Living the Cubicle Life

So for the next year I am working in temporary cubicle space instead of my private office.  Our building is being renovated so we all have to move out until construction is done.  We have been in the cubicles for a few weeks, but today was the first day full of student meetings.  After today and the first few weeks I have some observations about life in the cubicles.

First, there's really no windows in the cubicles, or in the building we're in.  This might not seem like a big deal, but it really is.  When you can't see outside for a lengthy period of time, it really wears on you.  I had to just go stand outside a couple times today to make sure it was still there.  Casinos can get away with not having windows because people are distracted with the gambling and the drinking.  Buildings with cubicles need windows so people don't go insane.

Second, I get very restless throughout the day and sometimes I just need to stand up.  In an office, that's no big deal and people don't notice most of the time.  In a cubicle, everybody sees when you stand up.  And when the people next to you are meeting with students, it gets awkward quick.

Finally, I play music during the day.  I like to sing and dance along to the music.  In an office, no one can see or hear you, most of the time.  Sometimes I do just belt it out and then the people in the hall could hear me.  But I've managed to keep my singing under control for the most part.  I sing just soft enough to not be heard.  Either that or people are just too nice to say anything.  The dancing, however, got the best of me the other day.  Like Gloria Estefan said, eventually the rhythm is going to get you.  And it got me.  So I started dancing because I was feeling it.  And everybody noticed.  Not that that's a bad thing, but still, everybody noticed.

So those are just a few things that I have observed.  Check back throughout the year for more!

Learning about Nanotyrannus

Last night I spent five hours watching National Geographic shows about dinosaurs, reading about dinosaurs online, and watching TED talks given by experts in the field.  I've always been fascinated by dinosaurs and try to continuously learn more about them.  Last night's foray was inspired by the mystery of the Nanotyrannus.  The Nanotyrannus is a proposed species of predatory dinosaur.  I say proposed because there is much debate among paleontologists as to whether Nanotyrannus actually existed.  In theory it is a smaller version of T. Rex which had longer arms and hunted in packs.

One of the shows I watched centered around a unique fossil showing a battle between a Triceratops and a tyrannosaur of some sort.  Both creatures suffered mortal wounds during the battle.  The fossil of the tyrannosaur is what caused the most confusion, though.  It was too small to take down the Triceratops on its own and had characteristics that made it unique from a T. Rex.  The finding of this fossil led scientists to look at other fossils that were assumed to be juvenile T. Rexes.  Upon closer look, these scientists believe that these fossils are in fact a different species, the Nanotyrannus.  Watching the show, their reasons made sense.
- The brain cavities in the smaller specimens were a different shape and make up than the full grown creatures.
- The smaller skulls had more teeth than the larger skulls.
- The teeth found in the smaller specimens were different than the larger ones.
- The arms on the smaller creatures were larger and attached differently

All these signs pointed to the existence of Nanotyrannus.  It all made perfect sense to me.  So I went online and started reading, and that's where I discovered how heated the debate was.  There seems to be clear factions that either believe or don't believe in Nanotyrannus.

Then I remembered a TED talk I saw a while back.  This talk was all about why we don't see baby dinosaurs in museums.  It was given by Jack Horner, who is a very well respected name in the field.  He claims that when scientists find a specimen that is even slightly different from other specimens, despite having some similarities, scientists want to consider it a completely different species.  But they fail to look at growth patterns and bone density.  He says the easiest way to determine if a skeleton is from a juvenile or adult is to cut into the bone.  Juvenile bone is spongier while adult bone is more solid.  He looked at a series of different different species and by looking at the bones was able to hypothesize that dinosaurs previously assumed to be separate species were actually juveniles of other species.  One of these species was the Nanotyrannus.  He says that those bones claiming to belong to Nanotyrannus were actually juveniles, lending credence to the fact that they were actually younger T. Rexes.  This also sounded incredibly believable, so I don't really know what to think.

I want to believe that Nanotyrannus existed because it sounds cool, but I really don't know.  I lean towards whatever Jack Horner says, since I recognize his name as the technical advisor for Jurassic Park.  Clearly he must have done something to earn that right.  And since we have no way of truly knowing how long dinosaurs lived, we really don't know what full grown means.  Obviously we can hypothesize based on the fossils we have found, but no one can say with 100% certainty.  Until then, the debate over Nanotyrannus will continue.

