[Witches and Brunch.]
First, the Brunch. I did this one because I felt it important to be honest about what I think, and I'm not obliged to like everything. I often avoid, out of politeness, memes whose topics cover something that's not my cup of tea; but to employ that policy unfailingly seems like an endorsement of the "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all" policy, which I always hated anyway [hence this blog]. As an artist, I feel it necessary to say something about Disney [who, as a corporation, has the most unbelievable rigamaroles; and with whom my mother, also an artist, refused to do business because they think they're King of the Universe and their employees are grovelling peons; while it's true that a company like that must run a tight ship, their rules and restrictions are so extensive, so rigorous and so anal that Himmler would quit].
Also, as an adult, I feel it necessary to express, on occasion, my perennial displeasure toward G-rated materials. I appreciate fully that companies produce such materials for children, and I think it's wonderful that such things exist for children. For this reason, I keep my complaints about them to a minimum. But I didn't like most kid stuff even when I was a kid [I doubt most kids do--given a choice, they'd sooner see boobs and explosions than Snow White, in the same way that they'd rather have Chee-tos and M&M's for supper instead of roast beef and string beans], and once I got old enough to go into an R-rated movie by myself, I never looked back. And perhaps it's cantankerous of me to say anything about it, but if somebody doesn't, then the only opinions ever heard on the subject are the family-values brigands who want to ban all forms of violence or sexual expression in art and film and turn the entire media into one humongous frigging PAX channel.
Interestingly enough, the adults-liking-Disney phenomenon seems, in my experience, to be confined mostly to women. Maybe my hormones are different, I dunno. I don't get why other women like many of the things they like. But that's a different topic.
1) What is your favorite Disney movie and why?
The one that sits on the shelf and doesn't make it into the DVD player. I think their character artwork has become grotesque over the last couple decades, and I abhor movies where the characters break into song. The only possible exceptions to this would be West Side Story and Labyrinth, and that's only because the former has knife fights and the song "Officer Krupke," and the latter has freaky Muppets and David Bowie in sprayed-on tights. I'll put up with a few songs for that. However, neither of those, to my knowledge, are Disney movies.
2) Who is your favorite Disney character and why?
The only one I remember well, and really like, is Jeremy the Crow from The Secret of NIMH, because he's wacko. I suppose a runner-up would be the old owl, since he's ancient and sorta creepy and eats moths right in front of people. [For those of you too young to recall, this film was done before Disney started its policy of "every male character must look like his face was chipped out of a hard, glassy material." Say...could it be...? JOHN KERRY IS A DISNEY CHARACTER!! Screw it, I'm voting for him anyway.]
3) What is your favorite Disney song and why?
The one that grates on me the least? That'd have to be the theme from NIMH. I'm sentimental about it. I know one guy at work, though, that walks around like the bear from Jungle Book and sings "Bear Necessities," and when he does it, it's hilarious. But then, he's nuts anyway.
4) Disneyland or Disneyworld? Why?
Yes, I ask that myself, every time I see commercials or brochures for either of those two places. Why? [Lest I sound like a curmudgeonly old baggage, let me state for the record that I felt the exact same way when I was 8.]
5) Do you have any decorations or articles of clothing in your home that are Disney and what are they?
No decorations, no articles of clothing, but I think I have a few Happy Meal toys that are Disney; I picked them up at thrift stores and yard sales in the hopes of disassembling them and putting them into assemblage pieces. Hey, I'm not prejudiced, I do it to Barbie too. And if I remember right, there's also a plastic Chicken McNugget with a face in that pile...if I ever get off my hiney and into the studio, I'll have tremendous fun making art about the fall and dissolution of consumer-driven American society.
Now for the Witches Weekly.
Which book has influenced your path the most and why?
I try not to let any one book or source dominate. I don't think that's wise, and I certainly don't think it's in the spirit of witchcraft. If you do your research, you will be bombarded by different opinions and methodologies, and you may well gravitate towards one [and if you don't do your research, you're on the wrong path]; but I find it hard to imagine any well-read witch lifting hir style wholly or mostly from one source. I can name several that have influenced me, though. Margot Adler's Drawing Down the Moon first got me seriously interested in paganism and Wicca. Cunningham's Wicca: A Guide for the Solitary Practitioner and Living Wicca have certainly helped keep me on track as an eclectic Wiccan/Neo-Wiccan [as opposed to a non-Wiccan eclectic witch]. Eileen Holland's The Wicca Handbook, while admittedly highly eclectic and not exceptionally good at showing clearly what's actually Wiccan and what are Holland's personal eclectic elements, has been full of good general advice and correspondences, and is a good starting reference if you want to do more research on deities associated with specific types of magic.
What person has influenced your path the most and why?
Me, of course. Why? It's my path. However, I wouldn't have gone the route I've gone if it hadn't been for my pagan friends, pagan chatmates, various fundamentalists of different belief systems [including atheism] who've shown me how not to conduct myself, my mother who has been highly supportive, and the various authors to whom I've looked for guidance.
Why are you pagan?
Put simply, it's more spiritually fulfilling for me to honour nature than to force myself to believe, unquestioningly, a story about a talking snake, or to believe in nothing at all.
And that's about it.
Stuff to do today...
same bitch time, same bitch channel...
Thought for the day: If humans get crabs, what do crabs get?
Posted by Frida Peeple at October 10, 2004 06:32 AM