Day 1140: Rhythm of the Tambourine

What do you do after spending a weekend with High School Students and playing on concerts and it also happens to be Valentine's Day? Make yourself homemade spaghetti and meatballs and scones and watch The Hunchback of Notre Dame, of course!

If I had to name three movies that I grew up with as a kid, Hunchback would definitely be one of them. I watched it often enough, although mostly when there were thunderstorms, and to this day it's certainly up there on my list of favorite Disney movies. That standard is more because of the music than anything else, but having seen the show as a kid at what was then MGM Studios, and continuously watching the film, I just love Hunchback as a whole.

Now, as you may know, a broadway version of the story has come about, although it's currently not being performed and isn't going to Broadway that we know of, which is really disappointing. The musical version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame just blew me away, and I tend to listen to it all the time. So much, in fact, that I know most of the words to all of the new songs, as I learned the words to the classic ones years ago. If you haven't had a chance to listen to the Cast Recording of the Musical, you can check it out on Spotify HERE.

As for me, Valentine's Day was pretty quiet after all the high school students went home. Spaghetti is easily one of my favorite foods, especially when I make my homemade sauce, so it sounded like the perfect meal for me after a long weekend. Plus, the whole Lady and the Tramp connection has to count for something, right?

Let me know in the comments how Disney may have inspired your Valentine's Day and Have a magical day! 

Day 515: Can't Pick Just One

Day 22 of the Disney Photo Challenge: A picture from your favorite Disney movie. 

Blast from the Past: 

If you have seen my other 100 Day Photo Challenge, you will know that I don't just have ONE favorite movie. I actually have so many I have to split it into categories. But as far as Disney movies go, that's only just over half. 

Star Wars isn't technically Disney, so that's out of the question right now, and the Non-Disney categories don't count. But we still have everything else. 

So here's the ist: 

Favorite Classic Disney Movie: Beauty & The Beast, Lady & The Tramp

Favorite Modern Disney Movie: The Lion King

Favorite Non-Animated Disney Movie Series: Pirates of the Caribbean

Favorite Pixar Movie: Cars

Favorite Pixar Series: Toy Story

And although there isn't a picture here, my favorite Princess move is Tangled. I just stole the picture from the other challenge cause I'm lazy and didn't feel like finding all the pictures again. 

I have more...but those are just the basics. And the funniest part about B&TB and L&TT is that L&TT is the 15th animated Disney Movie and 15 is my lucky number. B&TB is the 30th animated Disney movie, a multiple of 15. And they have very similar titles and storylines. I guess I just like the idea of the "Princess" Getting together with the Scoundrel. Or something like that. 

Back to the Future: 

Yeah...this one is still impossible to answer.

I actually gave a very detailed account of my Favorite Disney movies a long while ago, which you can find HERE, so I'll do something a little different.

As you may know (if you're not reading my blog completely in order), I've recently been working on rewatching all the Disney films, and a few of them really stuck out to me so far.

Bambi I think was the first that I really just stopped and watched instead of doing work at the same time because I just suddenly had this extreme appreciation for it. I don't know why. I think it has something to do with the fact that the enemy and the villain in the film is us, the humans, and that's just a really heart tugging sort of thing.

Then there was Lady and the Tramp, which as you know, has always been one of my favorites.

But the last one that surprised me was Cinderella I think. I'm not really sure WHY I enjoyed it more than I have previous, but I did. Definitely a great film, especially with the connections to Walt Disney.

I'm slowly working my way through all of them though, and eventually I'll reach the more modern stuff, all while blogging about it as I go! That is...if I can ever finish catching up on posts.

Have a magical day!

(Note: This blog post was written on August 21).

Day 397: FBLA - Level: Chaperone

I am so tired right now that I'm honestly starting to question whether or not writing this blog post is a good idea...so humor me with my mistakes (I'm trying to get myself past that state of tiredness where I am no longer tired so I can work on my philosophy homework yet tonight).

Why am I so tired you ask?

Well, I was up at the wonderful hour of 5 this morning so I could go along with my High School FBLA Chapter to their Regional Competition. We had to be at school at 6:15, so that meant an early wakeup call for every single one of us. But it's always a fun day, so it's not like you can complain too much. Plus, this year it was in Kewaunee, and I have family there, so I got to see some of them today, which was pretty awesome if I do say so myself.

And you know what, while I don't specifically have a picture of it, a little bit of Disney did work its way into the competition today, specifically in a workshop on leadership. I missed the first couple of minutes of the workshop because I escorted someone out so they could leave with their parent, but I was there for most of it, including the Disney part.

One of the speakers talked about the four different kinds of leaders, and he used animals to describe them: The Golden Lion, The Loyal Blue Retriever, The Busy Beaver (or something like that) and the something or other Monkey (I honestly don't remember what it was other than it was Curious George on the slide). Now, the Lion, that was Mufasa...and I felt accomplished because even at first glance I knew it was Mufasa and not Simba (also everytime I write Mufasa I just hear it in like a hyena voice LOL). And then the Beaver wasn't really a beaver at all, but was the groundhog (I think it is) from Winnie the Pooh. The speaker was saying that he couldn't find an actual cartoon beaver that we would know and I was like "LADY AND THE TRAMP!" Except for quiet and only to my friends.

