This guy makes his girlfriend look like Disney princesses on Snapchat

This guy is inane Snapchat artist! Check out the pictures: https://www.buzzfeed.com/juliareinstein/this-girls-boyfriend-turns-her-into-disney-princesses-on?utm_term=.eqYJYO7KXB#.lfYyeG18M6

How to Disney World 101

If you're going to Disney World anytime soon here is some good advice on how to optimize your time: http://www.theepochtimes.com/n3/2227671-10-rules-you-must-follow-when-visiting-walt-disney-world/.

Enjoy!

The Princess and The Frog review

Let me start off by saying, I love this The Princess and The Frog. I love New Orleans as a city, I love its culture, and I think the characters in this movie are very well developed. The unordinary cast of two humans turned frog, an alligator, and a firefly somehow band together to create one of the more moving endings to any Disney princess movie.

This movie really stands out from all other Disney movies in my opinion because of New Orleans twang and the fun nature of so many of the songs. The music numbers are some of my favorite in any movie. My favorite songs were probably “Down in New Orleans” and “When We’re Human.” They’re really just great songs.

For some more substantive stuff, this is one of the few movies where the bad guy isn’t the rich stuck up person, which makes for a little change of pace. The entire movie the La Bouff family was nothing but kindhearted towards Tiana and her family. They were more than generous with money on multiple occasions and Tiana and Lottie remained pretty close friends despite the blaring class difference. Even further, in the final moments of the movie, when Lottie knows Prince Naveen is in love with Tiana, she doesn’t get the least bit jealous but rather tries to help her friend. This is quite unusual behavior for the stereotypical spoiled, boy-crazy “princess.” I have to respect that she wasn’t even the least bit jealous because that takes a lot of maturity.

Now to the villain. Dr. Facillier is so creepy. I mean c’mon the man has got voodoo dolls and evil shadows working for him. That’s just not fair if you ask me. He is very manipulative and definitely uses it to his advantage. He easily finds what each character wants the most and he uses that to trick them into trusting him. It kind of reminds me of Rumpelstiltskin from Shrek 3. And I guess most villains with powers, but there’s something about Dr. Facillier that makes him significantly more scary. It might be his tall lanky stature, or his cringe-worthy voice. I don’t know, but what I do know is that I hate him and I’m glad the evil spirts on the other side swallowed him up.

Another great part of this movie is, like Pocahontas, the depiction of women. Tiana isn’t a stuck up girl waiting for a man to prance in front of her. She is a hardworking woman. She works multiple jobs to achieve her goal, she is extremely motivated and determined in everything she does, and she isn’t enchanted by money or power. As a matter of fact, she shows no interest in Prince Naveen early on. She treats him like a regular person, making him mince those mushrooms. Lastly, she doesn’t mold into the woman her man wants her to (quite the opposite). Unlike most marriages, she makes Naveen follow her dream with her rather than his dream. I think this is such a valuable lesson that can be taken away: follow your dreams no matter your gender or status.

Pocahontas review

Believe it or not I never got around to watching Pocahontas as a kid, so about a week ago was my first time ever. I ended up liking the movie a good amount. It has an amalgamation of life lessons that I find very important on a day to day basis.

The first lesson I found was that we must always be accepting of other cultures. Many conflicts between travelers and natives rise from very avoidable misunderstandings or miscommunications. In this case, Governor Ratcliffe believes that the Native Americans were first trying to attack when they were in reality just scouting out their own land, causing someone to get shot. Then Ratcliffe believes that the natives are hiding all the gold so he wages war. Ratcliffe is not the only one guilty of this, however. Chief Powhatan believes that it is John Smith who killed Kocoum, when it was really Thomas just defending his friend John. These massive misunderstandings would have been so insignificant had the two leaders been levelheaded and had a serious talk in everyone’s best interest.

