|
Friday
September 20, 2008 |
Problem With Disney's Website Means Not Everyone Can Request
Free Ticket
High on Hong Kong
Will Disney's "Chihuahua" marketing end up in the doghouse?
Great firms
like Disney going for a song
Radio Disney Moves to Kansas City Office Building
Chihuahua movie protest
Disney and
Cartoon Network face off |
|
Problem With Disney's Website Means Not Everyone Can Request
Free Ticket
WFtv - Eyewitness News discovered a problem with Disney World's
new promotion offering people a free ticket on their birthday.
One boy who tried to sign up found out he couldn't.
Disney just announced the new
promotion Thursday, but it turns out a problem on Disney's web
site won't let everybody request a ticket. A family told
Eyewitness News the site wouldn't let them request a ticket,
because of where their son was born.
It's been 9 years since Zachary
Dunkerton last visited Disney. Now the teen's family says it
feels like a roadblock to what's supposed to be a special
celebration.
Like all kids, 13-year-old
Zachary loves everything Disney.
"Epcot, amazing fireworks, a whole
bunch of different things," he said.
For his birthday in June 2009,
his mom plans on taking Zachary to a theme park he describes as
a favorite.
"Amazing, fantastic, unbelievable,"
he said.
His mom was quick to get online
and sign up for Disney's new free day for guests celebrating
birthdays, but ran into trouble when the program asked for
Zachary's birth city and state. He is an American citizen, but
the Dunkerton's adopted Zachary as a baby from South Korea.
Janice Dunkerton stops short of
calling it discrimination.
"It would automatically make you
feel like that, that you have to be born in the U.S. or Canada
to be able to get in free," she said.
Janice was able to sign up her
husband and herself, but because Zachary is under 18, his mom
had to fill in the online form on his behalf. Janice calls the
birth city question unnecessary and fears she's not alone.
A Disney spokesman told
Eyewitness News they're working on the problem. Guests can still
get in free on their birthdays by showing up day-of with proper
ID. The Dunkerton's said they were hoping to avoid the ticket
lines. |
|
Top
|
High on Hong Kong
New Straits Times - SHARMILLA BILLOT was completely bowled over
by Hong Kong’s sights and sounds, the fantastic shopping and
fun-tertainment that she experienced at the Disney theme park.
If shopping, food and fun are on your holiday itinerary, then
Hong Kong might just be the place for you.
The first things that come to mind about Hong Kong is Jackie
Chan, Disneyland and the skyscrapers that appear in all
Cantonese movies.
As I looked out from the plane, with the skyscrapers all lit up
and twinkling ferry light everywhere, the night view literally
took my breath away.
As I landed in Lantau Island, my excitement grew as I headed to
Disneyland. Oh yes! all the journalists covering the High School
Musical: My School Rocks competition stayed in Disneyland’s
Hollywood Hotel.
We were welcomed to all things Mickey Mouse, from the room with
its art-deco design of Mickey to the Mickey shower curtains and
even food in the form of Disney’s world-famous mouse.
Hong Kong Disneyland is considered the smallest among its other
theme parks in Tokyo, Paris and Los Angeles.
As such, you can actually experience all the rides in a day. You
actually come out feeling satisfied and money well-spent
compared to the Disneyland in Los Angeles where you get to cover
only half the theme park because of the long queues.
The cartoon characters parading in the streets of Disneyland are
the legacies of American visionary Walt Disney.
Growing up on Disney’s popular icons, children all over the
world dream of going to Disneyland.
The closest and the most affordable Disneyland for Malaysians is
Hong Kong.
The park features classic Disney attractions, unique shops and
restaurants, themed resort hotels, dazzling live entertainment
and all the magic and imagination one come to expect from Disney
parks around the world.
You’ll discover medieval castles and futuristic mountains,
encounter jungle elephants and elephants that fly, snakes that
hiss and bears that talk, and ride both old-time fire engines
and space-age rockets.
And, of course, you’ll be able to meet all your favorite Disney
characters including Mickey, Minnie, Donald Duck, Cinderella,
Aladdin, Mulan and many others.
My favorite ride is the warp-speed adventure of “Space Mountain”
roller coaster. And of course, worth waiting for at the end of
the day is the fireworks display, with brilliant shapes and
colors inspired by Disney’s most famous animated musical films
and accompanied by a rich medley of classic Disney songs.
It does end with a magical day at the park.
Shopping was next as Hong Kong is known to be a paradise for
shoppers.
I hit the streets of Hong Kong armed with the underground train
station information and maps to get around the Island.
It’s tourist-friendly as most locals speak English and are quite
helpful. Hong Kong has got an efficient transportation system
where almost any place is accessible by the underground train,
buses or taxis.
Being an avid shopper, I went to some Petaling Street-like shops
in Tsim Sha Tsui in Kowloon and ended up with an armload of
goodies.
The choices are plenty and budget shopping can be found at the
Temple Street Market, Tung Chois Market and Stanley Market.
The trick is to bargain for the things you want. to buy. But a
reminder, only bargain when you are set on purchasing an item as
you wouldn’t want to be told off by the stall owners.
Even when I got back to Malaysia, the most common question asked
by friends was “How was the shopping in Hong Kong and what did
you buy?” Not the places I went to or my experiences.
One of the must-see places is the highest point on Hong Kong
Island, Victoria Peak.
Although you can go up ‘The Peak’ by taking a cab or the
double-decker bus, the most exciting way to is by the famous
peak tram.
