Three FOUR for Monday

1. I think I'll be wasting some time today on the When In Academia tumblr. (oh my goodness, the "When a student walks into class late and asks "What are we doing." How I WISH I had laser eyes.)

(this one has to be my favorite of the ones I've seen, though)

2. It's all over the news that horsemeat has been found in IKEA meatballs.

Well, Ulla, being (nominally) a Swedish horse, has some thoughts on that:



Not many. I don't think Ulla is exceptionally bright.

3. I saw an ad for the latest Barbie doll CGI-fest movie.

It's about aspiring ballerinas and it's called The Pink Shoes.

Does no one read Hans Christian Andersen any more? The Red Shoes was one of those stories I heard at an early age (I remember hearing it in first grade, as a recording of someone reading it; for some reason "Gloria in Excelsis Deo" was used as music in that recording, and for years I couldn't hear that carol without shuddering a bit). The story is unsettling, to say the least, at least to a modern child.It's a story about vanity, I suppose, but I remembered it mainly as being about breaking a rule that wasn't known to be a rule, and essentially being damned (well, not in the very end, I guess) for it.

But at any rate: a fairly heavy story for a seven year old. (Though I guess that was the age group that Andersen aimed at?)

So I hear "Barbie and the Pink Shoes" and I think of a young girl being forced to dance, forever and ever, across the landscape, until she finally calls on God for help, and is effectively struck dead right there. (I guess there was also a movie version, with actual ballerinas in a production of The Red Shoes? I've never seen the movie so I'm not sure how it fits in.)

I suppose that's not what Mattel intended people to think of.....but I thought of it.

4. Thanks to someone posting a .gif from this on Ravelry, I went looking for it.....and now, I'm just going to picture Alan Rickman getting angry for me instead of me getting angry when something upsetting happens. (Watch to the end of the video for the angry moment)