Disney's Tangled Review

I have loved the Rapunzel story since I was a kid, mainly because it hadn't become a Disney movie yet, but secretly did want it to become one. I have been anticipating this movie for a while, and so have been one of my friends. This movie started out as a story of a boy and girl from modern times stuck in the story, but Disney wisely thought to go back. To lure the boys and avoid the low box office of The Princess and the Frog, they focused more on the man. In the original Grimm tale, the man was a prince and Rapunzel was stolen because of stolen radishes. The witch here has been turned into Mother Gothel, who has no powers. A magical regenerative flower was found by old Gothel. Rapunzel's mother was sick while pregnant and was fed the flower, giving Rapunzel magic golden hair with said powers. Gothel stole Rapunzel and used her power every day to become younger, cheating life. Rapunzel has to sign in order for her hair to glow.

The movie has beautiful animation, using new technology that lets combine hand drawing (digital pens) with computer animation. It is inspired by the Rococo paintings of French artist Jean-Honore Fragonard, supervised by Glenn Keane (producer)---who is responsible for Ariel and the Beast. So, the love interest is Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi), who is a thief, not a prince, he steals the Princess crown. Rapunzel's royal parents send off flying lanterns in the air every birthday of hers and she seen them and wonder what they are and longs for them. Donna Murphy (Mother Gothel) does a great job. The songs aren't all that great, they are composed by Alan Menken, but doesn't have the flair the movies of the early 90's had---(I know everyone compares everything to The Little Mermaid), but what is missing is Howard Ashman. There truly is no other like him. But they gotta find one. Because the songs don't move the story, they state stuff we already know.

I went with my best friend, who I know will read this eventually and she says she got swept into the story. The movie is funny and the story is good, you feel it is a developed world, these characters will continue. Flynn as a hero gets knocked out all that easily. Flynn is rather sexy comes a long way since the Prince in Snow White; male animators have always have had trouble with the 'Prince.' Even though it has been reported it was hard with Prince Eric, prince Eric of the Little Mermaid is a pretty memorable Prince by many who grown up with the movie. Many ASFR and Male Knock Out fans will love what happens with Flynn. Rapunzel doesn't back down, she has a love-hate relationship with Gothel, a psychological abusive relationship. Rapunzel doesn't need saving from Flynn but does save herself and him. One thing I have to commend the producers and writers with is that you can feel the progression of romance between Flynn and Rapunzel, there are memorable scenes with them that show progression of them falling in love---much much better than those in The Princess and the Frog.

The romance between the heornie and hero in The Princess and the Frog felt forced. Mandy Moore does a great job as Rapunzel, she was a pop singer and has an awesome voice and she is a good actress so did a great scene. Basically, the movie is funny and the characters are memorable. Okay, here is the SPOILERS: I didn't like how Gothel died. I felt she could have lived, that Rapunzel could have left her, I hate this trend of villains falling to their death in Disney movies (Gaston from Beauty and the Beast, the cat in Cinderella, Mufasa in Lion King, the priest dude from The Hunchback from Notre Dame, and so many others).

Rapunzel's Pascal is a CHAMELEON, not a Frog Entertainment Weekly!

Entertainment Weekly accidentally says that Rapunzel's best friend pet Pascal is a frog but it is a chameleon in their review of Disney's Tangled. I like he's look, he's great.

EW.Com Review

Furt Episode Review

Wow Sue actually standing up for people. She is still principal. The plot is around Kurt. Kurt's dad is marrying Finn's mother and Kurt is the wedding planner. Dave Karofsky is still bugging Kurt, so Rachael wants the girls with football player boyfriends to tell Karofsky to stop bullying Kurt. Kurt didn't ask Rachael so Rachael is amazing for caring so much for Kurt. Sam proposes to Quinn but she's not having it, not just yet. Finn decides not to fight Karofsky. Mike, Sam and Artie do fight Karofsky. Meanwhile Sue's mom (Carol Brunette) arrive for Sue's stupid wedding to herself and Carol does all the mannerisms that Jane Lynch does and it is great. She is really great at it. The tension is high. Sue has a meeting with Karofsky's dad and Karofsky after Kurt's dad witnessing Karofsky making fun of Kurt. Kurt admits to his dad about the bullying but not that Karofsky is really gay and told him he would kill him.

The Glee gang sing at the wedding for Finn's mom and Kurt's dad. The Glee gang does rag on Finn for not defending Kurt. he does start feeling bad, especially when Kurt's dad scolds Finn for not defending Kurt. Oh yeah, and Rachael admitted to Finn to not having sex with Jesse (Power of Madonna), and Finn doesn't tell her that he had sex to Santana. Santana threatens to tell Rachael the truth, even after burning that Rachael did not include her in a girl pow-wow. Will Shue kind of gets a back seat in this episode. Sue and her feelings over her mother and father's decision to abandon them and hunt Nazis (or just family members of Nazis who may or may not have been Nazis, they weren't even military!) are relate-able, but it does link to why Sue is how she is today.

