I'm kind of in a Pixar high at the moment after watching WALL-E (again and again and again) plus the DVD extras, I find myself developing a wholly inappropriate crush on Andrew Stanton. While I'm perfectly at ease with crushing on "proper" celebs (and have been doing so since pre-teenhood), this just screams WRONG WRONG WROOOOONG because it kinda feels like crushing on a teacher or a senior colleague. (Though I've had both, to be honest.)

Then I remembered how I crushed on Brad Bird post-The Incredibles, which felt wrong as well.

ALSO! After reading Disney War and watching The Pixar Story documentary, I started fantasizing thinking about what Bird, Stanton and John Lasseter were like when they were students together at CalArts, all idealistic and bursting with insane ideas.

BRAIN: THESE ARE WRONG THOUGHTS, PLEASE DO NOT BE THINKING THEM.

I also went surfing round to see what Pixar's future plans are, and found that Brenda Chapman is directing their upcoming flick The Bear and the Bow. This filled me with joy because of the severe shortage of female directors, and I loved what she'd done for The Prince of Egypt. Trivia! Did you know Brenda Chapman sang the River Lullaby reprise for Miriam in the scene where she is reunited with Moses?

A little while back I asked for opinions of the villains in Don Bluth's Thumbelina. The reason was because I was putting together a twee little quiz which was fun to make.

I was going to join NaNoWriMo this year, but just last week changed my mind because a friend emailed me info on an upcoming short story writing competition that made me go !!!!!!!! because it's exactly what I needed right now. I've already started writing my entry, which is pretentious little story that is really fanfic thinly disguised as original fic, but I'm a little nervous that it won't work out, so I'm also working on a back-up idea of an original original story (although it's not completely original, because what is these days) that I may take a stab at if the first doesn't work out. I'm so excited about it that I can hardly think straight, and the deadline is March next year, so I reckon I have time to finish it, edit it and throw it around my mates for them to poke at.

Unrelated, I'm watching Casino Royale right now so to gear up for Quantum of Solace which is coming out next week... I'm so excited about this film, and I just realised why I couldn't get into the earlier Bond films, which is because I couldn't relate to any of the Bond girls, all of whom are hypersexualised and so beyond my sphere of understanding or admiration, but watching Daniel Craig has changed all of that because now I want to be James Bond himself, so I can be fierce and kick-ass and wear two-piece suits to smouldering hotness. That was a long sentence.

So I'm watching Lost in Austen, the premise of which is that a modern-day Pride & Prejudice fan named Amanda Price finds herself sucked into the fictional Bennett home and becomes part of the story. Anyway, early on in the first episode, I cackled in glee when Amanda's mobile phone rang and her ring tone was the opening theme from the BBC Pride & Prejudice tv serial.

Ringtones are such a great way to out your fannish tendencies, and they can either be in-your-face obvious or just subtle enough that only other fans can recognise the tone's origin. Quite a few of my guy friends use ringtones from the old Transformers cartoons, be it the "transforming" sound (ek-ok-ek-ok-ek-ok!), Optimus Prime saying, "Autobots, roll out!" or the old opening theme song. A girlfriend of mine uses the John William's Superman theme, and another uses the classic Mario Brothers theme.

I'm just as guilty of using fannish ringtones, because some months ago I got one of those shiny new phones that can use mp3s as ring/alert tones, and I haven't looked back since. I have a few I keep permanently on my phone, and I rotate them as my mood fits. So far, only two have been recognised by people in real life.

The following files are lyric-free instrumentals. All are in mp3 format except where mentioned.

