Prairie Voles are cute little monogamous creatures found in central North America.  Everyone in the little vole village is happily mated up and they go about their daily business of foraging for food and fending off predators (ie. coyotes, snakes, and anyone listed on MegansLaw.com).

But there’s one vole… let’s call him Valentino… who just can’t settle down.  Can’t find the right girl with just the right beady eyes.  Val has commitment issues and is the village outcast.  According to the book “How To Defeat Your Own Clone”, Val has a deficit of a hormone called vasopressin that keeps him from being monogamous.

Val, having already been genetically altered to be more self aware than the average vole, decides to strike out on his own to track down a vasopressin specialist.  During his travels he runs into a meadow vole village.  Meadow voles are horny little bastards and will mate with anything that moves.  Sodom and Gamorrah for the vole set.

Val starts to feel mighty at home in this den of vole sin and iniquity.  Maybe there’s even a large slug that rules the town with a dancing girl on a chain.  Maybe not, it’s been done.

But after a few months of getting smashed every night and screwing every pretty vole that wiggles her pointy nose at him, Valentino starts to thing there may be more to life than a hot piece of vole ass.  He needs love.  And another beer.  But then love.

He’s noticed one girl around town that doesn’t seem as loose as the others.  She’s shy and cute and sober.  Her name is Britqknee.  The Q and K are silent.  In this village, she’s the outcast because she doesn’t keep a pair of knee pads behind the bar like every other girl meadow vole in town.

Val sidles up to her one day on the street and offers to carry her groceries (since she only has short stubby vole arms) and walk her home.  It’s love at first sight.  But Val knows it won’t last for him because he’s hormonally deficient.   He swears to find a source of vasopressin and stay with her forever.

She knows a guy in her village that deals vasopressin on the sly.  He know fear of commitment is nothing that a little hormone and genetic therapy can’t help.  Because this is the scientific future, Val doesn’t have to go on some silly quest to get it.  He ponies up a credit card, gets a needs jabbed in his butt, and wanders off into the sunset with Britqknee back to his own village to live happily every after.

Ok, Disney… Get on that one.

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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It’s amazing how fast things move now.  Disney just premiered World Of Color last night (and streamed it on Ustream no less).  Two nights before there was a preview show and these videos made it to YouTube immediately.

This certainly won’t do Disney any damage.  I’m sure the vids are nothing like seeing the effects in person.  And from eyewitness accounts, there’s even much more going on that the camera didn’t see.  I was excited to get a glimpse though since I won’t see the real show until the fall sometime.

Take a peek…

What do you think of the show?  Personally I think it’s missing a storyline.  And some 3 dimensional aspects.  One of the things that makes Fantasmic interesting is the interspersing of real people/characters/dragons with the water and projection work.  And a story line to tie the thing together.  The plot of this show really seems to be “look what we can do!”

It’s some terrific eye candy though.  I’m still looking forward to seeing it in person, but I think there may still be some development to be done.  From what I hear they’re planning on updating it each year anyway.

Leave a comment below and let me know what you think of it!

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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• Disney’s new World of Color debuts June 11 | Orbitz Blog
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I just saw this great article on WSJ about Joe Wong and his difficulty carrying his American-style, though Chinese inflected comedy over to China.

First off, I’ll say that I’ve never heard of Joe Wong before and I wasn’t exactly blown away by the clips I saw of him.  Apparently he got an appearance on Letterman that jumped him up a notch on the comedy circuit.  I’m sure Eddie Brill saw something worthwhile in him, so benefit of the doubt.  He even got to appear at the Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner.

I’ve wondered how my own humor would play in Asia.  It did well in the UK when I was there.  Haven’t done the rest of Europe yet, but feedback from my fans in those areas has been good.  My Asian themed jokes do very well in front of Asian-American audiences, but I have no idea what would happen in a pure Asian setting.

American comedy is based in tragedy.  Especially personal tragedy.  And strangely enough, a Chinese audience just feels bad for you instead of laughing, according to the article.  Without self-deprecation, a lot of comics would be out in the cold.  And Joe Wong certainly works in the realm of self-deprecation and stereotype.

