see them evolve into something new.

We met up with Aly and AJ in the green room of The Fonda, in actuality painted a Canary Yellow, where they played their first show ever over a decade ago. After getting some kisses from their pup Bix, we sat down to discuss how they find sanctuary on tour, the perks of releasing music independently and their fight against conversion therapy.

OTW: You two have been busy! Tell us about the tour so far.

Aly: It’s been awesome. We haven’t had any blowout sister fights.

AJ: Yeah for 40 cities in two months there was no drama. It was a really great run. So we’re about to finish the US tour and head to Europe.

OTW: Where are you most excited to go in Europe?

AJ: We’re only playing five shows there, we’re just kind of dipping our feet in that territory because we’ve actually never played in Europe. I’m really excited for London. We’re playing Manchester, Dublin, Paris and Amsterdam and I gotta say I’m so stoked for Paris and Amsterdam.

OTW: You two have been steadily on tour since May. Where do you find sanctuary when you’re on the road?

Aly: Honestly having our dog around has been a massive sanctuary for all of us. Even the band would admit that it’s been nice having a little buddy with us.

AJ: Oh he’s completely been the emotional heartbeat of this tour.

Aly: We also decorate our bunks and having books in there and inspirational cards and notes.

AJ: I have some polaroids posted and some twinkly lights and even some succulents. Honestly I just get in there and it’s about sleep and rest and rejuvenating for the next show. Also good food. We’re big foodies so finding great restaurants is a big thing for us.

OTW: Is there a moment in your set that you look forward to?

AJ: I think “Church” is a special song and it opens the set. It grounds us and sets the pace for the show.

Aly: It’s hard to choose! We also love performing “Sanctuary.” It’s the second to last song that we perform and it says so much in terms of what it means to us and also to our fans. It’s really like a love letter to our fans for sticking it out all these years and being there for us. It’s also a safe place for them to come and be themselves, so it really works both ways which is really neat.

OTW: Have you had any moments that stood out to you with fans during this tour?

Aly: I think we’ve had a lot. One moment that we’ve had specifically was in San Diego the other night. We have The Trevor Project out with us on the road and we talk about them at every single show. We’ve been getting every audience to help by not only signing a petition to end conversion therapy, but to also donate to The Trevor Project. We’ve raised almost $40,000 which is really exciting, and last night someone came to our meet and greet and said “I appreciate what you guys are doing with Trevor Project because I was actually sent to conversion therapy. My family didn’t approve of me being out and I think what you’re doing is important.” It struck a chord with AJ and I because we can be some small part in ending conversion therapy and making sure our fans are aware that that’s still happening and shouldn’t be.

AJ: We’ve had incredible fan encounters. It sounds cheesy, but in a weird way I think that’s also been our sanctuary. It truly means so much that people have cared about our music this long and have continued to sustain the excitement seeing as we took such a big break.

OTW: You guys are doing things independently. Why was that important to you?

AJ: I think it’s given us a really clear-cut form of freedom to be independently putting out this music. Being that Aly and I have been doing this for so long and we have a lot of opinions of what we like and don’t like, it’s been important that this first batch of music comes out independently. It’s given Aly and I the freedom to control where we want our career to head. We do work with AWAL, who distributes all of our stuff, and they’ve been amazing.

Aly: And it’s given us the ability to try things and see the response, whereas I don’t think that you get that in the record company umbrella. It’s kind of like, you succeed or you fail which is really unfortunate because a lot of times being an artist takes an arc to find your sound. Especially for these EPs, it’s been great to put them out independently. I think overall we wouldn’t be opposed to being signed, it’s just wanting to know that it’s the right deal and doesn’t take away our creative control. The goal is to continue releasing good music however that may be, and AJ and I have never been more proud of the music that we’ve made than these past two EPs.

OTW: “Potential Breakup Song” and “Church” were released over a decade apart. How have your music tastes changed since the start of your career and how has that influenced your sound?

AJ: We’ve definitely grown a ton in this interim of taking such a large break. And I do feel like our taste has grown. We really leaned into 80s synth pop on the Ten Years EP and realized that a lot of the artists we were listening to were artists that we look up to from the 80s and early 90s. I wouldn’t say one band dictated the sound but I do think there’s a collection of singers from the 80s, male in particular, who drew out this sound in Aly and me.