My ringtones:

1. The final belt portion of "Defying Gravity". I cannot get over how amazing and anthemic this song is, and it's ridiculous that it still lingers in my head, ready to be hummed at any given moment. The emotion of the final belt wows me every single time, and I just had to have the instrumental accompanying me on my phone. Currently, this is my default ringtone. [ sendspace ]
• There are two alternate versions of this ringtone, cut from earlier portions of the song, but I still think the final version is best because the function of a ringtone is to get your attention RIGHT NOW, not softly sneak up on you. [ alt 1: sendspace ] [ alt 2: sendspace ]


2. "This is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas. The atmospheric nature of this piece still gives me chills, and in my head I've choreographed it to fit a stage musical. I cut this to be a ringtone, but it's currently my default sms alert tone, because I can't get enough of it. [ sendspace ]


3. "Opening Titles + Underground" from Labyrinth. Another example of music that gives me goosebumps from just existing. Here's a tangent--> When MirrorMask came out on DVD, I had the idea of cutting together a pair of fanvids: one would use footage of MirrorMask set to the opening music of Labyrinth, and the sister would use footage of Labyrinth set to MirrorMask's "Close to You". I gave that idea up when my old computer died. [ sendspace ]


4. Also a Labyrinth ringtone, but using music from the end credits version of "Underground". I don't think this one works as a ringtone as well as the one above. [ sendspace ]


5. Overture from Legally Blonde: The Musical. Almost unedited from the raw mp3, but I haven't used this one as a ringtone so far. [ sendspace ]

My sms alert tones:

1. The "flashback sound" from Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. I ended up ripping this myself after having a nostalgia romp with some girlfriends over the show, and we marvelled over how awesome it would be if we had a "flashback sound" every time we remembered something. [ sendspace ]


2. The "Rabbid scream" from Raving Rabbids, the wii video game. If you haven't played the game, this makes no sense. If you have played the game, you know exactly what I'm talking about, and this is the bestest alert tone EVAH. This file in in wav format. (Want context? Watch some clips.) [ sendspace ]


3. Another one from the Raving Rabbids game, this is the Rabbids' version of the choir song "Joyful Joyful", from the Bunnies Can't Sing game. It's the clean background version, without the in-game noises that you'd get while actually playing the game. [ sendspace ]

In other points of dorkitude, I post fangirly rants on my DVD collection in consumerfangirl. The goal is that one day I'll list out every single DVD I have... Not particularly realistic, but hey, it passes the time. It's therapeutic to have an outlet to whine and/or snark, that's for sure.

After waiting for over a year, Anything Can Happen If You Let It aka the "Guide" to Mary Poppins' journey from book to screen to stage finally arrived at my door step.

And boy, is it shiny.

That's actually a very mild report. What actually happened when I opened the box (and saw what it looked like) is far too embarrassing to get into, except that my ickle cousins whom I'm babysitting have probably lost what little respect that have for me.

( Pictures! )

I'm a teensy weensy bit disappointed because it focuses a lot more on the Broadway production instead of the original London production (Ashley Brown gets to be on the cover, what), but I'm guessing that when the London production was developed, they didn't expect the show to be that successful, let alone guess that the process would be documented in book form. This book was originally announced before the Broadway show debuted, so I reckon that they pushed back the publishing date to after the Broadway show premiered so to get as much info and pictures as they could.

I'll get to actually reading the damn thing in a bit. Hee.

It is a most unfortunate thing that I get easily distracted by shiny, and if the shiny is shiny enough, I will be dazzled to the point of intense shallow glee. (Hey, we all need our hobbies).

Here is the order of events as they happened. I tend to check the accounts of people who subscribe to me youtube videos. As I was checking, I found that someone had saved in their "Favourites" a marvellous fanvid of the Jane Austen women set to Nelly Furtado's Maneater. (vid here)

I'm not a tremendous Austen fan since I wasn't exposed to her work until relatively late in life, so I was unfamiliar with most of the women in that vid save those from Sense and Sensibility, the two Pride & Prejudice versions, and Emma. The vid was still awesome to watch, and as I did, I was intrigued by the specific chemistry between two actors. After going through the women carefully listed out in the vid's infobox, I found out that the pair in question were Amanda Root as Anne and Ciarán Hinds as Wentworth from the 1995 BBC version of Persuasion.

I'd originally had reservations about reading Persuasion because the premise sounded too frustrating for me to have patience with. (Separated by meddling people for years and years? Bah.) But then I realised that so much potential lay in the fact that these two people, who knew very well that they were in love, would be constantly skirting around each other and sparkling with chemistry in every single word they say.