On the Peak, the panoramic view once again stole my breath away.
It’s worth the trip just for the fantastic view.
The Peak is a modern complex that comprises a shopping mall, a
waxworks museum, restaurants, and the nightly light show that
unfolds in the city below. |
|
Top
|
Will Disney's "Chihuahua" marketing end up in the doghouse?
Los Angeles Times - For months now, emblazoned on billboards and
buses around Los Angeles, ads for the upcoming Disney movie
"Beverly Hills Chihuahua" have begged for your attention.
Already this week, we told you
about one concern some dog lovers have over the film: Whenever a
Chihuahua has been featured in entertainment in the past (or
really any adoptable animal -- "101 Dalmatians," anyone?), it's
been followed by a spike in adoption, which then later
translates into more dogs put up for adoption by people who
didn't realize what they were getting into.
But the film, which isn't even
out for another month, is also generating another kind of
controversy.
Disney is hoping for a good
turnout after the film's release Oct. 3, especially with the
Latino audience. Although U.S. Census Bureau figures show that
Beverly Hills is only 12% Latino, that percentage in Los Angeles
County is much higher, and movie executives are hoping that the
voices behind the dogs in the film -- George Lopez, Salma Hayek,
Edward James Olmos, Cheech Marin and Andy Garcia -- will connect
with Latinos.
Many in the entertainment
industry try to cater to the Latino market, using language,
celebrities and music central to the culture to attract
attention. Examples include the much-hyped "Latin explosion" in
pop music in the late 1990s, with Ricky Martin and Jennifer
Lopez, and the launching over the years of more bilingual
publications or Spanish-language versions of magazines such as
People or Cosmopolitan.
But marketing to today's
U.S.-born Latinos is a sensitive issue, and the "Beverly Hills
Chihuahua" campaign may stir up some tension, The Times' Josh
Friedman writes:
Walt Disney Pictures is making a
lot of marketing noise with its upcoming "Beverly Hills
Chihuahua," a live-action comedy about a pampered purebred that
gets lost in Mexico....
Early tracking is solid but not
stellar among general moviegoers -- Sony Pictures' teen hipster
romantic comedy "Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist," which opens
on the same weekend, has lower awareness but higher interest
levels. But kids and moms, the demographics that turn
talking-animal flicks like "Alvin and the Chipmunks" into hits,
are keen on it.
Latinos, who tend to be among
the most avid movie going groups in the U.S., could give
"Beverly Hills Chihuahua" a huge boost, especially in urban
markets such as Los Angeles and Chicago. According to the Motion
Picture Assn. of America, Latinos saw an average of 10.8 movies
in 2007, compared with 7.9 for Caucasians and 7.8 for African
Americans.
But some think Disney's
marketing could also spark a backlash.
"The movie's generalizations
about Hispanics and its stereotypical depictions of Mexicans
will not get a positive response from most of the 46 million
Hispanics living in the U.S.," said Anton Diego, president of
EveryMundo Inc., a marketing firm that helps businesses target
Latinos online.
The trailer, Diego notes, opens
with the voice of a Chihuahua called Papi describing how his
descendants fought alongside Aztec soldiers, then pans to
footage of Machu Picchu in Peru -- a symbol of the Incan Empire
located on a different continent. The music in the trailer is
mambo, which originated in Cuba, he adds.
A viral video campaign (with no
mention of Disney or the movie title, in today's fashionable
stealth style) has elicited groans for its portrayal of
Chihuahuas as revolutionaries declaring "No mas!" to being
carried in purses -- but "Mas!" to all-you-can-eat taco bars.
Disney declined to comment on
the movie's marketing.
Alex Nogales, president of the
National Hispanic Media Coalition, said he saw two screenings of
the completed film after hearing a complaint about the project
and found nothing offensive.
"It's not supposed to ignite the
world with social consciousness, but this is a clean,
entertaining picture with an all-star cast that brings the
Latino presence to a whole new height," Nogales said. "It's a
marvelous little film that is going to send everybody off to buy
their own Chihuahuas."
Maybe the Taco Bell Chihuahua
inspired Disney.
Or, maybe, the effort to target
Latinos will prove to have been unnecessary. Everyone may want
to see this movie. In Los Angeles, for example, Chihuahuas are
the most popular breed of dog ... among everyone. |
|
Top
|
Great firms
like Disney going for a song
Financial Post - In the throes of the Great Depression, in 1933,
Walt Disney laid the cornerstone of his mighty empire with the
huge success of Three Little Pigs, one of his Silly Symphonies
that brought relief to the masses of unemployed. He followed
that up in 1937 with the classic Snow White, the first American
animated feature film in movie history.
Today, we are in the
midst of the worst financial crises since the Great
Depression, and Disney's Hannah Montana, one of its hugely
successful franchises, is soon to return to television for
its third season.
Make no mistake, though, we are
by no means in a depression, and blue-chip companies such as
Walt Disney Co. (DIS/NYSE) are highly profitable. Yet they
are priced for Armageddon. That is the message delivered by
Charles Brobinskoy, vice-chairman of Ariel Capital
Management, to financial advisors at the second annual AIC
Value Conference this week (Brobinskoy has delivered top-decile
performance this year, recently taking over AIC American
Focused Fund).
Since 2000, earnings per
share (EPS) are up roughly 450% and its share price is down
roughly 30%. The company is cheap. It's the type of company
that management at Ariel relish but rarely owns because it's
typically too dear. In fact, Disney has been this cheap on a
valuation basis only once over the past 18 years and that
was on Sept. 11, 2001.
