They WERE lies! :D

Yesterday, I made a post about how supposedly Disney was not going to make any more fairytales. Well, their official Facebook page has contradicted such a statement. I can't even begin to describe how relieved I was when I read this.

On the Official Disney facebook, they say “A headline in today’s LA Times erroneously reported that the Disney fairytale is a thing of the past, but I feel it is important to set the record straight that they are alive and well at Disney and continue this week with Tangled, a contemporary retelling of a much loved story. We have a number of projects in development with new twists that audiences will be able to enjoy for many years to come”

So the lesson here: DON’T ALWAYS BELIEVE IN WHAT YOU READ, DEFINITELY NOT FROM SOURCES LIKE NEWSPAPERS OR MAGAZINES!!!

LIES!!! (I hope)

I recently read an article about Disney. It has announced that they are "closing the book of fairytales". I wanted to cry when I saw that. Disney fairytales have always been my favorite. I am currently obsessing over their latest flick, Tangled (coming out in 4 days) and was looking forward to their next fairytale, The Snow Queen. However, they have scratched The Snow Queen out and will move on to other projects.

I remember when Disney announced that they would not make anymore animated films back in 2004. LIES!!!! Because in 2009, they came out with The Princess and the Frog. I am hoping this is the case with their latest heart-breaking statement. Their reasoning for going back to animation was because they "should not be ashamed of what [they] do best" (according to legendary animator, Glenn Keane). Why can't this statement hold true to fairytales as well? Their most successful films have been fairytales! Anyways, there is always hope... maybe they will see sense if Tangled does well in the box office and if not, then they will in a few years.

Disney Freak

Often when people first meet me, they become aware a a certain characteristic of mine almost right away... I am a Disney freak. No not Disney Channel or any live-action type (though some of those are good too). No, I mean the animation department. This blog post is dedicated to the most wonderful video production team that ever existed.


MY TOP 10 FAVORITES:

10) Robin Hood


9) Hercules

8) The Great Mouse Detective


7) The Hunchback of Notre Dame


6) The Little Mermaid


5) Mulan


4) Aladdin


3) The Princess and the Frog


2) Beauty and the Beast


1) The Lion King


A FEW SHOUT-OUTS TO THEM:

*I had The Lion King memorized when I was 2 years old and it will always have a special place in my heart.
*The Princess and the Frog restored my faith in Disney animation and its magic
*Beauty and the Beast scared me out of my mind so much that I refused to watch it until I was about 13. Now I absolutely adore it. The ending gives me shivers (more than any other Disney film has before).
*Despite what all my friends think, I think Ariel is one of the cutest princesses. I know she's immodest, folks, but there's just something about her that makes her so likeable.


FAVORITE PRINCESSES:

10) Snow White


9) Pocahontas


8) Cinderella


7) Jasmine


6) Aurora


5) Mulan (hey, she's part of the Disney Princess Franchise so she counts)


4) Giselle


3) Tiana

2) Belle


1) Ariel



If you look at one of my previous posts (http://kelsiameliameyer.blogspot.com/2010/08/tangled.html), you will see my review on the latest upcoming Disney movie, Tangled (November 24, 2010). I have high expectations and I predict that one of my current top 10 movies might have to make way for Tangled once I've seen it :)

So,
#) Tangled



and,
#) Rapunzel

I could of course go on all day about how much I love Disney. The songs, the animation, the characters, the magic... but I won't. I will just leave you with this: "Animation offers a medium of story telling and visual entertainment which can bring pleasure and information to people of all ages everywhere in the world." -- Walt Disney

Pizza Mishap

This happened almost a year ago, but it was so funny I just had to blog about it. I will first give you an account of the experience through my dad's words:


"I think I just lived our own version of "A Christmas Story" for the Meyer household (except, we didn't lose a turkey to the galloping dogs).

