From One Hand to Another

The big buzz right now is the news that the Walt Disney Company has bought Lucasfilm (you know, Star Wars) “for US$4.05 billion” (Wikipedia Main Page).

Before your head starts exploding with thoughts – good or bad – let me talk a bit more.

I first read about the deal on the Disney Wiki main page (under the “Did you Know” section). 
For some reason, Lucasfilm didn’t register with me.  I shrugged it off.

Then Roomie found the news – on Facebook I think – and I realized what had happened.

Both of us were shocked.  Especially with the news that Disney was planning to release Episodes 7, 8, and 9 in the near future.

I told her about how Disney already had some sort of deal with Lucasfilm, since the characters appear at the Parks and the Star Tours ride.  In a way, I was just waiting for them to seal the deal – excuse the cliché – but hoping it wasn’t going to happen.

As I went to bed last night, I told her that hopefully the reason Lucas was letting Disney buy his company was because he trusted them.

Today, I found the below video in an article at The Disney Blog..  In it, George Lucas and producer Kathleen Kennedy (whom Lucas is practically giving control of the company to) sit
down and talk with Lynne Hale to discuss the deal.

Good things in this video: Lucas trusts Disney with Star Wars.  He knows they are financially stable and, as Kathleen said, “Disney defines family entertainment” (dialogue from video transcribed by THE Disney Freak).  Lucas will also stay on as creative consultant, thank goodness.

Lucas also mentioned how even before the deal with Disney, he was planning on the next episodes.  So at least the original creative mind behind the saga was thinking ahead!  Good news, Roomie and I thought.

We’ll see what happens.

Video capture by THE Disney Freak.
Taken from the included video.

To kind of go off topic here, I really liked one thing Kathleen had to say: “The main thing is to protect these characters.  To make sure they still continue to live in the way you [Lucas] created them.”

That’s something I think Disney needs to work on with their own characters.

“October’s Here!”

It’s halloween-lo-ween, everybody!

And while I realize Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party has been going on since the middle of September, I wanted to do this certain post closer to Halloween.  And with my work schedule and certain important homework papers that need to be written, I decided to do it now.

One of the highlights of Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party is the Villains Mix and Mingle.  Since I saw it two years ago (online, not in person), I fell in love with it.

This was the version I fell in love with – the 2010 version:

Villains Mix and Mingle 2010

So when October 2011 rolled around, I anxiously - joined by my siblings, especially TDM - waited for the new Villains Mix and Mingle.

Of course, I figured it would be pretty much the same, as it had been since 2006 (this was the earliest I could find a video for, so I assume that was the year it began - I couldn’t find proof otherwise).

Villains Mix and Mingle 2009

 

Villains Mix and Mingle 2008

 

Villains Mix and Mingle 2007

 

Villains Mix and Mingle 2006

Imagine my surprise to discover that in 2011, the show was far different.  According to Wikipedia, Maleficent hosts the Mix and Mingle, as you saw in all the preceding videos.

Wanting to put emphasis on a newer character, Disney replaced the villainous host for the 2011 version:

Villains Mix and Mingle 2011

What did I think of this?  Maleficent may be my favorite villain (and I think the best candidate for their leader) but I was fine with Dr. Facilier being the new host.  However, I found the new costumes for the dancers to be horrible compared to the previous ones (even though those ones could be consider sexually inappropriate).

And what really upset me was that the new song at the end, replacing the previous, one…well I found it to be less catchy.  I never have that one’s beat stuck in my head as I did the 2010 final song.

Did Disney revert or stick with it?

See for yourself in the video below of the 2012 version.

I do have one suggestion for Disney though: bring in Mother Gothel!

Have a happy Halloween!  What do you plan on doing?  My co-workers want me to dress up tomorrow for work.  I’d love to be Maleficent (or Queen Grimhilde) for Halloween sometime during my college years, but I don’t have a costume this year!

Keep an eye out for those Disney Villains - it’s their turn to celebrate their way!

ttfn!

Sing What? Revisited

So as you read in “Sing What?”, my drawing Disney buddy has her own version to the Swahili chanting in “Circle of Life.”

