(This article contains affiliate links. If you order something from an affiliate link, the seller still gets full price, our website gets a small commission, and it costs the same as if you went to Amazon without the link.) In her essay “Eighty-Six the Mother,” in 1995’s “From Mouse to Mermaid: The politics of film, gender, and culture,” Lynda Haas discusses the penchant for Disney films to kill the mother and avoid telling stories about the mother-daughter relationship. There’s no question that Disney has gotten rid of the mother in many of its stories. Even if it’s because of the story told by the source material, Disney still chose the type of material it wanted to bring to the screen.
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Marvel’s ‘The Avengers’ Film (2012) and Power
(Editor’s note: This article originally appeared on examiner.com) “The Avengers” (affiliate link) is all about power. It starts with Iron Man installing a new, clean burning power source and lighting up the Stark building in the middle of New York City. The Tesseract, a source of unlimited power that humans don’t understand yet, is stolen by Loki to open a worm hole for an invading alien force that will take over the universe starting with Earth.
Continue reading‘Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs’: Music and Worry
(This article contains affiliate links. If you order something using these links, it doesn’t cost you more, and I get a small advertising fee.) In 1937, Walt Disney released “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.” The first animated feature was often known as Disney’s Folly. People said no one would sit through such a long cartoon. Some said people’s eyes would bleed if they watched that much animated film in one sitting. When it premiered at the Carthay Circle Theater, it was an instant hit. Celebrities cried. “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” became the highest grossing movie of all-time until “Gone with the Wind” knocked it off the top spot in 1939.
Continue readingDead to Me Season 2 through Episode 4: If The ‘Tell-Tale Heart’ and 2020 Had a Baby
When ‘Dead to Me’ season 2 started filming in Sep. 2019, coronavirus didn’t exist, and 2020 was still in the future. So, how the writers came up with a show that is a simile for the entire year and what we’re all going through is a mystery. Think of Steve as the coronavirus, which leads to a discussion of how long they would have to stay in the house together. The writers have created a simile for everything that has happened and combined it with Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart” (affiliate link) creating something new and amazing. ‘Dead to Me’ season 2 continues to provide surprises, even if one of them is straight from a soap opera. It also provides disaster upon disaster.
Continue reading‘Outer Banks’: Faux-Teens, Family, and the Search for Treasure
As with a majority of teen dramas, the actors portraying the teens of ‘Outer Banks’ are in their 20s with Chase Stokes being the oldest of the main troupe at 27! Stokes’ John B. is a 16-year-old headed to foster care after the disappearance of his father who was looking for the gold from an old sea-wreck. He lives on the poor side of the Outer Banks and runs with his Pogues. There’s plenty of teen drug use and violence, with fists and the occasional gun being used to solve problems. There are also a couple of scenes of teen sex, but they don’t get too graphic. Clothes remain mostly in place.
Continue readingRory’s Story Cubes: The Mystery of the Unmapped Mark
For Russian New Year’s Eve, I got a gift card to a local game store. I went in and found a couple of games to try. I picked up Rory’s Story Cubes (affiliate link) because they reminded me of a game I invented in Malta inspired by “The Decision Hedgehog.” You get nine dice with pictures on them. Roll the dice and tell the story. Story Cubes offers three different game plays officially, though you can probably make up your own versions. They have different styles of cubes, so if you like genre play, you can stick to your favorite. Or you can mix, match and combine them. Here’s the story I came up with on my first roll of the dice:
Continue readingWhich Five New Zealanders Would You Invite to Dinner?
When my wife and I went to New Zealand, we were able to see an exhibit on the country designed to bring families together. They handed out a deck of cards that were supposed to be used at home with the family. The fronts of the cards have different photos, and the backs have questions to answer. One of the questions was “Which five New Zealanders would you invite to dinner?”
Continue readingBelieve Impossible Things to Achieve them
In Disney Alice in Wonderland (affiliate link), Alice says that she picked up from her father the habit of believing six impossible things before breakfast. In Victorian England where the imagination, in women especially, was held with disdain, this is a curious habit indeed. Why would her father teach here to believe in (not think of or imagine) six impossible things before she starts the day?
Continue readingStay the F— Home: Activity #3 Video Games
Video games are a great time killer, and they improve hand-eye coordination. You’ll feel like your accomplishing something, be part of a story that is greater than you, and be able to score points. Even if all you do is point and click your way to a better-looking farm or across a raging battlefield, you’ll get to do it with no guilt, excuses, or rationalization. If you go retro, you can even visit Disneyland with the NES game! Stick to old school video games and see if you can get a perfect score on Pac-Man or challenge your friends to an online game of high scores.
Continue readingWhich Lord of the Rings Actor is the Most Underrated and Greatest Actor of Our Generation?
(Editor’s Note: This article exploring topic of which is the most underrated and greatest Lord of the Rings actor contains affiliate links. Ordering items from affiliate links doesn’t add anything to the price you pay, and the fees we receive support our artistic and writing endeavors.)
John Rhys-Davies
With 269 acting credits (according to IMDb), Gimli the Dwarf is played by a star who has also been in the Indiana Jones series and on Television’s “Sliders” and in the animated series “Gargoyles.” His other credits include the voice of the Brine King in “Aquaman,” He has arguably been seen more than any other star as he reprises his role as Sallah in Disneyland’s Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye safety video. Rhys-Davies also voiced Treebeard in “The Two Towers.”
Hugo Weaving
With 96 acting credits, the actor who brought to life Elrond in the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and the Hobbit also played multiple versions of Agent Smith in the Matrix series and was in “Captain America: The First Avenger.” He voiced Megatron in three Transformers films and Rex in the two Babe the Pig movies. He played Tick/Mitzi in the cult classic “The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.”
Orlando Bloom
While the Legolas actor in both the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit movies gets his due as heartthrob, his acting prowess may have gone unnoticed. Starring in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, Bloom certainly has his box office chops, even if most people credit Johnny Depp for the movie’s success. Bloom has 42 acting credits to his IMDb profile.
Andy Serkis
The Gollum actor for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the Hobbit movies played in the new Planet of the Apes films, the new Star Wars films, Black Panther and Avengers: Age of Ultron. He has 103 credits to his name and has done remarkable work in motion capture situations.
Which Lord of the Rings actor do you think deserves more props than he or she gets for his or her acting career? Leave your favorite, most underrated actor in the comments below.
Read about our trip to Hobbiton in New Zealand. Check out photos from Hobbiton. Read about my favorite Lord of the Rings character.
Penguinate! Positive Creativity 