tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37281704026701995422024-03-12T19:40:25.509-06:00Remain Seated PleaseMusings on Disney parks, business decisions, films, etc.Unknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger53125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-5886266172388081342015-10-06T23:58:00.000-06:002015-10-07T13:56:51.146-06:00The Cost of Happiness<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/opening-day-disneyland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://a.dilcdn.com/bl/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/07/opening-day-disneyland.jpg" height="251" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">With the internet uproar over the recent price increase at Disneyland, I thought it would be interesting to figure out how much it actually would have cost to do a day at the park opening year.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It's actually pretty easy, just find images of the old ticket books and add up the values for all the rides. There were 38 attractions that were either free or required an A, B, or C ticket. A tickets were 10 cents. B tickets cost 20 cents. C tickets were 30 cents. So I made a list of all the rides listed on the tickets added up the values and voila, $6.60 worth of tickets would get you 1 ride on every thing in the park. Plus the $1.00 admission fee and your day at Disneyland set your back $7.60. Of course that is 1955 money. Adjusting for inflation and that comes to $67.58.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Now, you might be tempted to think that this is significantly cheaper than the $99 1 park 1 day pass is now, but this doesn't take in to account the different rides at the park now vs then. The only way I could think of to fairly adjust for this was to set all the ticket prices for today's rides to 1955 ticket values and then adjust for inflation. There are actually 7 more attractions at the resort now, plus two new ticket levels that were introduced in 1959. D tickets at 35 cents and E tickets at 50 cents. Adding all of this up gives you $12.25, and adjusting for inflation gives you $109. So Disney is actually charging $10 less than the actual ride value of the park. Plus, today's park tickets allow you unlimited rides on all rides. You could ride nothing but E tickets all day long and rack up a huge ride value bill easily. The freedom alone carries value on top of the ride value. There are also far more shows now than in 1955 including two parades, fireworks, and Fantasmic!. Those carry value also. Many more food options and higher quality souvenirs as well as better themeing across much of the park and additional acreage and lands. In other words, the single day value of Disneyland today is far higher than what they are actually charging for it making Disneyland cheaper to visit today than it was on opening day.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But, what about DCA and park hopping? Well, if you add DCA in to the mix, there are 66 total attractions today compared the the 38 of 1955. Add up the values and adjust for inflation and you get a single day value of $159. The present day 1 day park hopper ticket is priced at $139. The same intangibles and shows adding value on top of the attractions apply to DCA as well, so you're getting a really great deal.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"But," you are probably saying, "the price increases were heaviest on the annual passports, not the single day tickets! So It isn't cheaper today than it was in 1955 for them!" Let's take a quick look at that. Disney doesn't do some weird math and divide the number of times you visit in a year into the cost of your AP to figure out how much they are making per visit off of you. It's much simpler than that. You take the cost of your AP and divide it by the 1 day park hopper price. That's how many days you need to go to the park to pay for your AP. Any additional visits are free. Here's how that breaks down for each of the new AP levels:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">$1,049 needs to go 8 days to pay for itself.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">$849 needs to go for 7 days.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">$599 must visit 5 days.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">If you go more than that minimum number of days on your level of AP, then you are getting in for free all of those days. To word it a little differently, if you paid $1,049 for an AP, then you gave Disney enough money to cover 8 days of you being in the park. Let's say you go once a week, an amount that is completely reasonable for many who hold the high end APs. That's 52 times a year, minus the 8 paid days and you're getting in for free 44 times. If you had to pay for those days in the park, it would cost you $6,116. So instead of having to pay $7,165 dollars to go one time every week, you only have to pay $1,049. You are paying a mere 14.6% of the value of what you are actually getting. By raising the AP price, Disney is basically asking you to cover more of that $6,116 they are losing on letting you in for free. Seems a reasonable request.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So remember, even though it sounds like a massive price increase, the park has significantly more value today than it did when it opened, and the price, adjusted for inflation and accounting for new attractions, is cheaper than it should be. And if you are lucky enough to be an Annual Pass holder, remember, it pays for itself very quickly, and from then on, you technically don't have to spend a dime to enjoy any and all attractions that Disney has to offer. Count your blessings, it could cost you far, far, far more.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">(For those interested, here's the raw data charts I compiled to figure this out: <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1H2brSl_4sr4GThnmcgroLSqRQhK_vI6u6jXLyEyXTpg/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Google Sheets</a>)</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-48804744319245078032012-10-30T12:00:00.001-06:002012-10-30T12:04:46.237-06:00The Calories of HorrorLee Unkrich of Toy Story 3 fame is a big fan of The Shining. The other day he posted a link to a <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/9638876/Watching-horror-films-burns-nearly-200-calories-a-time.html" target="_blank">study</a> by The University of Westminster that details how watching horror movies can actually burn some calories. The results were as follows.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 258px;">
<colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 7094; mso-width-source: userset; width: 146pt;" width="194"></col>
<col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 146pt;" width="194">Title</td>
<td style="width: 48pt;" width="64">Calories</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">The Shining</td>
<td align="right">184</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Jaws</td>
<td align="right">161</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">The Exorcist</td>
<td align="right">158</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Alien</td>
<td align="right">152</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Saw</td>
<td align="right">133</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">A Nightmare on Elm Street</td>
<td align="right">118</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Paranormal Activity</td>
<td align="right">111</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</td>
<td align="right">107</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">The Blair Witch Project</td>
<td align="right">105</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">[Rec]</td>
<td align="right">101</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Being the nerd that I am, I thought it would be fun to see which film burned the most calories per minute. Run times on some of these films is longer than others and I wanted to see which film was most effective at burning calories, not just which one was really long.<br />
<br />
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="border-collapse: collapse; width: 416px;">
<colgroup><col style="mso-width-alt: 7094; mso-width-source: userset; width: 146pt;" width="194"></col>
<col style="width: 48pt;" width="64"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 2596; mso-width-source: userset; width: 53pt;" width="71"></col>
<col style="mso-width-alt: 3181; mso-width-source: userset; width: 65pt;" width="87"></col>
</colgroup><tbody>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt; width: 146pt;" width="194">Title</td>
<td style="width: 48pt;" width="64">Calories</td>
<td style="width: 53pt;" width="71">Length(m)</td>
<td style="width: 65pt;" width="87">Calories/min</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">The Exorcist</td>
<td align="right">158</td>
<td align="right">132</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">1.97</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Alien</td>
<td align="right">152</td>
<td align="right">117</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">1.30</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Saw</td>
<td align="right">133</td>
<td align="right">103</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">1.29</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">[Rec]</td>
<td align="right">101</td>
<td align="right">78</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">1.29</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">The Texas Chainsaw Massacre</td>
<td align="right">107</td>
<td align="right">83</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">1.29</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">A Nightmare on Elm Street</td>
<td align="right">118</td>
<td align="right">92</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">1.28</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">The Shining</td>
<td align="right">184</td>
<td align="right">146</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">1.26</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Jaws</td>
<td align="right">161</td>
<td align="right">130</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">1.24</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">Paranormal Activity</td>
<td align="right">111</td>
<td align="right">99</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">1.12</td>
</tr>
<tr height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">
<td height="20" style="height: 15.0pt;">The Blair Witch Project</td>
<td align="right">105</td>
<td align="right">105</td>
<td align="right" class="xl65">1.00</td>
</tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
So if you're looking to burn calories the most efficiently by watching horror films tomorrow, watch The Exorcist. It clocks in at nearly 2 calories a minute, just from watching the movie.<br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-37693256321907606662012-06-05T11:57:00.000-06:002012-06-05T11:57:38.069-06:00DCA Grand Re-Opening<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">With the Grand Re-Opening just 10 days away for Disney California Adventure, Disney has been pumping out new merchandise to match the new look of the park entrance. In particular, this new logo blew me away.</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv50yUE53FzeiBzklZJDbw4fBGsOz9rtZy1EppkoDgiOj0CImEj6LLQkEe6vYQdL8rUK_IUBOTSTTQX7WwnjaPQtrVeGIzRBr1Shn7oJvQa6MPF6F8TD1MwmujcPCLkbtP1XEb2R_YSVCF/s1600/dca_reopening_logo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv50yUE53FzeiBzklZJDbw4fBGsOz9rtZy1EppkoDgiOj0CImEj6LLQkEe6vYQdL8rUK_IUBOTSTTQX7WwnjaPQtrVeGIzRBr1Shn7oJvQa6MPF6F8TD1MwmujcPCLkbtP1XEb2R_YSVCF/s400/dca_reopening_logo.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image Courtesy {<a href="http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/tag/dca/" target="_blank">link</a>} Click image for full size</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The park has come so far since its opening day 11 years ago. This poster really captures, in a very classy way, the new feeling of the park while making Walt and Mickey a central focus. There are references to all the lands: Pan Pacific entry gates, Buena Vista Street buildings, Red Car Trolley, Carthay Theater, a plane for Condor Flats, pine trees for Grizzly Peak, World of Color, Screamin` and the Fun Wheel for the Pier, a section of the Cadillac Range for Cars Land. It's subtle and the color choice gives it an antique feel. A massive improvement on the original park opening day poster:</span><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLmaEJgDnYeo-d0i1p1TpPIg1awsMWXzkMpwLJ2lAIumyxT9ecB8qmS6oOTn-owwBRpmODEUIizow8zn7rR-boWTdoEA2zMS7UI5N-AMbh_8JDDQ_-EZVXmTWduIYE2krsl_SaiOCMn8YM/s1600/california+adventure.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLmaEJgDnYeo-d0i1p1TpPIg1awsMWXzkMpwLJ2lAIumyxT9ecB8qmS6oOTn-owwBRpmODEUIizow8zn7rR-boWTdoEA2zMS7UI5N-AMbh_8JDDQ_-EZVXmTWduIYE2krsl_SaiOCMn8YM/s400/california+adventure.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image Courtesy {<a href="http://www.zipandakick.com/2011/02/great-big-beautiful-tomorrow.html" target="_blank">link</a>} Click image for full size</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It was bright and colorful, but kind of leaves you wondering. There's only one iconic "California" image and that's the Golden Gate Bridge. Strangely, there is a futuristic Monorail coming through it. There is no Disney reference at all in the image except the word "Disney's." It really leaves you wondering what this place is.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The new artwork and merchandise has a quality that has long been absent from California Adventure as well as an intangible "Disney" feel. I am beyond giddy June 15th and what it means for the future of the Disneyland Resort. Finally, the 2nd gate has come of age as a real Disney park. Despite all this talk of the end of construction and the new park opening, this is not the end. Disney will continue to add to, change, develop and modify California Adventure well into the future. This is just the beginning really. And what a beginning it is!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-68371747651571494732012-06-05T10:50:00.000-06:002012-06-05T10:50:06.465-06:00Wreck-It Ralph 1st Image<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmzexkfuwwLgaNhZrJcN217EiVZUuQ8d-XuYuXRiT33lEusK1M65cYPftpiUHTU9heQ-6h6twjGm1V0Rcj8I2jT8sIwyBmg3JBLaB1C4UJB1eBJSSxptCR14oPomirFrX0_FHT9dd2aRJ0/s1600/wreckitralphlarge.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmzexkfuwwLgaNhZrJcN217EiVZUuQ8d-XuYuXRiT33lEusK1M65cYPftpiUHTU9heQ-6h6twjGm1V0Rcj8I2jT8sIwyBmg3JBLaB1C4UJB1eBJSSxptCR14oPomirFrX0_FHT9dd2aRJ0/s400/wreckitralphlarge.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Click for <a href="http://www.comingsoon.net/nextraimages/wreckitralphlarge.jpg" target="_blank">full-size</a></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So we got our first look at Wreck-It Ralph today. From this image, I'm loving it already. The idea of out of work video game characters is kind of funny to me. It's apparent that the animators and story writers have delved into the world of gaming. The joke on the cardboard sign, "Will NPC in FPS for food" is just perfect. I love the idea of the fuses leading to all the different games in the arcade as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For those who don't know, here is the official synopsis:</span><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Walt Disney Animation Studios and Emmy®-winning director Rich
Moore (TV's "The Simpsons," "Futurama") take moviegoers on a hilarious,
arcade-game-hopping journey in "Wreck-It Ralph." Ralph (voice of John C.