My wife left me in charge of taking out the pizzas from the oven while she went to pick up Brady and his friends from basketball practice, as they were all coming over for a birthday party/sleep over. The timer started beeping on the oven, so I opened the door to take out the bubbling cheese pizza. I discovered that my wife had simply put the pizza crust directly on the oven trays without a pizza pan... so now what to do? I quickly rolled up a kitchen towel (to be used as a hot pad) and grabbed the rectangle shaped cookie sheet on the bottom tray of the oven (which I assumed was there to catch any dripping cheese from above) -- and slipped it under the pizza crust like a pro would would have done. The only problem here is that the pizza and the pan were different shapes, thus the hot pizza was drooping over two of the pan's edges. I skillfully balanced everything out of the oven and tried to quickly place the pan on the upper section of our kitchen counter, as I didn't want our curious dogs jumping up and getting at it. Apparently, due to the centrifugal force of quickly placing the pan on the counter, the scalding hot pizza started to slip off the outside edge of the pan towards the floor. I quickly tried to stop it with my hands -- which didn't work so well (did I mention earlier that the pizza was scalding hot?)! After burning my hands, I then grabbed the rolled towel to help out, but by then half of melted cheese had already fallen to the stool and down to the floor... where the dogs were waiting and licking their chops (reminded me of the crocodiles waiting for Captain Hook in Peter Pan).

Needless to say, there were a variety of yells and frantic screams emanating from my personage -- my hands getting scalded screams... followed by yelling at the dogs waiting below... followed by calling for the girls upstairs (apparently, they were hard of hearing while watching something on the computer, so I had to yell even louder!)... at the same time yelling in exasperation over this whole scene!

Well, the girls finally came down and had a good laugh at my expense (while taking photos) as they learned what had happened to their dear old dad.

Kelsi then said, "Dad, this is the proper way of taking a pizza out of the oven..."

Aren't girls smart?!!"


Yes girls are smart :) I had to explain exactly how to take a pizza out of the oven:

1) Find the PIZZA TRAY, not a cookie sheet
2) Put on OVEN MITTS
3) Open the oven, hold the tray slightly under the oven rack
4) Use either a spatula or your PROTECTED hand to slide the pizza onto the tray
5) Use both hands to place the pizza on the CLOSEST counter
6) Close the oven as soon AFTER you put the pizza down so you don't hold the tray with one hand

I also added:

You were not screaming at us. You were just screaming. We heard you, but we thought you were putting stuff on your poison oak. The next time you need help, call our names huh? We don't know what AAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!means.








Me and my mad skills of perfectly removing a pizza from the oven


Compare this picture to the first picture. Epic win vs. epic fail


It's alright, Dad. Someday you'll be a skilled as me. *cue Superman Theme*

My Future Plans

OK for my entire life I've been encouraged to make goals and write them down. Recently, this has been pressed upon me even more than before as I am getting closer to college and adult-hood. I thought I'd share some plans of mine (not too personal that is) and explain how I plan to accomplish them and such.

1) Go to BYU Idaho
2) Major in film making
3) Publish a book before I graduate college
4) Get married before age 27

NUMBER ONE:
I've always wanted to go to BYU since I knew it existed, but I always wanted to go to Provo. Idaho never seemed very appealing to me and I didn't know that there was one in Hawaii until I was like 13 or 14. I have always had my eyes set on Provo. Always, that is, until last year. I took the SAT and ACT last year and both reported that Idaho was a better match for me than Provo. That was the roots of my change of mind and I continued thinking about it for the rest of the year. I was hesitant to tell my friends about my desires to attend Idaho as they all wanted to go to Provo, so I only hinted at it every once in a while. Suddenly, practically all of them had a sudden change of mind and wanted to go to Idaho rather than Provo. Our... well at least my mind was set after a presentation on all the church schools. Idaho has a 97% acceptance rate. That seemed more appealing to me since I had received minimal grades my Junior year.

