Full Frozen Review

A little late? Probably. But I had to wait until my husband saw it before I could write a review with possible spoilers. For my first review, click here.

First up, a tribute to the spectacular soundtrack. Below are a few of my favorite renditions of the Frozen songs:

(Doesn't Olaf just steal the show? What a great side character!)

Also, the animation was fabulous. I especially appreciated the Rosemaling details (for an explanation of what this is, see: Rosemaling is So Hot Right Now).

While a lot of people made a big deal about seeing Rapunzel and Flynn in the movie, I feel like there was an overlooked gem in the credits:

• "The views and opinions expressed by Kristoff in the film that all men eat their own boogers are solely his own and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of The Walt Disney Company or the filmmakers. Neither The Walt Disney Company nor the filmmakers make any representation of the accuracy of any such views and opinions."

(The lawyer in me loved this disclaimer.)

And now, my review of the plot. Since there's been so many reviews about this already, I'd just like to make a few brief comments:

1. The twist with Hans: I went to a writing conference last month where they used Frozen as an example of subtly hinting at the ulterior motives of a character who turns bad. While the twist with Hans was definitely a surprise to me, I learned at the conference that Disney dropped a few warning flags along the way. First,  in "Love is an Open Door" Hans sings about how he has found his "place" instead of how he has found true love. Secondly, who lets their fiancee go out into a blizzard by themselves? This definitely reflects shifty motives. Regardless of your fiancee's request that you take care at the castle, let us consider: who's taken care of the castle this whole time? Elsa? She's been holed out in her room and wasn't even the official queen for the last three years. Someone had to be running the country this whole time. And with Anna's decision making abilities, I doubt she was the one in charge. Therefore, there should have been someone else she could have left in charge, while she and Hans left to find her sister. Lastly, both Elsa and Kristoff cast doubt on a one-day engagement, hinting to the viewers that it might not work out in the end. 
2. The Problem with False Feminism. While I don't agree with everything in this article, I do share the author's dislike for the trolls. I'm sorry, but I think the advice from Poppy troll at the beginning was unhelpful and should have been clarified. However, if it wasn't like that, there really wouldn't be a movie. So I'll forgive the initial troll scene as an acknowledgement that even in real life, sometimes you get really crummy advice from a supposed "expert." Learn from Frozen, and don't follow that dumb advice. However, the second troll scene was inexcusably obnoxious. I can see how they were trying to show the theme about how love can fix anything, but I didn't like the "fixer-upper" label. 
3. Frozen's Flawed Females. I really appreciated the tone of this post, especially because I don't think the main characters in Frozen were all that bad. Yes, Elsa runs away from her problems and doesn't take responsibility. Yes, Anna doesn't think any of her decisions through and gets into a lot of trouble. However, these are flaws that exist in real life. Frozen at least highlighted that there are consequences for your actions. 

While I could go on, I think I'll stop there. However, if your Frozen thirst has not been quenched, I recommend reading these blog posts. 

What did you like/dislike about Frozen?

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Wedding Time: Hiatt Style

We just had a week long celebration with the Hiatts! Matt's older brother got married on Wednesday. We've enjoyed spending time with his parents and siblings by watching old family videos, having FHE together, playing games, making meals, and helping out with wedding preparations. Here's a few glimpses of our week:

Making purple and yellow flowers for the reception.

Waiting for the Bride and Groom outside of the temple.

They did it!

Posing for a lot of pictures at their reception. 

I'm glad I got to know Matt's family a little bit better this week!
Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Family History

Last month, I got a 5 picture frame at a silent auction. The frame was origionally from Zions Merchantile, which specializes in creating more antique-looking decorations. The middle frame had a paper that said "Families are Forever"and I immediately thought about putting pictures of my and Matt's grandparents in the remaining four frames. It took some digging to see who had copies of pictures of our grandparents, but thanks to two aunts, a cousin, and my father-in-law, here is the finished product:

Our paternal grandparents are on the right, and our maternal grandparents are on the left. It's great to see what they looked like when they were younger so we can see more of a family resemblance. I'm grateful we have the technology to preserve these photos for posterity.