The article discusses China’s Cross-Talk style of comedy.  It’s kind of like old Vaudeville duo routines.  I’ve see it on the variety shows on the Chinese channels.  Unfortunately there’s no subtitles, so I still have no idea what the humor is like.  Though apparently it’s falling out of favor these days and younger audiences are getting into the solo standup style.  But with footnotes?  The comic has to explain why the joke is funny at the end?

It’s so counter-intuitive to what we learn to do here.  Not that I haven’t had some audiences that needed the explanation.  But it’s hard to wrap my brain around it.

I think it’s interesting though that humor is not universal.  Even from one region to the next you’ll get completely different responses.  Comedy is deeply embedded in each person’s individual psyche and the artist’s job is to find the bits that will connect with as many people as possible while still retaining an individual voice.

As an example, here’s a clip of mine about Disneyland (click to stream) Many of my fans are Disney people and it does great in front of them.  In front of a regular west coast or east coast audience it does well, but maybe doesn’t kill every time.  In the midwest… no-go.  It’s very hit and miss because they’re just not bombarded with Disney stuff as much as the coasts are.  It might work in Hong Kong though.

And that’s why I call the it the most dangerous art in the world.

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

PS… Don’t forget your 8 free downloads! http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com/8-free-songs

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I hope you’ll allow me to geek out a little today.  I’m anxiously awaiting the Princess and the Frog DVD release on 3/16.  There’s a combination of coupons and rebates and stuff that you can use to get the DVD/Blue Ray combo disc cheap.

Keep in mind, I have no vested interest in any of these companies or whatever.  Must passing on the tips for my fellow Disney fans.

This post from Deal Seeking Mom has the lowdown.

- First get a $10 off coupon for the DVD/Blue Ray Combo pack straight from Disney.

- Then get a $5 rebate when you buy two Band-Aid products.

- Lastly, get a $5 rebate when you buy a roll of Frog Tape.

That gets you the Princess and the Frog for about $7!  Yay!

You’ll have to send the proof of purchase thingies, but photocopies of the receipts are ok.  Let me know if you see any better ones.

Ok, I promise to have something real to say on Monday’s post.

Phil Johnson

http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

Song Of The Day: Share My Pixie Dust (click to hear it)
Sometimes you fall in love with someone you weren’t expecting to. Maybe you wanted “rich and stable” and got “musician” instead. Relationships like that take faith, trust… and a little pixie dust.

PS… Since you’re here looking for freebies and discounts… Why don’t you get 8 of my songs for free at http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com/8-free-songs

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Today’s my birthday so I’d like to pay tribute to the artists that have made me think the way I do by turning you on to them.  That and I’m kind of slacking off by not writing a real post.

First off, The Wildhearts…  One of the greatest, most underrated rock bands of all time.  Equal parts Ramones and Beach Boys.  Super solid songwriting and arrangements to die for.  If you like great hard rock and don’t have “Earth Vs. The Wildhearts” you have missed out.  Check out “Suckerpunch”

On the not-so-underrated side is Prince.  I won’t say I love everything the guy does, but I do own everything he’s ever released, and happily.  He writes more gems in a day than I can in a year.  And while I love the funky stuff, my absolute favorite song of his is “Sometimes It Snows In April”.  Stunningly beautiful song.

You don’t get to looking like me unless you’re a Metallica fan at some point.  I’ll admit they’ve fallen out of my top 10 in the last few years, but Master Of Puppets was the first song I ever learned on the guitar.  Treat yourself to this one:

Throughout my Classical training years, I was really drawn to the Romantic composers, particularly Tchaikovsky.  Amazing how such a troubled man could write such happy sounding music.  The Nutcracker is fantastic, but take a listen to the Sleeping Beauty Waltz.

