Epic Disney Blog Party Tag Questions

This is probably going to be my only participation in the EDBP, so this had better be good!  (Kiri, I hope you get that quote!)  By the way, these are from Lianne Taimenlore.

Which is your favorite Disney film and why?
Um, I really don't know.  I really like so many of the Disney movies.  I guess I'll go with some that I especially enjoy, as I doubt I could pick just one.  Finding Nemo, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, The Parent Trap (Hayley Mills), The Happiest Millionaire, Beauty and the Beast, National Treasure, and the list goes on.  And the reasons are numerous.  Pick one of those, and I guess I'll say, "Sure, I love that movie..."

Which is the most annoying/worst Disney film and why?
Easy.  Swiss Family Robinson.  Epic Fail!  They totally butchered the book!  I really can't stand that movie, and I loved the book.  They took out the best character, changed names, events, removed the neatest scenes and places, and basically destroyed the original story in a way that would make Johann Weiss positively wear his coffin away with spinning.  And I won't even mention the cheesy acting.  Altogether, this movie is good for nothing except making silly comics about.  Which my brother did.

Which was the first Disney film you can remember watching?
That's a hard one, but I think it would have to be Winnie the Pooh and Tigger, Too.  I watched it at my grandparents' house on VHS, way back when DVDs were brand new.  Yes, I feel REALLY old.  NOT.  Anywho, I just remember this because I was scared to death when Rabbit gets lost in the forest and his eyes get all spinning and colorful.  Having watched this since, I don't quite know what was so scary about it, but there you are!  Who can fathom the mind of a four-year-old?



What are some of your favorite quotes from Disney films?
"I'M HAVIN' FISH TONIGHT!"
"It says...smudge."
"Is there anything on this menu that is not swimming in gravy?"
"Look at those beady little eyes, and those ricky-diculous striped pajamas!"
"Normally they don't talk, sea cucumbers, but in a joke, everyone talks."
"How would it be if you came and had tea with me?"  (Obviously Mr. Tumnus was Sir Percy's understudy.)
"You're beginning to irk me, Professor.  I am irked!"

What Disney character do you think you are most like?

I honestly never considered this life-changing question before.  But I guess I will say that I am most like Rabbit, always scheming to get rid of my brothers just as Rabbit schemes to get rid of Tigger.  Oh, hi Count Bob!  *Nervous laughter*  OK, seriously, I'm tired of stalling.  I wish some character would pop into my head, and I could say, "Oh, yeah..."  I'll go with Dory from Finding Nemo.   My brothers will completely agree that I am as oblivious and ditzy as she is.  I probably annoy people more than I realize by hanging around them, and I am ALWAYS talking.

What is your favorite Disney film song?
I really like a lot of them , but the entire sidewalk scene from Mary Poppins contains two of my favorites.   "Jolly Holiday" and "Supercalifragilisticexpialidotious" are both excellent songs.

What is one Disney film you find yourself recommending over and over?
I don't tend to recommend movies to a lot of people; in fact, I usually get movies recommended to me.  But I think that Tangled is one of my more frequently recommended movies.


What is one thing from any Disney film/films that really irks you?
One thing that annoys me a lot is Disney's tendency to stray from the storyline of a book, especially in the older movies like *cough*Swiss Family Robinson *cough* or The Chronicles of Narnia.  While the latter mentioned is very good, it is still disappointingly not close enough to the book.

Who is your favorite Disney heroine and why?

My favorite would have to be Susan from Narnia.  I find that I sympathize with her a lot more than with the other Pevensies.  She doesn't want the adventure quite so much as the rest of her siblings.  She wants to turn her responsibility over to someone in authority, and she's definitely dependant on others, at least in the first movie.  This is something I very definitely understand, and it simply makes her more human, and therefore, more likeable.  Also, she's a know-it-all.  *Ahem* Not that I am anything like THAT!

Who is your favorite Disney hero and why?
Is there any contest?  Remy the rat is the best!  And why should you think that my love of cooking and well, frankly, eating, should have anything to do with this decision?  Even if it does.  All right.  I admit it.  Remy is my favorite because he is the only hero that immediately springs to mind that shares one of my three passions: reading, writing, and cooking.  If they had made a Disney movie of Charles Dickens I wouldn't even think about Remy.  He just happened to be there in a convenient place.