What's been your latest family history project?

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Riddle of the Week

I can't believe it's taken me so long to post about this:
During my law school career, I have posted a "Riddle of the Week" on my carrell. Initially, it was an attempt to reach out to my fellow students and get to know them better (by luring them over to talk to me and ask questions about the riddle). I think it worked really well my first year, and I'm glad I got to know more people because of it.

This past year has been more hit-and-miss. When I was in the basement, practically no one participated because the only people who go down there are the ones that have to. Since then, I have switched my carrell to the third floor and now I enjoy interacting with my fellow students once more. (You think I'm exaggerating, but I'm not).

Anyway, last year I would just have people approach me with the answer, but this year I've gotten a little more sophisticated:

Sorry the picture is fuzzy, but what you should see is the "Riddle of the Week" sign, the riddle*, the answer to last week's riddle, and then the "Riddle Submission Box" (complete with paper on the side so all you need is a pen).

It's been pretty fun. Occasionally even the morning custodian has submitted a guess. I think more people participate than I know, even if they don't submit a formal guess. Hopefully it has livened up the lives of my fellow students.

What's your favorite riddle?
Rhetorically,
Rebekah

*The riddle this week is: "Thirty men and only two women, but the women hold the most power. Dressed in black and white, they could fight for hours."

Paper Footballs

Months ago, Matt and I were eating at a restaurant and he made a maroon paper football out of the paper ring that had been holding the napkin together. He wrote "I love you" on it, and gave it to me as a gift. 

I can't remember how it started, but eventually we took turns hiding the football in various places around the house for the other person to find. Here's where I found it this morning: 

A second football came to be because we thought the first one had been lost when Matt sneakily hid it in the hood of my sweater. I had set the sweater down in various places and by the time he told me where he hid it, the football was gone. So he made me a new one (see the white football below- his name is on one side and mine is on the other). Come to find out, the original football was hiding in the cushions of the couch. So now we have two. 

Sometimes we forget who's hidden the football or where we hid it, so it may go a week before it's discovered. However, Matt usually finds them the quickest because when I remember where I hid the football (which is usually when I pass the hiding place) I'll ask, "Did you find the football?" 

I realize that of course he hasn't, or it wouldn't still be in the hiding spot. However, what I really mean by the question is, "This is a reminder it's your turn to find the football." Naturally, Matt has picked up on the fact that when I ask, the football is usually nearby and it only takes him a few seconds to find it. So I need to think of a new strategy.

We'll see if he found where I hid the footballs today. I'm doing my best not to ask him so I don't give it away.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

100th Post

To my faithful reader(s),

This is kind of a big deal: it's my 100 post on this blog. I've been blogging ever since I started law school, which was 19 months ago. That means I averaged 5 posts a month, one post a week. Of course, if you look back at my history, it didn't exactly happen that way. November 2013 was a huge push and accounts for almost 30% of my posts, because I made the goal of posting once a day.

But I digress. It's a big deal, but there are other big deals to discuss: like how we had five other young married couples come over for an italian potluck dinner!! Our ward has around eight young married couples, and we try to get together with a few of them at least once a month. I think this was our biggest group yet. We enjoyed pasta, garlic bread, salad, and delicious desserts: 

And for those who could stay, we had a rousing round of Cranium:

It's been great to get to know the other young married couples in our ward, because our ward is so BIG. There are easily 400 members, and the Primary/YM/YW groups are huge. 18 beehives, people. So getting to know others who are sharing a similar time in their lives helps us feel included. We've enjoyed making so many new friends.


Rhetorically,
Rebekah

White Day

For those of you who don't know what White Day is, read this post from last year. 