Although colleges look at your GPA from your sophmore and junior year, I am striving to do much better in school this year as a senior. I am planning on doing the school play this spring so that I have some extracurricular activities to boast about (for lack of a better term). I am hoping to attend Idaho, but if I don't get in, then I hope to make it into one of the BYU's.

NUMBER TWO:
My talent/love for movie making began when I was about 11. That was when I first discovered YouTube. I loved all the movies made and I wanted to try it for myself. I didn't write any material, nor did I actually film myself doing anything. It all started with me just putting music to clips of The Princess Bride. Therefore, my first projects were only developing my editing skills. My first real project was when I was about 13. The Beehives were going to make a movie for mutual and the presidency was in charge of writing, filming, and producing it. I helped write the script, cast the characters, put together costumes, and I even wrote an entire song (since it was going to be a musical). We utilized my dad's video camera and I was one of the directors. I edited it by myself (my first experience with iMovie). My first experience of a music video was over summer vacation the following year. I was home alone almost all day every day for a week, so I got bored. I randomly decided to make a video to Veggietales' The Hairbrush Song, starring only me and filmed by me. I found that I really enjoyed doing this and proceeded to make a video to almost all the Veggietales songs. Since then, I have written my own material (including the A Pirate's Life For Me trilogy) as well as made other music videos.

Making movies is one of (if not my number one) my favorite pastimes. I can get so into it and I love everything about it. Therefore, it makes sense for me to decide to pursue this in college. I can't decide which particular field I want, but I'll soon find out. Also, I decided on this because I have noticed that I am practically cut out to be in the movie business. I mean, I love watching movies and I love everything about them (lighting, camera movement, story, characters, actors, and so on.), I have knowledge of music, art, and technology (to an extent), I have a loud voice (I don't usually use it, but I have one), I know what makes a good story, I can take control but I can also work in a team, I am a phenomenologist, and I know there are other traits that I can't think of at the moment.

In order to fully prepare for my potential major and (possibly) my career, I am currently taking Teledramatic Arts. Tele Arts covers practically everything involved in movie making, giving me experience in several fields.

NUMBER THREE:
You can read all about my rejected manuscript in a past post as well as my progress. I am rewriting it and I plan on submitting it elsewhere once I'm in college. It's easier for authors if they are at least attending college, if not already graduated, if they want to publish something. I will not give up on Shaken Forever, I will keep rewriting it until it's accepted. I am determined to have some sort of work published before I graduate college, even if it's not Shaken Forever.

NUMBER FOUR:
There's not much to say on this. I am just determined to beat my dad's age. Also I've figured that the older I get without getting married, the higher chance I have of marrying a guy younger than me (which I don't want) because all guys my age or older will be married before they're thirty. I am counting on my patriarchal blessing's words that I will meet a worthy YOUNG man. If I do what I'm supposed to, I'm assuming I will get married before thirty (not that thirty is old, thirty it's just the marking point of middle age). However this all depends on Heavenly Father's idea of "young".

Tangled

As most know, I am a complete Disney freak. I have a history of loving kid movies, happy endings, finding your true love, magic, adventure, etc. All these qualities are contained in Disney films. For years, if I ever heard of a new Disney movie, I would jump to my feet, rush to a computer and look into it. Usually I become very anxious to see it, but sometimes I lose interest all together. I never lose interest in Disney's animated movies.

After their failure on Home on the Range (2004), Disney announced that they would not make anymore traditionally animated movies. This announcement broke many hearts. I was too young to realize that this had happened, but if I were a bit older, I would have screamed at the very least. Disney did produce more Pixar films, (which are always amazing) and one of its own CG films, Bolt, but they stayed true to the proclamation they made in 2004. They finally broke their word by making The Princess and the Frog.

