A Wonderland of Film

So since Tim Burton has come out with his version of Alice in Wonderland, what's next for him? Well, according to IMDB, he's working on producing Big Eyes, a story about the painter Margaret Keane and her life in the 1950's and 60's. Another one is actually based on a popular novel, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. The Vamp hunter's due out in 2011, and so is Big Eyes. But what about directing? Well, he's got Frankenweenie, which has been locked away in scripting prison since forever. Like, back when he was animating for Disney forever. Ok, not forever but a really long time. He's directing and producing (finally) this film which is due out in 2012. Sad that we have to wait even MORE for this film. I've always been a fan of the story idea, and I can't wait to see this when it comes out.

But what about Disney? He's had a helping hand with Nightmare Before Christmas, which turned into a fan favorite seasonal overlay for the Haunted Mansion in now not only Disneyland, but also Tokyo. He recently created his own version of Alice in Wonderland which was a HUGE success. What's next for Burton and the Mouse? Personally, I'd love to see him get a contract to shoot live action versions of other Disney stories. The first one I would LOVE to see is Sleeping Beauty. Maybe not even told from the snoozing princess's point of view, but Prince Phillip's, or Maleficent's view. And definitely live action.

Imagine seeing the cinematography of thorns around a castle wall, while Maleficent is transforming from human to Dragon, and Phillip is standing there watching it all fold out in front of him. The whole movie would be great to watch, but the final fight scene would be amazing to see, especially on IMAX.
I guess we'll have to sleep on this idea before we see anything like it come to fruition...

World of Color: Tron Testing

Halloween Time at the Disneyland® Resort: Wicked Fun for Everyone!

New advertisement features a World of Color bit. Nice to see Disney add new stuff to an already previous, cool advertisement.

Fantasmic Dragon Breakdown 28 AUG 2010

Here's what happened during the show on August 28th with Murphy....doesn't look to pretty. Take a look.

Welcome Programmers....

This is the new concept art for ElecTRONica, the new dance club at DCA. Starting Oct. 8th, you can check out an authentic Flynn's Arcade, along with new DJ's, and the Tron Evolution Video game area.
Now...all we need is a guest appearance by Flynn himself on opening night...and maybe a concert or two by Daft Punk....

End Of Line.

Branson Summer Trip

Protest...Protest...Protest...

photo from OC Register .

So the female employee at the Grand Californian Hotel is causing quite a stir. She refuses to work, unless she can wear the traditional Hijab, of her Muslim faith. Disney is denying her request, and offering other options for her to use in costume, to continue working. She has taken days without pay, and will not wear the options Disney has offered. Now, there's a protest going on soon, with people supporting her.

Honestly, this lady needs to give it up. Disney is offering her options for her, and she's denying them. Do you see Jewish Castmembers with yamakas on stage? I don't. Disney is a non denominational company. They aren't racist. They're an entertainment company that has costumes, and when you're on stage, then you need to abide by those costuming rules. If you don't like it, then go find another job. In today's times, I'm sure there's people that would love to work, and take her job.
Looks like this story is still a work in progress...

The Queen Anne's Revenge...

Wow, she's awful purty! Mahalo to Shockya.

On Stranger Sets...

Photos are slowly leaking from on set of Pirates of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. Here's a few of the most recent, and I'll update as I find more. Mahalo to Shockya .

Lots and Lots of Change

Well, now that Disney decides to raise their prices...AGAIN, there's still more change going on at the Resort. I guess they're trying to find a way to pay for all of the stuff they're adding to the Resort. Money's got to come from somewhere, right? And we all know that TDA won't use the money Disney's already made. They just want more from the guests.

If you can't tell, I'm not too happy about the price increase.
Here's a list Micechat made for their weekly column.

Aside from Disney getting even more money (I'll rant about this in a later post) from their guests, there's a lot of stuff going on at the resort that's making Disney everything it should have been a decade ago. Disney's California Adventure is making severe progress in becoming a full day theme park. Paradise Pier should be the first project to be totally completed. The back half has already been completed for the most part, as Toy Story Midway Mania has been there for awhile now, the games are reopened with new Victorian facades, The Sun Wheel is redressed as Mickey's Fun Wheel, and The Orange Stinger is now Silly Symphony Swings.

Now the rest of the Pier:
The Maliboomer is going away September 7th, and the last riders are being blasted off on the 6th. Current plans, as far as I know, is that this area will be a park area, with a character meet and greet. For now. There could be plans for an attraction to be placed inside the helix and backstage. There's room for it, so who knows what the boys in Glendale are up to.
Pizza Oom Mow Mow and Burger Invasion are being redressed as Victorian themed buildings, still serving the same food.

Mulholland Madness is being redressed and rethemed as Goofy's Sky School. This attraction will be going down sometime early October. The whole theme is based off the 1940's Short "Goofy's Glider", and will be a flying school that teaches beginner aviators how to fly, the goofy way, of course.

Golden Dreams Theater is already gone, and now you can see steel rising up for the newest D-ticket attraction, The Little Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure. This is slated to open summer 2011.

The rest of the park is slowing evolving as well. The old Timon and Pumbaa parking lot is becoming a desert wonderland filled with Cars. Most of the steel infrastructure is already there, now they're working on sculpting and molding the rock work into the Radiator Springs backdrop. Everything here is slated to open in 2012.

Hollywood Pictures Backlot is a quiet project, but it's changing to REALLY look like Hollywood, circa 1930's and 40's. Red Car Trolley tracks are already being place, and soon will start to make their way to the front of the park, which is going to be redesigned into Buena Vista Street, a vision of how Walt arrived in Los Angeles back in the 20's. This is probably going to be one of the last projects completed, but will, in my most humble opinion, be the best.

and yet we haven't brought up Disneyland yet, now have we? That'll be in the next post.