Reilly, "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," "Step Brothers")
is tired of being overshadowed by Fix-It Felix (voice of Jack McBrayer,
"30 Rock"), the "good guy" star of their game who always gets to save
the day. But after decades doing the same thing and seeing all the glory
go to Felix, Ralph decides he's tired of playing the role of a bad guy.
He takes matters into his own massive hands and sets off on a
game-hopping journey across the arcade through every generation of video
games to prove he's got what it takes to be a hero.<br />
<br />
On his quest, he meets the tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (voice of
Jane Lynch, TV's "Glee") from the first-person action game Hero’s Duty.
But it’s the feisty misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah
Silverman, "The Sarah Silverman Program") from the candy-coated cart
racing game, Sugar Rush, whose world is threatened when Ralph
accidentally unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens the entire arcade.
Will Ralph realize his dream and save the day before it’s too late?</span></i></b><br />
<b><i><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span></i></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I honestly can't wait for this one. November can't get here soon enough. Quite a risky departure for Disney who normally stick to the princess/fairy-tale style. While this film definitely has a typical Disney plot, the presentation is anything but what we expect from the Mouse. I'm glad they are branching out and exploring areas traditionally left to Pixar. It will be good for them.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-48260863061785713532012-05-09T15:48:00.000-06:002012-10-16T11:40:37.284-06:00Tomorrow is Stark's Today<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I wrote the following as a post on MiceChat over a year ago (Apr 19, 2011) when the rumor that the Stark Expo would be coming to Disneyland was fresh. Given the huge success of the Avengers over the past two weeks - $744 million so far - it was only a matter of time before Disney announced plans for putting Marvel things in the parks. I'll bet there were quite a lot of phone calls between executives and teams all over the Disney company over the weekend. Indeed, yesterday, CEO Robert Iger announced that a sequel is being planned and made mention that Avengers based attractions are being worked on for the parks. In light of that news I thought it would be good to post this again. At the time I was writing specifically about the Stark Expo, but the sentiments are applicable to all of the Avengers.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>
<b><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Why the Stark Expo Belongs in Tomorrowland</span></b><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The more I think about this, the more it
makes real and actual sense... and I'm talking "Walt" sense here.</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"A vista into a world of wondrous ideas, signifying man's achievements... A step into the future with predictions of constructive things to come. Tomorrow offers new frontiers in science, adventure, and ideals, the atomic age, the challenge of outer space and the hope for a peaceful and unified world."<br />~Tomorrowland Dedication Speech</span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"Now it is time for a preview of the world of tomorrow. We step into the future and find fantastic atomic-powered machines working for us. The world is unified and peaceful, outer space is the New Frontier. We walk for a time among the strange mechanical wonders of tomorrow, and then blast off on a Rocket to the Moon."<br />~Walt Disney, 1958 Audio Tour of Disneyland</span></blockquote>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">At first glance, some of this stuff may sound
antiquated and old, but in all reality, we're not really there with most of it.
Sure, we have nuclear power plants, but I would hardly call this the
"atomic age" as many people are afraid of nuclear power and there are
plenty of not so peaceful uses for it. Our use of atomic energy is not very
mature and there is a lot of room for growth and development to a point where
our devices are atomic powered.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">The world is far from unified or peaceful; and though since 1958 we have made some pretty amazing progress towards that goal we are far from fully achieving it. We're still Europeans, and
Americans, and etc... rather than Humanity. Idealistic? Maybe, but that was
Walt's stated and intended purpose for Tomorrowland. "New frontiers in
science, adventure, and</span> <b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">ideals</span></b><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">" are the exact words
he used. I don't think he meant anything like a Utopian Society, but one in
which we all at least get along and have worked out the issues between us. That
is an attainable goal and one that would have far ranging benefits for
everyone.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">The challenge of outer space has also not
really been met either. Yup, man has walked on the Moon. Of the billions of
people who have lived on this Earth, of the nearly 7 billion currently living,
only 24 have ever set foot on the moon. I would hardly consider that meeting
the challenge of outer space. That's a brave first step, after which we fell
down and crawled around on the floor for the next 40 years. In ten years we
went from no space program at all, to walking on the Moon. In the 4 decades
since then, we haven't left low Earth orbit. It's like we stepped out into the
darkness and were frightened by what we saw and now we won't leave the warm
comfort of our own planet. Since when has humanity feared things? We are driven
by our desire to explore and discover. That is what humanity does best. We look
at the impossible and we find ways to make it happen anyway. We see the moon
and we decide we want to go there, so we do. We have set foot on a small stone
a skip away from the shore. There is a whole ocean out there to explore and
we've barely left our sandy little beach. It would be like Columbus, Magellan
and de Gama being scared to leave port. They pushed the boundaries of what
people thought was possible. They set out into the unknown facing incredible
danger and very probably death. Look what they discovered. Whole continents and
wondrous new things. We have the same opportunity. The push out into space has
incalculable benefits to all of humanity. The technology it takes, the science,
the bravery and leadership... all of it benefits us all and ties into the other
goals of Tomorrowland: uniting humanity, truly harnessing and using the power
of the atom, advancing science, setting out on the grandest adventure human
kind can imagine, strengthening our ideals.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Now, what does this have to do with the</span> Stark Expo<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">?</span></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"Stark inventions were first displayed at the World Expo in 1941. In '54, my Father returned to Flushing Meadows, Queens to show off the new tech he used to defeat global tyranny. This was the first ever Stark Expo.</span></span></blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">In the decades that followed, my Father invited the world's greatest minds to contribute to the Expo and put to task corporations to create better living for all. When the 1974 Expo closed, we lost that glimpse into humankind's amazing future." </span><span style="background-color: white;">~Excerpt, letter from Tony Stark regarding opening of the 2010 Stark Expo</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
<br />
<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">
<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That sounds remarkably like what Walt wanted
for Tomorrowland, doesn't it? Bringing together the best and brightest of humanity to
promote peaceful uses of science and technology. To promote our exploration of
the frontiers of space, the peaceful uses of atomic power, to shape the future
of humanity for the unified and peaceful better living of all people.</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Just as the world of Iron Man "lost that
glimpse into humankind's amazing future" when the '74</span> Stark Expo<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">closed, so to did our world lose that glimpse when
Tomorrowland lost its direction.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Tomorrowland's problem has long been one of
keeping pace. The future changes so quickly in the short term. You try and
predict things out a few years and within months, that has changed.
Tomorrowland, since about the mid 70s has stopped dreaming big enough. It
became What's-About-to-Happenland. More recently it became In-Stores-Nowland. In order to keep
Tomorrowland relevant for quite some time to come, Imagineers must dream big,
and then admit that even that isn't big enough. The task they have is to dream
crazy, dream insane. They have to push the future out to a point where near
term changes in technology won't affect the vision.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">They need to portray a world in which we have
put aside differences and are working together. It is amazing what we can
accomplish when we come together and bring our differing points of view to bear
on a problem and compromise to find a solution. The very forces of nature
tumble before us when we do. They need to portray a world where we have found
ways to solve our energy problems. They need to portray a future where humanity
has spread outward from our home planet to conquer our Solar System and maybe even other planetary systems, travelling over vast interstellar spaces.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Just as the fictional character Gustav
Tinkerschimidt provides a fictional world in which to build the story of
Paradise Pier, the fictional Tony</span> Stark <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">provides an entrance to a place where we can glimpse the
fantastic and amazing future of our species.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Science fiction has long been a driving force
behind science fact. Many scientists were inspired by Flash Gordon, Star Trek,
Star Wars, etc. They saw these amazing places and things and wanted to make
them real, to discover what was out there. Tomorrowland used to represent this,
but in recent years it has become representative of what we ARE doing. Through
the fictional world of Tony</span> Stark<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">, it can once again be made to represent our
bright future, to inspire adults and young children alike to become the next
generation of scientists and leaders.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">While Tony</span> Stark <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">may be a comic book character, he resides in
a world of science fiction. His character is as flawed as any human. However,
as with most comic book heroes, he makes mistakes and learns from them. He
grows and attempts to become better. To make right the wrongs he sees in the
world around him and leave it a better place than he found it. Comic book
heroes are often ordinary people who do extraordinary things because they have
to, because they are there at the time and no one else will. These sorts of
ideals and drives are represented in Disney (and Pixar) films as well. The hero
who makes a mistake and has to rise above themselves to put it right. The one
who sacrifices themselves in order to save another. The ordinary doing
something extraordinary because they have to.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">I think many of the negative comments about
this possibility stem from the fear of having Iron Man stomping around Tomorrowland.
