A Disnerd Birthday Adventure, part 3: Fashion & Fun

Fashion
I was absolutely GIDDY that the vast majority of my party guests showed up in Disney-inspired outfits as requested. Yes, I indicated that it was not optional, but I kind of expected that some people wouldn't take me seriously. But to my delight, most of my friends participated... or maybe I should say...humored me.

First, my fabulous outfit. :) As you might have guessed, I was Flynn Rider! It's not so much Flynn as it is the actor Zachary Levi that I love. But it seemed appropriate to wear this for my birthday! The teal blouse (Old Navy) and skinny jeans (ModCloth) are both new. So, not quite an outfit on a budget, but I decided they were my birthday gift to myself. Everyone's allowed an exception when they're having an epic birthday.

And here are some of the other fabulous outfits! Click on the pictures to view bigger and read captions.

Thanks to Abi for these photos!

Thanks to Allison for these photos!

Not pictured: Carolyn as Cruella deVil & Amy as Goofy.

After the votes came in, Tiana (Rapunzel), Stephanie (Snow White), Elizabeth (Eeyore) and Kylene (Maleficent) went home as reigning Disnerd Fashionistas! Seriously though, I was super impressed by everyone's outfits. From Cassie's snake skin shoes (Jafar) to Laura's fishscale nails (Ariel), everyone did a great job! I hope you had fun because I sure did!

We also had other fun Disney-themed activities to complete the epic awesomeness. A huge shout-out to Kylene and Mimi for organizing!

Matching Game
Mimi led an icebreaker type game where each of us had a sticker on our back, with either a Disney hero/heroine, villain or a sidekick on it. We had to figure out who we were and then find our partner by asking each other yes or no questions. This was a great way for all my guests to meet each other, since I had friends from different areas of my life. Let it be noted that I was the first person to figure out my sticker (Pinocchio) and my partner (Abi - Jiminy Cricket)! I knew exactly who I was when I asked, "Am I human?" and someone answered, "Um...well it depends." :)

I have no idea what face I am making in the picture on the right.

Karaoke!
Later on in the evening I broke out the Disney karaoke. This may have been my favorite part of the night. I found a whole bunch of karaoke videos on YouTube that I compiled into a playlist. I hooked up my laptop to my TV and we had a whole hour of Disney karaoke songs! It was both heartwarming and slightly disturbing that everyone knew all the words to every song. (I knew I wasn't the only one!) Disney songs work well for karaoke because you are allowed to be both dramatic and silly. Plus, most of the songs are within my vocal range.

why do i look so earnest? and yes, that is a Disney Princess microphone (that someone gave me a while back)

I took a couple videos but this is by far my favorite. Drew totally embraced his Gaston-ness in this clip:

Who What Where
Kylene organized our last game, and by then we were down to about a dozen people. This is when things really got crazy (aren't you all wishing you had stayed longer? haha). We played a Disney version of "Who What Where". It's sort of like Pictionary but a little more involved. In each round we had to pick out pieces of paper with a "Who" - all Disney characters, a "What" and a "Where." Then we had to draw that scene. As you might imagine, hilarity ensued. See if you can guess some of these masterpieces (answers at the end of this post):

my drawing

Laura S's drawing

Amy's drawing

Christopher's drawing

All in all, this was probably the best birthday party I have ever had. I throw a good party, if I say so myself. ;) But it wouldn't have been possible without the help of so many friends, and for everyone who came to celebrate with me. I felt incredibly blessed and cared for that night. It was the perfect way to ring in my 30th year and cap off this crazy Disnerd Adventure! Thanks for being a party of my epic day!

I've got at least 2 more posts coming before I say goodbye, so stay tuned!


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Who What Where answers: (1) Aladdin break dancing in a tent (2) Cheshire Cat bowling in Madison (3) Ursula segue-ing on a mountain (4) Cogsworth pole vaulting in a cave

A Disnerd Birthday Adventure, part 1: Decorations

My birthday party was AWESOME! I'm still kind of on a high from all the fun I had that night. Actually, I can't really think of anything that would have made the party better, other than having my family and other close friends there. In fact there is so much epic-ness to cover that I need to break this up into a few posts.

First we will begin with my favorite element of the party: decorations! (This is a long post but it's mostly pictures.)

