Comic Change

I've got 56 minutes before class starts, and I just finished watching "With Great Power: The Stan Lee Story". If you have Netflix, definitely give it a watch. I'm not the biggest comic book reader, since I never grew up on them, and read other things, however, with the recent (past 10 years?) rise of comic book films becoming an incredibly strong staple in American, and now international entertainment, I've started to look into what makes these films popular, and where the film's stories come from the originals. It's quite interesting to see how much goes into the details of not just the comic book film, but the comics alone, and how amazing of an art form it is.

However recently, I had a discussion with a old high school classmate about the recent Star Wars buyout from Disney, and then it led into Marvel's buyout as well. Disney is ruler of Hollywood, in my opinion. They own so much that people don't realize actually how much they own. I mean, look at the list:

ABC Broadcasting
ESPN
Buena Vista Home Distribution
ABC Family
Disney Channel (world wide)
Hyperion Books
Marvel Entertainment
The El Capitan Theater
Muppets Studio
Hollywood Records
Pixar Studios
Touchstone Pictures

and now Lucasfilm, which also includes one of, if not the biggest VFX studios, ILM (Industrial Light and Magic).

They're huge. This doesn't even cover the span of theme parks, cruise lines, food or clothing products, or buying the licensing rights to James Cameron's Avatar for a new land in Orlando's Animal Kingdom.

My friend tried to say how buying out Marvel and Lucasfilm is bad. How the stories, books and comics will be ruined. And I realized, are they really going to be? I really doubt it.

The thing is, books and comics aren't as popular anymore. I'm sad about it, because I love reading a good novel or story like any other coffee drinking hipster who dwells in the corner of Barnes and Noble. But the fact is, Disney bought out these two companies for a reason. To entertain, and create new stories and bring things otherwise shuttered, to life. I highly doubt that Ant Man would have been brought to life on the silver screen if it wasn't bought out by Disney. Not just that, but also, why would someone (meaning the general public) want to read a comic that has a photo of an explosion, with a few lines of dialogue, when they could go drop $10 and see two hours of explosions, with snarky, well written one-liners, and now a cast of actors that blows the roof off any other comic book films previously made to Iron Man?

We're living in a time where people want mindless entertainment. The late Timothy Leary had it right, and the saying goes for people today. All they want to do is Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Out. Why else would trash shows such as Jersey Shore, or 16 and Pregnant be as relevant to pop culture? Or a film like Transformers 3 be as "good" (Yes, the action was fun, but for the love of Autobots is that film long in the tooth...) as others?

My final question is this: Where is the quality anymore? Why aren't popular films like the calibre of the films of old like Casablanca, or African Queen? Where is the storytelling in the popular culture films? It's in films that Marvel is cranking out. The next few years are going to be explosive, and not just literally. We very well may see a rise in these films that would rival anything ever put out. With the way Marvel has blended the worlds of their characters, and laid them out to each have their own story in individual films, then tying them all into the Avengers, and soon to be Avengers 2, this is going to be a long haul of films coming out, that only scratch the surface of the Marvel universe. And soon, the same could be said for Lucasfilm, and the galaxies of Star Wars. Who's to say Disney isn't already scheming up plots for a Boba Fett film, or do something outside of the Jedi realm? There are infinite possibilities. Now that Disney holds the keys to Marvel and Lucasfilm, the rest of Hollywood better look out, and get their fingers to the keyboard to crank out scripts to compete. Otherwise, the Mouse is going to reign big.

Finding A Window When The Door's Shut

Declined. 

But that's okay. There's a reason for this, and actually, I'm not too upset over not getting it. Sure, it'd be cool to get the internship. However, the reason I'm not upset over it is because I can have family time now. I'm not going anywhere now for a while, and I'm happy with that. If you don't know why I'm happy, please read back to my last post (here: link ). I missed out on a lot of family stuff the past nine or ten months, and I don't want to miss more of it than I have to. 

