Thursday, October 21, 2010

What I've Been Up To


GREETINGS ALL


... yet another comeback entry ^~^


It has been four months today since my last post! Sheesh!

It's been a crazy four months. Mostly filled with me working on this blog.


Which obviously means I have no idea what a blog actually is. I keep doing research and making videos and uploading pictures and writing scribbles on saved drafts till each one becomes the length of a book. I've also had a full-time albeit temporary job and begun applying for college.


Anyhow the geekily self-proclaimed "idiosyncratic feminist" is back to re-explore what I possibly could have meant by that term.

To give you a mental picture of what the past four months has been for me, consider this a little snapshot:


In two weeks it will be the year anniversary of this blog so I figured I'd better get cracking. So first I'd thought I'd show my reader(s) that I have far from forgotten them and have in fact been thinking only of this blog for the past four months. It may have occurred to you by now that I'm a bit of a perfectionist. And you'd be... very right.


Ok so this blog entry is a bit of an inbetween non-entry because it doesn't really have a topic, so I thought I'd list the upcoming entries that I'm hoping I can make myself publish before they are encyclopedia length (these are working titles):

  • Subli-mer-inal Images and How We Channel Them
  • Rapunzel & Tangled
  • Tangled
  • The Allure of Break-Up Songs
  • The Big C
  • Ariel
  • The Little Mermaid
  • Fan Disney Music Videos - A Limitless Source
  • Judith and Holofernes - Biblical Gore
  • My Favorite Fairy Tale OF ALL TIME
  • Girls as Heroines
  • Childhood Ambition of Office and High Heels
  • Virginia Woolf & "A Room of One's Own"

... not to mention ideas for entries I haven't started.


I thought a good way to convey just how busy I've been (though it's hard to give you an idea without giving too much away) would be to list tidbits here and there. So here I go.



Oh wait but first I'd like to endorse a company that I very much approve of, especially as it comes with a blog - "Aladine Wings" run by Aladine, my sister. If my theme may be considered discovering what the **** feminism is, hers is exploring the border between fantasy (specifically folklore and fairy tales) and reality. Her business is in the contruction of fairy wings - wearable and mountable. They are beeeautiful and as Halloween is coming up I'd thought I'd do you all a favor by pointing you in her direction.

Sister Fairies! I know I'm being a bit of a pitchman right now, but her work is particularly close to my heart especially as she painted on my face for photo shoot ideas yesterday - which I forgot to wash off - so in the morning when I drove my little sister to school and I saw my old highschool principal outside I hoped he wouldn't see my newly dark dyed hair tips combined with the day-old wings/horns painted on my face and draw conclusions about my new lifestyle. Plus I hadn't had any coffee yet. Well anyway I got away before I was seen.

Anyhow...

Click the image below to be re-directed to her official website - http://flavors.me/aladine - you may notice I've made this a permanent side-bar to my blog so you won't have to look for this entry every time!

And yes, I know she makes fairy wings which have little or nothing to do with mermaids, mermaid fins, or their ilk, but I like mermaids so there.


Her official blog may be found at this link - http://aladinewings.blogspot.com - her new experiments with the lost in the woods/ don't trust the old hag who claims she'll help you type concept are very interesting.


She's also got a facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Aladine-Hand-Crafted-Fairy-Wings/147031118655261) if those two sites weren't convenient enough
for you.


PLEASE click this image for a bigger more gorgeous version of two of her wearable hand-crafted fairy wings featured at the "Rubanesque" in Ireland.


Ok. NOW on to the list!!!!!!! You remember - the list of thing's I've been up to.

1) Perry


Yes, I was over at a new friend's house with Disney's "Phineas and Ferb" playing in the background - soon to be the foreground - it was love at first sight. Anyone who knows me can tell you, I am obsessed with the Platypus. Have been for years. I have a partiality for oddball creatures but the Platypus is what started it all. I have an unfinished novel/ novel series idea starring a Platypus. So when I found out this show, starring a completely awesome secret agent Platypus named Perry, had been existent for a couple of years now, well. I was frusturated but I committed the rest of my time to watching as much as possible. I LOVE IT.


