Looking at the Past, Focusing on the Future

So another year has gone by, and full of interesting and unexpected things. I will say that to me, 2013 will always be remembered as the year of the weddings, as I had a TON of friends get married this year. It was like every other week was somebody’s wedding.

Anyways, so this is a time to reflect what the past year held for us, the big posts, the planned posts, and what you all seemed to like the most. 😀

1) The Views

According to WordPress I had 9,542 views this year. That’s 7542 more than last year. I would like to thank all of you for being a part of this and giving me your time and attention.

2) #1 Post

Surprisingly, the top post of the year was my Happy Anniversary post in which I celebrated six months of blogging. I have to say I never saw that one coming. Runner ups were Snakes on a Post: Chinese New Year, Fulfilling the List: A Walk to Remember, Grimwood Ghouls’ Gym Teacher: Scooby–Doo and the Ghoul School, A Monster Race: Scooby-Doo and the Reluctant  Werewolf, and Save the Last Dance for Me: Dirty Dancing. 

3) The Followers

I now have 42 followers, that is 28 more than last January. Thank you all who follow and make my blog a part of your life. You are all awesome! 😀

Now for the success and failures of the year.

4) My Favorite Movie Lines Lists

This all started when I did a post on one of the best movie lines ever. I then decided to do my own countdowns and post them once a month. I only did two; My Favorite Movie Lines and It’s BACK!: The Sequel. I planned up to 10 lists but never finished looking for videos to include, so they are just backlogged waiting to be published. I will have to look through them and post them this year.

5) Musical Musings

I also started my musical posts, writing about some of my favorite songs. This year I covered Nothing But a Good Time, Eye of the Tiger, In Rhapsody Over Clint Eastwood,  Jump (For My Love), I’ll Be Alright Without You, and The End which reviewed a bunch of different songs. Look for more of these as I already have a few ideas for more.

6) Romance is in the Air

Fourteen posts about some of my favorite romantic moments in film in honor of Valentines’ Day. I covered Say Anything, He’s Just NOT That Into You, A Walk to Remember, An Officer and a Gentleman, The Wedding Singer, Shrek 2, Enchanted, Runaway Bride, 10 Things I Hate About You, An Affair to Remember, Music and Lyrics, It’s a Wonderful Life. Dirty Dancing, and Northanger Abbey.

7) One Day Holiday Posts

 Instead of doing a post everyday like with Romance is in the Air or Horrorfest, I did a couple of holiday posts in which I reviewed the films or books that applied in one post on one day. This is can be easier and fit for the holidays chosen; Snakes on a Post: Chinese New Year, Pot O’ Gold: Saint Patrick’s Day, and the 25 Films of Christmas. 

8) Painted Portrayals

For Easter I did something a little different from my other holiday posts. I discussed art that featured Christ, discussing the history and advancements of the pieces.  These posts were The Last Supper, The Betrayal of Christ, and Good Friday. I mean I have to use my Art History skills for something.

9) Pride and Prejudice Summer

So this was a failure. I had planned to spend a majority of my summer posting about Pride and Prejudice as it had just turned 200, but unfortunately my plans went awry. However, I did get a few done and I am going to complete this quest this year, so I can move on to another book. The posts that I completed as part of this goal are the following: Happy Birthday Pride & Prejudice, It is a Truth Universally Acknowledged, The 12 Men of Christmas, Parental Favoritism, and Definitely Not Mr. Darcy.

10) Horrorfest II

Now Horrorfest II wasn’t a complete failure, but it didn’t turn out how I originally planned. I wanted to do 31 days, but it was far too much work and only did 16. I didn’t get everything I wished to accomplish, but I think it turned out well. I covered the films; The Creature from the Black Lagoon, Warm Bodies, The Mummy (1932), The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Crucible, Ringu, The Beast of Yucca Flats, Double, Double, Toil, and Trouble, Jurassic Park, The Lost World, Jurassic Park III, and Children of the Corn. I also did the episodes “A River of Candy Corn Runs Through It” from Sabrina the Teenage Witch, “Night of the Day of the Dead” from Lizzie McGuire, and “Midnight Madness” from Are You Afraid of the Dark. I also discussed an artist who mixed horror films with Disney, Disnified Horror.

Of course there are plenty of other things that went on this year, but this finishes our review of the year.