The company has boosted
earnings per share at a 16.5% compounded annual rate from
1985 to 2008. Sure, earnings declined in the last recession
and bear market from 2000 to 2002 -- and they will likely
slow again -- but that period is already accounted for.
And Disney is one of the
most successful media companies in the world, owner of ABC,
ESPN, Disney Channel, A&E. There are also the Disney theme
parks and resorts, and movie studios including Walt Disney
Pictures, Touchstone Pictures, Miramax, Pixar, etc.
This is a tremendous
opportunity to own a blue-chip company at a very attractive
valuation. "Something is going terribly right here and has
for quite some time!" says Brobinskoy, who points out that
from 1985 to 2008 Disney far outperformed the broader
market, but its stock got cheaper. The company has never
been this cheap in relation to the S&P 500 looking at data
back to 1985.
Disney is one of many
blue-chip companies trading at multi-year lows based on
valuations. Brobinskoy also points to asset manager Franklin
Resources Inc. (BEN/NYSE); Johnson and Johnson (JNJ/ NYSE)
in the health care sector; American Express Co. (AXP/ NYSE)
in financial services; and automotive giant Toyota Motor
Corp. (TM/NYSE). These are the sector leaders trading at
very low valuations.
In the current market
environment, investors should look to companies that are
well-funded, underleveraged, ideally operating in defensive
sectors with access to capital.
Lehman Brothers (LEH/NYSE)
failed due to excessive leverage. Disney, on the other hand,
is not captive to near-term financial market dislocations.
The company is not highly leveraged and its near-term debt
obligations represent only 3% of its rock-solid assets.
There are
some very strong, well-funded companies currently trading at
knock-down valuations. They may not have hit bottom, but an
opportunity to buy great companies this cheaply does not
happen very often.
|
|
Top
|
Radio Disney Moves to Kansas City Office Building
MarketWatch - Radio Disney, known for representing major
record labels including recording artists Hannah Montana,
Jonas Brothers and others, is slated to move its downtown
Kansas City office to City Center Square October 1, 2008.
Tour City Center Square.
Bob Martin, station manager of
Radio Disney, said that the station believes in the renaissance
of the downtown area and feels that it will continue to grow in
a positive way. "We are dedicated to remaining downtown and feel
that it will give us a competitive advantage for attracting
talent," said Martin. "City Center Square is ideally located for
what we do."
The station, devoted to kids,
tweens and families, anticipates that City Center Square's
location in the heart of the city will help the station interact
with its young audience and the community which is in close
proximity to the charitable events that it regularly sponsors,
including Kids for the Cure, Slugger Days at the K and The
Sprint Family Fun Series. Radio Disney also hosts weekly
performances in the Power & Light District just a few blocks
away from the commercial high-rise office building.
Susan Moore, general manager of
City Center Square, welcomes the kid-friendly radio station to
the building. "Radio Disney is a wonderful organization and
we're looking forward to the youthful and creative presence that
the station will bring," said Moore.
City Center Square is an office
retail building locally managed by Grubb & Ellis| The Winbury
Group. Tenants range from the Kansas City Convention & Visitors
Association to the Kansas City Business Journal. Office space is
available and can be customized to accommodate tenants' needs.
Prime location, parking availability and facility upgrades make
City Center Square an optimal choice for businesses that want to
be part of the new entertainment district. For more information,
visit www.citycentersquare.com. |
|
Top
|
Chihuahua movie
protest
Los Angeles Times - While celebrities
walked the red carpet Thursday night at the premiere of the
comedy "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," about 20 protesters stood by
with signs urging people not to go nuts after they see the movie
and impulsively buy a Chihuahua.
"We know the movie
is cute," says Kim Sill, who runs the campaign against puppy
mills for Last Chance for Animals, the group that organized the
protest. "We don't want to say we're against the movie. We're
against people going to a pet store after they see the movie.
We want them to go to a shelter, because there are a lot of
Chihuahuas there."
Salty, a
4-year-old female Chihuahua, pictured here, is one of those
Chihuahuas. She is up for adoption at LA Animal Services' North
Central shelter. (ID #A0974811.)
Animal welfare
advocates have been concerned for weeks about the impact of the
Disney movie -- which opens Oct. 3 -- on Chihuahuas. In the
past, popular movies featuring a dog often cause a run on that
breed. "101 Dalmatians" led to an uptick in Dalmatian
ownership. And, according to Sill, the Taco Bell commercials
featuring a Chihuahua helped create a Chihuahua craze. But when
people realize the dog may not be right for them or their family
--Damaltians are difficult and Chihuahuas are not always great
with children --"they get dumped," says Sills.
And when a movie
is about to open, puppy mills, she contends, gear up to produce
more of that breed to supply pet stores. (Many animal welfare
organizations, including the Humane Society of the U.S., contend
that most pet stores get their dogs from puppy mills.) "It used
to be you would walk into pet stores and see maltipoos and
Yorkies. All of a sudden in the last two months, we've seen
Chihuahuas infiltrate the pet shops," Sill says.
Los Angeles is
already awash in Chihuahuas. There are more Chihuahuas among
registered dogs in Los Angeles County than any other breed, as
we reported in July. And Sill says the shelters already have a
high number of Chihuahuas. Some of the ones at the Carson
shelter, run by the Los Angeles County shelter system , are
featured in the video that Last Chance for Animals made to drive
home its point about not buying Chihuahuas.