Those of you who know me or who have been following my blog have probably figured out that I'm a bit of a craft nerd. So I held nothing back at the challenge of creating a Disnerd-ified space on a budget.

Here's what I came up with!

Everyone at the party kept asking me, "How did you come up with all of this?" Well, part of it was my own creative genius, obviously. But the other part was lots of time on Google. The Internet is pretty handy, I must say. ;)

I started with the idea that I was going to use Disney children's books purchased at Goodwill as my materials. I bought these 14 books for a steal, $25! (Sorry to Goodwill shoppers, there are no longer any Disney books in stock.) From these books I made garland, ornaments and coasters.

Garland
Materials needed: 2-inch hole punch, string, scotch tape

Basically I punched holes out of the paper and taped them along the string. It was pretty simple though admittedly took a very long time. In the end I think I must have made, oh I dunno, maybe 250 feet of garland? That's a rough guess. Before I put them up I laid it all out across my living room. But this is actually only a portion of it here.

I had planned on just making garland when I bought the books, but I realized I had so much paper than I should probably do some other stuff with it as well. After some Googling and browsing on Etsy, I found these two ornaments that were pretty easy to make.

Pinwheels (from here) 
Materials needed: paper trimmer, stapler, hole punch, string

I used two pages each cut in half lengthwise after trimming the ripped edges. I folded each of the 4 halves into twelfths, accordion style. This was the most time consuming, but I fell into a rhythm by first folding in half, then fourths, to make my folds even. Then I stapled one end together to make a fan.

After all four halves were folded, I stapled the non-stapled ends together to form a circle.

Then I punched a hole through it, tied a piece of string on, and voila!

Lantern balls (from here)
Materials needed: paper trimmer, hole-poker & self healing mat, brads, string

These were a little easier, though it took me a while to figure out that I needed to start with a square shaped piece of paper instead of a rectangle.

I sliced the square into 8 even strips.

Then I pierced two holes through all strips lined up together, about an inch or so away from each end. I fastened the strips together by putting a brad through each hole.

Then I spread out the strips and formed them evenly into a ball shape.

Then I tied string around the top brad, and voila!

Coasters
I had a few board books (for babies) as well as all the hard book covers leftover. So I cut them into 3.5-inch squares and made coasters out of them! Since they have glossy surfaces I didn't need to laminate them. I did add cork board ($3 for a sheet) to the bottom of a few thinner pieces. These coasters were used at the party but I also gave them away as favors for guests. I still have a bunch left if anyone wants some!

 

A few extra things
I also printed out a small poster of my logo and made people sign it at the party, so I could record who came. And I put up the Tangled birthday banner that I got last year at my work birthday celebration.

The bottom line
Total cost for decorations: approximately $36. Not bad, I say! 

Total hours spent: unknown. :) I did this over the course of about 2 weeks. So yes, it took a long time. But seeing the impressed reaction of all my friends made it totally worth it!

Next up: food!

Disnerd Fashion: A Little Mermaid Family

Since she can't be at my big party this week, my longtime friend Lindsay dressed herself and her family in Disnerd fashion for my birthday! Thanks Lindsay, these pictures make me so happy!

Check out their amazing and adorable Little Mermaid outfits! Descriptions are directly from Lindsay's email.

Lilly, Mia, Lindsay & Dave

Lindsay - Ariel: green gaucho pants, modest purple tank with a cream (or pearl-y) colored sweater, pink flowers in hair, necklace with bronze/gold colors and pearls, and red shoes to represent Ariel's red hair. I chose Ariel because I had the right clothes... just ignore my big preggo belly.

Dave - Sebastian: red shirt and red oven mitts. [note from Laura: I loved the oven mitts! Hilarious!]

Lilly - Flounder: couple shades of blue, blue tank has some ruffles that remind me of ocean waves or sunlight glistening on the water, yellow skirt and a yellow headband.

Mia - Max (Prince Eric's dog):  white dress, white leggings, furry sweater vest, white headband, and a grey and black scarf to represent the grey fur on Max and his black nose.