I'm even planning on doing my major here, since they offer the same thing I was going to go south for, and it's cheaper for the same thing (Win goes to the chain  school system that is Cal-States). So I can save all my money, and not live poor and half-starved like I was gearing up for down south. Sure, it's pushing moving out of here a few years back, however long term, I believe this will pay off a lot better, considering the relationship I have now is blossoming into something great, and I have time to spend with my family that I really don't want to miss out on. I'm young. Why should I rush being alone in some apartment in the city yet? There's still time to be with my family like I always have, and I'm happy with this. So in a round about way, thank you, Disney for not accepting me (just yet, hopefully). There's still unfinished life to live where I am now, and I'm going to finish it here. 

Little Moments

I'm sitting in class. It's 6:42pm as I'm writing this. It's halloween. Kids are out there trick or treating, fulfilling their night portraying their favorite superhero, cowgirl, vampire, and so on. My sisters are out at a church party with my girlfriend right now. And I'm missing out.

Some might think this isn't a big deal. I do. I've grown up being really close to my family. Close as in my parents know everything, even if I don't tell them, they can just tell something is up with me. My sisters are the greatest ever, and always make me smile, despite arguing with them every so often. Being close like this means I very much look forward to the family vacations, the movie nights at home, or the football games for dad. And especially nights like this.

I think this is really hitting me hard this year because life is finally hitting me. And it sucks. I don't want to be here. I want to be with my family. I want to see my baby sister Hannah's excited face when she's running around doing those cheaply themed carnival games, loading up on candy she'll never eat. It's hitting me, because I had a long period of time earlier this year I was, for lack of better words, an ass to everyone. I was miserable with the girl I was dating, because how torn between her and my family I was, and I missed out on a lot of family things, because I felt that the girlfriend was higher priority, because I let her control things. I shouldn't have, but I did. And it hurt my relationship with my family. I missed out on my sister's gymnastic performance. I missed my dad's football stuff. I didn't even do fantasy baseball leagues with my dad, and that's not like me.

But now that the past is behind me, and I'm where I know I belong in life right now, I don't want to miss any more. I hate myself for being mean to my family back then, and I want to correct that. I know I can't make up for lost time, but I want to be there for the future time. I don't know what my plans for college are yet, but I really want to be close. I don't want to be in the world alone yet, and somewhere where I miss out on a gymnastics performance of Hannah's, or getting to take photos of my sister's first date.

If anything, I wish more people would spend time with family, as well. A lot of friends want to move out and go away from their family because they hate it, and some deserve to. But things aren't always as bad as they sometimes seem, and those little moments of laughter in the kitchen from a surprise attack of a wet towel war, or food fight. They're disappearing faster than I want, and I want to hold onto these as long as I can.

Paradise Dreams

Reworked an old work I wrote a while back. Let me know what you think of this. 

I miss the beach.

I want to feel the cold Pacific Ocean surround me as I surf through the barrel of that perfect breaking left wave as the latest storm rolls in from the middle of ocean.

That sticky feeling of dried saltwater after surfing, and my hair’s all a mess 'cause I left my hat at home.

I want the smell of my favorite local seafood place just up the block from the sand, swirling its tempting, salty, buttery aromas in front of me, luring my stomach into endless groans of hunger.

Then,

There's my girl.

The girl who is right next to me on the waves.

The girl who constantly loves to run her fingers playfully through my messy head of hair.

That same girl who walks with me hand in hand, playing with my fingers, walking up to that restaurant right off the beach, and we smile at the owners as we walk in, and chat about the earlier surf session.

The same girl who leaves her car parked down at the beach, and we decide to walk back to her house up the hill.

The girl that wants me, and only me to kiss her goodnight, but somehow delays it for forty five minutes as we end up sitting and talking under that soft yellow glow of the single porch light, watching the storm creep closer on the horizon.

And as we say goodnight, I can still imagine it all going on as if it were yesterday.

College in the Midwest sucks when you grow up your whole life living in paradise.

Tailgating to Stargaze

Simple is often better. In the case of last night, that's for sure. Like a lot of people on this earth, I've had my share of hard times. Mine might be easier than some, or harder than others. But that's the beauty of humanity. We're all on our own levels in life.

