girl power
Win 4 Tickets to Disney’s Cinderella!
Your Fairy Goddaddy is here to grant your wish!
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I’m giving away 4 VIP tickets to an advance screening of Disney’s new live-action Cinderella!
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BIPPIDI-BOPPIDI-BOO! This is a super quickie giveaway — enter the contest widget below by the stroke of midnight SUNDAY, MARCH 8 or you’ll end up alone, without anything to wear, sitting in a pumpkin, surrounded by a bunch of rats.
WHAT YOU’LL WIN:
✶ 4-pack of VIP screening tickets
✶ Guaranteed seating (the screening is first come, first served for everyone else)
✶ Free snacks
✶ Prizes
✶ Cate Blanchett as The Wicked Stepmother
And even if you don’t win, you can still attend the screening for FREE — just register here.
SCREENING DETAILS:
CINDERELLA
Starring: Cate Blanchett, Richard Madden, Helena Bonham Carter
Rated PG
Tuesday, March 10, 2015
7:00 pm
Regal Gallery Place Stadium 14 • 701 7th St NW • DC 20001
BONUS PRIZE FOR EVERYONE! Come dressed in your best princess (or prince) outfit, come find me and Jon and get an special Designer Daddy prize!
TO ENTER:
In the comments section, tell me your favorite Disney Princess or Prince, and I’ll choose a winner at random. So easy, it’s magical!
✶ Congratulations to Salman S. for winning the 4 VIP tickets! ✶ Thank you to everyone who entered, and I hope to see you at the movie!
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All entries must be completed by 11:59pm ET on March 8, 2015.
Giveaway courtesy of Fandango Family, who is also providing tickets for my family, so we will see you there!
Sometimes I Wish My Son Was Gay
Even before I became a father, I would read stories about little boys who didn’t like sports, or preferred Barbie over Boba Fett, or wanted to dress like Daphne for Halloween, or enjoyed having their toenails painted pink. Invariably there was an antagonistic relative, neighbor or onlooker going head-to-head with a proud, resolute parent who was coming to the aid of their atypical son. I’m sure these moms and dads went through a period of adjustment to reach their own place of acceptance, but in these stories they’re already proud Papa and Mama bears, stopping at nothing to defend their cub’s right to live outside society’s rules. One dad even wrote a letter to his hypothetically gay son, which melted my heart, as well as that of the bazillion other people who read it. These stories are beyond inspiring and give me hope for humanity.
So yeah, sometimes I wish my son was gay.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid: Not Just for Girls
It’s difficult to fathom that 25 years have passed since The Little Mermaid ushered in the “Disney Renaissance” — with no signs of the Mouse House’s dominance of popular culture waning anytime soon. Debuting in movie theaters November 17, 1989, the film and its music went on to win two Oscars, two Golden Globes, two Grammies, and has earned over $200 million worldwide. In 2007, an adaptation of the film made its way to Broadway, bringing to life the tale of the headstrong princess and all the magic and music found under the sea.
Ariel and company have swam their way across the country and around the world, finding themselves currently on the main stage at the Olney Theatre Center in Olney, Maryland.
The serendipity of the film’s anniversary allowed our family to re-watch it on The Disney Channel just a day prior to attending the live show. However, over the last year, gender stereotypes had begun to sink their claws into my 5-year-old son, so I was worried he might not be too excited to see the play.
SuperLunchNotes: I Know What You Doodled Last Summer
Before we’re all completely consumed with back-to-school madness, let’s take a moment to bask in the fading glow of summer…
My son’s preschool has a super-duper summer program. It’s similar to the regular school year, but loaded with extra helpings of sunshine, water and dirt. I continued the lunch note habit tradition all summer, and with each week of the program having its own theme, I had plenty of inspiration. Here are some highlights from SuperLunchNotes: Summer Edition.
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MARTIAL ARTS WEEK: June 9 – 12, 2014
Michelangelo | Pink Ranger | Iron Fist | Nightwing
Jon attended a friend’s birthday party at a taekwondo studio, which helped kick off the start to an exciting summer.
The Ultimate Spider-Man cartoon has been a great way to introduce Jon to a few more Marvel characters. Some purists don’t like the teenaged versions of heroes like Iron Fist, but I kinda dig the 21 Jump Street angle of the show. Fun Fact: the actor who does the voice of Iron Fist also does Michelangelo’s voice on the current TNMT cartoon.
SuperLunchNotes: The Powerpuff Girls
I’m taking a quick break between all my conference goings-on at Blog-Her’14 to post the final Girl Power Week SuperLunchNotes — THE POWERPUFF GIRLS! They’ve getting a makeover soon, but nothing can top the originals to truly capture their cuteness, energy and ass-kicking ability!
Speaking of cuteness, energy and ass-kicking, I’ve already had a chance to reconnect with many of the wonderful women I met at both Dad 2.0 Summit and SalonLGBTQ, and have much more connecting, reconnecting, learning and a bit of drinking (and perhaps karaoke) to do before Saturday night rolls around. More to come…
Have a great weekend, and be sure to tell the powerful women and girls in your life how much you appreciate them. They are NOT to be messed with.