Firing Back

So Disneyland is selling those toy guns again from my childhood. I'm pretty happy about this! Heck, I might even buy one for old time's sake. In an article according to Mouse Planet
they're the same guns as before, just painted bright red and green, and are being sold in the " Pioneer Mercantile, Pieces of Eight, and the Indiana Jones store." What's funny is that back on my trip to Branson, I saw the same guns (hey, its the midwest, guns are common for even 6 year olds.) being sold, and posted a picture of them on my facebook with a comment stating " Hey DISNEY! Get back to selling these things!"

(photo from the trip)

Apparently they listen to me. So Disney, if you're reading this, please bring back the people mover, not with any movie tie in. Oh and also, could you please not put a Tinker Bell attraction in the old Motorboat Cruise area? Thanks so much.

Viva La California

I'm back from vacation in Branson. It was a great trip, seeing that I got to fly on the coattails of other people's dinero. I got to go to the local theme park several times, the water park, several stage shows, movies, a day out on the lake on a nice boat, and paid airfare.

It was a lot of fun, but definitely a lot of life lessons were learned. Like learning when to shut your mouth and let things roll. Or to just let an argument go when others won't let up.
I'll say it again. I love California, and I can't really see my self ever moving out of this state.

I will go back eventually to this place again, maybe for a cool photoshoot or something. (:

land of Cyber Bullies and people with no lives.

Lately people have been bombing my formspring with explicit, and rude comments. I've got a pretty good idea as to who it is, but I thought this would be a good way to talk about cyber bullying briefly.
Cyber bullying can really mess with people. It's not cool, and it NEEDS to stop. I don't think people realize that hateful words on a screen really do affect people. Posting blackmail photos of people, saying hateful stuff online gets to people. In this world of constant communication, and instant news, it doesn't take news long to travel around the world.
I think there should be legal actions that should be placed, if they aren't already.
Anyways, I hope that those that have been cyber bullied know how to handle it all, and realize that people will be idiots, and try to get at anyone just because they aren't comfortable with their own self.

Castle To Tink, You're Clear For Take Off

So now the Mouse is thinking about taking those wires down from the Matterhorn, and giving Tinker Bell free access to fly. According to an article at Disneyland Live, they're developing new technology for a literal WIREless flight pattern for the green fairy.

In 1961 Disneyland hired a 71 year old retired circus performer named Tiny Kline to do something amazing during the firework show. Disney had strung an arial cable from the top of the Matterhorn Bobsleds Attraction over Sleeping Beauty’s Castle and attached it to a landing platform on the other side that was made to look like a giant pine tree. The new part of the show would amaze guests as Tinker Bell would actually take flight during the show and zip down over the castle. This sight remained basically untouched for years as the aerialist would be litterally pushed from the start and land on the other side letting gravity do the rest. It has been a traditional part of each firework show at Disneyland, and later at other Disney Parks ever since.
For the 50th anniversary Tinerker Bell’s flight was upgraded in a radical, and amazing way. Using a motorized system she would now fly down the over the castle, back and forth and even make a return trip towards the end of the show. This system has since flown Zero during the Halloween Screams Fireworks as well as Dumbo during the latest Magical Fireworks Show. But could we see a unharnessed, remote version of Tinker Bell soon fly and land on a lamp post?
Reasearchers at MIT have designed and recently demonstrated a new system that may one day be used as such. A foam glider has been build that flys like a plane but lands like a bird! Unlike a traditional airplane that needs to reduce altiude before landing and slowing to a stop on a surface, this new system can swoop down and land in a single spot, such as a bird does on a wire. Rick Cory, a PhD student at MIT has been hired by Disney to possibly create such a system.

The US Air Force and Disney has expressed interest in this techonogy and Cory was recently quoted in an artical for MIT (link) saying the following. “The air force wants an airplane that can land on a power line, and Disney wants a flying Tinker Bell that can land on a lantern…” According to the Cory the on board computational power is currently limited but only appears to be a few years away. Cory has taken a job with Disney where he will be researching advanced robotic techniques.
So could we see a new version of Tinker Bell soon at Disneyland?

I think this will be a great new way to show off the fairy during the nightly fireworks show. My only thought of this would be that they find a way to make Tink look very real, and not just a flying rag doll. But knowing Disney, they will find a way to make it impressive no matter what. I've got trust in them, and the kids at MIT. We'll have to wait and see if the wires fall, and the fairy flies.

I FINALLY got around to seeing Inception. In....iMAX! I didn't see the point in seeing the mind blowing, thought extracting film on a screen any smaller. Now to post my thoughts on this film.
Christopher Nolan...well, he's the next Spielberg if he keeps up his films. Inception takes what the Matrix wanted to be, but never was, and plussed it.
I thought the film was just flat out amazing. The special effects were stunning. Who wouldn't be impressed to see a street horizon rise up, and then fold over right on top of you? The actors did a GREAT job. I was actually pretty surprised with Ellen Page. At first I was nervous of seeing Juno Magruff start twisting the dreams into giant cans of Orange juice, but she did very well! Also, is it just me, or did Joseph Gordon-Levitt remind you a little bit of the Joker? I personally think he looks a bit like Heath Ledger. Maybe they could get him to do the Joker for the third Batman? But that's for another post...

Overall, I really feel that this film is a surefire classic. The cast was great, the screenplay blew my mind, and the graphics were awesome. I can't wait to see what else Gotham's finest director has up his sleeves. Guess that's a riddle in itself, now isn't it?