Why WALL-E is My Spirit Robot

I'm sure many of you are familiar with idea of spirit animals, but I believe that we all have a spirit robot too.  What is a spirit robot, you ask?  Well, much like a spirit animal, a spirit robot is a robot from television or movies that embodies the personality and soul of a person.  Robots can be protective like the one from Lost in Space, aggressive like the Terminator, or transformative like Optimus Prime.

When thinking about which robot most embodies me, a few came to mind such as R2-D2, Kevin from Saved by the Bell, and most obviously, Number 5 from Short Circuit.  Number 5 is the one that most people would probably associate with me just based on both of our desires to collect input.  We're both very curious creatures.  But when starting to look a little deeper, another robot comes to mind, WALL-E.  Why WALL-E?  Well, here are some reasons.

1. He's also very curious.  He's fascinated by every little thing and is always looking to learn new things about his world.  I'm very much the same.  I am naturally curious about just about everything.

2. He appreciates the little things.  As a result of being so curious, he is able to appreciate little things that other may miss, like the beauty of a fire extinguisher in space.  I, too, often discover things that others may miss and appreciate the beauty and uniqueness of the world around me.

3. He sees the world differently than anyone else around him.  In a world filled with other robots concerned solely with their directives, WALL-E sees the treasures in the trash like light bulbs and Rubik's cubes.  I often get funny looks from people as I describe something that I see or make a connection to something that is completely abstract and different from what others see.  And I'm writing about spirit robots.  How many other people do you know who would write about that?

4. He is a collector.  Some may even say he is a hoarder.  His home is full of things he has collected from the trash.  I am also a collector.  Most of you know about my pin collection, but I also have a collection of hats, ticket stubs, Legos, and a variety of other knick knacks that I have seen and decided to keep.  Like I said, I am fascinated by the world and I collect things that showcase that appreciation.

5. He can make people laugh.  Sometimes he does this without even trying.  I can definitely relate to this.  People have been laughing at me and with me for years.

6.  He likes to dance even though he looks awkward doing it.  See the laughing at comment from above.  I have no rhythm, in fact I probably have as much rhythm as a robot, but I still like to dance.

7. It takes awhile for people to appreciate him.  Because WALL-E is so different from everyone else around him, people often treat him differently, often shunning him.  But he stays true to himself and eventually people and bots see him for the wonderful person with the huge heart he is.  I also feel like I am a difficult person to like and that people don't give me a chance when they first meet me.  But if they give me a chance and spending some time getting to know me, they will see how awesome I really am.

8. All he really wants is someone to share his world with.  He is so excited to show EVE his trinkets, and he wants so badly to hold her hand and dance with her, imitating the movie he has been watching for years.  That's all I want, too.  I know that I'm unique and interesting and see things differently, and I wish I could describe the look I constantly see on people's faces when I talk to them.  That look is starting to wear on me.  I want someone to look at me with love and appreciation, and want to hold my hand and dance with me, like WALL-E.

And that is why I think WALL-E is my spirit robot.  What about you?  Have you thought about who your spirit robot might be?  Feel free to share if you have.

And the Greatest Disney Animated Movie Ever is...

The Lion King

Well, this isn't much of a surprise.  The Lion King was the favorite at the beginning of the tournament and it took down all challengers.  The championship match wasn't really that close with The Lion King winning 7-3.  While this might not be my favorite Disney movie, the people have spoken.  Here's the final bracket.

I want to thank everyone who read and voted throughout the tournament.  This was a fun one for me.  But now it's over and I've already started thinking about next year's bracket.  We will be looking to decide who the greatest movie badass is next year, so if you have any suggestions for who should be included, please send them my way.  Until then, keep reading this blog and my pin blog!

Greatest Disney Animated Movie Championship

After weeks of voting, we're left with the top two overall seeds in the tournament.  I guess we could have skipped all the early rounds and went right to this, but what would be the fun in that?  The Final Four matches were both close as expected.  In fact, at one point both matches were tied at 4.  But then The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast pulled away for the wins.  So here's the current bracket.



There's not much to say about the final matchup.  Both films are worthy of the top spot.  They are both beloved by all and contain memorable songs and characters.  Personally, I enjoy both of the films.  I don't really know how to distinguish between the two for purposes of voting.  Although, Belle is one of my favorite princesses.  I still think The Lion King will hold serve and come out on top as I predicted from the very beginning, but my predictions haven't been entirely accurate so who knows.  Let's vote!