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Aly: I feel like we also started to back off of the pop rock music that we were making when we were younger. I don’t think that genre should exist. I think it should either be pop or it should be rock. If it’s a rock song, let it be a rock song. It’s kind of like saying “smooth jazz,” like just say jazz ya know? As AJ and I go forward, I would like to see it lean slightly alt, but only time will tell what we’re inspired by and who we collaborate with.

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OTW: You two have been juggling busy schedules, with both music and acting endeavors. Do you set aside time to write together or are there a whole lot of voice memos being texted back and forth?

Aly: It’s all about trusting that our vision will come across even if it’s one of us. We don’t both have to be in the room to get a song finished or get it to a place where we’re both really happy with it. If AJ can’t come to the writing session or I’m unavailable, one of us will do the first day of the session and the other will come for the rest.

AJ: The collaboration is constant. There have been so many times where I’m on the Sony lot in between takes listening to Aly talk about a new song or idea. There’re no set rules, we make music however we need to make it and if that means that one is there and one is not, then that is what it is. The collaborative effort is always there.

OTW: Can we expect a sibling collab with the Jonas Brothers?

AJ: They’re like number one right now! I think we’d be open to it, but I’m not sure if they need us. I mean, if someone wants to campaign for it then sure. We were actually the first tour they were ever on.

Aly: Only OG fans know that, but yeah. It was Cheetah Girls for the first part and then later on they opened for us.

AJ: I’ll never forget how we all met. It was an East Coast show, freezing out, and they were in giant parkas eating lunch in a cafeteria space at a shitty venue. They were super sweet, we were all babies.

OTW: Who are you Ones to Watch?

Aly: Honestly I think Armors are mine. Their music is great and they’re all really great dudes.

AJ: I agree. My friend Hayley Orrantia is also one to watch. She just released an EP called The Way Out, about how she dealt with a horrible breakup. It’s been a beautiful way for her to release some of the pain. If you’ve been through a bad breakup you should definitely give it a listen.

#aly&aj #sanctuary #church #pop #synthpop #armors #interview

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notyoursterotypicalnerd · 5 years

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The Lion King (2019)

Hakuna Matata means no worries.

What child doesn’t remember watching the 1994 animated hit, The Lion King? Me! I honestly don’t remember if I’ve ever seen the Disney classic.

When it was announced that Lion king would be live action, I was confused. Wouldn’t it just be CGI? Special effects? The jungle book was claimed as live action and when I watched that recently I felt weirded out.

Then the trailers and posters starting coming and everyone criticized that there was no cute factor. I complained that the animals looked way too stuffed and belonged in museum. The merchandise was still cut even, the Australian supermarket Woolworths cash in the hyped and started a collectable range.

Since I don’t remember the animated movie, I can say my opinion on this movie will be 100% purely just based on the live action release without being too attached to the animated hit.

After watching the movie, I was in complete and utter awe. Everything seemed spectacularly done. The landscape, the attention to detail, the song; everything.

Like I mentioned before I don’t remember watching the Lion King as a kid, but I have heard the music enough and seen the music clips enough to have a sense of understanding.

The movie seems to have stuck with the source material as much as possible with the exception of voice actors. To me, it seems nothing has changed though it may have been emphasized a little more.

Each actor gave their all to the characters and you can hear it. You can hear the tones in their voice when they speak, they tried to make the character their own while sticking to the familiar style that many love.

You can see that each person in crew played an enormous part, the fact that this was quite possibly all recorded on a sound stage with stuffed teddy bears, you wouldn’t of believe it. The attention to detail shows how much they cared about this adaption of Lion King.

By the end of the movie, I fully believe that this was shot in Savannah, Africa and with the help of David Attenborough, they captured the movements of wildlife.

Again, from my point of view Nothing seems out of place. No new songs, no change of direction just emphasise on original material. Even the animals, I want in expecting a ready for museum display instead I got perfect replicas of what the animals in wildlife would be like.

The Lion King stays true to material. It is a movie that all Disney fans will love. You will walk out of the cinema cheering that your childhood has been relived.

A must-see Disney movie.

