Disney Macabre

Randomly discovered this gem while perusing the blog of a Horror photographer named Joshua Hoffine. As creepy as his work is, I rather enjoy it. I think it's the part of me that adores Burton and Edward Gorey.

Anyway, it's the coolest and creepiest Disney cartoon I've ever seen. The animation blows me away. It makes me wonder how something animated in 1933 could greatly surpass the quality of films like "The Last Unicorn" and most cartoons from the 60s to now, even. I mean, have you seen some of the crap cartoons Disney puts out now? Oh how much rolling Walt must be doing in his grave...

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter

(via Monsters and Rockets)

I cannot believe that this is real...

I have been a Harry Potter fan since the very first book came out 11 years ago. I remember ADORING the fact that I was practically the same age as the main characters. Everyday while walking home from school I would imagine that I was reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone while it magically floated in front of me.

Since then, I have read every book and have seen every film. I always love the books more than the films but they do it as much justice as possible, I suppose. I am convinced that children of the future will look at this series like we look at Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia- as a timeless classic.

Now, after the series has officially ended and J.K. Rowling has become the 12th richest woman in the UK, Universal has decided to open a Harry Potter attraction in Orlando called "The Wizarding World of Harry Potter". The above video shows conceptual art of the layout of the park due to open Spring 2010! So soon!

Being a huge fan, I hope to visit this place ASAP! I don't think I'll ever want to leave!

Passion

I have struggled for quite a long time with discovering what I am truly passionate about. Sure, there are things that anger me at times. Sure, there are things that I enjoy doing but what exactly sets me on fire?

Today at lunch I had a discussion with my dad about the Holocaust which then somehow lead to the discussion of younger generations and their aversion to reading books. Once I started on the subjects, I could not stop myself! I just kept ranting and ranting and perhaps talking a bit louder than my usual "inside voice" at times.

Really, it just makes me happy to think that I became passionate about something. I may not base my future career on my lunch-time discussion but knowing that I have the ability to become truly passionate about any subject brings me joy :)

Tiny Life Lessons.

Perspective is an interesting thing.

For instance, right now I was just setting my alarm for 7:30am to get up and get ready for college group at 9am. Now, on any other day in my past I would look at that time and feel like sobbing and vomiting all at the same time. Drastic, yes, but that is the depth of my disdain for waking up early. Tonight, however, I look at that time and think to myself, "Well, I don't have to work tomorrow... So, no biggie. I'll be tired but it'll be a good day off!"

I'm slowly but surely discovering how much of my life I can control. Of course there are countless situations and events and people that I have absolutely no control over but there are also countless emotions, opinions, feelings, etc. that I do have control over. Most recently I have found a situation that I can 100% control my feelings for. I don't need to go into detail but I feel like if I can handle this one thing then everything else should be much easier for me to get over... You know?

I'm also discovering how much of the necessary solutions to the crap in my life are almost always already in my head but I never think I'm right or I am just too dang scared to listen. I'd say that 99.9% of the time when I have a problem, I know exactly how to fix it. Even when I do something wrong or I'm unsure of what to do in a situation or anything like that, I usually know the answer but just doubt myself so much that I have to rely on others for the solution. (Or, I do the other thing... which is completely avoid the solution and make matters worse. Great.)

This happened at work tonight right after we had a big dinner rush. The lobby was a wreck but I wasn't necessarily the one responsible for cleaning it up but I knew that the person who was was busy and I knew that things were slowing down so I wouldn't have to worry about what I was responsible for until more customers came in. I kept running orders out to people and seeing how disgusting the floor was, how messy the tables were, etc. and went past it probably five or six times. Honestly, I was waiting for the manager to come out to tell someone to go do it but I had a feeling it was going to be me anyway because I was the "least busy looking" one out front. I knew, just KNEW, that it should be me to go clean the lobby even though I didn't want to. I even had a really super brief conversation with God while I was running an order where I mentioned wanting someone else to do it and telling Him that I figured because I wanted someone else to do it, He was totally going to make me do it. He and I have this relationship... you know?

Anyway, I went up front after that and said to one of my co-workers, "The lobby is a disaster." I grabbed a broom, rags, and sanitizer and cleaned that sucker like it was no body's business. The manager never even came out to see the lobby, nor to see that I was cleaning it (which would have been a nice little perk for me, but that's not why I was doing it!), but it didn't matter. I felt good about doing something that I didn't necessarily have to do and doing it well and doing it because it needed to be done.

I've learned a lot of tiny little life lessons at work, really. Not my dream job but it makes it so very apparent that God makes something of every situation!

