Beauty and the Beast

Ugh. I would not have made it through this book if it weren’t for the constant encouragement by my trusted book-loving friend Kelly. She insisted it got better, and while she was right, it took 250 pages to get there.

I honestly don’t know why the first 250 pages existed. I mean, I do, but they were so derivative and repetitive and blegh. It’s a stereotypical Beauty and the Beast story, except like….without any of the fun drama and disgust captured far better by Cruel Beauty or The Hollow Kingdom. They fall for each other far too quickly, and they’re both attractive, nice people….isn’t the whole point of the fairy tale the fact that at least one of them is a little bit beastly?

HOWEVER. Things make a turn in the last third of the book, and I enjoyed the ending so much I almost find myself looking forward to a sequel. Things got darker, more complex, and a lot more interesting. I wish the whole book had been that way! Continue reading →

It has been thirteen years since the last (and only) time I have been to Disney World. My aunt and cousin wanted to spend our one day in Magic Kingdom, and I agreed, despite my memories of it being a little boring. I wanted to indulge in my love of travel in Epcot or maybe enjoy the shows in Hollywood Studios, but they promised Magic Kingdom would be worth it.

It was fun enough. We rode famous rides like “Peter Pan’s Flight” and “It’s a Small World.” I couldn’t shake my adult cynicism, however, and I made my mom listen to comments about the subtle racism of a majority-white puppet world. I liked the puns made by the “Jungle Cruise” operator (“What is the scariest plant? BamBOO”) and I enjoyed climbing through “Swiss Family Treehouse.” But nothing had awakened my childlike glee since boarding the ferry that took us from parking lot to theme park.

Nothing, that is, until we avoided the mid-afternoon heat by escaping into seated, air conditioned shows. “Is Mickey’s PhilharMagic like Fantasia?” I asked. “Yeah, kind of,” my cousin lied. We put on our 3D glasses, and my heart exploded. Continue reading →