tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76761312133131227282023-11-16T10:48:55.358-05:00Nerdy TogetherAmanda (loves Kevin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02993486692974361138noreply@blogger.comBlogger485125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-5798696188940535422017-01-02T15:01:00.003-05:002017-01-02T15:01:56.791-05:00The beginnings of the listThe idea is to make a list of unfinished projects and add to it while at the same time crossing things off. I had hoped to put some pictures of half finished projects here but I have become one of those "doesn't own a computer" people in the last few years. I just use my phone for everything after all! Once I figure it out, those will go up too.<br />
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Still, let's get the list started anyway. In no particular order:<br />
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<ol>
<li>Rose Log Cabin quilt</li>
<li>1600 scrap quilt</li>
<li>Pair of knitted mittens</li>
<li>Still unpainted letter stains in the bedroom</li>
<li>Rainbow Plus quilt</li>
<li>February Lady sweater</li>
<li>Hang a laundry pole in the craft room</li>
<li>Properly stack and store the many many basement books</li>
<li>Sift through out of date paper filings</li>
<li>Better organization system for my fabric</li>
<li>Ditto for my yarn</li>
<li>Ditto for the game box closet</li>
<li>Ditto for the garage</li>
<li>Mulch around the deck</li>
<li>Mulch around the fence</li>
<li>Mulch around the holly bushes</li>
<li>Plant the garlic in spring</li>
<li>Flip the compost in Spring</li>
<li>Flip it again in Fall</li>
<li>Fill up the empty wall space in the main room</li>
<li>Downsize the unused kitchen items</li>
<li>Install new mailbox</li>
<li>TO BE CONTINUED!</li>
</ol>
And that's just what I could think of off the top of my head! I plan on taking a walk around my property and adding to that list fairly frequently. I'm looking forward to really making a difference in my home and my productivity this year.Amanda (loves Kevin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02993486692974361138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-59155482605042626082016-12-30T14:34:00.000-05:002016-12-30T14:35:32.136-05:00Cool!! So Retro!!To be honest I wasn't sure if blogger still actually worked. It seems like Wordpress was the big thing for a while and now it's something else again? I'm not even sure.<br />
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Anyway, I think the last post was something like 3 or 4 years ago! It's almost New Years 2017 and I'd like to record a couple of my resolutions just as a way of keeping on track.<br />
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Resolution the first: Quit being such an untidy brat by putting things back where they go as soon as I'm done using them. I have a bad habit of leaving things wherever I most recently used them. Mostly craft things like scissors and half finished projects. But also hair ties and books.<br />
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Resolution the second: Quit being such a lazy brat and fetch things on my own instead of imploring my husband to do them for me. It's always a glass of water. It's really really always always a glass of water. I can get water on my own and he's not my cabana boy.<br />
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Resolution the third and most interesting: Finish Once a Week! Remember me mentioning those half finished projects? I think every knitter crocheter quilter crafter has had a nasty bout of Startitis in their time. I never bothered getting over mine. Therefore I will begin a checklist and gradually add things to it. And more importantly finish at least one thing on it per week. Furthermore, I will not add quick and easy projects for the sake of having something insubstantial to cross off.<br />
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That being said, if I'm super inspired, I'll definitely start a new project and add it to the list.<br />
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And frogging is allowed! If I find an old abandoned project I'm not in love with, it gets frogged and removed from the list entirely. For non-knitters that means ripping (rip it, rip it) a project apart. Frogging something I never plan on finishing does not count as finishing for the terms of the once a week goal.<br />
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Well then, I'm going to get started on that big old list!Amanda (loves Kevin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02993486692974361138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-65938195324740015102013-10-06T13:30:00.000-04:002013-10-06T13:30:01.626-04:00On Engagement, Getting Married, and Being MarriedToday is our anniversary. It's the very first anniversary of our marriage and it's very special. Naturally, I feel the need to reflect.<br />
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While this is our first wedded anniversary, it's also the 7th anniversary of our moving in together and essentially making ourselves into our own family. I think we both felt pressure from each of our families to get on with it and tie the knot as each year flew by. What took us so long? I don't really know. Probably there were lots of silly things that matter so little now that I don't even remember them. I remember money was an issue for a while. I remember government defiance was in there somewhere. At some point we both came to the realization that none of those little things mattered. We love each other and were committed to each other and although it was already permanent internally, getting engaged was a banner to display it.<br />
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Kevin and I made some unusual choices when it came to our wedding. Many of them weren't even made by us because we allowed someone else to make the choices. I'm not sure I'll ever understand the premise of <i>Bridezillas</i> or <i>Say Yes to the Dress</i> because I never grew up believing that a wedding day was quite as crucial as all that. Growing up in a very large extended family and being the first in a generation with a wide gap preceding, I felt like I was at a wedding two or three times a year. I probably was for all I remember. I was also a flower girl for at least two. Not only that, growing up Roman Catholic, every event was accompanied by a full service and having a family that attended every Sunday, as a younger child I tended to think of a wedding ceremony as just another day at church. It's a shame too because now as an adult, I want to remember those days for how special they were for the couple and for the family including me, but the memories are since lost in the fog of familiarity of setting.<br />
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By stark contrast, Kevin and I had our ceremony in my parents' backyard. No service, only one witness each, performed by the mayor, and the entire thing lasted only 10 minutes. I'm glad we did what we did. Perhaps the preparations were an even greater contrast. I never shopped for my dress. I gave my mother a vague idea of what I wanted and she literally found separates at Sears and that was plenty good enough for me. I never saw the reception venue. It didn't really matter to me as long as the reception was fairly small (since neither Kevin nor I enjoy being in a crowd) and all our immediate family members were there. There was no DJ and no dancing (except for when we were forced for the sake of a couple photos) because that's just not our style. It was low-budget, and simple, and not at all showy, and easily the most memorable wedding I've ever been to, and I'm not just saying that because it was my own. It was different and totally special for lack of frills. <br />
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As for being married? I think we were already there when we first moved in together. After coming home from our outrageously amazing honeymoon in Disney World, it was business as usual. Although it took some getting used to, I'm finally in the habit of calling Kevin "husband" and it's a title that utterly suits him. I'm also very amused each time he refers to me as "my wife" when speaking to someone over the phone or introducing me. Do I regret not doing it sooner? Certainly not. Everything happens in its own time. I'm just very happy that the time came and there is time yet to look forward to. Sappy sappy sappy.... but true.<br />
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<br />Amanda (loves Kevin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02993486692974361138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-29128258019001863982013-07-04T20:28:00.001-04:002013-09-02T01:57:04.763-04:00First World NeedsI need a grill. I really really need a grill.<br />
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Now that it's summer, the traditional cook outside season, I feel the primal urge to stoke a fire and smell like smoke while I chew on a hunk of meat.<br />
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Last year, Kevin and I bought a small camping grill for the sake of having the odd hot dog. Neither of us had ever cooked over fire before and we didn't do it very often. Perhaps we were intimidated by the thought of learning without guidance. Perhaps we felt inconvenienced by the small cooking space. Perhaps we weren't convinced that the cleanup was worth the reward.<br />
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In any case, that's all behind us now. I need to grill. I want to cook everything over fire. Everything tastes so much better and in reality there is so much less fussing. Want some chicken? Salt or marinade it and put it on the grill. Pork chops and tenderloin? Same thing. Steak? Same thing. Want some corn? Don't even shuck it, just put it on the grill. I mean, shoot, you don't even have to monitor it half the time. As a lazy cook, this appeals to me in the extreme.<br />
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Now that we have fully embraced this method of cooking, we desperately need to upgrade from tiny little camping grill to a nice normal sized kettle grill. The camp grill is propane, but I feel confident that we can make the transition to charcoal.<br />
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What's next on the menu? Maybe a kabob for Kevin and some shrimp for me. Is it weird to have a taste for a thick plank of grilled bologna? Nah. Amanda (loves Kevin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02993486692974361138noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-79883737268097297652013-04-10T17:59:00.002-04:002013-04-10T17:59:17.919-04:00Dearly Departed at Cassidy TheatreI am SO glad I tried out for Funny Girl early in the year. It was so fun to be a part of a group other than my co-workers and still end up accomplishing something. It was also incredibly refreshing to have some of the good kind of stress, the kind that leaves you invigorated instead of drained. So I tried out for another show!<br />
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From the <a href="http://www.cassidytheatre.com/#" target="_blank">Cassidy Theatre Website</a>: "In the Baptist backwoods of the Bible Belt, the beleaguered Turpin
family proves that living and dying in the South are seldom tidy and
always hilarious.
Despite their earnest efforts to pull themselves together for their
father's funeral, the Turpin's other problems keep overshadowing the
solemn occasion."<br />
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I will be playing the nearly mute, but very bold, role of Delightful, the youngest Turpin. Come check it out! It's hilarious enough that even our rehearsals are boisterous! And besides, who couldn't love a dysfunctional bunch of hillbillies? I mean, that's why everyone keeps watching Duck Dynasty and Here Comes Honey Boo Boo, right?<br />
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Fridays and Saturdays at 8 and Sundays at 3, it'll be playing from April 12th through the 28th.<br />
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Oh darn. I logged on as Kevin again. How silly of me ;)Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com0Parma, Ohio, USA41.508577297439352 -82.26562515.986542797439352 -123.574219 67.030611797439349 -40.957031tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-75569060097254873182013-03-10T20:05:00.001-04:002013-03-10T20:05:34.072-04:00Oh... My... God, a BUD!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb4uvpA5Tz7jmS4HeDWHgNdT7moqTX04QXSb9B28H7qInIEiZYIVjH12HcGmWmx041pdSB9sKAefI2eJMOUTvNizO_GLaQStvq66Jls9C3p0r_hutWfqEv7F1mShMvlHpBsuBMOZzylys/s1600/tulip1.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb4uvpA5Tz7jmS4HeDWHgNdT7moqTX04QXSb9B28H7qInIEiZYIVjH12HcGmWmx041pdSB9sKAefI2eJMOUTvNizO_GLaQStvq66Jls9C3p0r_hutWfqEv7F1mShMvlHpBsuBMOZzylys/s400/tulip1.JPG" width="198" /></a></div>
UPDATE! I am freaking out. I feel like I need to run around a show everyone constantly, but I'll try and be satisfied by telling the internet and hoping someone comes and shares in my joy. This very tulip bud is the same one from the last blog post. I can't hardly believe it. It was nothing but green before and now suddenly, BAM! Pink. It's a lovely rosy pink like the kind Cover Girl advertises in their lipstick line.<br />
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I don't know what the rest of the bulbs will look like, but Kevin and I did find time this afternoon to plant a bunch of them in an oval in the front yard. We'd left a big pile of leaves from fall on the lawn to smother the grass in that area. It's not all completely composted yet. I figured it would take more than just one season anyway. With proper weeding and mulching, I'm betting we can finish it off with some rocks or a mini fence border and have a nice little bed over the next couple years.<br />
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We also had a big bag of daffodil bulbs which we planted in a cluster by the neighbor's fence along with a few leftover tulips. I hope very much that they have time to bloom this season!Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-88911292567351154572013-03-06T18:16:00.000-05:002013-03-06T18:17:10.553-05:00Black Thumb Be Gone!I think this is it. I think this is the year I'm finally going to change my thumb from black to green. Those that know Kevin and me, know that this is the beginning of the second year living in his Grandpa's house. Grandpa has graciously given us free range of the yard since he never goes out there or uses it at all. Last year we got settled and dreamed about digging around in the back yard. We walked around the perimeter. We tried to pay attention to where the light falls throughout the year. We were even surprised with a bounty of volunteer hardneck garlic! (The scapes were delicious!)<br />
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This year, we've still got those big dreams, but now we sort of have a haphazard plan to get a modest harvest and our fingers crossed to start prettying up the place a bit.<br />
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I can't lie. I've been collecting seed packets all year long. They tempt me so readily. Seeds are surprisingly cheap and at the end of the season the price plummets even more. According to the various books I've been reading, they'll still be viable for a couple more years if I store them properly. <br />
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Ignore the prices in the corner. Everything in this picture I got for 20 cents a pack or less at the end of last season. Sure, some of the seeds will die, but when has anyone ever gotten every single seed from a packet to sprout? On top of that, what home gardener could ever have use for as many plants that would grow from the hundreds of seeds that are in a single packet? I for one don't anticipate needing 200 brussel sprout plants this season or even in my whole lifetime.<br />
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I know it's way to early to start planting veggies outside, but thanks to a lovely Christmas gift, I've got a windowsill full of herbs. <br />
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That's Cilantro on the left. Dill is still seeds under the plastic bag, and little bit of chives in the center.<br />
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If you're wondering why my hopes are so high, let me just say this. That little bonsai tree second from the right almost died while Kevin and I were away on our honeymoon. I took a pair of scissors, cut off a bunch of dead bits, watered thoroughly, and miraculously it sprang back to life! It just needed a little attention. <br />
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And speaking of our honeymoon, that bulb being forced on the far right was a wedding present from my Aunt and Uncle Liz and Terry. I've never forced a bulb before and I had no idea how it was done. I just saw a picture of a bulb at the top of a bottle in a magazine. I found the milk bottle at a thrift store for a dollar, pulled the bulb from the crisper drawer of the fridge (I didn't have time to plant them last fall before the snow started falling), and set it at the top. A few days later, the spike appeared! I got so excited I might have gone a little overboard with my other seed starting.<br />
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What can I say? Cabin fever washed over me at the sight of the herbs and tulip bulb! At the top left to right is basil, curly parsley, sweet marjoram, jalapenos, and sweet peppers. At the bottom is cosmos flowers, kohlrabi, broccoli, and cauliflower. I've read that those last three are cool weather crops which can stand a light freeze. With a little protection in the form of some garden cloches, I'm feeling confident that I can get those little guys out in the dirt. Of course I'll have to start hardening them off starting today. I hope they make it. They're probably my three favorite vegetables.<br />
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I've also got some beefsteak and cherry tomatoes in a big clear plastic tub in another room. They might survive if I pot them up. (Note to self: Buy potting mix.)<br />
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Oh! And I also started a garden diary. I've been keeping track of how long it takes for each seed to germinate, the temperatures everyday (and I might even end up making a <a href="http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/my-year-in-temperatures--scarf-" target="_blank">year in temperatures</a> scarf since I'll have the data), and wrote in important dates ahead of time including the predicted first and last frost dates of the year and about when I should be able to harvest that garlic I planted last year.<br />
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I don't anticipate being able to feed us off of the little backyard garden. Our soil isn't so good yet, nor do I have the kind of experience for that, but I know I'll have a good time getting outdoors and enjoying nature this year. If I should pluck a tomato or cut a broccoli head, so much the better.<br />
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Amanda (loves Kevin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02993486692974361138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-73249540021981394612013-02-14T21:46:00.001-05:002013-02-14T21:46:31.551-05:00DisneyTogether #2<u>WARNING! You may get jealous while reading this post. This is going to be quite long (as anyone who's read enough of my blog posts can expect anyway), so for the sake of an optional short version</u>:<br />
It turns out that our week-long Walt Disney World Resort vacation was even more exceptionally satisfying than we expected it to be.<br />
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As for the long version...let's start with the hotel.<br />
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[Note: As with the first DisneyTogether post back in January of '11, the part of Amanda's additions will be played by italicized sentences.] <br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">The Resorts (and their restaurants)</span></span><br />
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At the risk of sounding smug about it, I'm just gonna be honest and say how great everything was (I did warn you!). <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZZkeGIOvPQsKKQnF_tEC3zWts7_UYkpp8jRSHtaGQ0mxyhcDiD8w_v-7vrSiT3ea1cqK_VyT0zyTmcEkHMdpFT75_mIxpfPAxDJmKWGtm3FBVXyx6quHxyuzGygFVrou41f6h__NfrcU/s1600/DSCN0662.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZZkeGIOvPQsKKQnF_tEC3zWts7_UYkpp8jRSHtaGQ0mxyhcDiD8w_v-7vrSiT3ea1cqK_VyT0zyTmcEkHMdpFT75_mIxpfPAxDJmKWGtm3FBVXyx6quHxyuzGygFVrou41f6h__NfrcU/s320/DSCN0662.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">This guy.</td></tr>
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Quite a while ago we had booked a room at Port Orleans French Quarter, a "moderate" resort. The "moderates" are the notch above the "value" resorts, such as where we stayed last time (Pop Century). But on the day we arrived in Orlando, Amanda got a call that due to some booking error (she'll explain?) <i>Yes. There was no booking error, but the only room that fit all the requests that we had made only had a "walk-in shower" and although the inconvenience was minor and certainly nothing we would ever have complained about, the cast member who was checking us into the room offered an upgrade anyway. Possibly, the fact that we were on our Honeymoon and this was mentioned in the room reservation information swayed their decision, but who really knows? Either way, I'm sure glad we didn't pass up such an offer.</i>), we were offered a complimentary upgrade to a DELUXE resort, the Yacht Club. Even though we were already looking forward to the beignets and serpent water slide of POFQ, and we (or at least I) didn't know much about the YC, it would seem silly to pass up the opportunity. We were already on the bus to Port Orleans when we called back anyway, so after looking around a bit - and yes, grabbing some beignets...which were we-watched-our-server-make-them-after-we-placed-the-order fresh - we took another couple of buses to Disney's Yacht Club Resort. It is SUPER-DUPER posh. To give you an idea, the restrooms near the lobby each have a basket of neatly rolled-up washcloths for hand-drying/face washing. Many of the guests were dressed more as if they going to attend a fundraiser or somethin' than attending a theme park. <i>I alternately felt like we were tricking people into thinking we were quite rich and feeling like everyone could tell we couldn't really afford to stay in a place like that. </i>The room itself was excellent, with a great view of the boardwalk area and only a brief walk to the boats to Epcot or Disney's Hollywood Studios. We were even able to walk from the room to Epcot's International Gateway in 8 minutes. I later found out that the room rate is normally double that of the likes of Port Orleans. Suffice to say it was a well-appreciated upgrade! The only thing the value and moderate resorts seem to do better is the breakfast/quick service options. I suspect this is because the people who usually stay in the deluxes don't bother with cafeteria style fare anyway. We had breakfast sandwiches from the Beach Club's quick-service place, but I thought they were on the bland side. I'm just guessing here, but I bet I would've liked Port Orleans's choices better.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xS2R1IQoR5qBU_c1zGzMObQBEIvjhvJenZ2ewjY07V_okYPe63dGFi4_x49W_0q-Bvr-IxZF3Q6kxA2Ipc7vL5fk0si5rpalGEaJzRJMjP1XRvqivLosC21N-uIQaCYsDBNKXHDKs8o/s1600/DSC00152.JPG" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4xS2R1IQoR5qBU_c1zGzMObQBEIvjhvJenZ2ewjY07V_okYPe63dGFi4_x49W_0q-Bvr-IxZF3Q6kxA2Ipc7vL5fk0si5rpalGEaJzRJMjP1XRvqivLosC21N-uIQaCYsDBNKXHDKs8o/s320/DSC00152.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tonga-tastic</td></tr>
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On Sunday, the first night, we stopped at the Polynesian to have a late dinner at <b>Ohana</b>, which is now my favorite restaurant ever. Maybe my intentionally not eating much that day had an effect on how much I loved the food there, but oh man. The salad. The noodles. The pineapple bread. <i>The pork dumplings and peel and eat fired shrimp! </i>The all-you-can-eat meat skewers! The chicken, it was fire-grilled so perfectly. All of it even overshadows the bread pudding with bananas. AND to our surprise it turns out you can see the Magic Kingdom fireworks show Wishes from the restaurant. They even pipe in the music! I don't think any of the books we read even mentions this (I even later checked the Unofficial Guide and the Birnbaum's Dining Guide)! Why the heck not? We happened to be surprised to find out for ourselves shortly after our reservation time. Talk about serendipity! And the ukelele player sang to us and other celebrating couples, which managed to make it an even more perfect experience. <i>Wearing a lei makes anyone feel extra special. </i>We came back to the Polynesian on Wednesday morning too, this time for <b>Kona Café. </b>Particularly, its famous Tonga Toast. It's an ultra-indulgent french toast that I would love to have for breakfast every morning even if it meant being bloated with carbs and sugar. Also I think it may be the fanciest breakfast I've ever had ever. You sure wouldn't get your Denny's server to take the time to eloquently describe the menu items and how each of them is made with which ingredients.<br />
Wednesday night we ate at <b>California Grill</b>. I'll let Amanda take over here.<i> Seated atop the Contemporary Resort on the 15th floor, this restaurant is considered the 2nd or 3rd best restaurant not only in Disney World but in all of Florida after Victoria and Albert's (which is on the bucket list). It's painfully easy to see why and if you ever get the chance to eat here, DO. The floor to ceiling windows offer extravagant views of the entire property and when the fireworks start, the lights are dimmed and the music piped in (not blasting like it is in the park, but at a tasteful volume). Should you choose to sit at the counter, you are treated to an impromtu show as the open kitchen is swarming with some of the best chefs, sushi chefs, and pastry chefs around. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>We were lead into "the wine room." It's a slightly smaller section of the restaurant that is much quieter and while there are still floor to ceiling windows on two sides, the other two sides are floor to ceiling wine bottles. White table clothes, white napkins and white plates of unusual shapes were the standard here, and there was a sprinkling of glittery mickey shaped confetti as a nod to our celebration. Our waiter Saad who mentioned he had served for 16 years at this restaurant gave us a tour of the menu pointing out the most popular items, his favorites, and generally painting a verbal picture for us. </i><br />
<br />