Let’s talk comedy… Greg Behrendt.  He’s upbeat, he’s positive, he’s energetic.  I was into his stuff the first time I heard it.  And to find out he’s a super nice guy is even better.  Warner Bros won’t let me embed this clip of him, but check out “Pictionary” – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGG3sBiQCWg

Eddie Izzard blows my mind every time.  First, I love his stuff because it’s not perfect.  He has no fear of throwing way too many tags at the audience until they stop working.  And any guy that do a whole hour of history jokes amazes me.  It’s smart and hilarious.  My favorite bit?  Darth Vader in the Death Star Cafeteria.

I’ve been a fan of Robin Williams since I was young.  His golf routine is some of the greatest 2 minutes of comedy ever written.

Chris Titus writes some of the most dangerous amazing comedy out there.  He can get so serious you can hear a pin drop in the theater and drop a huge punchline to bring it back.  He told me he calls it his “Springsteen Moment”.  Absolutely amazing.  I love his End Of The World Tour disc the best, but couldn’t find any clips online.  This is from Norman Rockwell is Bleeding.  Also great.

Anyone who knows me and doesn’t know I’m a Disney geek isn’t paying attention.  Walt always had this duality in his art of respect for the past (sanitized, yes, but it is entertainment after all) and always pushing forward into the future.  No matter what business or industry you’re in, storytelling is key.  And Walt and his crew were the best.  My favorites?  Captain Hook and Goofy.

And you can’t be a cartoon nut without liking the old Warner Bros stuff.  Daffy Duck as Robin Hood is my all-time favorite WB cartoon.  Buck and a quarter staff… Oh yeah.

I like to write visual music as much as possible, and I love movies.  Star Wars ranks right up there.  Yep, geek.  Deal with it.  I can watch Empire Strikes Back any time.

My other favorite movie is Eddie and The Cruisers.  If you haven’t seen it, get it from Netflix or something.  One of the most entertaining/over-the-top/cheesy rock n’ roll movies ever.  And fantastic music by John Cafferty and the Beaver Brown Band.

These are the influences that I absorb when I sit down to write.  Bits and pieces of each flow into what I do and become my own.  And to all these artists in my 3-th year, I say thank you.

Phil Johnson

http://www.RoadsideAttraction

PS… Suppose I should give you something of mine too…

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I thought long and hard about weighing in on this one.  Mostly because I don’t want to be just another talking-cyber-head yapping away idiotically into the wind of cyberspace.  But the potential from idiocy has never deterred me before, so what the heck?

There’s no point in me actually reviewing the film.  I’m an unabashed Disney fan and there was only the most remote chance of me not liking this film.  I loved it.  I thought the animation was beautiful, the characters nicely developed, the songs as good as can be expected from Randy Newman.  I’m a Disney fan, but not a big fan of Randy Newman.  I had a great time.  All hail John Lasseter.

And guess what… that’s the point of the movie.  Having a good time.  I’ve been reading reviews of this film today.  Why?  Because apparently I like to read things that irritate me.  And often times, reading bad user submitted reviews is like visiting People Of Walmart.  They’re a train wreck.  You just can’t figure out how these people can manage to even turn a computer on let alone type the actual words that don’t make any sense anyway.

But I knew there would be discussion about this film so I was curious.

It wouldn’t have mattered what the character went through in this film, someone would bitch about it.  Disney’s first black leading lady becomes a frog.  One reviewer, and I’ll link to his blog just because it’s the right thing to do, wrote this: “Intentional or not, what kind of message does it send out that the studio’s first African-American princess has to be relegated for the vast majority of screen time to the form of an amphibian?”

What?  Basically… ‘Why the black girl gotta be a frog?”

Well, let’s see… If we put a black girl in some of Disney’s other classics…

Why the black girl gotta shack up with seven little men?
Why the black girl gotta have a big nose and lie all the time?
Why the black girl gotta have big ears and get drunk “accidentally”?
Why the black girl gotta be a cleaning girl who needs help from a fairy godmother?
Why the black girl gotta live in the jungle with a bear and a tiger?
See my point?