#The Lion King #Lion King #mywriting #17th july 2019 #movie review

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dean-bluesteel-winchester-spnfam · 5 years

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Disney Questions

So uh @fashionducky1812 wanted me to answer them all. So you can all laugh like you want, but I do love Disney. I would still be happy if Sam will never know about this!

Some character just have the best outfits, which Disney character would your muse like to swap wardrobes with? Oh. I just saw that Castiel would go for Prince Eric’s clothes and I’m a bit speechless. But I would probably go for Sheriff Woody, cause you know: Cowboys. But if Cas wants me to be a prince, I’d go for uh Prince Naveen of Maldonia.

Sometimes you just gotta ask…’how do they get their hair to look like that?’ Which Disney character’s hair/style would your muse love to have?

Hmm. This question is hard, because I do like my hair the way it is. (Cas looks like Aladdin or Eric right?? :D That actually explains my childhood crushes) But I think Prince Phillip looks awesome, so I’d take his hairsytle.

Among the long roster of characters which Disney character do you think your muse is most like?

Probably Flynn Rider? Cause I’m an idiot.

Not every character will be a hit with everyone, which Disney character does your muse not like? (Not necessarily hate but just care for the least)

The guy who shot Bambi. I will never get over this. Just watched that movie once and couldn’t sleep at all that night.

From a tiny chameleon to a Bengal tiger, which Disney animal sidekick would your muse most like to have for their own?

Flounder, cause he is so loyal or Mushu, cause he is funny.

Sometimes we all wanna just get away from our own lives for a while, if your muse could be a Disney character for the day who would they most like to be?

Peter Pan. Yeah I know kinda silly, but I’d like to fly around without being afraid for once. Just being a child and having fun. Sounds like a dream.

Everyone loves a happily ever after, usually. Which story’s happily ever after is your muses’ favorite? If they could have one of their own which one would it be like?

I really like the ending of Ariel? Like they are two people from completely different worlds, but they find each other at the end. My own happy end? I feel like I’m having it right now and it’s similar to Ariel’s. I still have my family, but I also got my own Prince from a different world, who is actually seeing me and... loving me.

Singing a jolly tune from time to time can be fun! What is your muses’ favorite overall Disney tune to jam out to every time without fail? What about favorite villain song? Love song? Sidekick song?

Ohhh. Well I have a hidden cassette with Disney songs in my room. I really like “I’ll make a man out of you”. Best villian song is: “Gaston”. Best love song is: “Can you feel the love tonight?” and best sidekick song is: “Kiss the Girl” or “Be our Guest.”

There’s usually always someone who makes our hearts skip a beat or two, who’s your muses’ Disney crush?

Oh well like I said I had always a thing for Aladdin or Prince Eric. Uh the...the dark hair and Eric’s blue eyes... But I also wanted Peter Pan to free me and take me with him.

Everyone has their favorites, what about your muse? Who’s their top 5 favorite Disney characters overall? (Feel free to also get more specific! Such as Top 5 Princesses, Top 5 Villains, Top 5 Animals, etc.)

Top 5 Princesses: Ariel, Tiana, Mulan, Jasmine and Belle.

Top 5 Princes: Eric, Aladdin, Peter Pan, Prince Charming, Flynn Rider

Top 5 Animals: Mushu, Flounder, Abu, Stitch and the crocodile from Peter Pan

Top 5 Villains: Cruella de Vil, Scar, Captain Hook, Yzma, Hades and Ursula ( I don’t care that I named 6)

Take a magic carpet ride across the world and tell us which Disney place your muse would most like to live!

Oh. This will probably suprise everyone but I’m happy to live in the bunker. Or at least in the near of it. But! I’d really like to visit the beach for a holiday, so he could take me there.

Disney has always told many stories with lessons that we all need to learn, which one has your muse most taken to heart?

Oh the lesson from the Princess and the frog is pretty awesome? Like it’s okay to wish for something, but you also have to work hard for your dream to come true.

With a long list to choose from what is your muses’ favorite Disney movie of all time?

Ariel and Peter pan.

Magic is a strong force within the Disney universe, which magical being would your muse most like to have by their side?

Genie.