I don't think Disney would do that. A decade ago this would have been believable. The people in charge now seem to have a much better grasp
on brand and how to properly use it. I see the Stark</span> Expo <span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">being used as a "world" only. A
place in which to set this glimpse of the future of humanity that allows for it
to be as fantastical as it is fictional and yet still able to show where our real future may lead us.</span></span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-color: white;">"All our dreams can come true, if we have the courage to pursue them." </span><span style="background-color: white;">~Walt Disney</span></span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">Tony</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-color: white;">Stark</span><span style="background-color: white;"> </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">had the courage to stand up and change the course of his
future and by so doing, change the course of many others. His character
represents that courage which resides in all of us to change the future and make it better. That courage and joy and enthusiasm within is one of the things
Disneyland represents and embodies most strongly. That sense of adventure, exploration,
discovery, fantasy, dreams; all of them come together in Disneyland. Nowhere
can that be more evident than in Tomorrowland.</span></span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">"And now, it is an honor to continue the legacy of [dear old Uncle Walt] and re-open the Expo to explore the technological wonders that will enhance lives everywhere. Please join us [...] to experience the exciting world of tomorrow today." </span><span style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: white; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial;">~paraphrased excerpt, letter from Tony Stark regrading opening of the 2010 Stark Expo</span></span></blockquote>
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<br /></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-63459978767336749082012-05-06T16:02:00.000-06:002012-05-06T16:02:22.634-06:00Supermoon<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiloe_CfzWAHzxhOECCwg9usvIGuQw3p_tqhstQ4L4dc2hFCwiATBT3uI-9qg5SGTKd9vlxXX2XsnTeLt_UkuvWPVjdny6JhnPo3__TYFyztBYn3mprBAPQMY7Tai05R-_DquCNgPEfsiOv/s1600/perigee-vs-apogee-moons.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiloe_CfzWAHzxhOECCwg9usvIGuQw3p_tqhstQ4L4dc2hFCwiATBT3uI-9qg5SGTKd9vlxXX2XsnTeLt_UkuvWPVjdny6JhnPo3__TYFyztBYn3mprBAPQMY7Tai05R-_DquCNgPEfsiOv/s320/perigee-vs-apogee-moons.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Comparison of Full Moon at Perigee vs. Apogee (Courtesy NASA)</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Sorry for another non-Disney post. I promise, I'm working on a park related post but this whole "supermoon" thing is bugging me. For those that didn't hear, last night's full Moon occurred at the same time as the Moon's closest approach (perigee) to Earth. On average, the Moon is 238,855 miles away. Last night, it was only 221,800 miles away. Now 17,000 miles closer may sound like quite a lot, but when you are talking about something that is a quarter of a MILLION miles away, 17,000 is really small.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I decided to do some math and see just how big a difference there was between the April and May full Moons.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Distance to April full Moon: 222,645 miles</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Distance to May full Moon: 221,800 miles</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">That is only an 800 mile difference! That is less than the diameter of the moon (2,158 miles)! So why was no one talking about how huge the April full Moon looked? Because the media called attention to the fact that the May 5th/6th full Moon occurred at its perigee (April's did not even though it was a similar distance at time of full) and mentioned that this would cause it to look a little bigger. People went outside with what is called an Expectation Bias. Essentially you see what you expect. People expected the moon to look bigger and so the saw it as bigger.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">If you do a bit more math and determine the angular diameter (like on a protractor) of the full Moons from April and May, you end up with a difference of 0.002 degrees. From Eastern to Western horizons, the sky is 180 degrees wide. If you cut it in 180 equal parts and then cut 1 of those in 2000 equal parts, last night's full Moon was a mere 2 of those (two thousands of 1 degree) larger. If you had pictures of both and put them side by side, you could see the difference, but lost in the vastness of the sky, with no reference frame to compare it too, you can't actually see that small of a difference.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Now some people went out and saw the Moon as it rose and are right to claim that it looked significantly larger. This had nothing to do with the Moon being at perigee though. The atmosphere is only 65 miles thick directly over your head but when you look at the horizon you are looking through several hundred miles of air. Light bends when it travels through air of differing temperatures. This is what causes mirages. When the Moon is near the horizon, it must travel a long way through many layers at different temperatures and this distorts the moon, kind of like a lens, making it look much bigger. This can be seen quite often around Halloween as part of the "Harvest Moon." When the moon rises overhead and is travelling through much less air, it returns to it's normal apparent size.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Now in November we will have the opposite, a full Moon and apogee (furthest point from Earth). The difference between that full Moon and last night's will be about 14%. That amount is definitely noticeable, but again, because both won't be side by side, you won't notice it in the sky.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For those who would like to do the math themselves, the formula for angular diameter is:</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ς = 2 tan<sup>-1</sup> (<sup>1</sup>/<sub>2</sub> <sup>d</sup>/<sub>D</sub>)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">ς is the angular diameter in degrees (sigma)</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">d is the diameter of the object</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">D is the distance between you and the object</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-5214614705966874962012-04-24T10:47:00.000-06:002012-04-24T10:47:58.242-06:00Save Main Street From Swing<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihAIUveg0KGdlm9TAUaBCl7atSxSSNW115S-_NWm63gYnZfHte7yQAgK19diqwUBSj3vnWi24e1totht539VTtU9-I1I0M9vG2ioogodKrgwQF4xWMFXu7On2jADPcfu1PtCMBg6bgXJmD/s1600/Savoy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="274" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihAIUveg0KGdlm9TAUaBCl7atSxSSNW115S-_NWm63gYnZfHte7yQAgK19diqwUBSj3vnWi24e1totht539VTtU9-I1I0M9vG2ioogodKrgwQF4xWMFXu7On2jADPcfu1PtCMBg6bgXJmD/s320/Savoy.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image Courtesy {<a href="http://www.savoystyle.com/history.html" target="_blank">link</a>}</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Given the furor that this is creating across the fan boards I figured I'd chime in on it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As you've probably heard, Disney will be closing the Carnation Plaza Gardens next week to re-theme them to a medieval village square for the Princesses. The stage that has been used for swing dancing for many long years will remain, but be re-themed. Once this area is complete, the swing dancing will indeed continue in this area.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I'm pretty certain that 99.8% of Disneyland's guests don't really care, but the self proclaimed "hard-core" fandom is raging about this. There are complaints that the stage is a hugely historic location given that many famous Jazz artists have performed there including Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway. Still others complain that changing this area to match Fantasyland is an invasion of theme upon Main Street. Yet another oft seen complaint is that the swing dancing will be out of theme with the new area itself, the only valid concern here.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Here's how I see it. The swing dancing has <i><b>always</b></i> been out of theme here, if you count this area as part of Main Street at all. Swing dancing began in 1926 in Harlem at the Savoy Ballroom. Hot Jazz and Swing Jazz were newly emerging music forms and quite popular to dance to. In 1928 at a dance contest in New York City, one of the winners coined the name "Lindy Hop, " in honor of Charles Lindbergh's "hop" across the Atlantic, as an off the cuff name for his fancy footwork in response to a reporter's question. The name stuck and Lindy Hop became the first swing dance. Later the name was changed to the Jitterbug. Main Street USA represents a turn of the century, small mid-west town's main street. As such it is decades and miles removed from the world of swing. Swing did become popular across the country but not until the 30s and 40s.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On top of this, the Carnation Plaza Gardens are located in the Hub, not on Main Street. In fact, they are on the far side of the hub with the entrances to two lands, Adventureland and Frontierland, intervening. The Hub is an area where many themes meet and co-mingle. You have the Astro Orbitor, Sleeping Beauty's Castle, the Tiki Room, Jolly Holiday Bakery, etc all existing in this area together. There really isn't a theme here at all. Calling it Main Street is no more valid or true than calling it Tomorrowland. It is simply the Hub. As such, there really is no theme and extending the Castle theme out behind trees and on the far side of the moat river can not be considered a thematic invasion at all. Even under the strictest of interpretations. In fact, looking at park maps throughout the years, this area has been listed as belonging to both Fantasyland and to Frontierland at times.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Really, the only valid concern is that having swing dancing in an area themed as a medieval town square is breaking theme. However, even here I would advise caution. We do not yet know what the final layout or look of the area will be. Nor do we know if there is a planned change of decor for the dancing. In fact we know next to nothing about this whole project. All we have are less than a handful of concept art sketches. Making such harsh judgments at this stage of things is completely impossible. Expressing concern or worry is another matter and completely understandable. Unless you are a member of the team working on this, or have regular access to the inner sanctum of Disney Imagineering, we simply do not know enough to make informed judgments.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">We can say a few things with certainty though. 1) If you believe that the area belongs to Main Street, then the swing dancing is horribly out of theme. 2) If you believe that the area isn't part of Main Street, but part of the Hub where themes collide with impunity, then the swing dancing is perfectly okay, but you must also believe that it is okay for Disney to change the theme of the gardens without breaking thematic rules.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-77931754543374826362012-04-19T12:16:00.000-06:002012-04-19T12:16:03.670-06:00The Great Attractor<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9RM5oj7qFYuKbUJ5UcxLwwUl07IBKoNt3ShBgqFSMrvct7kVdOc-lgAWC12Epl1K-b0JujbPhXQDNcbSH0qdqe83byQU1mzoEZG-g9dfZwkjDo0SKnIA7ZT4hAdG5TWn2BcaaJ0b-U5Xj/s1600/devilstower_pacholka.