Elise Allen's Blog
January 24, 2017
PHOTO OF THE WEEK!!!!
I’ve given up on blogging! I just know I won’t do it. I can, however, post a PHOTO OF THE WEEK!!!!
This is what I bought my family for Hanukkah. Personally, I think it would go beautifully over the fireplace. Other family members think the front door is better. I’m not against front door, but I worry it’ll get stolen.
Your take?
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August 18, 2015
The Lion Guard
Have we discussed my Disney obsession on this site? I’m sure we have � I’m sure I’ve talked about the Disneyland Annual Pass I’ve had since loooong before my daughter was born, all the races I can’t help but do over and over again, and the fact that I have no shame and call in favors as often as possible to get into.
So given all that, you have to know that I’m dancing in giddy circles because I’m one of the writers on the new show, The Lion Guard. The show won’t start airing for awhile yet, and I can’t give anything away (because that would upset the Mouse� and you don’t want to upset the Mouse), but I can link to
(I’m also using the picture from that article, because I don’t know what artwork is kosher for general release.)
I’ll keep you posted on the show as more becomes public about it, but in the meantime I’m totally channeling my spirit of Hakuna Matata.
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March 31, 2015
Awesome Mail Day!!!!
I just got back from a trip to New York and Philly (where much awesomeness occurred, including seeing the amazing in � an insanely great show that you’ve got to see if you can), and look what I found waiting for me � two new books I wrote!!!!!
These little pieces of fabulousness are adaptations of the upcoming movie, Inside Out. Don’t get me started on how great this movie is, or how much of a privilege it was to write this picture book and middle grades novel based on it.
Since it might be tough to tell from my early morning photo, the middle grades novel is called , and tells the movie’s story from five different points of view � one for each emotion (the movie, by the way, explains what really goes on inside someone’s head � the emotions who run all the operations there). The picture book is called and shows how the very different emotions think about a single experience in wildly different ways.
I had such an amazing time writing these books, and I’m so excited to see them out in the world!
Tell me � have you seen the previews for Inside Out? Are you excited about the movie? And what’s your favorite Pixar movie of all?
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March 12, 2015
COVER REVEAL: Gabby Duran Book TWO!!!!!
Hey, everyone! So despite the fact that my website is WOEFULLY overdue for an update, I had to pop in to spread some very exciting news: the cover for Book Two of the Gabby Duran and the Unsittables series� TROLL CONTROL!!!!
What’s the Gabby Duran and the Unsittables series, you ask? Think of it as Adventures in Babysitting meets Men in Black. A 12-year-old super-sitter’s world is turned upside-down when she learns the biggest secret ever:
There are aliens living among us.
Aliens who need babysitters.
Suddenly she’s drawn into the covert world of A.L.I.E.N., the Association Linking Intergalactics and Earthlings as Neighbors…and the most un-subtle acronym ever. Gabby is thrust into a whirlwind of intrigue and adventure as she babysits the most unusual kids on the planet, turns herself upside down to keep them safe from evildoers, and maneuvers through the most harrowing of all her assignments: Sixth Grade.
Above is the cover for Book One, which comes out May 12 and is already
Book two comes out in February 2016, and my amazing co-writer Daryle Conners and I JUST received the cover art from our incredible team at Disney Hyperion. We LOVE IT � so much so that I’ve made my way back to the blog just to share it with you. Ready� set� WOO-HOO!!!!
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September 1, 2014
I Am Legacy!
This weekend I ran THREE, count ‘em, THREE races at Disneyland:
The Stitch Family 5K, which I ran with my husband and daughter on Friday,
The also-Stitch-themed 10K, which I ran solo on Saturday,
And the , which I ran on Sunday, again solo� meaning with THOUSANDS of other participants, including . I don’t know the man personally, but I do know he kicked my butt by three minutes in the 10K, and by 17 minutes in the half marathon.
The combo of 10K and half-marathon? That’s the Dumbo Double Dare, so I got an extra medal for it, which made everything worthwhile.
If you’ve never done a RunDisney race, I HIGHLY recommend them. Their medals are unsurpassed � huge and shiny � and they have tons of along-the-route entertainment and photo ops (ٳ’s why Samwise Gamgee beat me � I stopped for pictures!).
For the 5K, I did my best to advertise the new show I’m writing for, :
Pumbaa and I getting ready to race, with Kion on my head.
Spelling it out on my shirt.
Then for the 10K I didn’t dress up, but I did get this super-cool medal:
It looks like a cockroach, but it’s really Stitch.
Next up? Half-marathon. Even the Disney horses and donkeys came out to cheer!
You NEVER get to pet the horses. Loved it!
This one’s named Pocahontas.
Coolest thing in the half-marathon? You round the bases in Angels Stadium while the crowd goes wild!
They put you on the Fan-O-Vision too!
And finally� the bling � my final two medals of the weekend (got one for the 5K too, but didn’t get a pic), for finishing the half-marathon and the Dumbo Double Dare!
Do I look exhausted? Cause I’m totally exhausted.
So that was my Labor Day Weekend. How was yours? And just as importantly, who wants to join me for the Disneyland Half Marathon Weekend in 2015?
Oh � just realized I never explained my title for this post. I Am Legacy because I’ve run this race every year since it began. That means I know it well, and you can trust me when I recommend it to you!
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August 16, 2014
My Friend The Tall Man� SINGS!
