Tower of Terror

For those who don't know, the Tower of Terror is a theme park ride at Disney World/Disneyland. It's based on the old tv show - the Twilight Zone - and features an elevator drop. It's an intense ride with a historic feel.

Aside from the fact that the Twilight Zone is amazing (that's for another day), this ride was one of the places I worked at while I was in Disney. It's also where Josh told me he loved me for the first time.

Anyone that known Disney, knows that they do rides with stories. It's not just a roller coaster, it's a limo ride to catch a concert. It's not just a roller coaster, it's a train ride through the Himalayas trying to outrun a Yeti. And the Tower of Terror isn't just an elevator drop. It's a visit to the old exotic Hollywood Tower Hotel and using the service elevator because the normal one is broken.

The ride is extremely well themed and makes you feel like you're walking right into the late 1930's. Don't wuss out, this is a ride you'll always love and remember.

Song of the day - We'll Meet Again by Vera Lynn

The Circus

This is a bit of a hard one to explain. See, it's just the circus. I don't mean a specific type or even a brand, but just the circus. You know, elephants and acrobats and popcorn and dancing. It's all just an amazing spectacle.

As much as I've always loved going to the circus, this was never something that was on my list before. However, recently I was informed about how my grandmother used to ride horses. Mostly in rodeos, but there were a few times she actually rode elephants. In the circus.

Ta-da!

After that, who WOULDN'T love the freakin circus!

Song of the day - Maple Leaf Rag

Firefly

Every once in a while, there's a show that comes along that is just so magnificent you can't possibly comprehend how it ended so soon. And by every once in a while, I mean WHY DID FIREFLY END?!?!?

Firefly is a tv show that combines two unlikely genres - sci-fi and western. And it's done beautifully. I mean, watching this show, I can't imagine a more frontier-like space. It feels used and gritty and ancient. Wonderful setting. The plot follows the crew of a Firefly ship as they travel in space. Oh, and if you've ever heard the term 'browncoats', it's from this show.

The thing that makes this show is the characters. Joss Whedon has always made exceptional characters, but Firefly works. They are all opposites of each other, but they get along. The relationship between them all is fascinating. Shiny.

Wash, tell me I'm pretty.

The show is short, only 14 episodes, so there's no excuse not to watch it. Plus, Kaylee is awesome.

Song of the day - Ballad of Serenity

Kingdom Hearts

As a kid, I was a Disney fanatic. As I grew a bit older, I was introduced to the Final Fantasy series and fell in love with that. So when my boyfriend at the time called to tell me that there was a game coming out that combined two of my favorite things - I nearly died.

And the game lived up to it's hype! I had posters and shirts and everything before the game even came out. I was too young to think that the game might be bad, so I didn't have any reason to dread. I spent the first half the of the game giggling like a moron. It was beautiful. I didn't want to play Sora at first; I wanted to just jump right into my characters I knew and love. BUT THEN I FELL IN LOVE WITH SORA! I mean, who wouldn't, come on.

For those that don't know, Kingdom Hearts is a video game where the main character goes to different worlds, each based on Disney movies. There's a Hercules world, a Wonderland world and even Halloween Town. It's also got an amazing voice cast (including the cheerleader from Heroes) and the animation is just gorgeous. This game is easily many people's favortie, and it's a great way to get kids interested in a full on RPG.

For Kingdom Hearts day, I mostly just listened to the music. I'll be playing the game a bit later on today (but only the first one! KH2 is another day!), but that's it really. Oh, and I wore pink as a salute to Kairi. ^^

Song of the day - Simple and Clean by Hikaru Utada

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

So here's a movie that isn't discussed much....

Blessed are the forgetful, for they get the better even of their blunders.

A few years ago, I was going through the IMDB's top 100 movies of all time (it's top 250 now). There were several movies on there I'd never heard of and/or had absolutely no interest in whatsoever. To my surprise, I ended up finding lots of new movies I absolutely love. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind was one of those. I ended up loving that movie so much, I'm pretty sure it's my number 1 fave of all time. No, really.

