the past three weeks have been a whirlwind for me. between ramping up for a week away, then going away, then back last week with a lot to catch up and plan before another trip. now, i am the first one to admit that i love to travel. i always have and always will. there is something exciting and stimulating to me when my bags are packed and it is the night before i leave on a vacation. i love the memories, the snap shots, the laughs. i love the pure and utter happiness that i feel when i am experiencing something and somewhere new. i love to plan the trip, take the trip, talk about the trip, and relive the trip. and, i am notorious for being on a trip and planning my next trip. so i think you can get, that i love to travel.

however, that being said, there is nothing quite like my home. i got home last night from a weekend away with my mom in grove city, pennsylvania (for black friday and the american thanksgiving weekend), and didn’t arrive home until after 1:00 am. i was exhausted and knowing that i had to get myself organized for another very busy week ahead of me didn’t help the exhaustion. after catching up with jess (for about 5 minutes) we went to sleep.

and this morning the alarm went off too soon. i filled my day. then, the best thing of all happened. jess, lewis and i did nothing. after dinner we watched tv, snuggled and happily enjoyed reuniting with each other. and then it hit me, we have built our own little family, and our own little home. we have built a life – and it is simply wonderful.

my heart has never been so full of love for my life, my love, and my family than it is at this very moment. i am SO BLESSED.

there is nothing like a trip away – but, as dorothy wisely said, there is no place like home.

by Lyman Frank Baum

Dorothy is a young girl who lives on a Kansas farm with her Uncle Henry, Aunt Em, and little dog Toto. One day the farmhouse, with Dorothy inside, is caught up in a tornado and deposited in a field in the country of the Munchkins. The falling house kills the Wicked Witch of the East.

Download The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

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“He who doesn’t hope to win has already lost.”

“A quitter never wins-a winner never quits.”

“Worry is like a rocking chair – it gives you something to do, but it doesn’t get you anywhere.”
- Dorothy Galyean

“You’ve got to get up every morning with determination if you’re going to go to bed with satisfaction.” — George Lorimer

“We will either find a way, or make one.” – Hannibal

Christmas is coming! Hooray! And we have got our tree set up in the office, decked out in black and silver. The larger black matt balls remind me of the bombs in ‘Bomberman‘ and I do think this set of Christmas baubles shaped like hand grenades would look right in place next to them. Kind of a nod towards our current world social climate.

Designed by Manchester designers Dorothy for social initiative Ctrl.Alt.Shift.

Walério Araujo fez exatamente o que eu amo em um desfile, contou uma história bem elaborada, real e a palpável. Nada de abstratismo fashion e piração intelectual. Muito Pop na hora de criar, isso foi o que apareceu na coleção de inverno do estilista, inspirada no Mágico de OZ.

Leão, Homem de Lata e Espantalho

A Bruxa má do Oeste também ganhou releituras bem interessantes!

E claro que nossa querida Dorothy também ganhou uma versão sexy !

Pego o sapatinho vermelho????

There’s no place like home!

mano pow, as mina pá!

Atakcorp.Deviantart

Dorothy is a spunky Kansas farm girl, complete with ruby slippers and a little dog, too.  Flip the elements of her name, and she’s a Byzantine monarch – and a saint.

Thanks to Rachel for suggesting Theodosia as Name of the Day.

If you’re in your 30s, your first exposure to Theodosia might have 1988’s For Keeps.  Molly Ringwald played Darcy, a high school senior who finds herself with child and spends nine months contemplating her future and very little time considering baby names.

Darcy slumps into a deep depression in the maternity award and awakens to discover that her boyfriend Stan plucked the name Theodosia off his family tree:

Darcy:  How could you name our baby Theodosia?
Stan:  We needed a name for a the birth certificate …
Darcy:  It sounds like a Greek fishing boat, or a crater on the moon or something!

Molly’s fishing boat/astronomical objections aside, Theodosia has plenty of history, stretching back to the Byzantine Empire:

• Saint Theodosia was an eighth-century Constantinople nun.  When the emperor ordered an icon removed, she led a mob to intervene.  The officer dispatched to de-icon was killed – and Theodosia executed in return;
• An aristocratic Theodosia married Byzantine Emperor Leo V in the early 800s.