Following that thread, I found youtube clips of Ciarán Hinds as Edward Rochester in the 1997 BBC version of Jane Eyre. That, in turn, lead me to clips of Toby Stephens as Rochester and Ruth Wilson as Jane (2006 version), and then Timothy Dalton as Rochester and Zelah Clarke as Jane (1983 version), and then to James Barbour as Rochester and Marla Schaffel as Jane (Broadway version).

I am now on Rochester overload.

( Some blathering about the Rochester men. )

I now have a battered copy of Jane Eyre in my bag, the 1997 version on my computer, plus the DVDs of the 1983 and 2006 versions on the way from amazon.com. *sigh* After resisting shopping from amazon for nearly two years, I've finally caved in.

I also figured that I might as well get one or two more DVDs just to make it worthwhile, right? So I ordered the 1995 version of Persuasion, Cats Don't Dance, and Labyrinth: Anniversary Edition (I already have the first DVD, but I was doomed to get this new one anyway).

SHINY! I need help.

I was completely unfamiliar with the anime-based Saban series Grimm's Fairytale Classics until a few days ago, although it seems that quite a few people grew up with said television series. Anyway, because I'm a fairytale h0r, I went and checked up on a few on youtube* just to see what it's like.

The dubbing drives me crazy, forcing the voice actors to take on unnatural speech patterns so they can squeezealltheirlinesintotheprerecordedspace. That said, I think I really like the show's reinterpretation of Cinderella, if only because they did something different from the other versions I've seen before, instead of just rehashing the exact same story all over again.

For starters, the famous ball scene doesn't even happen in this version. Oh sure, the king holds one because he wants grandkids, but the prince is all OMG NO THNX and sneaks out before the dancing can start. The prince hides in the gardens, where he stumbles on Cinderella – who was hiding out there as well because she couldn't figure out how to enter the ballroom without looking suspicious. So instead of Cinderella making a killer entrance and causing the prince to trip all over himself to ask her to dance, the two awkwardly meet outside the ballroom and Cinderella happily teaches the two-left-footed prince to dance. Awesome. The ballroom scene also practically takes place in the first act, which took me doubly by surprise.

There are other touches as well (including the complete absence of a crucial character, whoa), but the non-ballroom scene is the one I took away with me.

Direct links to the Cinderella episode:

Part One . Part Two . Part Three . Part Four . Part Five

*Quite a few people have informed me that a youtube crackdown on copyrighted material is due to happen in September. If this is true, it's back-up time for all ye swarthy pirates, arrr!

I was just watching this feature on Steve Blanchard getting his Beast make-up on, and now I am struck with a question that has plagued me for ages but I have not been able to dig the answer out of the internet because I fail at google-fu.

How does the stage transformation of the Beast back into human form actually happen?

I've never seen the show because I've never had the chance (goodness knows I would have in a heartbeat), but essentially the Beast has to die in Belle's arms, transform, and then turn up human. Are there lighting effects to hide when the Beast? Does he disappear behind scenery? What is the Prince wearing when he reappears? How does the actor remove all that makeup and change his costume within those few seconds? I assume that it's seconds based on the transformation music in the cast recording, but could have been edited down, so I don't know what the actual time is like.

Please someone, anyone, tell me how this is done!

I was also previously plagued with questions on how they'd do certain things in Wicked and Mary Poppins, but I've solved those at least.

Edited to add: WTF Steve Blanchard doesn't have his own wiki page? THIS MUST BE RECTIFIED.

HEY! What did I say about cartoons of yesteryear getting modern day remakes?

Wow. Cartoon Dave's hotter, though.

*starts humming the Alvin & the Chipmunks theme*

Okay, so a lot of classic cartoons have been or are being given the live-action treatment, mostly because the technology can catch up. Garfield*, Transformers, G.I. Joe and (if it doesn't get swallowed by development hell) Thundercats.

*Technically Garfield was originally a comic, but comics and cartoons are already very closely related. I'm personally holding out for a Jem & the Holograms film. S1m0ne was already a step in that direction.