Who is your favorite Disney sidekick and why?
Lumiere, of course.  I mean, how could you dislike a candlestick with a French accent and an overwhelming sense of hospitality.  Is Lumiere a sidekick, by the way?  I mean, I don't know whose side he kicks, as it were.  I suppose Coggsworth?  Anyway, Lumiere is just so funny, and he gets all the best quotes in the movie, aside from Gaston.  Although I have always wondered how tall he must have started out years before if he is always lit up like that.  He must have been a gargantuous candle.


If you could spend a day in any Disney film, which one would you pick and why?
I would pick Tangled on the day of the floating lantern liftoff.  Honestly, I would pay to see something like that.  And the town and palace are really neat as well...

Choose any one Disney film character and place him in any Disney film (other than his or her own).  How would the story be different?
I choose to place Marlin in National Treasure.  The story would be not at all different, because Marlin would die from lack of water.  The only change is that Riley would make some witty remark about the situation.  Whew, that wasn't hard!

Thanks for reading, and God bless,

Epic Blog Party at Lianne Taimenlore!

You so totally rock, Kiri Liz!  Now give me some fin!  Noggin!
Ahem, to get back to the point, Kiri Liz of Lianne Taimenlore is hosting an Epic Disney Blog Party.  I just want to encourage all of you to join, even though I will not be able to, as I am leaving for college on Tuesday.  (Casts virtual daggers at Kiri)  OK, well, you would be pretty sad if you had to not join just because she hosted her party a week too late.
Anywho, I am not upset at all.  See, I am doing a whole promotional post just for her.  And I have her button on the side my blog, too.  See, right under my story meters!

So, thanks for reading, and go check it out!

Favorite Characters in Ira Bournton (Already!)

Yes, I already have favorite characters--characters that have sort of taken over the story less than four thousand words in.

#1. Cordelia Gaskey
She's the younger sister of Muriel Irene, one of the main characters.  Cordelia is twenty-two, pretty, and very high-spirited.  She is far more outgoing than Muriel Irene, and since she leaves Nanrantsouak Harbor close to the beginning she is not going to be in the book quite as much as Muriel Irene.  But that is my original plan.  Cordelia is the sort of person who would push her way back into the story, so we might be seeing quite a bit of her.

#2. Elizabeth McBride
Elizabeth McBride is the Nanrantsouak Harbor town gossip.  Because her house is directly across the street from the local tavern, there is virtually no sale of alcohol in Nanrantsouak Harbor.  Every husband knows that if he goes into the tavern, his wife will know it inside of three minutes.  In other words, Mrs. McBride is the Mrs. Lind of the story.  But is still like her, even though she has only figured in a few paragraphs so far.  She has a very strong personality, and I do like strong personalities.



#3. Captain Spadey
Known as simply 'Captain' to the residents of Nanrantsouak Harbor, he is the lame owner of the Lady Abigail Inn, and his business is horroble thanks to Elizabeth McBride, who he hates with a passion.  She is, in fact the only person who he hates at all.  Captain was once the master of a large ship, but ever since he broke both of his legs, he has owned the inn and delights in telling tall tales about his younger days to anyone who will listen.  Captain is fond of smoking pipes and not fond of wives, which is why he doesn't have any.  He loves the Lady Abigail Inn, though, and says it is better than any wife, as she won't talk back or make a lot of trouble.  That, according to him, is all women are good for.


I promise you, this is not only a mystery, although that is the biggest plot.  As of now there are about three subplots that sprang up out of nowhere.  This is going to be a lot more complicated than CATT.
And now, for a snippet.

Captain greeted Mr. Gaskey with a short wave of his free hand, while keeping the other firmly attached to the bowl of his pipe.  “I hear ye got the Bidwell place,” he said around the pipe.

            “News travels fast,” said Mr. Gaskey.  “I only just returned from purchasing it.”

            “This is Nanrantsouak Harbor,” said Captain.  “Fast news is the ladies specialty.  Do better at that than their cookin’.”

            “Well, we shall be out from under your roof tomorrow,” said Mr. Gaskey.

