BtVS Photos Part 4

Britney Spears

Britney Spears with a snake

Stephanie Tanner

Ah, Stephanie Judith Tanner. The cute smile. The getting excited. And best of all, there was the one liner she made famous on the show: “How rude!” 

I’ll always love her. She is so beautiful with her blond hair. Plus, she loved to dance. And, as the middle child, she had a trademark sneakiness and often got into big sis DJ’s private life. I think if I had a little sister, I wouldn’t mind if she wanted to peek into my private life; we would share it together.

“When I’ve gone too far

When I’ve had enough

When I’m losin’ ground

Feelin’ out of touch

I don’t run and hide

I just look inside

For a simple piece of mind

Like a neighborhood

On a city street

I know the path

It knows my feet

And when I feel afraid

Feel like checkin’ out

You stand up and take a bow

You shine when others need you

You speak and I believe you

I know the light, it guides you

I’ll join the line that walks behind you

[Chorus]

You shine, you shine

Like a window to your heart I see

All the possibilities

You shine, you shine

And every day’s another opportunity

To shine

The way you see the world

The way it sees you back

You’re the photographer

You take the photograph

If you don’t like the way

The way it looks at you

You’ve got all the power to choose

Turn right, turn left, turn the other way

Make it light, make it dark, make it go away

I love the way you write the script to your own life

You’re the star, you’re on tonight

And when I feel unnoticed

Just two steps back from hopeless

You turn my world around with a single smile

That’s who you are, that’s who you are

You shine, you shine

Like a window to your heart I see

All the possibilities

You shine, you shine

And every day’s another opportunity

To shine

I know the light, the light that guides

I’ll join the line that walks behind you

You shine, you shine

In my life I know you shine

You shine

Like a window to your heart I see

All the possibilities

You shine

And every day’s another opportunity

To shine”

~Aly and AJ, Shine

Dracula

Few figures are so well-known and strike as much terror as that of the vampire known as “Dracula.” This creature — not yet dead, but no longer alive — has, at one time or another, tempted, fascinated and repelled all of us. When writer Bram Stoker published Dracula in 1897, he couldn’t have predicted that he was creating a figure who was larger than death.

Today, he might be timeless, but in the 15th century, he was all too real. His name was Prince Vlad Dracula, whom history has come to know as Vlad the Impaler.

In many ways, the reality of Dracula’s life was more terrifying than the vampire literature and fanfiction he helped inspire, his story more shocking than anything Hollywood could manufacture.

BtVS Photos Part 3

Richard Griffiths

Rooting against Uncle Vernon Dursley in the “Harry Potter” movies was one thing, but few had anything but kind words to say about the actor who played him, Richard Griffiths, who died Thursday, March 28, 2013, at the age of 65.

I will miss him. He was a fantastic actor and a great loss. He did an awesome job bringing Vernon Dursley to life the way he did.

Sometimes his true warmth peeked through, as in that odd scene in the Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone film where he is talking about Sundays being a ‘fine day’ and asks why that is. When Daniel’s Harry asks him “Because there’s no post on Sundays?”, Richard momentarily dropped the Vernon persona and beamed warmly at him, replying, “Right you are, Harry”. He then went on in a far jollier fashion than his character Vernon usually portrayed — that is, until the hundreds of Hogwarts letters addressed to Harry began to pour into the house.

I bet that deep down, unlike Vernon, Richard liked imagination and magic. And if Vernon came to life, Richard would’ve given Vernon a lecture on how an uncle should treat a nephew, especially if the nephew was a wizard like Harry, too. :)

Rest in peace, Richard. As you go on, be sure to take our love with you into, in the words of Albus Dumbledore, ‘the next great adventure’. :’)

Mrs. Doubtfire

Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams) is a talented, but unemployed, voice actor living in San Francisco. Daniel is devoted to his three children Lydia (Lisa Jakub), Chris (Matthew Lawrence) and Natalie (Mara Wilson), but he is not a good disciplinarian. To make matters worse, his wife, Miranda (Sally Field), considers him irresponsible and immature, and their marriage is on the rocks. When Daniel throws a party for Chris’s twelfth birthday despite Chris’ bad report card, Miranda finally snaps and asks for a divorce. At their first custody hearing, the judge provisionally grants Miranda custody of the children, since Daniel has neither a suitable residence nor a steady job. Daniel has visitation rights limited to Saturday evenings. The news is crushing to Daniel, who adores his children.

