Continuing with my previous posts, I wanna discuss another well known adaptation of Beauty and the Beast. Though not regarded by many to be the best nor the worst, this 70's production includes some interesting casting choices and beautiful locations among other notable factors. Let's dance into a look around the 1976 version starring George C. Scott and his wife Trish Van Devere.

First and foremost as mentioned, our two leads in real life were married when filming this, making their chemistry the most realistic one could get when looking for an on-screen couple. Many times you can see the spark between Scott and Devere, though sometimes knowing this fact makes the film's romantic aspect a little bit awkward, especially when it comes to the sequences that involve our leading man screaming off in anger.



Speaking of which, this could indeed be the first version in which the Beast truly has severe anger management issues, something that became more included as a major plot point in future versions (notably the Disney adaptation, which started the permanent trend of that being one of the reasons for his transformation!) But while Disney's Beast gets fussy and chases her out of the house from time to time, this Beast (or Sir Gentle Eyes as Belle refers him to) instead creeps the hell out of our leading lady to the point of her being psychologically damaged in the beginning. This sequences plus moments of the Beast snapping back at Belle with incredible sass make him unlikable overall.

Belle though falls into a similar category, but at least she does something similar to the Josette Day version of 1946 and Disney's 1991 heroine: She defends herself. Sure, she's initially scared but she gets control over her captor and makes him feel awful at the end of his temper tantrums. This Belle also has the distinction of being the only truly feminist version on film, telling the Beast that his liking of Aristotle is ridiculous, especially since she doesn't believe herself to be the woman the famous writer describes. (In short, Belle describes Aristotle to have what us modern day gals would call "Nice Guy Syndrome".)

But Belle is definitely not perfect either. This incarnation of our leading beauty is actually one that quotes herself to only believe in the true stories and no fantasies. Sure, her family believes in old wives tales from time to time, but even when being asked simply to hear the story of a Unicorn, she refuses to be told the story unless it is deemed true.

Now granted this could be a reflection of her honesty, but at times with the way Trish delivers her lines comes off bitchy and cold hearted, something that is hard to swallow from a character that is supposed to ask for something as delicate as a rose.



But one thing that should be given credit to this version is it's age choices. Realistically, when reading the original tale and knowing the time period it was written in, I always thought the "prince" at the end would be an older and more mature man, someone who would be wealthy and able to support a girl this age. As this story was considered by most to be meant for young brides in arranged marriages, it would indeed make sense for the Beast to turn into a man in his middle age.

So while most adaptations one would expect a handsome young dashing Prince, we get a middle aged bigger King character, which though not exactly one of the fantasies of most young women works in its context and is more realistic - something that relates to this Belle's method of thinking. Though oddly, on the last shot of the film, we see that Belle's face is puzzled. Not sure if this facial expression was intentional, but it oddly seems as if this wasn't the complete happy ending she was hoping for.

Now its no secret that I am a big huge girly girl when it comes to my feelings on romance and cute guys in the lime light. I sure do have a huge crush list when talking about celebrity crushes, but I have my own separate list that I believes needs to be mentioned to the masses: My Old Man Crush List.

But how does one determine the Old Man Crush? How is even a male celebrity put into such a category? Well for me, there are a few factors that must be included:

1 - The individual must be older than 45.
2 - Must still look awesome compared to their younger selves.
3 - Must not let their age damage their confidence.

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, let's explore the crush list, with some junior candidates not old enough to become full time members:

Finally some photos of La Belle et la Bete (Beauty and the Beast) have been released along with an explanation of the photos by director Christophe Gans. Here I did a really rough translation of two key elements from the interview in Premiere Magazine, giving some really awesome insight into this new version of the fairy tale. Again, this translation is very rough, but I hope it at least paints a much more clearer and excited picture for people interested in the film.

This past weekend I went to a convention I heard about for many years. Though some have given me mixed reviews, my boyfriend invited me along for the adventure, and thus I took on the task of investigating Connecticon 2013 (in Hartford, CT!)

