On Being Hyper

Hang around me for at least a few hours a day for a few days and you will soon learn that I am extremely hyper...even without the caffeine.  The caffeine is just the drug that keeps my preferred level of hyper up there.  It wouldn't matter if I cut it out, I would still be this crazy, hyper person whose brain is more random than a thousand cheetahs juggling chainsaws aboard a carriage on its way to Caracas.  So I just leave it in the diet.  Occasionally, I'll cut it out for about a week, get some headaches, and then be back on it as soon as the week is over.  But this is not about my not-addicted caffeine problem.  This is about me being hyper.

People tell you to just "Calm down," but I don't see how that's possible.  Taking away my hyper is like taking away Tigger's bounce.  It makes me feel sad and depressed.

Don't you just want to cheer him up?

I mean, yes, I do have times where I am sad or upset about something, but I usually bounce back out of it because I can get cheered up easily most of the time.  I mean, a couple times I've sunk into these three day emotional crises where I just felt upset about something, but it always went away and I was back to normal, hyper Katrina.

But, honestly, I think most people who aren't hyper don't really understand how it feels.  Not every hyper person is actually ADHD, although almost all of us still get called that jokingly because we

Yeah, if you didn't see that one coming, you ain't hung around me long enough.  I have literally changed topic mid-sentence more times than I can...Oh, by the way, I've started watching Duck Dynasty now, which seems like a weird thing to write on a nerd blog because Duck Dynasty is like this anti-nerd...You know what's weird?  People used to make shows where the nerds and the hicks were made fun of, but now they give them their own shows.

Okay, I will try to stay focused.  But, really, the problem with being hyper is that we have all this energy built up inside us.  Some of us are actually really, really smart.  But you have to think that you take the smart and combine it with hyperness.  It's like your brain is moving a million miles per hour and it just takes these jumps all the time.  No one around you can understand the logic of how you got there but you.  But I've already discussed my dotted line of logic when I turned this blog from an MK blog to a nerd and MK blog.

But the worst part about being hyper is not the part where your brain jumps ahead.  That part you can back up and explain how you got there sometimes.  Other times, you definitely can't.

The worst part also isn't when you have to abandon your dorm room before your roommates kill you because you have too much energy to be trapped within those walls with three other people.  Although if it's cold out and you have to go take a walk around campus to burn that excess energy, it can be difficult.  But maybe, you know, you'll find someone and be able to talk to them and keep them from actually doing their homework.

No, the worst part is when you get so excited when you're talking that you start jumping.  I mean, I should have grown out of this when I was seven, but I still do it.  If I have something exciting to tell to a friend or get excited in the middle of a conversation, I will literally start jumping up and down in place.  Like a kid.  Now, maybe this isn't too bad if it's one or two little jumps and then it's over.  Me, I can sometimes keep jumping more times than that if I'm really excited.  I am fully aware how absolutely immature this looks, but turning it off would require concentrating and telling myself to calm down, and when I'm super excited, my brain is focused on one thing and can't really focus on the jumping.

But, come on, other hyper people jump, right?

Yeah, but they don't have a keychain collection on their backpack:

Now, like most collectors, I consider my collection to be a thing of beauty.  I mean, each keychain means something to me, and I'm so very sad when I lose one or one breaks.  However, do you know what sound multiple keychains make as they bump against each other while their owner walks down the sidewalk?

Every person who attended Northland between January of 2009 (when I started wearing my backpack to class) and May of 2012 (when I graduated) can tell you.

Clank, clank, clank.  Jingle, jingle, jingle.

Ah, Northland in the morning:  the birds sing, a soft breeze dances through the rustling leaves, in the distance you can hear the whistle of a security guard on his rounds and the hum of engine of a staff member on his way to work.  Then the tranquility breaks as Katrina leaves the girls' dorm for the day and begins making her way to the dining hall, key chain collection clanking.  I call it my early warning system.  You hear the clanking, you know I'm coming.  And if I want to move silently, I have developed a system whereby I can hold all my keychains in one hand, silencing them, so I can effectively sneak up on you and scare you half to death!  MWAHAHA!

So, you can imagine, multiple times it would happen:  I would be wearing my backpack when all of a sudden a brilliant idea would hit me, and I'd get excited:

"Ooh!  Ooh!  Ooh!"  Katrina jumping, keychains clanking until she finally gets attention or her message out.  A twenty-year-old girl jumping up and down, jingling like she's the caffeinated ghost of Jacob Marley.

Sorry we had to make the Disney reference

I kid you not, it was probably one of the most ridiculous sights I caused on a regular basis in college, and that is including my lack of dance skills or singing ability while vacuuming lecture halls and listening to music on my iPod.

But you know, I still didn't mind because I'm me.  I wouldn't want to change myself because I'm comfortable with being crazy, with being me.  Sometimes, I do have to put on a more professional or formal side, but when I'm most comfortable and lounging around in a hoodie and jeans is when you get to know me.  And, yes, I will probably say the most airheaded things you ever heard come out of a smart person.  And, yes, I will suddenly point out a random bird I saw fly past in the middle of talking about World War II.  And, yes, I will most definitely at least once start jumping up and down babbling about some crazy idea that just hit me.  But if you can put up with all that and still hang around me all the time, we just might end up becoming frie...

Would you like a taco?

What Happens At the Jock Table Anyway?

So, sometimes at college I wondered--okay, yes, to this very day, I wonder what actually went on at the jock table.  More importantly, do the jocks ever wonder what goes on at the nerd tables?  Or is it just we nerds looking across from our "lowly" positions hoping to attain the "higher" athletic position who wonder this?  I mean, once you're a jock you're the top of the world, right?

If any jock ever thinks that, remember that the tech guys are the ones who control the switch that can turn off your internet connection.

That is REAL power.