Now as I shared with you, last weekend was fall break, so I went home.  Saturday night, I was able to spend the evening with Bestie and her family – which was super fun!

However, one slightly creepy thing happened.

Bestie’s mom went upstairs to change into more comfy clothes and came down in….

Pink pajamas with penguins! (Not quite on the bottom.)

I had to get a picture.



Photo taken by THE Disney Freak.
Do not remove watermark.

And yes, that’s Bestie’s foot.  And her mother chose the pose.

See ya all real soon!

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Year of the Disney Dragon Revisited

Previously, the most popular post on this blog was “Year of the Disney Dragon,” in which I looked into some of the most popular and well-known dragons in Disney history, in honor of the Chinese Year of the Dragon.

Well, as usual, I was hunting around on the Disney Wiki and stumbled upon this picture.



It just happens to include three of the six dragons I featured in that post: Maleficent, Madam Mim, and Elliott.

The fourth dragon in the picture is the Reluctant Dragon.

ttfn!

PS: I can’t seem to write captions under pictures in Windows Live Writer—will look into that closer for next time!

New Fantasyland Dress Rehearsal!

Nick Maglio over at Disleelandia (one of my favorite Disney blogs) just went to the “dress rehearsal” of New Fantasyland!  He took lots of great pictures, and there are a few jokes only a Disney fan would know.

His trip—literally, just pack up and go—makes me kind of jealous because it was actually fall break here at Benedictine this past weekend, so I went home.  If only I had a bit more money, I would’ve gone to Walt Disney World instead perhaps!

(Well, maybe not. I did miss Riley and Bestie an awful lot…and my family of course.  A hard choice.)

See ya all real soon!

(PS: I am now using Windows Live Writer to write my posts and send them—avoiding any Internet problems!)

 

***UPDATE***
 

I will be using Windows Live Writer to solely write the posts and put in links, then use Blogger here to make sure the formatting is right and to do pictures and videos.  Have a nice day, everyone!

Welcome to Monsters University!

Welcome to Monsters University -- the place where monsters learn how to be real monsters!

I'm sure by now you've heard all about the upcoming prequel to Pixar's Monsters, Inc.  And the genius of Pixar has already done something pretty clever for advertising.

They've created an authentic-looking college website!

You can even buy the merchandise.  Shopping spree time!

ttfn!

PS: For those of you interested, John Frost at The Disney Blog says there's some sort of alternate reality game available...

Sing What?

Note: first, I want to apologize. I absolutely hate the Internet here at my college in my room. It sucks. Bad. I have trouble saving posts, always getting an error, especially when I add links. I really apologize. There's so much I have to post about! Some of it will seem like pretty old news since it's taken me so long to get to it. I'll have to try this whole "Post Later" thing, as soon as I can finish up some posts. That said, proceed

So lately, my drawing classes have rocked.  Because when we're drawing outside of class (aka finishing up our homework), my new friend and I draw to Disney music (check out the link!).

It rocks.

I just said that it.

Honestly, I didn't get enough sleep last night.  Because I was drawing late at night.

For homework.

My friend turned on her music, putting her playlist on shuffle, so we listened to Disney occasionally, along with other songs.

Suddenly:

"Nants ingonyama bagithi...."

And she skips over it!

"What!?" I cried, and she glanced back at me.

"Did you want to listen to that?" she asked.

I nodded.

"Okay, we'll go back to it after this song" (which I'm failing to remember what it was).

Eventually, we went back to it, and I grinned behind my drawing horse board because it's my favorite song.

I began to hear someone else singing along to the words, quietly.  It's my friend, and I perk up, trying to hear what she's singing.

Since most people don't know the Swahili part that opens up the song, most people don't sing it.  Or mess it up.  I used to do that with Bestie, and we'd laugh.

However, my drawing buddy was improvising the words to:

"Pink pajamas, penguins on the bottom/pink pajamas, penguins on the bottom..."

After laughing out loud, I told her I was going to blog about her version.

So here it is.

ttfn!

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