If you grew up in the 2000s, chances are you definitely wished your long-lost grandmother would suddenly arrive in town and reveal you were secretly a princess in an adorable little European country called Genovia. The dream. The 2001 film The Princess Diaries and its 2004 sequel had us all wishing we were Mia Thermopolis.
But anyone who has read the brilliant book series by Meg Cabot knows that there are some serious differences between The Princess Diaries book and the films; namely, in the books Mia’s dad is alive and a major character. So why did Disney decide to kill him off for the films? According to Cabot, it was because of Dame Julie Andrews.
The celebrated author recently revealed to Entertainment Weekly that she was surprised when Disney told her they wanted to write out one of her main characters. That is, until she heard why.
“[Mia’s father] plays a big role in the books,” She explained to EW. “I was like, ‘Oh, oh, my God, what did he do [for Disney to kill him off]?’ And they said, ‘Well, we have this actress, who’s a really big actress, that we want to play the grandmother. And we wanna make her role much bigger, and kinda raise the stakes, and give her a lot more lines, and we think we can give her a lotta the dad lines.’ And I was like, ‘Well who’s the actress?’ And they were like, ‘Julie Andrews.’ I was like, ‘Oh my God, kill the dad.’ I was like, it’s Julie Andrews, sure.”
Saw that PhotoSugar thing going around and although it’s not technically “stealing” your content, I’m still uncomfortable with having all of my blogs – even the private one – be shown on a website without my consent or knowledge.
Here’s the link to remove yourself from that place (link)
The Sword of Old Wounds Weapon (Shortsword), Legendary. Requires Attunement. A battered old weapon covered in nicks and scuffs. It behaves as a degraded weapon with -4 to hit and damage until it is attuned. Once attuned, it behaves as a +2 magic weapon. Enemies stabbed by the blade experience no physical wounds or signs of trauma, but are dealt 2d8 Psychic damage as the sword’s magic drags up painful memories.
Same Hat Wondrous Item, Very Rare A fetching cloth hat adorned with a single rose blossom in its band. The hat may be left unobserved and undisturbed within 5 feet of another hat for the duration of a Long Rest. At the end of the Long Rest, roll 1d20. On a 20, a third hat is magically spawned into existence, appearing as a stylish combination of the two “parent” hats.
The Goldmonger’s Piece Wondrous Item, Very Rare A single coin that appears to be solid gold but with only a fraction of the weight. A successful Perception (Wisdom) check DC 10 reveals it to be obviously counterfeit, featuring the image of a Rust Monster on its face. If placed within 5 feet of any coinage worth at least 1 Copper, the Goldmonger’s Piece will animate into a Tiny-sized Golem and voraciously devour all currency it can get its jaws on. It will consume up to 100 GP of money before returning to an inanimate state.
The Terraformer’s Map Wondrous Item, Legendary. Requires Attunement and Cartography Tools Proficiency A well-preserved scroll that, when unfurled, magically displays the terrain and major landmarks within 5 miles centered on its current location. Using Cartographer’s Tools, the map can be edited to add, remove, or alter features of the landscape once per day. Doing so allows the cartographer to cast one of the following spells as a 9th level Druid anywhere within the map’s displayed vicinity: Creation, Transmute Rock, Druid Grove, Move Earth, or Earthquake.
Ugh Boots Wondrous Item, Rare. Requires Attunement. A pair of tacky fur-lined leather boots that oddly seem out of fashion no matter when or where they’re worn. These boots grant a bonus to AC inverse to the wearer’s Charisma modifier. For example, a -2 Charisma modifier grants a +2 bonus to AC while a +5 Charisma Modifier inflicts a -5 to AC.
Clockwork Critter Wondrous item, Very Rare A small, silver pocket watch of remarkable Gnomish construction. It is a beautiful time piece that never requires winding or oiling, never tarnishes, and always tells the exact date and time down to the second. Twice a day – precisely at sunrise and sunset – the watch animates for one hour and bounces around excitedly, making clicking noises and flapping its cover like a hungry mouth. It must be fed at least 1 pound of fresh, raw meat at these times immediately; the bloodier, the better. If promptly fed, the watch will remain animated for the remainder of the hour and behave toward its owner similarly as a playful, affectionate puppy would. If denied one meal, the watch will loudly ring an alarm chime for an hour before returning to its normal, functional state. If denied two meals in a row, the Clockwork Critter will die, becoming a non-functioning, non-magical bit of scrap as it melodramatically flops over and burst into a spray of springs and sprockets.
Goggles of Mental Protection Wondrous Item, Uncommon A pair of nondescript brass goggles with slightly tinted lenses which fit snugly over the user’s eyes. Any creature of the Aberration type viewed through the goggles appears vaguely blurry and with floating black bars superimposed over their more unappealing features. The wearer has Advantage on saving throws versus magical or psychic effects from Aberration type creatures.
The Duckinomicon Wondrous Item, Legendary A lurid tome bound in the flesh and feathers most fowl… er… foul. Those who dare to scour its secrets must spend 4 consecutive Long Rests to fully read the book from cover to cover. Completing the book in this manner permanently grants the reader the ability to communicate with ducks and other similar waterfowl as per the “Speak with Animals” spell. Once this effect is gained, the reader also has Advantage on all Charisma checks when conversing with ducks in their malevolent native tongue. Attempting and failing to complete a full reading of the book curses the reader, leaving them only able to speak in loud quacking and honking until a “Remove Curse” or similar spell is cast upon them.
Gonk’s Lost Shiv Weapon (Dagger), Legendary An unremarkable dagger that faintly resonates with Divination magic. When within 20 feet of its creator – a mischievous Goblin assassin named Gonk – the blade will subtly glow blue and emit a subtle humming sound. The glow and hum can be halted with a command word. She had that enchantment put on it because she kept losing it, usually under the sofa cushions.
Boots of Rage Wondrous Item, Rare. Requires Attunement. When worn, these rugged leather boots cause their wearer to be irrationally grumpy and short-tempered with everyone and everything. Their snappy attitude inflicts them with a -2 to Persuasion and Deception rolls, but a +2 to Intimidate rolls. If Attuned by a Barbarian, the boots’ aggressive rumblings grant 1 additional use of Rage per Long Rest.
experiment goal: to determine whether smarties are an effective tea sweetener
hypothesis: smarties will sweeten the tea, but also introduce unwelcome flavor profiles due to their flavoring
procedure: procured one cup (≈12 fl oz) of Barry’s Tea Gold Blend black tea, hot. added 2/3 of a single roll of smarties candy (10 candies). wait for candies to dissolve, then stir well. tea will be sampled after stirring concludes.
addendum: control group was used. control sample consisted of one cup of the same type of tea, sweetened with white sugar. results will depend on the relative tastes of the control and smarties tea
results: smarties tea was significantly more bitter and less sweet than sugar tea. additionally, the smarties failed to dissolve in the expected manner, and when stirred, ended up breaking down into particulates that refused to dissolve.
conclusions: because of the chemical/structural makeup of smarties, they do not function well as an ad hoc tea sweetener because of their reluctance to break down. it may be the case that crushed smarties would work better, but this experiment was intended to study how normal, uncrushed smarties would work as a sweetener
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