While all this cartoon-to-flesh is well and fun, I'd actually like to see a couple of live-action films turned into cartoons. They've done it before, what with Beetlejuice, Back to the Future, Highlander, Bill & Ted, The Mask, Men in Black. Admittedly, the stigma is that to make a leap from cartoon to live-action is an upgrade, while live-action to cartoon is a downgrade, but I feel that animation, if used properly, can bypass a lot of problems. And animated spin-offs, if done right, can also create a whole new sub-section of fandom to explore. (See: The Real Ghostbusters.)

( So here's some live-action franchises I'd like to see animated. )

fandom_counts

Quite a few people on my friendlist are on lj for personal reasons, but there are some who are here primarily for fandom. Fangirls and fanboys, no matter what fandom you dabble in, join the tally.

Another Nutcracker movie? While I love the idea of Nathan Lane, John Turturro and Dakota Fanning, it seems like such a bandwagon thing to do, with the Harry Potter movies, Bridge to Terabithia and Charlotte's Web. While I understand the logic of enchanting the audience with exactly what they want, a part of me has become so jaded.

Happily N'ever After was the breaking point. I can't stand it anymore.

( I apologise to people who like Happily N'ever After, but... ARGH. )

I told myself that I would cut back on expenses, after I went and bought that jigsaw puzzle I'd wanted. And I'd been really good about it too, avoiding bookstores and shops that sell pretty but useless things, and generally keeping to the budget.

Today, I totally broke that promise to myself. First off, I had to go to a shoppin mall to buy some work clothes. (Long story short, I have to up my wardrobe, though I will never ever wear stilletos, ever.) Then I said to myself, "What ho! Cars is out on DVD, surely it would be no harm to detour to a movie store for five minutes just for that?

How was I to know that Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man's Chest is already out on DVD?

And Superman Returns?

And Lake House?

And X-Men 3?

I have no willpower, it is true. Omg omg now which one do I watch first?

ETA: I had never thought it possible that one person could be as pretty and dorky at the same time as Brandon Routh. ♥

Cameos in Tarzan:

1. The tea set from Beauty and the Beast.


2. Little Brother plushie from Mulan


3. And ( Who is this goon who's grabbing Jane? )

The Lake House = A recently released romantic movie starring Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves.

Il Mare = the Korean movie it was based on.

Me = a fangirl of (well done) romantic movies and time-travel.

This entry = evidence of that sad fangirlishness.

( HUGE spoilers for The Lake House and Il Mare. )

I mentioned to a friend that the first Pirates of Caribbean movie was something of a surprise hit for Disney. They knew they had something good, but they didn't know it would be that good, so they weren't prepared for it. So this time round, with the sequels, Disney is prepared to the teeth with their soul wallet-sucking merchandising. A casual walk-through past the Disney section at the local bookstore more than proved my point.

But some of the tie-ins make me boggle. What on earth? I saw those and laughed hysterically. But out of sheer morbid curiosity I picked up the Pirates of the Caribbean magazine, from which I scanned the image that I now use in above the icon. They got Jack somewhat right, but their Elizabeth and Will are SO WRONG.

( Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner have had cartoon makeovers. HA. )

I also watched Dead Man's Chest again yesterday, and will be watching it one more time next week because I promised a friend. It's a good thing, too, because during my first viewing the movie made me so exhausted that I had to purposely zone out every now and again -- so in my second viewing I found myself catching little pieces here and there that I completely missed the first time.

Among which: ( Dead Man's Chest spoilers. )

Technically this qualifies as fanart, but it isn't, not really.

Inspired by a throwaway line in Superman Returns that made my friends and I burst out laughing in the cinema -- for we are g33ks. Represent!

Oh, and possible spoilers for Superman Returns.

( Are you a g33k like m3? )

I'm sitting in the living room, my laptop on my lap and the television switched on to the Disney Channel, where High School Musical is on.

An ad just came on, announcing the back-toback showing of The Emperor's New Groove, followed by Kronk's New Groove and the premier of the new series The Emperor's New School.

What?

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Caught Superman Returns yesterday. Brandon Routh's prettiness is getting to me. Me, a true-blue Batman fangirl.

You so pretty omg.

You even prettier as Clark Kent than as Superman.

Clark Kent got shortchanged! I am offended on his behalf.

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THERE IS A SERIES BASED ON THE EMPEROR'S NEW GROOVE? WHAT?

