What REALLY happens in the wild...

Once again, the BBC makes me laugh so hard I sprain things. :)  Enjoy!

I ♥ Pixar More Than Ever Before

Before I launch into today's Video Wednesday, let me offer this friendly PSA:

PUT DOWN WHATEVER DRINK YOU MIGHT HAVE IN YOUR HAND.  RIGHT NOW.  I DON'T WANT TO BE HELD LIABLE WHEN YOU RUIN YOUR SINUSES AND/OR COMPUTER SCREEN BECAUSE YOU LAUGH SO HARD, WHATEVER YOU WERE DRINKING MAKES AN ABRUPT AND UNPLANNED DETOUR THROUGH YOUR NOSTRILS.  (AS I MENTIONED BEFORE IN A POST BACK IN EARLY APRIL, MILK IS MODERATELY PAINFUL, BUT SODAS BURN.)  OH, AND YOU MAY AS WELL TAKE A POTTY BREAK BEFORE PRESSING PLAY, SO YOU DON'T KILL YOUR BLADDER MUSCLES WHILST YOU ARE DOUBLED OVER IN HYSTERICS.  THANK YOU.

Oh, mercy.  I needed this SO bad!  *Wipes tears from eyes, still holding sides*

A Reminder

I've been busy, so I'll have to retro-post a few day's worth of ... all the stuff I was going to post and haven't.  But I wanted to share this piece of word art Lucy Jane created tonight.  Enjoy. :)

Please share it with anyone you know who needs to be reminded.
(If we're honest, that's probably everyone.)

Wood, Don: King Bidgood's In The Bathtub and Heckedy Peg

The illustration style of these two books draws me back to them again and again.

We LOVE "King Bidgood's In The Bathtub"!  The Cute Gremlins think it is hilarious!  The King is having fun in his giant, bubbly, massive bathtub and refuses to get out.  So all the court has to move whatever plans they had going that day- yep!  Into the tub!  I immediately thought of Lauren at American Duchess when I saw the fashions of the court as they waited in the hallway, trying to coax King Bidgood away from his bubble-bathy buffoonery.

I wonder what Lauren thought when she saw what the water had done to the Queen's gown after having lunch in the tub?

[Edit/Update: I tagged Lauren on Facebook that I'd written this post and posed a question.  This is her reply: "lol! Well I think the illustrator knew/knows fashion history! Very impressive, that's not so far off what Elizabethan women were wearing under their skirts :-D"]

********

Heckedy Peg is equally as charming with the illustrations, but a more serious tale:
A poor widow with seven children must go to the market and leave the children alone at home (think Europe mid 18th or 19th century/Grimms tales kind of setting).  While she is gone, the witch Heckedy Peg comes and tricks them, and they are transformed into food.  By remembering what her children had asked for from the market, the mother was able to correctly guess which child had been turned into what food and save them from the witch.

This is my favorite image from Heckedy Peg, because I've known the love and strong maternal instincts that turn the poor widow into a fearsome and formidable force to be reckoned with when she is protecting her children.

That stance and body language?  Just about every mom in the world, including me, has been there and done that and will on keep doing it, whenever and if ever the need arises.  But the illustration of her doing it gives me added courage.  This is a scary world to raise babies in, even without hungry witches named Heckedy Peg.

I'd like to find more books at the library that are illustrated by Don Wood.  If I happen upon any soon, I'll be sure to post an edit!

EXTRA! EXTRA! Read all about it!!

Sometimes my train of thought derails at the speed of light (usually with no survivors).  Every once in a while though, one of of those tangents leads to a phenomenal discovery of which I had been previously ignorant, and the newly unearthed epiphany thereof leaves me squealing with glee and/or babbling incoherently about aforementioned phenomenal discovery to anyone and everyone who is brave enough to stick around and attempt to decipher what I'm saying.  (Such event is happening even as my fingers fly over the keyboard now, so if you've managed to follow the content of what I've just written thus far, CONGRATULATIONS!  You win! :D)

For those of you who are looking around for the evidence of a caffeine overdose, relax.  You won't find anything.  Blame my iTunes for this latest bouncing around the room like a ping pong ball in a hurricane effect.  I had it on shuffle.  It came to "Seize The Day" from the movie Newsies.  I Googled Newsies just to see what came up.  It's not caffeine.  It's the music!  Music does this to me!  Phenomenal discoveries of music I love being turned into better versions of themselves in the form of BROADWAY MUSICALS!!!