It wouldn’t have mattered what Disney first used a black leading lady in.  Because what people forget is that the lead character needs to have some sort of conflict or it’s not a story.  Writing 101, my friends.

Many people are saying that Disney glossed over the racial separations in the south at the time the film is set in.  Yes, they did.  And you know why?  Because it’s a Disney film.  And that wasn’t the point of the story.  The point of the story was that you can accomplish what you want if you work for it.  And sometimes you might need some help from friends.  Wow, what a terrible message.

If I wanted to see a dissertation on black rights in the south, I’d watch Roots again.  Disney wasn’t attempting to tackle that issue, and very intelligently stayed away from it because it wouldn’t matter what they did, it would have raised even more ire among the yapping idiots.

And yes, the plot and message is typical Disney.  First off, it’s a good message.  One that every generation needs to hear.  Just because you’ve heard it before doesn’t mean it’s not valid.  Plus Disney deals in modern fairy tales.  And if you read a fairy tale there is but one lesson to be learned from it.  It’s a fable, a parable.

Maybe they’d like to bitch that some of the stories in the bible have a simplistic message too?  Simple gets the point across.

This film has a purpose… entertainment and a positive message.  And it accomplishes that wonderfully.  It’s not supposed to be deeply intellectual or a commentary on society past and present.  Plenty of other movies for that.

The other thing that made my eyes roll are the writers that said the side characters were to “exaggerated” or “stereotypical”.  Newsflash… COMEDY IS SUPPOSED TO BE EXAGGERATED.  Inspector Clouseau wasn’t exaggerated all all, hmm?  Or Charlie Chaplin’s little tramp?  Or anything that ever came out of Robin Williams’s mouth?

And you’re going to tell me that regional accents are bad because they’re stereotypical?  People actually talk like that!  That’s realism!  If nobody had an accent, people would have complained that it was inauthentic.  Stereotypes (true ones) are used as a touchstone of realism for the setting.  Is Roots or The Color Purple an evil film because of the use of dialect?

It was bad that the villian voodoo practitioner was a black man?  How many white voodoo practitioners do you know?  If we don’t use stereotypes in storytelling, everything gets white washed.  Literally and figuratively.  But it seems people only get mad when it’s used for comic effect.

Remember this… especially if you ever come to see me perform.  Nothing is sacred.  Because if you can’t laugh at the most important things in your life, you’re taking yourself too seriously.

So, if you’re thinking about seeing this film, of wondering if it will damage your children or whatever, just go see it.  Enjoy it.  Stop thinking so damn much.

Phil Johnson
http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com

PS… I’m not completely uncritical about Disney.  I have a broadly exaggerated (uh oh!) song about Disneyland as part of the 8 free songs you can get from me at http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com/8-free-songs

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One of my lifelong dreams has been to visit the Disney studio and I got my wish this past Saturday thanks to D23.  Now if D23 can fix it so I can write a song for a Disney film, I can knock another goal off the bucket list.

Disney does not give tours of their studios to the public.  But they started doing some limited tours for D23 members over the summer.  I was anxious to get on this one.

On Friday night, my girl and I went to the El Capitan theater to catch opening night of A Christmas Carol.  A much better film than I expected it to be.  Though I’m not sold on virtues of motion capture animation.  Jim Carrey did a great, and thankfully understated, acting job.  Definitely worth seeing.

If you’ve never been to the El Cap, here’s a couple pics:

This is the live, pre-movie entertainment.  Definitely white bread stuff, but fun.

Ok, then off to the studios on Saturday.  We checked in and they split us into groups of 20 or so.  Good thing.  I was worried about having to see the place in a group of 100.  Our first stop was the Disney Archives.  A fabled place to me.  Dave Smith (seen below), head archivist, showed us some great items from the archives.

One very cool item was the very first ticket to Disneyland.  It was bought by Roy Disney.  Unfortunately, my pic of it came out all blurry.   By the way, the admission price in July 1955 was just $1.  Later that year you got admission and a book of ride tickets for $2.50.  My how times have changed.