Sill says her
group wanted Disney to air a public service announcement in
theaters before shows telling patrons to think hard before
choosing a pet. "We would have happily produced it for them and
given it to them," says Sill.
It turns out
that several of the Chihuahuas in the film were rescue dogs
found in shelters in Los Angeles and Mexico, according to
Disney's promotional materials. The lead dog, known in the
movie as Papi --the face of the movie on all the posters around
town -- was rescued from the Moreno Valley Animal Shelter and
lives with his trainer.
The theme of
responsible adoption echoes through the movie -- some of the
dogs get adopted as part of the story -- and all the promotional
material, says the spokesperson. The movie's website (at the
bottom) and the movie itself (at the end before the credits
roll) have written messages noting that getting a pet is a
serious and lifelong commitment that should be researched first.
"We felt this was an important message to visibly relay at the
end of the movie," said the spokesperson.
The Disney
spokesperson added that the cast of the movie and the trainer of
Rusco, the dog who plays Papi, have been talking publicly about
animal adoption.
Ed Boks, general
manager of LA Animal Services, saw the movie Thursday night. "I
was a bit disappointed," he wrote in an e-mail. "The movie has a
strong 'adopt' and 'rescue' message, but no 'spay/neuter'
message. In fact, one female dog opined that she longed for a
boyfriend who has NOT been 'fixed.'...Disney just does not seem
to share our concern over the influence this movie could have on
people who will now think of Chihuahuas as cash cows."
Enforcement of
L.A.'s mandatory spay/neuter law begins Oct. 1. And if you do
want to adopt a Chihuahua, here's another one at LA's North
Central shelter. She is Kendra, a 2-year-old female,
ID#A0955495. |
|
Top
|
Disney and Cartoon Network face off
Variety - Two forces, one a rag-tag underdog and the other a
many-armed corporation, are about to go to war over a generation
of boys. But this is not a show on Cartoon Network, this is
Cartoon Network, the established player in a ratings battle for
9- 14-year-olds. The battle that's about to heat up is courtesy
of an unlikely underdog: Disney's rebranded cartoon channel,
Disney Xtreme Digital (formerly Toon Disney), which will hit the
airwaves in February.
The Mouse's ad-supported toon
net will face a tough hombre in the mighty Cartoon. The Viacom
net recently announced new iterations of marquee properties --
including a new Star Wars show -- for the fall, and it's about
to debut a giant, downloadable massively multiplayer online game
called FusionFall; after all, the kids these nets need are
notorious for reaching for a joystick before their remote
control.
If Disney has a cheering section
in this enterprise, it's Madison Avenue, which, if it's going to
sell action figures or sugary food, has to buy boy-focused ad
time from Nick or Cartoon, whether their ratings are good or
not. And Cartoon, with its majority male aud, has carved out a
deep niche. "Kids used to be more widely dispersed throughout
syndication and the major networks," observes Brad Adgate, a
researcher with media buyer Horizon. "Now the ratings go to two
places: Nickelodeon and Cartoon (which gets a larger percentage
of boys than Nick)."
The new XD gives buyers another
alternative.
"If they can get the same kind
of audience delivery on Disney that they can on Cartoon, I think
that's something that buyers would welcome," Adgate says.
Conventional wisdom holds that
Disney's TV properties appeal mostly to girls -- Hannah Montana
and the Disney Princess licenses are two of the biggest success
stories -- but XD's Rich Ross says the rebranded net didn't have
as far to travel as one might think. "We already have a raft of
programming geared toward boys," Ross says. "It's not a standing
start at all."
Disney XD has tried to attract
boys with indestructible older titles that used to run in
syndication, like "Batman: The Animated Series," while upcoming
shows include a "Ben 10"-ish skein called "Aaron Stone" and a
Japanese robot skein called RoboDZ. The net's ratings bear out
Ross' thesis: In total day numbers for August, 32,000 of the
net's 48,000 viewers in the 9-14 demo were boys. XD's problem is
the number of households where the channel is available: Cartoon
has much deeper penetration (97.2 million households to Toon
Disney's 71.3) and in August, it averaged 329,000 viewers in the
9-14 demo (including 232,000 boys). Disney must sell the net in
many more markets if it's going to compete, and while it is busy
doing that, Cartoon is trying to dig even further into the
limited demo with initiatives like its buzz-heavy weekend lineup
and copious vidgame tie-ins. What may turn out to be Disney's
ace in the hole is a partnership with another network in the
ABC/Disney family: ESPN.
"Our sister network -- I suppose
brother network would be more appropriate in this case -- has
been working with Disney Channel and Jetix (Toon Disney's online
presence) for years," Ross says. "We thought it would be to our
advantage to bring in things from their library, and some new
material, as well."
But while Disney is trying to
build up a base of franchise properties that can pull more boys
back to TV, Cartoon is already there, working to incorporate its
homegrown characters into the FusionFall gaming world where the
game and the network will advertise for one another.
Ironically, it's a tactic Disney
itself had great success with: Square developed the
multiproperty "Kingdom Hearts" game series for the Mouse in
2002, which sold more than 10 million copies. So if Disney does
choose to compete in that market, it will be a formidable
opponent.