You’ll find plenty of men named Theodosius or Theodosios, too – it translates roughly to “giving to God.”

Theodosia pops up sparingly over the centuries.  1638 marked the Dublin debut of James Shirley’s comedy The Royal Master.  His Theodosia was sister to the king, torn between two suitors.

From the eighteenth century, there’s:

• The wealthy Theodosia Hawkins-Magill, future Countess of Clanwilliam.  She may have been named after her Aunt Theodosia;
• Anne Steele wrote hymns and devotional poems under the pen name Theodosia;
• US Vice President Aaron Burr married a Theodosia; the couple passed it on to their daughter.  She answered to Theo. After Mrs. Burr’s death, Theo became dad’s official hostess and remained loyal during Burr’s trial for treason (he was acquitted).  She was among the passengers presumed lost in an 1812 shipwreck.  In 1941, Anya Seton authored My Theodosia – a work of historical fiction based on her life – heavy on the fiction.

The 20th century gives us Theodosia Goodman, better known as Theda Barra.  From humble beginnings in Cincinnati, Ohio, she was re-invented as one of Hollywood’s first sex symbols.  She also kick-started the modern PR machine – her invented background included an Egyptian childhood and a career on the Paris stage.  Theda made more than 40 films in the 1910s and 20s, but most were destroyed in a fire.  Her masterpiece – 1915’s A Fool There Was – survives, as does the film’s legacy.  It made William Fox so much money that he founded the studio that remains today – 20th Century Fox.

Thea, Tea and even Teddie could all be nicknames should you choose Theodosia for a daughter.  But she’s not appeared in the US Top 1000 since the 19th century and feels unwieldy even amongst the Isabellas and Alexandras so common today.  The related – and equally antique – Theodora and Dorothea feel more likely to wear well today.

I emailed Mrs. Ripley each night of my senior show, because she was in China. I’m posting the three emails here because I feel like I should have documented my last musical at Gowanda somehow. So here they are.

THE WIZ: EPISODE ONE

We had fun tonight. Well, this afternoon. We did the energy circle thing (Taylor and I didn’t really explain it that well, though– we will tomorrow, since we instigated it). Bobby and Kris didn’t participate, but they’re losers. (Not really, but they’re lame boys and I’m sure that with the proper friendly persuasion they’ll do it tomorrow…ha).

The whole thing went pretty smoothly: there were a few instances where mics cut out; Glenn wasn’t there, either. I don’t know why.

I, um, may have gotten my only laughs from the crowd as soon as I walked on. Phoebe didn’t walk in a straight line and I had to try to scoot her out on stage twice-ish before she actually went, and even then it was kind of in a circle. So I picked her up and bopped across the stage, scrambling for the appropriate lines (obviously I couldn’t say “Come back here, Toto” if I was holding her) and I may have rammed into the house on accident with my shoulder.

Yes, I have a bruise.

Yes, the house off-kiltered a foot or so.

But it was funny, and even though I cracked up when I got off stage it ran nicely.

The makeup all looked really good; Zach and Kruszka and Taylor all got a lot of laughs; Chelsea and Dakota did too. Obviously my character isn’t funny, so they didn’t cheer so much for me, but that’s ok. I got home to Kansas and remembered to click my heels and it was all good.

I saw Kiener and Emma and Hannah, and that was pretty weird considering that in a year it’ll be me coming back to watch my friends. I don’t know if I’m okay with that yet. Stephen told me, “Well, this is it, this is your last show.”

And I could only smirk at him and reply that no, I had two more.

I just can’t think about this being “My Last.” It doesn’t sit well with me at all, so I think if I just don’t spend any time dwelling on it, it won’t affect me as much. I don’t want to get all watery and miserable on Tuesday.