<i>We chose to start with the Cheeseburger Brick Oven Flatbread. Sounds casual, but turns out to be very fancy. Wagyu Beef, Tillamook Cheddar, House-made Dill Pickles, Heirloom Ketchup (no ketchup will ever taste good to me again compared to this). It was almost like a thin crust pizza and it was fabulous. We split a first course of Handmade Potato Gnocchi with Wild Mushrooms, Edamame, Smoked Pork, Organic Soft-poached Egg. I've had store bought gnocchi before and I've also made some from scratch on my own. Compared to this dish even the gnocchi I made myself had the consistancy of library paste. These two menu items were so good that I couldn't bare skipping a sushi dish and ordered the Dragon Roll. It was outrageous and I'm so disappointed that I was too excited to taste and missed out on the photo. It was a gorgeous and monstrous roll with black eggs on top. Normally I prefer salmon over tuna, but there was absolutely nothing I would have changed about this preparation. It even came with a cute little calendula garnish. Main course time. Kevin had the Pork Tenderloin with Goat Cheese Polenta, Roasted Mushrooms, Zinfandel Glaze and Crispy Sage. Saad said it was arguably the most popular item on the menu. It looked amazing, the portion was huge and while Kevin is usually a well done meat sort of guy, he had this done medium and the taste he gave me was tender, juicy, and incredibly flavorful. I had the Seared Diver Scallops with Southern Sweet Corn Risotto, Spiced Tomato Broth and Micro Popcorn Shoots. I didn't even know what a popcorn shoot was until it reached the table. Each scallop was nearly the size of my fist, the risotto was creamy and the popcorn shoots as it turned out were micro greens of corn plants cut while they were still only a few inches tall. They were grassy and refreshing and the entire meal made so much sense together!</i><br />
<br />
<i>This restaurant only uses the freshest in season ingredients and in fact the dessert menu has already changed since we were there! At the time, Kevin had Heather's chocolate sampler with buckeyes, whoopie pies, lava cake and pot de creme. I had a pear and almond crust tart. Both were amazing and each were decorated with chocolate signs which said Congratulations from the California Grill. Saad even brought out complimentary champagne. And speaking of Saad again, he is easily the best server I've ever had at any restaurant. He worked silently while we were eating (We had fresh utensils for every course and I hardly noticed when it happened as it was so smooth) and recognized when we were interested in chatting. At the end of this meal I was stuffed, but pleasantly so and I'll certainly never forget it. </i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtktirfc9dQP2hJe_XxxZtvrXuBnO6cDxR6YMQWNWUh3_BklZdKwWxQjioFRiwezURkKmIfiyavxheRsfQ6m8KWVOO7RLjN7dlrdqNb2uSOxdBF2qN49DTySza1PBZk77GpcozdEihcec/s1600/DSC00168.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtktirfc9dQP2hJe_XxxZtvrXuBnO6cDxR6YMQWNWUh3_BklZdKwWxQjioFRiwezURkKmIfiyavxheRsfQ6m8KWVOO7RLjN7dlrdqNb2uSOxdBF2qN49DTySza1PBZk77GpcozdEihcec/s400/DSC00168.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even with poorly light photography and a blurry camera this dessert looks great!</td></tr>
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<br />
All I have to add is that I (somewhat sheepishly) asked for a pomegranate lemonade for my beverage (which I do for every single non-breakfast table service restaurant at WDW) only to be politely told they do not serve the pomegranate lemonade there, but would I like a lemonade? I said yes and at the first sip could tell that I was given an actual freshly-made lemonade. I'm pretty positive it was made with actual lemons and sugar. And it was so dang refreshing. So yeah, basically I was intimidated by the classiness of it all.<br />
<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2INf_0YtL3EA_NE9sZPu3NEFUoE-Hpmz1iiRxnQA7AThE8eAsV6JxXaYyUf6nSkTmaCXM0A3EIAL_X1em6bsi-46eTNwiUcmP98FLozN9VkBr9yUUpRGxrwQRZ52UOj1JlXC4LN0NYk/s1600/DSCN0759.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm2INf_0YtL3EA_NE9sZPu3NEFUoE-Hpmz1iiRxnQA7AThE8eAsV6JxXaYyUf6nSkTmaCXM0A3EIAL_X1em6bsi-46eTNwiUcmP98FLozN9VkBr9yUUpRGxrwQRZ52UOj1JlXC4LN0NYk/s320/DSCN0759.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here is a view from the waiting area of Sanaa.<br />
How many restaurants are there in which you wouldn't<br />
mind waiting longer to be seated?</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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We also visited the Kidani Village of Animal Kingdom Villas on Friday to dine at <b>Sanaa</b>, which - (copy) - "serves African cuisine with Indian flavors." Hard to say whether or not it's better than Boma - Flavors of Africa. <a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiacpHMegILqymwVEmAAoY6g_AZE-ya-fQnbS_r09GQtCPAzxcDF9Q1ks67CAcXsKCWrmYYuw15JT8D_YSgbivu5ahdyMZbZxzpOZp7ybgN1bTLFKM07K-5fw90Yk63Eir7sbuLOAZopwM/s1600/DSCN0753.JPG" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a>They're both level with each other and way up there. Sanaa scores points though because I got to hear the servers sing the best Restaurant Server Happy Birthday Songs I've heard yet.<br />
Too bad I can't seem to find YouTube evidence of it. Hm, come to think of it that would be an interesting thing to catalog, whether on YouTube or wherever: the different birthday songs you get at different restaurants. I remember getting the traditional one at Tony's and I believe at Rose and Crown too in '11, but Sanaa's was unique. Holy smokes, I can't even imagine what lengths California Grill would go to for a birthday celebration.But anyshoe, I also mention the birthday song because the servers also played music to us for our honeymoon celebration - with no lyrics, but enjoyable nonetheless.<br />
And, what else? I think it was one of the latter days of the stay that we picked Cape May Café on the same day (I think the latest reservations we've made <i>We're talking same day type thing!</i>). My memory is foggy here as I recall being either worn out or a bit under the weather at the time, and as I'm not one for seafood it wasn't exactly tailored to me, but it did have enough that I do like to fill my tummy. Also I certainly remember the adorable desserts bar.<br />
You guys who visit Walt Disney World without visiting the other hotels, you're all missing out so bad.<br />
<br />
We were set to just crash at the hotel for the rest of the day after
the plane trip on Sunday, but we must have been itching to get started
and had a pass for the day anyway, so we headed to...<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">The Magic Kingdom</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH9s1XQzSom4_E5SyS1UHBM6Cy-6y9__b-SjlneqCrzC7mEjS9mTYuVcXzfK4Hghyphenhyphen-j6S-LfSfeofMfl3Di8g5GxkZT7PTAjF4ojtTNm1O4PwLgHJ6yIcbDt7Ft-Ddx-3av6238MlWfB8/s1600/Photo0011FourBySix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiH9s1XQzSom4_E5SyS1UHBM6Cy-6y9__b-SjlneqCrzC7mEjS9mTYuVcXzfK4Hghyphenhyphen-j6S-LfSfeofMfl3Di8g5GxkZT7PTAjF4ojtTNm1O4PwLgHJ6yIcbDt7Ft-Ddx-3av6238MlWfB8/s640/Photo0011FourBySix.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bride and groom Mickey hats are a must.<br />
Also, try to ignore the sleepy kids in the background.</td></tr>
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Our schedule didn't have us visiting TMK 'til Tuesday but we found out that <b>The Pirates of the Carribean</b> would be closed then so made sure to get that in first thing. I hear tell the same ride at Disneyland is even twice as long and has more to it. But the WDW has so much that I can't even imagine what else there could be?<br />
<br />
Let's talk <b>Sorcerors of the Magic Kingdom</b>. It can be<b> </b>described as TMK's answer to Epcot's World Showcase Adventure, in that it's an interactive and virtually line-free experience. It's a different type of technology, though - whereas WSA uses a handset with all of your progress information and reacts to the "hot spots" using - I'm assuming - Wi-Fi or GPS technology, SotMK has your progress stored on a separate computer linked to your "key" card and the cameras at each of the spots react to the individual cards you display to it. And it works kind of amazingly well. I expected having to hold up each card in a very specific spot at a certain height and arm's length and line it up with a rectangle or something, but - as long as you're standing on the mark on the ground - simply facing the card to the portal worked just fine each time we played. A bit of a shame that we didn't get the full experience, since one of the portals wasn't "turned on," keeping us from finishing one of the "missions," but it's really neat to know we'll be able to keep the cards we collected and bring them to use next time. Another plus for Sorcerors vs Showcase is that it is far more convenient to carry around the cards and slip them into your pocket and just play at your leisure as you go, whereas the Kimmunicator/F.O.N.E. tends to beep at you intermittently until you decide you're done playing altogether. Now from what I hear, unlike WSA there is an element of strategy involved in the Sorcerers game, what with card selection and combining spells and even being able to boost attacks if you wear a special shirt you can buy? But we never got far enough into it to see the difficulty come into play. Also, the cards themselves are designed similarly to Magic/Pokémon game cards, leading me to suspect there's a "home version" that can be played between two or more people with enough of the cards, and that's awesome in itself, especially since the set (of four) you get for each MK visit is free.<i> From a Disney business standpoint, it's a great idea because anyone who goes is likely to upgrade to park hopper passes just to get free cards every day of the trip. Maybe even US!?</i><br />
<b>Liberty Tree Tavern </b>(Tuesday late afternoon)<b>! </b>Like Ohana, it's "family-style," but with a Thanksgiving-style feast. The food was great, but it's hard to call it better than actual home-cooked Thanksgiving food. <i>Debatable. It was a well-prepared meal and I enjoyed it very much. The rolls were still hot from the oven and softer than a marshmallow and the meat variety is certainly</i> <i>a step up from home.</i> What I really love best about it is the atmosphere. The place is designed to serve several (<i>many) </i>diners yet still give each table a cozy at-home feel. <i>I was astounded at how large this restaruant really is because each founding father themed room is so very cozy. If you dine here, take a moment to walk the entire restaurant. It's much larger than you can imagine just sitting at your table and while most of the artifacts are created for the restaurant, I've heard that there are a couple real ones around. </i>The window seats we got were especially nice. Also, I really liked those huge glass mugs.<br />
A quick-service worth mentioning was <b>Sleepy Hollow Refreshments</b>, because they have waffle sandwiches. Now that's the kind of food I'd like to have at my hotel!<br />
<b>The Enchanted Tiki Room</b> is very comparable to the Country Bear Jamboree in that they both take you back in time to when people, ah, had different entertainment sensibilities, let's put it that way. I'm glad I saw it, and I would be inclined to recommend it over CBJ, but it's one of those shows that I can only simply call "cute."<br />
It was nice to see a lady at the helm of the <b>Jungle Cruise.</b> She had an, I dunno, Janeane Garofalo-esque demeanor? It's interesting to see the different "styles" the different skippers can use to tell the same jokes. I'd like to see a Mad Magazine-esque interpretation of the way in which well-known stand-up comedians would go through the Jungle Cruise lines. Maybe that's just me.<br />
I can now report back to say that the famous <b>Dole Whip<i> </i></b>is worth its acclaim. I think it's going to be a must for each trip from now on.<br />
We were able to practically walk onto <b>Splash Mountain</b> thanks to very early visiting. It certainly has better theming than, say, Cedar Point's "Shoot the Rapids." Well...Disney does a lot of things better than Cedar Point. Sorry, Cedar Point. Okay, okay, fine. You're better at specializing in record-breaking thrill rides. I'll give you that. But come on. Splash Mountain has singing animatronic chickens on a riverboat, and that's an automatic win right there. Speaking of mountains, <b>Big Thunder Mountain Railroad</b> is still as fun as ever. I wonder what it would be like if they combined two different rides like that? I know Universal Studios has the Dueling Dragons with two roller coaster tracks that run simultaneously and near-miss each other, but what if there was a wheel-track coaster that passed by, under, over and around a log flume ride like Splash Mountain? Ooh, and what if in the middle was a third tower-drop type of ride, such that each of the three different intertwine rides could see the other two throughout? Just thinking aloud here.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Eek! A spooky old mansion in the<br />
middle of the day!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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CONFESSION TIME: I slept in the <b>Hall of Presidents</b>. I'm sorry but I don't completely regret it since I believe it refreshed me to stay up for the rest of the day. And who knows, maybe I subconsciously absorbed American pride during my REM cycle. I could say it was a PATRIOTIC POWER NAP. <i>I didn't sleep during presidents, but I did close my eyes until the roll call. I have a weird desire to recognize all of them by face. I shamefully admit I'm not there yet.</i><br />
At least I didn't sleep in the <b>Haunted Mansion</b>, lest the audio gives me very silly not-quite-nightmares. The new interactive queue for it is neat, and though I'm sure it must provide satisfactory entertainment when the lines are long, when they aren't you aren't given enough time to play without feeling like you're not keeping the line moving quickly enough. The interactive organ being given the name Ravenscroft was a nice touch. <i>I thought the moving books were also particularly interesting. Someone else in the line was thinking out loud that you were always pushing against books that were being pushed by people on the other side of the shelf, but I really couldn't see the pattern of it and am happy to continue being bamboozled.</i><br />
Poor <u>Mickey's Toontown</u>. I'll miss you but you're in a better place n-...hang on. Where do the major "retired" ride props and such go? I think the backlot tour in Disney's Hollywood Studios has a Captain Nemo sub, right? And a lot of them are auctioned too, I've read? Some recycled? Where is Donald's boat now? All of Mickey's furniture? Here's my suggestion that the Disney people won't actually read because they're legally unable to take suggestions like this: Move the Toontown houses to the Art of Animation resort. Every resort seems to have a waiting area with a TV constantly running cartoons for the kiddies, right? Use the set pieces from Mickey's and Minnie's houses for that area in one or two of the AoA waiting areas. You've already got the TV that shows cartoons. Just have them sit on Mickey and Minnie's chairs. It'll fit the theme of the resort anyway, right? And bam, anyone nostalgia for the ol' Toontown can revisit it in spirit by taking a sidetrip to AoA. Which can also help as a promotional point! Feel free to not read but still use that idea, Disney Parks.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What the? Several other identical elephants who can also fly?</td></tr>
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We got to see glimpses of the new expanded <u>Fantasyland</u> but mostly the modified versions of pre-existing attractions. It seems we were too early by a few weeks to get the chance to check out Under the Sea with Little Mermaid or whatever it's called. Also construction in the background of what I'm guessing will be the Seven Dwarfs mine train ride.Will some of it be outside? Will it reach as high as it seems to looking at it from the ground? I'll be interested to see updates on that one. Speaking of updates, <b>it's </b>still <b>a small world</b> after all. Took the <b>Mad Tea Party</b> for a spin. Can you believe it was the first time ever for both of us? <i>I admit I almost got sick. G forces on that thing can really mess with you.</i> I still like <b>Mickey's Philharmagic</b> and one of the best effects is the one that's easy to miss happening at all. Amanda left her sunglasses on Space Mountain and I think my handkerchief fell out of my pocket there too so I guess if we had to lose things at least we both lost our things on the same ride. Awww. <b>Tomorrowland Transit Authority</b> wasn't as pointless as I expected it to be, as it is neat to - though briefly - see the interiors of Space Mountain and Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin while on another ride. Also the little kid in front of us cried and freaked out just because it gets dark for seconds at a time. And that was plenty amusing. I got another level of appreciation out of <b>Walt Disney's Carousel of Progress</b> after having found the connection that the dad is the narrator from A Christmas Story. You know what would be neat? If you could get that space-flyer video game video as a screensaver for your computer. And while I realize there are videos and points tips for <b>Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin</b>, I wonder if there exist an online resources with maps/layouts that one could study meticulously to get the highest score possible. Not that I would do that sort of thing. *shifty eyes* I'm just saying, I've seen the Haunted Mansion track made in Google Sketchup. And there's a website dedicated to WDW park fonts. So it's the sort of thing that I wouldn't be surprised to find and maybe expect exists.<br />
I love the overall idea and execution of <b>Monsters</b> <b>Inc. Laugh Floor </b>but I wonder how often I can see it until it turns into an "I don't mind missing it" attraction. At least not before Amanda or I get "the spotlight" for once.<br />
I'm glad we got the chance to see the <b>Main Street Electrical Parade</b>. A Magic Kingdom visit just doesn't seem "complete" without it. <br />
<br />
<u>Character greetings</u><br />
It seems I am more interested in character meet-and-greets than Amanda is. I don't even know why I am; I just think they're very neat pictures to get. We got "Frontierland" Chip & Dale because it was early and the line was short.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Look at Chip, looking all coy for some reason. </td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Merida confided in us that she is actually scared of gargoyles. Who knew?</td></tr>
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Though there was a considerable line for her, I just <i>had </i>to get a Merida picture. Possibly limited time character! And it's a good representation of the year we visited anyhow.<br />
I find it interesting that Merida seems to be the only "meetable-and-greetable" Brave character. If she the only movie, or at least Pixar movie, with one m&g character? Not counting the sequels? Wait, I guess WALL·e had one, but creating the interactive WALL·e was impressive enough, much less than having to figure out an EVE. Did Finding Nemo even get any? At least that's understandable, when you think about it. But I wonder if any other meetable Brave characters were ever considered. Maybe they just wouldn't fit as well in the character station setting. Like if Merida was just hanging out with her mother all cool and stuff? The solo character thing is all the better, I suppose. Oh, and another trivial thing: Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't she the first Pixar "face" (non-masked, that is) character?<br />
<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Attractions we opted out of for the second trip in a row: </span>Astro
Orbiter, Dumbo the Flying Elephant (but I got a picture sitting in the specialty "just for photos" Dumbo, which I think was a great idea on their part), The Flying Goofini (fka Goofy's Barnstormer), The Magic Carpets of Aladdin (if you're reading this, sorry again Kayla), Prince Charming Regal Carousel (fka Cinderella's Royal
Carousel), Frontierland Shooting Arcade, Liberty Square Riverboat, Tom
Sawyer Island, <i>How did we manage to miss it again?? It closes early seemingly every day!</i>
Tomorrowland Speedway, Walt Disney World
Railroad <i>(But I got a cute video of folks waving to us while they rode it.), </i>..seems like a lot when I write them all out but a lot are missable.<br />
<b>Last time but not this time: </b>Snow White's Scary Adventures (partly on account of it having not existed anymore), Swiss Family Treehouse (eh), Peter Pan's flight, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, Country Bear Jamboree (was closed, but still), Stitch's Great Escape. <i>(Also, Goofy's Barnstormer... which I only mention here because Kevin insists on semantic truths only.)</i><br />
<br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">EPCOT</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: small;">Future World</span><u> </u></span></span><br />
<br />
The ride that I am not at all interested in going on again ever is <b>Mission: Space.</b> Last time we opted for the tamer "green card" experience, and while I was a bit woozy for a few minutes afterwards I thought it was considerably tame. So this time out of curiosity we went for the "orange card" experience to see just how more intense it was. During the ride itself I thought, "This is more exciting, but hey I can handle it." It was just as I left the capsule thing and actually got back on still ground that I felt terrible. It probably didn't help matters that I unwisely had some <b>Club Cool</b> drinks (by the way, standing around and looking for people who choose Beverly is a great fun thing to do) shortly before riding. I was hoping the nausea would pass within a few minutes but even after the entirety of <b>Ellen's Energy Adventure</b> my head was still swimming. Happily though after getting a couple of snack booth snacks it cleared quickly enough. But yeah, Mission: Space itself is a fun experience but not worth the after-effects. For me, anyway. <i>I for one loved it. Last time I thought the green card version was cute, but way too tame. The orange card version was much less frightening than I had imagined and I felt no after effects whatsoever. Interestingly enough, more traditional motion simulator rides like Star Tours disorient me horribly. The sensation of orange card mission space is less like a bumpy jerky coaster or simulator and more like a gradual but significant increase in gravity. You really feel your body being pushed back and compressed.</i><br />
Let's see. We also rode <b>Spaceship Earth</b> twice (not in a row), skimmed through some <b>Innoventions</b> offerings (sadly no Velcro demonstration in which I could be silly), explored <b>The Seas with Nemo & Friends</b>, and of course went on <b>Soarin'</b>. Everybody who visits Epcot must go on Soarin' - it's a rule! The steady stream of a "line" that you can see first thing in the morning outside as everyone and their mothers head straight for The Land is a bit of an attraction itself. It's a shame though that <b>Living With the Land</b> doesn't get more love. I get the impression that most of the lines are formed by people who hop on as something to do until their Soarin' Fastpass time comes up. And though LWTL doesn't sound exciting on paper and a tad dated, it's interesting enough that we rode through twice. Here's my suggestion: What if it wasn't a boat ride? Imagine if you replaced the entirety with a foot path so you could stop and take an extra few moments to observe the fascinating plants if you so choose. Or maybe both: What there was a boat river and sidewalk (lower than the boat's bottom so the pedestrians don't block the view) so that you can choose between your-own-pace and the audio-guided tour? <i>Next time, I fully intend to take the Behind the Seeds tour. I am apparently one of those nerds who is really into learning about farming.</i><br />
We also had extra time to do <b>Journey Into Imagination with Figment</b>, which is still not at all a must-do but has its moments, and...yes, <b>Captain EO</b>. The Walt Disney World attraction that I bet Amanda and I most disagree on. I love the unabashed cheesiness of the movie and can't get enough of it. I think I may even like those Michael Jackson songs non-ironically. Also apparently it's gained quite a cult following - our showing had a group of avid and enthusiastic fans cheering and laughing throughout. Does Captain EO regularly get followers like that? Did we just happen the same showing as a rare rabid set? Were those people just watching it over and over and over that day? Whatever the case, I think their presence enhanced the experience and for that I passively thank them. <i>I can't say that I hate Captain EO, but I do greatly prefer Honey I Shrunk the Audience and hope one day to be one of those hooting hissing rabid fans. Truthfully I can understand the camp appeal that EO has. I completely see the parallel between EO and something such as Rocky Horror. Perhaps if someone started a yell at the screen and sing along script, maybe I'd like it a little bit more. I too appreciated those crazed MJ fans.</i><br />
We "browsed" through <b>Innoventions</b> but nothing much to report there. One of these days I'd like to try Sum of All Thrills, but...yeah, as a whole the place is like going through a science fair. The best of the best in science fairs, but still.<br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;"><span style="font-size: small;">World Showcase</span><u> </u></span></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">May I brag that I found my shirt<br />
weeks prior at a Salvation Army<br />
store for like $2?</td></tr>
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Though lamenting along with Amanda that it was no longer the Kim Possible World Showcase Adventure, I pushed to try just the one mission of what is now <b>Agent P's World Showcase Adventure.</b> Mostly to see the difference. According to the sign-up cast member (who remarked on the "retro" style of the handsets, which made me feel out-of-touch for having that same flip-open style for my only cell phone) they've done away with the "sign-up at one place that leads you to another place to get started" step, which is good. And judging from the Mexico mission we did, and some that we noticed others doing, it does pretty much use the same props and steps and clues as the Kim Possible version did, just with the characters and storylines changed. Now I understand the decision to change the theming from a show that hasn't been on the air in a while to one that is on the air and is popular to boot. And it's not just because I think Kim Possible is a fundamentally better show than Phineas & Ferb (it's silly to even compare, but if I had to...it is better) that I think it made more sense and worked better for this game/activity/experience/whatever. It's already established in the show that Kim's job takes her around the globe and there are even already bad guys who happen to fit into the world showcase nations. So it's neat to hop from country to country and thwart a different villain each time. But with the Agent P retrofit, it looks like you just go against Dr. Doofenshmirtz each time, which is...well, not as exciting. And the use of the Kimmunicator was actually a thing in the show, whereas I doubt there's a "F.O.N.E." in Phineas and Ferb. And so on, things like that. Those complaints being said though I am at least glad that the WSA wasn't done away with altogether, since I love the idea of also including non-ride/non-show/non-food things to do. And I hope they kept the tea shop part of the United Kingdom mission, because that was one of my favorite parts.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hi!</td></tr>
