I updated my blogroll list, and I’m sure I missed some. So if you’re not there, speak up!

And…just for fun on a Friday…which hunk do these eyes belong to?

So, my friend (the one who said iPods are making us anti-social, and also the one who hasn’t seen The Princess Bride [she still hasn't seen it, even though she had a Princess Bride party at her house three weeks ago...because she fell asleep before Westley was asked to get down the pitcher for Buttercup]) has been ranting about Halloween costumes.

(I’m thinking she should start her own blog…but then where would I get all my ideas for posts?)

She can’t find a costume that’s not made for a slut, she says. Since when did Halloween become an event where it’s all about sex? she asks.

My answer is: what in our society isn’t all about sex anymore?

Erotic novels are selling like hotcakes. Movies are getting sexier and sexier, and those PG ratings are being pushed closer to R all the time. Television shows, even at 8pm, have too much implied sex for me to let my kids watch. Music, clothes, ads…everything is sex, sex, sex.

Why should Halloween be any different?

My question is: where do we go from here? Surely we can’t get any more sex-focused as a society than we are now…or can we?

I hope not.

So will we come full circle and become a less promiscuous society over the next generation? A less sex-focused one? Ever? Or will we go further? (But, as I said, where else can we go from here?)

What do you think?

(And will someone please give my friend some non-slutty Halloween costume suggestions? She’s an elementary school teacher for pity’s sake…she can’t be a French maid or a harem girl or a wicked fairy at the school party.)

Thirteen Random Songs from my
“Jamming Music” Playlist

(aka, Songs you would find me dancing and air-guitaring or fake-drumming around the house to if you happened to come by while they were playing…)

1. You Shook Me All Night Long (AC/DC)

2. Pump it Up (Elvis Costello)

3. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana)

4. It’s the End of the World as We Know It (REM)

5. Roll With the Changes (REO Speedwagon)

6. Supernova (Liz Phair)

7. Song for the Dumped (Ben Folds Five)

8. Keep Your Hands to Yourself (The Georgia Satellites)

9. I Will Follow (U2)

10. I Melt With You (Modern English)

11. Rock and Roll (Led Zeppelin)

12. Kiss (Prince)

13. Harder to Breathe (Maroon 5)

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Having been in a household with three children for the last ten years, I’ve seen my fair share of Disney movies. (Well, to be honest, I saw a lot of them before we had kids, but I’ve seen a lot more since then. Like, every one that’s been made.)

Anyway, in honor of Halloween coming upon us, I wanted to devote a blog post to my very favorite Disney villain.

She’s elegant.
She’s beautiful, in a horrific sort of way.
She’s smart.
She’s powerful and can shapeshift.
She puts Prince Phillip in a dungeon! Woohoo!

She’s the magnificent Maleficent.

I’ve always loved her. Sleeping Beauty was my favorite Disney movie when I was younger (and still is)–I adore the Middle Ages, which is basically the time period of the movie. I always thought Aurora was the most beautiful of the princesses (great hair!).

And Maleficent. Cool, calm, evil, and so very elegant.

About four years ago, we went to a Halloween party and I made my own Maleficent costume. (I wish I had a scanner so I could post a picture!) Even though it was home made, everyone knew who I was the minute I arrived. It was those horns that gave it away.

Oh, and the purple eyeshadow.

And I’m not ashamed to admit that when I was creating the villainess for my Gardella Vampire Chronicles series, I used what I liked about Maleficent to create the character for my own Lilith. (Yes, I know Nora Roberts’s vampire queen’s name is Lilith too.)

I wanted her to be frighteningly elegant and calm, and surprising too, in some ways.

My Lilith isn’t dressed in flowing black robes, and she doesn’t have purple eyeshadow up to her eyebrows. But in some ways, she’s my tribute to Disney’s fabulously evilly gorgeous Maleficent.

So…who’s your favorite Disney villain? And why?

(PS, my other favorite Disney villain is from the absolutely hilarious Emperor’s New Groove.

Her name is Yzma. She looks like she could be Maleficent’s  reat-great-great-grandmother, doesn’t she?)

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