songbird's crazy world

We saw Tangled last weekend.  This is Disney's reworking of the Rapunzel fairytale.  We saw it in 3D, the newest trend, and we made usre to see a late evening show so as to avoid being with crowds of kids (although the three young girls sitting behind us oohed and aahed at the 3D effects but otherwise kept very quiet during the film). Many elements of the story are derivative, reminding me of the many classic Disney fairytales I saw as a child or when my own children were little.  The back story of the king and queen and their longed-for daughter reminded me of Sleeping Beauty , and Mother Gothel reminded me of the Evil Queen in Snow White .  alan Menkin's music sounded familiar, but then again, he wrote the music for Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid, didn't he? I loved Flynn Rider, the unlikely hero, and I loved how Rapunzel is a very resourcesful, 21st-Century princess who can take care of herself.  Loved how the movie is full of drama, romanc...

How could a "songbird" resist this writing prompt? What was your favorite song this year? Five years ago? Ten years ago? Twenty? My musical tastes, as you may have guessed, range far and wide.  2010.  My current favorite song has got to be Jimmy Buffett's cover of the Crosby, Stills & Nash song, "Southern Cross".  Aside fromt he fact that I've become a real Parrtohead in the last year or so, and have gone to two Buffett concerts, but the lyrics of this song...well, when I went on my cruise in February...I had to do some star-gazing aboard ship. 2005.  Two songs come to mind.  Melissa Etheridge's "I Run for Life" and Tim McGraw's "Live Like You Were Dying".  That was my year from hell, with surgery and radiation and chemo, and those two songs touched me deeply. 2000.  Well, for me, that was a year dominated by Billy Joel.  I have his concert album from the show he did at Mdison Square Garden on 12/31/1999.  A two-disc...

In the year 2000....some of my life was the same, some of it very different. I mean, I still live in the same place as I did 10 years ago, with all the same people....well, not entirely, I'm still with my parents and two of my sister, but my other sister now lives in an apartment and my children are away at college. 10 years ago -- it was the year Jen turned 10 and Becca turned 8, they were in elementary school, and very involved in Hebrew school and dance class and gymnastics and all of that sort of thing. Drew and I were very much estranged, and the girls had a whole different life with them on alternate weekends. I was still with a law firm then, still going to court, drafting briefs, etc.Loved the work, hated the hours, needed a change. made that change 2 years later, when I found the job I have now. two of the highlights of the year were the trips I took to Disney, in February I went with just the girls, and in August I took my three sisters as well as the kids. a...

Yes, we are most definitely planning a Disney vacation next summer. 

the Fair opened April 22, 1964. 45 years ago today. I was 4 years old when the Fair opened. I remember going twice, once in 1964 and a second time in 1965. somewhere in my mom's closet there's a box of slides showing the whole family at various places around the Fair. I don't think we have any snapshots, and we haven't looked at the slides in years. I remember the Unisphere: Sinclair Oil's Dinoland: and, of course, Disney's "It's a Small World": I had a "45" with the "Small World" song, which I played on my portable record player until the vinyl wore out, and I had a book that showed how the dolls were made for the ride -- very innovative technology in 1964. After the Fair was over...well, the Disney exhibits all made their way to disneyland, of course. My ex and I had to see "Small World" and "Carousel of Progress" on our Disneyworld honeymoon in 1987. Dinoland made a reappearance at Roosevelt Field shopping...

so last night Jen called me from school and asked me to buy a DVD "before Disney puts it back in the vault." the DVD she wanted was a prequel to the classic "The Little Mermaid". Jen has always loved Disney movies, but I think "Mermaid", in all of its incarnations (movie, TV show, sequel, prequel, Broadway show, soundtracks, Disneyword performances) has always been her favorite. on Jen's 3rd birthday, my sister Andrea -who has long red hair- borrowed a mermaid costume. Jen was so excited! she wanted to wear the costume. fortunately I had some pretty green fabric in the house, which I wrapped around her like a sarong, and she was overjoyed. so of course I went out and bought the DVD for her.

One of the perks of being on the high school cheer team, or the high school dance team, was the annual trip to Central Florida for competition. With neither of my girls on a team this year, I am bereft. I have wonderful memories of these competitions, especially the Florida trips. the girls and I had vacationed in Central Florida many times from 1998 through 2001, visiting Walt Disney World 5 times and Universal Studios/Islands of Adventure once. We hadn't been to Florida since 2001, and going back with the teams was a delight. Jen's sophomore year the team went to a competition at Universal Studios, and Becca and I went with the team. The next year, Jen's junior year and Becca's freshman year, the dance team went to WDW in early March and the cheer team went to WDW in mid March. Ditto last year. (The dance team also travels to Myrtle Beach for a competition at the end of March, but that's a different story.) Going on these trips is a lot different than watching y...

found a new blog today. Love it. http://secret-squirrel.webs.com/index.htm I've posted there under various names over the last 10 years or so. it went from a sweet little board that was Pete Werner's hobby to ....well, a real nightmare. that a board devoted to all things Disney can be such a nasty, racist, childish (not childlike) place.... loving the inside scoop, though. Did I ever tell you how "songbird" was banned from the DIS? I was a poster in good standing for 3-4 years. Even booked my trips through Dreams Unlimited, back when Pete was careful to distinguish between the disboards as a hobby and Dreams as his business. Pete and Webmaster Alex were struggling with server issues, the disboards would go down more often than they'd stay up. then Pete announced cosmetic changes to wdwinfo.com, which feeds into the disbaords forum. Like all other members of the forum, I was frustrated. so I was a bit sarcastic. I posted something to the effect of "would yo...

just thought I'd get in on the action.... long time followers of Suzanne's blog will know her Webmaster Alex post. I've been banned from the DIS more times than I can count...a few of them actually deserved, but for the most part....banned for being "songbird". I wasn't blogging back in April, so let me say now...Alex, you're an idiot. you banned a lot of good peole for no reason at all. the "meanness" factor at the DIS hasn't changed, but the "stupidity" factor has increased dramatically since April. is that any way to run a business?

these are mine: I just love these earrings. they're long and dangling and they even touch my shoulders when I wear them. I wear a lot of black, so these earrings go with many of my outfits. but more important is that these earrings bring back a pleasant memory. I bought them in "Morocco", or rather, the Morocco pavillion at EPCOT. ( Wouldn't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express, Wouldn't you know we're riding on the Marrakesh Express,They're taking me to Marrakesh, All aboard the train, all aboard the train ) we'd stopped at the Tangierine Cafe for schwarma and other Middle Eastern delights. not that I need to go to Disneyworld for good hummus, I get plenty of that right here in NYC,but the food at Tangierine was top notch. and the whole atmosphere of "Morocco" was wonderful - evocative of the Tales of Arabian Nights (Arabian nights, Like Arabian days, More often than not Are hotter than hot, In a lot of good ways) -- in fact, I...