Why I love the OUAT Cast - reason 5,823

I love how supportive they are of one another - even after an actor has left the show (though in my heart I really really really hope we have not seen the last of MRJ/Nealfire on Once). Michael Squared (as I've decided to call them lol) are both two of my favorites on and off the show. Great actors.

Just had to get my fangirl moment in there.

Because I haven't *at all* fangirlled today over the news of MRJ's new project... nope, not even a little bit. /lying Okay, I may have interrupted VBS with a not so silent "OMG! *SQUEE!*" when the news hit my twitter feed. Yay for the soonish finally happening and we know what to expect. And GET THIS! He's not going to DIE or have a super tragic storyline... or be a douchey bad guy! OMG! My dream! ha ha!

/fangirl

30 Days of Disneyland - Day 4: Favorite Tomorrowland Attraction

Day 4 - Favorite Tomorrowland Attraction

Tomorrowland is probably my least favorite land in either Disneyland or Walt Disney World's Magic Kingdom. There just isn't much that interests me, though at night it's awesome all lit up. A photographic delight.

I know most probably would say Space Mountain as their favorite, but that ride terrifies me (more so the single rider one at WDW than the two-seater at DLR). So I'm going to go with one of the cutest rides they've got - Buzz Lightyear. This is very similar to the one at WDW, but it's fun and air conditioned... and you get a ride picture... so, that's all I got.

Besides, I love my Zurgy!

30 Days of Disneyland - Day 3: Favorite Fantasyland Attraction

Day 3: Favorite Fantasyland Attraction

It's definitely the Matterhorn. I was five the first time I rode it. It's one of the few rides I remember vividly (or at all). So very thrilling! I got to take Haille on her first Matterhorn ride in 2011 - and she LOVED it. It broke down the next year and we never got to ride it with her again... oh well, in a few years I'll take her again and we'll go.

Sadly, it will be under refurbishment when we go in September. I cannot begin to tell you just how bummed that makes me. Aimee and Wess need to experience this ride!

30 Days of Disneyland - Day 2: Favorite Main Street Attraction

Day 2 - Favorite Main Street Attraction


I've only seen this attraction once, I was five, and Lincoln malfunctioned and "died" on stage. And yet, it's still one of my favorites. It is one of Walt's greatest achievements, one of his favorite attractions, and it's my favorite American leader. I am a big fan of the Civil War era history, yet another thing Walt and I have in common I suppose.

I WILL see this attraction come hell or high water this time around. I'll go by myself if I have to.

30 Days of Disneyland - Day 1: Favorite Land

Day 1 - Favorite Land

Disneyland's Main Street U.S.A. is by far my favorite section in the park. I know that seems silly considering it's just shops and ice cream... but I love the atmosphere. I love that it's how you have to enter the park. I love the smells, the lights, the architecture... the fact that Walt walked and lived there... and in some ways still does.

Sure the whole park is Walt's park. It's the one he saw built to "completion" (though he said DLR would never be completed, that it would always be changing), it was the one he visited... the one he dreamed about... and Main Street is where it began... because it was a tribute to his childhood. Where he lived and grew up. Sure it's the "Disney version" of such places, but who wants to live in the real world when you can live in Disney's land?

I love stopping by Walt's apartment to say hello (and goodbye on my way out of the park at the end of the trip). The light is ALWAYS on in memory of the man behind the mouse, behind the magic. I love having breakfast (Mickey Waffle tradition!) at The Carnation Cafe. I love stopping at the Confectionery and watching them make the different candied treats (and the smell, OMG!). The streetmosphere, the trollies, the trains, the music! I CAN'T WAIT!

(Also, I've not seen the Lincoln attraction since I was 5, if I don't get to see it this trip I'm going to have a tantrum. Erin, Aimee, Wess... you've been warned!)

To all who come to this Happy Place... Welcome!