First off, what makes this convention different than your mom and dad's older organized meetings is the freedom of fandom's showcased. This convention is geared towards literally any interest, making it a lot less intense than say a purely anime convention or a gaming one. Connecticon literally offers something for everyone, even to the point that a Gargoyles fangirl like me was able to go to a panel with a bunch of other similar minded folks. With aspects like this, it's hard to ever doubt the epicness of such an event, and never doubt it I did.



We arrived later in the day, since the boyfriend unfortunately had to work till the afternoon. But the great thing was registration had absolutely no line AND I got to check out the end of the J-Fashion Show (where my pals Victoria of Parfait Doll and Rune were modeling!) Then I met up with friends to check out the Paul and Storm concert. Incase you haven't heard of the duo, they are famous for their bizarre and catchy parody music and their overall love for internet culture. The best part about the show though was the surprisingly awesome opening act - Brentalfloss! I've been a big fan of the bald headed internet singer for a while and had no idea he was a guest at the con. Seeing him was definitely a highlight!


Saturday was the first official full day of the convention for me to explore! I got my butt up early and went to my first panel, all about Anime Openings from around the world (Italian openings are the weirdest for sure!) Throughout the day I went to more awesome panels, including Marina Sirtis's Q&A (I met her too!), and Jim Cumming's voice actor panel (he did Winnie The Pooh as Darth Vader, 'nough said!)

But there was one moment that stole the entire show for me - the kind of rare moments that only happen once in the bluest of moons.

I went into the elevator after changing into a more comfy coordinate and called up my friend to tell her where we could meet up. I mentioned to her on the phone "I'm heading off to the Nostalgia Critic panel!", and suddenly a man in the corner of the elevator says.... "You are!?" but I ignored him thinking he was just some random guy..... Suddenly I feel my boyfriend take my head and turn it into the direction of the voice.... it was him, THE NOSTALGIA CRITIC! He was right there looking at me dead in the face. I started to laugh really hard out loud and fangirl screamed a tiny bit, and everyone in the elevator laughed too. After that moment and throughout the weekend, we kept bumping into each other. I wish I had the guts to have a real conversation with him, but that moment in the elevator was good enough for me!

The last day of the convention came by way too fast! I started off the morning by going to the Sailor Moon fan panel, which sadly had a lot of technical issues and some interesting audience members (sigh), but it was interesting either way. Sadly a panel about Anime Directors got canceled, but I instead snuck a peak at the bizarre Brony vs. Brony game show.... not sure I'd go again, but it was entertaining.

But the last panel of the day was the best panel of the entire convention. As mentioned, I love the Disney animated series Gargoyles. I'll be honest that it's hard to find people who know the show let alone like it as much as me, and when I find these people I latch onto them and do a happy dance of sorts. So when I heard a fan panel would occur on Sunday, I was beaming from ear to ear. I sadly got there a little late, but I still got to experience one of the best fan panels ever. The panelist was fantastic and had lots of awesome knowledge about the series. We later got to have a whole audience discussion, including a fan cast of a (dream) live action movie. I picked Idris Elba as Goliath, Ron Perlman as anybody (literally, he could play anyone), Nathan Fillion as Matt Bluestone, among others. A lot of people came up to me later and told me they loved my choices! So I guess maybe I could make the live action movie with success!

The day ended with me and Stefan heading off home, stopping off for delicious food at Friendly's, and driving through New England listening to Disney music. So fabulous!

Yesterday, Disney premiered what was thought of to be the trailer for new princess flick Frozen. Loosely (the loosest I might say) based on the Hans Christian Anderson story The Ice Queen, many were anticipating the largely publicized first look at the newest entry in Disney's lineage of fairy tale films. The excitement builded, tensions were high, promotional pictures were flying everywhere, and the internet was buzzing..... but what was shown to the public on Weather.com (clever) was nothing that anyone expected. (Click to see the "trailer" here)

Now that you have watched that "thing", here is my overall reaction:

When I was a kid back in the 90's, the film industry was dominated by "teaser" trailers (ex: Jurassic Park, Star Wars Episode 1 or any huge blockbuster of that time) and even if the movie itself sucked, the teaser trailer more than helped make the budget and interest in the film prior to release very high! Now we are consumed with awfully cut trailers, with only a few decent ones coming out of studios here and there (ex: Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (US), The Social Network).