But! All in all it was a good show and so far that’s what I’ve been hearing in reviews. “Great job,” “Good show,” “GREAT show,” keep being repeated. Some kids came back to us after and we (leads) talked to them and even got a picture or two with them (at parents’ insistence). The Lion, mostly, and (surprisingly) me were approached individually and greeted by toddlers and their parents, so that was cute. Mrs. Propp’s nine-year-old daughter Morgan had us all sign her program.

I think that tomorrow and Tuesday I’ll have more energy. I was thinking, by “Y’all Got It,” that I just wanted it to be done with so I could go home. I know that’s awful, but I was so so tired. The “easing on down the road” part of my job is straight up exhausting. I can’t dance anyway, so put singing and dancing together and I’m almost out by the time the Kalidahs get us.

Oh! And “Be a Lion” was good. Pretty darn good (the best time we’ve done it). I talked to Ms. Fried at intermission and she was really happy with it. Ms. Stoffel and her mom were really excited at the end, and so was Mrs. Hales. I think Mr. Wesley disappeared– we didn’t have notes and I didn’t see him at all after the production.

…and that’s all I know. It went really well. Tomorrow and Tuesday will be good also, I hope.

THE WIZ: PART TWO !

“AND JUST MAYBE I CAN CONVINCE TIME TO SLOW UP” — FINALE.

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Dé trend op dit moment zijn de knee-high boots; hoge laarzen tot over de knie dus. Deze zijn én lekker warm en ontzettend fashionable. Ik vind deze trend dan ook erg leuk en ben zelf nog opzoek naar een mooi paar in navy, zwart of grijs. Hier in elk geval wat knee high boots, voor ieder wat wils:

Now: £33.00 www.asos.com

£70.00 www.dorothyperkins.com

£95.00 www.missselfridge.com Now € 273,51 www.theoutnet.com

£50.00 www.newlook.co.uk

Hello All (or Few),

Mon & Michelie thanks for the comments MMSB, I’m with you on the Beck and Dylan, but was surprised to see Death Cab. Don’t get me wrong, I love them, but they’re not quite ATT5 caliber for me. Mon, we all know that your ATT5 might include Janet and Mariah. That’s okay, I know you just wanna jam (see p.s.).

This past weekend was perfectly chock-full of two of my very favorite things: family and food. My Mom celebrated a rather notable birthday and my sister and I helped her host a luncheon for all of the wonderful women in her life. This was really just a great excuse for family to come into town and for all of us to eat our way through the weekend – was I the only one to feel this way?

Friday: 35th Street Bistro in Fremont. Go there.

Saturday: Dahlia Lounge (a la Tom Douglas), Pagliacci pizzas at home, and ending the night at Tavern Law on Capitol Hill.

Sunday: after a squall of a walk around Golden Gardens, we warmed up with some Irish Coffees at Ray’s happy hour. Later I went to Monica’s fantastic pre-Turkey Day Thanksgiving meal (thanks for the mass amount of mashed potatoes Mon!).

Thank god I’m not one to count calories, because those 3 days did some damage. So completely worth it…mmmmmmm.

Alright, on to business. Although Halloween has come and gone, it is one of my favorite holidays, so I figure I can talk about it whenever I want. There is something about that perfect Halloween costume. You know the one. It is so completely opposite of your personality and yet so on. Or maybe you end up having just too much fun and it actually impacts your wardrobe for the following few weeks into November.

That is exactly why I am counting down my ALL TIME TOP FIVE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES (in no particular order):

• Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz – 1990?
  
• Aladdin (thats right, not Jasmine, Aladdin.) – 1992?
• a baseball – 1994?
• Double Dare contestant (1 of 6; Red v. Blue) – 2008
• 1960s Mad Men secretary – 2009

Other contenders include a vampire, a yam, a member of the USF Drinking Team AKA “Bad News”, and the Angel of Death.

Me, Thomas, and Abby

Halloween 2009 (or should I say 1963?) was pretty outstanding. Imagine walking into a room filled with people dressed to the nines in 1960s garb? Needless to say I was in heaven.

Monica, Me

Thanks for playing kids. What are your ALL TIME TOP FIVE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES that you have done or seen? What other ALL TIME TOP FIVEs would you like to see?

