Disney's Sleeping Beauty (1959)

I liked Sleeping Beauty much better than Cinderella. The comedy in this one seemed less irritating to me. And I have to confess I have a strong childhood memory of seeing pictures in a book taken from the Disney film (especially of the three good fairies) and being enthralled by them – trying to decide which color-fairy I liked the best. I kind of liked how Merryweather kept bickering with the bossy one. (Pink/blue/pink/blue)

The visual look of the film also appealed to me. Apparently it was the last Disney film to use hand-inked cels. I was drawn to the scenery which was done by Eyvind Earle.

I also liked the music better—what’s not to like about Tchaikovsky?

And of course Malificent was magnificent….Who knew about the dragon!?!? Supercool. I loved how her little crow side-kick (Diablo?) got turned into a crow-gargoyle. Even the proverbial goons were kind if entertaining. All in all not a bad movie. 

Link to a review of Michael Kimmel's book "Angry White Men"

Because of my ocd-tendencies I have to read every Sunday New York Times book review cover-to-cover which means that right now I am reading one from November 2013. In it I found a review of Michael Kimmel’s book “Angry White Men” which sounds very interesting and of course made me think of the recent terrible killings that took place in Isla Vista, CA.  This is the sentence from the review I find myself dwelling upon the most: 

“But Kimmel also strains a little too hard for a tidy sociological explanation, arguing mightily (and pointlessly) against the idea that these attackers were singularly deranged or psychotic. Like the suicide bombers he compares them to, one can be both uniquely psychologically vulnerable, a total outlier, and yet tuned in to a broader cultural trend.”

 On the one hand I agree with the statement. On the other hand (and this probably means I should read the book!) the second sentence seems to be an equally “tidy” explanation of what happened and a way of shutting down the conversation that perhaps need to be had regarding these outliers as well as the broader cultural trends. I'm also wondering what role the (social) media plays here in the promotion and/or creation of these trends.