On ending note I found this on Pinterest in the spring:

and wanted to do it, but I thought it would be better if I waited for the new year to partake in this. I think that it is a fun idea and I encourage everyone of you to do it as well.

So Happy New Year, I hope it is the better than last year! And I can’t wait to see what posts come up this year. 😀

According to Disney

Apparently this is the best place to meet cute, decent guys.

To read another Disney influenced post go to Pot o’ Gold

For more on Tangled go to Krueger Town

For more on Hercules go to Doors of Death

For more on Sleeping Beauty go to A Horse’s Tale

For more on Beauty and the Beast go to Get It!

For more on Enchanted go to I Don’t Dance or Sing, Except When I’m With You

For more on Pocahontas go to Disney Lesson

For more on Snow White go to Disnified Horror

I Don’t Dance or Sing, Except When I’m With You: Enchanted (2007)

Romantic Moment #7

Enchanted (2007)

Well this is the seventh post which means we are halfway done! Yay! This also means only seven days ’til Valentine’s Day, so if you haven’t picked anything up for your loved one, ya might want to start thinking ’bout it.

Enchanted was such an awesome movie. All the characters are really great, the storyline is amazing, the songs are perfection, and all the disney references magical. I love this movie, and am proud to have it be the halfway mark.

So Giselle (Amy Adams) is sent to the real world by the evil queen (Susan Sarandon), who doesn’t want her to marry her stepson, Prince Edward (James Marsden <3), and take her place.

She is found by Robert Phillips (Patrick Dempsey) and his daughter who take her in. Robert is a divorce lawyer, (and divorced himself), who doesn’t believe in true love, fairy tales, etc; pretty much anything romantic is nonsense. A super realist.

Robert has been dating his girlfriend Nancy for like five years, and no hint of proposing and he’s never done anything romantic for her.

Robert is the girl in this scenario.

So Nancy misunderstands what is happening between Robert and Giselle; and Giselle tries to patch everything up. She finds out that they are having a King and Queens Ball that weekend, and thinks it will be the perfect present for Nancy. However Robert isn’t really into that.

“Giselle: [singing] Well, does he take you out dancing just so he can hold you close? 
Robert: [speaking] I don’t dance! 
Giselle: Dedicate a song, with words meant just for you? Ooh ooh… 
Robert: [speaking] And I really don’t sing.“

But Giselle sends the tickets off with lovebirds and flowers to Nancy so Robert and Nancy can fix everything and get back together. But things are changing between Giselle and Robert. Robert is starting to relax and realize that he doesn’t need to be serious and bitter all the time. Being with Giselle is changing him, he’s letting down all the walls he created to keep himself from being hurt again.

Giselle is also growing; she is becoming more sure of herself, independent, etc. When Prince Edward finds her and is ready to take her back to Andalasia, she doesn’t quite want to go. She has started to like living in the “real world” rather than the “fairy tale”. She and Edward go on a date, and the last thing she wants to do before going back is the King and Queen’s ball.

Now here is the romantic part. At the ball, they announce a dance that one must do with someone that is not their date. As Prince Edward doesn’t know anyone, he asks Nancy to dance, and then Robert asks Giselle.

He’s dancing with her! He hates to dance, but when the two dance they just gaze at each other in complete adoration. And if that’s not romantic enough, he sings to her. SINGS!

How romantic

You just see in that moment how much they love each other! 😀 You just see how the two being out the best in each other!

Aw!

The only thing I don’t like is Giselle’s dress. I know it is supposed to signify her compete transformation and acceptance of “our world”, but it is not a very good color on her and flattens her out. I love Robert’s outfit though.

They are supposed to be making an Enchanted 2, but it looks like it has been a while since they last updated their info. If interested here’s some info.

To start Romance is in the Air from the beginning, go to Boom Box of Love: Say Anything (1989)

For the previous post, go to I Wouldn’t Change You, Darling: Shrek 2 (2004)

For more on Enchanted, go to According to Disney

For more on Amy Adams, go to I Choose You: Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day (2008)

For more on Patrick Dempsey, go to All I Know About Trilogies is That in the Third One, All Bets are Off: Scream 3 (2000)

For more Disney, go to On the 11th Day ‘Til Christmas: The Santa Clause (1994)

For more fairy tales, go to You Should Write A Book

A Fright on Halloween Night: The Legend of Sleepy Hollow (1949)

You can’t reason with a headless man.