I mean, come on, I'm all the way across the dining hall, and I would sometimes briefly glance over and wonder, "What do they talk about over there anyway?  I mean, obviously it's something funny because I can occasionally hear the laughter way over here.  But is basketball really that funny?"

Then again, if the jocks ever looked over at the nerds, they probably wondered, "Is computer stuff that funny?"

And, yes, occasionally it is, but we talk about more than that, so I assume the jocks do too.  In fact, I'm pretty sure, just like any normal person at my college, they also got into discussions about theology and bemoaned the taste and smell of dining hall food.

Which really isn't THAT bad (Yes, I hung out with the kitchen workers, and they WOULD appreciate some love once in a while.)

But, honestly, if your computers were working, did you jocks ever know we nerds existed?

Not that it matters to me because I'm perfectly happy with my friends, but sometimes, I'd try to smile at you because you were someone I knew, but I don't think you saw me.  Maybe the girl hyped up on Dr. Pepper wearing a Minion T-shirt isn't your idea of who you want to socially interact with, but the least you could do was at least nod back.  I was happy to see you, and sometimes I just wanted to go up to you and tell you I thought you were awesome in your game last night, but if I can't even manage to catch your attention, you're never going to know.  You aren't my Facebook friend, but it was my status.  You'll never know that in my mind, you are cool.  I would never want your life (girls) or to be your girlfriend (guys), but sometimes I just wanted to say, "You're awesome," but I can't because I can feel the social barriers rising when you pass within three feet of me.

Maybe someone outside of this situation would say, "Just sit among the jocks; get to know them!"  Let me draw you a comic of what happens.

Now, granted, if a jock sits at a nerd table the same thing happens to him/her.  See WHY we don't intermingle?  We are, like, these polar opposite THINGS!  And supposedly opposites attract, but you very rarely see jock guy asking nerd girl out.  Maybe we'll last socially interacting for a couple meals, but it doesn't always last.

It works with magnets and personalities, but not with the social scale.

There are exceptions to this rule.  For example, I went to church with some people who were more at the jock end of things, and for those few hours each week, we got along great and awesome and impacted each others lives, but once we were back on campus, we didn't necessarily always chill and hang out together.  Still, they were the people of the jock crowd that I got to know a bit better, which provided me with proof that these people are actually normal humans.

But, still, I have to wonder what the jock table is like.  I sat there a few times, but most of the time it ended up like the example above:  I had no idea how to follow the conversation and ended up retreating one meal later back to the safety of the round tables in the nerd section.  My brain quickly deleted any information because it absorbed nothing but the awkwardness of the entire situation.

Awkward turle

But then there was one time.  One time that had me inwardly laughing the entire incident, but which I later found out the jocks did not like:  the day the nerds took over the jock table.

Now, you have to understand:  the long table (actually, three tables in a row) in the dining hall closest to the kitchen may as well have had a sign over them that read, "This table is for jocks!  Jocks sit here!  Jock Country Right HERE!"  Even on Saturdays when everyone else was thrown from their routine and sits everywhere because the round tables are shut down, the jocks would still congregate at their table, completely unaffected.  It is where they knew to find each other.

And then one Saturday...

One of my friends who was more on the music person-y nerd side of the social scale, set her plate down there.  The takeover wasn't even on purpose.  She simply chose a seat and sat down.  The rest of us joined her.  Before long, most of the table was filled with music people and drama people and nerds, and we were having a lovely time.  I was sitting towards the end of the table.  I think I had five empty seats to the left of me.  In the next half hour, two of those seats would be sat in.  Only two athlete-type girls dared to still sit at a table that had apparently been polluted by the presence of a couple nerds.  I salute their bravery.  Every other jock started wandering around looking for new seats even when there were only a few of us.  They could have easily sat next to five nerds and overpowered our numbers faster than the time it takes for the goalie to make it across the gridiron and spike a hole in one in basketball.

Don't worry.  I totally know what a tennis court looks like!

Poor confused jocks

But, no, that night, by pure accident, a social experiment was constructed:  what would happen if the jock's table was taken from them?  Normally, my group of friends is the one you will find sitting in little threes or fours scattered around the dining hall as we straggle in on Saturday evening, carefully fitting ourselves around the "regular people" and nerds we don't know as well.  That night, the nerds happened to take over the jock table, and the athletes and their friends were scattered around the dining hall in twos and threes.  I kid you not, it was hilarious to watch over and over again (and I'm sorry to those who didn't find it funny):  a jock would finish getting his food from the line and would look at "his table" and see it filled with people he barely knew.  He would then start scanning the dining hall, looking for a familiar face until he located one; then he could go and sit down.  But as they were going to sit down, almost all of them took one more look at their table, slowly filling up with these strange people discussing important things like Northern Lights trips and stage makeup.  I saw this repeated multiple times.  And for just one night, the jocks had to do what the nerds did every Saturday:  go find their friends among everyone else.

But what would happen if a jock came and sat among the nerd tables?  Just came and set his things down at one of the tables where we all sat before any of us got there?  We know the answer because it's happened.  I can't count the number of times I would look towards one of my regular tables only to see it overtaken by people I didn't normally eat with.  But my eyes would keep scanning, and there, normally not more than two round tables away, I would find my friends again, all eating together.  And I'd come and set my things down, and we'd still all be together.  They put out a napkin, saving a spot for me.  They looked out for me, knowing I'd have a bit trouble finding them.  They called my name if I walked past them.  And we always found each other, and there we would be again.  Tomorrow, we'd have our seats back probably.  We had no worries, no fears.  If we never got that table back, then now we have a new one.  What was more important?  The location or the people we were with?