Stay classy and thanks for stopping by.

-  A N I -

P.S. What’s the difference between jam and peanut butter? Sorry, I couldn’t help myself.

At last, I finished the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It is one of the first 20th century children’s fantasies, and it has many creative images and short chapters. The author, L Frank Baum, has a good time at making fun of Kansas, too. I think he may not have enjoyed his visits there, or what he heard about it.

The story opens in the endless sameness of the Kansas prairie. Dorothy’s family is just as plain as the landscape, but that shows how much everything fits in Dorothy’s world. Anything different unsettles her, as we quickly learn. In the midst of the dreary life of Kansas, there is much quiet love to abound. There’s truly no place like home. If I were Dorothy, I’d want back, too!

After the tornado, the book follows her quest through the very dangerous place of Oz, meeting strange Animals and people. They feed her, encourage her, block her way, terrorize her and guide her on the difficult road to the Emerald City and then on to Quadling Country. It is quite the diverse tale, with a lot of opportunity for character growth.

All the characters developed in a way that made more sense than Maguire’s book Wicked. Yes, the children’s book is simpler, because it’s for children, but he had it fit with the contemporary world in a way that made sense. Maguire tried to make that other world different – with the same attitudes as ours – so it would be unique. I do not think he succeeded, as he was too direct to describe the feelings of the people in Oz to make them out to be disaffected Westerners, i.e. Americans. Severeal times as I read the book, I thought about the anti-Constitutional atmosphere of the Bush administration as Maguire’s Wizard railed against the rights ofthe people; as the Munchinlanders destroyed beauty for the sake of Liberty (which rang true of the French revolution); as the characters throughout the world gave voice to the broad range of American religious attitudes (I realized how American I was in this regard, by reading this book). Maguire’s book tries to demystify the great imaginary possibility of the Land of Oz. It gave me a sense of enslavement, as a reader, to the literary agenda of the author. And the malaise of it all. Hmph.

The Wizard of Oz and Wicked are for different audiences, different times, and definitely different stages of development of the Fantasy genre.  The Wizard of Oz, for its time, was the one of the first fantasy books written.  What was special about it is that it was intended for children.  Marvelously successful, this book has lots of short chapters with broad descriptions that leave the imagination to fill in the details.  This is ideal for a children’s fantasy.  Wicked is intended for adults, and has a lot more detail.  Little is left to the imagination – rather, each section is close enough to reality that there is little “magic” in the story to give it much life.  This is likely why it only received lukewarm reviews. It has a good plot line, but does take unnecessary side-stories to excuse some crude descriptions.  In the end, the Wicked Witch Elphaba is a likable, torn character.

I do not think one needs to read Wicked to understand Elphaba.  It does lend a great deal to filling out the empty villain of the original children’s story.  To understand Wicked, however, I do think it is a good idea to read the Wizard of Oz.  It fills out a lot of the story of what Dorothy is doing, and also explains why Maguire made certain choices during the Wicked novel.  Together, both books create a fantastic world that is easy to remember as a child, and as an adult, offer opportunities for storytelling to children to come.

The Scarecrow Syndrome

                Watching the movie “The Wizard of OZ” for the thousandths time it occurred to me that this film is not only about a young lady being caught up in a tornado and being transported to a faraway land where she meets three unlikely friends that set out on a journey to find the Wizard of OZ so that she can return home and her friends can be granted with a brain, heart and courage, but it is actually a story of one’s search to find love not knowing that the love they seek is right there within them.

            We can all learn a valuable lesson from this masterpiece of movie making. Each of us, at one time or another, have looked for love outside of ourselves, whether through another individual, money, material things or whatever there is outside of us that we felt would bring us love. When we found those things, we would love them for awhile but would find that in time those things did not bring us total satisfaction or love, simply a sense of appeasement until they grew old. All the while, we were ignorant of the fact that all we needed to do was look within ourselves.