A little while after The Princess and the Frog was released, I began to wonder if Disney would make anymore animated movies. I had previously looked at upcoming Disney movies that had been sitting on the bookshelf for years, none seeming to have any potential. One night while I was on my laptop, I was looking up the DVD release date for the Princess and the Frog. I found the date on Wikipedia. If you've ever been to Wiki, you know there are links and connections at the bottom. I saw one that read, Rapunzel. Curious, I clicked on the link. My dream had come true. Disney was making another fairytale. I could have cried for joy. The wiki page didn't give much information other than that a teaser trailer would be released soon. I would have to wait. I kept looking up stuff, trying to find a release date and such. It was scheduled for some time in 2010.


I was severely disappointed when I found out that the movie would not be traditionally animated. When I saw that it would be a CG film, my excitement was dimmed. Then I found out that Disney would not keep with the well-known title, "Rapunzel" and would be changing it to "Tangled". After learning of this change, I was almost completely turned off. Time for another Disney failure. However, I still held a small curiosity rather than interest. I would occasionally check for updates, but not with the same excitement I have had previously. When the time came, I watched the teaser (link included below). It didn't give much information (of course). It seemed to be following the traditional story save the fact that Rapunzel had magical hair. It never showed any characters, (just some voiceovers as the camera zooms in on Rapunzel's tower) so I really did not know what to expect at all still. My interest was piqued again though.

In March, I became a fan of Walt Disney's Animated Films on Facebook and got all their updates. There wasn't much about Tangled save one or two concept drawings. One day in May, I checked Wiki again for any updates. It said that a new trailer would premiere on June 20 on the Facebook page. For some reason after reading this, I became very excited. I couldn't wait for the trailer to come out. After much waiting, I finally watched the trailer (I've included the actual video below). My view on the movie was completely altered after the trailer. Now that I knew what the characters looked like, sounded like, and got a very vague story, I was hooked. I have to admit that the trailer mainly only excited me through of visual appeal. It looked like a traditionally animated movie! The plot of the trailer (centred around the male protagonist) seemed to be sort of cheesy, but after looking up more stuff, I found that the plot of the actual movie focuses more on Rapunzel. Since the trailer came out, I have been checking Wiki and other sources for updates. I got a general plot outline and more pictures. Facebook updates at least once or twice a week. I watch the trailer almost everyday and have it memorized already. I can't wait until November 24!

OK so now to the point of this extremely long blog post: Information and my thoughts concerning the movie.

I learned from The Princess and the Frog that straying away from the traditional story can actually be better if done well. That way you didn't know what to expect as much. The male role of Tangled is not a prince, he is a dashing thief on the lam, who just happens to stumble upon Rapunzel's tower. Somehow they come to an agreement for him to take Rapunzel from her isolation.

RELEASED PLOT: When the kingdom’s most wanted—and most charming—bandit Flynn Rider (Zachary Levi) hides out in a mysterious tower, he’s taken hostage by Rapunzel (Mandy Moore), a beautiful and feisty tower-bound teen with 70 feet of magical, golden hair. Flynn’s curious captor, who’s looking for her ticket out of the tower where she’s been locked away for years, strikes a deal with the handsome thief and the unlikely duo sets off on an action-packed escapade, complete with a super-cop horse, an over-protective chameleon and a gruff gang of pub thugs. In theaters this holiday season in Disney Digital 3D™, “Tangled” is a story of adventure, heart, humor and hair—lots of hair.

So, my opinion. I think it is an interesting twist on the story. I am already liking the two title characters enormously. Flynn's horse and Rapunzel's chameleon seem to be very funny too. All the characters I have seen look amazing (in their own way).