Jocks, whatever you talk about at your tables, whyever you sit there, remember this:  if the nerds ever kick you out, whether by accident or purpose, it's just a table.  The nerds have spent time developing a system of finding each other and saving seats, and that's not a bad thing.  Maybe that's why one day we'll end up being your bosses, as the cliche goes.  Maybe it's because we had to be flexible, to bend to the whims of the "superior" group, to scramble and come up with the solutions.  The nerd way of life is more than GPAs and glasses and gigabytes and games.  Oh, jocks, as a sports fan, I do see your purpose on this planet, but remember your ability to kick a ball is no more important than my ability to calculate its area (4πr^2).  So next time you see an unfamiliar group at your table, take my advice:  don't inwardly whine about it.  See if you can find your friends, and if you can't, procure several seats and hail down your compatriots as you visibly locate them.  Hey, maybe the new table won't be such a bad place.  After all, the memories you make with your friends are more important than a silly old table anyway.

But, still, if you don't mind me asking...what DOES go on at the jock tables anyway?

Random Q&A

So, I don't really know what to blog about.  My brother wants me to keep who Twelve is a secret, so I can't blog about [NAME REMOVED DUE TO SPOILERS].

So, instead, I will turn to my readers.  In the comments section below, you can now ask me a question.  Any APPROPRIATE question about anything.  If I deem it inappropriate, it will not be answered.

"What can the questions be about?"

Like I said--anything.  As long as it's appropriate and doesn't give away who the Twelfth Doctor is, we're good.

So, I don't know how this is going to work but ask away.

Six Things I Do Not Understand About Americans

I am finally moved into my new house in Indiana now and should be getting my classroom ready for school starting next week, blah, blah, blah; but I am blogging instead about something completely unrelated to that.  In short, the time has come to discuss the things I will never understand about Americans (speaking generally here).

1.  The need to be #1 at EVERYTHING IN THE WORLD!!!!!!  No, seriously, go pick up any magazine or newspaper, and sooner or later, you'll find something claiming that because America isn't #1 at something, we are failing ourselves and all future generations.  Really, so no other country is ever allowed to have a shining moment?  America must be the leader in education, GDP, conservation, science, safety, industry, etc.?  And the worst part is that despite all these articles, we never seem to start doing whatever the #1 country is doing to make it work.

2.  They have every resource in the world to learn about everything but don't.  Seriously, you don't know where Iraq is on a map?  America has been fighting Iraq for, like, over ten years, right?  You have Google, portal to the entire Internet.  What is your excuse?  I don't blame you for not knowing where specific towns within the country are, but with all your resources, can't you just, maybe...look at a map?  Learning something won't kill you.  The primary reason America isn't #1 at everything isn't the government's fault.  It's the average American's for refusing to learn anything beyond what the Kardashians are doing next.

 

3.  The dichotomy of "You don't know that?" vs. "But you're a missionary kid!"  This one is very MK specific.  If I don't know some aspect of pop culture, I'm criticized for being ignorant.  If I do know some aspect of pop culture, I'm greeted by the shock and horror of, "But you're a missionary kid!"  I've gotten, "You don't know that?" over The Matrix trilogy, yet "But you're a missionary kid!" over Madagascar.  Please, people, some consistency would be very nice. 

Apparently, a true missionary kid would not know the words to, "I like to move it, move it!"

 

4.  Slaughtering pronunciations of borrowed foreign words.  Now, as a kid, you learn to read and you pronounce words wrong, but get corrected by an adult who informs you "It is pronounce e-GREE-jous," and you learn to pronounce it correctly because that's the right thing to do.  But Uncle Sam forbid that we learn to pronounce karate, futon, or kamikaze properly.  Nope, sorry, someone important slaughtered the word, and we just claim we have Americanized the word and plunge on, refusing to fix it when someone who actually speaks the language corrects us.  (Reassurance:  No one complained when I stopped pronouncing emu e-moo and started saying e-myoo.).  Are there multiple pronunciations to some words?  Yes; toe-may-toe vs. toe-mah-toe, zee-bra vs. zeh-bra.  But when you start borrowing the word, could you at least send over businessmen who actually bother trying to pronounce words properly? 

This emu is shocked at American pronunciation.

5.  The English system (pounds, inches, etc.) and soccer.  Just switch, please.  Okay, I know there's the matter of American football (Three days until the Packer preseason game!), so I guess I'll allow soccer to slide.  But, really, while the rest of the world uses grams and meters, why are you still literally stuck in the Dark Ages using measurements based upon the distance between the king's nose and wrist?

6.  Why, when traveling internationally, you apparently believe speaking louder and slower helps.  If the person doesn't speak English, no matter how loudly or slowly you say, "I.  WANT.  TO.  CHANGE.  MY.  FLIGHT," they still won't understand you.  Imagine if a Chinese person started speaking to you, and no matter how many times you said, "I don't speak Chinese," they kept repeating themselves louder and slower.  Would you understand them any better?  You would not.  Although a lot of people do understand English, when you find one who doesn't, maybe try someone else if at all possible.

Another hint:  Next time, try pointing at the items you want if you can.  It helps a lot.

So, there is my little rant of the day before I spend the rest of my evening "watching" Fantasia while cutting out letters for my bulletin board on Early American Explorers.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not upset about being American or living in America.  Y'all are just a bunch of weirdos sometimes.  I could also come up with more, but I won't because I'll probably offend you, and then I'll get sued.

'MERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!

Top 10 Animated Disney Films

Hello, there.  Sorry, I've been away.  I'm working on moving, and I've also been focusing on other non-blog writing (I go through phases of that.).  So, what's been going on?

Well, after my Pixar post, someone united all the Pixar stories into one fabulous universe, so I guess my post was a little ahead of the curve.  Woohoo, though!  I love this theory!

Also, a royal baby was born, so in about 25 years, we can have a remake of Princess Diaries 2, with the new Mia proclaiming a total, "Yes!" to Prince George.  Or, you know, delay Princess Diaries 3 until then and uniting Genovia and the UK under one flag between Princess Mia's kid and Prince George--a union which I guess would probably result in a lot of pear-flavored tea.