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If you were to ask us why we decided to get married on October 6th, of all times of the year, we would have to be truthful by telling you that we wanted it to coincide with our second Walt Disney World trip, and that we planned the trip around Epcot's <b>International Food and Wine Festival</b>. Man, so much to say here. <i>First and foremost I have to say that it lives up to the hype and I now wish we had planned on some demonstrations perhaps.</i><br />
I remember that on our previous trip we were too conservative with our Disney Dining Plan snack credits through the first half of the week and had to try hard to use them up before we left on the last couple of days. This time, thanks to the IF&WF we used them all up easily and then some. In theory, I wanted to try every single snack offered ... er, except the shrimp and various other seafoody things...but actually doing so would (or at least should) require spreading it out over the course of multiple entire days. I had as many as I could of the snacks I found interesting, and even then there were some that I had to skip. Eating around the world stretches the stomach quicker than I realized it would, and I'm sure the wallet stretching would add up quickly too.<br />
I won't mention everything we ate but as for the highlights: <br />
-I had escargots (persillade en brioche) for what I believe was the first time ever. Surpringly delicious, even with the weird texture.<br />
-Swedish meatballs with lingonberries were very good. I've never been to an IKEA but if/when I do I'll have to try theirs for comparison.<br />
-I just had to have the Artisan Cheese Trio. Cheese! Too bad I'm not enough of a cheese snob to detect the subtle differences between the different types. Still good though.<br />
-Canada's Cheddar Cheese soup made me want the "full-size" version. I'm pushing for Le Cellier next trip. <br />
-"Griddled Greek Cheese with Pistachios and Honey." It really is just that... a little plank of cheese that's been griddled. Like grilled cheese without that pesky bread in the way! That was one of my favorites.<br />
-Germany's roast bratwurst in a pretzel roll wins my award for most hilarious snack. <a href="https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=roast%20bratwurst%20in%20a%20pretzel%20roll&psj=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bpcl=39650382&biw=1280&bih=683&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=isch&source=og&sa=N&tab=wi&ei=G_fEUIfNCMLiqgHbmYDQDg#um=1&hl=en&tbo=d&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=epcot+roast+bratwurst+in+a+pretzel+roll&oq=epcot+roast+bratwurst+in+a+pretzel+roll&gs_l=img.3...40534.41425.0.41693.6.6.0.0.0.0.115.664.0j6.6.0...0.0...1c.1.4thooRFGvdg&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=1412d2fff6abd8ab&bpcl=39650382&biw=1280&bih=683" target="_blank">Here, tell me if you laugh out loud when you see it too.</a> Ridiculousness aside, it was also delicious...ness.<br />
- <i>And let's not forget the Lobster Roll and Sushi that I had. Quite delish and shockingly large portions for "just a taste!"</i><br />
<br />
IMPORTANT TIP: I learned to spread the wisdom to anyone interested in the Epcot International Food & Wine Festival to enjoy as much of it as you can <u>during the weekdays</u>. Yes, it's common sense that any of the parks are busier on Saturdays and Sundays, but the foodies packed the Festival kiosks on Saturday IN DROVESSS. On Wednesday and Thursday I would pick things to try at a relaxed pace, figuring, "I'll be here on Saturday too. No rush." And getting whatever you wanted on those weekdays was very easy and convenient - the line for any given kiosk would be, oh, an average of five people ahead of you at the busier ones? But Saturday that all changes. The lines would typical sprawl past the queue dividers, so you do have to make more of a commitment for any given nation's food. I get the impression there are more people going for the drinks than the food (Did I mention it was only the "food" part of "food and wine" that interests me? You may have picked up on that on your own, though.), which makes me wonder what it'd be like if there were separate lines for food and drink. I guess that wouldn't be fair to those who want both, would it? How about lines for food, drink, and food and drink? No, that'd be too much.<br />
Slight gripe time here, against certain other park guests. I don't have anything against those who happen to enjoy the "drink" part of the food and wine/beer/imbibement experience (though yes, the rowdiness quotient is ratcheted way up on the weekends), but I find it... puzzling... that there was such a huge line on Saturday for the "margaritas" kiosk. I'm not knocking having or experience something "that you could have back at home" (it's nice to have a Mickey ice cream bar that doesn't actually taste any different than a standard bar-shaped ice cream treat) in Epcot, but it's curious that so many people were willing to wait in such a long line for a margarita there, as opposed to using that time to soak in any number of other Epcot (Food and Wine or not) offerings. Maybe it's something I can't understand because I've never had one. Are they THAT good? Are the Epcot margaritas especially better than any other margaritas in any way? Is just a social thing of being able to say that you had a margarita, as part of the other many drinks you've had? Feel free to enlighten me here.<br />
But if anything the crowd levels of Epcot on Saturday made me appreciate the quiet atmosphere of <b>Restaurant Marrakesh. </b>It is kind of "tucked away" around the back of Morocco, and it's a shame that it wasn't busier, at least judging by when we were there. Maybe the Epcot restaurants are all less busy during FoodAndWineFest because everyone's pigging out at the kiosks instead? Or is Marrakesh normally sparsely occupied at other times of the year, not only because of the location but because of the exotic-ness of its fare? Either way it deserves more business. I would recommend it to anyone as a break for anyone who wants to visit Walt Disney World but is concerned about the overexposure to...well, Disney. Having never actually been outside of the country, I can't honestly speak for its authenticity, but of all the international experiences within the parks, this is the place that, well, does the best job of tricking me into really feeling like I am where it's "supposed to" be. At The Rose and Crown, I'm well-aware that it's an idealized version of an English pub, and I do sort of wonder if Africa is as Africa as Animal Kingdom's Africa tries to be. I think it's because Restaurant Marrakesh is more tastefully and subtly (even with the musicians and belly dancer) themed. Instead of screaming "Morocco," it lets you know. I hope you're not sick yet of hearing it by now, but yes, the food is amazing. I am thankful that though it took me 28 years to get the chance or even know about it I was able to enjoy a dish called bastilla. If you've never had it yourself, you may be skeptical that seasoned minced meat even belongs in a pastry topped with cinnamon and sugar, but you'd just have to trust me on this. It does. It so belongs. Best new thing I've eaten in a long time. You also might be skeptical about having mint ice cream and toasted almonds served in orange blossom water. But you'd have to admit it's the damn fanciest and most elegant way to have mint ice cream. <br />
I'm not sure if I'm allowed to comment on the belly dancer. <i>I get a free pass with this one. I thought she was beautiful and graceful and I'm a little sad that Marrakesh isn't busier more often because her act clearly benefits from guest interaction. I was highly amused when she picked out the oldest man in the room to pull to the dance floor and instruct to do as she does. Also cute, very young children trying to mimic the moves.</i><br />
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Speaking of live entertainment: MARIACHI! Those guys are great. I now remember the Mexico pavilion as being the place where I got my new serape shirt (is there an official name for it, or are they just called serape shirts?), which might be my favorite "practical" souvenir, and I bet one of the most reasonably priced articles of clothing you can find within Disney Parks. <br />
I looked up a video of <b>The</b> <b>Gran Fiesta Tour</b> as it was without The Three Caballeros, and I will say...I'm okay with the current version, thanks.<i> Having experienced the ride both ways, I'm probably one of those rare folks who is okkay with both versions. I mean, as a Mexican, I appreciate the heritage... but also as a Mexican, I appreciate that people just want to have a good time. I happen to like the Three Caballeros, but I'm more curious about why Panchito doesn't get higher billing here. I mean, Jose is from Brazil. Donald is just a tourist. Just sayin'.</i><br />
Continuing through the world tour, Norway's <b>Maelstrom</b> is still...pleasantly freaky.We had a quick service bite or two at Lotus Blossom Café in China, which was pretty decent for quick-serve and a notch more interesting than my average Chinese take-out places. China also has excellent live performers, the Jeweled Dragon Acrobats. One of the girls dropped her drum a couple of times, but the sun was in her eyes, the poor girl. And that balancing guy sure was a ham!<br />
SECOND EAGLE-CRYING CONFESSION: I also slept through the <b>American Adventure</b> show too. I'm sorry! Nothing against America. I slept through Impressions de France last year. My only defense is that power naps are necessary. <br />
Japan might be my favorite pavilion, for two big reasons. One, its main shop <b>Mitsukoshi </b>is worthy of bold type for its range of traditional to contemporary souvenirs and gifts. This is where we each got lanyards - one Mario-themed and the other Legend of Zelda, because hey, those regular Disney lanyards are too big and clunky-looking.<br />
The second reason is <b>Miyuki</b>, the performer easily worthy of boldface. I'd heard about her and her candy art before, but was surprised by just how entertaining her "show" is. I expected a quiet, slow-paced demonstration akin to the other small-scale artists, like the glass figurine makers. But the wonder that is Miyuki is how quickly she can make candy sculptures and how well she makes them. It's an incredibly unique talent and fascinating to watch. In addition to making one or two "scripted" candy animals, she takes requests for animals to create on the spot. The requests are expected to be from children. But ... if no one else speaks up for a few beats, is there anything wrong with someone like, say, me shouting "Chicken!"?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhtaFK0Hso_c2AebVarGbPPhcg8umQjs9l-n_mReRHBPATGGpcT13NN6PMAxjQ5EbIRqpMNH5fp7LxPeGdhfuRpxo26BJ3z_IvQrCI3SBNodYVS4DJTBM8NJeELYuZgC4M9wTr8oWxYOs/s1600/DSC00173.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhtaFK0Hso_c2AebVarGbPPhcg8umQjs9l-n_mReRHBPATGGpcT13NN6PMAxjQ5EbIRqpMNH5fp7LxPeGdhfuRpxo26BJ3z_IvQrCI3SBNodYVS4DJTBM8NJeELYuZgC4M9wTr8oWxYOs/s200/DSC00173.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://youtu.be/YRNxsWRgTcU" target="">[Click here to see the video.]</a> -<span style="font-size: x-small;"> <a href="http://youtu.be/YRNxsWRgTcU" target="_blank">[in a new window]</a></span></td></tr>
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Seeing her make a small set of improvised animals at a few minutes apiece is a real treat, and I think an undermentioned one, as far as WDW shows go. None of the books I've read give it a big enough mention (one even mistakenly refers to Miyuki as the candy art itself), but I would recommend anyone visiting Epcot to take the time to see her demonstration. Check the Times Guide and browse the Mitsukoshi store or nearby pavilions until her next show. It's worth the wait. You may even want to see her twice, like we did. <br />
I don't have anything particular to say about the other "countries" other than that I always enjoy their sights, sounds, and smells. How about you, Amanda? <i>Thank you, Kevin. In general, I love visiting the countries. It's a shopaholic's dream. I'm not a shopaholic, but Epcot really puts me into a mood to just go along with it. China and Japan definitely have the most items that appeal to me personally, and I have to admit I spent a minute or two in Norway studying some knitted sweaters. Most of all I think anyone visiting really needs to take the time to check out the live performers. They all hail from the country in which they perform and in most cases, their acts have some heritage in their origin country as well. Except for way back in Morocco, you'll never be fooled into thinking you're really in a particular country, but you can best experience them through the cast members and performers. </i><br />
And as always the best way to end any Epcot day is with <b>Illuminations: Reflections of Earth</b>. Good job of Amanda's foresight to stake out spots extra-early for it.<br />
<br />
<u>Character greeting</u><br />
I guess at three times, Donald is now our most "greeted" character. But we couldn't pass up Mexico Donald!<br />
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<u></u><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrqpAjtWJQu_rowU4RZjhGfqGAvradkviZWQ1yRk4C3mbFWjBbWve78P16WY-YnDT5D_dQYwcWLBNeiyh6Dt1OLwES-_nsQA5oXSd3BjWnvuKDCqmDJWLLnZy-cZtMRDlbSV11r4198aE/s1600/Photo0052FourBySix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrqpAjtWJQu_rowU4RZjhGfqGAvradkviZWQ1yRk4C3mbFWjBbWve78P16WY-YnDT5D_dQYwcWLBNeiyh6Dt1OLwES-_nsQA5oXSd3BjWnvuKDCqmDJWLLnZy-cZtMRDlbSV11r4198aE/s640/Photo0052FourBySix.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">That's one snappy serape.</td></tr>
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<b>Attractions we "did" last time but not this time: </b>The Circle of Life, Turtle Talk With Crush, O Canada, Impressions de France, Maelstrom's movie<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">Things we have yet to do at all:</span> Reflections of China (next time, for the heck of it?) and Test Track (refurbishment! B'oh.)<br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">Disney's Hollywood Studios</span></span><br />
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Near the entrance of the park there was a cast member handing out surprise Fastpasses for <b>Lights Motor Action Extreme Stunt Show</b>, which makes sense because they've gotta fill those earlier shows somehow, cause, come on, who heads to LMAESS early on? It was worth seeing again - those stunts still awe and impress me. There was even that one gag they pull that fooled me again because I had forgotten about the "reveal." And now we've been able to see both the Herbie the Love Bug and Lightning McQueen alterations of the show! It's neat to see the full-size operational Lightning but the excitement the scene tries to build up falls a bit flat. I think it'd be neat if we could see Herbie and Lightning interact with each other. But that's just me dreaming. Also, speaking of L McQ we got to have our pictures taken with McQueen and Mater because we happened to be at their picture spot when there was no line whatsoever for it. Easiest character greeting ever! Ka-chow!<br />
The new experience (for me) I was most looking forward to in this park was <b>Star Tours</b>. At the time of our last trip it was being renovated to what is now <b>Star Tours: The Adventure Continues</b>. I had heard about the "over 50 different scenarios" that you would randomly get for each ride and was hoping to be able to get Amanda to ride it with me as many times in a row as I could to see as many different scenarios as possible. Well on our first DHS day we rode twice in a row and each "scenario" had only a different intro piece. The third time later we got to see another planet. Later on after I got home I looked into it and it turns out that there are over 50 different /combinations/ of randomized scene elements. So if each ride has you visit two of six possible planets, and the intro and segue between planets is also different each time, then...I...don't know the exact mathematical probability of it. I'd have to ask. In hindsight I was expecting a bit too much that there would be over 50 different /destinations/ - are there even that many recognizable Star Wars locales? So while it may not be worth riding all day or anything, it is worth riding a second or third time if you get the chance. But aside from the randomization element that may or may not be misleading it's still a new favorite of mine. Oh, and at the shop <b>Tatooine Traders </b>I picked out a favorite souvenir in a Donald-Duck-as-Darth-Maul mug. I don't even care for Darth Maul, but I do like Donald. And having something in which to drink tea. That happens to be amusing. <i>For the record, we rode 3 times total throughout the trip. I definitely felt sick twice but got over it quickly such that Kevin didn't even notice. It just goes to show that no matter how well you think you know the feel of an attraction, you never really know until you know, you know?</i><br />
Disney/Star Wars note: I don't remember where it was exactly, but in one of the art shops was a painting of Minnie Mouse not just as Princess Leia but as SLAVE LEIA. It's...an off-putting idea, to say the least. While I'm on it, doesn't casting love interests Mickey and Minnie as Luke and Leia overlook a certain key plot point in the Star Wars trilogy? Same goes for Kermit and Piggy cast likewise. At least Family Guy knew what it was doing.<i> </i><br />
<b>Toy Story Midway Mania </b>is still as fun as ever. When we checked into our hotel we got the "Happily Ever After" pin buttons which seem to cover honeymoons and anniversaries. Wearing them usually got us warm congratulations, but for TSMM we got our first tangible perk: At the Fastpass terminal thingie the attendant spotted my pin and, as a "honeymoon gift" we each got double Fastpasses! I wonder if he happened to find forgotten Fastpasses and looked for someone to give them to or if he used his access to override the number distributed to each guest? And if so how many guests get this bonus? Anyway it was highly appreciated.<b> </b>Speaking of Toy Story, we ducked into Pizza Planet Arcade in case there might be a Fix-It Felix Jr. machine or at least reference to it. None at the time there, but...well I'll get back to this in a little bit.<br />
Afternoon lunch on Monday was at <b>Sci-Fi Dine-in Theater</b>, where as promised by just about every review I'd read, the ambiance far outshines the food. I do like that they serve fried pickles as an appetizer. My "picnic burger" (hamburger with hot dog pieces) was good, and I also ordered one of my few alcoholic drinks of the trip, partly because it was called a Space Monkey. But the combination of a chocolate shake, coconut rum, and banana liquer, sounded great too, and I liked that it didn't even taste too alcohol-y. And it comes with a glow cube! <i>Which later came in handy during the Fantasmic pre-show. </i>I enjoyed the movie screen's film loop, but wondered if maybe it was a tad short - the whole thing runs twice over the course of the meal. But I do appreciate that it includes trailers for PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE and ROBOT MONSTER. Also, surprisingly: Non-Disney (gasp!) cartoon shorts! Tom and Jerry, what are you doing here? Normally you only see outside franchises on T-shirts of people who went to Universal Studios on a previous day of their current trip.<br />
Last time we went on <b>The Great Movie Ride</b> we got the "gangster" version, so it was neat that this time we got the "cowboy" storyline. It could stand to be updated, though. I've got it! A "Twilight" section, which audio-animatronics of Bella and Edward! It might take quite a bit of Imagineering to perfectly recreate the stiff acting and mumbly dialogue, though. Sorry. Moving on..<br />
The <b>Indiana Jones Epic Stunt Spectacular!<i> </i></b>is, admittedly, fairly epic. It's another one of those shows that I enjoyed and am glad I saw but not sure if it would stand up to repeated watchin's. Also when the giant stone rolled over Indy I really wanted to jump up and yell out, "STEVE, NO!" <span style="font-size: x-small;">(50 points if you get that)</span><br />
Revisited <b>50s Prime Time Café</b> but briefly this time to try out their peanut butter and jelly shake, which I can confirm is delicious and something I may want to make into an every-trip tradition. Hmm, I wonder if the peanut butter and jelly shake goes well with a turkey leg?<br />
<b>Muppet*Vision 3-D</b> might just get my vote for best queue jokes/sight gags. I remembered to check under the mat for the key this time! Speaking of Muppets, I didn't mention before that the post-ride shop for Journey Into Imagination with Figment has a few Gonzo trinkets. Is this an intentional connection seeing as how Dave Goelz voices both Gonzo and Figment? HMMMM...<br />
The Magic of Disney Animation is sure to be one of my favorite places to revisit, as even though the <b>Drawn To Animation </b>demonstration will probably be consistently similar for a while (who could replace Mushu?), it's cool to see the ever-updated newest-feature gallery section.<u> </u>Last time for us it was showcasing art, models and "props" from Tangled, and this time around it was all about the then-to-be-released Wreck-It Ralph<u>.</u><br />
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Also this is the area where one can look at - but not play, as it's behind a glass wall - a "functioning" Fix-It Felix Jr. arcade machine. At least, it shows the "insert quarter" animations and such. I took a video but it doesn't really do it justice. Also I've heard that other playable cabinets have popped up in other officially sanctioned places. And I found out after the movie's release that, indeed, Ralph and Vanellope are now greetable (mask-style) characters.<br />
Anywho the other nifty repeatable thing-to-do is the Animation Academy, in which a select small group (it's very exclusive! to whoever gets there first) is given a short (it seems short..in a good way) how-to-draw class, with you and the other "classmates" drawing along on a free souvenir piece of drawing paper. Ah, it was nice to draw on a proper drawing desk with the stool and lighted table and everything. We did this activity twice, one drawing Stitch (the class votes for one to draw from a choice of three characters) and one Phineas and Ferb (competing option example: Jack Skellington). Would you like to see and compare the results?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvx-5Ov3J_BF7lGT3X0b3UxGPynh4SgylJ2N6wUXp2PSM8TT798MUTWwRFRd7TIss1IcWfPwj7Zklluh7UUZe4KJJe3gKr6bhNrQA8_WN2OTeWn7d0etSqvI9QJpbDDYmN2tdDL3UzuJw/s1600/DSCN0828.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhvx-5Ov3J_BF7lGT3X0b3UxGPynh4SgylJ2N6wUXp2PSM8TT798MUTWwRFRd7TIss1IcWfPwj7Zklluh7UUZe4KJJe3gKr6bhNrQA8_WN2OTeWn7d0etSqvI9QJpbDDYmN2tdDL3UzuJw/s640/DSCN0828.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Post in the comments section whose you like better! Ha, just kidding.......(?)</td></tr>
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I recommend it...for nerds who like to draw, at least. And nerds who like Beauty & the Beast are sure to like <b>Beauty & the Beast - Live on Stage</b>, which is exactly what you expect it to be, unless you expect it to be like the Broadway musical. It's more like Disney on Ice...but without the ice. Fascinating to see the entire movie squished into the span of roughly a half hour. And, you know, the songs are nothing to sneeze at.<br />
<i>Speaking of Disney on Ice, does it seem strange to anyone else that the one place you can't see a Disney Ice show is within Disney World itself? I love Ice shows and I'm just shocked that there isn't a rink either tucked away in one of the parks or as a separate paid attraction at say.. Downtown Disney. Disney people... if you read this... that idea's a free one!</i> <br />
I was very skeptical about the <b>Rock 'n' Roller Coaster Starring Aerosmith</b>, even with Amanda's reassurances that I could handle it. But similarly to Expedition Everest (see later), the build-up is more frightening than the ride itself. Having to watch the people ahead of you in line being shot forward and screaming is quite intimidating. I was also very iffy about riding a coaster with loops, as I'd never tried one before and found it hard to believe Amanda's insistence that "you can't even feel the loops" ("Maybe for you," I thought). But I'm glad I tried it! That initial launch (0-60mph in 2.8 seconds) is so quick that by the time you realize how fast it is it's already passed and - Amanda was right - I never even noticed ever being upside down, despite the ride having three inversions. It's weird, it was so unnoticeable that I kind of don't believe that the loops were there. Maybe one of them. But three? Really? But yeah, that one was a blast and I can't wait to ride it again. Maybe next time I'll actually pay attention to the music (which I guess is meant to be a main point of the ride) instead of focusing on screaming a lot. <i>Get the front seat like we did if you can. It's so much better when you have a good view of the vignettes even if you're too adrenalized to remember afterwards.</i><br />
The FastPass wait time for RNRCSA was perfect for grabbing a QuickBite at Rosie's All-American Café, of which I don't have anything special to say except I can mark it off for my DisneyEats checklist (which is a theoretical checklist that I just named right this moment ago).<br />
In the spot that I believe formerly housed the Chronicles of Narnia exhibits was a building with a "HOT SET" sign, foreshadowing an upcoming attraction. I'm willing to bet that's where "The Legend of Jack Sparrow" (which I've since found out about what with being just obsessive enough to follow the Disney Parks blog) will be. I can't not point out that we're talking an attraction based on a movie based on an attraction.<br />
For <b>Fantasmic!</b> we repeated what could be a new standard of having a Toluca turkey leg while waiting for the show. Still a great show, and like Illuminations even better when I'm not super cold. To add to my earlier Twilight joke, I'd just like to mention the pre-show segment hosted by two DisneyRadio-quality personalities, one of whom asked an audience member a trivia-ish question: "What is the Twilight Zone Tower of Terror named for: A science fiction show from the 50s or a really awful book series?" Yeah, Disney burned you, "Twilight" series! Feel that burn.<br />
To end this section somewhat anticlimactically, DHS is the park where I bought pajama pants that have Disney Comics patterned on them. They were part of a pants-and-tank-top set and meant to be a Christmas gift and I think for ladies but I liked it for the pants and bought it for myself despite my being a dude because I liked them. Speaking of unique things bought, I'll let Amanda tell about what she found at Sid Cahuenga's One of a Kind shop.<i> I might have cried a little when I saw it. We are now the proud owners of a signed photo of Carroll Spinney posing with Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch. I spent more on this one item than on any other single item of the entire trip and it was worth it. I will treasure it. I will drape a piece of sheer black tulle over it when he dies and weep before it. I will have it professionally framed. I will pass it on to my child (should I have one). </i> <br />
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<u>Character greeting</u><u><br /></u>
It's not quite a character greeting exactly, since there's no interactivity element (unless they were revving their engines at us?), but maybe closer to a backdropped photo op. Are there any other photo greeting characters from whom you can never get a signed autograph?