Like I said, I was mad about the title change. Why did they have to make it sound like such a rip-off of the classic fairytale? I couldn't figure out what on earth possessed them to change it. Many, many, MANY people were equally upset. Disney's explanation was that they wanted to appeal to boys as well as girls. They believed that although The Princess and the Frog did well financially, it didn't do as well as they had anticipated. They believed this to be because they made it seem too girly. I could see their point, but I was still a little T.O.ed. My opinion has just changed slightly, recently, after reading what one of the directors had to say about the title change. He said, "we sat back and looked at the film, and as much as, and I said this before, this movie does not work if Rapunzel’s not in the movie and it also does not work if Flynn Rider’s not in the movie. This is the story of the two of them, and you can’t make the film without one or the other. So, because of that, we wanted a title that reflected the movie that we were making. Rapunzel, it’s like calling Toy Story… Buzz Lightyear. Why would you do that? That’s the story of Buzz and Woody, so they call it Toy Story. This is the same thing. This isn’t the story of one character; it’s the story of two characters. So we needed a title that reflected that." I am still not perfectly fine with the title, Tangled, but I understand where they are coming from and I'm sure I will get used to it.
I was also upset that it would not be traditionally animated. There were too many CGI films already. Besides, it was Pixar's job to make amazing CG films, not Disney's animation department. My opinion was changed after seeing the trailer and pictures. Despite the fact that it was CG, it still had a 2-D feel. It was still a Disney fairytale! (Link below)

The part that really has me hooked is that it is a musical and that Alan Menken will be composing the songs!!! So stoked! I can't wait to hear them. He says that the songs are based off of 60's rock. I'm not sure what to make of that statement. All I know is that he has never written a bad song, especially in Disney.

So we'll have to see how it turns out. I promise, I'll blog about it after I see it. I have high expectations! Don't let me down Disney!


Sorry, you'll have to copy and paste these links. I couldn't get the links button to work.

TEASER TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Wd0sOwCJPM


TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2f516ZLyC6U


FEATUERETTE: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79ia4UL2N8o


VISUAL APPEAL:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awlBswjJC-g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJgzWFJDww0&p=941C6539DBFD71BE&index=4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PoFFzbNzSo8&p=941C6539DBFD71BE&index=5


EXTRA INFO: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMUZFGIf7Ig

Shaken Forever Rewrite

I got my letter last week from Deseret Books. Sadly it was a rejection. I'll admit I was a little disappointed, but I brushed it off. I had hardly expected it to be accepted for publication, after all it is only my first book (not counting the little practice stories I've written over the years)

I understand that most beginning authors who are rejected tend to give up. This was not my case. Actually it made me want to try harder. I originally intended to go back and polish up some stuff. Make it more exciting and all. However when I went back, I found that there were more mistakes and weak plot points than I had thought. I decided to completely rewrite the book.

I went online and found some creative writing tips. After reading them, I discovered more and more big boo-boos in my original story. After reading the tips, I came to the conclusion that Shaken Forever was poorly written with no hook, a weak plot, cruddy dialogue, and especially weak characters. It might sound like I'm only being hard on myself, but I'm being honest. While my book had it's good points, it was mostly a mess. I'm throwing this one into my pile of "Practice Stories" along with The Crossed Swords Series, The Emerald Arrow, and all my unfinished novels.

Taking advice from the writing tips, I began with redeveloping the characters. I won't go into detail, but they have a lot more depth now. After that, I wrote the first few paragraphs of the book (aka the hook) focusing on drawing the readers in. I then proceeded to make a rough outline of the entire story.

I have completely redesigned the book. I now begin the book with Moroni's earlier life. I changed his relationships with other figures such as Amalickiah. I have changed his romantic life drastically. Lastly, I have changed the events leading to his rise as Chief Captain entirely.

I also made changes for potential sequels. Now I am planning on three books. The first one (which I am working on right now) is about Moroni's rise to Chief Captain. The second will be about his issues with Amalickiah. The third will be about his issues with Ammoron. These are prone to change so I will keep you posted. The first is currently titled, Shaken Forever: Chief Captain, but might change.

I am praying that my rewrite will be much better than my original story. You can keep track of my progress by the box on the right. I am going to be more critical of myself on this rewrite. I will be sharing bits and pieces with the public to receive their opinions. I will submit it to a publisher when I am in college. (While in the midst of my research for writing tips, I found that authors have a better chance of their books being accepted if they are at least in the process of getting a college degree.)