ACH! Brave was Ach-mazing!

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I mean, it's Pixar.

So I knew no matter what, Brave would have me amazed, entertained, snort with laughter at some point, and possibly be crying by the end. But because everybody lately is PRINCESS CRAZY, either Team Princess or Team Grow Up, I was interested to see what their take on a Scottish princess would be. I went in with only a vague idea of what it was about - Scotland, princess, big gorgeous hair, archery, PIXAR.

(Spoilers from this point on! Stop reading lest ye be spoiled!)

(Seriously! It was fun not having the plot ruined for me ahead of time!)

At first, the movie seemed to follow a familiar flow:

  • Young princess is a tomboy
  • Young princess likes shooting arrows and riding around on her horse
  • Young princess does not like dresses, lessons, manners, or anything having to do with her mother (the Queen's) work.

Already, though, Pixar was beginning to weave its unique magic: Despite a horrifying big bear encounter in the opening scene, BOTH parents of the princess lived (if this had been Disney, Queen Mom so would've had a big fat target on her head). The princess grows up with a good relationship to both her parents and her younger mischievous triplet brothers. She escapes off into the woods whatever chance she gets, AND ... there is no singing. I mean, there's a soundtrack, we need some feel good Scottish music getting our blood pumping, but the princess herself doesn't utter a word of song. Incredible! At first I couldn't place my finger on what was missing, but then I got it. No forced song about how unfortunate her position is and how her destiny is oppressing her. Just Princess Merida, romping through the forest, nailing every archery target she sees, and then casually scaling a dangerous cliff in a dress. Y'know, princess stuff.

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After Merida is confronted with the fate of being a princess - i.e. picking a suitor from a neighboring clan to marry and solidify the kingdom's relationship with its clans, yadda yadda, the story takes a really incredible turn. Not only does Merida put herself into the archery contest (to win her own hand at marriage), but when that doesn't work she seeks out some witchy aid to help her parents see clearly. I thought it was telling of the strong relationship she had with her parents that she didn't want the witch to help her run away from home, or create some suitor she would actually like, or turn her into a boy so she didn't have to go through this. No, she simply wanted the witch to magically knock some sense into her mom so she would let her live her life the way she wanted to.

Well of course, that backfires (even I know better than to eat something a witch magicked up for me). And instead of getting her mom to walk in her shoes, she gets her mom to walk in bear shoes. Er, bear feet. Bear claws? The point is she turns her mom into a bear!!  Or, to quote Spike:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxcqJ4FUsK0]

For the rest of the movie, mother and daughter have to work as a team to get her mom back to normal (and keep the bear-killing kingdom unaware of the sitch), everything hinging on how well they can get along. Such a brilliant twist - using a mother/daughter relationship as the main driving force behind a story. Brilliant! (And terrifying, knowing the temper my mom and I share.)

I'm ashamed to admit at one point I really expected a guy to come along and turn Merida's head, and be the suitor she was hoping for. Why? I guess because that's what I'm ALWAYS used to seeing when there's a princess involved. Unhappy princess, supposed to be wed to some ugly suitor? Well just go off singing in the forest, I'm sure the perfect guy will show up!

I hate that somewhere that plotline is still ingrained in my head. Grr! Oh well, maybe if I see enough non-true love bear movies, I'll be cured of this affliction. Yay Brave! And three cheers for Scotland!

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Small Boob Awards: Sandra Bullock

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It's Small Boob Awards time again! It's not every day, but once in a blue moon I come across someone who's on my boob team, and in the spirit of keeping up with Small Boob Solidarity, I like to mention that person on my blog. It's not much in the way of accolades, I know, but I'm sure they appreciate it.

Today's entry - SANDRA BULLOCK!

I'm a Bullock fan. Way back from the days of Speed and While You Were Sleeping, I've been very loyal. I applauded her dark turn in Murder by Numbers. I cringed when I saw her go through The Proposal and All About Steve. I forced my friends to watch The Net with me.

One thing I've never thought about her was that she was on my team. And by "my team" I mean "had boobs of equivalently tiny size as me". Even though this has been a theme of hers in her movies.

"He was a lot like me. Dark hair, flat chest."

Then I was going on an obsessive Craig Ferguson binge the other week and caught some of her hilarious appearances on his show. And almost every time she kept hitting the small boob comments!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaKR0wY7rik]

So I'm not sure if that's been beaten into her over the years of Hollywood living, but regardless, I'm happy to have her on our team. Congrats, Sandra! Way to class up the joint.

Small Boob Awards: Sandra Bullock

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It's Small Boob Awards time again! It's not every day, but once in a blue moon I come across someone who's on my boob team, and in the spirit of keeping up with Small Boob Solidarity, I like to mention that person on my blog. It's not much in the way of accolades, I know, but I'm sure they appreciate it.

Today's entry - SANDRA BULLOCK!

I'm a Bullock fan. Way back from the days of Speed and While You Were Sleeping, I've been very loyal. I applauded her dark turn in Murder by Numbers. I cringed when I saw her go through The Proposal and All About Steve. I forced my friends to watch The Net with me.

One thing I've never thought about her was that she was on my team. And by "my team" I mean "had boobs of equivalently tiny size as me". Even though this has been a theme of hers in her movies.