It's official. Although the Disney Princess merchandise line continues to make me go bleh, the Disney Villain merchandise line is quickly becoming... something else.

I think I've mentioned the My Side of the Story picture book series (detailing, in the villain's own words, their side of the story), but I only bought two of them recently. There are five in all (I think), and I planned to get just the Ursula-Ariel one, but the Maleficent-Aurora made me squee. See, this is why bookshops should have browsing copies, mmkay? Excerpt from Maleficent's side of the story:

Until my recent troubles, I was the most successful businesswoman this side of Kingdom Come.

Enchantment Value Industries Limited -- that's my corporation (E.V.I.L. for short). Maybe you've heard of it? We specialize in black mag -- I mean, market -- enterprise. And I can proudly say we have branches all over the world.

But my success has come at a price. Over the years I've been the victim of a lot of vicious gossip. People say I'm a ruthless witch (I simply know what I want). They say I lead a gang of hideous goblins (my company maintains a strict policy of nondiscrimination). And, they say a storm of wrath and frustration continually thunders around my castle in the Forbidden Mountains (it may be a bit rainy, but I got an incredible bargain on real estate!).

Hee! I'm starting to suspect that the people in charge of Disney Villain line are fanboys and girls. There's none of the doe-eyed futz and (arguably) condescending tone that's the norm for the Disney Princess books. And there's, like, big words! I've always been uncomfortable with shows and books that underestimate and talk down to children.

Maleficent's side of the story has a touch of deliberate wide-eyed "Who, me?" irony, and Aurora's side of the story makes her adorably clueless (which may or may not be your thing, but it worked for me).

( Two sample images behind the cut. Yeah, the art's pretty good. )

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Oh, and because ladydemando asked, Captain Hook's dossier from The Villain Files:

( Yarr! )

Snagged from squishysquidgy, because movie buff memes float my boat.

The rules:
1. Pick 25 of your favorite movies.
2. Then pick one of your favorite quote/s from each movie.
3. Post the quotes in your journal.
4. Have those on your friends list try to guess what the movie is.
5. Either strike out the quote once it has been correctly identified, or place the guesser's user name directly after the quote.

DONE

(I'm quoting some from memory, so they may not be absolutely accurate.)

( On to the quotes! )

Somewhere in April I made the resolution not to buy any more DVDs until June. Having lost access to ebay and amazon.co.uk made me twitchy so I was snatching up DVDs left, right and centre. Then I remembered that I have to save up for the October onslaught of Little Mermaid merchandise, plus a super sekrit project that I don't want to elaborate on just yet, in case I jinx it and it doesn't happen. Hence, no more DVDs until June.

But the other day I saw some things that I had to get, and I figured that since they were books, they didn't count as part of the fast. Besides, I have a 9-to-5 job now, and I deserve some rewards, right? Don't answer that. XD

Book 1: Villains: The Top Secret Files



This one was little pricey, but dayum, it was designed by people who actually know the movies.

The Disney Villain merchandise line seems to be getting better treatment than the Disney Princess line, and that's all sorts of ironic. Besides the "Their Side of the Story" books (which are awesome and twisted), I found this Top Secret Files quite some time back but didn't get it because I couldn't browse through it first.

Then I went to a store that had a browsing copy, and when the book made me literally LOL I knew that I had to get it. The concept is as though "Villain Specialist" has compiled information, notes and artifacts related to a few of the Disney Villains. The villains featured are the Wicked Queen, Captain Hook, Cruella De Vil, Maleficent, Jafar, Ursula, Yzma, Madam Medusa, the Wicked Stepmother and Gaston.

( A sample of the contents inside. Image-heavy. )

Book 2: Ariel's Secret.

A Disney Princess product. The story inside smashes canon into smithereens, but young Ariel was too cute to resist.

( Young Ariel and... )

Book 3: A Special Song

Panders to the Disney Princess philosophy that any girl can be a princess. The story's little too sentimental for my tastes, but then again, I'm not the target audience. I'm just here for the art. Wait, does that make me a sub-section of the target audience...?

( The cover. )

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In other news, Disney Theatrical's Tarzan looks pretty cool! Wirework, baby!