So now I'm sitting here trying not to fall asleep while my cat sits on my lap and does just that: fall asleep. Silly kitten.

Have a magical day!

Day 278: A Few of my Favorite Things V3

Phew, it's been a while since we did this series post, hasn't it? Well previously we've looked at my favorite attractions at Walt Disney World and my favorite attractions at Disneyland, so I figured that this time we'd talk a bit about some of my favorite Disney movies.

Being at college, this seems to be a popular question. Which is your favorite Disney movie? It is a great question, after all, and it's something that I suppose I ask people a lot, but honestly, I never have a true answer because, in reality, I don't have just ONE favorite movie. Ok...so maybe it's a really close race and in reality I do have a favorite, but that doesn't mean that I don't love so many others.

Favorite Classic Disney Movie: TIE : Beauty and the Beast & Lady and the Tramp

When it comes to this one, I can't pick a favorite. I just love them both so much. Basically the criteria for this category is "before I was born," or before 1994-95. Somewhere in there. I guess I really do just cut it off at The Lion King because that's next. But I watched these a bunch when I was little, especially Lady and the Tramp. Actually, I brought both of them with me to college just because I do love them so much. Also, my lucky number is 15, and Lady and the Tramp was the 15th animated Disney movie. Beauty and the Beast was the 30th. What are the chances? 

Favorite Modern Disney Movie: The Lion King

Honestly, I'm not sure how you can hate the Lion King. It's one of the greatest Disney films of all time if you ask me, and it's another that I watched a TON as a kid. I always wanted to be Simba. Of course, then Lion King II came out and we loved it even more than the first one (ok, I loved them both pretty equally).

Favorite Disney Princess Movie: Tangled

Honestly this may just be my favorite Disney movie of all time, but we make a separate category for it because I do love it so much. Before Tangled this spot was taken by Princess and the Frog, but you will NEVER EVER EVER make me leave my Flynn Rider. NEVER. 

Favorite Non-Animated Disney Movie Series: Pirates of the Caribbean

This one wasn't hard to pick at all. I just adore the Pirates movies, my favorite of which is the third: At World's End. Why? Because there's audio from the actual original attraction in it, and who doesn't love Pirates of the Caribbean? I know I certainly do, and it's seriously awesome that there's this whole set of movies based on an attraction! And that the movies then inspired the attraction further. Awesomeness. 

Favorite Pixar Movie: Cars

Yes, I know, there are two Cars movies, and you'll see why this makes no sense in a minute, but I love love LOVE Cars. I remember when it came out I was in 7th grade, or 6th grade? 6th grade I think actually, and it was like the best movie I have ever seen in my life. Just kidding, there are plenty of other movies, but this one has been on my favorites list ever since. I don't know why either. It's just a great movie. 

Favorite Pixar Series: Toy Story

I remember watching the original Toy Story and Toy Story 2 all the time as a kid, and as you know from a previous post, I adore Toy Story 3 as well. It just gives me such fond memories of my childhood. It really, really does. Like I can't even describe how much I love these movies. 

Favorite Lucasfilm Movie (Because that counts now): TIE : The Empire Strikes Back & Raiders of the Lost Ark

Since this obviously counts now, I have to mention that my favorite Star Wars film is The Empire Strikes Back. I mean, would I have a poster of it on my wall if I didn't? And my favorite of the Indy movies is 100% Raiders of the Lost Art, although I do love the Last Crusade as well. But I don't think I could truly pick if I love one of these two more than the other. They're both such wonderful films!

Favorite Music: TIE: Princess and the Frog & The Hunchback of Notre Dame

This one is certainly a tie too, and I almost just put them in honorable mentions, but decided to instead add an entirely new category to my list of favorite movies: favorite music! It's honestly difficult to have a movie without brilliant music to go with it, and although just about every movie above this has BRILLIANT music, there are two that really stand out for me as being my favorites. I am in love with the Jazz of Princess and the Frog, and Tiana is one of my favorite Disney Princesses for sure, but I grew up with Hunchback and the music in that is simply spectacular. Not much can beat it. 

Honorable Mentions: 

  

Yeah, I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones I could think about. I've been blogging for a really long time today and I'm still not done, so pity me! Just kidding, this is way more fun than homework. 

So there you have it, the long long long list of my favorite Disney films. I suppose next time we'll talk about something a bit more...delicious? Yeah, that's probably the right word. 

Here's today's Disney History: 1949: Disney's 11th animated feature film The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad is released. The film features the voices of Bing Crosby, who narrates Washinton Irving's "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and Basil Rathbone, who narrates Kenneth Grahame's tale "The Wind in the Willows." The film will inspire the Mr. Toad's Wild Ride theme park attraction, first at Disneyland and then at Walt Disney World.

Have a magical day!