You are the Wind

...You are the wind
As the wind is You

You are powerful
You are calm
You are cold
You are warm

You embrace
You give me goosebumps
You make me feel

You are all around me
You are everywhere
You are infinite

You are invisible
Yet, You are known

As the wind is You
You are the wind...



written by me while standing outside in a storm.

Here comes the rain, doo doo doo doo...

Woke up a bit earlier than normal this morning to an enourmously loud thunderclap. Tried to go back to sleep... Woke up to another enourmously loud thunderclap. Opened my window and realized that lightning was striking mere yards from my house and that (as instructed by elementary school teachers) when I counted the seconds between lightning and thunder... I came up short! The storm was literally above my house! THEN it started to rain and I wanted to cry it was so beautiful.

It is 80 degrees and breezy in fair Phoenix on this early September morning. Lovely. Just lovely.

P.S.
The one downside to this weather (since vanity must always intrude, apparently) is that my hair is gigantic. I feel like one of the lightning bolts struck my head. How I'll manage, I have no idea.

Summer Stock

I just finished watching Summer Stock with Judy Garland and Gene Kelly. SO CUTE. Gene Kelly is a dreamboat and Judy Garland's voice makes me want to cry. Not to mention that Gloria de Haven! I've never even seen or heard of her or any other film or tv show that she's been in which is a shame- her voice is unbelievable!

Anyway, this was my favorite song besides "Get Happy" which has been a favorite of mine for awhile now, even before I knew it was in this film.

"Friendly Star"
There's a star for everyone
Brightly shining in the sky
It seems to be a part of our destiny

Ev'ry night I eagerly,
Watch them all go twinkling by
But I can't seem to find the one the heavens
Assigned to me...

Friendly star, where could you be hiding
Smile for me from out of the lonely night
Friendly star, my fate needs deciding
How I need the glow of your guiding light

I know that you are near, for I am strangely dreamy
And so if you can see me from afar
Won't you kindly, light my way

Lead me to my lover,
Just point him out,
And whisper,"there you are, there you are"
Then my love, you will be
Standing here, close to me

In your eyes, I will see my friendly star.


(Sorry I don't have a clip of the actual music. I couldn't find a good video or streaming clip anywhere! Guess you'll just have to view the film to hear it for yourself!)

October 23, 2005

The following is a story I wrote about a great day that I had four years ago next month. I kept it hidden in a diary for a long time (like, four years...) until I finally showed it to someone who said it was cute. So, with a bit of updating and an added note at the end, I present... a short story by Caitlin Wahlstrom:



There was something about the way that he looked at me as we walked to his car… “Is there anything I can do to make you happy?” I had to hold back my smile with all my might as I cleverly said, “I don’t know, is there?”

We walked back to the car in silence and started back to the house. Only about a half mile out of the beach parking lot I had to say it… there was no going back, “Can I tell you something?” My hands were shaking and I’m sure my face showed the fear coming over me because of what I was about to do. No longer would I allow myself to be the shy one who lets amazing opportunities pass me by. Then and there, I said it, “I like you… like, a lot…” He smiled broadly and chuckled a little, “Likewise,” he said. I about jumped out of my skin with the happiness I felt at what he had just said. I was so proud of myself; for the first time in my life I took a gigantic leap of faith and the Lord allowed it to work out better than I expected.

We drove for awhile in euphoric silence until we reached that fated stop sign. We stopped completely at the three-way intersection as he leaned over and kissed me on the cheek. I wanted to cry with happiness! I had been waiting for my first kiss my entire life and here it was in all its glory two days after my 17th birthday. I didn’t care about being a “late bloomer” anymore, and no longer was I embarrassed because I was the last person I knew who had yet to have their first kiss. None of this mattered to me. All I could think about was what had just happened to me for the first time in my life.

He grabbed my hand and we held on as tightly as we could without ever thinking of letting go. We had reached yet another stop sign and I just couldn’t help myself- I leaned over and kissed him back… on the lips! Oh wow, did I honestly just do that, I thought. I did, and I was so happy. We hugged each other tightly and never wanted to let go. We probably would have stayed that way forever had it not been for the car that so unfortunately pulled up behind us.

After that day, stop signs became an automatic signal for the two of us to kiss or simply embrace. Every stop sign or stop light that we stopped at for long enough, we would kiss each other without a thought of why. Who needs reasons when you’re in love?

Since that wonderful day, our relationship has ended. In the four years since that weekend, the two of us have grown apart and moved on with each of our lives, but the memory of the love we shared will stay with me forever.





[Note: I'm wondering if it weirds me out to post this because of what it's about or that I am afraid the other person will be weirded out or both. I am a very paranoid over-thinker which is not a fun combination. So, just be like, utterly amazed that this is posted at all. Thanks.]