I've had a few broken hearts. I've broken a few hearts. But last night, nothing was broken. 

My mom had to borrow my car for a trip, and dad had the other family car, so I used his truck to drive. It's a behemoth of machinery. Ford F-350, crew cab, extended bed. The kind of truck that you pick motorcycles and honda civics out of the grill.

My girlfriend works as a part-time DJ at the local radio station, and she had a shift last night on air. I came in the last hour to hang out before getting dinner, and it was a lot of fun to just sit and watch her in her element. After she ended her shift, we bounced out of there, and went over to her family's house for dinner, which was amazing. It's always fun getting to have just a lighthearted and easy going conversation with people on any topic, and that's how it is all the time with them. Actually, thanks to her parents talking about their vacation and spa package they got, I wanna throw my wallet at the next sauna I see and say "have this for the next few months".

Zombies, or Junior High students? Probably both..

After dinner we decided to go do the final maze at the local Haunt attraction. Wasn't scary...because all it was, was a corn maze. But still, holding her hand and walking around in circles and losing track of where North or South was was entertaining enough. Once we finally made it out of the maze, and away from the crowd of short Junior High kids, who all had the similar arrogant independence that only comes with the age, we made our way back to the truck to leave.

We didn't really know what we wanted to do. The showtimes at the movies weren't right for what we wanted to watch, and the mazes aren't that scary once you go through them after the first time. So we just decided to get coffee and see where the night led. So we drove over to Starbucks, got coffee, and decided to drive around.

With Jack Fm playing this odd playlist (seriously, Katy Perry playing right after Creedence Clearwater?), we drove around for probably an hour just listening to music and talking about school, family, and life. Then we found a half-constructed road that should, by now have had houses surrounding it, but thanks to the market crash, PVC Pipe, rebar wire and ditches surrounded the sides of the asphalt, unattended for who knows how long.

I crawl the truck to a stop, flick the lights off, shut off the engine, and we step out into the somewhat cool night. Tailgate down. Coffee in hand. We sit. I hold her hand, and she smiles.

For the next two hours we sit and take an occasional time lapse photo (that turned out terrible, thanks to not working with my new camera much..) of the night sky. But we talk. About God. The Universe, childhood traditions, favorite sodas, and eighties movies. What we want with our lives, and where we want to be in ten years. That's all we did, and it was amazing.

From my previous posts on this blog, you'll know that I cherish innocence, and that's exactly what this night was. It was fun, easy, and innocent. The fact that two teenagers (soon to be one, thanks to my 20th birthday coming up in 10 days) could sit and talk, and beat the stereotype that teens are unable to control their emotions and desires of physicality (I'm being polite here. You know exxxactly what I'm talking about), was another thing that I appreciate about last night, and the relationship period.

The future is unknown, but I know something about it. I found someone who I want to share it with, and hope that I can. God willing, it can happen. 

Can't You See That It's Just Raining...

...there ain't no need to go outside.

Today I woke up to a dark room. Obviously, since it was 5:45 A.M. Steve and Geoff woke me up from my small sony radio alarm clock with some chat about thunder and lightning. Day's already better. But it's not. What'd make it even better is a scene like this.

Waking up early to rain lightly tapping the window. Just loud enough to keep you awake, but soft enough to make you want to hide under those heavy, goose down covers. Then hearing your name from across the bed from the girl you love, saying "Honey, it's time to get up." After those words are whispered through the sheets, there's that light shuffling and gentle movement towards you, with a warm and comforting hand rubbing across your back, and that kiss that energizes one faster than any espresso ever would.

As you hit the cold, wooden floor of the urban, third floor apartment, the quick change of temperature temporarily takes your breathe away, but you quickly regain it as you walk into the kitchen to pour the coffee that's heated and ready to go, thanks to the pre-set timer. She's already in there, wearing your hoodie and those long pajama bottoms that have monkeys all over. She hands you a cup of the hazelnut blend your dad got you, just because he was thinking about you the other day at Starbucks, and you take a sip. You kiss her, even with morning breathe mixed with coffee. She doesn't mind, because she loves you.