My new credo is "What would Perry do?" (Right after "What would Barbie do?" to be explained in another entry...)

My new hope is that they'll invent a surgery to become a cartoon Platypus so I can marry this character. I also happen to be a fan of the other aspects of the show, but right now all I want to say is PERRY PERRY PERRY PERRY (which I at first spelled in my head as "Peri").

What does this have to do with feminism? Well, if you were paying attention earlier, this is an entry explaining how I've spent my time and it may come as a shock to you but not all are immediately applicable to feminism. Although... I could come up with something later. Just to please you. Like, I don't know, a discussion of why they chose to make Perry male, or whether or not their adherence to the conventional structure of conventional older sister against younger unconventional brothers (if in an obvious attempt at parody) offends me (it doesn't)/ is a smart decision/ perhaps the parody part is overlooked?/ what does Perry's animal role do to offset the sibling gender rivalry/ analyzing individual episodes.

See? I could come up with something.

Anyhow, here's my husband's theme song.


And HERE is a slideshow of my mere 374 screencaptures of Perry in slideshow form. I set it to autoplay so in the time reading/skimming/skipping the previous material of this entry you may have missed earlier bits but there's plenty to see and you can always mill through them at your own convenience by clicking the Perry immediatly following my little slideshow:


And now, for my new and ultimate favorite Perry video, YOUR WELCOME!

Oh, and some BRILLIANT Doofenschmirtz videos, I love his character too, though he of course isn't a Platypus and therefore cannot touch Perry's epicness. And I think he knows it. Though as human he gets pretty close.



Oh, and I might as well include a non-perry related clip that is blatantly a tipped hat to the feminist movement. Quite adorable, actually. The whole episode is.


Ah and in case you were curious, I'll embed the very first episode I ever saw, that turned me on to the Phineas and Ferb/ Perry and Doofenschmirtz/ Perry craze (I've now seen all episodes available in the US right now plus one): "One Good Scare Oughta Do It!"



Okay, on to #2 on the list of the things this particular busy bee has been doing...

#2) finding better and better quality/ obsessing over film adaptations


Particularly of "The Little Mermaid," my ultimate favorite story of all time. But it's been tough. Some of these things took some real digging, hours of work first finding them and then God Forbid finding them in DVD quality (since some of them aren't even available on DVD these days, though I'm still hoping.) I feel like Ariel trying to hoist her Prince to the surface of the water. I know it'll be great once I get up there, but JESUS hotness is heavy!


It's actually been so much work and such a continual pursuit I'm considering constructing a website in collaboration with this blog devoted exclusively to the story of "The Little Mermaid," because oddly enough there isn't one out there - other than the too specific, like Ariel, and the too general, like all Hans Christian Andersen.

Anyhow here are some compare and contrast, before and after screen captures to give you an idea. It'll be even more obvious if you click for a larger version (which will open in a separate window.) In all cases the first is a screencap from a version found on youtube, and I'd like to take this moment to thank the people who uploaded these for changing my life by providing these because damn they are hard to find, and even if I did end up finding better versions I wouldn't have known about them otherwise. And one is in Russian and no english subtitles can be found anywhere in the world except for by that youtuber's translation so far as I can tell and I have LOOKED so they particularly should be nominated for sainthood.




In that last one I was triply fortunate to find DVD quality by actually unearthing the DVD! Since for some anomale in his career Richard Chamberlain chose to narrate this version, people cared to have it for their complete collections so I finally found it through TCM! It was one of the happiest moments of my life, though it was insanely overpriced at $40 for a 30 minute feature but I guess they know just how rare it is. Plus it was totally worth it. I also strongly encourage you to click this image as it is a gorgeously good quality scan.



Also, click the left "Shop TCM" button to view the link to the buyable product itself on that site, and the right screencapture to view the information and credits the site provides, which is strangely more versed than the IMDB despite it's scant appearance. It is really that obscure. But it's so good. Can't WAIT to blog about all this!