            “You goin’ to live at the old Bidwell place?  By tomorry?  Ain’t likely,” huffed Captain, reaching for his canvas tobacco pouch.  “When there ain’t no one livin’ in a place for thirty years, the place don’t just up and take a new family.”  With these cheering words he leaned back in his chair with a long sigh.  “Smoke, Mr. Gaskey?” he offered generously.
~ Ira Bournton

Mr. Gaskey sauntered into the Lady Abigail Inn, a decrepit specimen of an ancient New England tavern in which no one ever stayed.  The mere fact that anyone at all, let alone a family of twelve, had come to the inn, was subject matter to fuel the tongues of the Nanrantsouak Harbor gossips for weeks.  Already the rumor had flown about town on wings of curiosity that the Gaskey family was here to stay.  Everyone with ears knew that the Gaskeys were from Boston, that they had ten children with them, although the oldest was at least twenty-five and therefore was no longer a child but an old maid.  And it was common knowledge among the ladies that Mrs. Gaskey’s dress was in the latest fashion and therefore the Gaskeys must be well-to-do, or at least they once were.  For, on the tail of the all-important subject of Mrs. Gaskey’s dress was the fact that the Gaskeys had come to stay, and that Mr. Gaskey had contacted Mr. Rufer about purchasing some land, and what do you think?  Mr. Gaskey had purchased the Bidwell place.  He must be down on his luck or insane, because those were the only two kinds of people who would purchase the Bidwell place.  Elizabeth McBride, who prided herself on saying things that nobody wanted to hear but must be said anyway, had already taken into her mind to visit Mrs. Gaskey and inform her that the Bidwell place was no place to raise up children, and that she had better tell her husband to move at once to a more suitable environment.  Elizabeth McBride was rehearsing the words in her head when she saw Mr. Gaskey walking up to the Lady Abigail.  The McBride house was across the street from the Lady Abigail, and perhaps that was the only thing that had stopped the business of liquor-selling in Nanrantsouak Harbor.  No husband wanted Elizabeth McBride to see him enter, for his wife was certain to be told about three minutes afterward.  Elizabeth McBride already knew through Imogene Rufer who knew through her little boy Caleb that Mr. Rufer had sold the Bidwell place to Gaskey, and she was watching for him to return to the Lady Abigail, which he did a few minutes after the news reached her. 
~ Ira Bournton

The last snippet is probably the longest paragraph I have ever put into a book.  Do you think it is too long?  Should it be divided into several paragraphs?

Thanks for reading and God bless,

PICTURES!!!!!!!

Here are pictures of our visit, pictures which I promised I would put up!

This is a CBC classic: Bacon Popcorn!

Here we are signing our CBC week T-shirts

My little brother and their little sister brushing their teeth

Jessa Bri, me, and Beth Grace playing a LOTR board game.
The others are there, you just can't see them.

Doofus being a showoff

Copycat!

Beth Grace put my hair in curlers for the costume party.

End result: Nancy Drew!

Uncle J as Jacob Marley

Molgum as Barney Fife

Teddy as Pippi Longstocking.
There are pipe cleaners braided into her hair to make it stick out!

Kiri Liz as Astrid attacking Sammy as Hiccup

Emily as Arwen

Victoria as Jane Bennet.
She won the best hairstyle award.  The back of her hair was PERFECT!

Jessa Bri as Queen Susan with Andrew as Ted Nickerson

Count Bob as Sir Percy and Cyb as Maxwell Smart

All of the CBCs!

In case you couldn't tell, we had a great time!  I hope we can do this again ASAP.

Thanks for reading and God bless,

I'm Back!