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9RM5oj7qFYuKbUJ5UcxLwwUl07IBKoNt3ShBgqFSMrvct7kVdOc-lgAWC12Epl1K-b0JujbPhXQDNcbSH0qdqe83byQU1mzoEZG-g9dfZwkjDo0SKnIA7ZT4hAdG5TWn2BcaaJ0b-U5Xj/s400/devilstower_pacholka.jpg" width="400" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Milky Way over Devil's Tower - courtesy {<a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090729.html" target="_blank">link</a>}</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This post is going to be a bit of a departure from theme parks and movies. I got a question on twitter about an astronomical phenomenon and the best way to discuss it was through a blog post. Stick around though, I'm going to try and blow your mind.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The question asked was "What is The Great Attractor?" </span><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In order to explain what it is we need to look around our local neighborhood in the universe.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As I'm sure you know, we live in the Milky Way galaxy. It's an average, run of the mill, spiral galaxy about 120,000 light-years in diameter. Remember, a light-year is how far light can travel in one year, or about 6 trillion miles. To put this in perspective, light travels from the Sun to Earth in 8 minutes and makes it to Pluto at its farthest point in just over 6 1/2 hours. Our fastest spacecraft will take 10 years to make the trip to Pluto. The Milky Way contains roughly 200 billion stars and close to that number of planets. It's a very big place. The Solar System lies about 2/3 of the way out from the center in the Orion Spiral Arm. Essentially we are in the suburbs of a very busy city and when you look towards the Milky Way in the night sky, you are looking in towards the bustling downtown.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Milky Way galaxy itself is part of larger group of 54 galaxies known as The Local Group. We are the 2nd largest member of the group, The Andromeda Galaxy being the largest member at 2.6 million light-years away from us. The Local Group is actually a suburb itself of a much vaster metropolis known as the Virgo Supercluster. This supercluster is made up of about 100 smaller clusters, like the Local Group, and assorted individual free galaxies. It is 110 million light-years in diameter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Now we come to The Great Attractor. It is a region of space about 250 million light-years away from us that is thought to contain roughly 10,000 times the mass of the entire Milky Way galaxy. That much mass exerts a fairly significant gravitational pull over a large distance. Large enough that it is affecting thousands of galaxies in the region, including our own Virgo Supercluster. Astronomers can measure the distance to galaxies by using something called redshift. It is similar to what happens the the sound of a car as it passes you. When it is approaching you, the sound waves are piling up and being pushed together, causing them to become higher frequency (pitch seems to go up). As it passes and moves away the sound waves stretch out and the pitch falls. Light does the same thing, except when the frequency goes up, the color changes to blue and when it falls, the color changes to red. By measuring the amount of shift in red or blue we can determine the speed and direction galaxies are moving. By further measuring the variations in the speed and direction of thousands of galaxies, an anomaly was discovered and named The Great Attractor. By knowing the amount it was influencing galaxies by we could calculate its mass.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Recently though, studies have discovered that The Great Attractor is not the object that is pulling galaxies towards it as its mass is far less than we originally thought. As our telescopes have gotten better we refine our estimates and understanding. We know now that the object really pulling us is the Shapley Supercluster which sits beyond The Great Attractor a whopping 650 million light-years away. It is the largest concentration of galaxies in the local universe, though not the largest structure by any means.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The Universe is unimaginably vast and full of incredible wonders which we are just barely beginning to gain glimpses of. There are hundreds of billions of stars in our galaxy and there are trillions of galaxies in the universe. It can be difficult to visualize the extreme scales and sizes involved, but this interactive page does a great job: <a href="http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/1203/scaleofuniverse_huang.swf?bordercolor=white" target="_blank">The Scale of the Universe</a></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Hopefully that answered the question. As with all things science related it probably brought up quite a few more questions in your mind. Feel free to ask any time on twitter (@mycroft16) or via the comments.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-87724792996478564202012-04-03T12:30:00.000-06:002012-04-03T12:30:11.033-06:00We Blew it as Fans and Missed This Completely!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This summer Disney will be unveiling the newly remodeled entry for California Adventure, Buena Vista Street. Watching the buildings and street take shape has been a lot of fun. Photos and videos from intrepid park guests have detailed the demolition and rebuilding of this area into something beautiful. Disney itself has been showcasing the work through models and videos in the Blue Sky Cellar. I think we missed something in all the excitement though, and it's pretty awesome!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In a very brief 10 second long clip from one of the Blue Sky Cellar videos about Buena Vista Street we can see a projection mapping test on the Carthay Circle Theater model. Here, watch for yourself. Skip to 4:22.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/50tibWmQ3Gc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The camera is panning up the model and you can clearly see video being projected on it. An arm is clearly moving on the right side towards the end of the 10 seconds. You can see ceiling lights overhead in the room the test is being shot in and even the shadow of the table the model is sitting on at the beginning.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Disney has been investing a lot of effort into projection mapping recently. The World of Color tour, Let the Memories Begin shows on Cinderella Castle and the it's a small world facade and just this weekend Paris' Disney Dreams show. DCA already has World of Color so I don't expect this to be anything huge like Dreams, just a small, several times a night display, maybe a couple of minutes long. It would make sense to make it about the premier of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs since that is the time period and historical significance of the Carthay. In fact, it actually looks like the arm and peasant sleeve of Snow White being projected in the video clip.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So, if they are planning on doing this, there would need to be a place for the projectors to sit. I am not an expert in setting up projection mapping, but there are two possibilities here. To cover the entire theater facade there are two possibilities:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZjk4y9eQO3UM7Zt0JxPahwRb7KPOSb3R0jKK-uXhm97GFQReZuPKOoPx4oQQov8IjQovkOGxo99LCwk_2H7GNfm6LHVMPfAf61iI-RjI6TmqwrGbsemZGjSXR942Z7CXhgoRzZOASsXI/s1600/bvs_3_proj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="425" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtZjk4y9eQO3UM7Zt0JxPahwRb7KPOSb3R0jKK-uXhm97GFQReZuPKOoPx4oQQov8IjQovkOGxo99LCwk_2H7GNfm6LHVMPfAf61iI-RjI6TmqwrGbsemZGjSXR942Z7CXhgoRzZOASsXI/s640/bvs_3_proj.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Three projectors to cover the entire facade</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL5NgoY_ZJ0NPMSkKY3TkEg4X4QmjPJVIjg188sVvi9vwYCVx1WODdLYPTJstNfeEFDTPkAHKT-zWOKf414L7zlCs2P_AYjaYHs1Z9fCwEUdAC9jPtIfjAtYCEf7pKf_Uvjj9LiipyAZWx/s1600/bvs_2_proj.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjL5NgoY_ZJ0NPMSkKY3TkEg4X4QmjPJVIjg188sVvi9vwYCVx1WODdLYPTJstNfeEFDTPkAHKT-zWOKf414L7zlCs2P_AYjaYHs1Z9fCwEUdAC9jPtIfjAtYCEf7pKf_Uvjj9LiipyAZWx/s640/bvs_2_proj.jpg" width="640" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Two projectors may be enough as well</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Three projectors seem to offer much greater coverage and overlap, but it might be possible to cover the whole thing with just two as well. Like I said, I'm no expert in setting something like this up and it would depend a lot on the angles between the BVS buildings and Carthay as well as any obstructions (trees, lighting poles, etc). It looks completely doable.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It might be worth watching the construction of the skyline around the circle area for possible projector emplacements. Has anyone noticed anything yet?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This may just be wishful thinking, but it is fairly obvious that they at least had this idea at some point. Whether it is still happening or was just a test that later got canceled, I don't know. I think it could work really great within the theme of the area as a tribute to the movie that made all of this possible and that actually premiered in the locations real life namesake. Here's hoping this actually happens.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-45232932491856633532012-04-01T13:13:00.000-06:002012-04-01T13:13:19.084-06:00Premier of Disney Dreams - Disneyland Resort Paris<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzEAhcTr7EeTD6eZaPYpTRmLaPMR6OLIvW1iMD6Nb5mqrmlH1ZNrDymcdC2eCpg-rGIGnpIamw0QUBlFOQhZJvRv8DuWVdE4fGoxeR_XN7TUVDMCAawJvQHTmzA8YnSpP50iV2vmI2URN/s1600/dlrp20.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMzEAhcTr7EeTD6eZaPYpTRmLaPMR6OLIvW1iMD6Nb5mqrmlH1ZNrDymcdC2eCpg-rGIGnpIamw0QUBlFOQhZJvRv8DuWVdE4fGoxeR_XN7TUVDMCAawJvQHTmzA8YnSpP50iV2vmI2URN/s320/dlrp20.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image Courtesy {<a href="http://www.magicforum.eu/viewtopic.php?t=11081" target="_blank">link</a>}</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Yesterday marked the official opening of the 20th Anniversary celebration for Disneyland Resort Paris. Hard to believe it's been 20 years. I still remember when it opened its gates as Euro-Disney. They've had an awfully hard time of it over there, but they've grown and changed so much though it all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The nighttime show Disney Dreams is a spectacular addition to the park, rivaling California Adventure's World of Color. Enough talking, here it is:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/hGqLJfyIxmc?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Best to make it full screen and turn up your volume. Truly an amazing job by Steve Davison and all the creative team as well as the construction crews who installed it. I hope to be able to see this one in person someday. For the time being, a very happy birthday to Disneyland Resort Paris.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-71594282551464215522012-03-28T15:23:00.001-06:002012-03-28T15:23:06.004-06:00Won't You Join Me in a Cup of T?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIsrdQw6zzdd-u95OMP0IhLX7I_xXw_z_9O-j3MN2dqgUvLOEeDIwhLEnIA9SujQM93d73fFwjCnWjO4Suy3utOaIT3tW2NF5MIb41dFCEJicOM6AgsoKw-aSNphCXpVe1ZRpJ0zMpLntv/s1600/tparty_00.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIsrdQw6zzdd-u95OMP0IhLX7I_xXw_z_9O-j3MN2dqgUvLOEeDIwhLEnIA9SujQM93d73fFwjCnWjO4Suy3utOaIT3tW2NF5MIb41dFCEJicOM6AgsoKw-aSNphCXpVe1ZRpJ0zMpLntv/s320/tparty_00.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All Images Courtesy of Disney</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I'm just going to say it... I think this is a wonderful idea and it should be quite a lot of fun. Mad T Party will be the 3rd such street party in DCA and is looking to be the best of them all.