- http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com/Product.asp?sku=D49239
- http://turnerclassic.moviesunlimited.com//shop01.swf


Oh and I've also been generally obsessed with finding other versions so here are a few to give you an overall impression. The first couple are indeed adult Shirley Temple. It opens with Shirley Temple out of character stating "ever since I was a child I've wanted to play the little mermaid who falls for a land prince" - I find it funny that a normal person just means an unrealistic childhood dream, whereas in Shirley's case it was probably more of a case of a crammed schedule XD - Nota Bene: the rest of these Mermaid screencaptures are from more rediculous versions.






This next one I've only been able to obtain clips from. It is from the "Happily Ever After" series featuring multi-cultural versions of well-known tales. I am more reluctant to buy the sketchy and suspicious looking DVD for this one a) b/c the DVD doesn't look quite legit and b) I'm not as in love as in the others, but if I have to I have to. I'm that hard core of a fan of the story!!! And the clips I've found are amusing and stress parts of the story none of the others do, like the fashionable clams the little mermaid must wear in accordance with her coming of age that she doesn't appreciate b/c the pinch her tale, despite their being the highest fashion that her old Grandmother loves and wears with royal pride. If anyone can find a full version online please direct me to it I would love that soooo much!!!

















#3) Tech stuff

With all this searching and blog research I have had to acquire a certain internet savvy which is turning into a full-blown education including signing up for legit online HTML and CSS courses which I ADORE. I've even considered making it a side career, I love this so much. I'd hoped to publish this entry before midnight to make the 4 anneverary deadline, so I'll make this section quick by just listing a few programs I've found and learned to love and overuse.

UnRarX
handbrake
submerge
screentoaster, which was completely closed down and said it would close by july 1st, thankfully lied so now it is back up

Ah, and I can't neglect to mention my more recent debut with subtitling. It begun when I found the DVD quality Russian and had to re-write the subtitles - which meant I had to learn how to make a .srt file, which I figured out myself without any help and I tell you it is TEDIOUS WORK. Here's a little excerpt to give you an idea. Ugh so tedious tedious tedious!!!!
.srt files; ex:

"0
00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000
Direct from the youtuber yeliza0veta's english subtitles - Thank You.

1
00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:46,000
In front of you, ladies and gentlemen,
the famous mermaid

2
00:01:47,000 --> 00:01:51,893
the way she was written by the
great Hans Christian Andersen

3
00:01:53,699 --> 00:01:54,893
in a story of love.

4
00:01:56,299 --> 00:02:07,248
Ladies and gentlemen, in the time
of Andersen, love still existed.

5
00:02:08,459 --> 00:02:16,417
These stupid people! They think love exists,
and mermaids don't!

6
00:02:18,619 --> 00:02:22,000
But you and I know it's the exact opposite!"

Ah, and as a sort of corallary to this suff, I've taken to watching stuff in other languages - since I'm pretty monolingual despite my many years of lessons in Spanish and Latin - specifically, I have become obsessed with Russian.

Here are some clips that amuse me, especially as Anastasia would actually be talking in Russian, not English (not that this movie is in any way accurate, so I figure it is just one more thing that is widely off the mark ;) hehe.)


To hear the original soundtrack and read lyrics - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nG0WdsytDGY


To watch with translated lyrics (from the dubbed Russian) but lesser sound quality - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ygNOpeq0118

To hear the original soundtrack and read original english lyrics - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1zamKoUREI

Okay running out of time I only have nine minutes left!!!!!

#4) making videos for future blog entries!!!!!!!! My youtube account's activity has been the polar opposite of my blogger account... click this next image to get an idea!




Video editing/ making - LOTS and LOTS of HOUR upon HOURSSSSSSS of video editing/making. Nonstop. No joke!!!! And, ironically, every single one has been made with future blog posts in mind - honest to God.