Sometimes I don't think people realize how lonely it is to be a kid.

For those that don't know, this movie is defined as a romantic sci-fi. It's a story about a company called Lacuna that can erase memories and how it effects the people involved. The two main characters meet and start a relationship without knowing they were former lovers. It's incredibly amazing and has the most realistic dream-like scenes I've ever seen in a movie.

Maybe you can find yourself a nice antique rocking chair to die in.

Today I went to listen to the movie, but it's one of those movies you simply CAN'T listen to, so I'm just gonna go watch it. Totally worth it. In addition to that, I listened to the soundtrack! Thank goodness for youtube, right?

So if you've never seen the movie, you should really give it a go. It's got a clever story, a fun romance and some pretty amazing actors in it. TO NETFLIX! Or, at least watch the trailer!

Song of the day - Mr. Blue Sky by ELO <3

Amy Pond

Amelia Pond! Get your coat!

If you don't know who Amy Pond is (and you're not the only one, dw), she's a companion of the 11th Doctor on Doctor Who. The red headed kiss-a-gram girl that's feisty and full of adventure.

I love Amy. One, cuz she's got red hair, but also because she's just fun. She's traveling with the Doctor for the fun of it, and she's not afraid to jump right into things. Plus, she's got an AMAZING husband.

For Amy Pond day, I tried to dress up like her! Sorta. See, she's got this cool red plaid shirt but apparently red plaid just isn't available for girls around here so I only had an apple green plaid shirt and really, what goes with apple green but pink so I had to wear a pink tank top and then my super tall pink shoes and *sigh* it was close but not perfect. Oh well. At least I had long red hair, right? Plus, I got to say "your stupid face" a lot. That was fun.

SOOOOO excited for the new season to start!!!!

Song of the day - Everything is Ending by Chameleon Circuit

Harry Potter

Harry Potter Day!

Ok, so there's loads to say on Harry Potter. I mean, who doesn't love it, right? It's a super fun story with lovable characters and it's just cool. I love Neville so much. His history is probably my favorite. It's so dynamic.

Harry Potter is also something I look forward to bragging to my kids about - how I saw the movies in the THEATER and have first edition copies. You know, the stories of sitting outside in the cold waiting for book 7 that kids will just roll their eyes over.

If you don't know what Harry Potter is, then you must be living on an island far far away that doesn't have internet. Therefor you shouldn't be reading this. But for the sake of the random alien from Pluto that is reading this before seeing Harry Potter, it's a story about a boy wizard who is destined at a young age to kill the evil emperor ZURG! Wait, wrong story. I mean, he's gotta kill the evil wizard, whose name we never say.

LOL, just kidding. His name is Voldemort. Voldy-voldy-Voldemort! Potter Puppets FTW!

For Harry Potter Day, I listened to the first book! Wow, I haven't read that thing is ages! But after a while I thought to myself, let's MST3K this up a bit, yeah? So I switched over to Wizard People, Dear Reader.  And after laughing so hard I was in tears, the day was over. Nice way to make time fly. ^^

Song of the day - Hedwigs Theme

Les Misérables

I know it's a book, but have you ever SEEN that thing!? It's like War and Peace! It's so big. Yeah, so I've never read it. But the musical is fantastic! Its bad I haven't' read it, I realize that, but today is about the musical and I love it so there's no reason I'll talk about the book today. Well, anymore than I already have.

For those who don't know, Les Mis is a musical about the French Revolution. Kinda. Its based around an ex-convict who is trying to turn his life around while being hunted by a policeman. There's a love story, a war story, a redemption story... pretty much everything that makes things awesome is in here.

The thing I love most about it is Éponine. She's this wonderfully tomboyish girl who is totally in love with a guy who could care less about her. She's a tragic character who you know will never get the man she loves (who totally pulls a dumb Romeo and Juliet move against her), but she still tries to carry on. It's all very bittersweet. Plus she has the best song in the play, "On My Own".

Though TODAY is Les Mis day (which had me listening to the soundtrack all day and holy cow it's incredibly sad), I went and saw the play a few weeks ago. In my little town, we have an amazing Shakespeare festival that puts on plays of a wide variety. This year, they were lucky enough to get the rights to Les Mis.