Getting ready to start my next 30 days challenge, this one focusing on DISNEYLAND! Seems it's only fitting to do this since in about 106 days I will be on the plane headed for Southern California for a week of Disney and FRIENDS! I haven't blogged much about the trip and I need to get it into gear and get going on it. I AM excited about it, I just haven't felt the inspiration to blog about it... I blame my Once Upon A Time obsession for sidetracking me. (Seriously, still not over it ha ha.)

It's getting close and so the excitement is ramping up. Erin and Wess have gotten their airfare (I did months ago as I used miles and the flights I originally wanted had filled up their miles quota so I had to find another set of flights that worked and I snagged them as soon as I could). I also talked my friend Aimee into going. She and Erin have the same birthday. I "met" Aimee online over 10 years ago when we were both blogging on GreatestJournal (a livejournal like blog site). We'd found each other through our Star Wars fandom, and then realized we had a lot in common. We both loved our pug dogs, loved Star Wars, obsessed over DISNEY... and a friendship was born. We've never met "in real life", but we always talk about meeting - and it's normally a trip to WDW that we assumed would be how we finally made it happen.

Fastforward to Christmas of 2013. Aimee posted on facebook a video of the Wonderful World of Color water and light show at Disney's California Adventure and she was saying how she so wanted to go to DLR but didn't know when it would happen - if it ever would (she lives on the East Coast). I popped on and said she should come with us for her birthday. She thought I was joking. But I said I was serious! We had the room booked and ready to go, all she'd need to do is get airfare and park tickets and she'd be set! It was 10 months away it was doable.

After staying up WAY past my bedtime (which means she TOTALLY skipped hers ha ha) I convinced her to at least THINK about it. A few days later she'd made up her mind, she was going to do it! She has her airfare now, so I say it's official. We are SUPER excited - and she and Erin have become buds online as well... so I think I'll end up being outnumbered here pretty soon! haha!

Anyway, Aimee's been doing a first timer at Disneyland Meme on her FB so I figured I'd do a Disneyland meme on my blog... thankfully this is NOT my first time so I know what to expect and how to get things done! ;)



 30 Days of Disneyland!

Day 01: Your Favorite Land
Day 02: Your Favorite Main Street Attraction
Day 03: Your Favorite Fantasyland Attraction
Day 04: Your Favorite Tomorrowland Attraction
Day 05: Your Favorite New Orleans Square Attraction
Day 06: Your Favorite Adventureland Attraction
Day 07: Your Favorite Critter Country Attraction
Day 08: Your Favorite Mickey’s Toontown Attraction
Day 09: Your Favorite Frontierland Attraction
Day 10: Your Favorite Extinct Attraction
Day 11: Your Favorite Disney‘s California Adventure Attraction
Day 12: The Attraction You Gone On Most
Day 13: Your Favorite Piece of Architecture
Day 14: Your Favorite Face Character
Day 15: Your Favorite Atmosphere (Fur) Character
Day 16: Your Favorite Parade
Day 17: Your Favorite Live Show
Day 18: Your Favorite Band/Vocal Group
Day 19: Your Favorite Fireworks Spectacular
Day 20: Your Favorite Restaurant
Day 21: Your Favorite Food or Beverage
Day 22: Your Favorite Shop
Day 23: Your Favorite Thing to Collect
Day 24: Your Favorite Disneyland Memory
Day 25: Your Favorite Picture from the Park
Day 26: Your Favorite Cast Member Costume
Day 27: Your Dream Job
Day 28: Your Favorite Time to Visit
Day 29: Your Favorite Aspect of Disneyland
Day 30: Your Favorite Walt Disney Quote about Disneyland

30 Days of OUAT - Day 30: Favorite Season Finale

 Day 30 - Favorite Season Finale

I'm going to miss gushing about OUAT every day on here. Though there are other Once themed Memes I could do (I assume there are since I've seen one for Swanfire... maybe there's one that's JUST Neal? That'd be fun ha ha). Still, like all good things, there must be an end - or at least a hiatus (which is a very very very bad word in the world of OUAT).

