The Disney Blogroll
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The Disney
Blogroll
News and Views from the
Blogosphere
A bi-weekly roundup of Disney related news, opinions, photos, and more from the ever expanding blogosphere. This is the word on the cyber street, as it were. An anecdotal peak at America’s take on the Disney company and all its facets.
Corporate
Disney
With the contentious stockholder meeting, the
SaveDisney campaign, and rumors of
impending Disney Store sale, there is a lot going on in Burbank. Chatter also
continues about the new FCC fines for indecency.
Sonicrabbit reads this Salon story and goes off on a rant.
Now the broadcasters are holding secret meetings to decide what they, in this case i mean the 10 mega media coporations, I'd be suprised if your local NPR station was invited, get to dictate to, er show you. Nope its the Time Warner, Disney, Viacom, News Corporation Limited (Murdoch), Sony, Tele-Communications, Inc., Seagram (TV, movies, cable, books, music), Westinghouse, Gannett, and General Electric teams that dictate everything you hear and see. Now they are using the FCC to sqash and quickly put off the air anyone with a different idea of what is tasteful. (more)
Larry Lessig’s new book, Free Culture, stirs up the debate about copyright. He details much of the fight to free up the copyright on Mickey Mouse.
CyberBug quotes from the book and also reviews it chapter by chapter for his class. Here he talks about how even Steamboat Willie is based off a copyrighted work.
The coincidence of titles is not coincidental. Steamboat Willie is a direct cartoon parody of Steamboat Bill, and both are built upon a common song as a source. It is not just from the invention of synchronized sound in The Jazz Singer that we get Steamboat Willie. It is also from Buster Keaton’s invention of Steamboat Bill, Jr., itself inspired by the song “Steamboat Bill,�? that we get Steamboat Willie, and then from Steamboat Willie, Mickey Mouse.
However, all is not lost, if you really want that t-shirt with Mickey’s image on it, Zazzle.com has announced a new partnership with the mouse enabling you to do just that, along with myriad other Disney characters.
The Movie
Studio
With the release of “Home on the Range�?, the end of hand drawn animation at
Disney nears and pangs of sorrow ring out across the country.
sceloporus hippolytis argues against the end of hand drawn 2D animation:
Heard on NPR this morning that the new Disney flick, Home On The Range, is the company's last hand-drawn cartoon. Disney laid off a herd of animators and from now on will be all digital. It's all about economics and where they believe the market is going. Some kind of paradigm shift is supposed to have taken place. (more)
Which, says Mark Evanier, is going to lead to some rough job prospects for animators in Hollywood.
Meehan ultimately took the pay cut, lost her house and then her job. "I wrote a letter to Roy Disney, which got posted all over the studio, saying that it felt like I was losing a family." Toward the end, Meehan had taken computer classes sponsored by her union. "There was a waiting list. And they were very limited to what we were offered." She'd gotten herself up to speed and applied for a job but got passed over.
Themeparks
Disney’s Pop Century
From the U.K., Peter MacLeod of Demos Greenhouse links to the popular Metropolis Magazine article entitled “Disney Goes Pop�? about the architecture of the new Pop Century Resort.
So love it or loathe it, Disney has become a kind of advance radar for architectural trends, with the cash and the vision to build without compromise.
Spring break is well underway for most of America’s school children. Some are going to New Orleans, Some to Palm Beach, and others to WDW.
Eternally Sugar High writes: I just got back from a Spring Break trip to Florida.....literally. Me and my family went to *shudder* Disney World. I managed to avoid the horrifyingly pink, cute rides . Some of the stuff was ok but the green and red EXIT signs kinda ruined the whole effect…. The best thing was easily Cirque du Soleil . It's WAY too long and I'm way to lazy to summarize it, but I will tell you it's NOTHING like a circus. (more)
Or
Disneyland
Sara at
Raven Hollow reports:
We did Disney, California Adventure, San Diego Wild Animal Park and went whale watching. CA had a great roller coaster that Nathan and I went on 3 times, the 2nd and 3rd times had less than 5 minutes inbetween rides. That was a bit much! We got to see some whales and lots of dolphins. A highlight to be sure. (more)
Or some will just stay home and reminisce about the 1964 World’s fair.
The recent release of soundtracks from the 1964 World’s fair attractions garnered lots of talk. Waxy.org has released those tracks via the new Torrent bitstream. (more)
And finally, if you haven’t seen them yet, check out the Fox Trot comics where Jason applies to be Disney CEO. Check out the next few days comics too.
See you soon with more mouse droppings from the Blogosphere.
Discuss It
Related Links
-- Indigo
-- April 5, 2004