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Greatest Disney Animated Movie Final Four!

The Final Four is set!  And just like I thought it's an all 90s-era field.  Granted, all of the movies that made the Final Four are really good and there's a reason they were all high seeds, but I still thought one of them might go down before this point.  There were some close calls, but not close enough.  And none of the Elite Eight results were particularly close.  I do think that the voting results have a lot to do with the demographics of the voters as well.  Most of my friends who likely voted are around my age and we all have an affinity for those movies from our childhood.  So it's not too surprising that the Final Four is comprised of movies from the five year range 1989-1994.  Here's how the bracket shapes up now.



As for the two semifinal matchups, here are my thoughts.  In the first matchup Aladdin goes up against The Lion King.  From the beginning, The Lion King has been the odds on favorite to win the whole tournament.  And of these four movies I think Aladdin is the least admired, which isn't to say it isn't beloved, but I don't hear people gush over Aladdin like the other three participants.  For that reason I think The Lion King advances easily.

The second matchup should be a little closer.  Beauty and the Beast is heralded as one of the best animated movies of all time.  It's blowout win against Cinderella showed that when it comes to princess movies, it is the clear number one.  The songs are memorable, the animation is beautiful, and the story is timeless.  It should be the favorite to advance.  But The Little Mermaid is the movie that resurrected the Disney brand.  After a down period in the 80s, The Little Mermaid was released and restored Disney's crown as the top dog.  And a lot of people love and cherish that movie, myself included.  It is one of my all time favorites.  The songs are equally memorable from this movie, and the story is wonderful.  Not to mention it has one of the best villains of all time.  I could honestly see either of these two movies winning.  So let's find out who will!

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Greatest Disney Animated Movie Elite Eight!

The Sweet Sixteen did not disappoint.  We had some very close matchups.  My personal favorite, Robin Hood, put up an incredibly valiant effort against Beauty and the Beast.  It jumped out to an early lead before Beauty stormed back.  Ultimately, Robin Hood fell by a single vote, 10-9.  While I'm a little heartbroken that it wasn't able to advance, I'm very proud that it put up a such a strong fight against one of the pre-tournament favorites.  In another one point decision, Aladdin edged out Peter Pan, 10-9.  This doesn't surprise me as much, as I thought Peter Pan would have a real shot to pull the upset.  In the end, though, it came up a little short.

Most of the other matchups were fairly competitive.  Bambi gave Cinderella a run for its money, falling only four votes shy.  Dumbo and Jungle Book went back and forth before Jungle Book pulled away and won 12-7.  Even 101 Dalmatians kept it close with The Lion King for a little while before falling.  The biggest blowout belonged to Pinocchio, which pretty much wiped the floor with Fantasia, winning 15-3.  I don't think that result is too surprising.

I was surprised, however, by how easily Snow White dispatched Tangled.  Based on previous voting results, I thought Tangled had an excellent chance to pull the upset.  But Snow White jumped out to an early lead and never looked back.  Unfortunately, the same could not be said for another of my favorites, Sleeping Beauty.  Despite taking an initial lead over The Little Mermaid, Sleeping Beauty lost steam and then lost the matchup, 13-6.  I was really hoping that would be a little closer and even though I also love The Little Mermaid, I wanted Sleeping Beauty to win.

Nonetheless, here is what the bracket looks like as we head into the Elite Eight.



The Elite Eight matchups offer some interesting matchups.  My prediction of an all early 90s Final Four is still a possibility.  Each of those early 90s movies are up against an age old classic.  The Lion King gets to try its hand against The Jungle Book.  I really don't see The Jungle Book getting enough love to win this matchup.

Aladdin, however, might have a fight going against Pinocchio.  There's something about Pinocchio that people love.  I think it has something to do with Jiminy Cricket and "When You Wish Upon a Star".  Although, Aladdin does have "A Whole New World" so this could be a battle of who likes which song more.

In the ultimate princess matchup we have Beauty and the Beast facing off against Cinderella.  I feel like these are the two princess stories that get the most love and are most referenced as being the quintessential princess dreams.  I guess we'll find out which princess comes out on top.

The final matchup pits Disney's first movie, Snow White, against the movie that revitalized the Disney brand, The Little Mermaid.  I'm starting to think that Little Mermaid may be the sleeper pick to win the whole thing.  Although, I underestimated Snow White in the last round, too, and look how that worked out.