Here’s some other great Disney archives stuff:
This is a Praxinoscope from the mid-1800’s.  One of the forerunners of animation. It uses a mirror (in the center0 to reflect the pictures on the inside of the wheel.  As they flash by it looks like movement.

This is the actual wardrobe prop from the Narnia film, The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe.  It stands about 6 feet tall and the carvings are plot points from the movie.  It was carved especially for Disney by a company in Europe.

This is a small mechanical bird that Walt Disney picked up many years ago.  It was this little toy that triggered his first thoughts about audio animatronics.  I’m positive I’ve seen a clip of Walt holding and talking about this little toy in one of the old Disneyland TV shows, but I wasn’t able to find a clip online.  If anyone has it, let me know.  I’d love to see it again.

This is the bedknob from Bedknobs and Broomsticks.  One of my favorites.   In the back you can also see the prop books from the film.  On the right is the spell for Substitutiary Locomotion. On the left is the story of the Isle of Naboombu.

These are original models made by Walt’s team as they prepared to experiment with animatronics.  The bust on the far left is Buddy Epsen.  Second from the left is animator Ward Kimball.

There was so much more I wanted to linger around in the archives.  A whole display of Donald Duck food items.  Donald Duck chili beans or fish fillets anyone?  They also had an amazing amount of books and tons of animation models, awards, and even a Victor Talking Machine.  And that was just in the front office.  I could spend weeks there.

But our next stop was the back lot of the studio.  Now truthfully, the outside of soundstages and buildings on any studio lot aren’t that interesting to look at. Just big non-descript buildings for the most part.  And unfortunately they didn’t take us inside any of the soundstages.  And inside the buildings we were relegated to the hallways.  So not too many pictures of those.

The animation buildings in particular were great though.  A ton of really beautiful artwork on the walls that I’d have liked to spend more time checking out.  And they actually have the original animation buildings from the old Hyperion lot where the old shorts and Snow White were created.  Nice to soak up some of that history.  Though now the offices in that building are used for other business.

This is the Team Disney building, worldwide headquarters for the company.  It’s pretty impressive, and you have to love the seven dwarfs holding the place together.

In front of the Team Disney building is the Legends Plaza where all the Disney Legends have placed their hands in bronze casts that are hung on pillars in the area.  This statue is a larger version of the trophy they are given at the ceremony.

And waaaay in the back inside the curl of the scroll on the statue is hidden this little tiny mouse.  Though according to the cast member I asked, he’s not included in the trophies.

This is the door to the old Ink and Paint department.  They keep all the old original paints here as well as descriptions for all the characters so they can be recreated when needed.

Here’s where I get to a little gripe.  We didn’t get to go inside any of these doors.  We saw the Hall of Kings as it’s called.  Where the most famous animators had (and have) their offices.  Ollie Johnston and Frank Thomas had the offices at the very end of the hall.  We were told about the recreation areas of the animation building, where the artists blow off steam to crack a creative block.  But we didn’t get to see any of it.  A little disappointing.  But I can’t exactly complain too much about a free tour.

We also did not get to see the newer Animation building across the street.  I’d only seen it from the freeway previously.  So Agnes and I cruised by and took a photo anyway.

Here’s the iconic street sign at the corner of Mickey Ave and Dopey Dr.  It’s actually a prop that was created for The Reluctant Dragon and people liked it so much they kept it around.  While the two street names are accurate, the navigation to the different buildings isn’t at all.  So if you go, the Multiplane camera is not to your left.  It’s in the archives because they don’t use it anymore.

And I have to say that Disney’s lot has some of the craziest squirrels I’ve ever seen.  Definitely Hollywood squirrels.  If you bend down with a camera, they’ll come scampering up to you and pose for a picture, mere inches away from your lens.  Absolutely fearless.  I didn’t have a chance to catch one myself, but this chubby little fellow on a park bench made me laugh.

At the end of the tour we were set loose in the cast member store.  Strangely, there wasn’t a lot of stuff that said “Disney Studios” on it.  But I picked up a Chip and Dale shirt and, as is our tradition on trips, a new Xmas ornament for our tree.

