Mary Blair: an Eternal Little Girl

Full name:                                          Mary Robinson

Birth:                                                    October 21, 1911

Place of Birth:                                   McAlester, Oklahoma

Death:                                                 July 26, 1978

Place of Death:                                Soquel, California

                An imaginative color stylist and designer, Mary Blair helped introduce modern art to Walt Disney and his Studio, and for nearly 30 years, he touted her inspirational work for his films and theme parks alike. Walt connected with Mary's fresh, childlike art style. As Disney Imagineering artist Roland Crump once told animation historian John Canemaker, "The way she (Mary) painted - in a lot of ways she was still a little girl. Walt was like that... You could see he could relate to children - she was the same way."
                The inherently gifted artist won a scholarship to Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles. After graduation in 1933, at the height of the Depression, Mary took a job in the animation unit of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) rather than pursue her dream of a fine arts career. In 1940, she joined The Walt Disney Studios and worked on a number of projects such as "The Three Caballeros" and "Saludos Amigos." Mary's unique color and styling greatly influenced such Disney postwar productions as "Cinderella," "Alice in Wonderland," and "Peter Pan."
                From 1964-65, Mary Blair participated in the design of It’s a small world attraction, for the New York World’s Fair.
                Mary Blair died of a cerebral hemorrhage on July 26, 1978.

The Boys Next Door/Endless Summer By Jennifer Echols

Synopsis: TWO IRRESISTIBLE BOYS. ONE UNFORGETTABLE SUMMER.

Lori can't wait for her summer at the lake. She loves wakeboarding and hanging with her friends--including the two hotties next door. With the Vader brothers, she's always been just one of the guys. Now that she's turning sixteen, she wants to be seen as one of the girls, especially in the eyes of Sean, the older brother. But that's not going to happen--not if the younger brother, Adam, can help it.

Lori plans to make Sean jealous by spending time with Adam. Adam has plans of his own for Lori. As the air heats up, so does this love triangle. Will Lori's romantic summer melt into one hot mess?

My thoughts: When I bought this book, I got so scared because of its size, but I read the first part in two days!!! I just loved it! Part 1 is really fun and dynamic. We are presented to Lori, a distracted girl that has been hooking up with her neighbors since she was a little girl. Now that she has sixteen and a crush on Sean – one of the guys – she will try everything to get him, even date his younger brother, Adam, who has been her friend for her entire life. But Adam has plans of his own for Lori. As the reading goes on, you realize that Adam is a very sweet guy and you start cheering for him.

                Lori really got on my nerve! Geez, how can she be so blind about a hot guy like Adam? If I were her, I would have definitely fainted when he kissed me! They were a really cute couple. The only thing that I didn’t like a little was the fact that he forgives her too fast. I would have tortured her a little(hehehe). But the rose path that he made for her was sooo adorable that I totally forgave him.

                The second part of the book, I liked it, but not as much as I liked the first. It seemed to me that Lori didn’t like Adam that much, otherwise she wouldn’t keep kissing all the boys in the neighborhood. Besides they were so complicated… It was much easier to go to Lori’s dad, say that they love each other and be done with it! If there is going to be a third, I hope that it’ll show us a much deeper relationship between Lori and Adam.

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Perchance to Dream by Lisa Mantchev

Synopsis: Beatrice Shakespeare Smith's search for her stolen companion has brought her travelling company far from the stage of the Théâtre Illuminata. With the power of her words, Bertie can reshape reality, but the magic is wild and defies her attempts to control it. The Pirate's time is running out and Sea Goddess will not give up her prize willingly.

My thoughts: In this one, we are presented to a new adventure and new characters like the sneak-thief, the scrimshander – that has a very special connection with Bertie – and The Sea Goddess that in the previous book had kidnapped Nate – the handsome and protective pirate from The Little Mermaid. In this book, they get out of the Théâtre and into the new world and this time, there are no scene changes, no plot nothing at all. She has as companions the four inseparable and hilarious fairies and the air elemental, all from Shakespeare’s works.

                She also finds out that her words have incredible powers out of the theater, and when she finds a journal about her story – the story that she has been trying to discover for more than fifteen years – everything that she writes there becomes true – most of the time in a very complicated and funny way. Her goals in this book are:

1)      She needs to save Nate from The Sea Goddess no matter what;

2)      She has to find her father and bring him to the theater;

3)      She needs to choose between the Nate and Ariel, the air elemental.

Most of them, she can get through with a few scars but one of them in going to require a lot more than just words, magic and blood to help.

                The only bad thing, though, was that during the reading, there were many scenes were it was very confusing, because you couldn’t know if she was imagining the Théâtre, if she was inside it, or if it was just your tricky imagination. Anyway, I loved it in everyway possible, even though I had a few difficult parts to comprehend.

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Eyes Like Stars By Lisa Mantchev

Synopsis: Enter Stage Right.
             All her world's a stage.

Beatrice Shakespeare Smith is not an actress, yet she lives in a theater.
She is not an orphan, but she has no parents. She knows every part, but has no lines of her own. Until now.

            Welcome to the Théâtre Illuminata, where the characters of every place ever written can be found behind the curtain. They were born to play their parts, and are bound to the Théâtre by The Book—an ancient and magical tome of scripts. Bertie is not one of them, but they are her family—and she is about to lose them all and the only home she has ever known.

Lisa Mantchev has written a debut novel that is dramatic, romantic, and witty, with an irresistible and irreverent cast of characters who are sure to enchant the audience.

Open Curtain.