Did you miss me?
No!!!!
Dear me, that wasn't the right thing to say at all.
We had a simply frabjous time at our CBCs house, despite the fact that I had a horrible cold for the whole time.  I always get a cold when I am with them.  I kid you not.  I think it is a tradition, and we would all be in a perpetual state of shock if for once we got together and I was completely healthy.
Anywho, we took a slew of pictures, but you will not get to see any of the good ones until either Kiri Liz, Beth Grace, or Jessa Bri emails me some of the pictures, preferably of the epic costume party.  Hint, hint...
By the way, I have started a new mystery, which is the result of staying up until three-thirty in the morning on Saturday night talking.  Believe me, we were all LUMPS at church the next day.  Well, maybe I exaggerate, but it was something like that.  Anywho, I came up with the beginnings of a plot and a really great name for the main character, which, at present, is the title of the story.
Ira Bournton is the name.
No, it is not set in Victorian England, like CATT.  It is actually set in the fictional New England village of Nanrantsouak Harbor in 1873.  It involves a thirty-year-old tragedy that ended in murder, a ridiculous family that lives in a supposed haunted house, a man with an eye for detail and fourteen children, his wife, the best friend of young, beautiful Catherine Melsey who went missing a week before her wedding thirty years before, and the mysterious old sailor, Ira Bournton, who comes to work for the family at the haunted house for no apparent reason other than the fact that he feels the oldest daughter, Muriel Irene Gaskey, needs protection from a past that is about to catch up to her family.
(Who names their daughter Muriel Irene?  The names do not fit at all.  I told you the haunted house family was ridiculous.  Somehow, though, the name popped into my head, and there it stuck.)
So, now you will have to put up with my excited splutterings for the next week.  After that I will be stuck at college and too busy to post on blogger, although I will when I can.
Anywho, here is the first paragraph of the book.  It describes the haunted house.

Set back amongst the aging oak trees, rimmed by a narrow field which was, in turn, rimmed by more trees, the old house had last lived thirty years before.  It was not large, but it had once been beautiful.  It seemed to sag with the sort of despair that comes to houses who have been lived in before and then suddenly abandoned.  So it had been with the little house.  The cheerful white paint with light blue trim was long faded to dingy shades of grey, as if the surrounding forest was trying to turn it into a part of itself.  The house was too homey, though, too much like the cheerful New England farmhouse that it once had been, to submit fully to the call of the wilds about it.

What do you think?  

This is Ira Bournton.
Disregard the modern clothing and imagine him in the garb of an 1870s sailor.

Please comment and tell me your thoughts on the new story.
Thanks for reading and God bless,

Get Ready! Get Set!

For almost a week of CBC epicness!  I might deign to post some photos on this blog...if I can figure out how to load them on to my computer.  I am not, I fear, very computer savvy.
We are looking forward to seeing our CBCs so much!  After talking on the phone to them for a LONG time today, I had to tear myself away and continue packing.  We are also having a costume birthday party, so I had to finish Count Bob's costume, which I won't say anything about, as it is supposed to be a secret, and Kiri or Jessa might chance upon this blog and then it would all be out!  Ruined, as it were.
This is going to be so much fun.  Exchanging stories far into the night with Kiri Liz is one of my favorite pastimes.  Do you know how to make pumpernickel pancakes?  We do.  How about reenacting Narnia or mouthing the words to I've Got a Dream while the music is playing in the background?  Or watching the old Nancy Drew show, or playing hide-and-seek all over the house.  (I personally think that this is a lot more fun when you are older and therefore better able to think of clever hiding spots)  We stuff ourselves with unwholesome food, stay up late and arise early, talk our heads off (not literally), take hundreds of pictures (literally), and generally have a good time.
So, CBCs, I hope that you are ready to receive us.  Because we are coming in about eighteen hours.
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for reading and God bless.
Your elated fellow-blogger,

More Good News!

I don't know if any of you went to my favorite books page and saw my list of favorite books, but if you did, you would have noticed that A Tale of Two Cities is close to the top.  Well, would you believe that I didn't even have my own copy of it?  Until today, that is.
I am pleased as punch.  (By the way, does anyone know the origin of that statement?  I have read it in many books, but I never thought about where it came from until now.)
I feel that such an occasion deserves a post on this blog.
Sydney Carton is one of the best characters ever created, and Madame Defarge is one of the worst.  I mean, she's a good character with a bad character.  Anyway, you know what I mean.
If you have never read this book, then you have no idea of what you are missing.  It is one of the best pieces of literature ever penned.  I don't even know why I like it so much, really.  I guess it's just the characters.  That's usually what grips me as far as books go.  Seriously, though, I am certain that I have read stories with similar plots, but none of them have ever stuck with me like this one.
Also, Dickens not only put an epic beginning sentence in that book, he put an epic ending sentence in as well.  A book with epic sentences at both ends surely deserves some credit.  And the stuff in the middle is pretty good, too!
Thanks for reading, and God bless,

It's...it's finished!