Every story needs a memorable detail, Which iconic Disney symbol is your muses’ favorite? (i.e. Mickey’s ears, Cinderella’s glass slipper, or Rapunzel’s sun)

Mickey’s ears to be honest.

Disney has been known to tug on our hearts and make us feel so many emotions, what scene makes you muse cry every time? Which scene makes them happiest? How about laugh the most? Most inspired?

Cry every time: When Simba sees how his father dies, when Ariel sees how Prince Eric kisses someone else, when Belle leaves and the Beast thinks she doesn’t like him back.

Laugh the most: The mushu dishonor rant and probably every scene with Timon and Pumba or the entire movie: The Emperor's New Groove

The happiest: Every happy ending to be honest.

Most inspired: When Mulan fights for her country even though she knew the risks.

Sometimes there are moments so powerful they stick with us for a long time. What does your muse consider to be the most iconic moment of any Disney move?

Hmmm. This is a hard one. Maybe when Simba came back and faught Scar.

A dream is a wish your heart makes, or so the song goes and they say that if you dream something more then once it’s sure to come true! What is a dream your muse has that they wish would come true?

Lately I dream a lot about good things and that is still kinda new to me. I dream about having a real family. Not that my family isn’t real or any less perfect. But I’d like some kids that wake me up in the morning and all that crap.

Disney has had it fair share of live-action movies to go along side their animated roster, what is one live-action Disney movie your muse loves?

Beauty and the Beast, but also Cinderella. Both made me cry.

Not every Disney movie makes it sadly for one reason or another, what is one movie that your muse loves that they consider to be highly underappreciated?

The Fox and the Hound.

Many of Disney’s works have been put onto the grand stages of Broadway, does you muse have a favorite? Is there one they most want to see?

Lion King!

Disney has retold many famous fairytales over the years, what is one fairytale your muse would love to see adapted by the house of mouse?

Eh... I have no idea to be honest. I love the house of mouse, but I have no idea which fairytale wasn’t already there.

Sometimes we forget that not every animated movie was created by Disney now matter how it may seem. What’s one movie your muse often forgets isn’t part of the magical world?

Anastasia and Bartok! That is such a great movie.

Seeing the parks decked out for the holidays can be some of the most beautiful sights, so long as you don’t mind the crowds too much. What holiday does your muse love going to the parks for?

I’ve never been there, but Christmas must be pretty awesome. Or Halloween too.

It’s every Disney lovers dream to meet their favorite characters and at the parks that dream can become a reality! Which characters do they love meeting with at the parks? Is there one who isn’t around anymore that they wish would return?

I’d like to meet. uh... Ariel and Prince Eric. And maybe even Winnie the pooh and tigger?

It’s hard not to spend a lot on merch when at a Disney park, does you muse manage to control themselves well enough or do they tend to come back with more merch then they know what to do with?

I probably wouldn’t buy anything. Too embarrassed anyway, but regret it.

A popular thing within the Disney parks is pin trading! Does your muse collect them? Do they have any particular collections they are trying to complete or have completed?

Nah not really.

The Disney parks were created with children and the child at heart in mind, which theme park ride dose your muse have to go on every visit?

Honestly? I’d like to do the Merry Go Round at the big castle. It’s really embarrassing, but I bet it would be... fun. I’m too scared of the rollercoasters.

Walking around the enormous Disney parks all day can make you pretty hungry, what snacks does your muse pick up to remedy that?

I need to try EVERYTHING. Bet they have some awesome pie there.

The Disney parks have a variety of shows and events for people to enjoy, what are some of you muses’ favorite? Which one do they have to see every time?

The parade at the end of the day. I’d like to see that one day.

#about me #uhm yeah that was like pretty embarrassing #I feel like now you know so much more about me

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divagonzo · 5 years

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Many times I’ve seen comments about how the Harry Potter cast avoided the “child star curse” and I want your opinion on that because I don’t think those kids were being treated well and I always find it shocking how everyone thinks their childhoods in the spotlight were something magically wonderful. Also, I hate how people talk about child-stars gone wrong because the aim is always to mock or attack the kid instead of realizing their behavior is a consequence of trauma and abuse.

Mornin’ Nonnie. Wow. That’s a bucketful of questions this morning.