Disney has been in recent year on the good side of this debacle, putting out a lot of very creatively cut together pieces to advertise their family friendly flicks. High praise was rewarded to Oz The Great and Powerful's teaser, who was able to make some fun reference's to the original Oz film of the 30's (aspect/color change when landing in Oz). I myself also loved the Wreck It Ralph teaser, which tickled my vintage video game heart with glee. So with so many good cuts behind it, Disney was sure to give us at least a good decent 1 minute teaser for Frozen, one that could easily showcase the plot without giving too much away? I came to discover that such a simple request was too much to ask for.

Instead what we were given was a "first look" clip, which Disney is no stranger to doing, to give their audience a taste of the newest animated piece. But while in the past these clips have been phenomenal or at least interesting, this footage left many eager Disney fanatics in the dust (or snow, I should say.)


In this clip we meet an snowman with a carrot for a nose. He sneezes, loses his vegetable produced schnoz and grabs the attention of a reindeer. The snowman and reindeer then chase after said carrot nose and that's it.... That's the first look at this brand new Disney Princess Musical, doesn't it make you excited for the magic, the princess stuff, the singing or the beautiful visuals? Oh I'm sorry, you didn't know those aspects were in this movie? I bet you would have had no idea if I (or Tumblr) didn't tell you.

Instead what we were given was a piss poor attempt at delivering a humorous clip for children, the kind that would make even the Looney Tunes question their intelligence. This is in a similar vein to the way the Despicable Me trailers are cut, where they are just a silly clip from the film and get the little kids excited to see what stupid thing the Minions do next. But here in lies the issue: Frozen is not the same kind of film Despicable is! In fact, they are completely two different sides of the art form's spectrum. Sure they can share similar moments of giggles for the kids, but that doesn't mean they should be advertised the same way.

If I was at all the person responsible for these decisions, I would have cut a trailer like this:


The camera fades into a shot of the the ice castle. Anna (our lead princess) walks towards it, shot fades into title card, with only the sounds of a blizzard/wind being heard, the title card fades back into a shot of her walking up the stairs of this now ice covered palace, she calls out for her sisters name, and as the shots fade in and out as she walks up, she reaches the top of where her sister, Elsa (ice queen) stands but as the camera follows up to her face - BAM, title card reads: Frozen and then insert tag line.

Something like this, that features our leaders, would have been fantastic. It doesn't tell much of the plot, it doesn't even have to have the music from it, but this teases what the film is actually about. 


Listen, Disney, I get that you are still upset over how the results of Princess and the Frog were less than stellar in your billion dollar eyes - but, now you've seen that Tangled was a success, and the Cars franchise along with Avengers is making you money in the boy demographic, you need to stop getting so scared of what a movie geared towards girls would do to you. Kids will still go see it because there is nothing else for them to see, parents will still pay money for a film made by your company. Also it's in 3D and it will make its budget back in droves. Start taking risks and being adventurous again!

Frozen is probably going to be enjoyable, but with the advertisements like this being the first real taste of the movie, it makes my excitement very low, and this is coming from someone that will even watch the worst of the worst that comes from the Mouse House just because. So please, Disney, learn your lessons right now and put out some better footage ASAP. Because if the reception from this movie is cold now, just wait till it gets worse than frozen.

Upon such research, I had discovered a foreign version that I had never seen before, but by it’s title translation I became incredibly perplexed. Panna a Netvor (translated: The Virgin and the Monster) is a Czech retelling of the classic fairy tale, and could possibly be the creepiest and most gothic version ever made (move over, Jean Cocteau!). But by it’s translation, many might think of it to be a porno or a horror film, but it’s drastically neither of those things.