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYO1wpLd6dTYTSFlveCidRcJ-3vn0xQ9sviy87diMp7V76vCf9X6xOoym8MyRY8lXiunkmCxJAV0nXh2uz_3VC-9YjveflUhkPZTSlslq9tRvChnnq1-t6-koP-Pqi9t1gmtUrJFwujk/s1600/Photo0089FourBySix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBYO1wpLd6dTYTSFlveCidRcJ-3vn0xQ9sviy87diMp7V76vCf9X6xOoym8MyRY8lXiunkmCxJAV0nXh2uz_3VC-9YjveflUhkPZTSlslq9tRvChnnq1-t6-koP-Pqi9t1gmtUrJFwujk/s640/Photo0089FourBySix.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">If humans were introduced into the Cars universe, would people be able
to "control" the Cars cars from the inside by moving the steering wheel
and pushing the pedals and stuff? Is there still a key-controlled
ignition that can be turned off and on? In the first movie there's a
joke where two passing cars make beeps as if they're "locking"
themselves and it makes me wonder what happens when their doors are
opened and that sort of thing makes me think way too much about a movie
starring Larry the Cable Guy.</td></tr>
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<b>The last-time-but-not-this-time stuff: </b>Sounds Dangerous Starring Drew Carey (not sure if it was even running at the time but it's not worth seeing a second time anyway), Studio Backlot Tour (<i>It was being refurbed, but not Phineas and Ferb'd</i>), Honey I Shrunk the Kids Movie Set Adventure, Voyage of the Little Mermaid (a fun show, but it seems it was worth swapping for Beauty & the Beast), Walt Disney: One Man's Dream<br />
<span style="font-weight: bold;">The twofer no-gos: </span>American Idol Experience<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>(still<span style="font-style: italic;"> </span>a bit curious about this, mostly the process of it exactly), Disney Junior Live on Stage (one of these days I want to see it "ironically")<b><span style="font-size: small;">, </span></b><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">Star Wars: Jedi Training Academy (also curious), Pixar Pals <span style="font-size: small;">Countdown to Fun! Parade (the p<span style="font-size: small;">arade I haven't seen<span style="font-size: small;"> that I most want to see), </span></span></span></span></span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">The Twilight Z<span style="font-size: small;">one Tower of Terror (my hesitancy<span style="font-size: small;"> plus the wait times)</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">Animal Kingdom</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6mmnVja9W6k-EPonrGhyphenhyphenNLSPL0RSSUfMABHvCyxM9c_ZfF_jLTXIurdgseMHN8ZQ1BiXl_AityVa51geOPIk3Hzfa46B-n_-oVnOKAtJ9dQKIM_p5dMeBWzsE_-DmSHJK8XJpZn6NUQ/s1600/Photo0083FourBySix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN6mmnVja9W6k-EPonrGhyphenhyphenNLSPL0RSSUfMABHvCyxM9c_ZfF_jLTXIurdgseMHN8ZQ1BiXl_AityVa51geOPIk3Hzfa46B-n_-oVnOKAtJ9dQKIM_p5dMeBWzsE_-DmSHJK8XJpZn6NUQ/s640/Photo0083FourBySix.jpg" width="424" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Appropriate gear for tacking Mount Everest: T-shirt, shorts, and the ever-important lanyard.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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I was pleasantly surprised to see a couple of characters from "Up" haven't been retired yet as meet-and-greeters. Russell and Dug are now seen near the park entrance as wilderness explorers, which is a cute way to incorporate them. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrY4L6HO1SCqH8CxbDvrkBoCb8NKdpkZN-eucrgJIrLMXLM7KG1I1rAJUHtHe7UFmty660CQ5oUfUn9lH9-nXi8lFBeImHPRowCSOabL27ZSRpsSzNsvB0hsvPbHVLeV3L34oPjsDgHyI/s1600/DSCN0709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrY4L6HO1SCqH8CxbDvrkBoCb8NKdpkZN-eucrgJIrLMXLM7KG1I1rAJUHtHe7UFmty660CQ5oUfUn9lH9-nXi8lFBeImHPRowCSOabL27ZSRpsSzNsvB0hsvPbHVLeV3L34oPjsDgHyI/s320/DSCN0709.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Socks!</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
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New favorite: <b>Expedition Everest</b>! I have to admit I was scared at first. But I didn't want to /not/ try it at all, especially since I've read only positive things about it. Just looking up at the top "in person" made me consider chickening out, but I'm so glad I didn't. It wasn't as stomach-tossing as I worried it might be. And I'd say most of the thrill is in what's coming up, especially for the first ride when you don't know exactly what to expect, than the sensation of the movement itself. Though that is loads of fun too. Loved it so much we rode it twice, and look forward to challenging it again! I now deem it an Excellent Excuse to Not Skip Over Animal Kingdom. <i>I also have to mention the amazing views of the property you get here. Most of the time when you're in a park, you can't see any of the other parks or even any of the outside world and that's done by design. You are meant to be totally engulfed in the atmosphere and the outside world doesn't exist. EE is one of those rare exceptions. If you happen to be in the front car (and maybe the front seat of the second car) you'll come to a place where the track "breaks" and hang out there just long enough to see Spaceship Earth and a wide spanning view. Next time we ride, I might have to try for the front seat again and attempt a snapshot. It'll be tricky!</i><br />
<b>It's Tough To Be a Bug!<i> </i></b>is still child-nightmare-inducingly hilarious. This time around I couldn't help but notice that the audio-animatronic Hopper was absent. Was a bit awkward for the scene where he's supposed to be "off-camera." Amanda noticed AA Flik's eye was wonky, too. <br />
<b>Finding Nemo: The Musical</b> was at least as, if not more, enjoyable as the first time seeing it. Since that first time we'd been semi-regularly listening to the CD we had bought, so this time we knew the songs and could follow along. I had even forgotten just how elaborate a lot of the visuals are, like the aerial stunts and back-and-foreground elements. And this time we sat behind the middle of the audience, which gives a slightly different (though it's hard to say better or worse) show experience.<br />
Speaking of CD merchandise, that's something I was surprised to not find this time around. We bought Finding Nemo: the Musical and the Four Parks One World 2CD set in 2011 and while considering getting the Wishes and/or Illuminations we ultimately passed. This time around, a mere... 21 months later, I checked various shops regularly and could not find <i>any</i> park music CDs! They had some movie soundtracks and those Song and a Story albums but not what you would expect would have a high enough demand to be easily found. I should be glad I got the ones that I did when I did, but I would've bought Wishes and Illuminations if I did find them this year. Was it just a shadow between different edition releases? If they re-release 4P1W with an updated track listing will I be compelled to add that to my collection especially if it has Captain EO on it? We'll see next time.<br />
Oh, and Finding Nemo the Musical is the other EETNSOAK.<br />
<i>What no props for <b>Festival of the Lion King</b></i>?<i> Yes, it's still as amazing as last time and I'm forever amazed by how many guests can fit in that theater and still have nearly every seat with a near perfect view! The moving features Timon also never gets old. On the one hand, I hope that more characters get that treatment for walk around situations... on the other hand, I know that character greetings would then take 4 times as long with the wait to match.</i><br />
Fastpass-time-until-Dinosaur was spent with quick-serve lunch at <b>Restaurantasaurus</b>, which is worth noting for its burger bar. It's not the tidiest assortment of fixin's, but I really like the concept.<i> </i>I think I mentioned it in my D52 review, but <b>Dinosaur</b> the ride is much more entertaining than the movie off of which it's based. Last time the whiplashiness made my neck too stiff, so this time I tried to loosen my neck to avoid any of that unpleasantness, but I think focusing too much on that kept me from appreciating what was going on in the ride itself. Gotta find a balance there. Speaking of D52, this might be a good enough excuse as any to mention that, before we set out, I gave myself a mini "side goal" of seeing if I could snap one picture for each of the 52 full-length animated Disney features. My rule was that it had to be something in the parks (or resorts) that references the movie but any merchandise does not count. A lot I got in the animation building at Disney's Hollywood Studios, what with the displayed concept art. If it wasn't for this ride still being up, I wouldn't have expected any trace of anything "Dinosaur." I didn't get them all, but I am proud to have spotted Bongo the Bear as seen on the back of one of the Little Golden Books just as you're zipped on the ride first thing in Toy Story Midway Mania. But if you happen to have seen my Google Plus uploaded pictures album, this should explain why I took a lot of those.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjek4EFH3I7LtgIaNlEGDMacTALVWx_lCrm10tAxr3lb6wdC-gBgqg3N7SwtgPJBG1FhaCRmX0GNkY4F2vuT4kN_KYlHAv5x_DRqq3EK7IVpKMHYJh8S-ixVCeQgii4-S2ZEekOrjfugLI/s1600/Photo0084FourBySix.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjek4EFH3I7LtgIaNlEGDMacTALVWx_lCrm10tAxr3lb6wdC-gBgqg3N7SwtgPJBG1FhaCRmX0GNkY4F2vuT4kN_KYlHAv5x_DRqq3EK7IVpKMHYJh8S-ixVCeQgii4-S2ZEekOrjfugLI/s400/Photo0084FourBySix.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oh geez!<br />
<br />
No character greetings for DAK,<br />
unless you count this guy.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
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Try to have a dollar bill handy if you're taking in <b>Flights of Wonder</b>! Enough said. I still say the chicken is the best part.<br />
<b>Kilimanjaro Safaris</b> was different this time around, as there's apparently no longer a storyline about poachers tied into it. I can understand the choice, since I remember finding it weird to see a fake rhino baby after having seen all of the real animals, but because I didn't realize the change was made the second time I kept expecting to see the "story" part the end of the ride gave me that "Huh. That's it?" feeling. It is though still a very entertaining ride. It was also made, um, different by the family sitting next to/behind us who sure were...ah, boisterous about the experience.<br />
<i>Still, Animal Kingdom (while offering much more) is still the best zoo experience, you're ever likely to have. Animals roaming (seemingly) freely with other animals just like they would in Africa is much more enjoyable to me than one animal, one enclosure.</i> <br />
It seems like there isn't as much to say about Animal Kingdom, but it is more about soaking in environment details than watching or doing spectacular things. And I am fine with that.<br />
<br />
<b>The skipped-agains: </b>Everything else in Dinoland U.S.A.<i>except for a quick snapshot of Kevin in a dinocar</i>, Camp Minnie-Mickey, Kali River Rapids. Also, though not by choice, we did not spot DiVine.<br />
<b>Then but not now: </b>Conservation Station/Rafiki's trail. <br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">Downtown Disney</span></span><br />
<br />
Man, Phineas and Ferb sure are popular nowadays! Mostly Agent P/Perry the Platypus. It probably helps that the designs were practically made to be T-shirts and plushies and the like.<br />
As far as I'm concerned, a visit to Downtown Disney is worth it just for the new Lego Store. Even if you're not buying anything, you've gotta appreciate the massive dragon-vs-Prince Philip model and the Buzz-and-Woody-on-a-rocket that seems to defy its own sense of balance.<br />
Picked up more spices from The Spice & Tea Exchange. <i>I bought loose leaf caramel pear tea. Usually I'm the kind of person that likes a little tea with my sugar if you know what I mean, but this stuff is amazing and I barely add 2 teaspoons! </i>I think it was at Pin Traders here that I bought a Pop Century pin as a token of having stayed there previously but I didn't find a Yacht Club pin and regretting not getting it when I saw it back at the Animal Kingdom Lodge shop. That'll be one to look for next time, anyway.<br />
And though there's not much else I have anything special to say about here it's always really cool to soak in everything that DD has to offer, whether or not you're literally being soaked by the jumping fountains or a giant spitting Stitch.<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;">Conclusion</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 130%;"><span style="font-family: verdana; font-weight: bold;"><br /></span></span>
What else is there to say that a great time was obviously had and we couldn't have asked for a better experience? It was worth the wait and savings and, naturally, we're making mental notes on what we want to do on our next trip...whenever that may be! <i>Mental Notes, nothing!! I consider this blog entry a documentation of what we missed and wanted to do. Not only that, next time we go there will be the all New Fantasyland to explore and I'm definitely going to want to try the Be Our Guest restaurant. What will the Dwarfs Mine Ride be like? Will we try to go during a different festival (perhaps the Flower and Garden show?) I definitely want to take the Behind the seeds tour. This time will we finally plan a spare day when we DON'T go to the parks and instead hang around the resort and perhaps visit a spa? And what of Aulani? And Disneyland? So much we still haven't experienced!</i><br />
<br />
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Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-31363370452185300812013-02-10T01:25:00.003-05:002013-02-10T01:25:53.826-05:00Funny Girl at Cassidy TheaterI know what I completely forgot to mention!<br />
<br />
I landed a role in a musical being produced by a local community theater!<br />
<br />
The show is Funny Girl (I'm sure you remember it as Barbra Streisand's big break) and opening night was just this past Friday. If you've any inclination to see it, head on over to <a href="http://www.cassidytheatre.com/" target="_blank">Cassidy Theater's website</a> for more information.<br />
<br />
I can only blame this egregious oversight on my feeling incredibly worn out from all the work that it takes to be in one of these shows. Poor Kevin's been putting up with night after night of either TV dinners and cold sandwiches. Everyone once in a while I manage to make a big lunch so that he can have leftovers while I'm out at the theatre for rehearsals. It really is just like accepting a second job. Those twenty or thirty extra hours a week sure take a toll quickly.<br />
<br />
And yet, it's such a pleasure! <br />
<br />
I was cast in the role of Mrs. O'Malley (Don't bother looking for her in the movie. You know how they change those things all up.) and I can only say I'm glad I didn't get a larger part for my reentry into the theatre world. Last time I was on stage was way back during the run of You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown at Playmaker's Theatre in Port Clinton. I haven't lived at home since 2006, and I know it was even earlier than that. It makes me feel a wee bit aged. Anyway, I felt a bit out of practice and found myself running through proper stage directions and wondering which curtain was called which name.<br />
<br />
I also didn't get nearly as much free time backstage as I was expecting because I somehow ended up as the unofficial assistant stage manager. During tech week, <i></i>I followed the stage manager around with his script and a pen and took notes like I was back in high school. I did manage to complete <a href="http://ravel.me/nerdytogether/c1" target="_blank">this cool hood style hat</a>!<br />
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<br />
Now that the show is in production, I've started another one. Show you pictures when it's done!Amanda (loves Kevin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02993486692974361138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-44407541715337076402013-01-10T19:05:00.001-05:002013-02-14T21:48:54.669-05:002013... Year of SomethingOur Disney Movie Excursion is over and so now what do we do? I for one always have trouble writing when I don't have a very specific goal in mind.<br />
<br />
Last year was a big year for us. We moved out of our tiny one bedroom apartment. Not that we would ever have complained about it. Really what more do we need than a place to sleep and to keep our stuff? But the last straw was when we did eventually end up with bedbugs there. Meanwhile, Kevin's Grampa was gradually getting less independent. It was suggested that we move into the upstairs section of his house which wasn't being used anyway. The place took a lot of work and money to be semi-livable again, but we decided that maybe it was time for a change.<br />
<br />
Kevin and I also tied the knot! I suppose it was a long time coming and you know, I can't think of a single thing that's different about married life. Maybe that's a good thing. I thrive on familiarity. Introduce a little tiny bit different to me at a time. I'm good.<br />
<br />
It's also high time I organized and purged. We moved in with Grandpa to help him live a little. Now you would think that going from an apartment to a house would give us more room. It doesn't. Partly because we had to merge with all the stuff in the upstairs that was already there. Only a month ago did we finally buy some actual chairs instead of just using camp chairs all the time. Plus, there's no closet space at all, so stuff that used to be in a closet is just out in the open for lack of a better place to put it. I don't even know what half of it is. Upside: We live in a house now, so at least now there's the opportunity to have a yard sale!! I've never had my own yard sale before! Definitely this spring, we'll have one. I can't hardly wait.<br />
<br />
And speaking of yard, I'm going to plant so many vegetables!<br />
<br />
Let's see, what else?<br />
<br />
AH! I finally tried out for a community theater show! I'm going to be a minor character in Cassidy Theatre's production of Funny Girl. It's exciting and I've only had 3 rehearsals so far, but I can tell this was a good decision. Some things (like work) are stressful, and other things and the GOOD kind of stressful. This is definitely the good kind. Oh gosh, get fitted! Oh geez, learn my lines! Holy Cow, these notes are high!<br />
<br />
Finally, Kevin got me a niddy noddy for Christmas. <a href="http://www.etsy.com/listing/84480928/travel-1-yard-niddy-noddy-orange" target="_blank">It's like this one, but the 2 yard version. </a>I have been going CRAZY taking all my scraps and making hanks out of them. I'm astounded by how much prettier they all look now. Now I actually want to go through them and make something with all the scraps again. Or at least try and trade some of the scraps for sock yarn so I can keep on with my <a href="http://ravel.me/nerdytogether/tbq" target="_blank">Beekeeper's quilt</a>.<br />
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Maybe I'm just stuck with a bunch of puffs and won't ever get anywhere. It doesn't matter. They're cute, just the way they are! This past Christmas, I toyed with hanging some from my tree. It would have worked too if I didn't have 2 free threads on each one looking all out of place! If at some point I give up on the quilt, I can still embroider some snowflakes and things on them and tie in ends and actually have cute little ornaments at least.<br />
<br />
NO! What am I saying? I must finish it!<br />
<br />
<br />Amanda (loves Kevin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02993486692974361138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-64318437858427691902012-12-29T23:59:00.000-05:002012-12-30T19:14:04.537-05:00D52 - Week 52 - Wreck-It Ralph<span style="color: purple;">[NOTE: These reviews are fairly spoiler-free until the fair-warning section further below.]</span><br />
<br />
<br />
Knit-it Amanda<br />
---------<br />
<br />
I feel grateful for having lived through what I feel are two separate Disney Re-births. Wreck-It Ralph might not yet be as iconic as The Lion King and might not win as many awards as Beauty and the Beast (or maybe it will, time will tell), but it does feel well seated in a new era of quality. <br />
<br />
It seems we're finally to a point where most computer animation is starting to look pretty high quality no matter who or what renders it. The design and render team really did a terrific job making each video game world look distinct and separate and yet still make sense amongst the many other little worlds. Each character also makes perfect sense within their worlds right down to the way they move. The heavily pixelated characters make herky jerky movements but the realistic characters are smooth and perhaps overly agile, but it doesn't distract from the whole. If you've ever played Super Smash Bros and thought nothing at all of how these characters would ever meet up and fit together, than you understand the weird okkay-ness of it.<br />
<br />
I'll do my best to explain how enjoyable I found the story without spoiling it. This was a challenge in making relateable conflicts in a fantastic world. Who hasn't felt unfulfilled in their job or neighborhood? Who hasn't felt a higher calling deep in their bones? More than anything, this movie is about finding yourself. On the one hand, some people find happiness right back where they started, and others find happiness when things change a great deal. A couple of other coordinating themes are tucked in without fighting with the main story, and are equally moving, but I'll keep them to myself in order not to spoil the movie if you haven't seen it. Whether changes occur within you or around you, you'll find happiness if you make peace with it.<br />
<br />
I was thrilled with the soundtrack! Once again, each character had a bit of a theme that followed them around and it was entertaining to hear a certain theme in the setting of another gameworld but also to hear how it was clearly scored with its original gameworld in mind. There was a nice mix of catchy video game repetitiveness with subtle background music.<br />
<br />
And let's not forget about the joys of the cameo appearance. I grew up with a controller in my hands and laughed every time I spotted a reference. Sometimes they were subtle and sometimes they were flashy, but everytime it made me feel like part of the in crowd.<br />
<br />
Favorite Character: Felix. He's just such an everyman. He's as naive and good as no man in the real world ever seems to be anymore.<br />
Least Necessary Character: The repairman. No, seriously. You'll get it when you watch it.<br />
Overall: I loved it and if you can stand a couple of gradeschool poop jokes, you'll love it to.<br />
<br />
Rec'-It Kevin<br />
--------------<br />
<br />
This is the
second "cheat" of our one-movie-for-each-week "rule." We had no DVD
access throughout our honeymoon (would we have watched Atlantis at the
hotel if it had one? ...maybe) so watched it the week after along with
Lilo & Stitch. As for this Wreck-It-Ralph, we saw it on November
14th, partly because it looks unsure whether or not it'll still be
available to see anywhere by the last week of December. If it is, I'd
love to watch it again on that week! In case not, though, we're writing
about it a couple of days after so that it's still fresh in our minds,
but setting the post to show up in late, late December.<br />
<br />
[LATER EDIT: It turns out we were able to see it in theaters during the 52nd week of 2012, and it was indeed worth seeing again anyway!<br />
<br />
I
probably have already started to sound like I'm obsessed with it or
something, but I think it's appropriate enough to compare this movie to,
yes, "Who Framed Roger Rabbit??" In WFRR's universe, not only do the
toons exist and interact directly with humans, but Roger Rabbit exists
as an already-established character. Which is to say, Roger didn't exist
in <i>our</i> world until that movie (or book. But even before that
Roger Rabbit wasn't an "actual" comic strip character) was made. Fix-It
Felix Jr. is obviously heavily inspired by the early Mario games - in
the same way Roger is heavily inspired by Bugs and Daffy. And funnily
enough Bugs and Daffy exist in Roger's world, which makes you wonder if
Roger's "birth" (how exactly the characters in that movie come into
existence could be a whole other blog post) was related in any way to
Bugs and Daffy's existence. Now going back to the arcade universe, Mario
exists along with Wreck-It Ralph and Fix-It Felix...are they aware of
their games' similarities? Jumping back again, imagine if that other
movie was instead "Who Framed Bugs Bunny?" It might not have worked as
well, because the moviegoer would go into it already having certain
perceptions of what to expect of the character. But because he or she
had no previous frame of reference for Roger Rabbit, the character can
be built and liked as the movie progresses and shows you on its own what
he's all about. Now, back again: Because Ralph, Felix, and the other
new characters as just that - new characters - it's again entirely up to
the movie to get you to like them. And it does a great job at it. The "new" video games are such convincing pastiches that I genuinely want to play those games. Will the actual released multi-console Wreck-It Ralph tie-in game do any of them justice? I...wouldn't count on it, sadly.<br />
<br />
To talk of it without spoiling much, I can say that I enjoyed it very much and I'm sure it'd make it onto the list of my top 5 favorite D52 if I were to make such a list, which I might. As a D52 movie, though, it's very...unlike the others. It's one of the funniest ones (the trailer jokes do not do it justice). It's surprisingly well-written...well, maybe not all that surprisingly given Rich Moore's Simpsons and Futurama cred. There are a lot of set-ups that pay off satisfyingly well later on. There's even one or two things that seem like an obvious set-up that end up not paying off, which I choose to take as an intentional red herring to keep you guessing what is and isn't a set-up. If that makes any sense. <br />
<br />
The music is also pastiche'd very nicely. WIR is another of those few Disney movies where none of the characters sing (party whooping and chanting not counted), so the underlying soundtrack seems that much more significant. I particularly appreciated Sgt. Calhoun's theme, which surely must have been inspired by the music from the Metroid games. And "Sugar Rush" is a little too earwormy.<br />
<br />
From the moment I saw the first trailer for the first time I was a bit skeptical that the movie would rely too much on simply making video game references for the sake of references (ahem, Scott Pilgrim vs the World), but it again parallels "WFRR!!" by indulging in a large dollop of recognizable characters (and some not-so-recognizable, to let the hardcore fans brag about being familiar with the obscure ones) near the beginning of the movie, but easing up on those references once it gets into the nitty-gritty of things. I appreciate that. It strikes a good compromise between appealing to the video game fans and appealing to those who would rather see new things. Heck, I think I like the new video game characters better than the "classic" ones.<br />
<br />
All in all.... I'm gonna rec(commend) it.<br />
<br />
S<br />
P<br />
O<br />
I<br />
L<br />
E<br />
R<br />
<br />
S<br />
P<br />
A<br />
C<br />
E<br />
<br />
The Toy Story movies are all great, but they still leave me with questions about the precise details of how things work in that universe. Like, what constitutes a toy, to the point where it's given a consciousness? In the third movie a keychain can talk. Also in the Toy Story Toon "Small Fry," there's a joke about a Buzz Lightyear Belt Buckle talking to a Zurg using only beeps..somehow. If someone fashions a paperclip into the shape of a bunny will it then be able to hop around when the humans aren't looking? How about a paper doll? What about Silly Bandz? Do they move on their own, and if so why not regular rubber bands? Where is the line drawn? At what point in a toy's assembly does it have a life? Was Mr. Potato Head able to see from his not-yet-connected eyes before they were packaged with his potato body? <br />
<br />
Similarly, I'm wondering a lot of things about Wreck-It Ralph. Why exactly do the "retro" characters look pixelated through the arcade cabinet screen though they're less blocky "in-person?" Maybe it's a distance thing? A perception filter? Can the characters only jump to other games on the same surge protector or could they travel even further down the electrical line to other buildings? As little as I care for sequels in general I feel like there are a lot of possibilities here. What happens if one or more Fix-It Felix Jr. cabinets share nearby power circuits? Would Felix be able to meet himself? Would they be different in any way? Maybe that would be too similar to Buzz Lightyear meeting another Buzz Lightyear. But how about this. Sugar Rush is basically two game cabinets hooked up to the same multiplayer capabilities, right? What happens if one player starts a Sugar Rush game and afterward another starts their own new game while the first is still playing? They would both be playing the same game at the same time but the Sugar Rush characters would be doing different things. So which cabinet has the "real" Vanellope von Schweetz? Speaking of VvS, how's an observation that I can only now make in a spoiler-warning zone: Vanellope is the newest and youngest Disney Princess. AND she's the only one without a love interest, isn't she?<br />
<br />
LATER THOUGHTS: It seems I was in the minority of those distracted by the SUBWAY brand cup in the arcade. It's one thing when real-life product-mentioning shows up in movies as a storytelling device - for which I believe NesQuik sand (I considered making a comic about how Felix Jr and Calhoun should've been really scared in that situation, since NesQuik was recalled recently, but who else but me would've gotten that?) and Laffy Taffy do indeed count, but there's no reason it couldn't have just been a generic cup. You just know the logo's only there because Subway had its Wreck-It Ralph promotion, and when a movie makes you think about how it's a movie, that crosses the line of distraction.<br />
