Hope you’re all doing well!

S

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:

• Bella - my first MacBook, named because I kept telling my extremely Italian friend, “She’s so beautiful.. She’s so pretty.. She needs a beautiful name…” I wish I was kidding
• Jazzy (for Jasper) – my iPod, for obvious reasons
• Victoria - the first car I bought, small, silver, but more than she seems
• Mal (for Mary Alice) – the digital camera
• Leah - my first iPhone: powerful, gorgeous, and able to do more than I ever thought possible in a phone (she lost a piece and had to be replaced)
• Demetri (and Demetri 2.0) – the replacement iPhone for Leah; I wanted him to be better at keeping me grounded and, y’know, not lose his power. There was a 2.0 because the Apple store gave me an 8gb accidentally when I should have been given a 16gb
• Alec - the latest iPhone4, small but fast and power-driven; a bit square around the edge
• Senna - my Kindle: granite, able to hold power for a long time, and able to hold way more information than should ever be deemed necessary

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:

• It’s a Pro which means it’s faster than Bella
• Silver
• 15″
• Old trackball (which makes me soooo happy)
• Built-in camera
• Will have the latest programs
• Has a few scuff marks but is otherwise perfect

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~

Read the article here.

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.

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

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.

Next day edit because I just realized this and it makes me sad.  Mary and I haven’t seen each other for like, a MONTH.  That’s bad news bears, folks.

As for me…

M, I love you.  THIS BIG.  You’ve been my friend through it all, and I couldn’t thank you more.  I hope your day is wonderful, and I’m glad we’re not getting hurricane-d in Cape Cod right now.  Love!

S

Did you look at the Scattergories thing in the “About Us” yet?  It’s ridiculous.

Welcome to those of you joining us from HillyFans.  This will be much crazier and much less refined.  Hang on tight.

Also, any cool music I should be listening to?  Let me know!

S

Thanks to Melissa R. for taking this picture.

Yes. This is the shit Sara and I find ourselves doing.

Well, this past week, Gabriel died.  I’ve had him since… um… 2005?  A very, very long time.  Hard drive died.  Sad times.  It seems that I may be getting a new computer instead of just replacing the hard drive, which makes sense, because the CD drive was getting wonky, the fan was weird, the battery life sucked, so on and so forth.  This is probably just the push I needed to upgrade.  So, that’ll get sorted out this weekend, and in the meantime, I decided to start looking up names in case I get a new or refurbished computer.

I named my first Mac (Powerbook G4, for the record) Gabriel.  It means “the strength of God.”  He’s an archangel, and the patron of messengers and those that work in telecommunications.  I say he, even though Gabriel is depicted as a woman in art.  Lame.  He’s totally a guy.  Anyway.  I’ve decided to stick with the angel theme for a potential new computer, so here are some options:

1.  Raphael. Means “God heals.”  Pretty appropriate for something that will heal my recent distress.  You can call on Raphael to heal yourself, and you can call on him to help heal someone else, but he can’t interfere with free will.  If they don’t want help, he can’t.  Interesting.  Oh, and he’s a traveler.  Fun!

2. Uriel. Means “God is my light.”  I really, really like this name.  Good meaning, sticks with the theme, I can shorten it to “Uri.”  This is a strong contender.  Uriel is the wisest of the archangels, but very subtle.  He’s also one of the four that were written off by some pope in the 700s.  Uriel needs some love.

3. Michael. Means “who is like God.”  He’s the field commander of the army of God.  This is a more traditional and normal name, so I probably won’t pick it.  But wait, he has a flaming sword.  That’s pretty cool.  And he helps with nightmares, helps us find who we really are, and brings dedication.  Crap, he’s back in the running.

4. Chamuel. Means “he who sees God.”  Chamuel can help you find the love in your heart and his whole deal is improving relationships.  Okay, this one isn’t really appropriate for my computer, so how about I just pray to him on my own time instead?  Kay.

5. Jophiel. Means “beauty of God.”  This angel helps in all things beautiful and creative, which is why he’s best known among interior designers.   He makes things clear, but also helps you stop, relax and enjoy the beauty around you.  I really like this concept, because I use Photoshop a LOT.  Problem is, I don’t really know how to SAY this name…

6. Raguel. Means “friend of God.”  He is justice and fairness and is kind of the leader of all the rest of the archangels.  I dig it but, um, his name reminds me of Ragu.  So no.

7. Azrael. Means “whom God helps.”  I LOVE THIS NAME.  In love with it.  Too bad he’s the angel of death.  Then again, he helps people cross over from death and guides them on their way.  He absorbs pain of those that the deceased has left behind.  Considering Gabe died the other day, I’d say this is appropriate.

8. Metatron. Means “he who occupies the throne next to the Divine throne.”  Okay, I’m not going to name my computer this at ALL, I’m just including it because it sounds like a giant robot.  Also, he’s the SUPREME angel of death, which makes Azreal sound much better but still… robot.

Personally, I’m between Uriel, Michael and Azrael.  Thoughts, suggestions, opinions?  Also, this is IF I get a new/refurb…