Which already exists.  Go figure.  Former Queen Clarisse probably drinks this every night!

But, anyway, on to the real purpose of today's blog post:  to finally give my rundown of my absolute favoritest Disney animated films.  So hop on your albatross and get ready to fly away to Neverland as we count down Katrina's top 10 films in the animated Disney canon (a not-so-easy task, as Disney has made so many awesome films!).

10.  The Fox and the Hound--I've never actually cried in this film, but childhood memories prevail!  I mean, it's about this cute little fox and puppy that grow up, and they're supposed to hate each other, but they don't, so trouble happens and stuff, and no one dies, but Tod learns he can't just live among humans because Amos Slade can't get the concept of a pet and a wild critter settled in his hick, hunter mind.  In fact, for all you know, Amos Slade is Man from Bambi.  Think about it.  (Note:  Katrina has not read the book, but I hear it's even more emotional than the movie.)

9.  Lilo & Stitch--"Meenga-ala-queesta!"  I am not quite sure what I just said, but I'm pretty sure I just insulted you.  Anyway, take the beautiful tropical beaches of Hawaii and throw in Experiment 626, the cutest little evil genetic experiment blue ball of fur to ever invade!  I mean, Stitch is just so adorable and fluffy, and then they made three more movies and a TV show, and, and, and...Aunt Pleakley, Uncle Jumba, Cobra Bubbles, "Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride," cousin!  Yeah...I may have had a bit too much Lilo and Stitch in my life as a teenager.  Wait, what am I talking about?  I'm still waiting for my experiment.

8.   The Jungle Book--"Look for the bare necessities, the simple bear necessities."  "I wanna be like you-oo.  I wanna walk like you, talk like you, too-oo-oo!"  Another early childhood favorite.  And come on, it's got some of the best Disney music ever--probably because of the Sherman brothers.  If you're wondering who they are, they're basically half the Disney songs you love; the other half is basically Alan Menken, although there are a few other amazing artists who have composed Disney songs.  Another reason I love this movie is ever since I was little, my favorite animals have been lions, tigers, bears, snakes, monkeys/apes, and hyenas.  This movie hits four out of six of my favorite animals.  Rock on, The Jungle Book.  (Psst, the book is good too.)  Favorite Songs:  "The Bare Necessities" and "I Wanna Be Like You"

7.  Aladdin--"I can show you the world, shining, shimmering, splendid..."  "You ain't never had a friend like me!"  "Arabian NIGHTS, like Arabian DAYS!"  Ah, remember way back into your childhood before Middle Eastern culture was turned into a culture we were trained to despise and hate?  That was the 1990s, and although Muslim culture is never something I'm going to praise, Aladdin probably came out in the perfect environment.  We got to fall in love with it before we had to go and fight the land where Genie and Magic Carpet and Iago and Jafar live.  Plus, this film still makes me want a genie.  If I were given the choice between a genie and a Time Lord, I'd take the genie, use my first wish on something cool, the second on a Time Lord, and the third to free the genie.  Bonus points if the genie is as awesome as the big, blue Genie we came to love as kids.  Favorite Songs:  "Friend Like Me," "Prince Ali," and "A Whole New World"

6.  Mulan--Yes, this is probably one of Disney's most feminist films, but Mulan also happened to come out right around the time I hit my boy-hating stage (Yes, I was delayed and hit it when I was eight.  Big deal.).  When I sang the words, I would make them be about girls instead and stuff.  But then I grew out of it but still liked Mulan, even if the movie is a bit feminist.  I mean, let's focus on the historical innacuracies of it all too!  I mean, the real Mulan (according to the poem) had siblings (which Disney cut out) and managed to supposedly hide the whole "I'm a girl" thing for years until her friends came to visit her and saw her as a woman.  I guess Shang walking in at the end to find Ping as a girl wouldn't have made as exciting as a film as a bunch of guys dressed up as girls breaking into the palace.  It certainly would have been less awkward, though.  Oh, also, let's not forget the fact that this film has Mushu, the coolest dragon (not lizard, he doesn't do that tongue thing) in the history of dragons.  Favorite Songs:  "Reflection," "I'll Make a Man Out of You," and "A Girl Worth Fighting For"

5.  Tangled--"And at last I see the light!  And it's like the fog has lifted!"  Ah, after eight years of mediocre movies (Well, Meet the Robinsons had its moments, but I tend to overthink time travel when there's as many paradoxes involved as in that film, and there was also The Princess and the Frog, but that was more a movie for the sole purpose of "let's get a black princess so we can say we have racial equality."), Disney finally gave us what we wanted:  a fairy tale, set in fairy tale times, with a princess who needs help, and a guy to help her out.  This is the movie that turned the frying pan cliche into something awesome, that took the required Disney Princess horse and gave him more personality than quite possibly every other horse ever, that took the room of scary people and made them sing and dance with the heroine, instead of singing and dancing while plotting against her.  This is the film that restored my faith in Disney films again.  Favorite Songs:  "When Will My Life Begin," "I've Got a Dream," and "I See the Light"

4.  Beauty and the Beast--"Tale as old as time, true as it can be..."   If I could pick one word to summarize this film, it would be:  elegant.  This movie just spills over with pure Disney magic:  the music, the animation, the characters, the love story.  Belle is my second favorite Disney Princess, and she's probably the one I'm most like.  I also read a lot and can polish off huge books in a matter of days.  Yes, there's the whole, Bell develops Stockholm Syndrome thing or whatever, but her bonding with her captor, whom she learned to love despite his angry, beastly exterior, broke the spell so they could live happily ever after.  Favorite Songs:  "Belle," "Be Our Guest," and "Beauty and the Beast."

