Holes in the Black Cauldron

So I will admit it, just this once. The Black Cauldron is my least favourite Disney movie. There I said it. What bothers me about the movie is that the story seems so much bigger then what the movie shows. So I did the Disney thing and researched the Black Cauldron and found that it comes from a series of 6 books called “The Chronicles of Prydain” by Lloyd Alexander. No wonder it has holes in the plot, what were they thinking?

Fantasy books to start off with are difficult to bring to the big screen, mostly because they are so descriptive, sometimes to the point where they take a page and a half to describe a piece of fruit. How do you take six books of plots and explanations of the motives for each character and put it in a short Disney animated feature? Apparently you just shove it together.

My over all issue with this movie is not the spotty animation, the muted colours, or the voice acting that could put an ADD child to sleep, my issue is that the richness of the story is missing. I want the meat and potatoes. I wonder if, in the seven years it took to make this movie whether the problem with what took so long was that the creators were busy arguing about what stayed and what went. My opinion is too much was taken out, and the plot suffered greatly in these decisions.

I have decided that I am going to look for the books, the Chronicles of Prydain, and fill in the blanks because I believe that there is more to this story then meets the eye. Perhaps I can fill the holes in this black cauldron.

The Black Cauldron

What's The Story:
A young boy and his misfit friends including a special pig embark on a quest to find a dark magic cauldron that is the key for the Horned King to take over the world.

Memorable Quote:
Dallben: War isn't a game, people get hurt

Princess Eilonwy: You are somebody, you must believe in yourself

Lessons:
don't be selfish
use your head with your bravery, don't just run into a situation without thinking
take the help that is offered you, there is strength in numbers

Main Challenges:
feed a pig
make a “magical” sword, or orb

Attitude:
Daring, friendly, brave, a little foolish

Challenges:
research an old form of divination and try to divine my future.

Sexy Lion?

I get dressed this week wearing my cute ears tease out my hair, put on my tail, wear a frilly shirt to simulate a lion's chest and a skort you know a skirt and short combo. I have to say the whole thing in my opinion was cute, I slid my flip flops on and went for my normal rounds to say hi to the people of St Thomas.

Over the months I have gotten a lot of strange comments, looks and questions but this week takes the cake. As I was walking along a foreign gentleman pulled over to talk to me, this is pretty standard, a lot of people are curious about why I am dressed up so, he asks me “where are you going.”
“I'm just walking down the street.” I say and then go into my, I'm living Disney, speech which he seems to not quite have the grasp of the English language to understand crazy.

I have trouble understanding him myself as he attempts to communicate in broken English until suddenly, I understand a little too clear what he's after. Now remember I am dressed like a LION. I lean over to hear what he is saying as he points to his wallet that is sitting in between the seats of his car and says “You want to have fun me later.” his eyes giving the tell tale suggestive creepy guy look.

Tonne of bricks. Oh, you are not curious why I am dressed up like a lion. Without a second thought the words escape my mouth. “Oh, I'm sorry I have to go right now. Bye.” I say, waving my Disney wave, I turn tail and duck into the nearest store. I suppose I should have been highly insulted but I just couldn't help but laugh. My question is, what sort of prostitution ring is there in St Thomas that they dress up like Disney characters?

I was wearing flip flops, I was unaware that flip flops were suggestive. How unsexy is a skort. The ears? Really? What kind of weirdo was this guy? I know that I am odd and want to bring happiness to people, but certainly not that happy! I guess it takes all kinds to make up this world, its part of the fun of being alive. Time to start carrying pepper spray.

Lion King and the Giant Elephant

I have been wanting to get a picture of myself with Jumbo. For those who do not know who Jumbo is he is an African elephant who was owned by PT Barnum and was marketed as the biggest elephant in the world. He's the reason why big things are named Jumbo, like fries and hotdogs. On September 15th 1885 poor old Jumbo met his maker after a train clobbered him making the town I live in the town that killed Jumbo.

A hundred years later the town erected a huge life size statue of Jumbo, with his butt facing those entering the city, so that all visitors to the great city of St Thomas, Ontario are greeted with the sight of the worlds largest elephant butt. I have been told many times that the placement of the elephant was long fought over and that the decision to place him facing east was for good luck. I say that anyone who has been stuck behind an elephant surely wouldn't consider the backside the lucky side.

