serendipity: ser·en·dip·i·ty
Pronunciation: -'di-p&-tE
Function: noun
Etymology: from its possession by the heroes of the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip
: the faculty or phenomenon of finding valuable or agreeable things not sought for; also : an instance of this

I've had instances of serendipity of late. Mostly linking the movie I just saw, Little Miss Sunshine (soo soo soo good) to the ugly/beautiful dichotomy of the modernist lecture we had in English lit, and then linking that to Phantom of the Opera and my predeliction for falling in love with The Beast. See, I love Phantom of the Opera, but it breaks my heart every time because I think that although the Phantom is a raving sociopath, if Christine had been just a little less shallow, she could have been the salve to his wounds. Just like it pisses me off that Esmerelda always has the hots for Phoebus and Quasimodo ends up saving her anyways. ::sniffle:: I cried for hours at the end of reading The Hunchback of Notre Dame when it gets to the part about Quasimodo dying with Esmerelda in his arms in the catacombs under Paris. hours people... I cried for hours. Like almost as long as I cried when Anakin Solo died... (not going there) sniffle. Anyhow, I was cruising on home from Little Miss Sunshine listening to Phantom on my iPod and it got to the song, "Music of the Night." This is one of my favorite songs, but I think just about everyone loves this song, don't they?

I love it because it's a passionate plea on the Phantom's part to bring Christine over to his side. Here's what I have to offer you, he's saying to her. It is one of the most romantic things ever, and if that makes me sick, so be it. But it's right up there-- I cannot believe that I am saying this after I spent my childhood afriad of him-- with Jareth the Goblin King kidnapping a baby because the love of his life asked him to do it, yes Jareth was evil, and yes he puts Sarah through hell for spurning him (as does the Phantom) but really, they are acting like men-- just slightly more bent. I can love Jareth now because I'm not afraid of being an adult (looong story but the bubble scene in Labyrinth scared the CRAP out of me. Not the puppets or the goblins. The bubble scene where Sarah is getting her first taste of adulthood, and like 3 hours of her time to save her brother goes by like *snap* before she realizes it. If you watch the behind the scenes on the DVD they do some pretty twisted stuff/sexy but undersexed if you know what I mean... and maybe I picked up on that but mostly what horrified me about the movie was the fact that you could be tempted my something you wanted so much that you would lose sight of the goal (saving your baby brother) also I had this really wierd attraction/repulsion thing for David Bowie that I still can't figure out) But when all is said and done, I still fall for the fictional bad guys. The Riddicks, Phantoms, and Beasts.

After all... you may not know this, but when we met, my husband's screenname was BarryBeast (we have the same fav. fairy tale) care to guess?