3.  The Emperor's New Groove--"Boo-yeah!" "You threw off my groove!"  "Happy, happy, birthday, from all of us to you!"  "Cheese me no likey!"  "Let me guess, we're about to go over a huge waterfall."  "Squeakity, squeak, squeak, squeaken."  "I'm a llama again!"  "I'll turn him into a flea."  "My spinach puffs!"  "What's with the chimp and the bug?"  "He's doing his own theme music?"  "LLAMA FACE!"  "It's a good thing you're not a big, fat, guy, or this would be really difficult."  "Why do we even have that lever?"  "That's a harp...and that's a dress."  "Hey, I've been turned into a cow, can I go home?"  "Well, in my dream, Dad had to kiss a llama!"  "That's a little too far back."  "Why would I kidnap a llama?"

2.  The Little Mermaid--"What would I give to be where you are?  What would I pay to stay here beside you?"  Growing up in Japan with few to no friends, I often longed for America, and I sang "Part of Your World" a lot as my way of wishing for them.  Ariel became my Disney Princess because we both longed to be somewhere we couldn't be.  To this day, she is still my favorite.  Although I have become more Belle than Ariel over the years, The Little Mermaid will still always be extremely special to me.  Hey, come on, what girl, even as an adult, doesn't want to be a mermaid?  Also, this is another film with fantastic music.  Favorite Songs:  "Part of Your World," and "Under the Sea"

1.  The Lion King--"NAAAAAAANTS INGOYAMA BAGITHI BABA!"  Ah, nothing like realizing you forgot to turn down the volume on your TV when the opening notes of the majestic masterpiece "Circle of Life" come booming out of the speakers, sending you halfway to the Serengeti.  And after you turn the volume back down and watch the reporters animals all bow to Prince George Simba, you've officially sold yourself to this film.  And then you meet Scar and the hyenas (I should note this film covers my two favorite animals The Jungle Book missed.).  And then you're annoyed at Zazu, but Simba just can't wait to be king.  Then the wildebeest kill Mufasa (Still haven't cried over that.), and Simba runs away.  We learn the meaning of "Hakuna Matata" from Timon and Pumbaa (and also get introduced the concept of bromance years before it happened).  And despite how good those grubs looked, most of us still haven't eaten bugs.  And then Simba and Nala feel the love tonight, and Scar is defeated, and happily ever after.  This, my friends, is my absolute favorite animated Disney film, and I haven't traded it for another one in nineteen years.  Forget the genie, I want a pet lion.  STAT!  Favorite Songs:  "Circle of Life," "I Just Can't Wait to Be King," "Hakuna Matata," and "Can You Feel the Love Tonight?"

So, that's that.  The 10 best animated Disney films that Katrina has ever seen.

Bonus Mention:  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow--I've only seen The Wind in the Willows part of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad once, but I grew up on the Sleepy Hollow part because I'm named Katrina after the book character.  Although this film can't rightfully hold a spot on the list because of my only liking half, I feel it deserves to be mentioned because it holds a spot very close to my heart, even if that Headless Horseman scared me half to death as a child.  Still, I mean, that's completely a good thing.  It's probably the reason I'm not scared of half the stuff I see on Doctor Who as an adult.  Seriously, people, scare your kids to a certain limit when they're little.  It'll help them grow up either well adjusted or just very, very weird.

Also, I'm disconnecting my Internet in about an hour and a half, so I have no idea when the next post will be, although I feel an MK post brewing.

Also, remember, when we hit 1895 posts, I will finally post about Sherlock! :)

My Top 10 Pixar Feature Films

Don't worry.  I will eventually finally get to my favorite animated Disney features, but first:  Pixar!

Ah, yes, Pixar--the film company of the Millennials' childhoods.  The movies for which we get more excited about the sequels than the intended audience.  A company founded by George Lucas and associated with both Steve Jobs and the legacy of Walt Disney.  Is there any wondering why this company has without fail produced films that make us go, "PIXAR FILM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

So, I'm sure some of you clever brains have already done the mental calculations and come to the shocking realization that when you follow Katrina Policy of counting sequels and prequels at the same time as the regular film so as not to bog down the list with unnecessary stuff...Pixar really only has 10 films.  So, yeah, you will see every full length Pixar film somewhere on this list.  So where does your favorite film rank on Katrina's scale of awesomeness?  Well, either scroll down to your favorite one or politely and calmly read through the list and discover for yourself.

10.  WALL-E--This isn't a kid's film.  It's an hour and a half nearly-silent film about how we need to take care of the Earth, watch our weight, and not allow machines to control our lives.  This is an especially odd message coming from a bunch of animators who spend their days in front of computers.  My only fun memory of this film is when a group of us college students watched it with a four-year-old who kept asking, "Mr. Seth, Mr. Seth, why is WALL-E...why is WALL-E doing that?"  Adorable kid and it made for a fun memory.  Still, I think it was a little bit too message heavy.  And clearly over the head of a four-year-old.  I'm not quite sure who your audience was, but when I put in a Pixar film I'm expecting a kids' film adults can enjoy, not...whatever WALL-E is.

9.  Brave--I really hope not liking Brave is some sign I'm getting old.  To me, this film was just...okay.  I mean, I was all excited about this archery, but then I felt like it was lacking (Perhaps too much Hawkeye and Katniss in my life?).  I felt like I was promised more archery than what I was received.  Plus, the film was all about turning Merida's mother back into a human from being a bear, and not so much about defeating Mordor Mor'du.  I guess I felt this would be a lot more action and stuff, which shows how good my friends were at keeping it from me that Merida's mom turns into a bear.  I mean, there's still some classic Pixar comic relief in there, but it's still not Pixar's finest moment.  Oh well, at least Merida will go down as the only Disney Princess to walk away with her first film without a guy.