I am filled with unutterable joy, because I have just reached a milestone in my life.   Some of you have already reached it, and so I know that you will be able to rejoice with me.
I didn't make fifty thousand words, so I guess that it doesn't qualify as a novel, but 42,281 words was all that I had for Christmas at the Tittletons.  Perhaps when I begin to edit it I will add more.
So what if it is not technically a novel?  I still finished my first 'chapter book.'  And it was a lot of fun to write, even if it was hard sometimes.  Thankfully I already knew the basics of the plot, as I had my previously written play to use.  But still, it's a book, and it's finished!
I am really tired, but I knew I could finish it if I stayed up, so I did, and I did!
Hallelujah!
All are welcome to applaud or cheer or whatever you do at a time like this.
Thanks ever so much for reading, and God bless,

*Ahem* small disclaimer
I am by no means comparing myself to Charles Dickens just because I put his picture up there.  I just happen to think that he was one of the greatest authors ever, and also I tried to imitate his style in CATT.  That's all.  Also I was saving that picture for the frabjous day when I would finish CATT.

My Interview with Penelope and James

I talked to Penelope and James when I talked to Sir John and Lady Tittleton, but I never actually posted it, bacause I wanted to get Mr. Jarbour out there first.  He was highly amusing to me.  Anyway, here is my interview with the children.

The Interview
Me: Are you excited about being in a book, or are you annoyed because that book is about something nasty?
James: I didn't know I was going to be in a book.
Penelope: Yes, you half-wit.  Don't you remember Mother getting that letter from Judith?
James: Uh, no.
Penelope: Well, I don't really mind being in a book.  I just wish that the book was going to be a little bit nicer.

Me: Who did you think committed the murder?
James: Definitely Mr. Squeed.
Penelope: Well, you can say Mr. Squeed if you want to James, but I told you right at the beginning that I thought Miss Hatchet had done it.
Me: And you were wrong, weren't you, Penelope?
Penelope: What if I was wrong?  James never listens to anything I say!
Me: I see... Moving on.

Me:  Do you think that the murder was committed with the help of someone else?
James: How many people does it take to stab someone in the back?
Penelope: Don't be ridiculous James.  Miss Barrett meant do you think that someone helped cover up the murder when it was all finished.
James: Well, alright, then.  I don't think so.  Why would anyone do that?
Penelope: Because, silly, maybe he couldn't do it all by himself.  Anyhow, I think that the murderer did have a helper.  I guess that if Miss Hatchet was the murderer then her helper was Aston.
Me: Truly your intellect is stunning.  Where did you come up with those people?
Penelope: Oh, they just seemed like the most likely murderers in the house.

Me: What do you think of the servants in your house?
Penelope: I like them, I suppose.
James: I suppose so, too.
Me: That was a rather vague answer, children.  What do you mean by that?
Penelope: Um, I guess that the servants are very nice.  I don't really think about things like that.  Judith says that it is not genteel.
Me: Where does Judith get her ideas from?
James: Her mind, I hope.

Me: Did you find it exciting or annoying to have a murder committed in your house?
James: I was excited.  It was a lot more fun than anything that has happened in a long time.
Penelope: Yes, it was, but it was still sad.  I liked Miss Hatchet and Mrs. Purdle, and now we won't see them any more, and Judith and Hugh are gone, and Miss Warbling is in Scotland, and I don't suppose anything will ever be as nice as it was before again.

Me: Do you think that you will read Miss Warbling's story when it is finished?
James: Yes!  I want to read a really exciting story with me in it!
Penelope: I suppose that I will read it, although it must be a very sad book.
James: Sad!  It's probably very jolly!  After all, it isn't every day that you get to be in a book.
Me: Aren't you at all sad at what happened?
James: I guess, but I wish I didn't have to be sad when I'm not.
Me: Well, thanks for your cooperation, children.  I hope that I'll be able to see you soon.
Penelope: Goodbye, Miss Barrett.
James: Goodbye.

Thanks for reading, and God bless,