"I'll be curious to see what
they do," Adgate says of the braintrust at Disney's XD. "I don't
think they'll screw it up. They have the content and they've got
the brand." |
|
Top
|
|
Friday
September 19, 2008 |
End in sight for
Pleasure Island
Man Gets 30 Years For Molesting Girl At Disney Hotel
How Disney
Chose To Name Their Game ‘Pure’
Flash Forward
Celebrity-Studded Playhouse Disney Event Launches Preschool Toys
at Toys "R" Us Times Square |
|
End in sight for
Pleasure Island
Theme Park Rangers - The end is in sight for nightclubs at
Pleasure Island, the Downtown Disney entertainment complex that
opened in 1989. The final night for all six clubs -- Motion,
Mannequins, 8Trax, BET Soundstage Club, Comedy Warehouse and the
Adventurers Club -- will be next Saturday. Plans for the area
are sketchy, but Disney says to expect more shopping and dining
options.
Here are five things we'll miss about P.I.
The rotating dance floor at Mannequins Dance Palace
Part dance floor, part horseless carousel, part theme-park ride,
part lazy susan, the big wheel creates an ever-changing scene.
If you doubt its importance, wait for an unscheduled stoppage,
and you'll feel the energy drain from the room.
The singalong nature of 8Trax
Folks flashing back to 1980s videos tend to belt out "Total
Eclipse of the Heart" or "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" more than
other folks. It's intoxicated mass karaoke at its best, with a
little "Safety Dance" thrown in.
The stuff on the walls
The inside of Comedy Warehouse is a trove of Disneyana, ranging
from giant, defaced photos of Mouseketeers to signage from past
P.I. clubs (Cage, Videopolis). Across the way at Adventurers
Club, 1930s "artifacts" line the browse-able walls, including
talking masks, vintage photos, a crusty Colonel character and
assorted bric-a-brac.
The 'Kungaloosh' crowd
The official greeting ("kuhn-gah-LOOSH!") of the Adventurers
Club captures its spirit: We adventurers know a hidden Disney
treasure, complete with songs, oaths, running jokes and unique
characters. And you don't. Kungaloosh!
The rumor mill
When the closure announcement was made in June, it confirmed the
long-running notion that Pleasure Island was on the outs. But
breathless theories always have been in abundance. They're
putting in bowling alleys! Tearing down the stage! Running off
country-music fans! Gloria Estefan is interested! Jennifer
Lopez! Cirque du Soleil! And the latest: Donna Summer (right) to
perform "Last Dance" on the last night. (Disney says it isn't
so.)
Tidbits from P.I.'s past
Less than a year after Pleasure Island's official opening,
Disney lowered the admission price to enter all clubs from
$14.95 to $9.95. Lowered! At the time, downtown Orlando's Church
Street Station charged $14.95 after 5 p.m.
XZFR Rockin' Rollerdrome, a P.I. original, featured guests on
skates. There was a spotting of then-Disney chairman Michael
Eisner and then-superstar Michael Jackson. In 1990, the venue
morphed into Rock 'n' Roll Beach Club, which remained open (and
wheel-free) until this February.
In 1993, the Pleasure Island Jazz Company was introduced in the
building that was once eatery Merriweather's Market. In 2005,
that space became home to Irish restaurant Raglan Road.
Singer Bobby Brown was charged by the Orange County Sheriff's
Office after a 1995 fight at Mannequins. Brown reached a
settlement with a Chicago man who had to have part of his ear
reattached, and the charges were dropped.
There have been two country-music-driven venues: Neon Armadillo
(1989-1998) and Wildhorse Saloon (1998-2001).
In the '90s, some legends played the West End Stage, including
Johnny Cash, Bo Diddley, Waylon Jennings, the Temptations and
Little Richard. Less-luminary-but-notable acts included Boy
George, Sheryl Crow, Weird Al Yankovic, Hootie and the Blowfish,
Trisha Yearwood, Air Supply, Al Jarreau, Marc Anthony, Men at
Work, Mandy Moore, Enrique Iglesias, Goo Goo Dolls, Heart, Dru
Hill, LFO, Rick Springfield, Selena, Loverboy, Chubby Checker,
Spyro Gyra, Bryan Adams, The Guess Who and (of course) K.C. and
the Sunshine Band. |
|
Top
|
Man Gets 30 Years For Molesting Girl At Disney Hotel
WFtv - A man convicted of molesting a young girl at a Disney
hotel will spend the next 30 years behind bars. William Bishop,
58, molested the child in the bushes at the Swan Hotel in April
of 2007. He was sentenced Friday morning in an Orange County
courtroom.
Neither the little girl nor her
parents were present Friday, but their presence was certainly
felt when the prosecutor read their emotional letter.
Moments after convicted child
molester William Bishop entered the courtroom, he, along with
everyone else, heard prosecutor Linda Drain read a letter
written by the victim’s parents urging the judge to lock him up
for life.
“She’s a brave little girl who
should be thinking about playing soccer and having fun with
friends, not this," Drain read.
On April 27, 2007, an 11-year-old
boy told Orange County deputies he saw Bishop molesting a girl
in the bushes outside the Swan Hotel at Disney. Bishop was
caught videotaping the incident that the girl’s parents said
happened on her birthday.
“We traveled to Disney to
celebrate our daughter’s eight birthday. It was her wish. Now,
every year on her birthday, because of that, we are reminded of
the incident," Drain read from the victim's parents' letter.
The judge sentenced Bishop to 30
years for count one, kidnapping of a child under 13, and 30
years for count two, lewd and lascivious molestation,
concurrently. Bishop will be an old man when released from
prison.
"Nothing, except that I was very
impressed with the way you managed my trial. I couldn’t have
asked for a more fair judge," Bishop said when asked if he
wanted to make any comments.