8.  A Bug's Life--I feel so bad relegating these childhood memories to number eight, but I promise you this that if I were able to show proper rankings of how I feel about eight through one, they would be very, very closely ranked.  A Bug's Life was the first of the Pixar films to show the bloopers during the credits (a trend they've sadly strayed from in recent years) and have a teaser trailer that featured a scene not in the film.  It has really great humor, like most Pixar films.  For all time, grasshoppers are now evil.  They used to be cute and cool, but now I know they do nothing but oppress ants all day until they're eaten by birds.  Typing this is making me want to go back and watch it again, but sadly my house is completely Pixar-less.

7.  Ratatouille--Ah, the film that was a pain to learn to spell.  But, Pixar made up for it with, once again, great humor, a bit of a love story, and a misunderstood rat who just wanted to cook because he's a picky eater that would starve to death if the Pixar universe was actually realistic.  But, nonetheless, the fact that Remy overcomes all the odds and gets to live the next year or two left of his short rat life helping the son of his cooking idol run a restaurant.  Plus, there's the fact that you find out that ratatouille is not the name of the character, but rather a peasant dish that snaps the secondary villain back to his childhood when he was possibly less critical of all the food in the world.

6.  The Incredibles--Pixar made its first (and so far only) foray into the superhero world with this film, and I instantly wanted another.  I mean, yeah, this was neither the best nor the coolest film they had made, but for a girl who knew nothing of superheroes outside of Larry Boy (VeggieTales), Underdog, and Powerpuff Girls, this was a cool movie.  Being more exposed to the superhero world now, I can see how Pixar referenced the way superheroes are often ostracized from society and that superpowers seem to gained genetically.  And, of course, it's got Samuel L. Jackson as Frozone (aka Lucius Best), which has made me wonder how Frozone becomes Nick Fury a few years later, but I'm sure it's the same explanation of how the Human Torch is also Captain America.  So sorry, terribly off topic.  It's kind of like I went monologing in them middle of that.  Speaking of which, why do superheroes and supervillains allow each other to monologue like that all the time, anyway?  I mean, it's like, just defeat the guy!  Plus, we also can't forget the best character in the film.  No, not Mr. Incredible, not ElastiGirl, not Violet (who isn't even cool enough to go get a codename), not Dash, and not Jack-Jack.  None of the characters the film is named after.  No, it's E.  Duh!  Designer of superhero costumes, hater of capes (Disney has not yet informed Thor of this apparently, but he's also immortal), owner of a high tech mansion, slapper of sense into superheroes.  Seriously, she needs to be part of the Avengers.  NOW!

5.  Up--You cry for the first eleven minutes but spend the next eighty-five smiling and laughing and just in general--SQUIRREL!  Sorry about that.  Anyway, despite the fact that Carl has way too few balloons to lift his house off the ground and the fact that Russell's parents apparently don't notice that he's missing for however long it takes them to go to Paradise Falls in South America and back, this film ended up being pretty great.  I mean, you've got Kevin the snipe who isn't all we think he is.  We have talking dogs, heroes who become nemeses, cranky old men, balloons, talking dogs (wait, did I say that already?).  And, come on, the whole message is "Adventure is Out There" but that life itself is an adventure, even if you don't get to go someplace cool.  SQUIRREL!

4.  Monsters, Inc.--To clear everything up, I have not seen Monsters University yet, so I have Monsters, Inc. ranked solely on the merits of the first film about two buddies who have to deal with a human girl Sully accidentally lets into the Monster World.  And then Boo has this adorable costume and draws adorable pictures and has these adorable pigtails and speaks adorable babble speech, and...and...CUTENESS OVERLOAD!  Plus, Randall and Henry J. Waternoose make excellent villains.  And Randall's got a pretty sweet skill there with the whole chameleon thing going on.  The door storage warehouse scene with them jumping all over the world was also excellent.  I now want to run into the Abominable Snowman (even though he doesn't actually exist, I know) and have lemon flavored snowcones.  Plus, look, monsters are more scared of you than you are of them.  23-19!  23-19!  We have a 23-19 here!  I am so looking forward to finally seeing Monsters University sometime.

3.  Cars and Cars 2--Cars 2 didn't affect my third favorite all-time Pixar film's ranking mostly based on the fact that the original Cars was awesome and the Japanese part of Cars 2 basically made the film for me.  That segment was so highly accurate, I nearly died of laughter.  So what lets the Cars franchise rank so high?  Well, you've got Mater, "as in Tow-Mater, except without the 'tuh!" making me laugh at nearly every turn.  And there's that whole heart-touching song "Our Town" about how Radiator Springs used to be in the glory days of Route 66 that makes you realize how history is passing.  Plus, the fact that Lightning doesn't actually win the final race was an excellent choice.  I like having a film every once in a while that points out that winning is everything, especially in the participation award-fueled (no pun intended) world kids are living in.

2.  The Toy Story Trilogy--A trilogy redeemed by the third film is a rare sight, especially in the realm of Disney.  How many of us will admit that we had some Toy Story toys around the house or at least wanted them?  Woody and Buzz are, like, the BFFs of our childhood.  We began to wish that we might accidentally see our toys come to life.  But the sequel came, and everything became, "Meh" for me.  As more Pixar films came out, Toy Story and Toy Story 2 found themselves falling on my list.  But redemption came in 2010 with the release of the third and final film of the trilogy.  I was a junior in college, and watching the film, I could remember the pain of giving up/leaving my own toys behind as I went to college not that long ago.  Oh, so many little children love and will love the story of Toy Story 3, as they see the continuation (and hopefully finale) of the lives of their favorite animated toys.  But for those of us who grew up with with the Toy Story franchise, this film represented everything we had done, were doing, or would do.  With this film, we learned that childhood was something we would have to bid farewell too.  Sweet pages were closing in our lives, but it was okay.  Those toys we gave up would continue to live and be happy with their new owners.  And although we were sad, they would be happy because toys are meant to be played with--not kept in museums or boxes.