Not to name-drop or anything, but I’m pretty psyched to count , horror movie icon, as a dear friend. For those of you who don’t know Angus, he’s from the franchise� and in those movies he’s scary as hell. In real life he’s a sweetheart. And has a dog named Sweetheart, so ٳ’s fairly appropriate.
He recently sent me this, and it’s too good not to pass along. It’s him at a Chicago convention, doing what you wouldn’t expect from The Tall Man� singing. Check it out:
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February 2, 2014
Pragmatist’s Response to J.K. Rowling Kerfluffle
I’m a huge Harry Potter fan, so like everyone else in the universe my eyes popped out of my head when I saw in a magazine interview with Emma Watson.
The long and short of it? Rowling says she regrets putting Ron and Hermione together, that they wouldn’t have lasted, and that Hermione should have ended up with Harry.
My personal opinion is that it’s true that Ron and Hermione wouldn’t have made it Happily Ever After, but few high school couples do. Few high school couples should. 90% of the time, high school love is yes, real; and yes, powerful; and yes, dramatic and roller-coaster-y and filled with intensely wild joy and jealously and anger and tears� but it’s also a universe away from the kind of love ٳ’s strong and steady enough to last a lifetime. The rare couples that I know who did last all the way through from high school would say the same � that their relationship changed and adapted and grew along the way.
Would Ron and Hermione have grown and changed enough to last forever? Maybe, maybe not. But I LOVE the way their story unfolds in the books, and I think they’re perfect for a relationship spanning ages 11 � 18.
Still, none of ٳ’s my point. As I said in the heading of this post, what struck me the most wasn’t what Rowling said, or whether or not she’s right, but what my husband the pragmatist said when I told him about the bombshell.
“Wow,� he said, “ٳ’s a great way to drum up promotion.�
Yeah. It’s true. And J.K. Rowling’s no fool. She knows when she says something like this, it’s going to make headlines. It’s going to make people buy the issue of Wonderland magazine in which the interview appears. It’s going to put her, not just her books, in the forefront of people’s minds, which can only help sales of her non-Potter books, and the new movies she’s writing that will take place in the magical world she created.
The “bombshell� is just brilliant marketing, and more power to J.K. Rowling for using the media to her advantage.
In the meantime, the story she wrote stands on its own, as is. Her later opinions on it don’t change what’s on paper; that lasts forever.
So your turn � what do you think of the Rowling bombshell? Do you agree that her motives for it are chiefly commercial? And what’s your opinion of Ron and Hermione as a couple? Do you think they’d last forever, or do you think his hairdo in the last shot of the movie would have turned her off forever?
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January 15, 2014
What’s Your Reality?
Are you watching Juan-uary on this season?
Were you horrified when Christopher was voted off ?
Do you pay attention to the of any venue?
I happen to love Reality TV, but my reality TV tastes have changed. I’ve completely lost patience for personality-butting drama like Years ago I was riveted � RIVETED! –� by such genius shows as and
Now I can’t deal� but don’t take that as some kind of elitist declaration, because I’m still roped in every single week� just to different shows. First and foremost? . That one has been appointment TV to me from the beginning, and just when my interest flagged a tiny bit around Season 7, my friend started a pool, in which I always play. The money got me back in, but the past several seasons, it’s the show itself that keeps me. It’s almost inconceivable that a reality show can deliver shocks, fantastic drama, and truly engaging storytelling after so many seasons. Honestly, my only real question about the show at this point is this:
Why has Jeff Probst not named his blog, “The Anal Probst�?
Seriously � it’s a question that haunts me.
Other reality TV I love? Give me a good contest that requires skills and talent, like Project Runway and or tenacity and pushing yourself to the limit, like . The last of those is total appointment viewing for me, mainly because I can relate to the workouts. My favorite thing is to watch it while doing one of my ‘s at-home workouts. I can’t whine about 8 burpees when I’m watching the contestants do 100 of them.
So those are my reality weaknesses. Any of them overlap with yours? Any you love that you think I should check out? I’d love to hear your thoughts!
And one more thing � I can’t deal with Juan Pablo’s season, but you’re a part of Bachelor Nation, I highly recommend . The guy delivers on the snark almost daily, and he’s a very fun read.
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January 6, 2014
“You see, to me Barbara MEANS Karen…�
Major extra points if you know the quote in the title of this post. If you do, tell me below.
In the meantime, this really happened.
I woke up from a sound sleep dying to know why they killed off Henry Blake in M*A*S*H.
Seriously. Lots of other people left the show: Frank, Trapper, Radar� they didn’t all die. Why Henry? Was it planned in advance? Did the cast know? Was it a big surprise?
I truly woke up wrestling with this.
So I typed that very question into my little Google search bar, and you know what I got?
.
Cue chorus of angels.
Ken Levine wrote on M*A*S*H, Cheers, Frasier, Everybody Loves Raymond, The Simpsons� and ٳ’s just part of the list. I even read on his blog that he even wrote an . This man has been there for TV history, and he’s happy to share all about it. I got my ; I learned , including the show its creators intended to make; and I read one of the .
My guess is Ken has some incisive and delightful things to say about topics not relating to vintage TV, and maybe one day I’ll get around to looking at them, but for now I’m very happy to peruse every behind-the-scenes story he can relate about two of my favorite places in the world: the 4077th and Sam Malone’s bar.
Go check it out, and let me know what gems you find on the site!
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January 3, 2014
HAPPY NEW YEAR FROM RILEY!!!!!
Lots of fun stuff to talk about this year, but first and foremost I wish everyone out there a magnificent 2014!
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