Music Meme

And to close out February, a Music Meme:

1. Put your music player/iPod in shuffle. Pick 10 songs (or as much as you want).
2. For each song. associate a fandom's characters/pairings/settings/whatever with that song. Or, think of two characters from different fandoms, let them meet, and that song you got will be sort of the theme for it. Got it?

I like this meme because this is something I do all the time anyway.

1. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Like Zis/Like Zat

I actually had the thought a while ago that this song made me think of Dr. Doofenshmirtz from Phineas and Ferb, mostly because of the accent, but also because, for a self-admittedly not very handsome character, he seems to have his share of romantic entanglements. They don't tend to last, but he somehow charms the ladies enough to at least go out with him.

2. Shrek the Musical - Who I'd Be
This could work with a slightly (but only slightly) OOC Grizzle, if he ever let anyone know about secretly wanting to be a Care Bear (as mentioned in an interview a while back). Maybe for some reason he gets stuck somewhere with Share (she seems like the one who'd be able to get him to confide that kind of thing) and while they wait for the others to rescue them, this song ensues.

3. Shrek the Musical - Make a Move
Lately I've been thinking of this song as working for a certain OC of mine and Brent from Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Normally I wouldn't bring OCs into this kind of meme, but that's all I can think of right now. I'm not sure who would be singing the song, actually, since it's being sung to the characters. Not Flint, that's for sure.

4. The Scarlet Pimpernel - Falcon in the Dive
For years and years now, this has one has always made me think of Ken as the Digimon Kaiser from Digimon 02, chasing after the Digi-destined. But it also works well for Ranban from Space Pirate Mito, so much so that I made the image at the top of this post back in the day. I made a bunch of those, just random anime screenshots with fitting lyrics from musicals, to be my sig (with a random image tag) on Gaia Online. If you want to see more, just click here. And then come back and click again.

5. Ruthless! - It Will Never Be That Way Again

This is another one that makes me think of Ken from Digimon 02, most likely because that's what was out when I first heard this OCR. It doesn't even really work for him, but it kind of fits for when he gave up the real world to live in the Digiworld 24/7. But still, not really.

6. Closer Than Ever - What Am I Doin'?

This one kind of makes me think of Stan from South Park during the ep "Raisins," when he went Goth because Wendy dumped him. Although this song would be for the part before that happened.

7. The Scarlet Pimpernel - The Riddle

This is another one that comes with a preconceived fandom connnection. When I was really into Codename: Kids Next Door, this song made me think of Cree being enticed to either join the Adults (by Father) or the Teens (by Chad). It's that kind of song.

8. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Chimp in a Suit

This one usually reminds me of my novel from NaNoWriMo a couple years past, which involved these little creatures being raised in various circumstances (it's a long story), and one of them was taken in by a rich and rather senile old woman, who was convinced it was her granddaughter. Anyway, this song would be from the servants' POV, not entirely happy with their mistress' delusion, but going along with it anyway.

9. The Scarlet Pimpernel - When I Look At You

*laughs* While there have been a number of OCs I set this song up with, most recently it makes me think of Brent, singing it to himself when he's all bummed out about his position in the town being replaced by Flint. It doesn't entirely fit, but it amuses me way too much not to mention.

10. Tom Lehrer - The Hunting Song

Jimbo from South Park. That is all.

Sheesh, there wasn't that much variety. My shuffle was absolute fail this time, I swear. I was hoping that some of the non-Broadway songs I have on my ipod would sneak in, but until the end, no dice.

I Remember Disney Movies Past

There's been a bit of a kerfuffle over Disney's upcoming CG fairytale being renamed from Rapunzel to Tangled, and that got me thinking about past Disney fairytales. Then I saw the trailer for Waking Sleeping Beauty, and that made me want to make a blog post. So this is mostly just random things that come to mind when I think of Disney movies in relation to my childhood, along with a few random observations.

I grew up during the Disney Renaissance. The absolute earliest memory I have of seeing a movie in a theater is from Oliver and Company (I don't remember the whole movie, but the chase scene near the end has always remained in my memory). When The Little Mermaid came out, or rather, when it came out on VHS, it was specifically given to me as a present, but my younger sister took to watching it religiously, and to this day my older sister can still quote the movie word-for-word thanks to those watchings. Eventually it dawned on me that since the video had been given to me, I could control when we watched it, and after that we didn't watch it quite so much.

Considering the quick turnaround of movies coming out in a theater and then being released on DVD we have these days, it's weird to remember that it used to be six months to a year. I recall getting Beauty and the Beast on VHS for Christmas and then going to see Aladdin a few days later back in 1992. And now, The Princess and the Frog is coming out on DVD in just a few weeks. Amazing how things have changed.

When The Lion King came out, my younger sister got a sing-along cassette of the songs, but when I heard the radio version of "Can You Feel the Love Tonight," I had to own the actual soundtrack. And since this was the summer when my sisters were forced to give a third of their birthday money to me, I actually had money in the summer for change, and thus I was able to buy it myself. I was rather proud of that, and I'm pretty sure I still have that cassette somewhere. (As for why my sisters had to give me money, I had used all my birthday money earlier in the year to buy a Sega Genesis with Sonic 2, and my parents felt it was fair that my sisters pay their part as well, since we all used it. Which makes sense, but I hadn't expected that, so it was a bit of windfall for me.) I wasn't compelled to buy the soundtrack to another Disney movie until Mulan, but that was partially because my younger sister got the soundtrack to The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

Speaking of that movie, the summer that it came out, my family took a trip down to Williamsburg, and on the return trip, Mom gave my sisters and I whiteboards to draw on. For a reason I can no longer remember, we got obsessed with coming up with scenarios for the gargoyle characters (with Laverne as Hugo's Abhorrent Admirer mostly), which somehow gave way to drawing parodies of the titles of musicals with Hugo inserted (i.e. Hugo on the Roof, Kiss Me, Hugo). When we got home, my older sister re-drew the best ones in Fine Artist, though those have all been lost to time by now.