But if you've read this far, then I've tortured you enough, so let's get to the voting!

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Greatest Disney Animated Movie Sweet Sixteen

On to the Sweet Sixteen!  The second round wrapped up, and as has been the case through most of this tournament, there were no surprises.  Only one lower seed advanced, Robin Hood, which was a 5 seed beating a 4 seed, not much of an upset.  It did, however, make me happy because Robin Hood is my favorite Disney movie.  In the other matchups, Beauty and the Beast, Cinderella, Tangled, Sleeping Beauty, and The Little Mermaid all cruised to easy victories.  So much for my Oliver and Company has a chance theory.  Snow White actually struggled for a bit against Lilo and Stitch, but eventually pulled away.  I don't quite understand the love for Stitch.  I've never liked that movie.  Anyway, here's what the bracket looks like now.




We're left with a lot of chalk.  The lowest remaining seed is a 7 seed, Dumbo.  But we certainly have some heavyweight matchups in this round.  All the remaining movies can be considered classics, so I'll try to hesitate using that term too much.  The first matchup features The Lion King versus 101 Dalmatians.  I don't think Dalmatians has quite the following to take down the behemoth that is The Lion King, but maybe they can make it a little closer.  The other matchup in this region might be a little closer.  Dumbo already pulled off one upset, knocking off Frozen, but The Jungle Book was one of my sleeper picks to go deep in the tournament.  This one might be close.

In the Aladdin region, the 1 seed should be a little worried going up against Peter Pan.  Honestly, I think this matchup could go either way.  Peter Pan is a timeless story, but Aladdin is favorite among my generation.  I'm intrigued.  The second matchup features two of Disney's earliest films, Fantasia vs Pinocchio.  I think this will be another close matchup.  Fantasia is a beautiful movie, but Pinocchio is Pinocchio.

The real question surfaces in the Beauty and the Beast region.  Can my favorite, Robin Hood, take down the top seed, Beauty and the Beast?  I love Beauty and the Beast, but nothing tops Robin Hood in my book.  It's so wonderfully uplifting.  In the bottom half of the region, Cinderella faces Bambi.  Bambi might be able to keep this close for a while, but I think Cinderella pulls away easily in the end.

The final region features 1 seed Snow White against the newest movie left in the bracket, Tangled.  Considering that Snow White struggled in its last matchup and Tangled has rolled so far, I think there might be an upset in the works here.  I know many people take issue with Snow White's story and characterization, but it's such a historical masterpiece that I would be sad to see it go out this early.  But maybe the other history buffs like me will push it through.  The final matchup is probably the toughest for me to vote for.  Sleeping Beauty and The Little Mermaid are two of my absolute favorites.  I think Sleeping Beauty is the best of the princess movies, but Little Mermaid was my favorite of the early 90s Disney revival films which were a huge part of my childhood.  I want to see both of them in the Final Four.  Why did I seed them in the same region?!  Stupid fairness and subjectivity.  Enough of this, let's vote.

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Greatest Disney Animated Movie Round 2 Part 2

Well, it was bound to happen eventually.  We have a tie.  In fact, we have two ties!  You may be wondering what the procedure is for breaking a tie.  It's a very sophisticated process.  Since this is my bracket, whoever I voted for, wins.  That may not seem very fair to you, but if you don't like it, then make your own bracket.  But let's cut the suspense and get to the winners.

The first tie was between the 4 and 5 seeds in the Lion King Region, 101 Dalmatians and Mulan.  I knew this would be a close matchup, and sure enough it was.  While I did enjoy Mulan, my vote was for 101 Dalmatians.  The dogs are cute, the villain is iconic, and it even inspired a live action remake.  It deserves to move on.

The second tied matchup was much more of a surprise.  The 2 seed Frozen ended up tied with 7 seed Dumbo.  I really thought the immense popularity of Frozen would carry it through this matchup easily.  While Dumbo is an iconic movie, I wasn't sure how many people really like it enough to get it to the Sweet Sixteen.  Apparently, more than I thought.  And because my vote went to Dumbo, it advances.  Now there might be some serious Frozen overkill that led to this vote as well.  Personally, I enjoyed the movie and I think Princess Anna is adorable, but story wise I found it very lacking.  With that said, I'm still very surprised that it went out this early.