During the fall last year Jumbo started to look tired so they wrapped him up in fancy tarps and in the spring started to work on fixing up his majestic hide. Every week, dressed up in my various characters, I have walked down to Jumbo to check on him and I must say he actually looks better than he did the first time around. I had been trying to make arrangements to go and get my picture taken nice and tight to his face but scheduling always seemed to be a problem.

This week I had little time to pick up my costume in time to do pictures at 10:30 so Sunday night I stitched together a pair of ears and a tail so I could get a picture with Jumbo. Fast forward to this morning I got up and put my ears on teased my hair like back in the 80's to give me a lovely mane when someone banged on the door.

I opened up the door to see the mail carrier with her head down sorting through the mail. I let out a little giggle and waited for her to look up. 'Now how do I explain this.' I think to myself. She looks up and lets out a little chuckle. “Oh, I think I have seen you around town.” she says. There we have it, folks,proof that mail carriers see it all.

The Lion King

What's The Story:
Tricked into thinking that he accidentally killed his father Simba escapes the Pride lands, leaving his uncle scar, the real killer, to be king. Simba's childhood friend finds him and talks him into coming back to the Pride lands to challenge Scar and reclaim his throne.

Memorable Quote:

Zazu: [about Scar] There's one in every family sire. Two in mine, actually. And they always manage to ruin special occasions.
Mufasa: What am I going to do with him?
Zazu: He'd make a very handsome throw rug.
Mufasa: [Surprised] Zazu!
Zazu: And just think, Whenever he gets dirty you can take him out and beat him.

Lessons:
Life has natural cycles and we all live within them
Life is bigger than us
we are all connected
everybody dies
home is where you make it
obligations, compassion
don't worry about things you can not change but if you can change something, take action.
People who die live within those whose lives they've touched
change is good but its not easy
going against nature destroys the very land that you need to sustain you

Main Challenges:
Go bug catching
Go see Lions

Attitude:
Simba: Mischievous, playful, fun loving, proud, naive envisions his future as king, adventurous brave
Mufasa: Wise, regal strong brave protective

Challenges:
explain a natural phenomenon as though I had no scientific knowledge of it.

Kissing a Frog, or Not

I absolutely love the Princess and the Frog. I went to see it on my birthday last year... That's December 28th for all you people who forget, anyway, I won't go on the birthday rant here, I'll save it for later. There is a moment where Tiana goes to kiss the frog and she gets close and stops to have a little gross out dance. This is totally an accurate depiction of how a woman would react to kissing a frog. This week my challenge is to catch frogs, I chose catching frogs and not kissing them because there is no way I will get my lips near it.

So I have to ask, what is it with Disney and kissing frogs, dead people even a llama. I am a hardy girl for some things, I will catch a frog, I would say no problem, but they are slippery little suckers, so I needed a net. But when it comes to putting things on, near or in my mouth, I am a girl. I don't want to kiss someone with dirty teeth, bad breath, a moustache; imagine how I would be kissing a slimy frog? I have a nice dry lizard at home, and I won't kiss him.

So on a hot sticky day, I trudged through the wooded area in a local park with my two youngest sons and went searching for frogs. Normally I would be up for getting knee deep in water looking for the slippery fellows but that day I was hot, sticky and apparently vary appealing to mosquitoes. When I happened upon a toad on the path I snatched it with the net and with the help of my son we caught a hold of him.

You know when you catch wildlife their tiny little hearts start to heave in and out of their chest like its about to explode. I asked my son to quickly take a few shots of me pretending to kiss it and I decided that a toad was close enough and it was time to go home. I'm not overly comfortable with the idea of terrorizing every woodland creature I encounter.

I wonder if my prince had been turned into a frog with a slimy exterior, or mucus as Neveen would put it, would I kiss him? I mean, for richer or poorer surly doesn't include slimy and it wouldn't fall under sickness would it? Would I take one for the team? Or would I leave him all wet and slimy in a terrarium, I suppose it depends on how nice of a frog he is to me.