The judge denied Bishop's request
for a new trial. |
|
Top
|
How Disney
Chose To Name Their Game ‘Pure’
MTV - “Pure” is an off-road, trick-oriented ATV racer, but you
wouldn’t know it from the title.
Most racing games attempt to be
descriptive about their content in the title, but “Pure” is the
opposite. It tells you nothing about the game itself.
That sounds like a risk, so I
asked “Pure” game designer Chris Bowles how they came up with
the name.
“We arrived at the name ‘Pure’
after to trying to describe the feelings we were having when
playing the game, pure fun, pure excitement, pure adrenaline and
it became apparent that we were using the word ‘Pure’ quite a
lot,” he explained.
There must have been names they
tossed aside, right?
“Another one we had toyed with
was ‘Vertigo Rush,’” he said, “which was what we called the
feeling when you went over one of the very big jumps in ‘Pure’
and the ground falls away to reveal a 200 ft drop and stunning
views 40k into the distance. We still refer to these moments as
‘Vertigo Rush’ but the game, as you know, is called ‘Pure.’”
If you were in charge of naming
“Pure,” what would you have called it? |
|
Top
|
Flash Forward
Blue Sky - ABC Network is about to buy/greenlight
"Flash Forward" as a television series. The show, which will be
based on a sci-fi nover by Robert J. Sawyer, is to be written
and produced by David S. Goyer (“Blade: The Series”) and Brannon
Braga (“Star Trek: Enterprise”) with Goyer directing the
pilot...
For those of you that are pop-culturally illiterate, Goyer is
also the man responsible for "Batman Begins", "Blade 1-3" and
the upcoming "Flash" film. I don't want to just bind his credits
to the Blade television show, which was crap since he has done a
good deal of really, really cool stuff. As for Braga, while I
wasn't a big fan of Enterprise, he did produce "24" so that gets
major kudos with me.
The story involves physicists who are conducting a secret,
high-energy experiment that goes awry and causes people all
across the planet to experience two-minutes and seventeen
seconds of their own future decades in the future. This causes
societal problems with people getting a glimpse of their future
without really understanding the context of what they saw. |
|
Top
|
Celebrity-Studded Playhouse Disney Event Launches Preschool Toys
at Toys "R" Us Times Square
eMediaWorld - WHO: Whoopi Goldberg (The View),
Elisabeth Hasselbeck (The View), Eric Mabius (Ugly Betty), Kim
Raver (Lipstick Jungle), Paige Davis (Trading Spaces), Matt
Settle (Gossip Girl), Kelly Rutherford (Gossip Girl), and
Cameron Mathison (Dancing With The Stars) join Disney Consumer
Products and Playhouse Disney characters Handy Manny, Tigger and
Darby for an interactive celebration to launch an exciting fall
line-up of preschool toys and electronics inspired by the hit
preschool shows on Disney Channel: Handy Manny, Little
Einsteins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and My Friends Tigger
and Pooh.
WHAT: A special
story-time reading by Eric Mabius as well as product
demonstrations, sing-along, face painting and art stations
topped off by a photo opportunity with Handy Manny, Tigger and
Darby.
The event will introduce Disney’s
preschool toys and electronics that spark creativity and
imagination while creating a rewarding learning experience any
time, anywhere. The new toy line Includes Handy Manny’s
Fix It Right Transforming Tool Truck, Disney Vtech
Create-a-Story, Little Einsteins Transform & Go Rocket, Mickey
Mouse Clubhouse Motors Speedway and the award-winning Disney Pix
Jr. digital camera.
WHEN: September 20, 2008,
10:00 AM-1:00 PM
PHOTO OPPORTUNITY:
9:30-10:30 AM -- Select celebrities will walk the red carpet and
be available for interviews.
WHERE: Toys
“R” Us Times
Square, New York City
BACKGROUND:
About Disney Channel’s
Playhouse Disney
Playhouse Disney is a standalone
channel in eight countries and a daily, learning-focused
programming block on Disney Channel in the U.S. It showcases
new, original characters and classic Disney favorites. Designed
for preschoolers, Playhouse Disney programming invites
co-viewing with parents, grandparents and caregivers. Popular
series include “Mickey Mouse
Clubhouse,” “Johnny
and the Sprites,”
“Little Einsteins,”
“Handy Manny,”
“JoJo’s
Circus,” “Higglytown
Heroes,” “The
Doodlebops,” “The
Wiggles” and “My
Friends Tigger & Pooh.”
About Disney Consumer
Products
Disney Consumer Products and
affiliates (DCP) is the business segment of The Walt Disney
Company (NYSE:DIS) that extends the Disney brand to merchandise
ranging from apparel, toys, home décor
and books and magazines to foods and beverages, stationery,
electronics and fine art. This is accomplished through DCP's
various lines of business which include: Disney Toys, Disney
Apparel, Accessories & Footwear, Disney Food, Health & Beauty,
Disney Home and Disney Stationery. Other businesses involved in
Disney's consumer products sales are Disney Publishing
Worldwide, the world's largest publisher of children's books and
magazines, and
www.disneyshopping.com, the
company's official shopping portal. The Disney Stores retail
chain, which debuted in 1987, is owned and operated by Disney in
North America and Europe. The Disney Stores chain in Japan is
operated under a license agreement with Disney. For more
information, please visit
www.disneyconsumerproducts.com.
|
|
Top
|
|
Thursday
September 18, 2008 |
A Disney ‘First’ Launches ‘Celebration Vacation’ Travel Trend
Dwayne Johnson heads to Disney’s ‘Tomorrowland’
Will 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua' be top dog at the box office?