THIS

IS NOW THIS!!!!

***Somebody pass me a paper bag before I hyperventilate! :D :D :D :D :D :D***

Links, Jenny.  Give the readers the links!  Focus!

Here is the official WEBSITE.  Here is where you can get the collector's edition DVD of the 1992 movie, if you have $50 bucks to burn. (I do not.  I will have to pray my VCR and/or VHS copy of it do not die on me.)  Here is a wikipedia article on the real life Newsboys Strike of 1899 that inspired the story.  Here is a photo from this NY Times article that I was going to link anyway (see!  I sourced!!) showing the main group of the Newsies cast.  

D'aww!  Cutie Pies!  :)

Now, the only down side to all of this is that it's running on Broadway.  You know, in NYC.  Which, according to Google maps, is 916 miles (15 hours and 35 minutes) from here, straight up I-85 N and passing through 6 states.  Hmmm.  Current circumstances afford me neither gasoline nor airfare for such an endeavor.  POUT.

So I guess I will have to sit tight until either a) somehow I miraculously get together an all expenses paid trip up to NY to see it on Broadway, or, b) stalk Ticketmaster/The Fox Theatre/Broadway Across America's websites and figure out a way to snag tickets if when it comes to Atlanta.  Sigh.  So much of my life recently seems to be made up of having to wait for things.

Until I find a solution, I'll be listening to the new OCR album.  In between Steam Powered Giraffe songs.  (Because I'm nowhere near finished being addicted to their music.  Probably ever.)  But yeah, pretty sure I can make room for the Newsies soundtrack!!!

Did you think I was going to tag a Music Mondays post and not leave you with a song?? :)

Here is my favorite song and dance number from the '92 movie, "The World Will Know":

And here it is given new life and amazing sound by the Broadway Cast!

And just because I can't stop, here are two more that I adore and will be singing at the top of my lungs for the next few months. :)  GORGEOUS!  Enjoy!

"Seize The Day"

"Once And For All"

Over At Lucy Jane's...

Lucy Jane has a recent post you may all be interested in.  It hints at a GIVEAWAY COMING UP HERE SOON!!!  (So subtlety was never my strong suit!)

Read all about it HERE and please pass Lucy Jane's blog along to anyone you know who may like it. Please, please, please!  And thank you! :)

Off to fix supper (Flounder fillets with herbs, parmesan pasta salad, green beans, garlic italian toast), and then back to work in the studio for a bit before bed. :)

See you soon, my lovelies!

I Got Rhythm...

I was mentally on a Gene Kelly kick today.  I haven't been dancing in AGES (and, with all that's going on here currently, am not likely going to be able to go for some time yet. :(  Such is the way it goes.).  But who can be sad with these clips playing in their head?? Exactly.  Enjoy!

"Moses Supposes" from Singing in the Rain, 1952

"The Worry Song" from Anchors Aweigh, 1945

"I Got Rhythm" from An American in Paris, 1951

Buckbeak's Flight

I'm re-reading the Harry Potter series (again).  I'm midway through HP & the Goblet of Fire (book 4).  After I finish a book, I watch the film version.  The third film, HP & the Prisoner of Azkaban, continues to be my favorite of the first 6 (I don't think the final two films count in the favorites game, because book 7 is the finale, and the finale is nearly ALWAYS in a class by itself).

Anyway, here are two versions of "Buckbeak's Flight", composed by John Williams. The first is a piano arrangement performed by AMAZING pianist Mark Fowler. (Please visit him on YouTube and Facebook and show him some love!)  The second is from the OMPS, recorded at Abbey Road Studios, London, in 2004.
Enjoy!