This winter, M and I went to the Charmin Bathrooms in NYC! I’m dead serious when I tell you I’ve been waiting for THREE years to finally visit them, and they did not disappoint. We got Vicks-infused tissues on our way in, and each stall had all the kinds of toilet paper. So cool. Here are our photos on top of the giant potty!
Hope you’re all doing well!
S
It has come to my attention that, for the past few months, my life has followed that of Sara’s. She had a change in job status and became super busy; I decided to work on changing my job status and became super busy. She had a problem with her tires; my car’s tires decided to all deflate to a 23 (it’s usually supposed to be around 34). Gabe’s hard drive suddenly got tiny holes in it and broke down on Sara; Bella decided to just shut down on me.
So you see what I mean here.
However, while Sara went and bought an awesome new MacBook Pro, I’ve decided to go the poor girl’s route and get a refurb of sorts from a friend. And, well, if you remember a few months back when Sara wrote a post about names… She and I love naming our things. Which brings to MacBook Pro’s new name.
I guess I should tell you all now (if you don’t already know) that (almost) everything I own is named after a character from TWILIGHT. It started off as a coincidence with two items being named before I even heard about the series, and then I just continued it for shits and giggles… Now I just feel the need to continue the tradition.
The following names are already taken or have already been used:
I think those are the only ones I’ve used. Eek if I’m missing any.
So this is what I know about the new-old MacBook Pro:
So, fine readers… Hit me with a name from THE TWILIGHT SAGA you think might fit… Or a variation of the name… I have a few ideas but am open to other choices. 
~M~
So, M and I were futzing around on chat today, when I came across this article via tumblr.
The gist is that Disney is thinking of ditching the Disney princesses in favor of Nemos, Jacks and Buzzs, with Tangled being the final princess venture for the company. Needless to say, we flipped shit and then decided to blog about it.
Extraordinary Thoughts:
I grew up on the Disney Masterpiece videos. One of the first movies I ever watched was The Little Mermaid and “Part of Your World” was one of the first songs I ever learned to sing. If I had the means to show you the video of me singing the song atop a Minnie Mouse beach towel, I would.
I digress.
When I watched the princesses, sure I thought of their beauty and their happily ever after but, to be honest, I also thought it really sucked that they always had an evil being after them. Maleficent was one scary witch, dudes, as was Jafar with the wise-cracking parrot (which didn’t help my fear of birds, by the way). I always saw the ladies as being able to vault over the hurdles and find happiness. Sure, there was a handsome young man waiting for her but really, was it ever truly easy?
Of course not.
Perhaps if Disney expanded on their explanations or even made sense with what was said, this would sit a bit easier, but it just seems wrong. They say that the company needs to keep up with the times but is getting rid of a Princess line the way to go? These women, at least in my perspective, weren’t created to be sit on a higher level that girls could never reach. They were created to show young girls that there is a light at the end of the hardships and that nothing comes without believing in one’s self and truly understanding love. The Beast would have never been saved if Belle hadn’t come to realize that beauty lies within a person rather than in his outer appearance. Mulan would have never found love if she hadn’t done what she first believed was the right thing to do and went to fight in place of her father.
the entire film [Tangled] was re-worked with action and banter, a lead who was a thief instead of a prince to give it Sparrow flavor, and a number of twentieth century notions like Joni Mitchell tunes and a ‘Mommie Dearest’ mom who tells her daughter that she’s “getting kind of chubby.”
What bothers me about this particular phrase is that, in order to update a classic tale, a mother tells her daughter that she’s gaining weight. Is this how Disney is planning on “updating” to the current times? Will there now be a young girl who, rather than wondering if she’ll get home by midnight, will worry if she’s gained too many pounds to catch the eye of the bad boy with a swagger?
This is a terrible move on Disney’s part. What else will be changed in order to “keep up with the times?” Will Cinderella’s Castle turn into The Black Pearl? Will children only be allowed to meet the characters of Toy Story in the parks while the wigs and dresses of princesses gather dust in a store room?
Keep the Princesses, Disney. Forever.
Rebel Thoughts:
There… is so much wrong with this entire announcement. I say that because Disney princesses were an integral part of my childhood. Every time I had an ear infection (which was a lot of the time), my mom would pop in The Little Mermaid on VHS. Halfway through I’d flip for drops in the other ear, and then during the wedding scene I was allowed to sit up. I thought Sleeping Beauty was perfect, that Jasmine was so exotic and spunky and that she was so lucky to get a cute guy like Aladdin. I would sing along with my dad to the title song in Beauty and the Beast. So part of my disappointment in this announcement is for sentimental reasons.