<br />
Considering that really is the only complaint I can think of, and it's something that you probably didn't or wouldn't even notice yourself, so that's saying something.<br />
I'm already looking forward to the DVD release.<br />
<br />
<b>Favorite character: </b>I can't help but identify with Felix Jr.'s very square sensibilities.<b> </b><br />
<b>Least necessary character: </b>Why the heck does M. Bison get movie theater cardboard standing poster front-and-center billing? I think he may have had, like, one line, maybe, but I don't remember what it was. And Street Fighter is already represented in the same scene by Zangief (letting aside the issue of whether or not Zangief really is technically a "bad guy"), who at least provides some comic relief. <br />
<b>Overall: </b>This is exactly the kind of Disney movie that I've been wanting for .. as long as I've watched Disney movies .. and not even solely because it appeals to my video game fan sensibilities...though that does help.<br />
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<br />Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-1191298785326914532012-12-23T21:38:00.003-05:002012-12-23T21:38:38.680-05:00D52 - Week 51 - Winnie the PoohKevin<br />
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There's this annoying trend, fueled by the popularity of proliferation of computerized graphics, to adapt simple stories from picture books into full-length motion pictures. Meet the Robinsons was one. And The Polar Express. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. Where the Wild Things Are. The Dr. Seuss books. I can't think of one that I've seen and was happy with. Maybe Curious George, in that it didn't stink? The main problem is that almost all of them tend to pad out the story for the sake of making it long enough to be a theatrical feature. But surely if you aim to make a movie, the thing to do should be to make it as long as it needs to be, then feature it in a length-appropriate venue. Not the other way around. Take "How The Grinch Stole Christmas!" for example. The Chuck Jones adaptation tells the whole story in the amount of time that happily fits into a half-hour television slot. So why was a much, much longer version made late on necessary at all? Besides the obvious answer, anyway?<br />
What I like about 2011's "Winnie the Pooh" is that it makes an excellent example of what a movie made out of a simple story - or stories, rather, should be like. No matter that this one isn't directly based on a particular storybook. The point is it could be. I imagine there's a simple storybook based on this that you wouldn't have been able to tell was a movie tie-in.<br />
There isn't as much embellishment as <i>those other movies</i> tend to have, and the only padding present are jokes relevant to the story. They're reminiscent of Abbott & Costello routines and probably aimed at the audience young enough to not realize they're reminiscent of Abbott & Costello. The stories are simple, and the movie is fully aware that they're simple. It's very straightforward and I like that. If only more movies based on actual books were more like that. If I may digress a bit, my suggestion to the filmmakers who absolutely must adapt short children's books to the silver screen is: why not make a short feature compilation of it? Imagine not one but a series of Dr. Seuss 25ish-minute pieces, perhaps - and now I'm just fantasizing - each produced and directed by different talents, and ooh! in different media! A Steven Spielberg live-action motion-capture story followed by a Tim Burtony stop-motion one and then an anime and okkay I'm getting carried away now.<br />
<br />
I like the execution, as a children's movie, is what I'm saying.<br />
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Now, to compare "Winnie the Pooh" to "The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh." Here we still have multiple stories (Eeyore's tail, The Backsun, Owl's Memoirs, Pooh's Quest For Honey), but they all interweave with each other. I'm not sure whether I prefer this over the "one-story-at-a-time" approach. I didn't get as much of the "Pooh-overload" as I remember getting with TMAOWTP, but on the other hand not having one "main" story leaves the ending feeling a bit flat. When a short is as short as a short, a set-up without much of a payoff isn't as disappointing as one stretched through an entire feature. At least it's a relatively short entire feature.<br />
My main complaint, judging it as a Winnie the Pooh movie rather than just as a movie, is that it doesn't have enough of what I like about the original feature and the books on which they're based. It's something about the dialogue I can't quite put my finger on. It's not...unusual. Pooh mentions how he's a bear of very little brain, but it comes off more as a catch phrase that he has to say, and not much else he says is worded funnily like that. I just don't get the impression that the writers went through much trouble at all to copy the A.A. Milne writing style, which is a shame because that's my favorite part of Pooh stories. Oh, bother. It's more like they have this child-level story and are using the Hundred Acre Woods characters to tell it because, well, they're popular. I'm left to imagine: What would it be like if you took the same story and plot points but told it with entirely new and original characters? Would it be as "good?" Or what if this were the first time we had ever seen these characters. What would our impressions of them be then? Basically what I'm saying is Winnie the Pooh automatically gets a handicapped advantage for any of his movie on the merit that you already know what he's all about going into them. Same goes for Batman, by the way.<br />
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Man I'm going on too much for such a supposedly simple movie! I'll try to wrap things up.<br />
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The voice casting is....worth mentioning, certainly. Jim Cummings has earned his stripes as Tigger and Pooh, at least given that Sterling Holloway is no more. Is he a better Pooh than Stephen Fry? That...is a hot button issue surely. I believe I ruined Rabbit for Amanda when I answered her question about who voices him. Once you get the connection, it's hard to "un-hear." I approve of Craig Ferguson as Owl and double approve of Bud Luckey as Eeyore. I wasn't bothered by Christopher Robin's voice as much as the fact that he had whites of his eyes now.<br />
The music is very nice but nothing to be singing boisterously out the theater about. It's soothing and pleasant but not terribly catchy. But it doesn't really need to be for the purpose of the movie, which I guess is to wash over you rather than hook you in. Or something like that.<br />
Animation-wise, I'm not sure if the newer character animation is an improvement exactly - it's cleaner and crisper but not quite as charming. Everything else works well, though, as honey for the eyes.<br />
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The short of it is that it's a "cute" movie. It's so unassuming and inoffensive that I can't find anything <i>wrong</i> with it, unless I compare it to The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, which is even cuter and still more charming. It makes me wonder, what with all of these other Disney films being re-released in theaters, why the same treatment couldn't have just been given to Pooh in lieu of a new movie. It would certainly be worth introducing it to the many in the target audience who haven't seen it yet.<br />
But then still. If a new Pooh movie had to be made, and one had to be theatrically released, this is probably the best new Pooh movie without Sterling Holloway, the Sherman Brothers, or The Nine Old Men that you could hope for.<br />
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<b>Favorite character: </b>Maybe it's my perception affected by Bud Luckey's performance but it
seems Eeyore is more self-aware and intentionally(?) funny than in any
other "Pooh" feature. I liked his line to Tigger about how the best
thing about Tigger is that he's the only one. Good one, Eeyore.<br />
<b>Least necessary character: </b>Did Roo do anything other than act small and cute, a role already taken by Piglet?<br />
<b>Overall: </b>"Stuffed with fluff" is certainly an very appropriate theme.<br />
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<br />
Amanda<br />
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Doing an homage is one thing, but trying to add to an already well established franchise is something totally different. Winnie the Pooh walks a very very fine line here and well, being made of stuff and fluff, he's bound to swagger off course once in a while. <br />
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The simple truth is that it's just not the same. Don't get me wrong, it's cute, and it's well animated, and little children will love it, and it will be re-released by itself and with the first movie and perhaps even as a collection with the Heffalump Movie, Piglet's Big Movie, and A Tigger Movie. It will make a lot of money and keep baby things on the store shelves for the next decade and longer. But as far as artistic merit, is it destined to be a classic? That remains to be seen. For my taste, no. It has a lot of interesting changes some of which are necessary (casting for example) and some of which are perhaps mere oversight.<br />
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For me, there was a certain artistry of animation that was missing from this new installment. This is not to say that these new animators aren't up to snuff. If anything, they are perhaps more accomplished as they have had so many years of experienced teachers as well as a flood of new technology and techniques at their fingertips. Yet there is a certain way that characters moved and behaved in the older bits of film that felt more free, more childlike. Pooh's walk for instance: In his many adventures, he had a way of walking that looked almost as if a child was holding him and bouncing one foot on the ground at a time, but more recently he is much more agile. Piglet's stance for another: He always appeared to be just barely balanced in place, ready to be blown over or fall forward at any moment. Even the old, tattered stuffed animals in the original room looked quite a lot more loved than these newer, brighter, cleaner versions.<br />
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On the other hand, there's a story that continues throughout the movie. There's new interesting animation styles such as the chalkboard line art and even the glistening honey pools. There's the new idea of Christopher Robin growing up and going to school. What do toys do when the children are away? (Shh, I know, I know, slightly less new) Bah. I'm doomed to be conflicted by this one.<br />
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Favorite Character: Owl. Of all the new casting, I think that CraigyFerg did the best job at walking the line between a totally new character and a respectful homage to the original.<br />
Least Necessary Character: I dunno. Even though she's a knitter, I just wasn't totally sold on the idea of Kanga as a motherly figure to the clan this time around. There was a certain warmth and even a certain amount of intelligence missing this time around.<br />
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Overall: This was a silly ol' movie, but the kids'll love it.<br />
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<br />Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-20697606337025387592012-12-15T23:59:00.000-05:002013-03-06T18:17:10.551-05:00D52 - Week 50 - TangledKevyn Rider<br />
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Aww, I'm not as interested in writing about a movie I actually like a lot! Usually I latch onto the flaws, but...I'm not sure exactly what's wrong with ...OH! I remember now. There is one thing that really bugs me about this movie. But I'll save it for the end.<br />
Last week I talked about how "Princess & the Frog" seemed to embrace the old-and-even-older school style of Disney Princess movies. "Tangled" does a good job at retaining everything that makes those films enjoyable - such as the storytelling, vivid animation, catchy music, and engaging characters - and takes everything a step further by updating the sense of humor. Thankfully they're not updated in the <i>annoying way </i>(AFRO CIRCUS! BANA-NA! BANA-NANA! AFRO CIRCUS!). And the main characters equally have interesting and believable motivations and feelings. Flynn is humble enough to not come across as a complete Joey Tribbiani type, but yet cocky enough that he's not a bland Dave Seville/Prince Eric type. Rapunzel is a strong female figure and (wants to be) independent, but has perfectly understandable hesitations and doubts. Mother Gothel is a bit of a tricky one though. Has she, as a result of raising her, come to genuinely love Rapunzel after the fact of her manipulation? She may have evil motivations for keeping Rapunzel in the tower, but she's not evil to the point of beating her or starving her or depriving her of entertainment and nice things, and it's not like she <i>has </i>to be nice to her faux-daughter for magic reverse-aging's sake. I'm not saying any of this excuses what she's done, but it makes the idea of her character worth dissecting.When Gothel treats Rapunzel to her favorite hazelnut soup, is it really her favorite or has she just convinced her it's her favorite? If not for the kidnapping, inprisonment, lying, manipulation, and later on stabbing and such, could Mother Gothel have been the good guy? Maybe in an alternate fantasy where she doesn't steal Rapunzel away, she's just the best royal caretaker ever.<br />
So yeah. Great music, great art and animation, great characters, great story (for
one involving magic, at least), all packaged together quite nicely. So then what was it that I <i>don't</i> like about this movie? That one thing that bothered me enough that I drew a comic a year ago to address my complaint? Ideally my point came across well enough in it that I can just show you:<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGqeMFGv68hYUAMTcxbA7bhXsJ59sjMVrsCXYLft6bjchmjDD3xicgTGLGjVleLP65srWE5QZBC6UuTmcktN8yVNiJIbx30BPcBea0slHN5XuiuWX7rWUkSI5v0cYnI3gyC5XVukHN58/s1600/20111210.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img alt="I just can't seem to get his nose right!" border="0" height="237" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJGqeMFGv68hYUAMTcxbA7bhXsJ59sjMVrsCXYLft6bjchmjDD3xicgTGLGjVleLP65srWE5QZBC6UuTmcktN8yVNiJIbx30BPcBea0slHN5XuiuWX7rWUkSI5v0cYnI3gyC5XVukHN58/s640/20111210.jpg" title="IDGet comic from December 10, 2011" width="640" /></a></div>
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<b>Favorite character:</b> Max is best pony. Horse. Whatever.<br />
<b>Least necessary character:</b> I didn't need old in-his-skivvies dude. I'm going with my "A character isn't funny just because he's wearing nothing but his underwear" stance here. I would've been okay with Mother Gothel having gotten the necessary information from, oh, anyone else, so that he wouldn't have to exist.<br />
<b>DVD Bonus: </b>Part of what inspired this D52 project was the 50 Animated Features count-up on the Tangled DVD, which helped me realize, "wow, there really have been over 50, haven't there?" It's especially neat now to watch "the whole year" summed up in only a couple of minutes, and yet again notice how quickly the 80s come up.<b> </b><br />
<b>Overall:</b> If I were to nominate a best Disney Princess movie, this would quite possibly be it. It's a worthy contender with Beauty & the Beast, anyway. <br />
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As for my favorite D52 movie of all...well, we only have two left. Could there possibly be one I like even more of those two? Guess we'll just have to see, tee-hee!<br />
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Amanda Knows Best<br />
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Yay! Number 50! I'm so glad that the landmark 50th film in the Disney Animated Feature line-up is such a good one. But Kevin's right. Taking a good movie and explaining why it's good is an awful lot harder than taking a bad one or even just a flawed one and picking it apart. <br />
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Tangled offers an excellent opportunity to analyze what makes animation good to a layperson. Sure, the commentary tracks are always telling you what's hard technically (Hair, Fire, Water, Hair in Water, Explosions, Fabric, that sort of thing), but what about artistically? To my mind, it's taking an image and clearly expressing emotion and motivation. Here, it's best demonstrated by four nearly silent characters. Max and Pascal represent the very active and cartoonish end of the spectrum and the King and Queen are the most subtle end of the line. Both are acted brilliantly and for different reasons. The cartoonish animals dance a tricky dance between offering nothing but comic relief with their antics, and yet when they emote sincerely, it's still easy to relate. Contrarily the King and Queen are animated so subtly that I'd say they spend more time being nearly still than they do moving at all. The solemn stillness of their stance is enough to express one of the most complex emotions of the entire year. Fear of disappointment and renewed grief mixed with disbelief, relief, and joy. <br />
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As for the rest of the film, well, I've always been a fan of the Broadway Musical and this film would fit in with the best of them. The theatrics are staged as if it were live action, the lighting is dramatic and flourishy, and the music is as catchy as Menken has ever written. (In fact, this is the most memorable sing-along-able in nearly a decade for my taste.)<br />
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Favorite Character: Bruiser knits and so does Rapunzel... need I say more?<br />
Least Necessary character: I hate to copycat, but Cupid thug could have been pretty much anybody else.<br />
Overall: I LIKED IT. I really really liked it!<br />
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<br />Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-67888426997378621482012-12-08T23:59:00.000-05:002012-12-09T10:23:52.468-05:00D52 - Week 49 - The Princess and the FrogKevin<br />
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It's at this point in the D52 that Disney reminds me of Mega Man.<br />
The first side-scrolling Mega Man games were consistently well-made, but the main problem with Mega Man 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and to an extent 7 and 8, and maybe even X through X-however many X games there were, is that each of them was too similar to the previous one(s). I remember that being the only negative criticism of them at the time, that there were all essentially the same game. So it's no wonder that the Mega Man games took a different direction after 8. There was the RPG-ish one, a card-battle-system-thingy, spin-offs with Zero, and such. Whether or not those games were worse or better is beside the point here. The point is that time would pass and years later, Mega Man 9 would be released. And praised! What did all the fans love most about it? Why, that it was so much like all of those earlier ones, of course! I'm not saying there's anything wrong with this kind of reasoning; it just strikes me as funny. Basically this is what Disney has done with The Princess & the Frog.<br />
It's so obviously a call-back to the best of 90s Disney animated films (which themselves were partly call-backs to much, much earlier Disney animated films). It follows the formulas to such precision that it might well be taken as a <i>parody</i> of movies like Aladdin, Beauty & the Beast, and The Lion King. You got the handcrafted animation with a glowing quality (boy howdy does this one love glowing things), loveable and/or wise-cracking animal sidekicks, the corny sight gags, the peppy musical numbers, all that jazz. But I kind of like it for that, and imagine I would've appreciated it just as much if it came out while I was a kid (the movie wishes it was released back then). Could it be just because it's newer and it hasn't worn on me as much as The Lion King has? Surely it helps that it doesn't rely as heavily on the likeability of Robin Williams Genie as Aladdin seemed to. If anything it does follow everything the Disney "Renaissance" did right, while correcting those pesky annoyances. Imagine how highly I could praise it if Alan Menken and Howard Ashman wrote the soundtrack! Or, if I'm bringing up half-deceased dream teams anyway, what if Ashman and Menken collaborated with the Sherman Brothers? Too many cooks spoiling the broth....<i>or mind-blowingly amazing</i>?<br />
Even its characters are like DR era characters, in that they're clearly more substantial and interesting than, say, Snow White and the evil witch, yet still not quite perfectly fleshed out when you...yes, dig a little deeper. Let's take Tiana, who as a black Disney heroine suffers from the same fate as the Pochahontas Native Americans, in that they're all <i>too</i> politically correct to the point of being made <i>boring</i>. Every main character needs a flaw, and Tiana's flaw is that she works too hard. Oh, geez, what a horrible person! I'd hate to be or be around someone like that! I'm being sarcastic here. Maybe I'm missing something. I've seen this movie a couple of times already and I still can't put into clear times what exactly it is that Tiana learns by the end of it. She says aloud a vague epitome about knowing you have people who love you and loving them or something, but ...I don't know. From the beginning I never got the impression that she <i>didn't</i> appreciate her loved ones.They all seemed very happy with each other. She loved her father; her father loved her; she presumably loved and was loved by the others. Don't see any problem there. Maybe if we saw scenes of Tiana spending too much time working up until the point where her father died, and if she concentrated more on working towards the restaurant than actually spending time with him, then that I would get. But my interpretation was that she worked hard for the restaurant <i>after</i> he died, to honor his memory. I don't get what's flawed about that. Unless the movie was going for a lesson about coping with a loss by remembering the good times instead of focusing too much on what could have been? If so, it didn't do a good job at that. Another certain Disney-released movie a couple years later would pull that off much better...<br />
But if anyone can explain to me Tiana's lesson, I am all ears. In the meantime I can at least say that her co-stars at least had clearer flaws and motivations. Prince Naveen reminds me of Pépé LePew, but without the perviness. He's lead a charmed life but is at least willing to acknowledge it as a problem, openly confessing that he's never learned to do anything because of it. Oh, I don't know. He's learned how to dance and play the ukelele, at some point. That was probably after he left his parents, though, wasn't it? I can't imagine wealthy parents choosing the ukelele as the musical instrument to push their son to learn at as young an age as possible. So I figure, even if he had never met Tiana, he might have earned a living playing in a ukelele-and-banjo double act when he met another frog lazily strumming on a southern river. <br />
Would it be digging too deep into the race issue to notice that even the "bad" qualities any of the dark-skinned characters have are played up in a "good" way? What I mean is, is Prince Naveen lazy and arrogant...or is he relaxed and suave? Is Mama Odie crazy or just delightfully sassy? And the Shadowman is creepy, but in a <i>cool</i> way. I'm just wondering if, at any point, the character designers had a specific reason for Lawrence to be, um, not white. Could it have been to avoid having an irredeemable goofy doofus of a black guy? Was there anything wrong with Mulan having an Asian character as goofy as Chi Fu as long as he was outnumbered by respectable depictions? These as questions I do not expect to be answered, as I might be putting too much thought into it anyway.<br />
Skin color scrutiny aside, they're well-crafted characters. Facilier/Shadowman, as I said, is pretty darn cool. I think a prequel would be justifiable as long as it's about him. Ray the Firefly somehow manages to make a snaggle-toothed stalker very endearing. By the way, if you think a person pining after a love he's never met is weird, consider that he must've taken it upon himself to make up his own name for her, and call her that lovingly. "She's beautiful! I wonder what her name is. Hmmm...Evangeline? Yeah, that sounds good. How I love you, Evangeline." Hey, with Ray, it's okay, 'cuz awww, he's just this cute li'l guy.<br />
Speaking of glowing beautiful things, the animation is top-notch. I might've asked for a bit more stylization, but at least there's plenty provided with Charlotte (alternate voice casting of the week: Kristen Chenoweth)'s exaggerated mannerisms, Louis et al's hammy comedic distortions, and the various musical numbers. <br />
The music........well...it's Randy Newman, but at least it's Randy Newman as sung by people who aren't Randy Newman.<b></b><br />
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<b>Favorite character: </b>It must be Facilier, because I find myself wishing he'd been in much more of the movie.<br />
<b>Least necessary character: </b>Louis, you didn't do anything to help move the main story along in any way, did you? There was even a point about how Tiana and Naveen were going the <i>wrong way</i> because of you, which means you did the opposite of progress the story! You...you tag-along B-story you.<br />
<b>Overall: </b>A carefully calculated attempt at recreating thought-to-be-lost Disney magic that...actually does work very well. I'm glad it was made.<br />
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Amanda<br />
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Princess and the Frog wasn't a home run, but it was definitely a baseball game that your kid is in and you attend to support him, but it's at the varsity high school level, so it's still pretty competitive, and you still have a genuinely good time watching it, and it's hosted at the local pro stadium to help the athletic fundraising, so the parents are allowed to drink, and you get to have your whole family in a photo with the pro team's mascot, and it turns out great because they took all the pictures before the kids started playing, so they aren't all covered in dirt and sweat.<br />
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It's just one of those movies where the good so heavily outweighs the bad that you have to be a bit of a complete stick DEEP in the mud to really try and down it. It's not to say that the bad isn't there at all, mind you. I mean, the songs were all a bit repetitive and purile, but not all of Newman's work is going to be Toy Story (1) and at least he didn't sing them this time. There was the half a sentence of Emeril's cameo appearance that no one recognizes because it gets lost in the action of the moment. And for me, there was the homage paid to every New Orleans and Louisiana thing that ever was to the point that it becomes just cliche.<br />
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There. DEEP in the mud. Now then.<br />
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I'm intrigued by the villainous plots of Dr. Facilier. I find it interesting to think that he's not really the main villian here. It seems to me like his friends on the other side are the real bad guys and he's just a poor pawn for them trying to work off his debt and most unfortunately having to do bad things to be set free. He doesn't control them. They're just the mafia and he's just the guy that got in too deep with the bosses.<br />
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I also really enjoy the complete lack of "love at first sight" in this movie. Tiana and Naveen actually take what I see as the normal progression from strangers to friendship to love. And it's clearly not just a physical attraction like in Little Mermaid. They actually appreciate that each has something that would made the life of the other a little bit better. I enjoy the little couples' counselor they get in Raymond and the skewed but tender love that he has for Evangeline.<br />
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In generally I think that what they got right here that was lacking in a number of other recent flicks was the sincerity of the emotions that characters were feeling. Their reactions made sense if not to everyone else in the film, than at least to the audience and to themselves.<br />
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Favorite Character: Dr. Facilier... if only for his voice actor Keith David. Nooooice.<br />
Least Necessary character: The three swamp dudes. Did that third guy seriously have to be drawn with just two fingers? I mean, I'm sure it happens in real life in the bayou, but that seems like a rather bizarre distinction to make for his character. Why not just call him Mumbles? He did that too.<br />
Overall: I liked it. Eeyup. I did.Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-15800528057685672172012-12-01T23:59:00.000-05:002012-12-04T19:56:37.993-05:00D52 - Week 48 - BoltKevin (Molt*) <br />