The other matchups in the Lion King region were fairly predictable.  The Lion King cruised to a victory over Pocahontas, and The Jungle Book held off an early surge by The Fox and the Hound to advance.  All the top seeds in the Aladdin region advanced as well.  Early voting results looked like Alice in Wonderland and Wreck-it Ralph might have a chance to pull the upset, but Peter Pan and Pinocchio, respectively, eventually pulled away.

Here's what the current bracket looks like.


Moving on to the next two regions, there are some very intriguing matchups.  In the Beauty and the Beast region, I think Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella will advance easily.  But the 4-5 and 3-6 matchups could be very close.  Can my favorite, Robin Hood, upset everyone's favorite animal love story, Lady and the Tramp?  I foresee a close vote there.  And I really don't know what to make of Hercules' chances.  I didn't like that movie, but the more I talk to people, the more I hear how much people like it.  Bambi might be in trouble.

The Snow White region features the only double digit seeds remaining.  I don't believe Hunchback has the chops to take down Sleeping Beauty, but Oliver and Company showed me something in the first round.  I think Oliver and Company has a decent chance to beat Tangled and be the only double digit seed in the Sweet Sixteen.  Of course, I also wouldn't be surprised if Tangled runs away with the vote.  I don't foresee Snow White or Little Mermaid having any trouble advancing.  But let's find out.  Proceed to the voting!

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Greatest Disney Animated Movie Round 2 Part 1

We finally have some upsets!!!  The final region in round one voting produced some of the closest matchups and resulted in the first upsets of the tournament.  There were four matchups that were decided by one vote.  Lilo and Stitch managed to squeak by The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad, but Tarzan and Big Hero 6 weren't as lucky, as they fell to lower seeds, Oliver and Company and The Hunchback of Notre Dame, respectively.  I am really happy that Oliver and Company got some love and advanced.  In the fourth matchup decided by one vote, The Adventures of Winnie the Pooh summoned up enough love from the Hundred Acre Wood to defeat A Goofy Movie.  This was by far the most exciting region so far.



Now it's time to get into round two!  The second round should be quite exciting because we're getting matchups of more popular movies.  We begin this round of voting in the Lion King and Aladdin regions.  The Lion King region presents three really interesting matchups.  I think The Lion King will advance easily, but the 2-seed, Frozen, might have a more difficult time against Dumbo.  Of course, I wouldn't be surprised if it's a blowout either.  I think The Jungle Book should advance as well, but it could be close.  And I really don't know what to make of 101 Dalmatians vs Mulan.  That could honestly go either way.

In the Aladdin region, Peter Pan vs Alice in Wonderland is one to watch.  Those are two really popular movies.  I'm curious to see how Fantasia performs as well.  It's a brilliant technical movie, and its influence on animation is immeasurable, but it's also really old compared to its opponent, The Princess and the Frog.  And I fully expect Aladdin and Pinocchio to advance easily.  But enough analysis, let's get to the voting!

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Greatest Disney Movie Bracket Round 1 Part 4

Voting in Round 1 of the Beauty and the Beast region was surprising in the fact that all the matchups that I thought were going to be close were blowouts.  In fact, all the matchups were blowouts except one.  Dinosaur jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but The Emperor's New Groove came back to win 4-3.  I was hoping for more than seven votes, but that's all we have to work with.  There's not much else to say about the other matchups.  I'm a little surprised that The Aristocats thoroughly dominated Bolt, but perhaps I overestimated the popularity of Bolt.  But let's take a look at what the bracket looks like now.

And now we head into the final region of voting in Round 1.  I could see some upsets in this region.  In fact, there are at least three lower seeds that I will be voting for, and I think others might as well.  First, I love Oliver and Company.  I remember watching that movie all the time as a kid and I think it is much better than Tarzan.  However, I wonder how many other people love that movie like I do.  I think Winnie the Pooh vs A Goofy Movie is an intriguing matchup as well.  There's a lot of cult love for both of those films, so it will be interesting to see which movie's fans show up to vote.  The other matchup that will be one to watch is Big Hero 6 vs Hunchback of Notre Dame.  Hunchback is not a very good movie, but Big Hero 6 is really new, so many people may not have seen it yet.  We'll see how that shapes up.  I think the higher seeds should win the other matchups, but I will say I am not of fan of Lilo and Stitch, so if that lost I wouldn't be heartbroken.  I don't think many people remember Ichabod and Mr. Toad, though.  Either way, I'm really excited to see how the voting goes in this region!