The next major lesson that I took away from this movie is a quote from Grandmother Willow, “Listen with your heart, you will understand.” This reminds me a lot of Spock versus Kirk in Star Trek. Spock is a Vulcan, which is a species known for their perfectly logical and rational thinking. Kirk, on the other hand is human and therefore has a tendency to take risks and think with his emotions. It turns out then even though logically Kirk’s decisions don’t make sense to Spock, they end up working out because he follows his gut instinct. For Pocahontas, it would obviously make sense to choose Kocoum who is of her own people and one of the mightiest most attractive warriors, but she doesn’t love him. She finds herself much happier with John Smith, which seems illogical since they are technically enemies and engaged in a war. The only way to be truly happy in life is to follow your heart, not purely logic.

Something my mother tried to engrain in me from a very young age was a lack of materialism. This is very common among many Native American tribes and Pocahontas displays it by singing the line, “You think you own whatever land you land on.” I believe that land is never owned, it is just borrowed. Since we as humans are very much ephemeral compared to the earth, we do not really ever own land. This goes for possessions as well. If the only things that can bring you happiness are bought and bring temporary pleasure, you will never be truly happy. Many of those things will outlive us, but the intangible things like love and kindness far exceed our lifetimes. Pocahontas makes the point that everything is alive including the earth and rocks and while I don’t necessarily believe that, it makes a strong point against materialism.

The last thing I’ll say is that Pocahontas shows how vital an open mind is in life. Change is always inevitable. It can’t be stopped. Rather than trying to avoid change, it is much easier to welcome it with open arms. Chief Powhatan tries to convince Pocahontas that she shouldn’t change, she should be steady like a river, but steady rivers are constantly changing (just like a steady life). We have to adjust our minds to obstacles, just like a river adjusts when presented with one.

Aladdin review

Aladdin is very unique from many Disney movies in that the love story is far more complicated. First, the princess falls for poor and normal Aladdin and then he becomes rich and she is uninterested. Then, using his charm, Aladdin makes Jasmine fall in love with his newly rich (via genie magic) self. Then he becomes poor and normal again and she still loves him. Now that’s what I call complicated. All the while, she has a prince trying to marry her in the beginning, then Jafar suiting her, and her father in control of it all. If I were Jasmine I’d be pretty damn confused. She went through a hell of a lot to finally end up with the man of her dreams.

Just a quick digression: I really want my own Abu. That monkey is so cute and surprisingly clever. He ends up being a huge factor in Aladdin coming out victorious in many instances. He would make such a great pet, but sadly I don’t think I can have monkey’s in my dorm.

Back to the important stuff. I want to talk about Jasmine’s representation of a single woman. I think Disney did a relatively good job of showing an empowering woman who makes her own decisions and chooses a man for the right reasons. I really respect that Jasmine was not about marrying some rich guy who flaunts his money. She seemed to care way more about what was on the inside. This was shown the first time they meet and Jasmine was almost taken aback by how nice Aladdin was without even knowing her identity. Then when Aladdin gained his wealth from the genie she dismissed him until she realized how genuine and charming he was on the inside. This really teaches a good lesson about marrying for the right reasons and not for the reasons a parent might want. She also disobeys her father when he urges her to marry and she tries her best to fight back as Jafar forces her into a relationship, showing her strength and courage.

In my opinion, however, the most important moral to be found in this movie is conveyed through the genie. The lesson that is learned is that true power comes from within, not from outside sources. At the end of the day, Aladdin defeats the evil Jafar not using the genie, but rather using his brain by outsmarting Jafar. When Aladdin had the genie, he lost focus of what was important and didn’t keep his word for the third wish, which caused his nearly permanent downfall. Luckily, Aladdin realized that he didn’t need to genie to defeat Jafar, he just needed what was inside of him. The genie can also teach the viewer that with all the power in the world, it is very easy to become corrupter and power-hungry. Jafar couldn’t have enough power just being the Sultan, he needed more. This, along with Aladdin’s wit, caused him to wish he were a genie and then get imprisoned in the lamp. What a shame.