I recently saw Iron Jawed Angels and I can’t say enough good about it. Fantastic movie and I’ll be buying a copy for my younger sisters. I won’t bother describing it, just go watch it.

Inez Milholland, 1913

“I said she was prepared to starve to death in order to further her cause.”
“Okay, I’m not a doc but that sure sounds unhealthy to me.”
“‘Give me liberty or give me death.’ Patrick Henry, an American hero.”
“Apples and oranges.”
“In oranges and women, courage is often mistaken for insanity.”

I took my little sisters to see Enchanted last night.  Or I guess I should say, I really wanted to see it, and used them as my excuse (although at almost 13 and 17 they’re getting a little old to be my excuse for seeing children’s movies).  It was really great though.  I had read mixed reviews where people liked the movie but were put off by Disney trying to make fun of itself, while still doing the traditional happy ending.  But you know what?  It’s a Disney movie – the villain is defeated, the hero and heroine live happily ever after.  That’s why you go see it.  Amy Adams played the Disney princess perfectly, maintaining her beautiful spirit throughout the whole movie.  Even the real world couldn’t bring her down, which is really saying a lot.

Another fairy tale that’s been in the news lately is Princess Bubble.  It’s a modern day story of a princess who’s a flight attendant, travels the world, buys her own palace, and makes lot of friends everywhere she goes.  The only difference I can see between this and the traditional fairy tale is that she lives happily ever after without finding a prince.  It’s not that I don’t like the whole idea of teaching little girls to be happy with themselves and value independence (because I loved this book too), but there’s nothing wrong with a fairy tale prince either.  When it comes right down to it, it’s the heroine herself that little girls want to grow up to be – the beautiful, strong, kind, generous princess who is happy (sometimes despite unhappy circumstances).  Princess Bubble emphasizes not being a damsel in distress waiting to be rescued, but having personal strength.  If you think about it though, you’ll notice that all the Disney princesses have their own personal strength.  They’re victims of villains because the story has to have a bad guy.  All fairy tales do.  In Enchanted, Giselle actually saves her true love at the end, which a lot of reviewers saw as a Disney role reversal.  I don’t think it is necessarily.  Except for the obvious stories where the princess was unconscious and needed to be woken with a kiss, all the heroines I can think of played a part in their own rescue or helped to rescue someone else.  They weren’t passive.

There’s nothing wrong with little girls enjoying a good fairy tale.  Obviously the real world can be harsh, but children should be allowed to stay innocent of that as long as possible.  Even as they grow up and see that not everyone can be happy all the time, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with still dreaming of the happily-ever-after.  When we were leaving the theater last night, I noticed that one little girl who came to the movie was dressed up as a princess.  She was having a good time and loved the movie.  Dressing up is fun.  Just like fairy tales.  In the movie someone tried to explain to Giselle that life/love is complicated.  Her response?  “But it doesn’t have to be.”  Exactly.

Delicious recipes:
Peach-a-Berry Pie
Chicken Pot Pie

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I finally saw all of Broken Trail. It was amazing.

After my parents’ party last weekend, we all spent Sunday lounging around eating, sleeping, watching movies, and reading. It was fantastic.

Cat Ballou is a great movie.

Tullamore Dew is my favorite.

I really want to see this movie, based on the soundtrack alone. You can listen to the whole thing at the website. I love the Black Keys.

I just saw Everything is Illuminated. Fantastic movie, I highly recommend it.

“El Tango de Roxanne” (Moulin Rouge)

Pierre and Morgan (Take the Lead)

Sasha, Ramos and Danjour (Take the Lead)

“The Tango Maureen” (RENT)

What are some other tango scenes?

November means it’s time for Christmas music right?

Philadelphia is smoke free!

I’m going to Corning this weekend. I’m planning on knitting / crocheting a ton while I’m there, and of course I won’t get done what I want to get done. Just like on every break. I think I’ll be taking my uncle to see Little Miss Sunshine. I’ve heard good things. I saw Talladega Nights last weekend and it was pretty funny.

I dropped my car off at the Firestone near campus to get an oil change today. They called because they couldn’t open the hood, I told them how because it’s weird enough that you need two people. They called back and said they still couldn’t get it. I had to go back down there, and I opened it on the first try. Thanks for wasting my time.

I saw a band called Hoots and Hellmouth the other night at the Cabaret. My dad had seen them at the Folk Fest this year and told me to check them out since they’re on Drexel’s label (and also they’re good). So any way it was free and I went. They were really cool, very energetic. Got off the stage and danced around for my favorite song. I didn’t have any extra money to pick up a CD but they’re recording their first actual album now so I can get that later since they play in Philly all the time.

I was at Swarthmore for a work event and wow, is that campus gorgeous. Very green. The buildings themselves were beautiful too, very old but well kept, and clean! It felt like a school. Their student center had awesome fliers for everything from tango lessons for credit to Irish Gaelic language classes. I hate Drexel.