My sisters and I were disappointed by Hercules, though it took a while for us to figure out exactly why. After some debate, we chalked it up to Hades not getting a villain song, reasoning that all the Disney movies in recent years gave a song to the villain (even McLeach from The Rescuers Down Under had a very short one), and this one didn't, so that must be the key.

Speaking of songs in Hercules, I was looking up the voices in that movie just the other day, and was amused (no pun intended) to see that one of the muses (the short one) has gone on to voice Bubie in The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack. Another muse was voiced by LaChanze, which I note only because I recently got the OBC of Once on This Island, which is where she had her first starring role.

AMV: Ponyo's on a Boat

Though the DVD for Ponyo isn't coming out until next month, here's an AMV using footage from the film set to the song "I'm on a Boat" by The Lonely Island. Be warned, there is liberal use (like, every other line) of the F-word.

Ponyo is on a Boat - watch more funny videos

While I'm at it, also check out the Yu-Gi-Oh Abridged parody, "I'm on a Blimp." And for good measure, here's the video for the original song.

News from the Toy Fair

Well, the big news (as far as I'm concerned) coming out of this year's Toy Fair is the debut of the new designs for My Little Pony created by Lauren Faust. I first learned of Ms. Faust a year and a half ago, or rather, I learned of her property Milky Way and the Galaxy Girls, and I've followed her blog ever since. About a month ago she announced that she was made Creative Steward of the My Little Pony line and Executive Producer of an upcoming new TV series, and judging from the image above (and more seen here), it seems that it will be a blend of the new and old MLP. I wonder what's up with the Alicorn up there, though? She gives me the impression of some kind of Pony Deity, like a Greek Goddess or something.

Strawberry Shortcake also has some things showing up that I'm interested in, such as articulated dolls. You can check out the whole thing here. And there are Sushi Pack figures! Kind of weird ones, but better than nothing.

A few other things I found interesting from browsing the galleries: Charlotte from The Princess and the Frog gets a doll (if it's already out, I haven't seen it anywhere), first look at Rapunzel dolls, these are adorable, and while the chicks are cute, the whole thing is a little disturbing, if you ask me.

Real Life Influences My Movie Choices

I watched Adventureland a little while ago, mostly because I, like the main character, worked at a local theme park for a few summers. I bumped it up in my queue once I learned Bill Hader was in it, and it actually came a month ago, but I just hadn't gotten around to watching it. I nearly gave up on it a half hour in, though. I had a hard time getting into it, since it was really more of a dramedy, and I was expecting it to be more like my own experiences working at a theme park. Maybe if James had gotten to work in Rides like he wanted, things would have turned out differently. I mention this since I was a ride operator (and there was even a Music Express where I worked, although I never got to run it. And now it's not there any more).

Similarly, I recently watched Reservation Road, purely because part of it was filmed at the theme park where I worked. Otherwise, it would have never gotten anywhere near my queue, as it tells the story of a hit-and-run incident and the effects on the family of the victim (a little boy) and also on the perpetrator (who, ironically, is hired as a lawyer by the father of the victim). The park is in the film for less than a minute, three quick scenes most of the way into the movie, although the trailer for the movie showed the characters riding the Music Express incorrectly. Still, seeing the park in a film gave me a little thrill, even if the movie itself wasn't my cup of tea. Not that it was a bad movie, but as I said, drama and tragedy just isn't my thing. I was, however, amused to learn that Jennifer Connelly, who played the mother of the victim, was Sarah in Labyrinth back in the day.

Thoughts on This Year's Oscar Nominations

As you probably know by now, the nominees for this year's Oscars were announced on Tuesday. Later than usual, but then, the Oscars themselves aren't airing 'til March, presumably because of the Winter Olympics. For this year, they doubled the amount of nominees for Best Picture, though to be perfectly honest, I've only seen two of them (District 9, Up), and of the ones I haven't seen, there's only one I have any desire to check out (and I probably won't do that until it's on DVD, anyway). But that's usually how it is with the Best Picture noms for me, so there you go.

Now, is it just me, or does it seem a bit unfair for Up to be nominated in both the Best Picture and Best Animated Feature Film? I feel like it should be one or the other, y'know? I mean, if they can put in a rule so that no more than two songs from a movie can be nominated for Best Song, then surely they can make a rule that a Best Picture nom can't be in for Best Animated Feature. Although I could just be bitter because Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs didn't get in. Not that I thought it would win even if it did get nominated, but it would have been nice, y'know? Basically, if it doesn't go to Up, it'll go to The Princess and the Frog, no question.

At least we've got a decent set of Best Song nominees for a change. Seriously, the past couple of years have been just terrible. I'm kind of surprised that there's only four songs, but four is definitely better than three, especially when two of them are from the same movie (as I said before, there's a new rule about that). I'm not surprised at the songs that got picked from The Princess and the Frog, though I was kind of hoping for "Dig a Little Deeper." I haven't seen Nine, though I wanted to, and I love the original Broadway cast, so I have no doubts that "Take it All" is a good song. Never heard of Paris 36, but the description sounded interesting, so I put it in my queue. We'll see how that goes.