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Greatest Disney Movie Bracket Round 1 Part 3

Well, I definitely underestimated Meet the Robinsons and the two Rescuers movies.  They were neck and neck in the voting for most of the round until Alice in Wonderland, Sword in the Stone, and Wreck-it-Ralph pulled away at the end.  I wasn't sure any of those movies would be able to keep things close, but it's nice to see there are fans out there.  It would be nice if more than 11 people voted, though, so please share with your friends!!!!  The other films in this region advanced quite easily, as I thought they would.

Here's a look at the bracket.


Now we move into the Beauty and the Beast region of the bracket.  There are some intriguing first round matchups here.  Aristocats versus Bolt should be very interesting.  I wasn't a huge fan of either, but it will be interesting to see how an obscure old school film fares against an obscure new school film.  Other matchups that I think will be close are The Emperor's New Groove vs Dinosaur and Hercules vs Treasure Planet.  I don't think any of those movies were overwhelmingly popular, with Hercules being the closest thing to a hit.  I'm curious to see how people vote in those matchups.  Personally, I think Dinosaur and Treasure Planet were underrated.  Finally, my personal favorite Disney movie is in this region, Robin Hood.  I don't see how Chicken Little stands a chance, but I know there is a small cult following for that film, so I'm a little worried.  But ultimately, I think Robin Hood will advance.

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Greatest Disney Movie Round 1 Part 2

After the first series of voting in the Lion King region, there were no major upsets.  All the higher seeds advanced and it wasn't even close.  In fact, the closest match up was a 7-2 victory for The Fox and the Hound.  No real surprises and not much to analyze.

Here's the latest look at the bracket.


Now it's time to move on to the Aladdin region.  I think all the higher seeds will prevail here as well, but maybe one of the Rescuers movies or Atlantis could surprise.  Hopefully more than nine people vote this time around, though.  So please share with friends and spread the word.

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Greatest Disney Animated Movie Ever!

With March on the horizon, that can only mean one thing.  Brackets!!!  And as has become a tradition with this blog, I create a specialized tournament which allows my loyal readers to vote for the winners.  This year's bracket is the Greatest Disney Animated Movie Ever!

For this bracket I aim to find out what Disney Animated movie people think is the greatest of all time.  I only looked at classic animated films, so no Pixar films in this bracket.  I debated including those films, but ultimately I decided that I wanted to just give the classics their time in the spotlight.  However, you will notice that there are not 64 films to include in the bracket.  Disney has only produced 54 films under the classic animation banner.  I decided to add A Goofy Movie and Duck Tale: The Movie to bring the total to 56 and enable the top two seeds in each bracket to have a first round bye.  Why did I choose those two movies to add?  Because it's my bracket and I can.

I'm sure you're all wondering how I decided to seed this bracket.  Well, I used a highly scientific algorithm.  Not really, but I did try to analyze all the data I could.  I looked at adjusted box office gross, although I wasn't able to get data for all the films.  I also looked at awards, both nominated and won.  I compared IMDB ratings, Facebook likes, and Google search results, though the latter numbers were a little misleading.  But I tried to look at as much as I could to try to be as objective as possible.  In the end, I had to make some personal judgement calls.  If you don't like the bracket, well, make your own then!  But take a look and feel free to curse me out.




The site I used this year only let me put overall seeds in the bracket, so if you want regional seeds, divide the overall seed by four.  If there is a remainder, round up.

Before we get to the voting, it's time for predictions.  My personal Final Four would Robin Hood, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White, and Little Mermaid.  That obviously won't happen since three of those are in the same region.  But at least now you know I won't cheat.  My prediction is that we could have an all 90s Final Four with Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and Little Mermaid.  And, yes, I know Little Mermaid was released in 1989, but it's close enough.  I do think Frozen will get a lot of love, but ultimately fall.  And I think Peter Pan and Jungle Book could be sleepers.

But let's start the voting!  We are starting in the Lion King region.  Please vote and share!

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Valentine's Day Challenge

With Valentine's Day approaching, I notice that people tend to fall into one of two camps: those in a relationship who want to let everyone know they are in a relationship and those who are single and want to remind everyone that they are single.  Obviously, this doesn't apply to everyone, but it's a good majority.  Now, the relationship people like people to know just how happy they are and how wonderful their life is because they are in a wonderful relationship.  They tell the single people not to worry, that one day they will find love too.  This only seems to draw the ire of the single people, who like to remind everyone how much they hate this holiday and how lousy it is to be single.  But my question is, when did this holiday become solely about being in a relationship creating these two warring factions?  Isn't this holiday supposed to be about love?  And doesn't love come in many different forms?

