"Some people are worth melting for."

I won the 5 minute fiction contest this week.  Thank you to those who voted.  If you haven’t tried it yet, you should.  It’s fun.

I’m working from my antique desk today instead of the train.  Tony Gilroy said that he now writes from anywhere but in the early days he would always long to be at his desk – but never could be.  It’s good to have a comfortable place but don’t let yourself get locked in.  I’m fortunate that my work requires me to write a lot in addition to the personal writing (like this blog) so I am often in different places with a deadline to meet and pages to write.  I think it is only through practice that we can become comfortable anywhere.

I also put my pants on the other leg first at least once a week just to fight the allure of routine.

To continue the theme of not following routine/everybody else, I’d like to express my disappointment with “Frozen.”  It broke sales records.  My daughter thinks it the greatest movie since “High School Musical” – should have been a clue, I suppose… -- and the interwebz are going gaga over the smashing success of a girl-protagonist film.

I was ready to be blown away.  I wasn’t.  There was nothing ground breaking in the animation so that didn’t carry it.   The music sounded just like every Disney TV show currently on Netflix so while it might have seemed special on its own  (“Little Mermaid” and “Lion King”) it now vanishes into the crowd.  We were left with just the story.

I’m all about strong protagonists and it doesn’t matter what sex, race, or creed they are.  A well written protagonist is compelling to watch.  The problem with Frozen was that it lacked depth.  The sisters were fine – except that we didn’t know who to root for.  It was suspense and mystery, it was “Who is the main character here?” followed almost immediately by, “Who is the villain?”

The pacing was also off.  Everything felt rushed – from the growing up of the girls to grand finale.  The stakes were raised but we didn’t care.  We hadn’t had time to care.  Then it was over.  Wrapped up like a present under the Christmas tree so neat and tidy that it must have been done by a machine.  It was the most contrived, unsatisfying ending of any Disney film I’ve ever seen.  And I’ve seen “The Rescuers Down Under.”

I know there is a huge fan base out there and I expect that they are all too young to remember “Beauty and the Beast” or “Pinocchio” or “Alladin.”