Monday, February 27, 2006
Disneyland!!! (Part 2 of the Grand Adventure)
I love Disneyland. Before anything, be warned that this is a skim over, but I’ll tell you front and center that I liked Splash Mountain, the shows, Astro Blasters (Buzz Lightyear), It’s a Small World, Soarin’ over California, Grizzly Peak, Indiana Jones (scary!), shopping, Beast’s Library, and pretty much everything.
We did it—what we’ve been saying for years we would do—my family went to Disneyland. It is a wonderful place. It is the most wonderful feeling to walk down Main Street and see the castle up ahead, all decorated for the fiftieth anniversary. It is the most wonderful feeling to walk down the streets and see Cinderella hurrying past, and Mary Poppins standing for pictures, and Belle telling a story, Ariel giving posing advice, and the Wicked Queen from Snow White looking deliciously haughty and teasing kids. What fun to see characters brought to life!
Disneyland is so clean! Everything, the rides, the walls, the buildings, are freshly painted and there is no litter on the street. (People would come up behind you--scaring you dreadfully--with brooms and scoopers and sweep up the crumbs falling out of your pockets.) Everywhere you look there is something to look at. Even standing in line (an extremely common activity) is a fun experience because of all of the things along the line to look at about the ride. In the Auto Blaster line there was a bigger-than-life talking and moving Buzz--you can't get much better thann that.
The people are nice. Not only are the people who work at Disneyland nice, but all of the people who come to Disneyland are very polite. Everyone goes to the end of the line and no one pushes in the crowd.
Everything about Disneyland is well done. The rides move smoothly, food, traffic, fireworks (!), and most especially the shows. We saw Billy Hill and the Hill Billies (it was the most funny, most enjoyable show in the west) and Aladdin at California Adventure (totally Broadway quality). They were amazing! They were fun and well rehearsed, but not stuffy. The special effects in Aladdin were incredible. There was a scene where Aladdin and Jasmine flew on a magic carpet, and boy did they fly. And the Hill Billies were talented and hilarious.
You can’t do everything at Disneyland in one stay: it’s hugely wonderful! We were there for three days, and we barely scrapped the top of the ice cream. My mom wanted to go on the Monsters Inc. ride, but the line was too long, same with Space Mountain. I never even set foot in Toontown. I am excited for my next visit (which, admittedly, could be in another ten years) and that is the true mark of anything well done, whether it be book, ice cream, or Disneyland—I am excited to go back.
The lines are long, on weekends there are crushes of people, stuff is expensive, aching feet are a given, at the end of the day tempers are a little short (get people food when that happens), but absolutely everything considered . . . Yeah for Disneyland!
We did it—what we’ve been saying for years we would do—my family went to Disneyland. It is a wonderful place. It is the most wonderful feeling to walk down Main Street and see the castle up ahead, all decorated for the fiftieth anniversary. It is the most wonderful feeling to walk down the streets and see Cinderella hurrying past, and Mary Poppins standing for pictures, and Belle telling a story, Ariel giving posing advice, and the Wicked Queen from Snow White looking deliciously haughty and teasing kids. What fun to see characters brought to life!
Disneyland is so clean! Everything, the rides, the walls, the buildings, are freshly painted and there is no litter on the street. (People would come up behind you--scaring you dreadfully--with brooms and scoopers and sweep up the crumbs falling out of your pockets.) Everywhere you look there is something to look at. Even standing in line (an extremely common activity) is a fun experience because of all of the things along the line to look at about the ride. In the Auto Blaster line there was a bigger-than-life talking and moving Buzz--you can't get much better thann that.
The people are nice. Not only are the people who work at Disneyland nice, but all of the people who come to Disneyland are very polite. Everyone goes to the end of the line and no one pushes in the crowd.
Everything about Disneyland is well done. The rides move smoothly, food, traffic, fireworks (!), and most especially the shows. We saw Billy Hill and the Hill Billies (it was the most funny, most enjoyable show in the west) and Aladdin at California Adventure (totally Broadway quality). They were amazing! They were fun and well rehearsed, but not stuffy. The special effects in Aladdin were incredible. There was a scene where Aladdin and Jasmine flew on a magic carpet, and boy did they fly. And the Hill Billies were talented and hilarious.
You can’t do everything at Disneyland in one stay: it’s hugely wonderful! We were there for three days, and we barely scrapped the top of the ice cream. My mom wanted to go on the Monsters Inc. ride, but the line was too long, same with Space Mountain. I never even set foot in Toontown. I am excited for my next visit (which, admittedly, could be in another ten years) and that is the true mark of anything well done, whether it be book, ice cream, or Disneyland—I am excited to go back.
The lines are long, on weekends there are crushes of people, stuff is expensive, aching feet are a given, at the end of the day tempers are a little short (get people food when that happens), but absolutely everything considered . . . Yeah for Disneyland!