The Princess and the Frog Pictures

Serendipity Happens

One thing that happens in most Disney movies is the serendipitous moments, things just sort of fall into place even though they seem worlds apart. Sometimes destiny just seems to take over the whole situation, clouds part, mountains move and you find yourself in the right place at the right time. Anymore serendipity seems to follow me, but it didn't always.

Its funny how one thing can lead to another, many years ago I was a miserable cuss but as time has gone on I began to learn one of life's most important and painful, lessons. How we see the world directly effects what we see in the world, our thoughts, our attitudes towards life make up not only our inner life but our outer life. Basically the more miserable you are the more miserable life will be.

The moment I began to see the potential in the world, the world started to open doors to life's limitless treasures. Suddenly, I was happy, really happy, annoyingly happy. I became grateful for what I had and stopped worrying about what I didn't have. I truly learned that life is beautiful and meant to be enjoyed.

Its not that I didn't have issues, of course I did. I had friendships that needed to be dissolved, and there was the little thing about my Photography business. See, I once had a photography business that I mostly enjoyed, I enjoyed taking pictures, making people laugh and getting the magic moments out of people. What I didn't enjoy was the chore, the begging people to be my customer, having so many customers in one week that I couldn't think straight and then no one what so ever for months. It was always an up hill battle, and don't get me started on the back biting that can happen between photographers.

I love to take pictures, and interesting part is, the thing I liked most about it was the costumes, the silliness and being a part of people's happiness. Yes I can make beautiful pictures, but even more beautiful is the smiles. We'll get back to this later but I am sure you can see where I am heading.

The point is that when I opened up myself to the opportunities that life had to offer, life started to send some strange opportunities. I was still giving a halfhearted go of my business but my desires had changed. I wanted to be a part of the joy I wanted to show people how easy it was to be happy, and that it was a choice. I had a strange idea that I was going to spread the joy of life, through the eyes of Disney.

It was a crazy idea but one that was so right and so big that I had to do it. It was a compulsion. I needed to do it and that was that! I didn't know how exactly I was going to dress up each week and do challenges, all I knew was that I had to take the first step. So with a little faith, trust and pixy dust, O spread my arms thought of a happy thought and jumped.

Instead of kissing the ground something caught me, people who understood, people who “got it” first of whom was Dotsy who decided to sponsor me with costumes, I really couldn't do this without her, it was the best gift the universe could send! Then I was a magicians assistant, for the Amazing Corbin. Things just started to fall into place. Strangers who would see me started to uncontrollabl smile and continue smiling long past seeing me clown around.

Being a part of this Disney Love In has brought me a feeling of purpose, I am finally using all of my skills. Over these past 21 weeks I have felt like I am perpetually in the right place at the right time, I have never felt so inspired and so on track. So somewhere between Lilo and Stitch and the Rescuers Down Under, I got the opportunity to do glitter tattoos for Dotsy's Entertainment Company, which led to bouncy castles and balloon twisting and now I am learning to juggle.

How serendipitous, I had been thinking about a career change, and had run the gamut of idea's as our financial situation is on the verge of drastically changing and my photography business has, well, lost its heart. One day a few months ago I turned to my husband, after one of the many people on the street told me that the city should pay me (not gonna hold my breath on that one) I said, “I wish I could get paid to dress up and act like a fool. Let's face it I'm good at it.”

Wish granted! So last week when Dotsy (My clown boss< FYI its fun to say that your boss is a clown and mean it) When Dotsy asked me if I had thought of a name the only name that came to me was Serendipity, because that's how she was formed, out of luck, silliness and an unexpected fate. So I am pleased to present Dipity the clown, born out of Disney dust and innovation. Sometimes its just good to stretch your arms out and jump into the unknown. You never know where life is going to take you.

The Princess and the Frog

What's The Story:
A fairy tale set in Jazz Age-era New Orleans and centred on a young girl named Tiana and her fateful kiss with a frog prince who desperately wants to be human again.

Memorable Quote:

James: You know, the thing about good food, it brings folks together from all walks of life, it warms them right up and puts little smiles on their faces.

