The Princess and the Frog

I've seen The Princess and the Frog twice now.  Once I bought the little man to see it and my mom came and then the second time, we went with my mother-in-law and my sister-in-law.  I enjoyed it both times though I think Bub got tired halfway through the second time.  Of course, it was naptime.
I thought it was really well done and I enjoyed all the characters.  I know there was controversy about her being the first black princess and all that it entailed, but I'm not going to comment on that.  Although I will say that instead of the princess being saved, she was the one doing the saving.  But it wasn't so overt and in your face like some movies try to do.
It is a shame that she spends so much time as a frog though.  I enjoyed her character and I liked that both main characters needed to learn lessons before they could get out of their predicement.
And since I'm from South Louisiana, I will say that the Cajun characters were extremely awesome.  I liked Ray the firefly a lot.  Some of the stuff he says is so dead on and most of the accents were perfect.  It is so rare to find a movie with good Louisiana accents (with the exception of Charlotte.  I loved her character, but her accent ... not so much).  There are a couple of jokes that I don't think people will find funny though outside of Louisiana and some things that are very regional.  New Orleans and the bayou are amazingly drawn and dead-on.  My MIL, who is from New Orleans, said it looked like NO she grew up in, not how it looks now.  And the music was so great.  It's not classic like Beauty and the Beast or The Little Mermaid, but it fit the tone of the movie really well.  The zyedco number was wonderful.  So all in all, a great movie.

New seasons of my favorite shows

So Lost is premiering next month on the 2nd and Project Runway this month on the 14th. I'm going to try and do my "thoughts" posts that I was doing before. I really enjoy doing posts like that for some reason. Especially on Lost since it helps me keep my thoughts and theories clear and I can check back later.

In other news, I think Psych is coming back soon and Gossip Girl too. Now that I've finally caught up on it, I can watch it with the rest of the GG fans. I have all of the current (and last :( ) season of Dollhouse saved and I need to get around to watching that some time.

Social Justice Challenge - Month 1 - Religious Freedom

So I joined the Social Justice Challenge last month.  This month is focusing on Religious Freedom.  I'll be joining at the Intern level this month, read or choose other media and do an action step.  I'm going to read Does My Head Look Big in This? by Randa Abdel-Fattah.

Here are the questions they are asking this month

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of religious freedom?
I would say the ability to practice your religion without fear of persecution or judgment by others who are not of your religion.  I think religious tolerance is important.  To learn that it's okay for others to not believe as you believe.  Personally someone's beliefs do not affect what I believe.  I respect your right to believe as you choose/are taught just I expect others to respect my beliefs.  Everyone should have the freedom to worship or not as they choose.

What knowledge do you have of present threats to religious freedom in our world today? I'll be honest, I'm not really one to pay attention to "issues" or really current events of this nature which is why I joined this challenge.


Why does religious freedom matter to you? It sounds idealistic, but I truly believe that everyone should be allowed to believe in the God of their choosing.  But I do not believe in harming others especially in the name of that God.  Violence leads to nothing good.

MOAR names

So every now and then I like to talk about baby names for the imaginary second child that we will have next year one day.  New names have been added to the list.

For a boy:  Nathaniel William, which is really long I know, but I have my heart set on William for the middle name.  We would call him Nate.  My top favorite is still Calder though.  BT suggested Caleb but I knew a very bad boy named Caleb once and it's not one of my favorites anyway.

For a girl: Charlotte Rose or Anne, which I like a lot, maybe more than Juliet.  We could nickname her Lottie or Charlie, but I would want call her Chuck myself.  Though I think Lottie is a very cute name.  I liked Evangeline, but that was nixed by BT. 

Sophia is out since it was the number 7 most popular name in 2008.
Oh and check out this site, The Baby Name Wizard.  It lets you chart names and does cool things.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all!  I hope that 2010 is great for everyone!