life as i know it...

For those stressful days, take comfort in the fact that Hallmark's Screaming Banshee understands how you feel! (via Man Eegee)


Saskboy alerts us to the fact that Microsoft has ended support for Windows 98 and Windows ME. This means no more security updates, so upgrade to a newer version of Windows (or Linux, or buy a Mac) to protect your computer.


Disney is cool again. Sadly, I suspect that even so, I, with my large collection of Disney movies, am not. ;) My in-laws are spending the winter in Florida, and Hubby and I may go for a visit, depending on what's going on around here. I don't think I can go to Florida without visiting Disney World again though - I loved it so much the first time!

Posted in: Disney, technology, videos on July 18, 2006 0 comments    

Life update: Still sick. Even more tired.

Thoughts: The world is one weird place. Evidence - The Mickey Mouse gas mask.

Apparently, these gas masks were produced in 1942, to protect children in case of a chemical attack on the United States. They were designed as a cartoon character so that wearing gas masks would be less scary and more like a game, with the hope that children would carry their masks with them and wear them often, improving their chances of surviving in an attack.

(via The Disney Blog)

Technorati tags: Disney, Mickey Mouse, gas mask, war, WWII, USA

Posted in: Disney, toxic, war on May 19, 2006 0 comments    

I've been away for a few days, but here are a few things that caught my eye, which I bookmarked before I left:

• Looks like the Animaniacs and Pinky and The Brain are coming out on DVD!
  
  
• The U.S. Postal Service is selling Disney Romance stamps
  
  
• Just because it's strange... Check out this pink tank cosy. Yes, that's right, I said tank cosy. Like a tea cosy, but for tanks. Complete with pom-poms.
  
  
• While we're on the subject of tanks... click here to listen to Neil Young's new album, Living With War, in its entirety. I'm listening to it for the first time now. I'm not a big Neil Young fan, but so far I think it's fantastic, and the lyrics are very thought provoking.
  
  
• Here's a great New York Times article about 'See Jane', an organization that raises awareness of gender stereotypes and inequality in children's media, and aims to balance things.

"These unrealistic representations may powerfully influence young children of both genders because their concepts of self are still developing — and because young children are likely to own and view movies again and again, Smith says.

That view is supported by more than 30 studies showing young children's exposure to television greatly influences gender role acceptance and attitudes. With repeated viewing of television characters portrayed in a narrowed range of traditional roles, a child's expectations for his or her own gender, as well as the opposite gender, are likely to become simplified and stereotypical.

Technorati tags: Animaniacs, Pinky and the Brain, cartoons, Disney, tank cosy, war, Neil Young, Living With War, music, See Jane, children, stereotypes

Posted in: body image, Disney, kids, war on May 01, 2006 0 comments    

See Jane is an organization created to help promote balanced gender roles in children's movies and television.

The organization studied the portrayal of boys/men vs. girls/women in the 101 top-grossing G-rated films released from 1990 through 2004, and they found that only 28 percent of speaking characters (both real and animated) were female. They believe that because young children are so impressionable, unbalanced gender roles in movies and TV shows can influence a child's understanding what it means to be male or female, and can promote gender stereotypes.

In a children's world that is saturated with Disney Princess products, it's nice to see a group promoting strong, positive children's characters - both male and female characters. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing all of the princess stuff; in fact, Cinderella is one of my favourite Disney movies, but you have to admit that Mulan is a much better role model for little girls. Every time I go into the pinkpinkpink 'girl' aisles Toys 'R' Us, I have the same thought: Girls' toys suck. In my opinion, tea sets, dress up clothes and a million dolls (including the skankily clad and heavily painted 'Bratz' dolls - there are some great role models) just aren't as fun as dinkie cars and Rescue Heroes gear. That's just my opinion. But what do most girl's toys teach little girls? Domesticated tasks - cooking, taking care of babies, how to look pretty... boy's toys seem to teach them how to look beyond their home lives to future adventures. I know there are examples of toys marketed to both genders that don't fit into those categories, but they seem to be the exception to the rule. Hopefully we'll see more though - kids need balance.

In an interesting social commentary, a female CNN anchor was more interested in talking to Geena Davis about her good-looking husband than about See Jane's campaign for improved gender roles in children's media. Hmmm... even though we at CNN are part of the media, let's not talk about gender stereotypes in media, let's talk about your hot husband instead. Sad.

There's an interesting post with comments about See Jane and gender roles on the blog The Lovely Mrs. Davis Tells You What To Think (I know what you're thinking, but "Mrs. Davis" is just a coincidence).

If you don't want to read it, or you'd like to know more, you can watch/listen to a webcast about See Jane's research results.

Interesting quotes from the webcast:

• "Looney Tunes has 12 characters and only 1 of them is female. But of course it’s everybody’s favorite, it’s Granny!"
  
  
• "In 1999, New York Times magazine figured out that if women were added to Congress at the same rate that they have been added, we would reach gender parity in 500 years. I don’t think we can wait that long for Congress and I certainly don’t think we can wait that long for the entertainments that our children are seeing. We can’t wait for the change to happen naturally. We’re going to have to push things along."
  

Technorati tags: See Jane, gender, stereotypes, children, kids, Geena Davis

Posted in: body image, Disney, kids on April 21, 2006 1 comments    

I've been meaning to post about this for days, ever since I read this article. It makes me so mad!!

It seems the unthinkable has happened. Disney has decided that the character of Christopher Robin (from the classic Winnie The Pooh stories by A.A. Milne) is not driving enough toy sales. So in order to boost revenue even more, Disney has decided to replace the character of Christopher Robin with a tomboyish 6 year old girl ('cause you know the Pooh franchise isn't very popular and is losing money. *insert sarcasm here* They only make $1 billion a year from Pooh, pooooor Disney!).

Who sat in their office at Disney and decided that replacing Christopher Robin was a good idea?! This isn't a soap opera, you can't just replace a main character and hope everyone gets used to it quickly! A.A. Milne would be rolling over in his grave if he knew that the character he based on his son was being forcibly removed from the Hundred Acre Wood. So much for not forgetting about Christopher Robin.

Posted in: Disney, kids on March 01, 2006 0 comments    

I'm a big Disney fan.

Let me amend that.

I went to Disney World on my honeymoon last year. I'm a big fan of classic Disney, and Disney animated features (the ones that are shown in movie theatres) from before 2002. But frankly, I think the animated features have been going downhill in a big way, and now that Disney has abandoned traditional animated features in favour of cheaper computer animation, my love affair with Disney is waning.

The thing that bugs me the most is the sequels. Oh God in heaven, THE SEQUELS. It makes me wonder if the folks at Disney have a creative bone left in their bodies. I used to have every Disney movie. I bought all of the animated features, and even started buying the direct to video sequels of animated features. I have The Rescuers Down Under, the Aladdin sequels, The Lion King 2... Lord help me I even have The Little Mermaid 2. Then I started to realize that in general, they're not very good! In fact, some of them downright suck. My frustration hit a peak when Disney released Cinderella 2. (It's happily ever after!!! There shouldn't BE a sequel!!)

Finally, I've found someone who shares my frustration enough to write about it. The 7th Level has an article about Disney sequels that's funny, truthful, and for those of you with children, tells you which sequels are tolerable, which are just plain bad, and which ones you shouldn't watch

Pixar still rocks, though.

Posted in: Disney, kids, movies on February 28, 2006 0 comments