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">First came Glow Fest. It was nothing but a street party. It's theme was almost non-existent and consisted solely of "bright neon colors. Oh and also monkeys and belly dancers." It was a huge hit. Not because of the theme, but because of the atmosphere it created.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Next up Disney took a crack at creating their own version of this. Being Disney, they really themed this one up and gave us elecTRONica. Instead of recorded music, we got live DJs that rotated out so the music and styles were different each time. They added entertainment CMs throughout. The created a story and show and a place for this party to live in. They brought in dance crews and Laser Man. Created competitions and various areas within the party. It was a huge step forward for the concept. But the TRON theme is kind of dark and heavy. While the music was still awesome and amazing, the overall vibe was heavier and more atmospheric than the very light and bouncy Glow Fest.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Glow Fest was much more for the whole family while elecTRONica was much more geared towards adults.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7n_WBqzH72kkSKJai0wM4-F2A3GLLv625Q35fN8oHoZEAexaxVDIsUQKWGPJB76OBoS22_AgnI9M_r_ZQxuYvQ1PD9OVYMxeDoKT62TIMo5V0Vtudw4JBtICJlCSUx6haWRTQrDQ_UqqM/s1600/tparty_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7n_WBqzH72kkSKJai0wM4-F2A3GLLv625Q35fN8oHoZEAexaxVDIsUQKWGPJB76OBoS22_AgnI9M_r_ZQxuYvQ1PD9OVYMxeDoKT62TIMo5V0Vtudw4JBtICJlCSUx6haWRTQrDQ_UqqM/s320/tparty_03.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Hatter, Alice, Cheshire Cat, Dormouse, Caterpillar and<br />March Hare are the house band</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Now Disney is set to unveil the 3rd in this line of night time parties: Mad T Party. With the Mad T Party, Disney is working to combine these a bit. We get the brighter and more psychedelic design of Glow Fest mixed with the atmospheric lighting and street performances and live music of elecTRONica. They are creating a live band (guitar, synths, vocals, etc) composed of the film's characters. We're getting a DJ for when the band isn't on. The playing cards end up in the role of crowd dancers, interacting with the people dancing and keeping crowd energy up. elecTRONica had "programs" in this role but they didn't actually do much beyond play disc frisbee with people while the Go-go programs were isolated from the crowd on podiums. This should prove to be much more interactive and energetic. As gate keepers to the T Party and bouncers we get the Tweedle's, Dee and Dum.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisWGQJulyK4LQiu5JpO-gWN8GNDP_JeqOxdD-TYi-z0trJlUPTf1z5Vf7Xq_hsywj6_lBpFRflaVjUNs4X4rRTBpA0wcTUxS9SOXygm4Lg1yCccCej4mecNoKaOZNvWOq7-yb-v4PeldVh/s1600/tparty_06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisWGQJulyK4LQiu5JpO-gWN8GNDP_JeqOxdD-TYi-z0trJlUPTf1z5Vf7Xq_hsywj6_lBpFRflaVjUNs4X4rRTBpA0wcTUxS9SOXygm4Lg1yCccCej4mecNoKaOZNvWOq7-yb-v4PeldVh/s320/tparty_06.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The dancing cards</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisr5XF0UUWXE2QlsLoE8y9d6hqahfBJqDeJujw9C3_cQTp5_TxhmDSp0ZSi64ZiAHL6jgXpMATSWp9jcG3cef7Y3SURDY1dTCils5-OTqt9IZYAAQGJBKcDA4vAIlRLcz1NJRndNMTcMjO/s1600/tparty_05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisr5XF0UUWXE2QlsLoE8y9d6hqahfBJqDeJujw9C3_cQTp5_TxhmDSp0ZSi64ZiAHL6jgXpMATSWp9jcG3cef7Y3SURDY1dTCils5-OTqt9IZYAAQGJBKcDA4vAIlRLcz1NJRndNMTcMjO/s320/tparty_05.jpg" width="247" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Seriously, this look has quickly become<br />my favorite of all the designs.</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Most things dealing with the Alice in Wonderland stories allow the psychedelic aspect to creep into architectural details and set design, but costumes stay more or less normal looking. Without much architectural stuff going on for this T Party, it has been incorporated in the costumes. The checkerboard patterns on Tweedle Dee & Dum's boots. Bold stripes and high contrast colors along side solids. Overall it looks like a fusion of the gothic, grunge and lolita styles.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There are elements here that can appeal across demographics. Adults get the darker slightly edgier more club feel of this Alice party compared to Glow Fest. It looks like kids will have the brighter colors of this compared to elecTRONica as well as much more interactive looking walk-around characters. Teenagers get a harder rock, Hot Topic/Spencer's sort of vibe from the costume/character design.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlmG6Epv6AGZGQxFZZk24ebUxuafCy2ckUpPFo44D9HDLBxShR4GQ-Xpt0UyaBMODI6ob_IOy-ExueFOAj8QdRfm_WpSe8IadYNpw4A08jh6lbWmVZ4NEZxNpDtegkv9yPfuSSXdUfwlkq/s1600/tparty_02.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlmG6Epv6AGZGQxFZZk24ebUxuafCy2ckUpPFo44D9HDLBxShR4GQ-Xpt0UyaBMODI6ob_IOy-ExueFOAj8QdRfm_WpSe8IadYNpw4A08jh6lbWmVZ4NEZxNpDtegkv9yPfuSSXdUfwlkq/s320/tparty_02.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"House of Cards" bar and dance area</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is based on the little we've been shown so far. I guarantee Disney is keeping the best surprises from us, despite appearing to leak quite a bit. One area we know almost nothing about is the lighting design. Given the massive projection mapping undertaking elecTRONica had I can see them combining that with the bold color splashes Glow Fest had as well as the crowd dancing projections. There will be areas that are darker and more subdued such as the house of cards bar area. There will be areas with lots of color and motion, most likely near the dance floors. I expect surprise, impromtu performances throughout each night as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Glow Fest was a straight up dance/club party. elecTRONica was more the experience of being pulled into the grid. It suffered from large areas not really being used for more than projection mapping, heavy music and walking through. Glow Fest didn't have enough areas where non-dancing was happening. The Mad T Party looks like it will bring the best aspects of both of these together while dropping out items that didn't work so well all behind a unified, cohesive, well known (so it doesn't need an explanatory pre-show) theme. We even get pretty cool looking <a href="http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2012/03/looking-good-for-the-mad-t-party-in-disney-california-adventure-park/" target="_blank">merch</a>! No idea why, but I'm loving the Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum art and shirt. It just has a really cool look.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When Glow Fest was announced it was widely worried that this would encourage a drunken orgy of sorts. It didn't. elecTRONica caused this concern to resurface, especially given it's much more adult feel. Again, not really a problem. Concerns and worries about Mad T Party are also surfacing. I don't forsee this being any more of an issue now than it was for the previous two parties. In fact, it will probably be even less of an issue.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I really look forward to visiting the Mad T Party when I'm at the resort this summer. It should have all the energy of Glow Fest and all the atmospheric story-telling of elecTRONica with what looks like some new ideas thrown in for good measure. Clean cup! Move down elecTRONica!</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Additional images:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij5Uwx2CapOBCS1VR-V0FnWPgTHnePPyZmSCtXb35uBLfrc0g232ZG4wNJcJZfD3Kw6C34WNVPme2FEEnTP7Vk4kmOGEI-XQoiUD7mqTGrEBKpL9oPy_KQD67BEP98VRPjy_iJMsYUGW8o/s1600/tparty_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="175" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij5Uwx2CapOBCS1VR-V0FnWPgTHnePPyZmSCtXb35uBLfrc0g232ZG4wNJcJZfD3Kw6C34WNVPme2FEEnTP7Vk4kmOGEI-XQoiUD7mqTGrEBKpL9oPy_KQD67BEP98VRPjy_iJMsYUGW8o/s320/tparty_01.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The bank playing for the crowds.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRC5i3Coz-UlaBaUpVo3g60CUuYseY0uLXe3PhbvXYcuO70CQOg4ae_lWAX3GseKZsDfIjASJTpzM7VPIIhsjFHuKkBUXV3P3DfTtVSi4XYr9j8uHxZYfHGjVsJjyVxCR6lrLBIHlKKahi/s1600/tparty_04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRC5i3Coz-UlaBaUpVo3g60CUuYseY0uLXe3PhbvXYcuO70CQOg4ae_lWAX3GseKZsDfIjASJTpzM7VPIIhsjFHuKkBUXV3P3DfTtVSi4XYr9j8uHxZYfHGjVsJjyVxCR6lrLBIHlKKahi/s320/tparty_04.jpg" width="247" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">DJ White Rabbit. Kind of a Deadmau5<br />thing going on with the ears.</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWs_Rojo-nbN0-dUgWYXNLVLWkkCjLz3t1dfwq34S9YIyCOhs5CIJXwdF_N0iKsK1LUAmrrdUIdd9S0tVBQU-pv8nlROfEyjDZVny-4vHvic5Fzx3g-QhHnCBHyQpzc9YcTHpqpwVlf1xG/s1600/tparty_07.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWs_Rojo-nbN0-dUgWYXNLVLWkkCjLz3t1dfwq34S9YIyCOhs5CIJXwdF_N0iKsK1LUAmrrdUIdd9S0tVBQU-pv8nlROfEyjDZVny-4vHvic5Fzx3g-QhHnCBHyQpzc9YcTHpqpwVlf1xG/s320/tparty_07.jpg" width="247" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Hatter characters as "hosts"</span></td></tr>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-86357121130708402242012-03-23T13:38:00.004-06:002012-03-23T13:38:52.836-06:00How Not to Market a Film<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGpPNjdCYJ526Pox4cmJ02wBm8y0k21l1QREbsGDxEPhkRdfFvlfSpN1xY4m7AyDJcmjLure5oNCtOj3ZHIFw472lizwLTiDy7tvyzec11UUZfehqhOdHc9NK-7UK7kUHGYopc3ybLCIj/s1600/john_carter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGpPNjdCYJ526Pox4cmJ02wBm8y0k21l1QREbsGDxEPhkRdfFvlfSpN1xY4m7AyDJcmjLure5oNCtOj3ZHIFw472lizwLTiDy7tvyzec11UUZfehqhOdHc9NK-7UK7kUHGYopc3ybLCIj/s320/john_carter.jpg" width="215" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Disney recently announced that they are going to take a $200 million hit on John Carter. They really don't have to look any further than the marketing department for this one. It's sad really as it is one of the best movies I have seen.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Just about everyone I know who has seen it has loved it and can't stop talking about how good it was. It has a 7.1 rating on IMDB which is nearly equal to what the Harry Potter films got. It's audience rating on RottenTomatoes is also sitting at 71%. That's pretty awesome. Especially for a genre of story that is so old. So with so many positive feelings among audience members, why on Earth is the movie not doing well?</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">If you go out and ask the average Joe on the street about it, you're going to get a lot of blank stares. Either that or people will say they've heard of it but have no clue what it is. What those are the reactions from people on the street your marketing department has a problem.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Looking at the trailers the problem is pretty clear. If you had read the books you knew the story and the trailers made sense. Otherwise, they were just a series of beauty shots that didn't really say anything about the movie. The fact that it took place on Mars wasn't even readily apparent. Many people complained that John Carter looked like a rip off of Star Wars or Avatar when in reality those two movies borrowed heavily from John Carter's source material.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Several things could have been done differently here.</span><br />
<br />