Now, I know what you're thinking. 'Pft, Shakespeare fest! Les Mis isn't Shakespeare!' No duh, genius. But they do other plays. And it's a huge award winning (including Tony) Shakespeare festival, so when I say they did Les Mis, I mean they did it with amazing style. The girl who played Fantine was just amazing, far beyond anything I've ever seen. Makes me want to see her play Elphaba, but that's another play for another day.

For Les Mis day, I just listened to the soundtrack really. Oh, and watched the trailer for the new movie and that looks surprisingly good. Yay!

Song of the day - On My Own

Tron

Tron is one of those epic moments in life. Where the technology of the future predicted in the past comes to life in the future with polished ideas of the pasts perception of the future. Fascinating, isn't it? It's all timey-whimy!

The thing I loved about the old Tron was the video game aspect of it. Sure, there was awesome graphics and cool ideas, but we can't forget Flynn's Arcade!

For those who don't know, Tron is a movie where there is a world inside our computers, made up of people called 'programs'. They made a squeal to it that's new, but it's all based around the same idea of the world inside our computers. The ideas are cool, the look is so facinating and of course, you can't top the music from the second one.

So Tron day has mostly been made up of listening to the soundtrack. I also watched the second movie (I have the first, but I can't find it). Still, I wish I had a light cycle. Like a real one. I've got two identity disks on my desk at work. They make sounds when you hit them. ^^

Oh, by the way, they made a cool new animated series of Tron on TV. It's really cool looking. More like a comic book. You should check that out.


Song of the day - Derezzed by Daft Punk
Its... from the soundtrack. Kinda obvious.

Haunted Mansion

best.

ride.

ever.

Ok, not ever, but pretty dang close. It's in my top... oh, 5. I think.

I never used to like it so much. I mean, it was cool and all, but then I met Josh. He LOVES that ride. Mostly because when he was little he was forced, kicking and screaming, on the ride over and over. Ok, not THAT bad, but he was scared of it. So when we were in Disney, he would drag me on the ride over and over and over. The amount of detail and creativity in that ride is astounding. The dancing ghosts. The overlaying off-beat music to make you feel slightly uncomfortable. The huge array of projections and animatronics. It's all very impressive.


You can imagine my excitement when I found out they were making a movie about it. The ride tells a story, believe it or not. A really good one, too. That Master Gracie was formally a pirate (from the Caribbean), and when his wife found out from items/papers in the attic, she fell out the window. The story is half-speculated, but it fits the ride. Too bad the movie was, well, terrible.

Yeah, let's be honest. It was downright awful.

For Haunted Mansion day, I wore my home-made Haunted Mansion shirt! It gets loads of compliments whenever I go to Disney.

Just for fun, here's a photo of a group us us dressed up as the stretching portraits from Haunted Mansion for Mickey's Halloween Party in Disneyland. Yeah, we're that crazy. ^^

For those who like to craft, there's a really cool paper Haunted Mansion you can make yourself! I did it once. Took me about 3 days, but it's really cool looking. For the pattern and prints, head on over to http://www.haunteddimensions.raykeim.com/index380.html

Song of the day - Grim Grinning Ghosts

Tsar Nicholas II

The problem with having a semi-obscure historical hero is that most people look at you like a crazed lunatic when you express your love for said hero. Actually, most people look at you like that when you say your hero is someone that's been dead for ages. Apparently I missed the memo that history isn't cool.

Anyway, one of my greatest heroes in History is the Tsar Nicholas II. And if you're scratching your head or zooming off to Wikipedia, I'll save you the bother - He was the last Tsar of Russia. He's the cause of Bloody Sunday (the 1905 one). He's the one who employed Rasputin (well, technically that was his wife). He's also the father of the famous Anastasia Romanov. But most importantly, he has one of the most beautiful love stories of all time.