Personally, I never felt that Disney princesses gave me the message that I had to be a weak female, always playing second fiddle. They taught me that I could overcome odds and end up happy one day. Maybe that’s just me?
the company wants to keep up with the times, and the times aren’t too keen on romantic stories of unstoppable princes saving desperate, pretty princesses …
Oh really? Well then what are you going to do? Instead of assuring young girls that no matter how hard your life is, it will end up okay, are you going to instead have Princess Jennifer who has to choose whether or not to keep the baby? I think there is still a way to keep the princesses relevant without doing away with them altogether.
Disney isn’t pushing a new era for female fare, but rather a so-called gender-neutral framework that seems more interested in focusing on male heroes (Buzz, Woody, Jack, most of the superheroes) than reworking the now-dated approach it has been championing for decades.
This sentence (this very long sentence) really bothers me. So… making movies more gender-neutral means focusing on a male lead? Seriously? Last I checked, gender-neutral meant including both sexes. And to me, that’s having the male leads of Buzz, Jack Sparrow, etc. AND having princesses like Tiana and Rapunzel. Both genders of kids will have something to relate to, whether it’s girls liking princesses, boys liking princesses, boys liking pirates or girls liking pirates. The whole spectrum is covered.
Then there’s the issue of the theme parks. Disney World has Cinderella’s castle, Disneyland has Aurora’s. Disney France has Belle’s and if I’m not mistaken Disney in Asia has Jasmine’s. Does Disney deciding to ditch the princesses mean that we’ll shortly be seeing Jack’s pirate ship and Woody’s toy box in the place of the iconic castles? With no princesses… you also have no Disney logo. Do they know just how many little girls still dress up as Snow White for Halloween? I saw at least seven this year. Just something to think about.
Personally, I feel that this is a pretty dumb move for Disney to make. They shouldn’t be churning out princess movies as quickly as they did when I was a kid, but they shouldn’t be ditching them altogether. I think a nice balance is key. Once every five years, even. I know a lot of people who are very excited for Tangled, but then again, that could be because we’re the ones who grew up in Disney’s “prime.”
CliffsNotes: I think this is a decision Disney will come to regret.
Hello to all of you who still read this! I seem to be the only one posting, so if you still read, let me know in a comment. Because if no one cares, I’m just going to end this blog before it dies a slow death
If you follow me on twitter (which I so don’t expect you to do, I’m boring), you probably know this already but… I GOT A JOB! Finally! Let me tell you, when it rains, it pours. I’ve had almost zero job prospects for over a year and then out of nowhere I had three interviews in the same week. Lucky for me, one of them ended up successful.
It would be pretty inappropriate to tell you where I work and what I do… because stuff stays on the internet forever, but I love where I am, and if you want to know where I work that badly, you’ll figure out a way to contact me privately, haha!
I started last week and let me tell you, no matter how early I go to bed each night, 622am still comes WAY too quickly the next morning. Ugh. I hope I get used to this soon. But I work 830-430, so at least I beat some of the rush hour traffic home. Or at least, I will once the construction is finished. They took the highway from three lanes to two, the lines are all over the place so we’re all swerving, and the entrances to the highway are stop signs now so it takes forever just to get going. Took me 30 minutes yesterday! Very yucky.
Just figured I’d share with some of the people that I shared my life with through HillyFans for a whole year. You guys feel like my friends
<3
Sara
Hello, me again. This blog is pretty boring, I apologize.
I’m thinking of going into NYC in a few weeks (need to get some paychecks under my belt, some debt paid off, the usual) to see American Idiot and/or Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson. Probably both. I wish more of you guys lived near me so we could make it a fun meetup or something. Then again, not everyone has moolah for shows (heck, I barely do!). Crap. Like how I’m stream-of-consciousness-ing this plan?
Oh well, we should all meet up sometime though. And by “we all,” I mean the ones that live around me. The rest of you all, I will let you know if I’m ever in your city, 1. to hang out 2. because I will need a place to stay.
Anyway, how’s your Thursday? I spent mine wearing heels for eight hours and then working out when I got home. I’m nuts.
