Sunday, November 28, 2010

"Tangled" webs we weave...and some awards!!

Happy Sunday, all!  Have you worked off that Turkey dinner yet?  I've thought about aerobisizing it off all weekend long (few rounds of Just Dance oughtta do it, right?)... but all that thinking just made me crave more turkey, so once I'm done here I think I'm going to cook it all again.  Stuffing, yams, mashed potatoes - the whole shebang!  So, I guess I'd better type quickly!!  My stomach is starting to rumble.....

Aside from mad turkey cravings since Thursday, my daughter and I went to see Disney's "Tangled" yesterday:



It was soooooo ADORABLE!!!  I really enjoyed it.  Truly.  My daughter even made the bold statement that "This is my new favorite Disney movie!"  I don't know if I'd go that far...(B&B is still nearest and dearest to my heart) but it's right up there!  Well, you know...with the other 10 or 15 or 20 Disney shows I love.  :)

Disney, of course, always does their unique spin on a classic.  *Spoiler*  There was no blind prince here.  And Rapunzel wasn't cast from the tower by the evil witch.  She escaped on her own.  But, I enjoyed the creative deviations that Disney took all the same.

And I find that I really enjoy this in books that I read - a twist on a classic fairy tale.  I may have mentioned this before, but I really love Shannon Hale's "Goose Girl" series.  It's her own twist on a (possibly more obscure) Grimm's Fairy tale.  One of my own novels-in-progress (wip) is a small twist on the Snow White fairy tale.  At least - I hope that part of it is obvious to readers.  I know a lot of writers do this (Gregory Maguire, Neil Gaiman, or Alex Flinn's "Beastly", which is also coming out on film soon) - I mean A LOT of writers.  So my question for you today is, "Do you?"  Are any of you incorporating/twisting/revisiting classic fairy tales in your novels?

Some other wonderful business to attend to now!!  I've been awarded some blogging awards!!  Yeah, me!!  Lindsey over at "Dangerous with a Pen" gave me the Versatile blogger award.  Thank you, Lindsey!!  And Alexia over at "The Life and Literary Pursuits of Alexia Chamberlynn" gave me the Honest Scrap award:


Woo hoo!!  Thanks, Alexia!  Ok - so I've gotten the Versatile blogger award before from Abby over at Above Water - but I wasn't cued in on the "rules" of accepting such wonderful, thoughtful awards.  So - I'm supposed to share 7 things about myself for the VB and 10 things for the HS...eek!  Really?  Does that mean 17 things about me right now?  I'll make it brief:

(Actually, I'm cheating a little....here's a list of 17 of my favorite (insert category here))

Favorite Foods:

1 - Thanksgiving dinner (the whole thing!)  2 - SF Sourdough Ham&Pineapple Pizza w/Alfredo sauce  3 - Oooo!  Speaking of Alfredo Sauce - from Olive Garden, on breadsticks or fettuccine  4 - BBq'd hamburgers

Favorite Sweets (yes, this deserves its own category):

5 - CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!  (forever on the hunt for the perfect recipe)  6 - Caramel corn  7 - brownies, frosted  8 - strawberry shortcake   *argh!  fighting...urge....to...quit....typing...and....go...eat.....ok, it's passed*

Favorite TV Shows:

9 - Buffy the Vampire Slayer!!  (A MUST watch for any doubters out there of this show's pure, clever awesomeness!!!!)  10 - Star Trek  (all version of it, except the original...is that weird?)  11 - Pushing Daisies (you said "goodbye" toooo soon!)  12 - Top Chef!!

Favorite Board/Card Games:

13 - Apples to Apples (so fun!)  14 - Hand and Foot (for the serious card-player)  15 - Cranium (got clay?)  16 - Shout about the Movies (ok, this one's a dvd game, but it counts!)

And finally, my favorite 13-year-old:

17 - My daughter Alexandra, OF COURSE!!  (yeah, she just came in and read this and says to me "Oh, I'm number 17??)  Please insert her at #1 - :)

I also must pass this on to some wonderful bloggers I know - in my opinion, you're ALL fantastic!  (cop out).  I've already listed some WONDERFUL ones above (Alexia, Lindsey, Abby)  but, here's a few more:

Colene @ The Journey
Lydia @ The Word is my Oyster
Ivy @ The Happy Whisk
Jen @ Unedited
Shannon Whitney Messenger
Jess @ Falling Leaflets
Lenny Lee @ Lenny's World
Shayda @ Shayda Writes

These are just to name a few of the GREAT blogs I've come across!  There are a LOT more, to be sure!  So - if you're feeling versatile and honest today, please pick either award for yourselves.  :)
(Oh, yeah - don't forget to enter my giveaway!!)

13 comments:

Colene Murphy said...

Awe snap! Thanks so much! I really love coming over here to your blog. Thank you so much for the award! And congrats on yours, you totally deserve it!

Tangled looks SO cute! I can't wait to go see it. And HP again...Some amazingly good looking movies coming out! Hard to keep up!

Abby Minard said...

Yay for awards!! You deserve them! We were supposed to see Tangled today but the power went out in the theatre! So we had to go home and now my daughter and her freind are playing for a while. Oh well, hopefully next weekend!

I always thought it would be awesome to put a spin on a fairytale but never knew where to start!

Jess said...

Thanks Donea, for the award AND the review of Tangled--I was debating whether or not to see it, and you definitely swayed me to a yes!

I've never done the fairy tale twist thing, but I love reading adaptations.

Personal note--my family has gotten a ton of laughs from playing Cranium :)

Lenny Lee said...

hi miss donea! that disney movie sounds neat. i hope i get to see it. hooray for those awards you got. it was fun reading that list of stuff about you. i like knowing more about my blogger friends. for doing a twist on a fairy tail i didnt ever try it but it could be cool to read. thanks for sayin my name for in that bunch of bloggers. you got me feeling pretty special.
...big smiles from lenny

The Happy Whisk said...

Hi Donna Lee. Thanks so much for the award. Love number 17. That's funny stuff.

Thanks again :-)

The Happy Whisk said...

So sorry that I spelled your name wrong. I'm working off fumes from having to work the entire Black Friday weekend. Sorry 'bout that.

Lynda R Young as Elle Cardy said...

Congrats on your award..and congrats to those you passed it on to :)
I haven't seen Tangled yet, but I'm looking forward to it.

Shannon Messenger said...

Aw, thank you so much for thinking of me.

*sniffles*

*launches into boring, endless acceptance speech*

*slinks away when everyone falls asleep*

:)

Unknown said...

I took my 7yo daughter to see Tangled too. We both LOVED it. Beauty and the Beast was always my #1 but like your daughter, I think I may have a new fav.

Lydia Kang said...

Congrats on your award and THANK YOU for mine! That is so sweet, and I'm thrilled that you've enjoyed my blog.
Oh, I like your favorite foods list...it's making my stomach growl right now...

erica and christy said...

I've never tried a "twisted tale" but I critiqued someone who did once and it was fun! I'll have to check out the ones you suggested (is it weird that I've never read a Neil Gaiman book? yeah, probably)

I think christy's posting an alfredo recipe next Monday on our blog she insists is better than Olive Garden. You'll have to check it out!
erica

Beth Fred said...

I like twists on fairy tales too, but I never actively try to incorporate them.

Donea Lee said...

Thanks, everyone. I so appreciate your comments. It seems a lot of us like a good twisty fairy tale. I challenge you all to, if nothing else, pick your favorite one and just brainstorm about how you'd make it different. Who knows!? You could get a GREAT story start out of it! :)