James: You wish and you dream with all your little heart but you remember Tiana that that old star can only take you part of the way you got to help it along with some hard work of your own and then yeah, you can do anything you set your mind to. Just promise your daddy one thing, that you will never ever loose sight of whats really important. Okay?

Lessons:
Don't work too hard or too little.
Its alright to wish on stars but don't expect the stars to do all the work
Food brings people together

Main Challenges:
Catch a frog (think about kissing it)
Make shadow puppets

Attitude:

Tiana: driven, hard worker, kind, responsible, Pragmatic
Naveen: friendly, carefree, irresponsible, fun

Challenges:
Learn about the origins of Voodoo

Crazy Like A Fox

Being a fox means being innovative. This week I had to be very innovative since we were in the middle of a heatwave with temperatures scorching at 33C. Part of the fun of Living Disney is the fact that I get to wear fun costumes and play around. I get the chance to express my creative mind, a mind that never seems to stop, my insomnia can attest to that.

This week when I knew the heat wave was coming I had to be innovative. I didn't want to wear a heavy costume so I decided on ears, a tail and some face paint. My usual benefactor didn't have fox ears just lying around so I had to make them. I have over the years made some interesting costumes, paper mache, sewing and painting my way into memorable Halloween and birthday fun.

I love to sew and cook, and let someone else clean, hey I'm not Mrs Cleaver here, so when the challenge comes to create something through sewing its always a delight for me. I get a chance to think outside the box.

I went out and bought a little bit of poppy red fleece and took an old headband and fashioned ears, throwing out only three malformed ears, I hand sewed them onto my headband, and made myself a big fluffy tail. Because it was too darn hot to wear a full costume I decided on red shorts and a red tank top. I finished off with painting my face with Snazaroo Face paint and away I went.

As I made my way through the streets of St Thomas, I tried to be as sly and as covert as possible, which is quite difficult when you are dressed as a big red fox. I peeked around corners, popped up behind desks, as I tried to stay cool jumping from air conditioned store to air conditioned office.

This week I was foxy, no really, that's what people were referring to me as. So I encouraged people to refer to me as foxy but hey, how many times in a woman's life can you convince people to call you a fox and get away with it. Above all things I am an opportunist, much like a fox.

Like a fox I am playful, inventive and a little mischievous. Just a little mischievous, enough that fun always follows me and when people get mad at me they usually have a bit of a smile on their face. The idea of outwitting a hunter or a grumpy person delights me greatly. So I will plump up my tail, weave in and out of peoples lives and spread a sense of fun and adventure where ever I go. At least that's the plan.

Loyal Fox?

I've written about four or five notes about betrayal each one I deleted because I didn't quite know where to go with it. When push comes to shove the topic of betrayal and loyalty is just too personal for me to write about without divulging information that would betray someone who was once a friend. Its not that I have been greatly betrayed by a friend, its that after the friendship dissolved I was left unsure what to do with the loyalty I once had.

I have tried not to speak of this friendship that has since passed and have been quite successful, in fact, a lot of people don't even know after over a year that I am no longer friends with this person. I try to wish for the best for people who have left my life, I always hope that they will find a better purpose, or at least find their own joy in life but as I grow and change through life I have found that not everyone shares this philosophy of relationships that die. A lot of people seem to live by the, if you're not in my life please die, ideology.

I wish that when two friends (or lovers) parted ways that they could truly wish for the best for one another. I understand feeling angry about certain things however the idea that you could wish for someone you once loved to be hurt leaves a sadness in my heart. Then again I do believe that love is eternal, and I never stop loving people I once loved, I just change the parameters of the relationship. Usually I would just rather love someone from a far

Fox and the Hound

 

 

The Fox And The Hound

What's The Story:
The story of unlikely friendship that develops between a fox and a hound dog.

Memorable Quote:

Big Mama: Darlin, forever is a long, long time, and time has a way of changing things.