My thoughts: Love it! Very creative and unique reading, and we can’t forget funny and lovely! We are presented to Beatrice Shakespeare Smith, a girl that has lived her entire life inside the Théâtre Illuminata, a magical place were the Players have the names of famous characters – like Nate, a HOT, protective and sweet pirate from The Little Mermaid; Ariel, an air spirit that wants more than anything to get outside the theater, and will try everything, even seduce Bertie, to get what he wants and her best friends: Peaseblossom, Moth, Cobweb and Mustardseed, the four fairies from A Midsummer ight’s Dream – and where all of them are bound to The Book, which have all the plays ever written and presented.

            What I liked most of the book – besides the cover, that is simply gorgeous! – are the characters. Bertie is a determinate girl and when she finds out that she is about to lose her only home because of her rebel behavior, everything gets out of control: Nate disappears into sea water, Ariel stoles The Book and Bertie has to do something before the whole Théâtre crumbles on top of her.
            I highly recommend it to people who like theater, romantic and funny stories. The good about this book is that after you read it, you get really interested in other books, like Shakespeare’s works, which means that is a very stimulating book, in the reading section.  The four little fairies are hilarious and you fall completely for Bertie.

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Movie Friends with benefits

Plot: Dylan (Justin Timberlake) and Jamie (Mila Kunis) think it's going to be easy to add the simple act of sex to their friendship, despite what Hollywood romantic comedies would have them believe. They soon discover however that getting physical really does always lead to complications.

My thoughts: Very funny movie and hot too! Here we are presented to Dylan and Jamie, two people from different American states – he is from California and she is from New York – that suffered the same thing: got dumped by their partners. Because of that, they promise to themselves not to fall in love again. When they meet each other at JFK airport, he goes there because of a job offer at GQ magazine and she receives the order to go get him. Resented because of their broken relationships, all they want is to have sex without get involved and then Dylan has the craziest idea: let’s just get physical and not emotional. After that, there are a lot of hot scenes between the sheets, but of course never explicit – damn it! Hihihi Just kidding. But they’ll find out that getting physical may lead to other things too, even if you don’t want them. But is it worth it to ruin a friendship and an awesome contract just because of mere feelings? Justin Timberlake is hotter than ever and his role with Mila Kunis’s character really does the trick – she is beautiful and a really good actress.

Genre: Comedy

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Wicked By Gregory Maguire

Synopsis:  When Dorothy triumphed over the Wicked Witch of the West in L. Frank Baum’s classic tale, we heard only her side of the story. But what about her arch-nemesis, the mysterious Witch? Where did she come from? How did she become so wicked?
            Gregory Maguire creates a fantasy world so rich and vivid that we will never look at Oz the same way again. Wicked is about a land where animals talk and strive to be treated first-class citizens, Munchkinlanders seek the comfort of middle-class citizens, and the tin Man becomes a victim of domestic violence. And then there is the little green-skinned girl named Elphaba, who will grow up to become the infamous Wicked Witch of the West – a smart, prickly, and misunderstood creature who challenges all our preconceived notions about the nature of good and evil.

My thoughts:  One of the most amazing books I’ve ever read! We are presented to Elphaba, or as we know the Wicked Witch of the West, from her birth to her death and as we keep reading, we got to meet many characters that have an essential role in the original The Wizard of Oz as much as in Elphie’s story, like Glinda, the sorceress that helps Dorothy when her house falls from the sky.

            In this book, we are able to realize that Elphaba became wicked not by choice, but by consequence: hated by her mother because of her skin color, ignored by her father, slaved by her sister, mocked by her school colleagues – including Glinda. Everything goes around her skin and because she was green, she suffered intense prejudice, for been the only green girl of all Oz. This prejudice can be even related to what happens today at school with some children because of their appearances or income.
            When Elphaba gets to the University, she becomes the joke because of her ways and dressing, so she learns to take care of herself and have attitude for self-protection. The saddest of the tale is that every time that she finds a little bit of happiness – (SPOILER) like her love affair with handsome prince Fiyero, who owned the lands that one day the Witch would live in – she gets into an ocean of sadness.

            Concerning the Broadway Show, only the characters were maintained and most of the story was changed – in my opinion. It’s good as entertainment, but not very truthful to the book.

Rate: Book-

           Play-

Grace Kelly: from peasant to princess

Full name:                              Grace Patricia Kelly

Birth:                                       November 12th 1929

Place of birth:                         Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Death:                                    September 14th 1982

Place of death:                       Monaco, France

            Grace Kelly is one of the most admired women in the world. Even today, she is upheld as a standard of beauty, grace, and style. At a young age, Grace decided she wanted to become an actress, and studied acting (primarily theater) at New York City's American Academy of Dramatic Art and worked as a stage actress and model before moving to Hollywood.

            Grace appeared in Mogambo, which won her an Oscar nomination and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress. Her work in High Noon and a screen test for the film Taxi piqued the interest of director Alfred Hitchcock, who, with the aid of Edith Head, pruned Grace into his ideal of the elegant, beautiful blonde. She gave Hitchcock wonderful performances in Dial M for Murder, Rear Window, and To Catch a Thief. Grace went against Hitchcock's glamorized vision of her for the film The Country Girl, which won her the Golden Globe and the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role of 1954. In 1956, she was voted the Golden Globe's World Film Favorite Actor, Female.

            Later that year, she married Prince Rainier Grimaldi III of Monaco to become Her Serene Highness Princess Grace of Monaco. As a princess, she gave up her successful acting career. She had three children: Princess Caroline, Prince Albert, and Princess Stéphanie. Grace died on 14 September 1982 after her car went off a road in the cliffs of Monaco.