Since this scene would be ideally perfect, this isn't a work day. Time to lounge, since the rain's keeping both of you in. Jeans and old hoodies, with a big blanket on the couch. You spend the morning watching old movies, and her laying on your shoulder. Around early evening, you finally get ready for the night, and dress up a little bit. You have a surprise for her, it's advance screening tickets to the new movie she wants to see. Since it's cold out, you bundle up and get ready to go. Black jackets and dark denim jeans, you both head out to the car and drive into the city. The clouds have a near-apocalyptic orange glow from the city lights, almost as if a riot could break out at any chance, but it's peacefully calm around the city.

Dinner at a quiet cafe with clam chowders and chicken soups, the meal keeps both of you warm and cozy. You know the owners of the cafe, so there's a nice discount, just because he's in a giving mood. As dinner's done, it's a quick walk to the small theater the films being shown at, so you go arm in arm, down the block.

The movie's great. Good drama, clever humor, and a pinch of romance added in. It's enough to garner a potential oscar, only because of the leading actress's role.

When everyone's filed out of the theater, you pull her close as you talk, only to cut her off as she's talking with a kiss under the white lights of the theater marquee. It's a kiss that leaves you dizzy, and breathless. As the night ends, you walk back to the car and head home, only to fall asleep to what you woke up to. The rain lightly tapping the window..

Don't Ever Grow Up

Showing my baby sister the plan for the day..I was around four at the time.

Oh man tonight's hard. I don't even know why. I have my Disneyland audio on shuffle, and more of the older audio has been coming on, and I'm sitting here thinking about life, and all of these memories are flooding back to me. Disney's been a large part of my childhood just like many other children. But as I started to grow, I took that part of my childhood and started to apply to wanting to make the magic happen that I once fell in love with for others. No, I don't work for the mouse, but it doesn't stop me from dreaming and thinking about what I could someday do. 

But that's off topic. Tonight's hard for me because I'm sitting here listening to my childhood, and thinking about the trips my family's taken over the years. How I can hear this: 

And instantly go back to one of the most vivid memories ever for me. 

You see, it was Valentine's Day. Fourth Grade. My school planned a visit to the San Fernando Mission that day, and my mama was a chaperon on our trip. We explored the mission and learned a lot, but my mom had something else planned that I didn't know about. She signed me out early, and 'kidnapped' me for a mama/son date at Disneyland for Valentine's Day. Thanks to traffic, it took us three hours from San Fernando to reach Disneyland, but that didn't stop us! I got to pick dinner, so we made our way to one of my favorite restaurants, the Plaza Inn at the corner of Main Street. Dining on a chicken leg, biscuits and lemonade, we watched the parade go by, and then once we were done, made our way to Pirates of the Caribbean. I can still remember how surprisingly busy it was, but we walked around and I got to pick every ride to go on. From Pirates, to Matterhorn, to Autopia, and the train, we rode only four rides that night before heading home, but not before we stopped at the lego store to get any lego I wanted under $10. 

And that's just one of the memories I have...

It's not just a day like that with my mom that's getting me. It's the fact I can still imagine as a younger child how huge Disneyland seemed. How amazing it was to just walk from a jungle, right into the frontier west, and believe that it was actually a real world, and not the world we live in. How I could fight alongside pirates, and then float around with ghosts in that old Mansion by the river. Everything was so beyond real, that I never could see the literal mechanisms that power those Pirates or Ghosts. It was always reality to me that they existed, and that's what makes me fall in love with Disney all over: the fact that there's so many hidden things that unless you know what to look for, you miss it, and missing the literal nature of the rides often times makes things so much better. 