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Plagiarism is a touchy subject. Sometimes you see two different peoples or companies create two different works within a certain time frame of each other and if there are enough similarities, it's easy to call "copycat." Remember when Dreamworks's Antz came out just a month before Pixar's A Bug's Life? Was one looking over at the other's desk instead of keeping their eyes on their own work? In most cases, unless it's completely obvious that one has the other's work in mind (like with "Kiara the Brave" and "Ratatoing" and those other shameless cheap CGI knock-offs), I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt. It's likely enough that Pixar and Dreamworks, both working with not-yet-perfected computer technology, both independently decided to create a movie using insects, since they'd make reasonably comfortable digital models - not having fur or hair, and all.<br />
But then there's self-plagiarism, which is interesting in another way. Sometimes it's intentional. Or do we think Nickelback actually believes their songs each sound completely different? It can also be unintentional, merely a result of lapse of memory. If you, for example, are a comic strip cartoonist, you might go through so many used and rejected ideas that you might end up reusing an idea for a gag without realizing until later that you had already drawn the same bit earlier on. You can only expect him to memorize so much of his own work.<br />
What I'm building up to here, is...<br />
How the heck did John Lasseter not realize he'd worked on this story before? Bolt is, in a nutshell, Buzz Lightyear. He incorrectly believes he is something that he isn't. A cynical forced road-trip buddy (who initially hates him but warms up to and becomes friends with him) directly tells him what he really is, but he's in denial until testing his powers to no avail. He goes through a period of self-doubt and sadness before ultimately accepting his "real self" and realizing that he doesn't need those powers to be important to his human. Also, Mittens is Jesse the Cowgirl: She tells her friend how much she resents humans because of the one that left her but later on finds a new human and figures, "Okay, yeah, I do like the comfort of a person."<br />
The parallels seemed awfully obvious to me. And I'm not saying Mr. Lasseter isn't allowed to reuse a major theme or two, but you would think he...wouldn't, if he was aware of it. The audio commentary for Up mentions that Russell was renamed from Lewis because of the release of Meet the Robinsons. And then later on there was the Pixar film not-to-be, Newt, which was scrapped possibly because of similarities to other companies' Rio and Alpha & Omega. So should Bolt have been canceled altogether had someone spoken up and said, "You realize, John, this is a lot like Toy Story and Toy Story 2? Remember, those blockbuster movies you spent years working on just a few years ago?"<br />
I don't know.<br />
I do think that, on its own, in a hypothetical TS/TS2-free vacuum, it works well enough. At this point (after seeing Wreck-It Ralph) I can say I've seen every D52 movie, and I do think this is the point where the gradually starts a new upward pull in overall quality. It's not exactly a classic, and there's not much about it that I feel I want to see for repeated viewings, but it's easily more engaging and fun than Meet the Robinsons, Chicken Little, Home on the Range, and Brother Bear. <br />
I am fond of the overall design and...aesthetic, if I'm using that word correctly? Bolt, the character, is cute but not too cute and still believable as a ruff-and-ready (I'm sorry. No I'm not.) action hero. The TV action scenes are campy yet would still be very watchable even if it was a real show (but man, imagine what its budget must be like!) and provide a fitting contrast to the "actual" dramatic scenes. While I didn't cry at the scene where Bolt feels betrayed, it does tug at me a little more than I'm comfortable admitting. Hey, there's some nice subtle animation work there.<br />
I don't have anything substantial to say about the music other than that Miley Cyrus sure does sing for it. That brings me to the voice casting. Which I'm afraid is a low mark of the voice. Miley, John, and Susie are just so...uninteresting, as far as voices go. Sometimes celebrity voice casting works wonders (I could go back to mention the Toy Story films). Other times, you think...hnm, no, your voice should've been a professional voice actor instead of a well-known actor. Looking on the bright side, at least Nicolas Cage wasn't one of the voices.<br />
In the end, is it good? Is it bad? It's in a weird grey area where I can't quantify its quality with an actual grade or rating. As it happens the Disney Channel was apparently showing Bolt over the Thanksgiving holidays, and that does seem a very apt place for it. It can appeal to anyone in the family, and if it doesn't appeal to you, have some more turkey and cranberry sauce and try again.<br />
<br />
<b>HOME STATE PRIDE:</b> Hooray! This is the first Disney animated (or general?) feature that undoubtedly takes place - albeit partially - in Ohio! Yaaay! Granted nothing particularly Ohiocentric is seen (aside from the state signage) or happens, and it really only serves as a rest stop for the characters. So I guess Ohio is a representative of...the type of place you would stop at for a little while before moving on to someplace more interesting? Erm. Anyway, GO BUCKS!<br />
<br />
<b>Favorite character: </b>I know Amanda is going to pick them too, but come on: The pigeons. They're funny simply by acting exactly how a talking pigeon should act. Also, hey. Since I was talking about accidental copycatism, have you ever seen the Goodfeathers segments from Animaniacs? You know, with the Brooklyn-accented pigeons who are involved in a mafia-esque arrangement? I mean, okay, it's only natural that pigeons from New York would talk like tough New Yorkers. But I can't help but notice that there are three: one green, one blue and one purple. And one of them is named Bobby...<br />
But if I had to pick someone else that Amanda isn't picking: The cutesy version of Rhino seen in the credits. You know, I think I'd like him even more if he was designed as a typically cute hamster. The idea of an adorable little bright-eyed hamster with that much gusto and fight in him - and named Rhino - is pretty dang beyawesome.<br />
<b>Least necessary character:</b> I love how much detail went into creating the fictional franchise of Waffle World, but I feel like the mascot, whatever its name is, was a wasted opportunity to make a unique fictional mascot, because he looks too much like Spongebob Squarepants.<br />
<b>Overall:</b> Though marred by an unshakeable sense of deja vu, Bolt carries itself well enough in its own right to prove that non-Pixar CGI Disney movies need not be complete wastes of good 1s and 0s.<br />
<br />
<br />
*oh man why wasn't there a pigeon self-parody a la Super Rhino but with one of the pigeons being called Molt<br />
<br />
<br />
Amanda (Knittin's)<br />
-------------------<br />
<br />
This is SOOOOO a family movie. You know that movie I'm talking about. That family gathering when everyone has chatted as much as they cared to and now they all want some silence but there are kids in the room so Fast and Furious 5 would have naughty language and everyone's feeling too relaxed to want explosions anyway and the game is already over.<br />
<br />
Wait are we experiencing Deja Vu? Yes, I'm talking about Thanksgiving just like Kevin did, but it's to prove a point. Just because the end result is the same doesn't mean you can't enjoy the somewhat different scenery. It's the exact reason that Dad sometimes hops in the car to go someplace familiar and says "Let's take the scenic route."<br />
<br />
The one key difference here is that Bolt unlike Buzz learns to love being himself whether there was a person to find or not. Buzz on the other hand realizes that he is only complete when he has a person to love him. Bolt chooses to go back to his person in order to make her happy, but it seems clear to me that the hamster, cat, dog trio would eventually have found satisfying happiness out on their own.<br />
<br />
Am I happy that they all came together as a family in the end? Sure. Do I think the same theme has been done better by other studios and in other ways? Sure. Does that mean I don't enjoy this particular scenic route? Nope. I like it just fine. I got to my destination. I only wish that I had a waffle at every rest stop on the way.<br />
<br />
Favorite Character: Yeah, Kevin read me right. The New York Pidgeons. I almost wish that all the animals were played with more animalistic motions instead of anthropomorphized. I see that head bob just a little bit, I just GET the character. Not another word needed.<br />
Least necessary Character: That agent. Let's just take his whole character and Pop. Put a pin in him.<br />
Overall: Utterly inoffensive and with lots of predictable cute, but it manages to pull it off. I liked it!<br />
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<br />Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-52560673965391997052012-11-24T23:59:00.000-05:002012-11-29T16:58:26.925-05:00D52 - Week 47 - Meet the RobinsonsKevin<br />
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<br />
So much nonsense.<br />
<br />
Where to begin. Um, first of all, I can pretty much just repeat what I've said about Chicken Little and The Emperor's New Groove. Here we have <i>yet another</i> movie whose overabundance of silliness undermines any attempt at eliciting emotional development of the characters. But I've hammered this annoyance before, so I'll talk a bit about Lewis. When you think about Disney/animated family movie character types, the first that come to mind are probably Princess, Prince, and animal sidekick "comic relief" buddies. But there's also a less "classic" one, the awkward nerd trying to fit in. Milo from Atlantis was one, Chic Lic was one, and to a certain extent some of the Disney Princesses like Mulan were too. But Lewis (who by the way reminds me of a young Alton Brown) is the special type that tries to be extra-cliché by constantly making wacky inventions that fail spectacularly. I start to wonder if this would be better or any different if the movie starred Gyro Gearloose. At least it would've made more sense to have a movie based on a comic book and TV series character than one based on a picture book with a picture book-quality story (Spoiler alert! It's all about finding grandpa's teeth and in the end one of the frogs has it. That's what the book is about). At least the picture book doesn't have any pretense of suggesting you should feel sorry for the characters in any way. I mean, I <i>kind of</i> like some of what they do with Bowler Hat Guy, and how his petty little grudge is comically played up (the scene where he convinces li'l Goob to let his hate fester and boil is the only scene I don't dislike) and if there was a character that I might consider maybe feeling sorry for, it would be him, and the mini-lesson - about not stewing in your past resentment or blaming other people but instead moving on with your life - would've been a more worthwhile and interesting lesson to focus on, rather than the lame reworking of the tired "If at first you don't succeed" proverb.<br />
<br />
By the way. Time travel story pet peeve: You can't show something happening in the past as if it's happening "while" the events of the present are taking place. If persons A and B are both in the present and person B leaves to time travel to the past and change its events, person person A does not witness those changes x seconds after person B left just because person B started changing things x seconds after B arrived in the past. I know it's just a storytelling and directing framing device, but it shouldn't be. Time does not work that way and we shouldn't be teaching our kids that it does.<br />
Speaking of revisiting the past, this movie sure does plead desperately for you to watch it twice, doesn't it? The first time you'll either feel lost or figure out the "twists" too easily and the second time you'll....well actually it isn't worth watching twice. Trust me; I've done it.<br />
<br />
Visually speaking, I bet you never would've guessed that this movie was originally released in 3D! Yeah, remember when 3D theatrical movies first "came back," just about all of them took advantage of the technology to the extreme by poking the audience and shoving things in their faces? I'm glad they've sort of eased up on that gimmickry since then. Because what they seem to forget is that when those same movies come to home video, those super-3D shots don't come across very well at all when we're not getting the effects of the glasses. You could make a drinking game out of it. 3D shots shots. Just seeing Carl the Robot will get you drunk.<br />
You know what this movie should've been? Or at least wishes it could be? One of those motion-simulator theme park movie rides. It already involves a flimsy storyline, a time machine being attacked by a dinosaur (just like Back to the Future: The Ride) and shameless 3D effects! And a lot of its time is spent showing you crazy stuff happening all around you for the sake of showing you crazy stuff happening all around you. It'd be perfect! I think I would appreciate it much more seeing it that way, largely because that means it would be a much shorter experience. You could even have the 4D sensory effects like smelling peanut butter and jelly (mmm, I like it better already) as it splats you in the face (actually just water).<br />
As for the music, it certainly was done by Danny Elfman, wasn't it? It's disappointing that the They Might Be Giants cover of "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" isn't heard in the movie or even in the credits, but at least it happened, as a result of this movie existing. And that might be my favorite thing about the movie period.<br />
<br />
Second-favorite thing: A giant squid attacks a tyrannosaurus rex face in the face.<br />
<br />
<b>Favorite character: </b>Tom Selleck. Not Cornelius, the character he voices. But Tom Selleck.<br />
<b>Least necessary character: </b>The coach character was not voiced by Patrick Warburton. He is therefore unnecessary.<br />
<b>Discussion topic to answer in the comments section: </b><u>For the ladies:</u> How would you feel if you met the younger (12 years old) version of your husband/fiancée/boyfriend? Uncomfortable? <u>For the gentlemen: </u>How you would feel if, as a 12-year-old, you met the future, adult version of the wife you didn't even realize you would have? Would it be weird if when you first met her, before knowing she would be your wife, you identified her as a mother figure so much that you blurtingly called her "mom?" Perhaps that wouldn't be any weirder than when current dads call their wife mom just because everyone else in the household does too? Also, is it acceptable for me to make some sort of joke using the line, "Are you trying to seduce me, Mrs. Robinson?"<br />
<b>Overall: </b>It's awfully fitting that Meet the Robinsons so proudly sings the praises of failure. Well, better keep moving forward.<br />
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<br />
Amanda<br />
--------<br />
<br />
Here's the thing. A Day with the Robinsons (the book) is a picture book classic partly because it doesn't have much of a plot. It's a picture book. It shows you some interesting and well drawn pictures. You can use your own imagination if you happen to like the pictures enough to expand upon them. Meet the Robinsons forces a story which is first of all hard to follow, second of all not particularly engaging, and worst of all grinding the imagination aspect completely out of the picture. There is so much fantastic (and I don't mean good) stuff always going on that you don't have time to try and use your own powers of creative thinking and so many rules to this universe that you would feel as if you needed permission for your whims in the first place.<br />
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I wish I had more to say about this movie. It's really not good. I didn't like it. It's incredibly forgettable and that's a good thing. It's so bland I barely remember anything about the music, the character designs, or the backgrounds except to passingly wonder why all buildings in the future are so faux art deco.<br />
<br />
I did enjoy the frogs. I don't mean the singing and music playing. It was cute, but too gimmicky for me to actually claim to lave liked it. What I liked was the group of frogs sitting at a bar telling bar jokes and talking like a bunch of swingers from the roaring 20s. The frogs had some serious personality! Then the movie tries to connect them to the plot somehow with the little mini bowler hat and that was the end of my joy.<br />
<br />
Favorite character: Frog.... but Tom Selleck is a close second.<br />
Least necessary character: Every single other family member besides Mom, Wilbur and the Grandparents.<br />
Overall: No sir. I didn't like it.<br />
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<br />Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-58354784769752280722012-11-17T23:59:00.000-05:002012-11-18T10:35:09.033-05:00D52 - Week 46 - Chicken LittleChicken Medium (Kevin)<br />
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<br />
Men, as a general rule, do not talk about their feelings much with their sons. This we can now see applies to roosters as well. It's the basic message of Chicken Little: there's tension between a son and father that could easily be resolved if they just take the first step to actually talk about it. Now this movie isn't beneath making fun of itself. It ends with Buck Cluck winkingly chipping away at the fourth wall by talking about a Hollywood movie - that would end up over-the-top and silly - staying true to the original story. But I have to wonder if this movie also realizes it undermines its own message of dealing with a problem head-on instead of avoiding it or getting distracted. Chicken Little, the movie, does that quite a lot. Just as you think it's going to use its time to develop the characters and build on the story, one of the many gag characters does a gag, or two or three. There are even some scenes where more than one joke is competing for screen time at the same time in the same frame. It's very gag-heavy, is what I'm saying. And there's nothing wrong with a stream of gags itself, but if you're going to be that gaggy, movie, you can't also spend little time with the characters' emotions and play up those moments as if we're supposed to genuinely get choked up or something. One or the other! You can be a Lilo & Stitch with sentimentality and not push the comedy too hard or you can be an Airplane! and go crazy with comedy because you don't expect the viewer to get invested in the story. I might let you try to do both if you were a long-running television series that adds character depth gradually over a long period of time, but for a movie, no. <br />
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This being the very first entirely-computer-animated (uh, that Indiana Jones clip doesn't count) non-Pixar Disney film, I've gotta talk about the animation. I don't think it holds up quite as well now as The Incredibles does, sorry to say. Frankly it gives me "Jakers" vibes. Not that it looks as bad as Jakers, but that it has that look that gives you the impression that it is meant for children. Though I don't imagine many kids would appreciate an admittedly amusing Gloria Gaynor reference. Or maybe it's "Jimmy Neutron" vibes too. In that it probably would've looked better if it had been done in 2D hand-drawn in the first place.<br />
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The music, aside from the score, is mostly covers or original recordings or already well-known songs. Its original song, "One Little Slip," as performed by Barenaked Ladies, sounds like an obligatory "celebrity cover of the single from the movie," except it actually is in the movie as performed by them, which is weird. I don't know how else to explain what I'm saying there, so I hope it made sense. Also, it's normal now to hear a clip from a song like "It's the End of the World as We Know It" played for the trailer despite not actually being in the movie itself, but here it really is in the movie, and that's weird. That moment feels like the movie turned into its own trailer, or something.<br />
<br />
One of the fascinated things about the movie is that in one scene we see the animals of this animal town watching a very live-action Raiders of the Lost Ark starring famous human Harrison Ford. I'm sure the weirdness of that is intentional. Do you suppose humans exist in the same universe but just not in that town? Or maybe this is an alternate universe where their Raiders of the Lost Ark is really just staged by animals with ultra-realistic (to us) sets props and people costumes. Also, other celebrities are referenced, some directly. Are they humans too, or are there also animal versions of our same celebrities? I like Amanda's answer to my question of what animal Barbara Streisand would be: obviously, a sheep. And we collaborated to decide that in Chicken Little's world, "We Are the Champions" was written and performed by QueenBee, the main singer being Freddie Workerbee.<br />
<br />
<b>Favorite character:</b> Abby Mallard strikes me as the most down-to-Earth (pun intended? not really) character, and surprisingly hinged for one voiced by Joan Cusack. <br />
<b>Least necessary character: </b>As camera-pandering as Fish Out of Water is, at least he's relevant to the story. Morkupine Porcupine doesn't mug as often, but he also has no purpose aside from forced laughs.<br />
<b>Trivial wondering: </b>Oakey Oaks has the money and technology for modern-day automobiles and movie theaters and television and film crews, but sticks to hiring a chameleon for traffic light duty. This gets more perplexing when we see a standard light-operated walk/don't walk sign<b> </b>a little later on. Maybe...that first traffic light was broken and Chameleon Lameleon was just filling in temporarily? But wait. Does he get a funny name like that? He was awfully un-anthropomorphic, wasn't he? Is he not allowed clothes? Two legs good, four legs bad?? Speaking of clothes, feathers and fur aren't enough to cover your nudity, but if you're a wooly sheep your natural covering is good enough.<br />
<b>Even more trivial wondering: </b>How would you shorten Chicken Little's name? Chi Li? Chick Lit?<br />
<b>Overall: </b>I'm going to go ahead and assume that if Walt Disney were alive to see Chicken Little, he would be fascinated by this new and amazing audio-animaputer technology but wouldn't be all that happy with the results of how it's used here.<br />
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At least there's a great big beautiful next week, right?<br />
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<br />
<br />
Amanda Hu-MAN....Duh. <br />
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I'd be lying if I said I hated Chicken Little. It just didn't do enough to <span class="st">elicit </span>much of a response in the first place. It's no wonder CL fell of the radar as quickly as it did.<br />
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At a time in animation when any studio aside from PIXAR hadn't the computing power to make a visually impressive film and when in the box office it was competing against such huge names as Harry Potter 4, Chronicles of Narnia, Brokeback Mountain, and Star Wars III, Chicken Little seemed to be little more than a caretaker film for the Studios.<br />
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The story was nothing at all like the inspiration piece and yet as much as it had changed, it wasn't particularly inspired anyway. Corny gags overshadowed character development leaving a cast that was little more than a list of cliches. Plot points and even most of the gags in this new version of the story were predictable to the point that I found myself groaning before they happened.<br />
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Did you ever watch a movie and recognize trailer lines and find them to be slightly misaligned with the rest of the theme or atmosphere of the scene or perhaps the whole movie? Chicken Little felt a bit like pasting together 20 or 30 trailers. None of them really fit together that well, all of them were over-the-top and hard to relate to, and the score was brash and overshadowing with hard starts and stops that take you out of what little story there was to begin with.<br />
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Favorite Character: Abby Mallard. While she is a visual cliche, she had the most character depth... even if it did dissipate after a forced-romantic semi-climactic moment. Honorable Mention: Adam West. At least Mr. West sticks with what he does best.<br />
Least favorite character: Foxy Loxy. We get it. Chicken Little is an easy target for bullies. You need to calm down. Geez.<br />
Overall: I was unaffected and I will have forgotten 90% of the plot points by the time we watch the next film. If you choose to watch it, I bet you'll forget about it pretty quickly too.Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-66027060737658607862012-11-10T23:59:00.000-05:002012-11-10T23:59:00.189-05:00D52 - Week 45 - Home on the RangeKevin's Little Post of Heaven <br />
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Yeah, you're gonna hear a discouraging word alright.<br />
<br />
But first, I want to talk about a certain Chickeny movie. No, not Chicken Little. That's next week. I'm thinking of Chicken Run. It used to be one of my favorites movies back when it first came out. Watching it again just a couple of years ago, ah, not quite so stupendous but easy to appreciate. See, in Chicken Run, the motivation of the characters is driven by their desire to not live on that chicken farm. The main bummer is that every once in a while one of them - the one not producing enough eggs - gets killed. The danger is amped up when their owner is inspired to focus on the larger profit potential in using the lot 'of 'em for chicken pies. I was never sure what she planned to do after she'd run out of chickens to make into pies, especially since she'd spent money on an elaborate pie-making mini-factory, but that's neither here nor there. I mention this because this is one way to make a movie about what life must be like through the eyes of livestock. While just about all of the jokes seem super-cornball now, the story structure works in basically allowing one to feel sorry for the characters. It's a believable enough set-up with emotions one can relate to ... er, in that if I were a farm chicken I wouldn't want to be fattened up to be killed either and would jolly well like to live free, if I may.<br />
<br />
Then there's Home on the Range. It's the opposite, in even more ways than that cows are the opposite of chickens. Whereas the chickens didn't want to live on a farm because they feared being killed, the cows really want to continue living on their farm because they...<i>won't<b> </b></i>be killed there. Sorry for being overly cynical, but...farms do not work that way. I mean, okay, farms in cartoons and other family-friendly outlets can work that way. They do all the time. I'm sure Old MacDonald can have a farm and on this farm he does not slaughter a cow, E-I-E-I-O. So, I'll allow the very idea of the idyllic farm where the farmer dances with the animals and everyone's happy every day. However. We then have to look at the conflict. Farmer Pearl is confronted by debt collectors and needs to pay back money or lose her farm, and all I can think is, no kidding she's in debt! Her farm is only a half-acre and she's way too attached to her animals! How the heck does even expect to make money? I'm surprised she can even grow enough crops to even raise her animals, much less sell any of it for a profit, on that dinky little estate she calls heaven. Plain and simple, she does not know how to farm. She does the opposite of everything you're supposed to do to have a successful farm. She probably pours oil all over her plants, or something.<br />
This is why the perfect farm scenario can be a repetitive children's song or even a strangely addictive video game series, but not really a movie. Now that I think of it this is just like the plight of Sykes in Oliver & Company that I wrote about back then. It's hard for me to root for Pearl because I find myself questioning the way she got into debt in the first place and what she's going to do if - no, WHEN she goes into debt again. <br />
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It's not that all of this makes it a bad movie. I just find I'm not able to relate to it on any level, and I'm not sure who would. You could say it's not really about farm life and that's it's really about family, but Lilo & Stitch did that theme much better anyway.<br />
<br />
Plot difficulties aside, there are some things to appreciate here that make it not quite as unbearable as I prejudiciously expected it to be. The songs and music are quite good, but then again with Alan Menken responsible that's no surprise. I would say they're a little <i>too</i> good for these characters that I don't care for. My favorite part is easily Alameda Slim's yodeling song. As far as Disney villains - or even quirky Disney villains go, that's a pretty inventive quirk right there. There's not much to say about him when he's not yodeling, but man. <br />
And anyway a bunch of stuff happens and then there's an action scene that takes place on a mine cart because you just have to given the setting and it makes you wonder if there were hopes for a spin-off theme park ride in the works.<br />
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<b>Favorite character: </b>Steer Dad. <b>mm-HMM</b>. Sorry, bit of inside joke there, couldn't resist.<br />
<b>Least necessary characters: </b>Those two vultures seemed a bit could-ve-been-dropped-to-the-cutting-room-floor to me.<br />
Sidenote: Before seeing the movie I saw the character design for
Alameda Slim and immediately assumed he would be voiced by John Goodman.