Panna a Netvor tells the story of Julie (Beauty/Belle of this story), and follows the usual beats that are associated with the fairy tale. There is a poor family, the father picks a rose, a monster threatens him, and the youngest daughter takes her father’s place. But what sets Panna apart from it’s other more famous counterparts is it’s second and third act. Where traditionally the only two characters would be The Beast type and the Beauty type, the film offers a villain in the strangest of ways.

Our Beast for the film, a griffon/eagle man with claws for hands, is not the scariest monster in the film by far. That title would instead be given to a group of small demonic like creatures (think dirty homeless Oompa Loompas with gargoyle wings) that actually control and manipulate Netvor (Beast) into being evil. In many sections of the film, the creatures will speak to him through whispers and disgusting bubble sound effects, giving the audience a feeling of hell “boiling over” in the realm of Netvor’s mind.

But eventually, as in every version, our two leads begin to grow and trust each other. But unlike the Disney version, Panna takes this into a more complicated turn. One that heightens the sextual tension to degrees that no other has done before, and gives new layers of discovery and questions to both characters.

Instead of immediately showing his true form, Netvor requests that Julie never look at him and instead only hear his voice. What starts off as an innocent game eventually turns into the proclamation of their love for eachother, until Julie discovers what Netvor really is. 

Julie now becomes angered and feels betrayed by the one person she could call her true friend and eventual lover. The emotions that follow in the sequences past this initial discovery make me tear up every time, especially when you look at it from the perspective of Netvor, who is trying so hard to make Julie see who he is without being afraid. These key changes make this version truly memorable.

But even a version with such outstanding perfection can have it’s missteps here and there. Panna tends to constantly reuse the same two music themes throughout, almost to the point of it being a parody. Whenever Netvor is going to come out, the scary music plays. Whenever Julie is shown, the piano plays, and back and forth it goes. If this was the only film that aliens from outerspace saw of our culture, I’m sure they would be convinced that these are the only two pieces of music we listen to.

Panna is also in need of some trimming in the beginning, giving the most confusing and long introduction scene that by comparison makes Christopher Nolan’s films seem as fast as Speedy Gonzales. Villagers being chased around by other villagers just seems a waste of time, until we get Netvor’s introduction (which is gruesome and twisted, just how I like it!)

At it’s core Panna a Netvor is truly one of the stand alone adaptations of the famous fairy tale. Instead of relying on what has been done before with the story, it adds new and exciting psychological and horror elements, making it the first adaptation since Cocteau’s that knows what it wants to do visually and stands proud to be it’s own unique take.

With all these new film versions of Beauty and the Beast coming out, it’s hard to see which will do it right or will get it completely wrong. But if any of them are a shred as amazing as this Czech made flick, than I can breath easily at night and dream of the perfection.

Hello there readers! I just got back from a little convention in New Jersey called Anime Next. I have been going usually Saturdays only for the past couple of years, but this year I decided to go all weekend. To be honest, though I had a lot of fun, I don't think I will be going for an entire weekend again anytime soon. The selection of food and local travel is pretty terrible and needs improvement for a $60 weekend pass convention, and until they make those adjustments I don't see the point in wasting the money.

But until then, let me show you a couple of things that I experienced from this years adventure. First off, I wrote a cute little article about meeting/enjoying events with Baby The Stars Shine Bright staff/designers over the weekend, which you can check out here on Feminerdity.


Aside from all the big frilly events, I also got to check out some cool panels. My favorite of the entire weekend was by Mike Toole (a writer from Anime News Network) called "Cult Classics". Though you might think this panel would deal with cult favorite anime series of the past, instead it was all about anime that promoted cult religions in Japan/Asia/Abroad. Hearing about weird series like the one promoting Happy Science religion was incredibly bizarre and interesting.



But my overall favorite thing was getting time with friends. I loved seeing everyone dressed to the nines, eating yummy snacks and laughing at hilarious stories. And even if the con itself sucks, those are the moments that matter the most.

Here are some more photos to check out, enjoy!