My favorite Season Finale is still season 1's. Season 1 just had a lot of heart and a good beginning, middle, and end. Season 2 was all over the map and the finale felt more like an epilogue to me. Season 3 had two finales, the mid season, and the 2 hour movie (which was a whole lot of CaptainSwan messing up while SwanFire kept Emma going... which was a nice picture and all... but all it did was make me sad all over again once MRJ's final scene - and most likely final episode - came up. It's all about the tumblers).

Season 1's finale has Emma rushing her son to the hospital after he collapses from taking a bite of the apple turnover that his adoptive mother gave to Emma for her trip home. Emma is willing to leave Storybrooke to once again give Henry his best chance as she believes she's fueling his crazy ideas of everyone being fairytale characters. Henry takes the turnover to prove to her that he's not crazy. It's what finally gets Emma to realize it's all true. She beats the snot out of Regina and then the two of them go to get the thing that will save Henry.

Only Gold steals it from them, and they get a call from the hospital saying they need to come right away. By the time they reach the hospital Henry has died. Emma goes in to say goodbye and gives her son a tearful kiss on his forehead. The "twu love" rainbow airburst breaks forth and Henry awakens... as does the town. Now they know who they are.

And it cliffhangs right at the best part. They've found each other, and Gold has poured his "twu luv" potion into the well that restores all. A purple cloud falls over the town and... then we had to wait for Season 2 (which would open with a mystery man walking through NYC till he gets home and a dove delivers a postcard that says "Storybrooke, Maine" on the front and "Broken" written on the back... it's Neal, and August has kept his promise to let him know when Emma's done her job).



And, that's a wrap. I'm sure I'll be revisiting OUAT on the blog soon... but I think next up is Disneyland related... and hopefully MRJ will finally play nice and break radio silence with his new project. I WANNA KNOW! ha ha...

Only 120ish days till Season 4? I think?

30 Days of OUAT - Day 29: Favorite Season Premiere

Day 29 - Favorite Season Premiere

I gotta go with the Pilot episode. It opens SO well, I mean from the intro to Prince Charming racing down the road towards finding his true love to awaken her with true love's kiss. Everything seems so much like what we know of the story... and then all hell breaks loose.

Season 2's premiere was nice, but at the same time the whole "Mystery Man" portion (aka Michael Raymond-James walking through NYC before coming home, losing his ipod, and getting a postcard with the word "broken") was just really annoying. Don't get me wrong, as an MRJ fangirl (now) I love seeing him, but it made NO SENSE! Especially since we don't see him again for several episodes and it just didn't seem to fit within the rest of the story (and I'm STILL not sure it does)!

Season 3's was somewhat of a let down (actually all of 3a feels that way), even though - once again - an MRJ fangirl gets some quality stuff out of the character of Neal (much more so than in Season 2's opener). There was just too much going on with Neal in the EF, Henry with Greg and Tamara finding out who they were taking orders from, and then the rescue party on the Jolly Roger (and all of the secondary characters back in Storybrooke). It was all just too convoluted.

But the Pilot episode had a beginning, middle, end... and a purpose. A real one, not just a "let's get back into this and introduce the new characters" kinda thing. Only thing that'd make it better is having MRJ in it, but we couldn't know who Neal was until Season 2... it wouldn't have fit the storyline... wouldn't have given us enough angst. We needed to work up to finding Baelfire... and besides we wouldn't have August trying to fool Rumple without us not knowing who Bae really was.

I had to get a few fangirl gush moments in, so sue me. Ha ha.

30 Days of OUAT - Day 28: Best Actor/Character

Day 28 - Best Actor/Character

And no one is shocked, right? Though in all honesty I probably don't even agree with my pick (really for me it's a three way tie between MRJ, Robert Carlyle, and Colin O'Donoghue), but I keep coming back to Michael Raymond-James. I mean if you've followed along with the 30 days of Once so far you know how I feel about his character Neal Cassidy, and if you follow me on Twitter you know I've been quickly catching myself up on his work. (Well, for the most part... the idea of watching his True Blood or Black Snake Moan character terrifies me. LOL!)