Lessons:
be natural or don't fight your nature
do the unexpected
Revenge and anger can blind you to the dangers around you

Main Challenges:
Play fox and hound hunting game (with water) in wooded area
Try to see something from someone else's position

Attitude:
Friendly, open, forgiving, helpful, sneaky, sly, playful, curious, observant
(Todd shows loyalty even after he's been betrayed)

Challenges:
sneak up on people

Wild Dogs Can't Be Broken

There is an undertone of prejudice throughout the movie first with the tramp then later with aunt Sarah and her opinion about dogs. The old adage that you can't teach an old dog new tricks speaks of the human belief of our perceived limitations. Once upon a time I was considered beyond help, wild and untamable yet now here I write about my life spreading joy instead of the mystery that I used to spread.

In the end it is love that tames the Tramp and I suppose its the same thing that happened to me, but the love didn't come from an outside source, but from within. The moment I started to love myself was the moment that I stopped living my life on the edge of reason. It was the feeling of belonging that really tamed me, it settled me down enough that I could put down roots and feel a part of my community. I began to feel like my life had meaning and purpose.

Its not being wild itself that is the issue, its the self destructive patterns that are problematic. Its the self destructive patterns that made people assume that I would always be a wild child with little hope of being anything but, dare I say it, bad. If my potential had been locked up in peoples opinions I would most likely at this moment be on skid row somewhere or worse. Unfortunately, when people see a disaster coming they seem to always assume the worst, they never expect it when the tornado subsides right before it hits the town. This is why I always try to assume the best in people.

Domestication for the most part is great however, the problem with domestication is that some people would like to tame the wag right out of the dog's tail. They want them to behave like tame fuzzy fur babies, obedient, underlings that do as I say not as I do.

Something that I have discovered on this mouse eared quest has been that we humans are nothing but animals that have been tamed and if you want my honest opinion, of course you do, you're reading this, humans have become a little too tame, they have taken the proverbial wag out of our tails. We humans have grown disdainful of that waging happy tail and have insisted that it be chopped off at the nub.

So what happens when you take the untamed joy out of life (or the wag out of a tail)? The wildness emerges and it often emerges in not so acceptable ways. What I find intriguing is the fact that it is more socially acceptable for someone to get into a fist fight then skip down the street in an untamed bliss. I for one, have decided to release the hounds of joy on this unsuspecting public. Look out world a wild dog is on the loose and she is happy to see you!

With a Wag of a Tail

Lady and the Tramp opens to this quote: In the whole history of the world there is but one thing that money can not buy... to wit- the wag of a dog's tail.- Josh Billings. The wag of a dogs tail is mysterious, I have often wondered how it evolved or why. Much like a cats purr it seems to serve no other purpose beyond indicating to other animals “hey, I'm happy.” Whatever evolution had in mind for that tail its hard to deny how much joy can come to you at the sight of a wagging dogs tail.

To be honest, I've never really understood the whole dog person/cat person debate. I am not a cat person or a dog person, I love them both for different reasons, but a dog is hard to resist. Don't get me wrong, whenever I see a cat I meow and purr and make all sorts of humiliating sounds and gestures to get their attention but when I am done sounding like a crazy cat lady, I can walk away without thinking, can I keep it?

A dog is a whole other story, the eyes, the tail wag, the silly gestures that says pet me, or feed me or I love you stranger. The love of a dog is unconditional, its universal, its what we humans should strive to give one another and its down right impossible to resist. What is enduring is the fact that a dog sees the world with kind eyes, humans are judged by their energy, what they put into the world not by what they look like or the money they have. You could never buy a dogs loyalty, they are just loyal to the person they see as worthy of being loyal to.

My dog, a Cocker spaniel terrier mix, is almost always so happy to see me that she swings her tail so hard that she almost folds herself in half. She dances and wiggles and gives the look, you know, that dog look that says “I love you.”

This week I greeted most people with a wag of my tail, okay, so I didn't have an actual tail but I shook my butt like I had a tail on it, but the important thing is people laughed. I smiled shook my butt and said “I'm so happy to see you!” Is it silly? Darn right it is but I wish more people could greet each other with the unconditional love and gratitude that a dog does. I tell you the world would be a better place if we humans had tails to wag, a goofy grin and sniffed each others, okay lets not go too far with this.

I leave you with these words.

Bark bark ruff bark Robin woof bark grrr bark bark ruff ruff!
Hi my name is Robin and I am happy to see you!

Lady and the Tramp- Pictures