            The characters in the movie “The Wizard of OZ,” Dorothy, the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Lion were all guilty of looking outside of themselves, in search of things that they already owned. Dorothy searched for love, when all the while the love she searched for was right there at home with her family. The Scarecrow was in search of a brain, when all that he needed was right there within his heart and that alone made him intelligent. The Tin Man was in search of a heart to fill the void within having no idea that he already had heart due to the care and love he showed Dorothy and his other comrades. The Lion wanted a hefty dose of courage because he felt that he was a coward when all the while he showed courage in everything that he did.

            At the finale of the Yellow Brick Road all of them discovered that the Wizard was only an ‘illusion’ and possessed no power at all, signifying our search to find something outside of ourselves to complete us or make us happy, there in discovering that all they needed was to look within and this is usually what happens with us in our search for love or something to complete us, we set out on journeys, searching for something outside of us only to discover at the end of the journey that it was within us the entire time.

            I named this the Scarecrow Syndrome not only because he is my favorite character from “The Wizard of OZ” but because of his search for a brain and his already having the HEART that allowed him the ability to do and accomplish all of the things that he wanted to do, inspiring me to look within myself to discover all that I need to do is follow my heart to reach my destiny. It’s ALL within us!

            “OZ never gave the Tin Man what he didn’t already have…”

                                                                        -AMERICA/”Tin Man”                       

I awoke in the early hours of Saturday morning to a most enormous storm (as did much of the UK). The wind was absolutely howling around the house and the rain sounded as though we were in full on monsoon season. Because the ceiling in my bedroom is sloped it sounded as though it was raining down directly on my head – (when the rats pay a visit it sounds like they’re about to fall on my face, but that’s a whole other story) and there were some sonic booms of thunder which were seriously scary. When I finally emerged from under the quilt I was dreading looking out of the window to see what devastation occurred and there was…nothing. Not a thing. OK the garden looks a bit worse for wear, but then again it would do at this time of year anyway, but the house is all fine, still standing and from what I can see intact (and clearly not now in Kansas or Oz for that matter). It’s amazing really but just shows that the builders in 1850 knew a thing or two about building to last!

Having, as I said, finally emerged from under the quilt and after fortifying ourselves with a very fat breakfast (well you never know what situation you might find yourself in), TG and I decided to venture forth into the weather. I had mentioned the message from the tv and radio that staying in was the best way forward and even offered to crawl back under the quilt,  but he was having none of it and so off we went. Having stopped to help clear a fallen tree on a back road and having dropped him off for his daily sporting fix I decided to brave that weekly challenge that is Tescos. Now if I told you that the rain was coming in horizontally in sheets, the gusts of wind nearly took me off my feet and that by the time I got from car to entrance I resembled the most drowned of rats, that would be no exaggeration. I was soaked through and looking most unattractive. Luckily this wasn’t the Saturday that George Clooney decided that Tescos in Ryde was his destination of choice, phew! Suffice to say that 30 seconds later the rain stopped and by the time the shopping was done a weak sun was coming through the clouds. Typical!

There is nothing better than being snuggled up in bed under the quilt and listening to it blowing a hooley outside – one of the best parts of the winter I think. We did also manage some live music (a 60s night where the singer, bald and about 65 thought that he was Elvis – he so wasn’t), some dancing (love dancing even though I’m rubbish at it, makes your heart feel light), Sunday roast with friends and putting the world to rights, oh yes, and mash and gravy. The perfect winter weekend! George missed out really…

Released on year 2003, a well fascinating and a cute anime made by Anzai Nobuyuki.  I really love the story, The story of a 14 years old boy named Ginta Toramizu a near sighted, doesn’t do well in school, sucks at sports and to top it off he’s short! Ginta always had the same dream about a fantasy world where he is a hero blessed with all the abilities he lack on real world.

Then one day a mysterious figure appear and summon him to a mysterious world called MAR Heaven, his all time dream world. In this strange world filled with magic and wonder, he is strong and tough he can see without his eye glasses. Ginta begin his mystical quest together with his friends and mustachioed iron-ball weapon known as “Babbo” which everyone wants but only Ginta can posses! They continue their journey searching for the magical items known as “ARMS”.