<ol>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Play up the director.</i> Pixar trailers always make mention of their other hits so you associate this new film with something you already like. "From the creators of The Incredibles, etc." John Carter should have stated clearly that it was from the director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E to associate that quality of story telling with John Carter.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Play up the author.</i> Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote Tarzan, one of the most enduring and widely known stories and a huge favorite thanks to Disney's re-telling of it. "From the author of Tarzan" should have been included in the trailer.</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Play up the story.</i> It should have been made abundantly clear that John Carter is the original sci-fi/fantasy story and not some rip off of the very films that borrowed from it.</span></li>
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<br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Epic Voice-over Man should have said something along these lines:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"From the director of Finding Nemo and WALL-E and the author of Tarzan comes first and greatest story of interplanetary love ever told."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Inter-cut that with shot orbiting Mars and then a high speed flight down to Earth. Give us the disaffected soldier who just wants out of all fighting. Brief shots of getting transported to Mars. Tell us that's where he is. Then lay out the broad brush strokes of conspiracy and fighting for love and what is right.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">While the teasers and trailers that were shown were pretty cool, they didn't give you any information about what this movie was beyond an action movie that looked like it could be vaguely ancient Greek in origin. I don't know about where you live, but here the marketing was non-existent up until about 5 days before release and then the same jumbled trailer was played every hour on TV.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I think this is a result of the ridiculously over-sized, though unabashedly awesome, campaign for TRON Legacy. That was so huge and didn't get the results they wanted so now they've gone to the minimalist extreme. Hopefully they now realize that reality lies somewhere in between. It just saddens me that the movie that had to suffer for it was John Carter. It is a phenomenal piece of cinema. If you haven't yet seen it, please go. You'll feel like a kid again, just enjoying a movie for the pure fun and adventure of it. Beautifully told and imagined by master of his trade Andrew Stanton.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-14340771802448588852012-03-23T00:45:00.000-06:002012-03-23T01:05:50.595-06:00May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu8tYU4KdZjfNNghE9hWMnTVhtY27UQ1wj5XmqCYZ6wqTLNMcxdQ-OfMA7zdlMgJf2ekrZenqTx0qqZbRbypEAPGgd07iG6ACimalkxNvALXS9cE-sevTKTm-tJ1cTlfyXH_mmO8DxZN9u/s1600/hunger_games.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu8tYU4KdZjfNNghE9hWMnTVhtY27UQ1wj5XmqCYZ6wqTLNMcxdQ-OfMA7zdlMgJf2ekrZenqTx0qqZbRbypEAPGgd07iG6ACimalkxNvALXS9cE-sevTKTm-tJ1cTlfyXH_mmO8DxZN9u/s320/hunger_games.jpg" width="215" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image Coutesy {<a href="http://stateofmind13.com/tag/the-hunger-games/">link</a>}</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So thanks to my work, I got to see Hunger Games this evening. It's a lot of fun to waltz in past the midnight crowd as they line up outside.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I went into this movie with some pretty high expectations as it was a book I really enjoyed. It had a clever story and some really good political machinations. It had a love story that felt far more real than recent films. Fantasy is a genre that I enjoy quite a bit. Needless to say, the bar was pretty high already.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The movie didn't disappoint. The actors were all really good at their roles. They all felt believable. The story stuck pretty close to the book. As with all films based on books, there are things that either just can't be done on film, or not done simply, so they shuffle things and re-write bits. The changes weren't bad in anyway and worked well within the film.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The look of the locations, from District 12 to the Capitol to the arena, were all perfect. Even a new location that you didn't get to visit in the books but that you know exists was far cooler than I ever imagined it would be.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Stanley Tucci is awesome as Caesar Flickerman, and Toby Jones as Claudius Templesmith were perfect choices. Lenny did an awesome Cinna as well. He was completely believable.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">There were only a couple things that I found a little disappointing. One was the shaky camera during action. I hate that. I feel that it is lazy. It means you don't have to fully choreograph complex sequences and it makes it hard for the audience to follow something. To me it doesn't add tension or make me feel the disorientation that the character must be feeling.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The second thing is some pacing. There were a mere handful of scenes that really lagged. The movie didn't feel long though. It felt just about right to tell the story. There were some cool things that didn't make the cut, but that is always the case.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">In all honesty, this was a really fun movie. It was true to the books and just a good time. While the film does now gloss over the deaths of the tributes, it doesn't make them needlessly overdone or gory.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I give The Hunger Games 4.75 out of 5 stars. Go and see it.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-83559808395354764382012-02-29T10:57:00.000-07:002012-02-29T10:57:21.126-07:00Avenge This!<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The new trailer for the Avengers was released this morning, and boy is it an amazing piece of cinematic editing epicness! Feast your eyes in full HD for best effect.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/tY9DnBNJFTI?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I have no idea how they do this, but with each trailer they have released, this movie gets better and better! Looks like there will be some very good character development and character driven moments as well as some insane action sequences. Great mix of humor and seriousness as well.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">All who know me know that I am an absolute nut for Lord of the Rings and am looking forward to The Hobbit this year more than anything else, but this may just have gone into a tie for 1st place with me. I don't know what you're doing this May, but you' better be seeing this movie. It's going to be one really awesome, really wild, really fun ride!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-1055717253199545312012-02-13T14:37:00.003-07:002012-02-13T14:37:54.064-07:00Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/aPxdjECyPmw?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I am REALLY looking forward to this. The whole idea is just silly awesome fun. The cinematography looks great, the casting. Just a fun movie. Guess I should read the book huh?</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-70712565775690303142012-02-11T21:58:00.000-07:002012-02-11T22:12:32.015-07:00Face it George, Han Shot First<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS2kfDx6DsoyESiuToHHqugbaUO60Q3mHCD3c9BruGXuyhtJUNUtRSOaReK1xNxixX3Py_zGvjpxFXvJx7p3nGzS_uBQvZ8hPHWBZKllGV_Dqcf7xr32ldFDz9Fd9gqzkTBVhxy-Fz9zpN/s1600/Han+Shot+First_03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="152" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiS2kfDx6DsoyESiuToHHqugbaUO60Q3mHCD3c9BruGXuyhtJUNUtRSOaReK1xNxixX3Py_zGvjpxFXvJx7p3nGzS_uBQvZ8hPHWBZKllGV_Dqcf7xr32ldFDz9Fd9gqzkTBVhxy-Fz9zpN/s320/Han+Shot+First_03.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image Courtesy {<a href="http://www.twofingerscroll.com/2011/06/han-shot-first.html">link</a>}</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Why does George Lucas insist on changing Star Wars decades after it was already popular?</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The controversy over who shot first, Greedo or Han Solo, in Episode IV, what I did was try to clean up the confusion, but obviously it upset people because they wanted Solo [who seemed to be the one who shot first in the original] to be a cold-blooded killer, but he actually isn’t. It had been done in all close-ups and it was confusing about who did what to whom. <a href="http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=86886">[1]</a></span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Ok, fine. Lucas is the creator and does know what his original intent for the character was because he wrote him. However, George seems to be missing two crucial points here.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">First, people have never thought of Han as a "cold-blooded killer." He is a space pirate in a space opera. He's a rogue, a Jack Sparrow kind of character if you will. Ok, not a great comparison but it makes the point. He didn't kill Greedo in cold blood but in self defense. Greedo was holding him at gun point and going to turn him over to Jabba the Hut. Han was built up through A New Hope as a man who has a code of honor and lives by it, but it is his own and he can't be expected to live by anyone else's. This is what makes it so cool when he comes back to save Luke later on. He has grown as a character. By changing the scene with Greedo you remove that rough, roguish edge from his character and the eventual change of heart becomes less meaningful.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Second, why change it in the first place? It wasn't clear in the original scene and yet several generations of fans loved that scene and what it meant about the character. So why, after all that time, would you go back in and change it? Yes, it is your film Mr. Lucas, but when a film is released to the public and has been out for decades, the fans take a bit of possession of it as well. Not to mention that it was another decade and a half before this explanation. It's just not a smart decision.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For those too young to remember how things really went down, here's a video:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://0.gvt0.com/vi/-qWoTWd_nRw/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/-qWoTWd_nRw&fs=1&source=uds" />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">But that's not all. Darth Vader suffers from this as well. In the original trilogy, Vader is the archetypal bad guy. Wears all black, deep voice, doesn't hesitate to kill those of his minions who disappoint him. He is single minded in his focus and is intent on ruling the galaxy. He came, over the years, to define "bad guy." Then George Lucas brought us the prequel trilogy and Anakin Skywalker's backstory. Suddenly Darth Vader goes from being the archetypal bad guy to tragic hero. He's just a kid who loved his mommy too much. Somehow, the bad guy Darth Vader is no longer as scary, or bad.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Then, in the recent BluRay re-re-re-re-release, another nail went into the coffin of Vader's awesome-bad-guy-ness. In Episode III when he learns of Padme's death, Vader let's out a cry of anguish. George added a similar cry of "noooooo" to the climax of Return of the Jedi as Vader watches Emperor Palpatine torturing his son. Fine, I get that we're supposed to see the parallel between Vader's anguish at losing his wife and now about to lose his son, but that scene <i>was</i> one of the most powerful moments in cinematic history. Vader's silence, watching the torture and impending death of his son at the hands of his mentor and master, is powerful. Even though he wears a full mask that is all black, you can see the internal redemption and change in the masks "eyes" when Vader moves to save Luke. It needed no words, no vocalizations beyond the purity of Luke's agonized screams. Thanks George, once again ruining what was an incredibly deep and moving character arc.