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Sugar, spice and everything nice — that’s what you get when you like Designer Daddy on Facebook and follow SuperLunchNotes on Instagram!
SuperLunchNotes: Zatanna
The penultimate Girl Power Week SuperLunchNotes is the Mistress of Magic, the Princess of Prestidigitation, the Babe of Backwards Black Arts*, Zatanna!
Yup, she’s physically (or magically, rather) powerful, but what you’re not seeing on the note is her Playboy Bunny-esque outfit, particularly her bottomless tuxedo top and fishnet stockings. Very few female superheroes embody the true feminist spirit, but Zatanna’s getup speaks to a bygone era of across-the-board acceptable objectification. For what it’s worth, she does make all the Hottest Women in Comics lists (yes, that’s a thing).
They tried a couple of other costumes for Zee in the 70s and 80s. And while they covered more skin, they were pretty horrendous looking, and she eventually reverted to her original outfit from her first appearance in 1964. Can’t beat the classic, I guess.
So for now I’m just teaching my son there’s more ways to be powerful than throwing a punch or shooting a crossbow. And if he ever asks about the fishnets, I’ll tell him they have magical powers of distraction.
*I made that last one up.
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Need more magic in your life? Go Like Designer Daddy on Facebook and follow SuperLunchNotes on Instagram …and Abracadabra! You’ll be awesome!
SuperLunchNotes: She-Hulk
Day 3 of Girl Power Week features a one-two punch of green goodness.
First up is SHE-HULK! Not only is she built like a brick greenhouse, but she’s also a powerful attorney. In other words, leaps and bounds smarter than her crime-fighting cousin. She was also in the news recently when her brains and brawn were overshadowed by her bra size. A well-known comics writer dismissed her as a “big, green porn star” and referred to her as “chunky,” something many fans of her strength and smarts took offense to. The Internet hath no fury like a feminist comic book fan scorned.
Check out She-Hulk’s current series from Marvel Comics. Gorgeous covers (and interiors), and a great example of an intelligent, powerful, statuesque, green woman. Quite smashing!
SuperLunchNotes: Elsa
Day 2 of Girl Power Week is everyone’s favorite super cool Disney Princess/Queen/chart-topper/box-office smasher/Oscar- and probably Grammy-winner… ELSA!
I apologize if I’ve once again given you the icy mother of all earworms, but how could I do an Elsa note without using those three magical words? Words that also happen to give a not-so-subtle lesson in sharing and moving on with your life. Or at least onto another toy.
Stay tuned every day this week for more Girl Power notes as I gear up for (and attend) BlogHer’14!
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Be one of the cool kids! Like Designer Daddy on Facebook, and follow SuperLunchNotes on Instagram!
SuperLunchNotes: WyldStyle
It’s gonna be ladies night lunch all week in Jon’s lunchbox. I’ve been wanting to do a Girl Power Week for a while, and I figured the days leading up to my 1st BlogHer conference would be as good as any. I’m going to be among the few males at one of the biggest and longest-running blogging shindigs in the country. This will be an estrogen booster shot via Post-it note, if you will.
Funny story about today’s note:
I followed the boys out to the car this morning; Jon wanted to see his note so he took it out of his lunchbox and was very psyched to see Lucy (AKA Wyldstyle), leading lady of The LEGO Movie. As Papa was loading him into his car seat, I recited his favorite line from “Everything Is Awesome,” “Rocks! Clocks! And socks! They’re awesome!”
Being the master-level rhymer that he is, my clever 4-year old echoed back with his own impromptu line, “Kicks! Nicks! And dicks! They’re awesome!”
I stifled a laugh and muttered something encouraging like, “Wow you’re a great rhymer buddy.” and warned Papa (AKA Nick) to steer clear of Jon’s feet today.
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Stick with me and you’ll go far! Like Designer Daddy on Facebook, and follow SuperLunchNotes on Instagram!
The Macaroni Incident
As I’m thick in the throes of wedding planning, I thought it would be a fun to share some witty words from a fellow dad and superhero lover. Yet Charles Baserap is more than your average fanboy. He writes comic reviews at Nerdtopiacast.com, regularly attends cons (he can grow some killer Wolverine mutton chops) and he named his second child Alexander “Lex” Xavier. That kid is destined to be powerful…and bald.
Yet this tale is about Charles’ daughter, who’s the same age as JJ. They too share a love of superheroes, and of being a source of both wonderment and worry for their parents. Enjoy!
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When my first child, Anastasia, was about three and half, I picked her up from daycare and it was like any other day. Sure, she was acting a bit moody, but that’s what toddlers do. Terrible twos? That’s just an alliterative smokescreen. That phase starts before they’re two and continues well after. I think I finally outgrew mine at about seven…teen. But the point is that I was able to see something wasn’t quite right with her and she told me her nose hurt. I asked if she bumped it and she meekly said yes, and I thought that was the end of it. Kids bump their noses—and feet, and heads, and everything else they can—all the time. It happens. Then we got to the car and I could tell she wasn’t being completely honest so I asked her about her nose again and she finally fessed up—“I put a piece of pasta in my nose and it got stuck.”
