i went to barnes and noble to look at those poohs again. they're not disney poohs, but the original edward bears of the illustrations. two have been bought, four left! if i keep waiting all but one would be left and that would save me the agony of choosing. i don't feel like i can choose one and leave the other three behind. looking at them yesterday i realised that they aren't really sweet, the way su-lin's jude is. but they are rather doleful and they stretch out their arms to be hugged. hugginess is of utmost importance in a bear! yen suggests that i get a bolster instead, for the hug factor. and indeed i saw some silvery-grey silk-cover bolsters that i wanted - but then bolsters are not good for talking to, and they can't kiss you back. von says he'll be very put out if i sent him a blue hippo so i'm not. and i was looking at william steig's sylvester and the magic pebble and i think that's what bambi reminds me of. the passing of seasons.

i did get around to watching sleeping beauty yesterday. i do like that prince! he was dashing in his red cape! he had a certain glibness that's disarming and charming. makes me think of nohrnberg on wells in the bible. kiss her first, ask her name later. "but we've met before" "we have?" "of course, you said so yourself! once upon a dream! i know you, i walked with you...." somehow that also reminded me of rolf and liesl in sound of music - you wait, little girl, on an empty stage, for fate to turn the light on...and i was watching the part where he fought his way out of maleficient's castle, real shield and swordwork too. it was rather lord of the rings. you know, none of the disney princes ever do anything do they? they just white horse it a little and generally get on with their princing. you don't really get a sense that any of them wants the girl badly or is in love. this one really does and lets you know it too. "you're living in the past, father. this is the fourteenth century! nowadays..." "nowadays i'm still king! and i command that you come to your senses!" "and marry the girl i love! goodbye father!"

does anyone get the feeling that the sense of evil in this movie is very different from the other movies. the villians are usually scary and ugly and mean and selfish, but they aren't evil in the meticulous, cruel, self-satisfied way that maleficient is. "a most gratifying day" snow white's stepmother dabbles in black magic, but she is not a representative from hell - maleficient the dragon: "now shall you deal with me, prince, and all the powers of hell!", her horned head, and all the green flames and riotous cavorting around bonfires, which makes her so much more like c.s. lewis's lady of the green kirtle and queen of the earthmen. and hers isn't a simple possessing rage - she's more beautiful than i - therefore i shall kill her! there's that scene in the dungeons when she describes phillip's future: "the years roll by, but a hundred years to a steadfast heart are but a day. the gates of the dungeon part, and the prince is free to go his way. off he rides on his noble steed, a valiant figure, straight and tall, to wake his love with love's first kiss, and prove that true love conquers all." disney villians are wicked but seldom ironical, aren't they? they're nasty in an arm-twisting way but maleficient really knows how to be unpleasant in a heart-twisting way.