Moving

I'm moving to an apartment tomorrow.  As I'm packing DVDs I'm kinda wishing my collection was....less.  I'm proud of all the anime and movies and television I've collected, I just wish it were more portable.

I have more DVDs/books than clothes.  >.<

Got Toradora! 2nd half for b-day.  Will watch when I'm done with the move.  ^_^

Disney

Anyone know what Disney's next move is?  Besides Pixar sequels?  I'd love another Tangled, that movie had everything I'd been missing from Disney animation.

I still watch it at least once a week.  Ssshhh, don't tell anyone.

I just re-watched Beauty & the Beast last week.  Man, that's a great film.  The animation still holds up pretty well, though I noticed Belle was off-model in a few important scenes.  Also Gaston never fails to crack me up.  They were so spot-on with this villian.

Favorite Disney villian of all time?  Mine's still Hades from Hercules.  Hmmm...I think I'll watch that after work today.

Jacqueline Carey (Yay For Non Urban Fantasy!)

So, one of my favorite authors in ever just finished another series set in an Ersatz Renaissance France with fantasy elements.  I'm wondering what's next for the talented Jacqueline Carey because frankly there aren't that many great Olde Thyme Fantasy writers.  She makes some true, epic fantasy.  Plus I love the world she created and the characters that have populated it.  I still can't decide if I love Phedre or Moiren better.  Both had their strengths, both had their weaknesses, and both were truly great heroines with unique love stories that were actually interesting as opposed to cliched or plot by numbers.

I like urban fantasy but it's beginning to grate on me.  I get that it's popular right now, but that also means that now there's a lot of crap to wade through to get to the good stuff.  I also like steampunk but sometimes it doesn't strike that crucial balance between science, danger, mystique and Britishness that it needs too.  A lot of it falls kinda flat.  I could use some recommendations right now.

Though I did start reading Kelley Armstrong's works and I'm liking them. 

Anyway: Mystical Creatures.  A lot of fantasy right now is sticking to a small and thoroughly over-used number of them right now.  Vampires, Weres/Shifters, ghosts, dwarfs and elves.  Ask anyone on the street about any of these creatures and they'll tell you why they love or hate Twilight, True Blood, The Lord of the Rings, or Harry Potter.  We've kind of forgotten about dragons, griffons, sea monsters, giants, pagan gods and demons, faeries, unicorns, and other strange beasts that have no practical purpose whatsoever (think Grendel and his mother in Beowulf (not that horrid CGI monstrosity)).  True, most of the things I named were in Harry Potter, but work with me here.  You'll see these things on the edge of good fantasy works, but never a story about them.  Remember when dragons were huge, scary, incredibly difficult to defeat and had hordes of treasure for no discernable reason?  THAT WAS AWESOME!!  Bring that back.  Bring back the unknown, the mysterious, the alien.  I'm sick of all this "But for the grace of God go I" b.s. that vampires and shifters give us.  Bring back the sublime to my fantasy.  I'm sick of all this mirror-holding business turning badass vampires and wraiths into sparkly vampires and helpful ghosts.  Give me back the mischevious and terrifying imps and fae that grant a gift to humans only to drown them in a lake a few pages later.  Give me back the fantastic in fantasy!