The Princess and the Frog

Our recent discussions and readings about race in class made me think of this.

As you may or may not know, Disney has yet another princess movie coming out. It's called The Princess and the Frog.

This is the storyline given on the Movie's web page:

From the heart of Louisiana's mystical bayous and the banks of the mighty
Mississippi comes an unforgettable tale of love, enchantment and discovery with a
trumpet playing alligator, a love sick Cajun firefly, and a host of other
charming characters at every turn.
Source: http://disney.go.com/disneypictures/princessandthefrog/

A little background info on the movie: it's set in New Orleans French Quarter during the Jazz Age. What do you think of the setting? America never had official princesses, after all.

The main character is a princess named Tiana. She is the first black "Disney Princess", and will join the ranks of Ariel, Belle, Jasmine, and Aurora sometime in 2009. There have been Disney princesses since the dawn of animation- in 1937, to be exact, with Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. So, why has it taken until now for there to be a black main character in an animated Disney movie?

And going along that thought, are there any black characters in any other Disney movies? I don't remember any off hand. I know that Kingdom Hearts- a video game collaboration between Disney and Square Enix- had no black characters, even though several characters from Final Fantasy (most notable Barrett Wallace from Final Fantasy VII) were black.

What do you all think?

Ja ne
~ Nikori

Of Facebook and Advertising

Referencing this article, linked to from feministing.com.

I don't get the "muffin top" or "diet" ads.

What I get instead is bombarded with "Free Designer Samples" and mostly some variation of the following:

"Meet Hot Christian Singles!"
"Meet Five Guys in Five minutes!"
"One of your friends has a crush on you! Find out who!"
"Take a shot at love like Tila!"

And they all have cute guys showing off their six-packs. Well, except for the Christian singles one. It was two blonde girls wearing something rather skimpy and looking at who ever took the picture like they wanted to screw them silly.

I really didn't need to see that, because I was trying to save the rain forest or stop world hunger or something with one of Facebook's many applications. And I don't swing that way.

I digress.

So apparently, because I'm single, I'm desperate to meet some guy (who probably is going to end up being really sketchy) through the computer. Don't people die that way?

And apparently, I also only date in my religion and I all go for in a guy is whether or not they are "hot". Do I really look that self-absorbed?

And coincidentally, I signed on my Facebook to do some research for this post (I am nothing if not thorough), I found every type ad except one for some dating-type thing. Maybe Facebook knows I'm about to drop the ball on their "subtle" advertising skillz, and has sought to do everything in its power to subvert me?

Or not.

Let me know what you think!

Ja ne~
<3 Nikori

Palin's Daughter

Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska- many of you may know her as McCain's running mate.

So it's just about 6:30 Monday evening, and I'm sitting in my Grandmother's living room, watching CNN. I was mainly hoping to see information about Hurricane Gustav. However, it was flipping back and forth between the Republican National Convention and coverage concerning the hurricane.

Joy. But ahh, whatever. I'm not going into my personal views now.

However, one of the reporters came on, and told the audience how Sarah Palin's 17-year-old daughter was *gasp* five months pregnant... and *double gasp* she's keeping the baby! The daughter- who's name I beleive is Crystal- plans on marrying her baby's Daddy. And, the fact that she's keeping the baby shows of her character or something.

But, I couldn't help but wonder:

What the HELL does a seventeen year old pregnant girl have to do with the presidential election? So her mother is a candidate for vice-president. I'm sure that there are thousands of 17-year-old girls out there who are pregnant, and none of their stories are being broadcasted across CNN.

What does her daughter being pregnant have to do with her ability to be vice president?

Ja ne~
<3 Nikori

Blog the First

Welcome to my little slice of the blog-o-sphere! To begin with, my name's Nikki. I'm old enough to vote and go to war, but not old enough to drink. I work and go to school, which is the reason that I am creating this blog! I'm taking a class called Gender and Pop Culture, and a good portion of my grade in this class is stemming from the posts that I do on this blog. I think it's really interesting, and a lot more fun to do then say, a research paper. And besides, I had wanted to start a blog anyway! So anyway, continuing with a little more information about me. I enjoy reading- fantasy series such as Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, The Inheritance Cycle, and Twilight are my favorite. I'm also a big fan of anime and manga- in fact, my display name is my name in Japanese. My favorite TV shows are Stargate: SG1, Chuck, and Smallville. And that's pretty much me in a nutshell! Stay tuned for more posts and stuff! Ja ne~ <3 Nikori PS: In case you were wondering, "Ja ne" is Japanese for "See you later". ^_^