I don't want to do a huge gushfest considering I've gushed pretty much non stop all month, but I do want to say that I believe MRJ to be a very underrated actor (at least to the general public). He's more than just a character actor (guy is totally typecast ha ha), he's very skilled at his craft. His style is very laid back and natural on screen and that makes his characters believable. It's his warmth and charm that makes Neal a likeable guy even after all we find out about him (which in the grand scheme of things I don't believe makes him all that bad a person... it's all totally forgivable, which is what Emma does... but I digress).

If you want to see him shine outside of OUAT, I highly recommend Terriers. It was a short lived (not even a full season) show that he was a co-lead on. It's a "buddy drama-edy" about two down on their luck type PI's who end up getting a case that's way bigger than they realize. It was on FX and just didn't get the ratings (I kinda remember the promos for it, but I never watched it when it aired. Wish I had). You can stream it on Netflix (which I do regularly) - it's 13 episodes and well worth the time to take a day and binge watch. If the pilot doesn't catch your attention, keep watching. I wasn't hooked until episode 2 or 3, even with it being MRJ (I'm not a fan of Donal Logue's acting, so it took a while to get over him being co-lead with Michael).

With Neal now dead and gone (with creators Adam and Eddy both repeating the OUAT mantra "Dead is Dead" whenever asked about a possible return for the character) Michael fans are waiting to hear of his next project. He tweeted a while back that after an extended vacation he was back to work on a project he's excited about. He ended the tweet with "Details soonish"... and THIS fan is convinced it's "soonish" and he needs to spill! Especially since he keeps popping up on twitter every few days to share his "pearls of wisdom" (the latest being on washing dishes).

Whatever the project is I really hope it's a good one. Not a couple episodes arc on an established TV show where he ends up dying or some other tragic storyline. I want to see him branch out and play something that we haven't seen much of in his filmography - because judging by his interviews, twitter, and the like... he seems like a fairly happy go lucky kinda guy. So, come on, dude! A little less depression for your fans, please?! ha ha!

Oh, and totally superficial/random/weird point - as a photographer I cannot get over his eyes. They catch light perfectly and make them just stand out and are soooooooo beautiful... and I don't normally say that about dark eyes. But dang.



Oddly enough, however, I don't think Neal is the best character on the show. As much as I'm obsessed over the whole "Quiet Minds" thing, and how much I admire the actor, the character took a while for me to warm up to (not MRJ's fault, the writing didn't make him all that likeable for a long time). No, the best character award most definitely goes to Neal's Papa, Rumpelstiltskin. Robert Carlyle is a sheer genius in this role (and I probably should've given him his due as best actor... but puppy dog eyes won out on that one ha ha).

Seriously this man plays evil to perfection, and he does it in a way that the character is still so sympathetic. Even though he abandoned his son - dropped him down a portal! - and murdered a mute maid because she found out his dagger is what controls him, you still feel for him as he searches for a way to reach Baelfire in the land without magic. You cheer for him when he finds love with Belle (even if the age difference and scales make it kinda creepy), and your heart breaks each time he "loses her"... and then Quiet Minds happens where his son tells him to let go and tells him he loves him with his final breath... and we weep for him. And during his sons funeral, while he's caged and Zelena's prisoner, he feels every painful shovel of dirt burying his son - forever separating them. And you just want his pain to end.



Rumple's relationship with his son is yet another reason why I really really hope that this is truly NOT the end of Nealfire, even though I know it is.

Funny River Fire - day 8 - in pictures

I spent most of the day at the church in full on VBS decoration mode. After finishing up I came home, grabbed my camera, and headed down to the beach. The smoke has become incredibly DARK - which has been explained as nothing bad, just the result of the fire crews doing "back burning"... whatever that is. It made for some pretty nice shots.

The current numbers are 176,069 acres, 670 personnel assigned, 0 injuries. No percentage of containment has been listed as far as I know. I'm sure they're waiting until the crews come back in. They're talking about relieving many of them as they've been going for a week now and are in need of sleep and actual rest. They have all been SO AMAZING and the community has really rallied around them. They are our heroes!