This brings me to my closing. Disneyland was made for the "ideals, dreams and hard facts that created America, with the hopes that would be a source of joy, and inspiration to all the world" (Walt Disney's opening day speech). It's the one place in the world specifically designed with the intent to leave your troubles at the door, and just embrace the wonders of pure imagination and magic. Tonight, it's hard because I'm listening to the past audio of yesterland, and thinking about how innocent, how wonderful it was to just not know about what MADE things what they were, and just embrace the fact that it was there. It was magic of Mickey's sorcerer wand that brought things to life. It was the pixie dust that made things fly. Now that I'm 15 days away from turning 20, it's a hard pill to swallow when people are so cynical, and so negative about the world. They have to find something, anything, about everything to nitpick at. They can't just take things without questioning if it's something legitimate or not. That actually really brings me down, because there's so much that people miss out on when they lose sight of how being purely innocent and practically naive, can actually make things better for you. Having friends talk about who they're hooking up with, or what party they're going to makes me want to crawl back down the rabbit hole even more, because we're still young! We're only 18, 19, 20..there's still 60 or 70 years in our lives, why start with all those 'experiences' now, when we're still able to just stay youthful, and focus on the innocence of the world, or what's left of it? As long as I live, I am going to fight to maintain as much of that innocent magic as I can. If not for myself, then for the future generations that start to fall in love with Disney like I did. 

Agumented Fantasy(land)

There was a catchy article over at Blue Sky Disney on the future of Disney and how they're going to handle the transistion to digital streaming ala Netflix-style. There's talk of their own app for all things Disney past and current, but really that's kept under close watch inside the walls of the Mouses' tech HQ.

What got me thinking though, was this relatively new technology that has some really amazing potential. Augmented Reality takes any smart phone and can turn it into a new world on your phone. What "A.R." is, is utilizing your camera on your smart phone, mixed with GPS locationing on your phone, and giving you a chance to post on a 'wall' or suspend a photo in the middle of digital air. For example...

 This idea stemmed from one of the few games I play on my iPhone/iPad, Simpson's Tapped Out. The style is very akin to the old VMK game, with high camera frame, and building your own world. It's definitely a fun way to pass time waiting for meetings.

What I think has the potential here though, is combining augmented reality tech with a virtual magic kingdom. Unfortunately, I can see Walt Disney World getting this before Disneyland, simply because of the Kim Possible/Agent P mission games they have had in EPCOT. I'd love to see this in the original park first though.

Utilizing A.R. tech with VMK game play, iPhone/android users would be able to log into an app that would give them quest missions inside the theme park to gain prizes and points for their characters back on the computer at home. Imagine walking through Sleeping Beauty's Castle Walkthrough attraction, gaining coins along the walkway on your phone, allowing you to gain money to buy more things than you normally would on the game at home. Or walking past Tom Sawyer's island, and seeing Maleficent, and through your phone you yourself have to battle against her to save the island, ala Fantasmic! finale.

This wouldn't just be coins and battles though. Taking it a step higher with that rumored KeyChest, adding smaller animatronics throughout the park to interact with the game's coding to give you clues to hidden missions and hidden items to find in the park.

With the right designing, this is something that I think could make guests' visits that much more exciting when they're in line for pirates, and these paintings come to life through their phone to tell them to look out for Blackbeard or Davy Jones..

Young.

Why be in a relationship? I'm young, I have my friends. And there's beautiful girls I can hangout with, without one on my hip gettin' jealous all the time that I just talk to them as another human being on this planet. I'd take this over being stuck with someone for right now in my life. I'm young. There's a globe with my name wrapped around it, and I think I need to pay a visit to it.

Why not go out in the world and live life? Go to a rave. Skydive. Taste the local drink. See the smiles of a foreign face. Make a friend.

Can't there be more than just small town USA? Yes. Not knocking it, 'cause it's totally radical for some of you out there. But there's bigger and better for me, and I want a city with a heartbeat that never dies.

It's time to live.

Coke A Cola Chapstick

So, I think tonight is one of those nights that I'm just going to...you know...NOT sleep. Thanks to math class, I had an Amp (energy drink) late at night, and now I'm just...up. Which leads me to somehow think of this story from junior year of high school. You seated and ready to go? Alright. Store that tray in its upright fashion, hit on the stewardess and pray for no turbulence, 'cause here we gooooooo! (admit it, that one was WAY better than any other one Al Lutz has penned. Geeks, you know what I'm talking about)

Link

It was a warm late summer afternoon. I was hanging out at the field my dad was coaching football practice at. Why? Because I had nothing better to do. I stand around, listen to music on my iPod, and then I get a text from this girl I knew. She was free, and wanted to hang out. I told her where I was, and she said she'd come right over in a few.