1.  Finding Nemo--GET OUT OF MY WAY, CHILDREN OF 2015, I'LL HAVE BEEN TWELVE YEARS FOR THIS SEQUEL!  He-loo, weee aaare the Fiindinng NEE-moo FANS!  Wee can speeak wha-ALE.  "Mine!  Mine!  Mine!  Mine!"  "FISHY, WAKE UP!"  And what's the other address all of us have memorized besides our own?  P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney.  WE REMEMBERED!  "Hi, I'm Dory."  "Fish are friends, not food."  "Duude."  You'd think that a story about a father on his way to go find his son wouldn't garner such a dedicated and enthusiastic fanbase.  I mean, this is such a common theme in movies.  And they just redid with clownfish and we fell in love.  Plus, we never were so interested in dentistry as in those few intense moments with the dentist's fish watching it like it's a spectator sport.  And then Disney-Pixar was like, "Maybe a sequel" but then were like, "Nope."  And then they were like, "Hey, Ellen, how about a sequel for real this time?"  And the world was like, "Oh, yeah!"  Because, let's face it, the sharks, the turtles, the pelicans, the fish school, the fish tank gang--I mean, that was all great and stuff, but who was our favorite character?  Let's see...Corey.  No, I mean, Lori.  Oh, right, Dory!  So that is why I am so pumped and excited that two years, four months, and ten days from now, Finding Dory will be a real thing.  Because Finding Nemo is the best Pixar film of all time.

So, ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's list.  Coming up next time, my final list in the Disney series.  And then I can finally move onto other stuff!

Top 5 Disney Combination Animation and Live Action Films

Ah, the wonders of Disney.  I mean, first they lure you in with these adorable cartoons when you're just a little tot, and before you know it, you're watching PG-13 action films like Pirates of the Caribbean.  Okay, hopefully, there's about 10 years in there, but not always.  Like my youngest brother, who kind of started in on the whole PG-13 thing when he was, like, nine.  And then there's the kids who just start out life that way.  Anyway, that's a whole different topic fit for some parenting blog.  Since I'm not a parent, I can't really give out parenting advice, although I'll probably find myself in that position as a teacher.  Anyway, after I've taught for a while, then maybe I can start giving out parenting advice, but this is not that day!  Today is the day that I submit before you my Top 5 Disney films that are a combination of both animation and live action.

Now, obviously, with the increasing prevalence of CGI, the line between what's a live action film and what's a combination live action and animation film becomes more and more blurred.  So, how does one determine what to include when they're doing such a list?

I think that's supposed to be a beaver.

After sitting down and doing much thinking (and by that I mean I've been sporadically thinking about this on and off for about ten years now), I finally determined that the determining factor was that it couldn't be just a few animated characters thrown in.  I mean, yes, Pirates of the Caribbean has skeleton pirates and fish people animated because it just looks neater than the dorky costumes of the anytime-up-to-the-90s and Chronicles of Narnia animates the talking animals because well...I mean, have you seen the old BBC version?  Let's talk about a need for advances in technology.  Seriously, go Google it.  Right now.  Yeah...

Anywho, back to the topic, I guess you could say that when a live action character is placed in an animated world or transforms into an animated character, OR an animated character is either placed in the "real" world or transforms into a live-action character, then you have what I consider to be a "true" combination animation-live action film.  (Fantasia and Fantasia 2000 end up kind of fitting into some sort of gray area that I'm not quite sure how to describe, but those aren't really films as much as animation shorts set to music.)

So, finally, after all that rambling on and on about how I reached my decision of what counts as what, during which time I managed to somehow NOT give a summary of Disney's history of mixing these two media, I present to you my top five combination animation-live action films.

5.  James and the Giant Peach--Okay, so this one was really hard for me to determine if it could indeed be counted as combination animation and live action mostly because the animation used is stop motion, which means they moved the figures a tiny bit, snapped a picture, moved the figure a tiny bit again, snapped a picture.  It's an extremely time-consuming process that's also brought us such wonderful works such as Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Chicken Run (which is actually claymation, a form of stop motion).  In the end, I decided I should count it because it is in fact called stop motion animation.  In other words, I decided it got to count.  Basically, it makes it because I've only seen eight of Disney's films like this, and Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros are basically more like Donald's advertisements for Latin America than actual films, and I can't remember a thing about So Dear to My Heart other than it's something about a lamb.  Besides, who doesn't enjoy getting creeped out as a child about a gigantic rhino in the clouds and dream about flying away in a peach with a bunch of bugs?  No wonder Tim Burton was involved with this project.  I'm surprised Johnny Depp or Helen Bonham Carter (or both) didn't voice one of the bugs.  Also, come on, it's based on a book by Roald Dahl.  Seriously, adults want us read this man's books and have us watch movies about his books and then wonder why we don't grow up to be normal well-adjusted human beings.  I WATCHED A FILM ABOUT A CHILD WHOSE PARENTS WERE KILLED BY A RHINO!  And I actually liked watching this.  Count me into the legions of children permanently scarred at the hands of Roald Dahl.

Why this stuff did not frequent my nightmares, I do not know.