I gave Matt a few ideas of presents he could get me for White Day, and he totally outdid himself. Not only did he buy cute matching shirts, but he wore his shirt--all day. Voluntarily. What a guy.

Randomly, these shirts were made in the Dominican Republic. 

One of the best benefits of White Day is that I get twice as many presents because Matt can get everything on sale the day after Valentine's Day. Below are two boxes of chocolate, a photo frame, and a cute picture book about Charlie Brown's Valentine's Day (complete with sound effects)!

It was a well-deserved break from working on my 30 page paper (although I still did go to work and I also did a few hours of homework). 

We topped off the day with "The Lego Movie"

Which was a cute show. Be warned: the song "Everything is Awesome" will be stuck in your head afterward. And possibly the song Batman wrote about being an orphan.

And we also had dinner with some of the Lund cousins at: 

It was great to catch up with family. My cousin Cami reminded me that the last time we ate at Macaroni Grill was at our graduation from BYU. (We graduated the same year in the same major). Good times! 

Rhetorically,

Rebekah

Chronicles: Prince Caspian

We finished reading Prince Caspian today!!! This means we are over halfway done with the Chronicles of Narnia series. A couple important differences about the movie and the book: (1) there is no romantic love between Caspian and Susan, (2) in the movie, there is a scene where they sneak into the castle to get the doctor out- this never happens in the book, (3) Caspian's aunt is not a character in the book, other than the fact it mentions she has a child.

As were were finishing up the book, I was struck with the scene where Caspian is knighted and made king by Peter. You'll notice that Aslan doesn't do this, even though it is present. Then, Caspian knights those around him who will be his counselors. Peter doesn't knight them, even though he is present. It reminded me of the conferral of the priesthood through Peter, James, and John to Joseph Smith, and then Joseph Smith's conferral of the priesthood to the other members of the Church. There is order in all things.

This is almost a story of a "second coming" where people have lost faith in the old traditions and in Aslan. There are different reactions when he comes back, from terrified or ignorant, to excited and loving. It's been a great read, and I'm excited to start a new book next week.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

It's been a while since I've seen a movie in theaters (since November). Granted, we went to a dollar theater to watch "Walter Mitty" but I think it still counts.

I've always liked the short story about Walter Mitty. So much, in fact, that I submitted a short story about "teenage Walter Mitty" in a Reflections contest during high school. I really can relate to Walter both in the story and the movie because I tend to daydream a lot. That's one of the reasons I like exercising- it gives my mind a chance to have awesome daydreams like Walter does in the movie.

Overall, I thought the movie was great, clean, and thought-provoking. I really liked how the movie made Walter a more dimensional character, who was still aware of his surroundings and a hard worker, even though he zoned out every once in a while. They did a really good job making the daydream scenes ridiculous yet true to what someone might really think about. My only problem was that when Walter actually went out on an adventure, I thought it was a dream at first. And then some of the things he did in real life were kind of unbelievable, but I guess that's the point they were trying to make- why daydream when you have the potential to do great things?

It reminds me of a quote I read recently: "Either write something worth reading, or do something worth writing." Walter Mitty does both through his daydreams and later adventures.

Rhetorically,
Rebekah

Korean Festival

Koreans know how to party. 

 

Matt and I enjoyed spending last night making korean bookmarks, participating in korean games, and watching performances. I especially loved the k-pop dancing performances, the traditional "samulnori" (large drums), and the A cappella korean student group. They did so well!!!

Matt wore one of his korean shirts that had "foreigner" written in Korean on front. He won a gift card for us because they wanted a non-korean to translate a word that they had defined earlier in the performance. Since he had "foreigner" on his shirt, naturally he was the best pick. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of that proud moment. However, I do have this picture:

(Matt is not smiling because he wanted it to be an authentic traditional photo. I missed the memo.)

We had such a good time that we stayed until 9:30, when the performances ended.

Rhetorically,

Rebekah