Marchen Awakens Romance

Sexy Dorothy!!! wei I totally admire her!!

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Dorothy Wizard of Oz  ~  Sexy Scarecrow from Shirley of Hollywood

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Shirley of Hollywood

 Sexy Lion : Good Fairy Witch : Wicked Witch

Sexy Seductive Plus Size Fancy Dress & Lingerie

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Fancy Dress & Lingerie from Size 8 to Plus Size

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TNAwrestling.com

Ya paso más de una semana desde el Halloween, pero estaría mal dejar pasar estas imágenes de las Knockouts TNA listas para ir a pedir dulces usando disfraces de temática “El Mago de Oz”
Arriba vemos a Tara como La Bruja y a SoCal Val la Leona
Y en la siguiente imagen, Lacey Von Erich luce genial como la protagonista del cuento: Dorothy

TNAwrestling.com

Matéria publicada no Jornal A Tarde dia 6 de novembro de 2009 (hoje) no Caderno 2

Clássico O Mágico de Oz comemora 70 anos

João Carlos Sampaio, crítico de cinema

Os 70 anos do clássico “O Mágico de Oz” (1939), de Victor Fleming, garantiram a volta da obra ao mercado, agora em edição especial com quatro discos. Além de uma versão restaurada do filme, os fãs e cinéfilos podem conferir muitos extras, dos bastidores a cenas excluídas da edição final.

O filme traz Judy Garland, protagonista da trama, cantando e dançando em números musicais inesquecíveis, embalados por uma inspirada trilha sonora, que rendeu dois Oscar (um deles para a canção-tema, “Over the Rainbow”). Tem ainda aqueles tipos fantásticos da história, o Espantalho, o Leão e o Homem de Lata, que alimentam uma fácula encantadora, para todas as idades.

Quem nunca viu o filme (ou nunca leu o livro) vai conhecer a vida pacata de Dorothy (Judy Garland), uma menina que mora com os tios (Charley Grapewin e Clara Bandick) numa fazenda, no Kansas. Ela é feliz, mas que se deixa impressionar facilmente.

Ultimamente tem estado preocupada com as ameças da vizinha mal humorada (a atriz Margaret Hamilton) que a está decidida a dar um fim no cãozinho de estimação da menina. Para compensar, tem o amor dos tios e dos simpáticos empregados da fazenda, tipos vividos pelos atores Bert Lahr, Jack Haley e Ray Bolger.

Realidade paralela

Mesmo amada, Dorothy resolve fugir, temendo pela sorte de seu cão. Na estrada, conhece um mágico fajuto, vivido pelo ator Frank Morgan, que acaba convencendo-se a regressar ao lar.

Só que, na volta, ela é surpreendida por um tornado e perde os sentidos. Daí por diante, a menina vai experimentar uma espécie de realidade paralela. Acorda num mundo colorido, bem diferente do que está acostumada a ver na fazenda.

Com ajuda da Bruxa Boa (a atriz Billie Burke), ela ganha sapatos cor de rubi e com eles atravessa o caminho de tijolos amarelos, chegando ao mundo do Mágico de Oz, onde vai viver a maior de todas as aventuras.

Este filme se inspira no livro homônimo (The Wizard of Oz), de L. Frank Baum, que foi transposto para a tela em sua superprodução que até hoje preserva seus encantos.

Os três discos extras deste lançamento trazem o trabalho de restauração do filme, a trilha sonora, o making of, o “legado de Oz” e mais um mundo de curiosidades. O único senão fica por conta da opção de tela no formato convencional de TV, sem preservar a proporção original vista nos cinemas.

(“O Mágico de Oz”/The Wizard of Oz – Estados Unidos, 1939/ De Victor Fleming)

In no particular order:

1. Harrods has been transformed into The Emerald City for Christmas.

2. I found a red gummi shoe in my pack of Haribo. Naturally, I was thrilled.

3. Red: art imitating life.

4. Red patent heels and nude fishnets. Miaow!

5. My friend made this to commemorate the life of my favourite trainers.

New image in the shoes photography contest

…
Not quite Dorothy photography picture