There is such a stunning and beautiful speech from Finn, saying that he and Kurt are brothers, brothers from another mother, that they made a song in their honor, OMG he ask for them to dance together, he said no. But it was so beautiful of Finn and unexpected of Glee to do so, well any TV show to do so. It was also interesting that Blaine was not involved. Probably they thought it would clot too much. It was so touching to see Kurt and Finn dance togehter. Because when Kurt was teaching Finn to dance, he didn't want to be seen dancing with him.

Oh, and the shocker cliffhanger? Oh yes, Kurt decides to go to the all-boys Academy, it is sad that his parents chose not to go to the honeymoon but it was touching and you can see Finn's mom's feelings. It was touching that Finn and Merecedes walked out of sitting and asked Kurt why and plead to come back. At least we are going to see Blaine next week.

iCarly - iStart a Fan War - year gap?

In the new episode "iStart a Fan War" (November 19), they go to the fictional Webicon and they mention that a year ago they were to go to the Webicon, refrencing the episode 'iPsycho,' they say it was a year ago, but 'iPsycho' aired June 4---only five months ago! But I guess they filmed it much earlier than that because Gibby looks much older now. But Nick would have at least aired the episodes further apart.

Glee - Gwen Paltrow Guest Stars

Gweneth Paltrow guest stars as a substitute teacher and I am currently a substitute teacher and I will never do High School. I didn't do great in high school the first time socially and don't want to go through that hell again. Holly Holiday's backstory is that one fat black girl knocked her out when she was angry with her, she called her a female Biggie Smalls but she looked to me more like Precious with glasses. Anyhoo, from then on, she was the 'cool' sub. She subs for Mr. S for Spanish and Kurt gets her to sub for Glee club when Mr. Shue is sick and Ms. Me Me Me (Rachael) tries to take over. There is a subplot where Mercedes is jealous of Kurt's new budding relationship with Blaine (Darren Criss). We only see Blaine in one scene, which is a bit discriminatory as all Mercedes can hear is 'gay gay gay' when they talk but it was funny with a little pink purse came out of Kurt's mouth. And that is not the only delusion, when Shue is sick, he sees the Glee club as little children, saying adorable things like 'oeuvre.'

Sue gets to be principal because she made Figgins sick and made some blackmailing to politicans or some shit, who cares right? Sue doesn't get much done, she proudly wants to disband Football but Coach Bieste makes her realize that what will her famous Cheerios cheerleaders cheer for? How short sighted is Sue anyway? There is a dream sequence of Shue's where Shue and Mike Chan perform the "Make Them Laugh" rountine from Singing in the Rain, which is his favorite movie when he's sick. He's ex-wife comes back, they have sex but he admits it was a mistake. I love the actress but hate the character.

Sue fires Shue when he returns to school still sick and hires her new BFF Holly. But when Holly allows Mercedes to ruin Sue's car (some bad subplot of Sue banning junk food that apparently only plus-size girls like), Holly realizes she is in on over her head. Thanks to Audio Tuning, Paltrow has a great voice, a sure bet is that she's on the show to promote her new album. I am surprise Paltrow didn't sing a Coldplay song while she was at it. She has great chemistry with Matt Morrison, it is a shame they have so little screen time together. They all do a wonderful Singing in the Rain/Rhianna's Umbrella mash-up mix. Save for Paltrow's character Holly (who I could have seen Lisa Kudrow doing better), Mike Chan's pratfalls, and Blaine, this episode was sub-par because the insulting 'gay gay gay' sequence and the as-insulting insinuation that fat girls only like fried foods and all Mercedes needed was a man. When does longing for food equal to need for a man? And why does she need a man to fix her problems?

Disney's Fluppy Dogs

This animated special featured 5 pastel-colored talking dogs that came through a inter-dimensional doorway and into the lives boy Jamie, with his teen neighbor, Claire. The basic premise for the series, much like the live-action sci-fi show called Sliders, was the story of a band of adventurous, cuddly, dog-like creatures who utilized a crystal key to open inter-dimensional doorways. They became lost between worlds while trying to find their way home and end up on Earth. However, a wealthy collector of rare animals is after them and the key that creates the portals necessary to travel has almost lost its power.

The Fluppy Dogs debuted earlier as plush dolls made by "Kenner". Several other merchandise, including books and annuals were also released. There were six dogs instead of five (the merchandise had 2 boys and 4 girls, while the special had 2 girls and 3 boys), and all of them had different names and personalities to the film. Disney changed its demographics so it appealed more to boys by redesigning the Fluppies and adding the futuristic "dimension hopping" idea which didn't exist in the previous incarnation. Based on these designs it would appear that the Fluppy Dogs were originally targeted to girls, and by the time it reached post-production, the focus was changed dramatically, but it wasn't enough to form a concrete target audience, which might explain its failure to become a regular series.

The Fluppy Dogs special aired on the U.S. television network ABC on December 1, 1986, pre-empting news program Our World. It scored a Nielsen rating of 5.3/10; placing 70th among network programming, it was the week's lowest-ranked program. I remember watching the special when I was four and loving it. I had the coloring book and wondered why there was never a series. I always chalked it up as a movie. But now as an adult, I figured it was a pilot. It is sad it never got a chance, because the animators really did try with the special. It is said that this series was to compete with Pound Puppies but the special reminds me much of Care Bears in spirit as it was cue and cuddly but had serious tone moments and suspenseful music.