In his journal, when he went to see his second cousin Alix, he wrote that she was the most beautiful girl he'd ever seen and he loved her. There were issues, of course. She was German, and her religion was wrong, and Nicholas' father (whose a very impressive man on his own!) wanted his son to be married to someone incredibly powerful.

After dating a Russian ballerina for a while (to the utter disgrace of his parents), he finally ran back into his beloved. In order to get married, Alix had to change her country, her religion and even her name. BUT! Alix and Nicholas were married. They had 5 lovely children and lived happily ever after. Until the Russian revolution and they were thrown into poverty and basically prison and then executed.

There's soooo much to go into, but I'll save you the trouble. Both of them kept extensive diaries. If you're interested, there's an AMAZING book called Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie. The book goes through Nicholas' entire life, and contains lots of diary entries from many people involved in this incredible story. Seriously, it'll make you laugh and cry. Love it.

Or, you know, you could just watch Anastasia.

"And I kick her, sir!"

Song of the day - Once Upon a December

Avatar - the last Airbender

Will you go penguin sledding with me?

This show was introduced to me by a long lost friend. She kept telling me that it was not 'just a kids show', but I've been burned by Nickelodeon before. Stupid big orange couch.

What are you doing here, Twinkletoes?

For those who don't know - Avatar is an animated show about a boy who must save the world from a dictatorship. There are four types of elemental benders, and only the Avatar can use all four elements. It's quirky  it's fun and it's so super addicting for kids and adults.

I don't remember how or when I finished watching it, but I'm pretty sure I flew through the whole show in under a month. Why is it such amazing shows are over far too quickly? I laughed, I cried, but mostly I couldn't believe how incredible it was.

Excuse me, does anyone have a razor? Because I got some hairy pits!


For Avatar day, I couldn't wear my Avatar shirt with work and all, so I settled on random episodes! I watched/listened to one before work and then watched two after work. It's so funny! And creative! All day I've been pretending I could bend air. Or water. And the quoting! Who doesn't love a random quote thrown at them that they have never heard before?

Well then, maybe you should worry less about the tides, who've already made up their mind about killing you, and worry more about me, who's still mulling it over.

I was planning on blowing fire and trying to bend water by spraying the dog with the hose, but it started to rain. That changed everything. Ah well. There's always next year. ^^


Can your science explain why it rains?

Twister

Rabbit is good. Rabbit is wise.

Twister was the first movie I saw in the theaters twice. That movie made me love typography, cheesy lines and meteorology. Plus, it totally fits since there was thunderstorms all night.

For those who don't know, Twister is a Warner Bros/Universal Studios film starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton. The plot follows a group of storm chasers as they hunt down a F-5 Tornado (though the Fujita scale is SO outdated, but ya know, whatever) to deploy their sensors for tornado readings. With a screenplay by Michael Crichton and produced by Steven Spielberg, you really couldn't make it a better film. ^^

As a little girl...well, sorta little, the opening title made my jaw drop. It's really not that special, but when I first saw those letters swirl around like they were caught in the wind, my first thought was "I wanna do that!". It was from that point on I started noticing text and fonts and how they were used. Not long after, I became addicted to Flash. You can blame Twister for the fact that I'm a graphic designer.


Yeah, well Kansas is a mess. There's a big crease right through Wichita. Roll the maps!

The other thing this movie did for me was spark my interest in meteorology. That's a topic for later though. Just know it's awesome.

For Twister day, aside from telling random people that it was Twister day and them giving me odd looks, I listened to the movie! Yay! I've actually had the movie at work for a while. I've watched it so many times that listening to it is alot like listening to music. Every once in a while my mouth will start moving and I'll be quoting it without even realizing it till I get to a SUPER AWESOME ROCKIN PART and scream out at the top of my lungs "FOOD!". I think I might have scared a few people when I did that.



It's not others favorite movie, but it's definitely one of my top 3 of all time. There's lots of crazy awesome lines in it (He really is in love with himself. I thought it was just a summer thing), fun explosions and effects and tons of inspiration for meteorology lovin' artist apparently.

Song of the day - Human Being by Van Halen.
It's in the movie. Watch it. Listen to it. LOVE IT!