Lemme get a huge cuppa so I can put some coherent thought into this set of questions.

RE: The Child Star Curse…. you’ve hit on the enormous Pandora’s Box here with this topic. No lie there.

Triggering mentions are in the tags for those who blacklist and don’t want to read on such things on a Sunday morning.

I’m putting all of this under the cut since this got really, really long really fast.

How did the kids avoid it where so many got lost and lost their way growing into adulthood? If you notice (I will speak of Eyebrows separately because her situation is pretty different by comparison)…. most of the main kids had a terrific support net of family at home - who could be wise to keep their kids grounded (as in feet on the ground and not under discipline/punishment). Sure they all had some mis-steps - but then I’ve never known a teenager who hasn’t made a mistake or 10 while transitioning to adulthood.

Dan? Dan had a serious drinking problem ‘til he decided to sober up (and I really commend him for taking that enormous step. It’s hard as hell to choose at such a young age that you have an addictive personality and that you can’t moderate the drinking and it’s smarter/safer to do without. (And it’s much easier to walk away at the younger age than in your late 20′s 30s 40s more when more damage has been done.)

Rupert? If anyone had been the most grounded, I’d say it’s him. His parents are top bants there, with his siblings and friends keeping him from being too much of a git. (And also being so b* smart in investing his funds early into a property owner to have his wealth but also paying his taxes, too.)

Emma? I think her situation was more fishbowl than the others because of the growing objectification of her and also how rude, lude, and crass men were treating her (including the paparazzi). I also think that she took advantage of such for her benefit to try and tame it down, and while it was mostly on point, there were moments where it was painfully obvious that she was there primarily for the male gaze. O_O She did take advantage of her privilege, with the additional benefits, but considering how much she’s been under the spotlight and constant attention of media and more, she’s done pretty well. (I won’t get into the issue of tax avoidance from the Panama Papers since I disagree with the mindset that the uber-wealthy should pay out 90% to benefit everyone else when they are already shouldering much of the social support net for those who need the assistance)

As for Tom and Bonnie and Evanna and the others? I think they have done pretty darn well for avoiding the child star curse.

But I also think the biggest part of it has been that they weren’t necessarily in the California/Hollywood scene, where it’s pretty much a free-for-all with access to anything and everything you’d want to delve into - along with the really ugly dark side of the business. (Yes, I’m tip-toeing around that issue since it’s pretty nasty.)

But how they were treated? I’m sure that the trappings of their situation made it more difficult, with constant media scrutiny and having so many people involved to have them appearing…. more appealing. While I’m sure for every one person there would be 100 who would give their toes and fingers to have that opportunity, it’s truly a Gilded Cage, of all of the pretty trappings and benefits - but with the enormous loss of privacy and anonymity.

Secondly, and more importantly, you also broach a huge issue, one that is constantly overlooked and also attracted the issue of victim-blaming. The ones who have gone off the rails, the kids who got lost along the way, were put under such scrutiny and given so much opportunity with little to no parental discipline to prevent problems, that, once again, media blame falls on the kids rather than the responsibility of the adults who should be there to support, encourage, and if need be, protect the kids.

I’m gonna say it right here in plain words: Being a teenager is Bloody Fucking hard. It’s triple hard if you are in such a position of making money hand over fist and people become blinded by the greed, attention, and privilege from what they have in those moments. How many horror stories do you hear of where a young actor or actress gets into drugs/alcohol/pills and then crashes and burns spectacularly? For every one success story, there are dozens that crash and burn.

Is it a self-medicating of ones who aren’t necessarily neurotypical? Or is it the craving of the validation that comes from the attention and when not receiving it, needs the self-medication? Coping with trauma behind the scenes? Trauma before getting into acting and using the benefits to dull the pain?

I’ll bring up 3 in particular, just to make the point here.

One is Cory Haim. He was a young actor back in the 80s, in quite a few films, and was one of the teenage hearthrob pin-up boys. While he may have never been an A-lister as an adult (and reading up on his film credits, was probably B lister) he was an A-lister as a teenager. But there are plenty of speculation, especially by his friend Corey Feldman, of abuse when he was a teenager. (I won’t get into it because that’s rumor, speculation, and more) When he quit being cute his roles dried up to C-list roles, in straight to video shows, tv shows and voice-over work in video games.