"He was a lot like me. Dark hair, flat chest."

Then I was going on an obsessive Craig Ferguson binge the other week and caught some of her hilarious appearances on his show. And almost every time she kept hitting the small boob comments!

 

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UaKR0wY7rik]

 

So I'm not sure if that's been beaten into her over the years of Hollywood living, but regardless, I'm happy to have her on our team. Congrats, Sandra! Way to class up the joint.

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Derby Portraits

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Last weekend I was commissioned by some friends/fellow Charm City Roller Girls alums/Night Terrors to create a derby portrait for the magnificent PAIGE FAULT, who is sadly moving out of our fair city of Baltimore .... *sniff sniff*. I love doing derby portraits, and this one was especially fun - not just because I know/love Paige, but I also know her penchant for all things ridiculously cute.

If any of you out there are interested in a derby portrait, give me a holler!

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Derby Portraits

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Last weekend I was commissioned by some friends/fellow Charm City Roller Girls alums/Night Terrors to create a derby portrait for the magnificent PAIGE FAULT, who is sadly moving out of our fair city of Baltimore .... *sniff sniff*. I love doing derby portraits, and this one was especially fun - not just because I know/love Paige, but I also know her penchant for all things ridiculously cute.

If any of you out there are interested in a derby portrait, give me a holler!

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Book Review: The Outliers

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... Aaaaand I'm back! My website's up and running again. Whew! So, a couple of weeks ago, while my boyfriend and I were wending our way through the exciting mountains of West Virginia on our way to TriCon, we decided to listen to the audiobook version of The Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell.

In the book, Gladwell analyzes the path to success for different people in different professions. What makes certain hockey players better than others? How did Steve Jobs and Bill Gates manage to skyrocket to personal computer stardom within the same timeframe? What kinds of work ethics are passed along through different immigrant ethnic groups?

At first I thought this would be a boring assembly of "what makes successful people super awesome that I could never aspire to". Birthright, opportunity, ingrained talent. Ho hum.

When I was in roller derby, I grappled with the issue of natural born vs. hardworking athlete. I figured that there were just some people who were born knowing how to skate and the best way to hit people. No matter how hard I tried, that would always be out of my reach. I didn't have it, and others clearly did.

Luckily, Gladwell wasn't satisfied with the explanation of what some had and others didn't. And upon deeper analysis, he discovered something that I find fascinating - all of the successful people he researched had to WORK at what they accomplished. Even those who were considered to have been born with something the rest of us weren't - an eye, an ear, a brain function - those same people could never rest back on their elbows and rely on their "natural" talents to get them through. In every single case, they had to work harder than everyone else in order to achieve their level of higher greatness. The talented cello player practiced more than the next highest talented cello players. The gifted athlete trained harder and longer than the other athletes. The phenomenally successful band practiced together every night in dive bars in Germany.

In each case, even though opportunity, place, year, and hell, even the MONTH you were born in could play an important part in how skilled you became at a given thing - it still had to be cultivated through hard work and years of practice.

And since I myself am a lifelong Hufflepuff, currently putting in the hours to try to achieve my dream of making comics for a living ... I find this encouraging.

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Connie Britton, Will You Marry Me?

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Because I like being behind the times, I'm currently obsessing over 2 shows that everyone else is so over - Friday Night Lights (season 1) and True Blood (season 2). I like to enjoy things at my own pace, awright?

I'd heard FNL was an amazing show despite the football, and my one friend highly recommended the show mainly because of the hotness factor of Tim Riggins. Honestly, I'm more of a Coach Taylor fan myself - I like myself a guy with big eyebrows and a perpetually furrowed brow. ANYWAY. One thing I love about the show so far is the relationship between Coach Taylor and his wife Tami. She puts up with all the football crap and manages to find a place for herself within the insane Texas town football culture without becoming a stereotypical Republican wife. She retains all her spark, sense, and her husband actually values and listens to her opinion on his job. I know I'm only on Season 1, so hopefully this doesn't change ...

Connie/Tami is one of those women I have a crush on/want to absorb their powers. I think she'll be a good influence. (Except for the fact that she makes me think that I can wear dresses and boots and my hair down and look fabulous in the summer heat.)

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Connie Britton, Will You Marry Me?

/

Because I like being behind the times, I'm currently obsessing over 2 shows that everyone else is so over - Friday Night Lights (season 1) and True Blood (season 2). I like to enjoy things at my own pace, awright?

I'd heard FNL was an amazing show despite the football, and my one friend highly recommended the show mainly because of the hotness factor of Tim Riggins. Honestly, I'm more of a Coach Taylor fan myself - I like myself a guy with big eyebrows and a perpetually furrowed brow. ANYWAY. One thing I love about the show so far is the relationship between Coach Taylor and his wife Tami. She puts up with all the football crap and manages to find a place for herself within the insane Texas town football culture without becoming a stereotypical Republican wife. She retains all her spark, sense, and her husband actually values and listens to her opinion on his job. I know I'm only on Season 1, so hopefully this doesn't change ...

Connie/Tami is one of those women I have a crush on/want to absorb their powers. I think she'll be a good influence. (Except for the fact that she makes me think that I can wear dresses and boots and my hair down and look fabulous in the summer heat.)

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