Monday, February 20, 2006
Disneyland!!!
I’m off to the races. Or at least off to the race of first in line in a world of changing loyalties, tension, thrills, outlandish characters, delight, and stomach churning twists. Yes, it could only be Disneyland. We are setting off in approximately thirty-one hours and fifty minutes. This is the opportune time because my oldest sister is still with us to go, and my youngest brother is old enough to remember going to Disneyland when he gets older.
Disneyland is a fantasy land. In its boundaries are movies and books, legends and fairytales brought to life, but with no villains (well, I suppose there is Captain Hook, but since he has that clock-weakness, he is really not so frightening.) Everything is bigger (A Bug’s Life) or smaller ( It’s a Small World) than in reality, and everything is more colorful.
Disneyland is a land of warmth. A very good count in its favor as we are coming from a colder land that is approximately ninety below zero, depending on whether you are standing in the shade or in the snow. And not only temperature wise—it is called the happiest place on earth, and so both the sun and the excitement keep you going.
I am very excited for Disneyland—the rides, the people, the newness, the adventure, the childhood movie memories brought to life, the magic, the fireworks. I go with a money stack ( by a slight stretch of the imagination, which is okay in Disneyland of all places) and come home a pauper, but still it will be wonderful to go with family to the place of Aladdin, Tinker Bell, the Pirates of the Caribbean, the dreaded Tower of Terror, and everything that goes with it.
Disneyland is a fantasy land. In its boundaries are movies and books, legends and fairytales brought to life, but with no villains (well, I suppose there is Captain Hook, but since he has that clock-weakness, he is really not so frightening.) Everything is bigger (A Bug’s Life) or smaller ( It’s a Small World) than in reality, and everything is more colorful.
Disneyland is a land of warmth. A very good count in its favor as we are coming from a colder land that is approximately ninety below zero, depending on whether you are standing in the shade or in the snow. And not only temperature wise—it is called the happiest place on earth, and so both the sun and the excitement keep you going.
I am very excited for Disneyland—the rides, the people, the newness, the adventure, the childhood movie memories brought to life, the magic, the fireworks. I go with a money stack ( by a slight stretch of the imagination, which is okay in Disneyland of all places) and come home a pauper, but still it will be wonderful to go with family to the place of Aladdin, Tinker Bell, the Pirates of the Caribbean, the dreaded Tower of Terror, and everything that goes with it.
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
How Can You Read This?! There Are No Pictures.
What is the better course of action: pictures, or no pictures?
Books have pictures because pictures are extremely useful to keep the author and the reader on the same page (pardon the pun). When the Harry Potter movies came out many people said, “That’s just like I imagined it,” and many people also said, “I thought such-and-such would look differently.” When there are illustrations, sure readers are still making up their own world, but usually the author’s mind and the reader’s are meshed.
Pictures are not at all needed in books! It is like Belle said in Beauty and the Beast when to Geston, lack of pictures meant end of interest (see title): “Some people use their imaginations.” If pictures are necessary, that means the author is not doing a good enough job of describing. Of course, too much description gets mundane and that brings us back to pictures.
When I become engrossed enough into a book, I sometimes loose track of what is going on around me and become gripped by the people and the people’s life style in the book—their sounds, smells, sights, thoughts. In that case a picture would be distracting and maybe contradictory, but always totally unneeded.
I need only a little description and the rest of my mental picture comes from the important things that really make up a world: conversation, personality, events. Wordy description would be redundant if I already know the world by what is going on in it.
But then, pictures are really wonderful in books—illustrations combine two fantastic art mediums: written and visual. I love children’s books, and the main reason is that I love the pictures. Oftentimes pictures communicate in one glance what would take pages to describe, if it could be done at all.
I am reading a non-fiction book about Michelangelo. In the first chapter the author mentions the Pieta and David. After reading more about their creator and his history I was curious to look at these works again. But can you believe it, there were no pictures of them! In the center of the book there were color pictures of the Sistine Chapel (I think any book on Michelangelo that didn’t have a picture of the Sistine Chapel would probably be burned and then the ashes sent back to the editor to correct the obvious over-sight) but no David, and no Pieta. I was annoyed: I wanted pictures!
Pictures can help children just learning to read so that they comprehend. Pictures can also be distracting and destroy the powers of your own imagination. Lack of pictures can be blasphemy. Pictures are wonderful and words are magical, I just like books. Picture or picture-free.
Books have pictures because pictures are extremely useful to keep the author and the reader on the same page (pardon the pun). When the Harry Potter movies came out many people said, “That’s just like I imagined it,” and many people also said, “I thought such-and-such would look differently.” When there are illustrations, sure readers are still making up their own world, but usually the author’s mind and the reader’s are meshed.