Spend Halloween in
Disney World
Disney advises U of I on service strategies
Disney's Toy Story Mania with Physical Challenges: Riding with
Health Issues |
|
A Disney ‘First’ Launches ‘Celebration Vacation’ Travel Trend
 Disney
News - Everyone who visits a Walt Disney World Resort or
Disneyland Resort theme park on their birthday in 2009 can get
in free, as Disney Parks embraces a newly identified family
travel trend called “celebration vacations.”
In this new national trend,
American families are hitting the road to mark life’s
special occasions – birthdays, anniversaries, graduations,
reunions and more – with a “celebration vacation.” In 2009,
Walt Disney World and Disneyland Resorts will lead this
growing trend with new entertainment and services that allow
guests to turn their personal milestones into magical Disney
experiences.
And to kick it all off – a
first-ever opportunity for guests to receive a free ticket
to one of the Walt Disney World or Disneyland theme parks on
their birthday in 2009.
“Birthdays are the one occasion
that we all share every year,” said Jay Rasulo, chairman of
Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, at an announcement event
today in New York. “We thought a free birthday ticket would
be the icing on the cake as we extend this new ‘celebration
vacation’ trend to Disney Parks.”
 Disney
parks provide the perfect setting for this new style of
vacation that celebrates the special occasions in life,
Rasulo added.
Whether a guest is celebrating
a birthday, an anniversary, Quinceañera or any special
occasion, Disney parks already are filled with favorite
characters, world-class attractions and entertainment, and
legendary guest service – exactly the “something for
everyone” that trend-watchers say families look for in a
“celebration vacation.”
“The special moments in your
life become truly magical when you celebrate at a Disney
park,” Rasulo said. “Sharing a milestone at Disney connects
families, friends and generations.”
A nationwide survey of
nearly 4,600 adults conducted by Ypartnership –
co-author of the influential National Travel Monitor –
showed that 70 percent of U.S. leisure travelers have
taken a vacation with the primary purpose of marking a
special occasion in their lives – a “celebration
vacation,” as Ypartnership President and CEO Peter
Yesawich termed it.
Respondents mentioned a
broad range of events worth celebrating with a special
vacation – not just birthdays and anniversaries but a
first vacation with children, a job promotion or
recovery from an illness.
Whenever something positive
happens in their lives, people seek out ways to make
them more special, Yesawich said, and vacations are
clearly perceived as both an appropriate and desirable
way to do so.
Time does pass quickly and
there is a growing trend to slow down our frenetic
lifestyles and stop to rejoice around the things that
matter,” he said. “Families on ‘celebration vacations’
are looking to truly commemorate moments in their lives
– in special places everyone can enjoy.”
 Research
showed that when they take that “celebration vacation,”
families are looking for destinations that provide
activities for children and – better yet – activities
adults and children can enjoy together.
Given these findings, it’s
not surprising that Disney Parks topped the list of
destinations where families would most like to celebrate
these special occasions,” Yesawich said.
“We see our parks as the
ideal setting for a personal celebration,” Rasulo
said. “Guests can immerse themselves in their favorite
stories and their favorite characters, creating a visit
they’ll never forget.
“And when our cast members
get involved, it feels as if the entire park is
celebrating along with you.”
At Walt Disney World
Resort, guests can add on to the fun, choosing from more
than 200 experiences ranging from breathtaking (magical
fireworks cruises, sunrise safaris, diving the depths
with undersea creatures) to mirth-making (Bibbidi
Bobbidi Boutique, character dining, kids’ pirate
adventures). At Disneyland Resort, celebrants can book
more than 50 magical experiences, including “My
Disneyland Birthday Party” and unique Disneyland guided
tours.
With all there is to do in
Disney parks, guests can tailor their celebration with
favorite attractions, favorite characters and special
experiences. Maybe they have a “princess” day with
themed meals, shows, attractions and perfectly princess
merchandise at Disneyland. Or they turn Walt Disney
World “wild” with trail riding, bass fishing and water
skiing.
 Even
before the Ypartnership findings, Disney noticed the
celebration trend happening in its parks, Rasulo
noted. For instance, guests have visited the parks to
propose marriage, celebrate a child’s passage into high
school, or pull the whole family together for the golden
anniversary of their parents. “But Walt Disney World and
Disneyland are now poised to champion milestone
vacations for families and friends in a breakthrough
way,” he said. “We’re asking our guests, ‘What will YOU
celebrate?’
“Part of the celebration is
all the firsts that magically happen at Disney Parks,”
Rasulo said. “Guests become the star of their own
celebration. It could be a first trip to Disney or a
first family vacation without the stroller. We want to
make a first visit – and every visit – even more
memorable.”
Even if they’re not
celebrating, Rasulo said, guests will be immersed in a
“Celebrate Today!” spirit, making every day a party.
Planning any event can be a challenge. With Disney’s new
celebration planning tools, it’s easier than ever for
guests to plan celebrations large and small, customizing
and personalizing each experience and tending to all the
details, from a special cake to an elaborate
one-of-a-kind celebration that only Disney could create.
Thanks to new Web tools,
guests can discover magical experiences, unique events,
dining enhancements and more.
 Disney’s
planning services allow guests to stay focused on what
really matters – the people closest to them. And
vacation packages make celebrating at Disney right for
any budget.
