Well, I am officially trying to hide my fangirl squeal. In France for the upcoming holiday season, the Galeries Lafayette has unveiled their beautiful windows - and they just happened to be themed to La Belle et La Bete (2014).

To say that I am dying on the inside because I want to see this in person is the biggest understatement of all time. Seriously, I wanna run out and get a ticket to France right now. Unfortunately, I lack the funds and a passport. So let's look at the pictures together, shall we? And we can both dream  a little of looking at these in person.

I will be honest, I once was a proud "Monster". When Lady Gaga, the reigning queen of bizarre publicity stunts and awkward musical choices debuted onto the scene, I was sold in an instance. She had all the wacky clothes, great vocals, and catchy tunes to make her a hit among classic pop fanatics. She showed influences from the grand daddies and mommies of the 70s and 80s, with some 90s thrown in. She was curvy, full of fun and didn't take herself too seriously.

But slowly since the release of The Fame in 2008, Gaga has become the exact polar opposite of all those things and in fact a joke of her former self - to the point where even her album covers ( as seen above) seem like a parody.

With her latest release, the vain inspired ArtPop, Gaga tries to recreate the success she had with her past releases, but unfortunately fizzles to the newest lows with forced "fierceness" and an overabundance of repetitive "tricks" from her previous work. Think all the greatness of tracks like "Paparazzi" and "Dance in the Dark", rip out all the energy and fun and fill it instead with pathetic attempts at relevance, and you haven't even begun to scrape the surface of the mess that is ArtPop.


And that one song, that one sound, speaks levels to why ArtPop is in many respects a failure. The Lady Gaga I fell for initially was a no-nonsense, pop culture respecting artist that didn't take crap from critics and got attention because she had talent - not just musically but being an overall artist. Now she's become a "Monster" like version of her younger self, whose influenced too much by the attention she has garnered and is asking the world to respect her in the way they did with her idols musically (MJ, Bowie, Madonna, etc.) But the problem is none of those artists asked for respect upfront - they got it when it was deserved.

ArtPop only deserves one thing: to be known as a textbook example of what could go wrong with your third album. And apparently Gaga's now ex-manager, Troy Carter, agrees.

Score: 4.9 out of 10

Welp, here is probably some of the most shockingly amazing and bizarre news I have ever seen. Yes, the title is correct: There is apparently someone that wrote a Britney Spears jukebox musical (using her discography) that tells the story of Jesus Christ. It's name is Spears: The Gospel According to Britney, and this could either be the best thing to ever happen or the worst (both?)

All I know is, if it does get recorded or produced, I will be there in a heartbeat to see the train wreck. A Britney Spears musical all ready sounds amazing, in that awful sort of way, and if I get to see an incredibly campy rendition of Hit Me Baby One More Time, I am so there. 

Check out the follow story on Broadway.com.

I have finally returned from Disney World and am now ready to give all you lovely readers a breakdown of the most relaxed, awesome vacation of all time. Lets start with the official first day of the trip. First off, I woke up extremely early (no surprise there) as I was too excited to sleep. I decided to spend my incredibly early time by explore the grounds of the resorts.

First I toured around Pop Century. We were located in the 70's area (which ended up being cooler than expected!) Our room was very close to the giant set piece of the section, showcasing a huge Big Wheels Bike and Mickey Mouse Telephone. As I walked around further to see more of the decor, I noticed a group of bunnies hopping near me. This was incredibly adorable and surprising, even for this little New Yorker who used to seeing similar creatures. I tried to snap a shot of one, but the lack of light made it hard for a good picture.


Afterwards, I returned to my hotel room and saw all my other roommates were awake. We got dressed and made our way to our first park visit of the trip: Disney's Hollywood Studios!


First we visited one of my favorite rides of all time: Star Tours. After visiting a galaxy far far away we headed off to check out more of the park. On the way we went on the ride that made me want to be part of the filmmaking business: The Great Movie Ride. Though simple and cheesy as hell by today's standards, this ride captures the perfect little feeling that watching the grand classic films of the past give you when viewing them for the first time. Some of my favorite moments are seeing Gene Kelly in Singing in the Rain or Dorothy and crew from The Wizard of Oz.

It's time for another epic and awesome Disney World trip to commence. This time I will be going in October, my first official Fall season trip to the park. Previously I had been in September, when things are in mid-transformation for the beginning of the holiday seasons to come.

Another first for this trip is I will not be going with my mom this time. She usually is my trusted park companion, but she encouraged me to go with my equally awesome and amazing frilly friends. That's right - this is gonna be a frilly Disney vacation! Literally the vacation of my dreams!

Just to get it all out my system (and incase you are curious) here is my schedule for the trip:

First off we will be staying in the Pop Century resort, another first for me!


Our first day will be spent at Hollywood Studios, my personal favorite park out of the four. I know a lot of people aren't big fans of it, but its one of the main reasons why I became such a passionate film fanatic. Attractions like The Great Movie Ride and Animation Studio Tour sparked my interest in the industry and the history behind it.

Sorry for things being slow here on Magic a'la Mode! I've been insanely busy the past month like you would never believe. But let's take a moment to celebrate some new movie news that is worthy of a Fangirly Post!

First up, finally the poster for the 2014 French Beauty and the Beast film was released! And yes, we finally get to see the Beast in the (CGI) flesh. The design itself looks awesome, but I am a tad nervous that the motion capture budget isn't up to pare, and thus The Beast will look a bit cheap on film when he is next to his completely live action co-star. Either way I am ridiculous excited.

But there is one thing I have complete confidence in, and that is the Into The Woods film that is currently in production. Dear god the cast of this movie looks flawless. Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp and Chris Pine - it is literally perfect. Speaking of (my favorite aspect of the movie) Chris Pine, there was a lot of on set photos released including him in his princely garb! Check out how charismatic and charming (pun intended) he looks!

In the beginning of the summer, Guillermo del Toro's next big movie, Crimson Peak, was announced with little to no idea of what or who would it be about. Now that a plot and cast has been publicized, everyone is buzzing just a bit more about the flick.