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Oh, but it doesn't end there either. Boba Fett has also been ruined. From the original trilogy we know Boba Fett as a stone-cold killer. A mercenary for hire. Enter the prequels and suddenly he is a little boy with daddy issues. Suddenly the most feared assassin in the galaxy is a little less cool.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I just don't get it. The original trilogy was near perfection. For an operatic space fantasy film, not the most amazingly deep genre, to garner the love and respect that it has is beyond phenomenal. Fine, add in some cool background details and such, no problem. Change character story arcs? Cheapen the villains? Destroy one of the hero's redemption? WHY George? Why!?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Don't get me wrong, I love the prequel movies, albeit not as much as the originals, but somehow, they weaken and make the originals a little less powerful. George's incessant meddling isn't helping matters any.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-41361815621817314132012-02-07T15:08:00.001-07:002012-02-07T15:08:54.110-07:00Wreck-It Ralph Looks Great<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJcxamv4SjYxyES3310RUiofa3i1L6kLK9VTZOr2hdtRlnIoyBlSrwbKGMSCMNvPP_X1P5nfqM04FatUys6H5K_DOepQSeY-W6HmBAHW9IM-4HBUBWQim7rB2Z_fhNu5by4QTPhncPz2V/s1600/wreckitralph1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="164" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdJcxamv4SjYxyES3310RUiofa3i1L6kLK9VTZOr2hdtRlnIoyBlSrwbKGMSCMNvPP_X1P5nfqM04FatUys6H5K_DOepQSeY-W6HmBAHW9IM-4HBUBWQim7rB2Z_fhNu5by4QTPhncPz2V/s320/wreckitralph1.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image Courtesy {<a href="http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=86666" target="_blank">link</a>}</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Can I just say, I am REALLY looking forward to this film? I think it has a huge amount of potential. It's a risky kind of story and setting for Disney, and that's why I support it. It's branching out and doing something kind of crazy but that still has the heart and soul of a Disney movie. Plus, I'm a bit of a gamer myself and look forward to seeing how they interpret the world and characters. From this artwork, I like it so far.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Synopsis and more artwork at <a href="http://www.comingsoon.net/news/movienews.php?id=86666">ComingSoon.net</a>.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-39627010978728618152012-02-07T12:41:00.002-07:002012-02-07T12:41:54.930-07:00Earl of Sandwich in Downtown Disney<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBZGbMBbHWIjytfMJ_OW0iWmKUxrc6WD4559BaZWkGLmTPoaJyQm-GPRU96lv90-jB1fWdxX7LU5uH8Ve7vgeIpwxGhBHumjVYRQtiOFKTVJC6DylA900V5I8wsvzAgeHgCj6yzxB-igd/s1600/eos110983SMALL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMBZGbMBbHWIjytfMJ_OW0iWmKUxrc6WD4559BaZWkGLmTPoaJyQm-GPRU96lv90-jB1fWdxX7LU5uH8Ve7vgeIpwxGhBHumjVYRQtiOFKTVJC6DylA900V5I8wsvzAgeHgCj6yzxB-igd/s320/eos110983SMALL.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image Courtesy {<a href="http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2012/02/earl-of-sandwich-coming-to-downtown-disney-district-at-the-disneyland-resort-this-summer/" target="_blank">link</a>}</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Disney confirmed<a href="http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/blog/2012/02/earl-of-sandwich-coming-to-downtown-disney-district-at-the-disneyland-resort-this-summer/" target="_blank"><sup>[1]</sup></a> this morning that the sandwich chain Earl of Sandwich will be coming to Downtown Disney by early summer this year. It will be taking the place of the Compass Bookstore right next to the AMC Theater location.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I am very excited by this news. We have loved eating at the Vegas location for a number of years now, and having one in Downtown Disney will provide another great place to get a quick bite to eat.</span><br />
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-71509264147933849252012-02-04T12:41:00.003-07:002012-02-04T12:42:24.276-07:00The Woman in Black<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz03OJ1fvS_wIP8r4D2QdP2bAHkWrvqhR5Iohp_X9rpSZlQTmw5KrYNsIzRYHXSo3aAthEMaRMNNv9cONkmaTXza6MSTRqfWGGgEaxdqZaMLtUw4ZAfWcDQKS-a2l7UQhIzeZgkXwYAUwF/s1600/woman_in_black_ver3_xlg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz03OJ1fvS_wIP8r4D2QdP2bAHkWrvqhR5Iohp_X9rpSZlQTmw5KrYNsIzRYHXSo3aAthEMaRMNNv9cONkmaTXza6MSTRqfWGGgEaxdqZaMLtUw4ZAfWcDQKS-a2l7UQhIzeZgkXwYAUwF/s320/woman_in_black_ver3_xlg.jpg" width="299" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image Courtesy {<a href="http://www.impawards.com/intl/uk/2012/posters/woman_in_black_ver3_xlg.jpg" target="_blank">link</a>}</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Last night I saw The Woman in Black and had a really good time. This was a ghost story along the lines of The Others. The movie was well acted, didn't drag and had a simple, straightforward story to tell.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Arthur Kipps (Daniel Radcliffe) is a lawyer sent by his London firm to the town of Crythin Gifford to examine and put in order the documents of the late widow of Eel Marsh House, an old estate home on an island in the coastal marsh near the town. Upon arriving the townsfolk try to get him to return to London both with their brusque manner and by refusing to aid him. He persists in going to the estate anyway. In going through the vast collection of papers and letters he finds, we begin to learn the tragic history of the family of Eel Marsh House and how it has involved the terrified villagers.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The film relies heavily on the setting to build an uneasy feeling. The village is small and feels devoid of color. There is a persistent coastal fog and mist the seems to have leeched the color, and thus life, from the village and the people. The island is accessible by a dirt track that is washed out twice a day by the tides, leaving a boggy marsh at low tide. Trees have grown rampantly on the island, the house looks disheveled. Inside are layers of dust, cobwebs, dark woods and faded colors that seem to suck what little light enters right out of the air. It is just what you have always imagined a haunted house to look like. It is adorned with the trappings of a wealthy family that has traveled. Creepy statues, busts and dolls fill alcoves along the hallways and heavy cast iron candelabras add a sense of unease and weight. The set design and art direction were really very good.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Daniel Radcliffe is alone for the majority of the movie and must carry it himself. No easy task for any actor, having to act with the sets rather than another person, but he does it very well. I was curious to see how he would do as he hasn't done much besides Harry Potter. Happily I did not spend the duration of the film picturing him as Harry Potter. He did a great job presenting the character. The only other major characters in the film are a wealthy land owning couple Arthur meets on the way to the town, Mr. and Mrs. Daily. Sam Daily (Ciaran Hinds) is the one person Arthur can confide in and trust, though it turns out even this couple, often shown symbolically in full sunlight rather than foggy grey, has been touched by the tragedy of Eel Marsh House and hide their secret.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Though it follows the usual method of escalating haunts, the film doesn't feel tired. I think having Daniel Radcliffe in a setting we are so unaccustomed to seeing him in helps it feel fresh. There are several "gotcha" scares, but they are well executed. Most of the time, it is what you don't see that brings on the creepy feeling. Motion on the edge of a frame, in a mirror, a shadow in the dark distance. Shapes that were steady suddenly moving, etc. There are a couple of shots that I hadn't seen anywhere else and got a bit of a jump out of me.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I won't spoil the ending of the film, but will say that it was absolutely perfect. I can not think of any other way this film could have ended as happily as it did while still maintaining the horror of the story. I know some of you will be scratching your heads in wonderment, but I promise, this was actually a happy ending.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It isn't a groundbreaking horror film by any means, but it was very well executed and genuinely acted and that made it a lot of fun to watch and buy into. My wife and I both enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and would recommend it to anyone.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-88383866687818219842012-02-02T12:23:00.000-07:002012-02-02T12:23:26.730-07:00A Greener California Adventure<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">One of the biggest problems facing DCA 1.0 in my view was the lack of trees. Disneyland uses trees and plants to break up walkways, offer shade and create a more natural, comforting feeling. The old DCA had very few trees anywhere and very little in the way of plants and shrubs either. Thankfully, this is changing. Twitter user @mintcrocodile and avid Disney photographer (<a href="http://mintcrocodile.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Magic Eye</a>) tweeted this photo today.</span><br />
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<a href="https://twitter.com/#!/MintCrocodile/status/165142193244352512/photo/1"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">https://twitter.com/#!/MintCrocodile/status/165142193244352512/photo/1</span></a><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">This is the new fountain that will form the center piece of the Carthay Circle area of Buena Vista Street. They have just brought in quite a number of trees to surround the fountain. Several trees have also recently gone in near the entry gates. More are on their way to line the street.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Paradise Gardens is full of trees. The World of Color viewing area has trees and plants. The queue and overflow areas for Little Mermaid have been significantly greened up. It may seem like a small thing, but all these new trees and plants have a major impact on the feel of the park.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Previously DCA consisted of wide concrete paths and nothing else. Wide open views that were very utilitarian and to be honest, boring. With the addition of so many trees, the park feels more alive in a way, long distance views are broken up making the park feel more cozy and intimate. The shade reduces the heat coming off the pavement, cooling the park as well. Having all these large, older trees will also give the parks themed areas a feeling of having been there for many years.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I love all the new green!</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-26151743435912856262012-01-31T12:48:00.000-07:002012-01-31T12:48:19.943-07:00The Trouble for DCA<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0DKKe-g4DfuvLmVjEyXbt4Eoa_NU8u2Yjsy6o0wz9-L30u7AvPb7HTd7A9W0XaDcwbcqLawLgT0mpfIiSI-xnFkyQ91C5VHLW6S4zKZultf_22x5TbOtl1nLpW8wyrKN5jTSuI70075Xb/s1600/bvs_model.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0DKKe-g4DfuvLmVjEyXbt4Eoa_NU8u2Yjsy6o0wz9-L30u7AvPb7HTd7A9W0XaDcwbcqLawLgT0mpfIiSI-xnFkyQ91C5VHLW6S4zKZultf_22x5TbOtl1nLpW8wyrKN5jTSuI70075Xb/s320/bvs_model.