Pictures are not at all needed in books! It is like Belle said in Beauty and the Beast when to Geston, lack of pictures meant end of interest (see title): “Some people use their imaginations.” If pictures are necessary, that means the author is not doing a good enough job of describing. Of course, too much description gets mundane and that brings us back to pictures.
When I become engrossed enough into a book, I sometimes loose track of what is going on around me and become gripped by the people and the people’s life style in the book—their sounds, smells, sights, thoughts. In that case a picture would be distracting and maybe contradictory, but always totally unneeded.
I need only a little description and the rest of my mental picture comes from the important things that really make up a world: conversation, personality, events. Wordy description would be redundant if I already know the world by what is going on in it.
But then, pictures are really wonderful in books—illustrations combine two fantastic art mediums: written and visual. I love children’s books, and the main reason is that I love the pictures. Oftentimes pictures communicate in one glance what would take pages to describe, if it could be done at all.
I am reading a non-fiction book about Michelangelo. In the first chapter the author mentions the Pieta and David. After reading more about their creator and his history I was curious to look at these works again. But can you believe it, there were no pictures of them! In the center of the book there were color pictures of the Sistine Chapel (I think any book on Michelangelo that didn’t have a picture of the Sistine Chapel would probably be burned and then the ashes sent back to the editor to correct the obvious over-sight) but no David, and no Pieta. I was annoyed: I wanted pictures!
Pictures can help children just learning to read so that they comprehend. Pictures can also be distracting and destroy the powers of your own imagination. Lack of pictures can be blasphemy. Pictures are wonderful and words are magical, I just like books. Picture or picture-free.
Monday, February 06, 2006
Sleep-Walking-Living
I had the most wonderful psychology class last semester. I loved the teacher, the class, and the subject. It is one of those classes that really made me think, because I wanted to know the answer. Anyway, my superb psychology class is not the topic I am writing about today, but rather a most interesting fact I learned that has come back to haunt me. That stimulating fact is that we, as human beings, spend one-third of our life sleeping, one-third day-dreaming, and one-third actually aware of what is going on around us.
Okay, that is kind of a sad statistic—that one-third of the time we day-dream, that only one-third we are really paying attention?! Is it awful that we spend so much time out of reality? Is it that we need that halted-consciousness time in order to function the rest of the time?
When I talked to my older sister after I first learned about our time-ratio-deal she said, “No,” and I thought, I know, that ratio must be inflated, but then she finished, “I’m sure we day-dream more than that.” I think she was joking, but still, is reality so stressful or uninteresting or hurtful that we spend half of our waking hours asleep?
When we are day-dreaming, we are focusing on ourselves, and at the exclusion of everything else. Isolation and exclusion--not good. If I am day-dreaming and only concentrating on myself, I will never be able to even see the girl sitting next to me in class who is really distressed, much less be able to help her.
On the other hand, I live in a house of ten people. Sometimes the only way for me to avoid snapping at someone is to go into my room and read a book—to leave reality. Not snapping at someone is a good thing. So perhaps day-dreaming is a situation by situation decision.
Day-dreaming is often restful, and it is something we can control. We day-dream because it is fun to look ahead, to the past, and to travel wherever we want to go.
However, I still think that spending one-third of our lives day-dreaming is excessive, even if it is true. Day-dreaming is a kind of freedom, but it is also a kind of captivity. If a person does not like reality, I think it is that person’s job to change either reality or themselves until the combination is right.
Okay, that is kind of a sad statistic—that one-third of the time we day-dream, that only one-third we are really paying attention?! Is it awful that we spend so much time out of reality? Is it that we need that halted-consciousness time in order to function the rest of the time?
When I talked to my older sister after I first learned about our time-ratio-deal she said, “No,” and I thought, I know, that ratio must be inflated, but then she finished, “I’m sure we day-dream more than that.” I think she was joking, but still, is reality so stressful or uninteresting or hurtful that we spend half of our waking hours asleep?
When we are day-dreaming, we are focusing on ourselves, and at the exclusion of everything else. Isolation and exclusion--not good. If I am day-dreaming and only concentrating on myself, I will never be able to even see the girl sitting next to me in class who is really distressed, much less be able to help her.
On the other hand, I live in a house of ten people. Sometimes the only way for me to avoid snapping at someone is to go into my room and read a book—to leave reality. Not snapping at someone is a good thing. So perhaps day-dreaming is a situation by situation decision.
Day-dreaming is often restful, and it is something we can control. We day-dream because it is fun to look ahead, to the past, and to travel wherever we want to go.
However, I still think that spending one-third of our lives day-dreaming is excessive, even if it is true. Day-dreaming is a kind of freedom, but it is also a kind of captivity. If a person does not like reality, I think it is that person’s job to change either reality or themselves until the combination is right.