So, even though there was lots more I’d like to see, we had a really great time.  It was still a three hour tour (without being marooned on a desert island!)  Seeing the place where my childhood (both the past one and my current, ongoing one) was manufactured was a real joy.

Phil Johnson
www.RoadsideAttraction.com

MP3 Song of the Day: “Happiest Place On Earth” from my DVD “What Color Is Your Laugh?”
We all know Disneyland is expensive, but they have secret ways of making money that you don’t even know about.

PS… Have you gotten your 8 free Roadside Attraction songs yet?  http://www.roadsideattraction.com/8-free-songs
And yes, I have a couple Disney themed songs.

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This subject has come up a couple times today.  Disney’s annual pass holders are starting to get irritated with the company’s offers of getting into the park for free.  The birthday promotion and next year’s volunteering promotion.  Plus the D23 events that include park tickets in the price, but don’t have an option for AP holders.

Michael Owen has got some great ideas on how to rectify that: http://thedisneyblog.com/2009/10/06/could-disney-gain-through-offering-there-annual-pass-holders-more/

I don’t have an annual pass anymore, but I’d love a good reason to get one.

Phil Johnson
www.RoadsideAttraction.com

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Well, I made it home after a day of driving through construction traffic on I-5.  Nothing like that to take you back to reality.  I unfortunately had to miss the Toy Story double feature on the final evening.  I was hoping to get home in time to see my girlfriend a bit.  But the drive ended up being too long and I only saw the elusive creature as she left for work this morning.

Anyway, the event was fantastic.  On Saturday I saw the presentation on new theme park rides and updates.  Disney World is getting a bunch of new stuff in Fantasyland, but most of it is princess based.  DCA of course is getting Carsland, which looks like it will have some cool things.  There will be the Radiator Springs Raceway which is akin to Test Track at WDW.  But even longer and faster according to the imagineers.  There will also be an updated version of the classic flying saucer ride, but with tire shaped vehicles.  And a better operating system to make it more successful than the short lived version in the early 60’s.  My mother will be thrilled.  She’s told me about those things my whole life.

Disneyland itself will be getting an updated 3D version of Star Tours.  See the pic below for the spectacle when they announced that one.  It will be open in 2011.  They showed us a clip from the new ride.  A podrace in 3D.  Cool, but I’d really like to see them build a good new E ticket in the magic kingdom.  Maybe after they finish trying to salvage DCA.

Ran into my good friend and fellow comedian Tim Babb on Saturday too.  I knew he had to be there.

I also saw a great panel of imagineers talking about how they got into the business.  Basically there’s so many disciplines in that department that everyone got there a different way.  Above all, passion and a willingness to go into territory you hadn’t thought of or don’t know much about.

“Growing Up Disney” was a good panel with Roy Patrick Disney, Roy O’s grandson.  It was fun to hear family stories from someone on the inside.  Everyone was a little bummed that Roy E didn’t make an appearance though.

“Disney’s Lost Chords” was a fantastic concert featuring songs that didn’t make it into Disney films for whatever reason.  They were performed by the Disney Cast Member Choir.  When a movie goes into production they write several songs before they get to the ones that make it in.  These didn’t, usually due to a change in feel or direction of the movie.

The live auction on Saturday night was really cool.  There’s some very wealthy Disney fans out there that I’d like to know better….. The first auction went for $4000.  The 2nd for $6000.  The Peter Pan ride vehicle sold for $35,000.  To answer your question, nope, I didn’t bid on anything.  Crazy prices.  But fun to watch.  One highlight was seeing some of the original mousketeers come out to model some couture mouse ears that were up for auction.

Following that I saw a screening of the new BlueRay version of Sleeping Beauty.  It looks really fantastic.  Always nice to see Disney films on the big screen.  Had a nice time talking to two Disney fans in line.  One guy from Virginia.  And the other all the way from Australia.  Mary Costa ( the voice of Aurora) and one of the animators (whose name I’m spacing on – but he animated the three fairies) were on hand to talk about the film before it started.  Mary Costa stuck around to sign autographs afterward, but the line was literally 3 hours long to get to her.  I waited for an hour and gave up.