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image Courtesy {<a href="http://www.mouseexpedition.net/2011/09/california-adventure-blue-sky-cellar.html" target="_blank">link</a>}</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">California Adventure is going to face an interesting problem with the local Disneyland Fan crowd when it debuts this summer. Despite the massive project to completely alter the theme of the park, which they have done so beautifully, the theme hasn't really changed. It is still about California. At least that is how a fair number of the hardcore fans will see it.</span><div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I have already begun to see mutterings across fan sites about this. The problem here isn't DCA though, it's Disneyland. You see, Disneyland is generic in it's themes. A turn of the century American town, the old west, a stylized retro-future, the jungle. These could be any town, any jungle, any frontier town, etc.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Disney California Adventure, however, is doing things a little differently. It is still idealized, but it is representing time periods from a real place. Some see this as a failure but I don't. DCA, as newly imagined, is about Walt's Adventure in coming to California and starting his career.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">As such, it isn't the real LA, but an idealized one based roughly on when Walt arrived. Those stores didn't exist, but the look and feel did. This is exactly like Main Street USA. None of those stores actually existed, but stores like that did. It could be any Main Street in any small town in America. Similarly, Buena Vista Street could be any street in the growing Los Angeles of the 1920s. All that is happened is that Imagineering has scaled the scope down from Any Town, USA, to Los Angeles, but kept the generic, placeless theme within the story they are telling. The two are identical on different scales.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Comparing DCA to Disneyland on anything but the most basic levels is pointless since they are not supposed to be the same park, yet so many among the fans seem to want another Disneyland. Why? We've already got Disneyland. Some argue that Disneyland takes you places you can't go. Now, DCA will as well. While the physical place of California does exist, the specific locations, and more importantly time periods, are not accessible in the real world.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">For me the re-imagined DCA will capture that same spirit and feeling that Disneyland has had for all these years, but only if you let it. The trouble for DCA will be in convincing people to let it charm them.</span></div>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-64091661062357245192012-01-26T16:30:00.000-07:002012-01-30T11:29:13.386-07:00Grooming Disney<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So Disney has re-thought some of their grooming standards a bit by now allowing full facial hair instead of just the mustache that the 2000 rules revision allowed. I haven't read the actual rules yet, but it is pretty safe to say that they will be clearly defined and fairly conservative. Don't expect your typical biker beard. From things I'm reading around the fan sites, it will be neatly trimmed and have a length requirement and probably won't be allowed to cover mouth, etc. It will also most likely only be allowed if you grow it over a vacation or break from work. You can't have it growing in while working. It is either there or not.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Reactions to this have run the expected gamut from it being a good thing to signaling the demise and downfall of the Disney company. Several statements from people though really have stood out to me as particularly extreme.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I do have something against Disney relaxing their proven standards which have been successful for over 50 years.</span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">How is this a proven standard? Proven in what way? What is the measurement metric for this? And successful for over 50 years at what? Keeping people with beards from working for Disney? How does that make Disney a better park? There are many variants on this statement, one in particular below is kind of insulting.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So, you are saying that Disney doesn't think they need to keep a "family-safe image"</span></span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Apparently I am not family-safe as I have a well trimmed and very short goatee. When Disneyland opened, the cultural standard for professionalism and clean-cut was no facial hair. As the hippie counter-culture rose up in the next 2 decades, beards became an anti-establishment political message and as such were still not considered appropriate for professionals. However, by the 80s people had moved on and into the 90s they started becoming acceptable again. Now-a-days, a well groomed beard is perfectly normal in the professional world. There are rules to what a well groomed beard are, but these are readily apparent to anyone with a brain. At lunch today there were 8 men in the restaurant and all 8 had facial hair. All of their beard variations were well trimmed and conservative length.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I truly am at a loss to understand how this signals the downfall of Disney's moral and ethical standards. It isn't about your personal like or dislike, but about the cultural norm of what is professional. Keeping the facial hair rule isn't helping Disney in any way, nor does letting beards in hurt them. This was a wise decision by Disney, especially given how very draconian they are in enforcing their standards. I see little if any abuse of this occurring.</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-28394939890098778962012-01-21T12:15:00.002-07:002012-01-21T12:15:26.341-07:00Going To Disneyland<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">On my way to the park for a couple days. Hopefully I'll put some pictures up while I'm there. If not, expect a lengthy photo report when I get back home.</span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-84208171062096388612012-01-11T15:34:00.002-07:002012-01-11T15:34:38.200-07:00A Mad T Party<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">It has long been rumored that the replacement for elecTRONica was going to be Alice in Wonderland themed. Well, as of today we have official confirmation and artwork!</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRZlq4fSxmtwuvSWw_3XeSYTaJxSvVVnuVSkonnnfa4lEPXGSA6exBy4zGb7uAPVP6oRyaMUO9LYhNlQrF_EpCgnjxViTF7tOJcmBAQAQLlYILrCnF2oHutQVwZqvEGAflNoS-rKd0rf6c/s1600/Mad-T-Party-1-edited.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRZlq4fSxmtwuvSWw_3XeSYTaJxSvVVnuVSkonnnfa4lEPXGSA6exBy4zGb7uAPVP6oRyaMUO9LYhNlQrF_EpCgnjxViTF7tOJcmBAQAQLlYILrCnF2oHutQVwZqvEGAflNoS-rKd0rf6c/s320/Mad-T-Party-1-edited.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So far it seems to be a mix of what worked from Glow Fest and elecTRONica. This is just concept art mind you and this is likely to change a lot between now and this summer when the tea starts flowing. However, I think it's safe to say that the general feeling, the colors and shapes will be there. elecTRONica was fun, but it has definitely overstayed its welcome. As you can see from the first image this will be based off the Tim Burton imagining of the Alice story.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">With the success of these street parties, I would guess that Disney will find a way to make the infrastructure necessary to pull them off more permanent, which would also mean making it better hidden for normal daytime operations of the park areas.</span>Remain Seated Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781672764511158553noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3728170402670199542.post-22052782639712247032011-12-16T12:53:00.004-07:002011-12-16T12:53:56.410-07:00This Happy Place<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6iNaBJcFVZjNzrJ_aLG1y5MGtWwLXGeHc7WRWLerzLb-3qnwb_QsoShiZFpTUwCVhIJ7A_KgqbVvXuuDDyeqd54s9iJEfUf4izhmLZgnQSQ9TH9B54HqJv6H8YwWJp-z8X-__d8J5UgqU/s1600/fantasmic-mickey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6iNaBJcFVZjNzrJ_aLG1y5MGtWwLXGeHc7WRWLerzLb-3qnwb_QsoShiZFpTUwCVhIJ7A_KgqbVvXuuDDyeqd54s9iJEfUf4izhmLZgnQSQ9TH9B54HqJv6H8YwWJp-z8X-__d8J5UgqU/s320/fantasmic-mickey.jpg" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Image Courtesy {<a href="http://disney.wikia.com/wiki/Fantasmic!" target="_blank">link</a>}</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #666666; font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">"You can design and create, and build the most wonderful place in the world but it takes people to make the dream reality." ~ Walt Disney</span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I hear a lot of people say that Disneyland has lost its magic for them, or that because of x, y or z change it isn't magical any longer. I've heard people mention the behavior of someone else as destroying the magic as well. Is the magic really Disneyland's though?</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I've thought quite a lot about this over the years. So many people believe that Disneyland is imbued with this ethereal magic that makes them happy or feel peaceful. I actually disagree with that. As Walt said on a number of occasions, Disneyland is just the stage. It is just facades and buildings and mechanical components. Set dressing. It is made from the same materials any old house is. Wood, bricks, fiberglass, mortar. None of these have any magical quality to them. It isn't in the painting, or the landscaping either.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">The opening quote from Walt might lead you to believe that it must be the Cast Members, the people of Disneyland who make it magical. Again, I don't think they are where the magic is either. I also don't think that is what Walt meant by people.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">I believe that the Disneyland Magic actually lives in each one of us, the park guests. We are what bring the magic to the park with us. It isn't in the park. Take away the guests and all you have is an empty shell of fake things made to look real. One of Walt's favorite stories was Peter Pan. Peter was the boy who never grew up, who always held onto his childlike innocence and wonder. In many ways, this was Walt. He saw the world through childlike eyes. The world was full of wonderful things to be curious about and to explore. You can see it in his eyes and his grin. He built Disneyland as a giant sandbox. A place for him to play. Disneyland was designed from the very start where that spirit of innocence and curiosity and awe could come and thrive. That spirit, that feeling, is in all of us. Sadly, most of us grow up and leave the nursery. We forget how to see the world that way, repress those childlike emotions and urges.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">When we go to Disneyland though, we are in a place where it is safe to let that inner child out. You can let yourself believe you are flying over London in a pirate ship, or that you are deep in the heart of the Jungle. Pirates are real and a ghost may actually follow you home. That wide-eyed excitement and very simple, easy joy just come gushing out of people when they are there.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">Walt, and J.M. Barrie both recognized the difference between being childlike and being childish. Walt built us a place where being childlike is encouraged, but in the end it is still just a stage. He knew that no matter how incredible a job he did making it without the inner child of the guests, it was just a stage without a play.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">So if you're not quite feeling the magic like you used to, maybe it's time to let go a little and have a crazy adventure. Let the little kid out to play. Go and slay a dragon, discover treasure, and find your laughing place.</span>Remain Seated Pleasehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16781672764511158553noreply@blogger.com0