As a kid I remember that this movie used to scare the bejeezus out of me. The headless horseman was uber creepy.

Ghosts are bad, but the one that’s cursed,
Is the Headless Horseman; he’s the worst!

But the film is amazing!

One reason why it was so fantastic was that they had the very handsome, and very charming Bing Crosby be the narrator and singer.

I love this man!

He doesn’t even have to show his face, just listening to his voice is enough for me.

With this film, Disney actually manages to do an extremely good job at creating a fun, but still creepy children’s film. They also managed to keep it very similar to the short story, in fact taking pieces from the actual text and placing it in the film.

🚨FYI Spoiler Alert🚨 

So the cartoon starts out with the classic Disney opening:

All fairy tales or films based on short stories and novels used to open with the pages of a book. I miss that opening and wish they portrayed it in more films. I know they brought it back for Enchanted, but I still wish there was more of it.

The first person we are introduced to is Brom Bones

I never liked Brom. He always seemed like a jerk to me. He was big and brawny, “handsome” to some; but a mean bully. He reminds me of a lesser cool Gaston. (I love Gaston, even though he is a jerk. His song is awesome)

Anyways, Brom is shocked at the appereance of a new man in town. In fact this stranger suprises everyone. It’s Ichabod, Ichabod Crane, the school teacher.

“Debonair and devil-may-care
It’s the new schoolmaster
What’s his name
Ichabod!
Ichabod Crane!”

He’s tall, rail thin, and has one heck of a schnozza; but I always liked him better as he was well-read and not a loser like Brom.

Icabod also loves to eat. He goes to his student’s homes to partake in their food, making it a complete part of his lifestyle.

Even though Ichabod isn’t really a looker he still has all the girls in town’s hearts a flutter.

With a voice like Bing Crosby’s who could blame them?

This of course upsets Brom, who tries his best to prank Ichabod and make him seem dumb.

Next to enter the scene is the lovely Katrina Van Tassel. Not only is she the prettiest in the town, but her father is the richest man.

“Narrator: Oh, Katrina, my love. Who can resist your grace, your charm? And who can resist your father’s farm? Boy, what a set-up! There’s gold in them acres…Dear Katrina, my love, my treasure. Treasure? Ah, that barn’s a gold mine. How I’d love to hit the jackpot. Sweet Katrina, Papa’s only child. Papa? Well, the old goat can’t take it with him, and when he cuts out, that’s where I cut in.” 

Every guy in town wants to get with Katrina, Ichabod included. The only problem is that Brom is interested in Katrina, in fact he is planning on marrying her. Katrina however is enjoying the attention of Ichabod. She likes the fact that he is so different from anyone she’s ever met.

Ichabod is also able to to best Brom in every way, by using his brain over brawn.

However, Ichabod is also a very superstitous person. We saw in his song how he doesn’t like black cats, walking under ladders, salt over the shoulder, etc.

Brom catches on to this and tells a horrific story about the Headless Horseman.

“Brom Bones: [singing] When the ghosts have a midnight jamboree, they break it up with fiendish glee. Ghosts are bad, but the one that’s cursed, is the Headless Horseman; he’s the worst! 
Chorus: [singing] That’s right, he’s a fright on Halloween night! 
Brom Bones: When he goes a-jogging across the land, holding his noggin in his hand, demons take one look and groan, and they hit the road for parts unknown!…I’m telling you, brother, it’s a frightful sight for what goes on Halloween night.” 

Its midnight and Halloween, and after hearing the story, Ichabod is doubly freaked out on his walk home.

Of course on his way home he runs into THE HEADLESS HORSEMAN!

 “Next morning, Ichabod’s hat was found, and close beside it, a shattered pumpkin, but there was no trace of the schoolmaster. It was shortly thereafter that Brom Bones led the fair Katrina to the altar. Now, rumors persisted that Ichabod was still alive, married to a wealthy widow in a distant county. But of course, the settlers refused to believe such nonsense, for they knew the schoolmaster had been spirited away by the Headless Horseman.”

I always thought that the horseman was Brom and not a ghost, but I like how they end it so that you can draw your own conculsion as to what has really happened.

Hope you enjoyed this hair-raising tale. More to come!

Here is a cover page I made for my facebook for my Halloween countdown

To go to the beginning of Horrorfest, go to I Don’t Belong in the World

For the previous post, go to They’re Here