On Sunday, John Lasseter gave us the rundown on new Disney and Pixar films coming out.  No big surprises here.  We saw a clip of Princess and the Frog, which I’m very excited to see.  Rapunzel is still in production.  Cars 2 and 4 (count ‘em!) 4 new straight to video Tinkerbell movies.  We also saw a trailer for the new Toy Story 3 which looks good.  And a couple of new Cars shorts.  Mater has really taken the lead role in the Cars world.  I like the character, but I’m not a big Larry The Cable Guy fan.

“The Science Of Imagineering” was a show that was originally given at the New York Science Fair last year.  It was interesting, but a little too kid oriented.  I think many in the audience would have like to seen fewer corny jokes, and a little more adult and detailed explanations of the some of the scientific principles involved in ride design.  You could see the looks on the imagineers faces when a few of the jokes hit the ground with a thud.  Welcome to my world, imagineers.

Just before I left, I had a nice conversation with the head of the Courvoisier Gallery and S/R Labs, Ron Stark.  He summed up the whole event well.  It’s about passion.

I was amazed and happy to see how accessible many of the Disney people were.  Tony Baxter was sitting int he row behind me at the Sleeping Beauty screening.  As if he hasn’t seen it a zillion times.  Dave Smith was in the audience at almost every presentation I went to.  And he even waited in line with the rest of us peons.  The passion was evident in every person presenting anything.  It was quite inspiring.

And the passion of the people attending was no less.  Everyone wanted to honor these people in any way they could.  There was applause anytime a name was mentioned during a panel discussion.  They applauded every title screen of credits during the films.  I saw three teenage girls going out of their minds that they got to meet Mary Costa.

And everyone was pleasant and willing to chat and meet new people.  I sat with an older, very conservative looking couple, at the Lost Chords concert.  People who normally wouldn’t think to chat with a guy that looks like me.  But we struck up a quick conversation and had a great time.  There were people there of all races, ages, and economic levels.  None of whom looked askance at one of another because we were all on the same wavelength.

Amazing what art can do… I can’t wait to go again next year.

Here’s some more pics from event:

This is the main arena just before the presentation of the new rides and updates at
the theme parks.

Here’s a couple of Stormtroopers with mouse ears on.  The one on the left was just
taking her helmet off.  Yep… her…. Female storm trooper.  Many geeks now have a
new fantasy.

Here’s the full size Cinderella’s pumpkin carriage from the Disney Weddings booth.

This is Disney legend Marty Sklar moderating the “So You Want To Be An Imagineer” panel.

At the Lego booth, they created these amazing portraits completely out of Legos
over the 4 days of the convention.  The panel in the middle is the “official” event painting
of the event.  The guy on the left is the artist that created it.  And he got to put in the final lego.

If you don’t know, you better ask someone….

There was no end to the incredible art by both Disney and Non-Disney artists.  These
next two were at the Barker Animation booth.

When they announced that Star Tours would be closing (temporarily), a contingent of
stormtroopers and Darth Vader himself arrived to demand of Jay Rasulo (Parks and Resorts chairman that the opening date be moved
up two years in order to appease the emperor.

This castle was constructed entirely of canned foods donated during the event for an
Orange County charity.

Update… Mary Costa’s publicist found my post and discovered that I wasn’t able to get her autograph at the event.  So she sent me a lovely autographed photo by mail and it’s now hanging prominently in my office.   Thanks Mary!

Phil Johnson
www.RoadsideAttraction.com

MP3 Song of the Day: “Happiest Place On Earth” from my DVD “What Color Is Your Laugh?”
We all know Disneyland is expensive, but they have secret ways of making money that you don’t even know about.

Did you get your 8 free MP3s from me yet?  http://www.RoadsideAttraction.com/8-free-songs

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