September 2, 2010
Astrology leaves me as cold as the stars. So I expected little more than portentous portents and a few stock Disney pictures (like Chip saying "you'll have a great day!", Dale saying you won't) from Lisa Finander's new book, Disneystrology: What Your Disney Persona Says About You.
What a surprise! Lisa's book, released yesterday on Amazon, isn't about analyzing your stars but pairing you up with 'kindred' Disney characters whose traits you share based on your date of birth.
For example, if you were born on November 9, your Disney character is Pinocchio who embodies your traits of youth, exuberance, and friendliness. (People who just turned 82 last November 9 can ignore the 'youth' part.)
The book has entries for each day of the year, one per colorful page, accompanied by an illustration of 'your' Disney character and the three traits that best describe the two of you. Don't worry: you won't find any negativity here; no one gets paired up with Lotso and described as hateful, manipulative, and sociopathic.
Wouldn't it have been something, though, if Lisa had slipped that one in there?
I love the concept and I love the neat, organized presentation of the content. Disneystrology is in paperback, quite affordable, and the perfect take-along for your next Disney trip.
MORE: Lisa Finander (Lisa Finander)
Just yesterday, I gave hullabaloo to Brett Nachman for his Toy Story 3 audition videos, in particular, the one for Mr. Pricklepants. Brett was so thrilled by the hullabaloo (actually, I haven't heard from him and I'm pretty sure he's avoiding me) that I was inspired to dig up something even better than Mr. Pricklepants - please don't take that literally, if you're a hedgehog.
Brett writes a column called Mouse House for FusedFilm, a site not known for its extensive Disney coverage but which has a huge reach among those interested in current Hollywood news and gossip. Brett's most recent opus, a three-part series called "10 Under-Rated Disney Films of the Past Decade", concluded this past weekend.
Brett and I differ somewhat in our definitions of 'under-rated'. He uses the word in the sense that people were silly not to appreciate these Disney films; I use it in the sense that people were smart to stay away.
A few examples: Sky High, Ice Princess, Treasure Planet (one of Disney's biggest flops), and the #1 under-rated Disney film of the past decade, according to Brett Nachman - Fantasia 2000, which he calls 'exceptional', 'magnificent', and 'groundbreaking'.
The ... heck?
Like politics and religion, it's dangerous to discuss film: my bomb might be your baby. Brett takes the high road and his mini-reviews are actually quite informative though sweetly skewed.
I should mention that Brett recently wrote a glowing review on FusedFilm of that cinematic paean to self-entitlement, Eat Pray Love, and so it's highly unlikely he'll ever get hullabaloo here again.
PS. If any loyal readers are fans of Eat Pray Love, well, it had a nice score. Please stay...
MORE: Fused Film (Brett Nachman)
11:20 AM
Disney Attraction, Disney World
The person or persons unknown who write TheMazDisneyBlog (I'm guessing it's "The Maz" which could be an individual or an aboriginal tribe) found something new on Tomorrowland's Carousel of Progress, quite a feat since that attraction has been around since the 1964 New York World's Fair and a corner-stone of Disney World's Tomorrowland since 1975.
Alone in my family, I enjoy the Carousel of Progress. I don't stare into space thinking about it, but I value the ride as I do the pickled ginger at a Chinese buffet: it's always there, always useful, though never the reason I went to the buffet in the first place.
The Chinese buffet is appropriate because what "The Maz" found is on the gray sign next to the Chinese restaurant you see outside the window during the Carousel's 1940s 'episode'.
I never noticed the gray sign. "The Maz" not only noticed it but wondered whose name was on it, right above the designation 'Attorney At Law'. Maybe a Disney attorney? Better! A Disney Imagineer.
I won't steal thunder from "The Maz" telling you the Imagineer's name.
It's really not a 'big' name nor is this really 'big' news, but I like the story because it shows that you can visit Disney hundreds of times, you can ride the same ride hundreds of times, and often there's still something you missed, even if it's just a name on a gray sign next to a Chinese restaurant.
MORE: TheMazDisneyBlog
A couple of weeks back, I gave hullabaloo to S.W. Wilson, known professionally as Randy Savage (pro wrestling insider comment: what did you do to the boss's daughter all those years ago?), whose site IdealBuildout presents Wilson's take on creating 'ideal' theme parks, especially new versions of Disney theme parks.
Big deal. Can't anyone do that? Yes, sure, but Wilson does it with maps, gorgeous, intricately designed maps, that bring his ideas as close to life as they're ever likely to get without a big investment by Disney.
Today, Wilson shares his vision of a bulked-up Disneyland Paris that includes such tempting thrills as a coaster through Meso-American ruins and a future-themed land that takes its cues not from Pixar but rather the visionary science fiction of Jules Verne and H.G. Wells.
It's fascinating stuff, especially when Wilson designs theme parks where no theme park has gone before, such as Mumbai in India and Dubai in the United Arab Emirates (they rhyme, don't they?).
I especially like how Wilson brought Urban Planning 101 to Hollywood Studios, a park that I've always found difficult to navigate. Wilson uses the classic hub-spoke-rim layout to connect distinctly themed lands such as Golden Age Hollywood, LucasFilm, and seven others.
This is not a click 'n run site. When you open one of Wilson's maps, then enlarge it to fill (and overflow) your screen, you'll be hooked and it'll be hard not to imagine yourself walking through these never-built, never-crowded theme parks that never close because they'll never open.
IdealBuildout has gotten hullabaloo here before, most recently in the August 23 edition for Alternate Universe Disneyland: With a Map.
MORE: Ideal Buildout (S.W. Wilson)
Most people with neuroses try to conceal them. Not JL Knopp. She flaunts 'em.
Knopp's neuroses (at least those we know of) all involve Disney, and her site TheDisneyDrivenLife is group therapy for the many other folks who share the same neuroses. In fact, JL has an acronym for people like herself: NDM. Give up? (Yeah, I couldn't figure it out, either.) Neurotic Disney Mom.
Recently, JL came down from Space Mountain with a set of seven commandments that you must obey, sayeth the Prophet Knopp, to enjoy a perfect Disney trip.
I routinely break five of those commandments. I'm going to Hell. Or Universal. Whichever comes first.
The only commandments I don't break are riding the monorail and arriving at a park before the gates open. I don't play Disney music on the way to Disney (unless Janis Joplin used to work in Disneyland). I sometimes exit a park before I'm forced to do so - because I'm tired. And I don't have my picture taken with Mickey - because I know that the person inside keeps muttering 'what a big, weird...'. You get the idea.
See for yourself whether you're Disney devout. And then check out the many other cool features on JL's site, including the ever-popular Neurotic Disney Person of the Month and a new live show called Inner Mouse.
I'm off to find the three commandments JL dropped. I'm sure one of them is about turkey legs.
MORE: Disney Driven Life (JL Knopp)
Site News: Expansion Underway
The past week has seen a few minor improvements to the site and one big addition.
The big addition is a Daily News Round-Up. I skim through lots of Disney content each day looking for stories I can hullabaloo. In a rare moment of selflessness, I thought 'why not share the Disney news of the day with my readers (yes, plural: the first one kidnapped a co-worker). Unlike the stuff on the main page, the news is presented without hullabaloo as a simple series of descriptive links to the actual content on other sites. Over time you'll see more and more links to more and more content.
Although I hullabaloo throughout the day (and yes, I'm seeing a doctor about it), I plan to update the news page once, early each morning, to reflect the previous day's haul of news.
If you haven't yet found the link to the news page: look up. It's a bird, a plane, a ... beige tab.
On with the hullabaloo!
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