Haha! We had fun getting dressed and taking the pictures. I'm attaching two pics from our photo shoot but check out Flickr to see the rest: http://www.flickr.com/photos/allbyself/8006527477/in/set-72157631508091108

This whole Disnerd thing has been fun to follow and fun to participate in too! :)  I'm proud of you for finishing and just in time to have a big celebration on your birthday. It's like the grand finale!

Happy Birthday!!!

Love, Lindsay
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Wanna celebrate my birthday with me? Take a picture of your Disnerd fashion outfit and post it on my Facebook page! 

Renaissance Parallels Pt. 5: Love

It's the last of my Renaissance Venn diagrams! I promise. :)

In this final set I focused on love, unquestionably the central theme to almost all Disney movies. But love doesn't necessarily mean romantic love (though 9 out of 10 times it does). I would like to point out the two fathers featured here: Mufasa and King Triton, both of whom give their lives for their child. Mufasa's death is one of the most emotional moments in the entire Renaissance.

It's also notable that Pocahontas shows up the most often, whereas it had very few appearances in the previous sets. This is probably because the love story in Pocahontas is the most overwhelming and dominating (ie: that movie doesn't have much else going on). It's probably not a coincidence that it's my least favorite Renaissance film. I love a good love story, but not when it becomes the whole story, which is kind of Pocahontas' downfall, in my opinion.

So, what did you think? Did I miss any major similarities? What was most surprising/interesting? Leave your comments!

And check out the other sets here:  main characters  |  songs |  villains  |  sidekicks

Renaissance Parallels Pt. 4: Sidekicks

So you wanna be a sidekick.

Sidekickery is a vital job in the Renaissance. Your first order of business is to tell your hero why you're so awesome. You should do this with great panache - song and dance is a must. After you've gotten the gig, your next task is to tell your hero why he's so awesome. (Heroes tend to have identity crises. They're high maintenance like that.) After that, finding some other talent or way to help out is a good idea. If you can fly, you're pretty much set. Otherwise, you should try to work on bossing other sidekicks around. That way you establish some authority. It also helps if you have a great sense of humor, know how to train your hero for battle, or hold a position as the king's right hand man.

If all else fails, being chubby and cute works just fine.

Renaissance Parallels Pt. 3: Villains

It's time to talk about villains! There are actually a lot of similarities between them.

A good (and by good I mean bad) villain is a key component to a quality Disney movie. The Renaissance has some great ones, but also some ehhh ones (namely Governor Ratcliffe from Pocahontas. Man, does he annoy me).

Observations:

• No Shan-Yu (Mulan)! I suppose he could be considered a 'jealous of the king' villain, sort of. Not quite. He's definitely pretty different from all the others. One of the scariest, that's for sure.
• There's only one appearance by the first Renaissance villain, Ursula, who, not insignificantly, is the only female villain of the series.
• Most frequent appearance: Judge Frollo from Hunchback.  
• I'm not actually sure if Hades is the brother of Zeus. I'm forgetting my Greek mythology at the moment. Anyone want to correct/confirm? 
• My favorite parallel is the hilariously similar way that Frollo and Scar confront the main character (Quasimodo, Simba), atop a high place that's on fire (Notre Dame, Pride Rock) and confess the truth that they killed his parent. Villains always seem to want to confess the truth at the climax of the film as they think they are about to triumph. But it never turns out well because shortly after the confession, the hero has a resurgence of energy and defeats them, and they fall to their demise. 
• I also love how villains can never seem to do anything by themselves. They always have their henchmen do the work, only to get frustrated when they inevitably screw it up. If you were a villain, why would you entrust the most important task (killing your arch nemesis) to your stupid sidekicks? This is highlighted in the satirical Emperor's New Groove, but it actually happens in both The Lion King and Hercules. Seriously. Scar and Hades were smart villains. That was their biggest mistake.

Did I miss any parallels between villains?

Renaissance Parallels Pt. 2: Songs

It's another edition of RenVenns! Music is arguably the Renaissance's greatest achievement. I know I've spent a lot more time playing this music on long car rides (when I can sing along, it helps me stay awake) than I have actually watching the movies.

I already wrote about the types of songs featured in these movies, as exemplified by the Beauty and the Beast soundtrack. So here, I present some of the lyric and content similarities.