Was shocked and surprised to not hear Goodman's voice as I watched it,<b> </b><br />
<b>Overall: </b>While the characters and story aren't charming enough for me to recommend this with enthusiasm...some good music, musical sequences and surprisingly funny jokes (I liked that one gag with the fly, hey, whaddya want from me) are some reasons to suggest at least actually watching it before calling it a good or bad movie.<br />
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<br />
Amanda's Word Harvest<br />
======================<br />
<br />
I'm pretty bummed that this wasn't a hit. Home on the Range is one of those movies that had a lot of potential. Like the still making toys out of it potential that Pixar's Cars had and yet it juuuusssttt missed the mark.<br />
<br />
Home on the Range had an awful lot going for it. The animation looks amazing and yet with a certain amount of stylization that allowed it to fit in well with the Disney aesthetic and yet still have its own identity. The backgrounds are gorgeous and saturated and still capture that sort of rosie nostalgia that most Americans feel for the old west.<br />
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The music is spot on. We all expect it from Alan Menken of course, but the lyrics and performances all came together to fit the theme, enhance the plot and generally give you a good solid background for the rest of the production.<br />
<br />
I think the movie falls flat because the characters are either cliche or insufferable. I mean really, when has anyone ever really cared about the plight of Roseanne Barr? She is essentially playing herself in this role (burn) and because she never sounds sincere or even really emotes all that much to begin with, it's hard to like her. Mrs. Calloway has a fabulous voice actress in Dame Dench, but she's such a static character and never does stay true to character. Even worse, her character is constantly trying to convince everyone and herself that giving up is the best option. How unlikeable is that? Grace (Tilly) is at best well played, at worst cliched, and most unfortunately doesn't stay true to character either. There is a gag in which Grace as the supposedly airheaded one makes a concise speech about their goals and everyone is astonished and perhaps that would have played, but just having a breathy voice isn't enough to convey airheaded. And don't get me started on Buck. His frantic, squealing, karate shouting, hopping around was a) not funny, b) utterly unnecessary, and c) way overplayed. The only consistently likeable character is the Villain, but we get stuck with everyone else.<br />
<br />
The story isn't the best I've ever heard, but it's straightforward and
gets a lot of business in without meandering around too much. It's
never confusing and still has a couple of interesting twists. My only beef is that Lucky Jack was a bit of a Deus ex Machina in that he shows up out of nowhere and though portrayed as accident prone seems to be the most competent one of the group.<br />
<br />
<br />
Favorite Character: Alameda Slim isn't the best Disney Villain, but he's generally entertaining and I can't dismiss a good yodel.<br />
Least Necessary character: BUCK. UGH. If you have a child who is so young that they can't follow a plot, then he's probably that child's favorite character with all his zippy zany zooming around, but I suspect the rest of the family will hate him.<br />
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Overall: I don't hate it. It's worth it for the beautiful background art and the too-good-for-this-movie music. Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-92127921317345565542012-11-03T23:59:00.000-04:002012-11-04T23:05:35.419-05:00D52 - Week 44 - Brother BearBr'er Kevin, of the Rooster Totem<br />
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Oh boy! It's only a couple of weeks until Pixar's "Brave" comes out on DVD! Now there was a movie about being magically transformed into a bear against your will that I would like to see again. This one, not so much. I didn't find it particularly annoying, but...well, if I were a hacky newspaper movie critic, I might go so far as to use the phrase "Aurora BORE-ealis."<br />
Really, it's pleasant enough but just not <i>engaging.</i> It's like in Dinosaur, where I get what's going on but I'm just not captivated by it at all. At least it looks better than Dinosaur. And the humor is not as unfunny.<br />
It's hard to describe what exactly it supposed to be going on emotionally through Kenai's* journey. First he's annoyed by Koda, and if you know your movies you know he'll warm up to him eventually. And he does, through a music montage. And you think, well, that was sooner than I thought. But then they get in a fight again. And now Kenai hates Koda. But they make up quickly after looking at a painting. Are you guys friends or not? Make up your mind and stick to it! Then there's the "yeah um I kinda may have sort of murdered your mom sorry about that" speech and Koda is understandably upset, but gets over it surprisingly easily. Man, he is the KING of forgiveness.<br />
Now for my biggest nitpick about the alleged lesson of the movie. Kenai learns about looking at things from the bear's point of view instead of seeing them as murderous monsters or whatever, and that's all fine and dandy sure. But in the salmon run chapter, we see the bears killing and eating fish, and doing in such delight that the young ones laugh while making hand puppets out of the fish's heads! What kind of horror show is that? I know that there is a Brother Bear 2 and I have no idea what it's about, but if the filmmakers have any respect for addressing hypocrisy, it had better be the tale of a young bear who callously plays with fish corpse heads before he is spiritually transformed into a salmon. He would then realize who the real monster is, and so forth and such and yada.<br />
Now to talk about Rutt and Tuke. I'm not crazy about them as they're written in the actual movie. But man, I have a soft spot for their DVD commentary! Maybe it's because I'm partial to cornball ad-libbed humor (I wonder how much of it is off-the-cuff? I hope most) like that, and also the very idea that they got through the whole thing on consistent steam. Some of it is dumb, but some is funny and plays to my dumb-pun sensibilities. Such as:<br />
"Well if you go to the liquor control board of Ontario, they have wine and spirits. And you can talk to the spirits."<br />
Considering that they managed to "riff" a family-friendly movie with only family-friendly jokes, Thomas and Moranis did a bang-up job at that commentary track. I'm gonna go ahead and say I prefer the movie with that audio track on. After all, you still get the beautiful imagery and animation, but with better jokes. I've listened to it twice (once years ago, before I had even seen the movie proper) and would listen to it again. And I'm slightly proud to say it.<br />
<br />
<b>Favorite character: </b>Hearing Greg Proops talk uncharacteristically lovey-dovey was, for me, the funniest part of the movie.<br />
<b>Least necessary character: </b>The chipmunk is supposed to present this idea that Kenai should be surprised to see a squirrel terrified of him because he doesn't realize he's a bear yet, but the chipmunk would freak out the same, maybe even moreso, at a hunter, wouldn't it?<br />
<b>Trivia: </b>Another Pixar comparison. That I Spy bit where Rutt or Tuke (who cares which is which) "spies" a tree over and over sure is similar to Dory's "small and orange" bit from Finding Nemo, isn't it? Finding Nemo was released first, but only six months prior, so accusations of plagiarism might be stretching it. But I do think it worked better in Finding Nemo, since the joke there was that Dory was instantly forgetful and the ocean was mostly empty where they were too. In Brother Bear, Rutt/Tuke is just being...stupid? Or intentionally annoying?<b> </b><br />
<b>Overall: </b>Eh, eh?<br />
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*Does Kenai mean anything relating to his character? If not, it's a wasted opportunity that the guy whose totem is an eagle wasn't named Kenai instead, thereby making a pun on "keen eye." Ah well.<br />
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Something Amanda<br />
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I'm going to be uncharacteristically concise for this one.<br />
<br />
Brother Bear looks beautiful. The music isn't bad, but it's also not nearly as memorable as Collins' previous work in Tarzan. The voice acting was good considering what they were given. I love Rick Moranis, but the rest of the movie doesn't really send me. <br />
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Oh and by the way, Koda was way more annoying than cute. However, he did look really cute, and that sort of bothers me because his mother (for whom we are supposed to have sympathy) is by a wide margin the ugliest bear of all. I get that you want her to look monstrous for the first act, but couldn't you gussy her up a little for the sentimental climax? Ugh.<br />
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Favorite Character: I dunno. Uh. Silent Mammoth busses.<br />
Least Necessary Character: Oh, let's say... um... Estelle Harris<br />
Overall: I wasn't completely bored out of my mind, but I don't really remember all that much about it now that it's over. At least it looked pretty. Would it be wrong to suspect that it was one of those caretaker movies that's put into production just to make sure the animators and clean-up crew still know what they're doing?Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-91442626159608984062012-10-27T23:59:00.000-04:002012-10-27T23:59:00.143-04:00D52 - Week 43 - Treasure PlanetAmanda's Loot<br />
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Treasure Planet is what happens when you take a classic that has been beloved by generations, and retold hundreds of times on film and on radio, and try to change all the parts that make it a classic in the first place.<br />
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Treasure Island was written in the mid 19th century about the 16th or 17th century. To me part of the draw is that the characters were living in a semi-primative time that was more violent, more simple, and colored with the kind of nostalgia of those who have only lived it through tales from an older generation. I get the same feeling when watching black and white reruns of I Love Lucy, but certainly not when the setting is of an unknown future. This is not to say the future isn't cool and interesting, but it doesn't give me the sense of glowing familiar adventure that I hope for through this sort of story.<br />
<br />
Treasure Island had a much more sympathetic main character in Jim Hawkins. A poor kid who lost his father and dreams of helping his family and just gets roped into a big adventure. Treasure Planet's Jim may have been introduced as a bright eyed kid with big dreams, but when we meet him as we will have him for the remainder of the film, he's a teenage ruffian who is breaking the law and being hauled to his house by law enforcement! I don't want to root for this kid! I want him to go to Juvie and pay his debt to society! He doesn't deserve a fun adventure! Also he easily has the worst haircut I've ever seen on any Disney character ever. How does combining a "seagull" and a "rattail" possibly result in something attractive? It doesn't.<br />
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I'm also quite a bit concerned about our so called "villain." It's one thing to portray someone as good just to pull a gotcha in the end, but in Treasure Island, John Silver is found out as bad and stays that way to the end. In Treasure Planet he goes bad, goes soft, is still bad but gets set free. I just can't get behind this. Not only that, it really adds to my dislike of the hero character. He really ought to have turned him in. A Disney Hero ought not have such gray ethics at the end of the movie. At the beginning, sure, he's still figuring things out, but at the end A Disney Hero doesn't set a proven murderer free.<br />
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And as for Ben Gunn....Good Lord, Martin Short. I know you pretty much can't portray any character without making him eccentric and spastic, but this has got to be the least likeable portrayal I've ever seen you do. Stop trying to be funny because it's just too painful and annoying to watch. Why can't you go back to the late 80's and be a little more sincere? You were both funnier and more likeable then.<br />
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As for the structure of the movie, well, I'm glad that the plot was easy to follow. However, it must be said that there is a very fine line between a montage and a music video. Treasure Planet does not know where that line is.<br />
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Favorite Character: Ugh. I guess Morph was cute-ish.<br />
Least necessary character: Flatulence Alien. WAY overused. Mind you, this is coming from someone who is utterly utterly comfortable with her own bodily functions, so to say that FA was too much really ought to tell you something.<br />
Overall: Read the book and culture yourself, because watching this movie sure won't. Only for completionists.<br />
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Kevin's Treasure<br />
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Treasure Planet has a lot of good ideas going for it, but good ideas alone do not always a good movie make. I like the idea of John Silver being "updated" to have cyborg parts, his "bird" being a physical-and-audio mimic alien, the map being a... a whatever it was. There are many good ideas, but those ideas aren't used very well. In the book, Jim is warned of a one-legged man, and when John Silver, a man with one leg, comes into the picture, you figure, "Ah, hmm, that must be the guy." because you have a rough idea of how uncommon one-legged men are. In this movie, Jim's warned of a cyborg, and you see a cyborg guy, and...well you assume he's the guy because you figure that's what the movie's trying to tell you. But I find myself thinking at the back of my mind, "In this alternate science fiction fantasy, how common <i>are</i> cyborgs? There's all manner of aliens and such, and a lot of weird out-there technology, so maybe when Silver talks of so many other cyborgs around, it's not much of a stretch? As Amanda mentioned in the Atlantis review, when you want to use an incredibly fantastic fantasy world, the trick is in making the rules and history of that world clear near the beginning of the story. Treasure Planet latches us with a probably fascinating setting of a leash but yanks us with it, dragging us along non-stop while giving us a rushed tour of it all. At the climactic end Jim Hawkins seems to be done for as he falls down a pit on his jet board that he can't seem to be able to restart, but saves himself by reigniting it from the sparks of the wall and - well, even putting aside the Mythbusteretics of whether or not this could work this way... was I supposed to realize the thing worked on a fire ignition system? For all I know it was just a lawn mower type of start-up. Granted you need a fire somewhere to get a jet blast, but then again there's all of that glowing orb and portal technology that just exists and - well my point is, when he restarted his board, I think the movie expected me to think, "That Jim is clever and quick-witted! He figured out how to create the required sparks for his impromptu jet surfer under pressure!" but what I thought was, "How is he going to .. oh. I guess when he does that, the thing works that way." <br />
And speaking of technology, isn't it funny the way things in the TP world are so advanced that people use holographic story devices and projection orbs instead of paper but haven't gotten past a more complex form of rope than...just plain ol' rope? And how the spaceship has the expense and technology to propel itself and create an artificial gravity but passes on any form of automated dish-washing system? It is funny, but in the sense that I hope it's intentionally meant to be funny. So maybe it's not all so bad if you look at it as a "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" or "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter"-esque outrageous retelling. But even then I think I'd still even rather choose Tim Curry and Muppets.<br />
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<b>Favorite character: </b>The narrator. Heck, can't I just listen to Tony Jay read Treasure Island instead?<br />
<b>Least necessary character: </b>Was there any helpful help provided by BEN that the others wouldn't have been able to do themselves?<br />
<b>Overall:</b> Have you ever had someone describe a dream they just had the night before to you, with such excitement that you feel you should be excited for them about it too? But they're so excited that they include unnecessary details? And you can't quite find it as interesting as they seem to, even though you know the events of the dream should be exciting by their very nature? Treasure Planet is like that. <br />
Amanda (loves Kevin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02993486692974361138noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-25355846406402554972012-10-21T18:40:00.001-04:002012-10-21T18:40:56.521-04:00D52 - Week 42 - Lilo & StitchExperiment K114<br />
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I cared much for this one. <br />
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Stitch is an interesting character, not just as a movie character, but as a merchandise character. I just find it interesting how often you see him on stuff. Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, they've been around forever; that makes sense. Princesses, very understandable. Winnie the Pooh and friends, okay. Pixar characters. And then there's Stitch. It just seems odd because I never got the impression that the movie Lilo & Stitch was a huge enough breakaway everlasting hit that would warrant still seeing his face on stuff ten years later. But now that I've actually watched the movie in full, I do find myself with a strange desire to have some small representation of Stitch, like a keychain or something. Maybe a fluffy one. But that would be silly. No, a pin. That's more manly and grown-up.<br />
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The film just hits me in just the right ways from start to finish. There seems to be a running theme in this blog of deeming not-actually-princesses to be Disney Princesses, and it would be easy to do that here too. You still get a character who finds he* wants more in his life, and he ends up falling in love with the first person he meets (though despising the interest at first, which would be the thing to do for a couple of future Disney Princesses), it's just that in this case it's family love. <br />
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I love the character designs, from the inevitable far-out aliens to the cherubic humans. And the scenery does a great job of selling Hawaii as a place that people call home, whereas usually it's only seen in travel documents as a heavenly vacation spot. I mean, it still looks like a great place to be, but at least L&O acknowledges that the beaches can get crowded (unless you happen to have an alien to scare everyone away) and that you might see big dudes in tiny swimwear (at least Lilo can find appreciation in it). Try to find those things in the glossy brochure photos (big entertainer locals in swimwear do not count). And I'll always take cartoonish science fiction* over the straight-forward kind, because it makes it easier to overlook things like sound in space and how exactly all of the aliens besides Stitch were able to communicate with the Earthlings. And..was Stitch always able to understand English, and just not able to speak it well until learning it, or did he not speak much until the end because he was trying to learn, or...nope, no. I won't get into that.<br />
I do love that I get to see the complete opposite of the alien-destroying-a-huge-city cliché. And the way playing against that cliché is a vital part of the plot itself. And the way the humor just happens to hit the sweet spot of my character-based humor sensibilities. It's a nice break to get characters who happen to be funny, rather than ones who come across as deliberately playing for laughs at the screen. And blending that humor with the moments that need to be taken seriously. I don't want to hype it up too much as to say it's a perfect movie, but it might just be an example of <i>my</i> perfect movie.<br />
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I'll go ahead and embarrass myself here. Bambi was sad, but...maybe because I knew what was coming, I wasn't terribly fazed. Dumbo, more depressing than tear-jerking. But Lilo & Stitch, man. Maybe it was because I didn't expect it to be that emotional (spaceships! creatures! hula dancing!), but it actually got to me. Lilo and Nani have a believable relationship and react to each other in an appropriately believable way. And even though I've had no outside experience with any experiment 626s, I'm strangely convinced that that's how one really would deal with his own emotions in that scenario. As odd as that sounds. So his struggle to find his Ohana is surprisingly compelling. It beat against the tear ducts, and I could've held it together, if not for that one line that broke my "I will not tear during a cartoon alien movie" barrier:<br />
<i> "I hear you cry at night."</i><br />
~stream~ OH GOD that's so sad. Why'd you have to go there, movie? He...he...I'm gonna need a moment.<br />
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~deep sigh~<br />
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So, how about that music, huh? The soundtrack isn't as all Elvisy as I was expecting it to be, not that it would necessarily be a bad thing if it was. Elvis Presley-heavy would still be better than, say, Phil Collins-heavy. Yeah, I should stop bagging on Phil Collins. But hey, how about that Alan Silvestri? That's pretty much the only thing left for the movie to seem tailor-made for me: Hire the guy who also did the soundtracks for four of my long-standing personal favorite movies, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and the Back to the Future trilogy. I feel like I should personally thank the producers for that, on top of everything else.<br />
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I was preparing to and hoping to enjoy this movie (based on what I already knew about it), and I was not at all disappointed - I enjoyed it more than I thought I would. If I had to come up with anything negative to say about it....hmmmm. How about....Nani's thighs are distractingly hefty.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Favorite character: </b>How often have I voted for a title character? I feel like I should stitch some sort of counted cross stitch Stitch.<br />
<b>Least necessary character:</b> I like David, but he doesn't get to do much.<br />
<b>Overall:</b> Lilo & Stitch joins The Hunchback of Notre Dame in my D52 Movies I Wish I Had Seen Much Earlier list, though for different tonal reasons.<br />
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*He's called a "he" throughout, but if he's a completely unique species with no relatives, isn't Stitch basically genderless? Or does Jumba create his experiments with a gender in case he plans to breed them with other creations? I expect this is addressed in one of the sequels, none of which I have seen yet?<br />
**By the way, I count Star Trek TOS as cartoony science fiction. Some of the time. But not the actual animated series. That's just hard to watch at all.<br />
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Amanda's Galactic Treatise<br />
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Lilo and Stitch falls very squarely in the unlikely winner category. Recent Disney movies up until this point have been lackluster, without focus, confusing, forgettable and so forth, so thank goodness for Stitch, because it's the Disney Savior of this generation. It's about darn time someone got around to making a movie that he or she would want to watch instead of trying to pander to the crowd. I guess what this movie has going for it that the last handful of films did not is sincerity.<br />
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Suspend your disbelief enough to accept that aliens exist, can speak English, and are hiding among us and you open yourself up to a very giving and vibrant piece of work. I'm thrilled that the makers brought Hawaiian culture to the masses in a way that wasn't so hokey and tourist mongering. They really managed to make something interesting without being insulting to the native people and without going too far with the political correctness and so ending up incredibly bland (Pocahontas team, I'm looking at you!)<br />
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The tiny family of Nani and Lilo is believably represented and just as believably broken, and yet the hurt and confused love that they share feels as real as anything you would experience in real life. Everyone can relate to the fear of uncertainty that Cobra Bubbles' presence represents. And Stitch is as touched by Ohana as anyone who has ever felt loneliness could be. <br />
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And yet as heavy as the themes are, there is somehow plenty of room for humor. Pleakley's obstinate rule following is a bit of a joke at the expense of the government. Stitch's Elvis impersonating feels to me like a good hard jab at pop culture's constantly changing (and yet still somehow static) view of "a model citizen." Even David as a cliche lovestruck kid is good for a few laughs. And really, who doesn't get a good chuckle from a little bit of mayhem now and again.<br />
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It's such an off the wall idea that any summarizing I were to try and do would never do justice and be detrimental to my glowing recommendations so suffice to say that Lilo and Stitch is an excellent movie and you won't really know how good it is until you've seen it for yourself.<br />
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Favorite Character: Jumba Jookiba is the winner for me. His voice was excellently cast and you can always rely on him to help you along with the story with a little talking to himself in his evil genius sort of way.<br />
Least necessary character: Pudge the Fish. I'm just not really convinced that he controls the weather at all.<br />
Overall: Excellent in so many ways. It's beautiful to look at. It's beautiful to listen to. There is so much engaging story and all of it so precisely told without relying on a heavy handed story before bedtime around the fire. Insert an annoyed glare at Atlantis here.Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-83039982517330036562012-10-18T18:34:00.000-04:002012-10-18T18:35:20.372-04:00D52 - Week 41 - Atlantis: The Lost EmpireKevin's Discovery<br />
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I didn't care much for it.<br />
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Amanda's Findings<br />
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Wow, Kevin, thanks for that stellar and concise review.<br />
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Well, I for one think there's a lot more to say here. First and foremost, let us immediately bring to the forefront that Joss Whedon was one of the writers for this film/ TV-show-hopeful. I can't personally say much this way or that about it because I really don't know a whole lot about Joss Whedon's body of work. With the exception of Toy Story and Dr. Horrible, he doesn't mean a whole lot to me. However, I'm not so far gone from society that I don't recognize his name and know that it relates to a number of other outstandingly popular science fiction series. Atlantis itself feels to me like it would have been a fabulous TV series and here's why:<br />