From one of his interviews:

I was working on The Lost Boys (1987) when I smoked my first joint. But a year before that, I was starting to drink beer on the set of the film Lucas (1986). I lived in Los Angeles in the ‘80s, which was not the best place to be. I did cocaine for about a year and a half, then it led to crack. I started on the downers which were a hell of a lot better than the uppers because I was a nervous wreck. But one led to two, two led to four, four led to eight, until at the end it was about 85 a day - the doctors could not believe I was taking that much. And that was just the valium - I’m not talking about the other pills I went through.

Did he get into drugs to dull the pain of trauma? Did he get into it out of boredom? We’ll never really know since he died back in 2010, penniless. His star burned out fast after he quit being cute/adorable/a money-maker. Was trauma involved? I sure think so (along with former child actor River Phoenix, who was also mentioned in the dark side of Hollywood, too.)

#2 is Justin Bieber. (Yes, I know. Bear with me.)

He got his break early on doing YT videos and got signed on - and took off like a rocket. But he (now that he’s older and hopefully a little wiser) now admits that he isn’t neurotypical and is pretty darn honest about his mental health struggles. (And yes, this also includes the few years before he was participating in bad boy behaviors, mistreating his girlfriends, etc.) Now? He found some stability in his life, able to admit he has problems and is getting help (and does have some support from his family including his new wife and her family.) (Let me also broach this here in plain language: Being Christian and having Grace doesn’t mean that you have zero problems from there on out. Far from it. It means that forgiveness is there with contrition. It means having a framework to work on being better.)

Will he still make mistakes? Oh sure. Being human means making mistakes. Wisdom is learning from them.

Lastly? Miley Cyrus. (Yes, I know. I’m mentioning those who are fun to laugh at. But these three are prime examples - but also with examples of coming through it all - or not.)

She’s been under the spotlight for decades, now. She’s in a show-business family. Godmother is Dolly “I love everyone and then some” Parton. And she’s one of the Disney Kids, including some spectacular failures on her part (and I’m lumping in her on/off again with her now-husband Liam.)

Did she lose her way for a while? I sure think so. But then the media spotlight x 100 made it harder, with every mistake under intense scrutiny. (This includes some questionable choices in a presentation of herself to the world. O_O)

Was she abused as one of the Disney Kids? Frankly? I think so. Disney isn’t all bright colors and silly shows and enormous paychecks. Rumours run amuck of behind the scenes abuse and mistreatment. Even having a famous father probably didn’t shield her completely from being mishandled by adults in her sphere of acknowledgment.

It’s the utter dark side of the business - that is an open opportunity for adults to take advantage of kids when they aren’t intensely protected and shielded from predator adults - straight and gay. There’s so many quiet mentions of adults abusing girls and boys in their charge - to disasterous results mostly.

But from 2 of the three here? They are examples of hope, where you can make mistakes, get lost along the way, feel the intense grip of imposter syndrome, of mediocre achievements and still succeed - and survive mistakes. They are a hope that whatever has happened, trauma and abuse wise, that you can survive it and, with serious professional help, get through it.

As I am prone to do, especially with those I mentor, is that I won’t tell you what to think - just that you do think. But if a mistake is made (or even a really p*ss poor choice made) I’ll help you survive it.

2 of the three had their family and support net available to help them survive the choices made, leading to wisdom on what not to do - how to cope/endure/survive what has happened.

These kids were probably victims of abuse and trauma, before and during their early acting careers. But 2 of the three are examples of not living a lifetime of being a victim - but a bad-fucking-ass survivor.

To those who have survived abuse and trauma as a child?

I’m gonna tell y’all who might be reading this, including my Kiddos:

It’s not your fault you were abused. Never. Full-stop.

It’s the responsibility of the ones who hurt you. They are to blame. And G_d as my witness I better never run into them. I have zero qualms burning a bitch for hurting a child.

#TW:#Anonymous #Dragon asks #Dragon listens #Dragon speaks #Dragon talks XXX #Dragon talks Child stars and abuse #tw: csa #tw: abuse #tw: grooming #tw: drug use mentioned #tw: childhood trauma

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