There aren't too many patterns here, at least none that are surprising. The most common theme in songs are the main character's search and longing for meaning, fulfillment, love, etc. (every movie except Tarzan has a song about this). Makes sense--these are clearly emotions and thoughts that can only be expressed in song. Wouldn't it be awesome if life were a Disney musical? Whenever I was feeling sad, happy, excited, confused, I could just burst out into a musical number and it'd be exactly what I need.

The design is a bit messy because I added in samples of some of the song lyrics. I know that not everyone knows these songs by heart, as I do. 

Renaissance Parallels Pt. 1: Main Characters

I'd like to say that I noticed similarities between all the Renaissance films after watching them consecutively for these past 3 months. But in reality, I created a highly extensive spreadsheet several years ago. Yes, I just admitted that here in the public blogosphere. I figure after 9 months of Disnerdy antics, I don't have much face left to save.

SO, I thought it was about time to turn that spreadsheet into some fun Disnographics! Here's my first edition of "Renaissance Parallels." This first set of Venn diagrams (should I call them RenVenns? Haha. Wow.) focuses on main characters.

I find it interesting that 5 of these 8 parallels are family-related, two of which have to do with father-child relationships. Also, Tarzan, the latest of the 9* movies I'm comparing, shows up 5 times as well. I suppose by the time they got to Tarzan, they just grabbed stuff from all the previous stories? In any event, you start to see how similar these movies are to each other when you look at them like this.

Coming up: sidekicks, songs, villains and a couple others if I can muster up the time. There are a LOT of parallels!

*Rescuers Down Under will not appear in this Disnographic series. It has so little of the same structure, which is why I've always said it doesn't count as Renaissance.

Renaissance Ranked

Well, folks, it's the end of an era. The Renaissance movies will forever remain the best of the best, in my Disnerd opinion. I'm sad that we're moving on, but I've really enjoyed the past 10 weeks! Hope you have to.

You can expect the blog to calm down a bit, but I hope you will still tune in. I've got some Renaissance Disnographics in the works, and believe it or not, there are still about 15 more movies to review! (Yup. That's about four more months, people.)

In case you are curious, here's how I personally rank the Renaissance films. Do you agree or disagree?

1. tie: Aladdin (review) & The Lion King (review)
Top question I've been asked in the past 9 months of Disnerding? "What's your all-time favorite Disney movie?" These two tie for first. They both seem to have that perfect blend of compelling characters, an engaging story, beautiful animation, and awesome music. Funnily enough they also typically get labeled as "boy" Disney movies. Like I've said before, I've never really been into the whole princess thing.  

3. Beauty & the Beast (review)
Just trailing those 2 is Beauty & the Beast, which also has the same quality elements I listed above. I also love the development of not one but two central characters. Their transformations are interesting and compelling.

4. Mulan (review)
The main reason this isn't higher on the list is because of the music. I do love the songs that are on the soundtrack, but somehow they leave me wanting. They're not as classic or memorable as some of the Menken/Ashman stuff. Otherwise though, it's a pretty awesome Disney movie. And Mulan is a pretty awesome heroine.

5. The Little Mermaid (review)
Despite my critique of the film's story, it's hard to deny that The Little Mermaid was instrumental in kicking off a magical era of animation. The movie's demonstration of creativity and fun outweighs its more annoying aspects. I dare you to watch "Under the Sea" and NOT sing and dance along!

6. Tarzan (review)
The relationships between the characters are what make me love this film. It's also beautifully animated and the sequences when Tarzan is flying/surfing through the jungle are impressive. Also, it's hard not to love a movie starring a muscular man in a loincloth.

7. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (review)
It's probably the darkest of the Renaissance films, but so interesting and unique for that reason. The Latin choral music-inspired score is pretty epic, and Quasimodo is one of the purest heroes ever.

8. Hercules (review)
As has been said, this film doesn't shine quite as brightly as the others, but it's definitely entertaining, heartwarming and fun. And I will always love Hercules' cinnamon bun ears.
 

9. Pocahontas (review)
Ehh. I think I've already said enough about this one.

10. Rescuers Down Under (review)
The only reason this falls after Pocahontas is because I've never counted it as an actual Renaissance film.

Stay tuned for more Renaissance wrap-up stuff: Disnographics, a summary of my fashion updates, and maybe some other stuff if I have time. :)