I've been very into multi-media analysis and presentation lately; what better way to jazz up re-asessing an often-used if endlessly intriguing topic, than through a visually and auditorily engaging art form - that also conveniently gets around the legal issues of sharing clips from films I wish to discuss. For it does indeed help bring legitimacy to this site; if it were up to me, I'd upload entire films to discuss and I'd love it b/c I could discuss every detail without having to expend any effort in stipulating what scene is which or considering which my audience is more or less likely to recognize. However, I can't, so I've been studying the minute details if the Fair Use Copyright Act up the wazoo as well as in general studying what has been banned or deleted or whatever do to copyright grounds, taken a hard look at my own personal ethics with regard to imagination/information property, and emerged - well, I'd like to say enlightened, but um, no. I'm kind of still flabergasted but less so! I hope.

Anyhow music videos that include my input in a more subtle and artistic way (and therefore including my own intellectual property, or whatever it's called) - meant to also eventually go with analysis in this blog, well, hot dog (as I picture Jimmy Stewart saying) that's perfect for my personality type and my personal hopes for what this blog is going to continue being.

Next in my list of hopes and dreams - write more coherent sentences. I'll get back to you on that one.

Since they were and are all meant to be for future blog entries, I am hesitant to include any in this second (and I fear, not final) "comeback" entry, I cannot stop myself from sharing SOMETHING to show the effort that has been going into this blog every day for the past two months - though "behind closed doors" or "behind the curtain" or "backstage" or w/e. It's my most recent one, my magnum opus, perhaps the hardest one yet. I'd been solidly working on it for two weeks, though technically I worked on it more like three weeks. I loved the idea and I almost gave up on it several times but I think I nailed it. It will in fact be featured in a (hopefully near) future epic series on Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid," so think of this as a taste of what's to come. And proof that I still care. XD

Youtube Description:

I worked really hard at this - b/c I really felt this song held potential in honoring Hans Chirstian Andersen's vivid yet gentle tale.

Clips From:
Soyuzmultfilm's 1968 Rusalochka


Disney's 1989 Little Mermaid


Song from the Rodgers and Hammersein Classic, "Carousel" - specifically, the 1956 movie.

FYI, I played in the pit orchestra for "Carousel" for several performances one summer, so I made this also with my more intimate knowledge of the score in my mind. (Remember, I play the cello. The epic and lovely and gorgeous the love of my life cello.)


I've also have several featured. Check out these screencaptures as undesputable proof! (Okay maybe not undesputable but I am telling the truth so it doesn't matter). I first descovered this when I saw one of my videos as a related video in the top right featured section.



... and just now I've discovered another one. SO cool!


And Also a sillier one -



#5) Literature - Sparse, but I have been reading...

  • Aesop's Fables
  • Rapunzel and Other Maiden in Tower Tales from Around the World by Heidi Anne Heiner



  • Rapunzel's Revenge by Shanon and Dean Hale Illustrated by Nathan Hale
<


  • Judith Sexual Warrior: Women and Power in Western Culture by Margarita Stocker



  • Folklore and the Sea by Horace Beck



#7) Barbie movies!

I'll tell the story of how that started later. five minutes before self-imposed publishing deadline!!!!!!!

15 Barbie movies. Will blog about them (whether you like it or not)!!!!



#8) Movie Discoveries/ Recently Watched/ Obsessed With














#9) concept art and process (making-of stuff, I eat it up!!!)

















Also this non-embeddable video:




#10) Tangled, my obsession with this knows no bounds. Seriously, it's true.


According to wiki, this next image is - "A concept rendering of Rapunzel, demonstrating the "luscious hair" Keane wanted." - Keane being behind the legendary Ariel arising from the rock "Some Day I'll be Part of Your World."




I've made 3 fan music videos of my own on this from all the trailers, one of which, featuring The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" has reached over one THOUSAND views, thank you very much.



Alrighty, one minute eeek!


I'll Close with stuff I did for mother's day - oops, I keep forgetting. My Mother's day, but not Mother's Day, b/c it was her birthday.


A Poem I wrote for my mom on her birthday; the picture (which I chose) is from one of my all-time favorite illustrated fairy books, "The Girl, the Fish, and the Crown."


- and the cute and ingenious -

Okay, here's Jo Bingo, back from the hiatus/ sabbatical, saying

Goodbye for now, I'm going to bed, sorry if it seems too soon (that's sarcasm as this was a long entry ;D )

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