Avalon High Feminist Plot Twist

I first didn't think much of the Avalon High Disney Channel TV movie, about reincarnated teens of the legend of King Arthur and his Knights of the round table. A girl has dreams and feels compelled to bring the reincarnated King Arthur to fight an old evil. Even the villain Moore thought she could be the Lady of the Lake but not King Arthur. The actress Brittany Robertson (Allie) said in an interview it is not every day she gets to sword fight and wear heavy armor. The promos and movie has one think King Arthur is the adorably British Gregg Sulkin (Wizards of Waverly Place). Disney Channel kept it a secret but did show video of her fighting in armor and a sword. The movie is not really post-feminist, it is a bit tack in its reveal and a pretty basic Disney Channel movie. But any children's movie that implores strong women is a good thing.

Mint Berry Crunch???!

It has been 3 weeks since the new episodes of South Park with Coon and Friends, including a kid dressed as Mint Berry Crunch and there is a dozen links and facebook pages and youtube videos dedicated to him:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&safe=active&biw=1264&bih=751&gbv=2&q=mint+berry+crunch&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=iw

Darren Criss (Blaine) might be promoted to Series Regular on Glee

http://www.deadline.com/2010/11/glee-to-promote-darren-criss-to-regular/

I hope it happens! He made such a great impression! He is sooo sexy in this role!

Tom & Lorenzo's review of the episode

Glee Episode "Never Been Kissed"

I had to cover this episode because Kurt is the heart of the show and it was such a great episode.
"Never Been Kissed" is about bullying. Bullying on two sides, student and teacher. Student being Kurt, gay bashing by one specific person--a football player of course. Kurt is upset that no one seems to care. He then goes to spy on an all-boys school. There he meets Blaine (Darren Kriss), who is super hot in singing "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry with his glee group. Blaine and two friends take Kurt for coffee and Blaine admits he is gay and when they say they have a no bullying policy, Kurt cries. Blaine asks the other two to leave and they discuss anti-gay bullying. He tells Kurt to confront his bully, so he does and follows him to the boys locker room. The bully kisses Kurt and Kurt backs away so the bully leaves. Blaine and Kurt confront the bully but it doesn't go well. In real life, I would have not recommend doing that. Kurt admits that that was his first kiss.

Sam (Chord Overstreet) is told by Flynn to think about coach Beiste to 'cool down' and not go and have sex with their dates. So Quinn finds out--sort of and tells Coach Sylvester, causing Bieste to ask Will what is going on. Will confesses the truth to her and Beiste quits. The last scene with Beiste and Will (Beiste admits she was not kissed ever either), I knew it would lead to a kiss, predictably. I felt like it was lip-service, but Matt Morrison has this gentleness and authenticity that made the scene understandable that he was not doing it in pity. I don't like the idea of people being bullied being people not being kissed, but I guess it was a coincidence and it had to go with the title. The most effecting parts are Kurt parts.

On the other storyline, Puck got out of juvie and for his community service, he spends time with Artie in a misguided attempt. So he shows Artie bad things as a bad boy but in the end, Puck admits he hated it in juvie and Artie offers to help him, be a good influence. So Kurt continues to be bullying but he is smitten, he hangs a rather large photo of Blaine in his locker room. Wouldn't Blaine just give a new friend a little picture? I thought Kurt and Blaine would kiss but I guess they are leaving that for another episode, how he will be a recurring character. I really love the idea of seeing Blaine more. Like I said before, I hope Blaine doesn't end up breaking Kurt's heart.

Gwyneth Paltrow next week? Wow, that came from left field, even with the over-exposure of Glee that I hadn't heard about her.

http://tomandlorenzo2.blogspot.com/2010/11/glee-s2e6-never-been-kissed.html

Conoan First Episode Review

Waiting for this forever and the promos form TBS are awesome. Conan addressed a lot of questions in his monologue, saying his old characters being used on NBC. They did a hilarious video of the masturbating Bear being used for lottery numbers. Glad to see him back. I am also glad Andy Ritcher is his co-host or whatever back. His new set isn't as glamorous as his Tonight Show set, it is a bit retro, as it looks like a round bee hive. It will take some time to get used to. I do miss when he did his monologue in front of his curtain, long ago on the Late Show. Glad to see the band back, but no Max. :( His set does have a moveable moon with remote control and moving moon light.

About Demi Lovato's depression

This has been going around a lot, about Demi Lovato being stressed out too much at work, and she has had the habit of cutting herself lightly, not for suicide but for a release of some sort or whatever other reason. She has admitted herself for help, which I think it is a good idea, that she should get help. I can understand where this is coming form. I have had depression for years and started as a teenage and so was anxiety. People can say that she has everything, a teen star, lots of money and easy job, but it can be stressful, she can be overworked or told she isn't good enough, not thin enough, etc. Even if she is treated well, she could have her own anxieties in her mind that invade. We all have doubts, sometimes they grow too big and get to us. I sure hope she gets help and works out whatever she has to work out.