4.  Song of the South--*dodges all the rotten fruit and garbage tossed at her; Okay, now let's all calm down and talk about this film peacefully.  Now, some of you have never heard about this film, but you have all probably heard of the ride that goes with it:  Splash Mountain.  Yes, the only time I know of that a ride has overshadowed the film it was about.  Why did this happen?  Oh, because some people couldn't handle the fact that Uncle Remus was a slave who didn't hate his masters.  Now, I know this is going to be hard for some to handle, but 1) not all slave owners were mean hateful people who constantly beat their slaves within and inch of their lives and 2) not all slaves hated their masters.  In fact, some loved their masters so much that even after being freed, they elected to stay back and work for them.  This did lead to other problems such as sharecropping, etc., and, yes, some slaves did stay back because they didn't know any other life, but that's also kind of the point.  In fact, Disney has stated that SONG OF THE SOUTH IS SET AFTER THE CIVIL WAR (a fact they sadly didn't make clear in the film), so technically they aren't slaves.  They're just the slaves that chose to stay behind because some did that.  If they had a good master and they knew nothing else, they didn't really need to "get out of Dodge" while they still could.  They were happy to remain on that plantation and chose to stay.  Furthermore, although Disney could have told its Bre'r Rabbit stories simply as an animated cartoon, they did choose to include the character of Uncle Remus as storyteller.  So, although it's a very controversial film, I personally like it.  I watched it for the first time when I was probably sixteen and was well aware of the controversies.  And I ended up liking it.  I mean, I love Bre'r   Besides, come on, it's got the song "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah"!  How could someone hate "Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah"?  Okay, probably lots of people do, but it just is so happy-sounding!

3.  Alice in Wonderland--Honestly, you wouldn't believe how many time I have flipped back and forth on whether or not this should be counted as live action or combination.  I finally had to settle down on it being a combination because Alice does end up in a very computer-animated world.  I mean, nearly everyone besides her, even the human characters such as the Red Queen, Stane, and the Mad Hatter, is partly to fully computer animated.  So, I would definitely loosely say that this is a human character entering an animated world.  Anyway, why do I love it?  Johnny Depp.  Do I need any other excuses?  I'm sure a normal, sane person would, but I am neither normal nor sane.  The awesomeness of my top two is the only thing preventing me from just automatically assigning Johnny Depp the top spot.  (Yes, I have issues.  I know.  Even Benedict Cumberbatch and David Tennant combined couldn't cure them, so I figure the only person who can stop this is Future Husband, whomever he may be.)

2.  Mary Poppins--"WAIT!  This isn't your #1?  What is wrong with you?"  Absolutely nothing.  I just really, really like my #1, but I can't deny Mary Poppin's sheer awesomeness.  I mean, although the combination animation-live action is only one segment of a very long movie (for a kid), it's the part that really sticks with you as a kid.  You know, along with every other part.  Who doesn't want to ride up the bannister (attempting to ride down even?  Which caused me injury at least once as a child) or have a tea party on the ceiling?  And, come on, unless you're a scientist who knows long chemical names, the longest word you probably know is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (even though the sound of it is something quite atrocious; and, yes, I did spell that from memory).  If you have watched Mary Poppins, you have wished that your horse would escape the carousel, that penguins could be your waiters, and that your house would have a fireplace so that a chimney sweep could come and dance on the roof.  Well, okay that last part not so much because I'm actually scared of roofs.  I have friends who have seen the freak-outs, and my mom has video evidence.  Anyway, Mary Poppins has never been put in the Disney vault, which is where movies go every ten years or so until Disney can manage to gather up enough demand before swooping in and saving our not-so-inner childhoods with yet another release, restored to greater than its original glory, with more bonus features than the last time it was out.  Mary Poppins instead just gets to stay on the shelves all the time until the next edition comes out, which since next year is its 50th anniversary, will probably be happening in the next few months or so.  You know why?  Because this is an amazing movie with the most wonderful songs, like "A Spoonful of Sugar," "Jolly Holliday, "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious," "I Love to Laugh," "Feed the Birds," "Chim-Chim Cheree," and "Step in Time."  Plus, it's been made into a Broadway play.  So what manages on Katrina's private list to beat out this classic?

1.  Enchanted--Yes, I must admit that if you made me choose between Mary Poppins and Enchanted, I'd probably go for the latter.  I'm almost ashamed to admit it because in comparison to the great classic that is Mary Poppins, Enchanted is just...a spoofy fairy tale thing.  But, that's why I liked it.  Disney basically made this movie into a treasure hunt of "Count the Disney (and Non-Disney) References," even bothering to include references to movies not yet released at the time!  Plus, Giselle and Robert's (and Morgan's) love story is so sweet, and it does teach girls a very important lesson about the fact that we need to wait and not just rush into relationships (never mind the fact that Edward and Nancy end up rushing into a marriage at the end anyway).  And Disney does do a bit to make up for the fact of 70 years of evil stepmothers by making Giselle, a princess-type character, into Morgan's stepmother and showing how absolutely wonderful of a stepmother Morgan saw Giselle could be.  Personally, at the end, I even ended up falling a bit in love with Nancy's character.  Yes, you initially are designed to dislike her, but to see the fact that she still fell in love with cured-of-mutant-gene Cyclops Prince Edward at the end and also got her happy ending was simply marvelous.  Plus, come on ANDALASIA GETS GOOD CELL PHONE RECEPTION!  How many other fantasy worlds actually have good reception?  Okay, so I admit that from a strict interpretation of all things, Mary Poppins is probably the better film, but as for me, I just like the idea of curling up with myself and a blanket and watching Giselle sing about "That's How You Know" a guy loves you and hoping that someday my guy will come and we can have "True Love's Kiss" (after, of course we date for a good, long while and are engaged).  Plus, I promise you, Future Husband, that I am not bringing any chipmunks into the relationship.

Please Note:  Any promises Katrina makes about a lack of chipmunks in future relationships could be broken if she ended up finding a chipmunk who was willing enough to do this.

So, there you go, Katrina's Top 5 Disney Combination Animation and Live Action Films--a list even she admits has problems because it doesn't follow "what should be."  Then again, why should a few Academy Awards determine my number one?  I shall wave my princess flag high in the air and declare my love for Enchanted, the love story that makes more Disney references than the Geek boards on Pinterest.