As I hang out, I can remember Jason Mraz's "A Beautiful Mess" playing as she pulled up. I stood there as she walked up in those short jean shorts, white blouse and her sandy blonde hair pulled back in a sloppy ponytail. This was something I couldn't help but dream about until it became a reality.

We stand at the edge of the field, watch the players go through their drills (I would have played, had it not been for an ankle injury), and my dad yell and blow his whistle what seemed like a hundred times over. Practice makes perfect, right?

She ends up sitting down, and I follow suit. My lips were getting dry, and I try to carry around chap stick so I don't get chapped lips. It's a pet peeve. For some reason, my mom thought it'd be funny to get soda flavored chap stick for me as a little prank. Coincidentally enough, I had a coca-cola flavored chap stick with me this day, and what happens next, I kid you not, is something I will always remember, and never in a million years expected to actually work. 

I un cap the chap stick, and start to apply it, and this girl looks at me, and asks if it actually tastes like the soda. Usually, I'd say some "here's your sign" joke. But for whatever power that be, possessed me to tell this girl "kiss me and find out."


She did.

She pulled back, looked at me, and told me "Wait, I couldn't tell.."

Leaned back in, and kissed me longer this time.


Guys, this is when I realized that soda-flavored chap stick can be the best thing ever invented. And since then, I don't care if some guys think it's girly, and would rather stick to the "original" or "medicated" chap sticks. I'm buying soda flavored chap stick from here on.

College App

So, today I applied for the Disney College Program in Anaheim. I'm hoping I get a spot. If I don't, then oh well, it wasn't meant to be. But with that said, it's another step forward to trying to move down south and start the life I've always wanted. I'll hear back in a few days if I get accepted for a phone interview, and you can bet that I'll be hoping for that e-mail. We'll see how this one plays out!

Golden Horseshoe Dinner Revue Concept

Math homework. Whoever loves it, can you come save me, and do it for me while I think more about my blue sky ideas?


I just had thought about this idea, while listening to some old show audio from around Disneyland. What if they created a dinner Revue for Golden Horseshoe in Frontierland? It appears that right now the shows inside there are bouncing around locations. It's a popular place to dine with guests, so what if they created a dinner show and turned it into a reservation based location, and brought in a re-worked Golden Horseshoe Revue?

It could be close to the original, with some remixed characters and even guest interaction. Obviously I haven't thought much about it, since I'm typing this as I first came up with it, but it could be something that might work well with the land, and make for a very popular show. Something to think about..

The Bio of The Most Interesting Man In The World

I like Bob Marley music in the morning. I like painting. I like stuffed animals. I like being messy. I like keeping my Christmas tree up way past Christmas. I like having a heater. I like procrastinating.
I once stole first base while rounding second. 
Had lunch with the pope in a bar. Curator of African safari jerky, and distributor of Italian sliced Hams. Climbed Pikes Peak in nothing but jogging shoes and rubber ducky boxers. 

I am that little ewok in the background...no not the one with the spear. The one that stands next to Han Solo. That one. 
Pepsi is the drink of choice. Helped Alicia Beth Moore come up with the stage name P!nk, while sitting at a cafe in downtown L.A. drinking blueberry smoothies. I coined the term "Bacon is meat candy". Once won a round of paintball without getting shot, and only used a pistol. 

Foreign cars aren't so foreign to me. Expert in poker, veteran in love, outlaw in Peru. I can bake 30 minute brownies in 15 minutes. Redbox gives me two days to rent a DVD for a quarter. Tweeter of facts, blogger of sorts, connoisseur of exotic sodas.

My zip drives unzip themselves. While climbing a rock's face, it sneezed and blew me and three sheep into the next county. I landed on my feet, in a boat with none other than Jimmy Buffet captaining the vessel. He then motored us to shore where we went to Margaritaville to drink Pina Coladas. 