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Atlantis is stuffed full of interesting characters with presumably rich backstories. The downfall in my opinion is that it was in fact stuffed full. There just isn't enough time in a film with this much exposition to dedicate to all the side characters. Had this been a TV series from the start, there would have been no need to force character arcs into a quick set of 12 second bedtime stories.<br />
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Atlantis involves an entire society heretofore unknown to the rest of civilization. This of course leaves a great deal of room to expand on the history, culture and way of life of the society to which we've been introduced. A nice big handful of episodes would have been great, but as a movie it felt like the 4 minutes of cramming before a high school class that was having a big test.<br />
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Atlantis included a lot of pop culture-y stylistic choices such as "hippie," "steampunk," and "Victoriana" which could easily have been used to death in hypothetical conventions in New York, Chicago, and San Francisco.<br />
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But most of all, Atlantis had a rich, potentially interesting story with a lot of detail and it just didn't come across in the final film. There just plain wasn't enough time to build up the kind of suspense that was needed for such a heavy piece of work. You need a lot of time not only to tell the story in the first place but also for the audience to allow all that information to sink in. I for one don't remember any of the names of any of the characters outside of Milo and Kida. What I do remember: Fast Talking Black Guy, Dirty Man, Jim Varney, TNT Dude, Grandma Smokes, and Holy Freaking Huge Freaky Lips Latina. Even the villians had potential considering for most of the film, you're kept mostly in the dark as to who is going to turn on the group. It's pretty obvious, to tell the truth, but had this been a series, I suspect that it would have been a huge, ground-breaking, surprise in the season finale.<br />
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Shoot, you know what? It all went by so fast, I don't really remember what DID happen! Something about flying fish cars and a lava pit and Kida was God? Bah, it's all a wash.<br />
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Favorite Character: I guess Milo, because I don't remember enough about the others. I liked Grandma Smokes though. She was just cliche enough to love.<br />
Least Necessary Character: For the sake of a series, they all were pretty necessary. For the sake of just one movie, All of the nick name side kicks could have gone and it wouldn't have affected the plot in the least little bit. Seriously, anything they did could have been reassigned to the two villians. Anything.<br />
Overall: I mean, it looks pretty, and it was a cool premise. It just didn't gel. All it boils down to is what Kevin said earlier.... I didn't care much for it.<br />
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BONUS: For the record, Blind Chief of Atlantians was voiced by Leonard Nimoy. Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-62365531252123431762012-10-06T23:59:00.000-04:002012-10-06T23:59:00.135-04:00D52 - Week 40 - The Emperor's New GrooveKevin's Groove<br />
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The best thing The Emperor's New Groove has going for it is that it's not Dinosaur. It is kind of funny, isn't it - both films were released in the same year, so there must've been a long overlap during which both were being made at the same time. One a "realistically" styled computer-animated story told straightly, the other a very VERY very cartoony hand-drawn feature-length Saturday morning cartoon done with only scant traces of seriousness at all. If I had to pick one over the other, I'd easily pick TENG, but it would be rather like choosing a handful of rock candy over a bowl of wilted lettuce.<br />
It certainly looks a lot nicer. There are some fascinating character designs and animations, including the awkward way newbie llama Kuzco tries to walk. It's funnier, in the sense that there are some bits worth laughing at, and Dinosaur had none. <br />
But there's this thing that they both have in common. I'll warn you. I'm going to ramble yet again!<br />
Again, we get a character who is presented as a Bad Guy because...well, because she's the antagonist of the title character. She does try to have Kuzco killed, and that does make her a bad person. However, to have a good reason to root for Kuzco to triumph over Yzma, you would have to ignore that one scene in which <i>Kuzco himself has a guy killed.</i> Yeah, when Little Adorable Piglet-voice Man is thrown from a tower window, it's played for laughs in a toon slapstick fashion, so you assume he'll be okay, but what bothers me is that <i>you have to be consistent about this sort of thing.</i> Because not too much later on, Kronk is seen being legitimately concerned when Kuzco is close to... also falling from a great height. There's no precision to the comparison since it's not clear just how high both of those heights are, but ... come on. If the frail old man was able to survive his collision from the sky onto the ground, I'm sure the young, healthy emperor will be fine when he hits the water. Or maybe this all makes more sense if you try the notion that Kronk is too stupid to realize you can't kill a cartoon character that way?<br />
But even so, I actually don't see why Yzma is more evil than Kuzco is. Plotting to kill a guy isn't "worse" than casually having a guy killed, is it (Well, we'll let the Incan justice system sort out the degrees of murder involved)? Yzma is ... not the nicest person, personality-wise, but then again Kuzco was also a jerk. Really the only important difference is that we later find out that Kuzco is... not a <i>complete</i> jerk. But who's to say Yzma wouldn't have changed her ways had she not met Pacha herself and had to undergo a coming-of-age-new-buddies road trip, complete with cliché waterfall (I'll admit I do at least like that a joke acknowledges it being a cliché) and unreliable rope-bridge (there was something awfully familiar about that guy trying to cross a dangerously high broken rope-bridge with a llama... intentional homage, yes or no?)? And the lead-up to the climax of the movie suggested that there was something at stake for Kuzco to reach Yzma and reclaim his rightful place on the throne, but was there really? Maybe I missed it, but was there any indication of what would be different with Yzma in the emperor's place, other than the egotistical cosmetic changes<br />
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We also get an animal-transformation sequence that probably could've
had a lot of potential for creativity and fun, but isn't played out
anywhere near as well as the Merlin-Mim duel from The Sword in the
Stone. <br />
<br />Anyway, I'm running out of time and might add to this later but Amanda has plenty to say anyway., so let me end mine for now with....<br />
<b>Favorite character: </b>If you can't get Vincent Price for your comically weird "villain," get another 60s Batman series villain portrayer: Eartha Kitt!<br />
<b>Least necessary character:</b><br />
<b>Overall: </b>A movie that tries too hard to be funny too often and occasionally succeeds is at least better than a movie that tries to be too seriously and emotional and fails completely.<br />
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Amanda's Groove<br />
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I'm so glad TENG became a Saturday morning cartoon series because that was clearly its calling. The slapstick, the breaking of the fourth wall, the comic "villian" without a backstory, the heavily stylized characters. It just all fits so perfectly. <br />
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Now here I have to reference Kevin's post and voice my disagreement through the use of hoity toity theatrical blabbity. There are a small handful of traditional conflicts that are recognized in classical theater and a few of them are as follows: Man vs. man, Man vs. Self, Man vs. Nature, Man vs. Beast, etc.<br />
I think the folly that Kevin has fallen under is the idea that this movie has a Man vs. Man plot in which Kuzco as the protagonist is pitted against Yzma as the antagonist. To this I say nay-nay. In reality, I think this falls somewhere in between Man vs. Self and Society vs. Man. Kuzco's main problem isn't Yzma, because for three quarters of the movie he doesn't even know she's out to get him, his main problem is his own bad attitude as pointed out by Pacha (Society). Yzma is merely one of the plot devices providing convenient turning points for Kuzco's self discovery.<br />
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Turning points of course are any points within a story that change the situation or condition of the main character. Turning points that Yzma and Kronk provide: Turning Kuzco into a llama (changing his physical being); accidentally tossing him onto a cart so that he ends up with Pacha (changing his physical location and societal group); being overheard plotting his death (changing his emotional state); and so forth.<br />
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Even at the end when he's facing off against Yzma while trying to get the Essence of Human, it's all down to a conflict against himself as he decides between his personal desire to become human again and the societal correctness of saving his fellow man.<br />
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Most unfortunately this has become more of a lesson than a review. Yet, it feels a bit like a compliment to the film. While on the surface it's a slap-sticky, nonsense-filled, David-Spade-starring, piece of fluff, there is actually a lot of structure under the surface that gives it some sense and makes it oddly relate-able. The terribly interesting character design makes it very watchable, and the music might not add a whole lot but it's not detracting either and Tom Jones is always good for a laugh.<br />
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Favorite Character: Yzma. She's voiced by Eartha Kitt with every bit of camp that we loved her for as Catwoman and that take she gives the camera/Kuzco while Kronk talks to his shoulder angel/devil made me laugh out loud.<br />
Least necessary character: Pacha's family. I just don't think we needed his family at all to understand his plight of feel for him. Plus those kids were a little bit insufferable.<br />
Overall: Seems like a movie I would have hated, but I actually enjoyed. But you don't have to take MY word for it!Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-48204398091574089412012-09-29T23:59:00.000-04:002012-10-05T09:09:00.067-04:00D52 - Week 39 - DinosaurKevinosaurus<br />
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This one is just so weird. First of all none of it even really seems like "a Disney movie." Which is why I wasn't surprised to see no recognizable names in the credits (save a few of the voice actors). It's not even like a third-party-created-but-released-by-Disney movie. It's not even like watching leading competing animation studio's work (I'll get to Atlantis and Treasure Planet later). It's like this foreign-made film that has nothing to do with Disney and isn't even trying to be like Disney. So the very experience of watching it, expecting "a Disney movie," while it seems to constantly contradict that, is a weird one. It's not even just the animation quality, or even the story too, but ... <i>everything</i> about it.<br />
But let me start with the animation. I believe back near the beginning of the year I commented about the use of hand-drawn animation over live action footage from Saludos Amigos and The Three Caballeros. In those cases it seemed like a gimmick, but at least it was a fairly fun gimmick, and it paved the way for better use of the technique. In "Dinosaur," we get computer-generated animation over live non-action footage, which comes across less as a gimmick even and more as just a way to save time and money on having to render all of the scenery. And it's hard to say it was even particularly novel at the time, since the audiences of the year 2000 would have already seen that sort of thing - computer dinosaurs transposed over actual footage - seven years earlier in "Jurassic Park." And the computer animation in "Dinosaur" isn't even a whole lot better. I know it's easy to criticize graphics many years later after huge advances have been made, but even Toy Story 2, released in '99, holds up pretty well today. I realize in Toy Story's case it helps that most of the characters and environments were artificial in nature and of course simulated more easily, but that is the point I'm going for here. Since animation technology at the time apparently wasn't sufficient enough to make believable animals in believable organic environments, Dinosaur suffers with off-putting models that I don't want to spend the entire length of a feature seeing.<br />
Maybe it wouldn't so bad if the story itself was interesting in some way at all. But it's pretty darn cliché-packed, what with the young idealistic kid having trouble exposing his novel and ground-breaking ideas to the thoughtless masses, and the girl he meets who he should get with on the grounds that it's the first girl he meets despite her having to warm up to him, and the HORRIBLY UNFUNNY sidekick AGH YOU ARE SO UNFUNNY IT'S PAINFUL. To summarize the plot, various events happen. It's another weird thing about this movie, and I'm not even sure how much of it is due to the weird visuals. But I never really feel like I'm "in" the movie. And I can get "into" even a bad movie, like The Black Cauldron. But for this one it was more like I was just ... seeing things happen. I get what's going on not because I'm feeling the situation through the eyes of the characters but because I see the characters doing things and I understand what feelings I'm supposed to have for them. Like, there's this bad guy named Kron. Here's where I get lost in moral grey areas. Still feel like reading? I won't blame you if you feel like skipping at any point. Okay. So. One of the things that separate humans from animals is a separate set of morals. It's a society thing. For us helping the less fortunate and differently-abled is just plain the right thing to do, because we're at the point where we don't need to worry about protecting our species and letting only the fittest survive and all that. It just doesn't apply to us. So we might witness a small rodent-sized pet mother who, say, eats its own young, and that's horrible, but only really because we're applying it to our social structure. We don't even want to think of the possibility of a human parent doing anything like that, because obviously that would be horrible to us. It would be morally reprehensible because he or she should know better. But when a wild animal in a natural environment sacrifices the weak for the good of the survival of its own kind in the long run...well, that instinct is there for a reason, isn't it? <br />
The reason I bring this all up is, the lesson we're supposed to learn in Dinosaur is a bit hinky to me. Aladar believes it's wrong to leave the slower members of the herd behind, and Kron is painted as being evil for believing only the strong should survive. If Aladar and Kron were people, I would have no problem with this. But they're dinosaurs! In the wild! Walking on four legs and foraging for food! And their very existence was even endangered at the time! It's one thing when it's anthropomorphic animals in a human-style setting (like Robin Hood) but when they're very animal-like animals in an animal setting, applying human morals seems as out of place as...well, any historical inaccuracies you may have noticed.<br />
Talking point: Is Kron evil, or is he just an animal doing what an animal would be expected to do? If your housecat attacks a field mouse that finds its way into the house, does that mean your cat is evil?<br />
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<b>Favorite Character:</b> Kron, but only for the single reason that the same voice actor was also Sebastian the Crab, and that fact is so far the most and only amusing thing about this movie.<br />
<b>Least necessary character: </b>"The love monkey." Get out of here with your exasperatingly unfunny trailer comments that don't fit the tone of everything else in the movie. <br />
<b>Overall:</b> While there was certainly a lot of work put into the visuals of Dinosaur (strangely the "making of" features make it look better than it does when I actually watch the movie), they just don't play well enough to save the lackluster story and its unlikeable characters.<br />
So it's come to this: I am now looking forward to watching a movie starring David Spade.<br />
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Amandadon<br />
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Ughh.<br /><br />UUUUGGHGHHHHHHGHGHHHH....<br />The Love monkey? Oh kill me now. That meteor can't come fast enough.<br /><br />Dinosaur seems like the red-headed step-child masquerading as a genuine Disney movie. There are so many aspects to it that cause it to stand apart from the entirety of Disney's other works and let's not consider it a compliment.<br /><br />Aladar is an iguanadon who was lost as an egg and was raised by a family of slightly wonky-moving lemurs. This would be interesting and possibly enhance his character somewhat if we were allowed to see some of his challenges growing up and witness any of his interactions with his family so that the cast would have some character to it. Unfortunately while taking advantage of some technology that is as jarring as it is beautiful (blending live-action footage with CGI characters), we skip from baby is found straight to mating day in the clan. This movie could have taken a cue from Tarzan and been about Aladar's isolation growing up with no one else like him. During the first few scenes, it seems like it might be going that way.<br /><br />Suddenly a meteor! The (now abbreviated) family of lemurs and Aladar escape explosive destruction and run into a large mixed species herd who are headed towards a breeding grounds which escaped the fateful cosmic catastrophe. Once again we have an idea introduced that attempts to be the theme of the movie: Successfully travel from point A to point B. This alone could also be a successful concept. However, Aladar as an outsider doesn't understand the rules of the pack and as a result meets some eccentric characters near the back of the line who are less abled do to age and intelligence issues than the rest. The theme is now Help Others and Work Together.<br /><br />Aladar feels for these poor misfits and places himself among them and the sexy female Iguanadon is apparently impressed by this, so the theme has changed once again: Kindness is a virtue most especially to the less fortunate. It's a good thing the horrible jokes from the unlikeable lemur don't cause permanent damage. This one holds on for a while until they all get separated and end up in a cave cowering from big meat-eaters and as Aladar almost throws in the towel and the big elderly Dino gives a lecture, the theme suddenly shifts to Never Give Up. <br /><br />Or... maybe it's Show Personal Responsibility in Your Community because Aladar runs off to lead the herd to his new found path and they all Work Together to fight off the meat-eater and Family is Who You Love and Who Loves You because Aladar has babies and the lemurs are there to help him.<br /><br />OHHHHH Forget it!<br /><br /><b>TL;DR</b><br />This movie has no focus. The use of live animation is more distracting than enhancing. The characters are either bland or unbearable. The character animation and design hovers in this weird animal uncanny valley. The story is unoriginal, poorly told, and not terribly interesting to begin with. Have I found a movie I disliked more than Black Cauldron? Yes. I think I have.<br /><br /><b>Favorite character:</b> The horned old lady. She may have been a bland character with cliche lines, but Della Reese acted the hell out of them!<br /><b>Least necessary character:</b> ALL of the freaking LEMURS, but that incredibly unfunny ugly one with no girlfriend is the most putrid.<br /><b>Overall:</b> Snoozefest, Rageparty... take your pick. <br /><br />Saving Grace<br />On the upside, I bet that "Dinosaur!" the ride in Walt Disney World might not have come to fruition without this movie. I love the ride and I believe that a lot of the success of this ride is based on the fact that the imagineers made no attempt whatsoever to adhere to the plot.<br /><br />Imaginary Friend Boyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09629793831095054586noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7676131213313122728.post-63097938848764049712012-09-22T23:59:00.000-04:002012-10-05T09:53:10.154-04:00D52 - Week 38 - Fantasia 2000Kevin's Piece<br />
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Remember watching the original Fantasia back in the third week of January? It kinda seems like forever ago. Now trying to imagine the gap being 59 years, now that's something else. I went back to my Fantasia post and was surprised at how little I had to say about it. I did write shorter reviews earlier in the year, and there's not much to say about less plotty features, but it was just over two hours long. Then you have Fantasia 2000, at...75 minutes? Huh. And yet - and Amanda will disagree with me - I found I enjoyed it more. Fantasia did have many great segments, but for me the only one that really stands out in my recollection is The Sorceror's Apprentice...which is in Fantasia 2000 as well anyway! Speaking of which, geez. I thought we were past the recycled animation era. The Sorceror's Apprentice from Fantasia 2000 blatantly copies so many animation sequences directly from The Sorceror's Apprentice from Fantasia! But seriously, it's an interesting choice to include that in the 2000 version. Similar to how I found Finding Nemo 3D a worthwhile additional experience even after having seen it many times on home video, I would've liked to have experienced The Sorceror's Apprentice in full theatrical sound. er, The Sorceror's Apprentice the short, not the Nicolas Cage movie. I mean, not to judge the Nic Cage one. For all I know its music might be quite good too.<br />
As for the new segments, while not every piece is a home-run, the ones that are, are hit out of the park and into the stratosphere. The Rhapsody in Blue cartoon actually reminds me of Looney Tunes, but if they were done to a perfect Disney polish. If there's anything wrong with it, it's that the animation is timed so well with the music, that I'm distracted by my amazement at how well it's timed with the music. The Steadfast Tin Soldier has got the right idea with working around then-CGI's limitations through stylization. The Carnival of The Animals is short but sweet. My favorite's gotta be Donald Noah's Ark. I get a kick out of Donald's reaction to the other ducks on the ships. It's about time a Disney character has directly acknowledged the strangeness of Disney toon species, even if...no, especially <i>because</i> it was done as a fleeting gag. It even leaves more questions unanswered, like were Mickey and Minnie and Goofy somewhere on that ark and...well my point is it's a great philosophical piece. <br />
The other pieces...are very pleasant to watch and listen to, but...what else can I say? Space whales and Mother Earth Stag.<br />
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Favorite character: It's great to see Donald in a D52 role again, and not flirting with human ladies.<br />
Least necessary characters: I'm unclear: What exactly were the other soldiers off doing when the steadfast one was fighting for his girl?<br />
Overall: Maybe it's because I'm partial to funny toons over terribly classy ones, but I'll take the eye-and-ear candy of Fantasia 2000 over the refined palate plates of Fantasia any day.<br />
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Amanda's opus<br />
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Fantasia 2000 to me had so much more potential in planning than what was used in the final movie. I'm not saying it was bad, because it wasn't, but it plays out more like a cheesy clip show than polished, carefully planned movie piece.<br />
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Kevin was right when he said I'd disagree with him, but I think it's entirely based in the idea of education. I always felt that the original Fantasia was a way to not only entertain audiences, but to educate them in some of the older finer musical culture of the world and to do so with a spoonful of sugar that is visual stimulation. Let us consider the opening sequences in which there is no story and the music doesn't evoke concrete ideas. I felt that stylistically the original enhanced the idea of surrealism and abstraction through the use of unusual and infrequently used media within the context of animation. I noticed how the brush marks made me think of chalk drawings, pastels, oil paints and anything other than pencil to paper animation. And yet despite all the details that I noticed, I was never distracted from the music that inspired the design and I could hum a few bars if you asked me. In the more recent film opening sequence, I felt distracted by the visuals rather than feeling that they complimented the music. It was almost too concrete and I couldn't think about just the music and the colors; I was distracted by thoughts like "those triangles look like butterflies... oh I guess that's what they're going for." and "Is that a waterfall? So we're in the forest?" As a result, I can't tell you the first song nor can I hum a few bars.<br />
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I can't say I'm a fan of the celebrity introductions either. I almost feel like the filmmakers believed that if they didn't have celebrities that the film wouldn't be interesting enough and that's just plain insulting to my intelligence. <br />
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When it comes to each musical sequence, standing alone they are all very nice, but all together there's just too much story for my taste. It makes this feature feel more like a package film than a night at the orchestra. While I understand bringing back The Sorcerer's Apprentice and introducing Donald's Pomp and Circumstance as the two big story pieces, I feel overwhelmed when being presented with The Steadfast Soldier, The Rhapsody in Blue's New Yorkers wishing for Happiness, The Naughty Flamingo, Green Goddess fights Fire, and Whales go to Heaven. The original Fantasia only gave story to The Sorcerer's Apprentice and all the other musical sequences had a very vague theme at best and for my taste, that's a good thing because the music which let's not forget came first and was the inspiration never takes a backseat. <br />
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Now once again, let me say that none of the sequences were bad! Each one stands alone and each one would be a very entertaining short with which to present before any other movie, but because they are each so strong on their own, they feel as if they are clashing within this one film.<br />
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Favorite Character: I miss The Soundtrack... but I'll pick The Flamingo with his Yo-Yo. It's short, and it's a good laugh.<br />
Least Necessary Character: All the Celebrities. I just don't see what was so wrong with a stoic narrator. He wasn't distracting and he wasn't trying to get a joke in and upstage everyone.<br />
Overall: It's still good. There's a lot of beautiful animation and there's a lot of beautiful music and I just wish they could get along better instead of trying to play King of the Hill. It's still worth a watch and I hope very much that they come out with another Fantasia eventually because I really do enjoy a night at the Orchestra.<br />
<br />Amanda (loves Kevin)http://www.blogger.com/profile/02993486692974361138noreply@blogger.com0