Pure poetry...

Cosmic Love
by Florence + the Machine

A falling star
fell from your heart
and landed in my eyes

I screamed aloud
as it tore through them
and now it's left me blind

The stars, the moon
they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark

No dawn, no day
I'm always in this twilight
In the shadow of your heart

And in the dark
I can hear your heart beat
I try to find the sound

But then it stopped
and I was in the darkness
so darkness i became

The stars, the moon
they have all been blown out
You left me in the dark

No dawn, no day
I'm always in this twilight
in the shadow of your heart

I took the stars from my eyes
and then i made a map
I knew that somehow
I could find my way back

Then I heard your heart beating
You were in the darkness too
So I stayed in the darkness with you...

Morbid Curiosity

I know this may sound really creepy to some but I've all of a sudden had a great urge to travel to celebrity graves. This really isn't a totally new obsession, as my dad and I have always loved to visit cemeteries in our travels around Arizona.

The celebrity aspect, though, is new. I watched Capote last night and afterward read up on him and found that I really like this character! He has a similar personality to Andy Warhol (in fact, Truman Capote was one of Warhol's idols!) and his life-long best friend was Nelle Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird.

Anyway, I found out that he was cremated but "interred" at Westwood Village Memorial Park in LA. I thought to myself, "It would be really cool to go see his grave. I wonder if any other of my favorite celebrities are buried there."

So, in search of celebrity grave sites I found this great list and collection of names and locations.

I say, once I have time and money, I'm going on a road trip with my Polaroid...

Forest Lawn (Hollywood Hills) Cemetery, Los Angeles, CA:
Bette Davis
Buster Keaton
Liberace
Freddie Prinze
Andy Gibb
Stan Laurel
Ricky Nelson
John Ritter
Gene Autry
Sandra Dee
Ed McMahon
David Carradine

Forest Lawn (Glendale)**:
Clark Gable
Carole Lombard
Jimmy Stewart
Jean Harlow
Humphrey Bogart
Mary Pickford
Errol Flynn
Spencer Tracy
Walt Disney
Sammy Davis, Jr
Nat King Cole
L. Frank Baum(!)

Ferncliff Cemetery, Hartsdale, NY:
Judy Garland
Aaliyah
Joan Crawford

Westwood Village Memorial Park, Los Angeles, CA:
Truman Capote
Marilyn Monroe
Donna Reed
Dean Martin
Natalie Wood
Roy Orbison
Carroll O'Connor
Don Knotts
Eva Gabor

Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, CA:
Bing Crosby
Ray Bolger
Rita Hayworth
Jack Haley
Mary Astor
John Candy
Bela Lugosi
Sharon Tate

Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, NY:
Jean-Michel Basquiat (famous painter)
Theodore Roosevelt's family (but not Teddy himself)
Louis Comfort Tiffany (the Tiffany lamp guy)
Frank Morgan

Hollywood Forever Memorial Park, Hollywood, CA:
Mel Blanc (voice of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig!)
Cecil B. Demille
Victor Fleming (director of Wizard of Oz and Gone with the Wind)
Johnny Ramone

Oakwood Memorial Park, Chatsworth, CA:
Fred Astaire
Ginger Rogers

San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, CA:
Richie Valens
Bob Hope

On their own...
Karen Carpenter- Valley Oaks Cemetery, Westlake Village, CA
Ella Fitzgerald- Inglewood Park Cemetery, Inglewood, CA
Warner Bros.- Home of Peace Memorial Park, Los Angeles, CA
John Wayne- Pacific View Memorial Park, Newport Beach, CA
Jimi Hendrix- Greenwood Memorial Cemetery, Seattle, WA
Andy Warhol- St. John the Baptist Byzantine Cemetery, Pittsburgh, PA
Audrey Hepburn- Tolochenaz, Switzerland*
James Dean- Fairmount Park Cemetery, Fairmount, IN
Harry Houdini- Machpelah Cemetery, Flushing, NY
Bonnie and Clyde- Crown Hill Memorial Park, Dallas, TX
John Dillinger- Crown Hill Cemetery, Indianapolis, IN
Doc Holliday- Pioneer Cemetery, Glenwood Springs, CO
Lewis Carroll- Mount Cemetery, Guildford, Surrey, England
C.S. Lewis- Holy Trinity Church, Headington, Oxford, England***


*Really, I would give anything just to see where she LIVED. Her house and garden in Switzerland were so breathtakingly beautiful that just to be near it would be a dream come true.

**Apparently, this place is also a garden, museum, art gallery, etc. So, even if I couldn't find all those celeb graves I would love to visit here anyway! Regis Philbin and Ronald Reagan got married here too!