When Daniel learns that Miranda intends to place an advertisement for a housekeeper, he requests to pick them up from school and spend time with them, but Miranda refuses. Daniel sabotages the ad that Miranda wrote, changing the numbers on the copy so he could be the only one who could call. He calls Miranda several times, posing as a series of increasingly disturbing applicants, and eventually presents the perfect applicant: a 60-year-old Englishwoman with a Scottish accent with years of experience, giving the name “Mrs. Doubtfire”. Miranda is impressed enough to have “Mrs. Doubtfire” come over to the house to interview for the position.

Initially the children are hostile toward Mrs Doubtfire, particularly Lydia. However, Daniel wins them over after preparing a luxurious meal for Miranda upon her return home, delighting her and earning the trust of the children. As Mrs. Doubtfire, Daniel is able to see his children every day, giving him the opportunity to be the firm father figure that he wasn’t before. The change begins to work as the children respond to Mrs. Doubtfire’s methods, and Miranda is able to heal her rocky relationship with the children and also with Daniel, who is now learning to be a better person and homemaker than he was before because of his alter ego. It is around this time that a conversation between Daniel (in disguise) and Miranda takes place where Daniel finally learns that his lack of structure, direction, seriousness, and his lackadaisical and over-joking attitude have done more to cause psychological and emotional damage than help to Miranda, causing her to cry herself to sleep on a near-daily basis, in which he silently reacts with regret.

Daniel’s situation is not a perfect one, however; he encounters several problems including igniting his fake breasts on a stove when cooking dinner, almost having his cover blown by his caseworker (Anne Haney) at his apartment, and attempting to stall his ex-wife’s relationship with Stuart Dunmyer (Pierce Brosnan), her new boyfriend, who is not particularly fond of Daniel (and who has no idea that Daniel is disguised as Mrs. Doubtfire). Daniel once again asks Miranda if she will allow him to take care of their children after school, but she once again (politely) declines, saying that she could never get rid of Mrs Doubtfire, as she has made their lives so much better.

Eventually, Daniel’s cover is blown when Chris walks in on him in the bathroom by accident (as Daniel had forgotten to lock the bathroom door). He explains what he’s done to Lydia and Chris, and tells them that they can’t tell Miranda (as she will most likely report him to the authorities and have him banned from seeing them for good) or Natalie, as she is too young to understand and would tell her mother. Both children are happy to have their father back in their lives and agree to help maintain the pretense.

Meanwhile, at the TV station where Daniel works as a shipping clerk, his job situation is about to improve. The CEO of the television studio, Jonathan Lundy (Robert Prosky), sees him clowning with toy dinosaurs on the set of a particularly boring children’s program and is impressed enough to schedule a dinner meeting to hear his ideas. Trouble brews when Daniel learns that Stuart plans to celebrate Miranda’s birthday by taking the family out to the same restaurant at the same time, and that everyone expects Mrs. Doubtfire to join them.

At the restaurant, Daniel attempts to rotate back and forth between Lundy and his family, using a restroom to change back and forth from himself to Mrs. Doubtfire. Due to ordering alcoholic beverages at both tables, Daniel gets tipsy and his behavior becomes more erratic. He dumps pepper (which Stuart is allergic to) on Stuart’s order and then forgets to change out of the Mrs. Doubtfire costume before returning to Lundy’s table. Daniel covers for his mistake by explaining to a bemused Lundy that his alter ego is his idea for a new television persona. Lundy is impressed and hopes to make a new TV show with Daniel’s alter ego.

Stuart then starts choking on the pepper. Daniel, still in the Mrs. Doubtfire costume, administers the Heimlich maneuver on Stuart. During the struggle, Daniel’s mask peels off, revealing his identity. Miranda is outraged and humiliated to find out that her housekeeper and her ex-husband are one and the same person; she then storms out.

After returning to court because of Daniel violating his limited visiting days, Miranda receives full custody of the children, as the judge is somewhat disturbed by Daniel’s behavior. However, she experiences a change of heart upon realizing that her children, as well as herself, are all deeply unhappy without Mrs. Doubtfire, and therefore Daniel. Daniel, meanwhile, becomes the star of Lundy’s new television program, Aunt Euphegenia’s House, where he plays Mrs. Euphegenia Doubtfire. Miranda pays Daniel a visit on the set one day and explains the situation to him. She also decides that Daniel’s idea of letting him take the kids for a few hours every day after school is a good one.

In the final moments of the movie, Daniel picks the kids up to spend an afternoon with them while Miranda watches an Aunt Euphegenia’s House episode, where Mrs. Doubtfire answers a letter from a child in a similar situation, saying that no matter what type of living arrangement children of divorce may have, love will maintain the bond of family.