This inspired me to research some of the history behind Valentine's Day.  I found a very interesting article regarding the subject on History.com, which I will try to summarize concisely.  There are multiple versions surrounding the story of St. Valentine, none of which can really be confirmed, but they all surround the idea that he was a heroic, romantic figure.  Valentine's Day itself actually started as a pagan holiday called Lupercalia, which was a fertility festival.  It involved slapping women with goat hides to make them fertile, and then the women would put their name in an urn for men to draw out and be matched with.  Ancient Rome was weird.

Eventually that festival was outlawed, and Pope Gelasius, at the end of the 5th century, declared Valentine's Day to take place on February 14.  In the Middle Ages, they day was also associated with the beginning of the birds mating season which furthered the connection to romance and love.  Written greetings didn't appear until after 1400, and the first mass-produced valentines didn't appear until the 1840s in America.  But it was common for friends and lovers to exchange tokens of affection.  Friends is the word that stands out to me there.  But if you would like to read the whole article, here is the link.
http://www.history.com/topics/valentines-day/history-of-valentines-day

So even though the holiday has evolved into a romantic occasion for people to celebrate their romantic relationships, the origins are rooted in love.  And like I mentioned earlier, love comes in many forms.  So here's my challenge to all of you.  Whether you are in a relationship or not, use this holiday to show ALL the people you love that you care.  Let friends, family, lovers, whoever know that you love them.  Let's not focus on celebrating relationships, but instead focus on celebrating love.  The world could use a little more love, so let's all do our part.

Also, check out the following video for a useless Valentines Day fact!

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty Review

Let me start this post with a spoiler alert for both the 2013 film version of The Secret Life of Walter Mitty and the short story it was based on.  If you haven't seen the movie yet, I can understand that.  But if you haven't read the story, shame on you and shame on your teachers.  It is one of my favorite stories of all time, and I loved being able to teach it to my students when I was teaching.

I was really excited to see the Ben Stiller movie version because I love the story so much.  However, I never got around to seeing it in theaters.  I finally caught it on Cinemax this weekend.  For the most part I enjoyed it, but I feel like it deviated majorly from the story.  I realize that the story is not the easiest to transfer to film, but in the story, Walter Mitty daydreams to escape from the monotony of his his life.  Little things he sees triggers wild dreams in which he puts himself in heroic, daring situations.  He is a man who wishes his life had turned out differently.

In the movie, Ben Stiller plays a single guy who daydreams a lot.  He is a guy that people make fun of, who is afraid to talk to women, and who is clearly dissatisfied with his life.  His daydreams make him seem brave and heroic.  Well, at least most of them do.  He imagines saving a dog from a burning building and as a romantic Spanish hiker.  Those fit with short story.  But then he also imagines himself getting in a fight and as a weird Benjamin Button like guy.  Those two daydreams seemed really odd and not much like the type of dreams the character from the story has.  Also, in the story he is married, but he does pine after a girl in the movie.

Then, all of a sudden, he starts doing things that seem out of character.  He starts talking to the girl, he impulsively flies to Greenland, and is apparently an amazing skateboarder.  You keep thinking that some of these things are more daydreams, but it turns out that they're not.  It all seems very out of character, and was fueled by the desire to find a missing photograph.  Now I understand that in a movie the characters need to have some sort of growth and there needs to be a story arc, but this happens so suddenly and drastically that it doesn't seem real.  He hikes through the Himalayas with no prior training for crying out loud!  And the daydreams stopped.

Now don't get me wrong, as a fellow daydreamer, and someone who has always related to Walter Mitty, I appreciate the movie showing a character who breaks through the daydreams and gains confidence to do the things he always dreamed about.  But it just seemed really sudden.  At the end I liked the message of the movie, and I was entertained for the most part, but the charm of the original story seemed to be missing.  Also, I had a feeling all along that the missing photograph was in the wallet that was given to him, so I was frustrated the entire time that he didn't look in there.  But I guess there wouldn't be a movie if he didn't have a missing photograph to try to go after.  All in all, I recommend the movie if you are a fan of the story, and if you're not a fan of the story you should definitely read it because it is one of the best short stories ever written.