When VW Bugs see me, they punch each other. 
went snowboarding two of my friends. I used a surfboard. 

Drinking pepsi from a glass coke-a-cola cup is considered normal. I expect the unexpected, and punch someone when they tell me to expect the unexpected. As I walk away I tell them 'Didn't expect that, now did ya?'
Once made a foreign film in sarcasm. No one caught on. 

Ate a teaspoon full of cinnamon and never choked.
Western Personality, Eastern Mentality, Southern Hospitality.

Loose Cannon with a straight aim.

Once fist bumped the sky. The Clouds immediately turned black and started to cry. Or as humans call it "rain".

Window Shopping For Foam

This past weekend while I was at Disneyland, I noticed on Twitter that there was a increase in foamy tweets. I'm looking at all of you, Disney-specific fan sites. "Jake, what are you talking about?" you ask?

I'll show you.

 Some may call this loud, and in your face, but if you look really closely at what specifically is being advertised in the windows, it's done the best it can be done. Big Top Toys has louder style kids shirts and toys in the window. Hats balanced nicely along the left side of the street at Los Feliz. Same with paper goods and books in another window. 

The fact of the matter, folks, is that Disney is a business. Yes, Walt Disney Imagineering is the artists point of the company, and they have created an immensely wonderful land that is ideally the dreamy 1920/30's Los Angeles. Some try to compare it to the wonder of Main Street USA, but the fact is, it has it's own quaint, romantic charm that's totally a different heartbeat than the conceptually designed Midwest town. But...

Disney IS still a business, as stated above. There ARE number crunchers and marketing directors that's sole job is to sell their product inside the land WDI created. There's still a good story told here on Buena Vista Street. It's just doing what the outside world does so well, and sells their product through an age-old marketing technique called (shockingly enough) window shopping. 

Who-da-thunk, right? 

The thing is, most of these geeks that lament over it, are going to be walking out of the park late at night after marathon riding on Radiator Springs Racers, chatting about Tardises....Tardi? whatever that British Time Box show is, and they'll see a window of a hat, or a hoodie, or metal vintage sign, and say "I just remembered, I have to go get one of those for my never-ending collection of Disney stuff!" 

Then they go into Elias and Co., or Los Feliz..shoot, even Big Top Toys (scratch that. They'll buy that plush Oswald in there for sure.), and buy what they remembered they needed to buy in the first place.

And wham. Disney wins again, without them even realizing it. Funny part is, they don't recognize that this marketing technique worked, works, and will still work for anyone in the world. Putting your product in a window is not just great promotion, but also in a street sense like Main Street (Geeks, remember, the original park's done this for YEARS) and Buena Vista Street, because you'll see it in the morning, not want to carry things around all day, come back down the street, probably still see it, walk in, and buy it. 

This is what I don't get. Fans lament over and over again about how "it ruins theming" and is "in your face and forces buying things upon you". If you can't look at a window with items in it, say "thats cool." and walk past without buying it, then clearly their technique worked, and you just bought something because you saw it in the window and wanted it. 

I'm sure there's some imagineers that might be bummed about some of the historical items not being in the windows, and admittedly, they were really cool! But we can't lose sight of the fact that this is a corporation with multiple facets that need to have their hands in areas too. There's still a huge amount of small props that add to the beauty of this new street. Just because the windows now have merchandise in them doesn't mean it's the end of the world. 

Imagine Dragons in Class...

I usually don't post much about music or movie reviews, simply because there's so many of them out there. But since this now a daily (or almost daily) blog, I gotta find things to write about.

This band is definitely a new favorite. With a sound akin to Killers, this is a band that will soon be rocking stadiums as not just an opening act, but a headline. They've got an amazing sound, with really great indie rock ties. The album is available on iTunes for...last I checked when I bought it, around seven bucks. Or if you're cheap, I'm sure Spotify has it. But definitely check these guys out.

Alright, now I'm gonna get back to focusing on my creative writing class....