Depending on the Disney
park they are headed to, guests can order everything
from special dining to princess tea parties, from yacht
cruises to treasure hunting on a pirate sailing
adventure, from a quiet trail ride to parasailing
thrills. Or they can opt for magical experiences for
their group – from dessert parties to a Magic Kingdom
fireworks cruise to special entertainment.
Among add-on experiences
guests can choose to customize their “celebration
vacation”:
-
Custom Bakery Cakes
and Signature Desserts: Disney chefs create an
unforgettable finale to a special dinner with a
beautifully decorated cake themed to any occasion or
a new line of celebration desserts.
-
For Lovebirds:
Sweetheart dinners for two in which couples can
clink “Celebrate Today!” champagne flutes.
-
Family Portraits:
Capture the memory with a portrait session with Walt
Disney World photographers. Build a custom photo
album with Disney’s PhotoPass.
-
Personalized
Souvenirs: Mark your occasion with personalized
Mouse ears, character T-shirts and collectible pins.
-
Decorate Your Disney
Guest Room: Step into a resort room decorated to
fit your celebration theme with confetti, banners,
surprises and more.
-
Stay Inside a Dream
Theme: Book a themed guest room at either
destination – princess-themed or Mickey-inspired at
Disneyland or – coming in 2009 – pirate-themed at
Walt Disney World Resort.
-
Set Sail: Book a
private romantic cruise on a yacht or set your party
afloat on a shared magical fireworks voyage.
-
Go Inside the Magic:
Behind-the-scenes tours take you inside the
storytelling, adventure and history of Disney Parks.
-
Disney Story Book
Experiences: Choose from pirate adventures, tea
parties, princess makeovers and more – all with the
magic of Disney.
-
Disneyland Parties:
“Celebration Roundup and Barbecue at Big Thunder
Ranch,” all-new, is a full-blown party complete with
frontier entertainment, goodie bags and a surprise
treat for everyone – no matter what they’re
celebrating. “My Disneyland Birthday Party” features
cake decorating, party hats and even Mickey and
Minnie pay a visit.
Disney is unwrapping
all-new entertainment with memory-makers in mind,
allowing guests to focus their celebration on favorite
characters, favorite attractions and favorite stories to
create a custom celebration in the park. New park
experiences coming in 2009 for all park guests to
enjoy:
- Street Parties:
Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World Resort and
Disneyland Park come to life with interactive street
parties. The call to “Celebrate Today!” goes out to
guests, music floods the streets, dancing kicks into
high gear and the parks become “the happiest party
on Earth.”
- Tomorrowland
Party: A high-energy, retro-futuristic music
video dance party features Stitch, an interactive
dance troupe, and a DJ celebration host who’s
inviting all Walt Disney World guests to come party,
dance and celebrate.
- Park Décor:
The parks will be decorated with colorful banners,
balloons and festive party
hats – as if awaiting your celebration.
- Buttons:
Complimentary celebration buttons will help Disney
cast members and fellow guests recognize you and
your celebration.
Disney parks are the
ultimate setting for any celebration, turning a special
occasion into a magical Disney experience. And with the
opportunity of free admission to a Walt Disney World or
Disneyland Resort theme park on your birthday in 2009, it’s
even more special. All it takes is a
valid ID including proof of birth date. Guests can get more
details and start the process by registering their birthdays
at
www.disneyparks.com.
“We believe Disney parks are uniquely positioned for any
celebration and offer the ultimate setting for marking a
cherished milestone,” Rasulo said. “People trust Disney to
make an occasion truly magical. And now more than ever,
Disney will help guests seize those special moments and turn
them into memories that will live forever in their hearts.”
For more information or to book a Disney “celebration
vacation,” guests can visit
www.disneyparks.com,
call 407/W-DISNEY or contact their local travel agent.
|
|
Top
|
Dwayne Johnson heads to Disney’s ‘Tomorrowland’
Monsters and Critics - Disney could be hoping to repeat the
"Pirates of the Caribbean" formula by giving part of its
theme park the film treatment with a big screen adaptation
of “Tomorrowland.” The film will be a space adventure with
Dwayne Johnson signed to star.
Variety reports Disney has hired
writers Jon Lucas and Scott Moore to pen a space epic designed
as a vehicle for Johnson – who worked with Disney on the family
film “The Game Plan” and just finished work on the studio’s
upcoming "Race to Witch Mountain."
Disney has yet to confirm the
the new film will be titled “Tomorrowland” or that it is even
based on the futuristic part of the Magic Kingdom (which
includes Space Mountain).
The new film is produced by
Mayhem Pictures partners Mark Ciardi and Gordon Gray. |
|
Top
|
Will 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua' be top dog at the box office?
Los Angeles Times - Walt Disney Pictures is making a lot of
marketing noise with its upcoming "Beverly Hills Chihuahua," a
live-action comedy about a pampered purebred that gets lost in
Mexico.
And the little yelper, being
unleashed in theaters Oct. 3, could show plenty of box-office
bite despite detractors who say the marketing materials
perpetuate ethnic stereotypes.
The PG-rated family film
features Piper Perabo and Jamie Lee Curtis and a voice cast
headed by Drew Barrymore along with such Latino stars as George
Lopez, Salma Hayek, Edward James Olmos, Cheech Marin and Andy
Garcia.
Early tracking is solid but not
stellar among general moviegoers -- Sony Pictures' teen hipster
romantic comedy "Nick & Norah's Infinit Playlist," which opens
on the same weekend, has lower awareness but higher interest
levels. But kids and moms, the demographics that turn
talking-animal flicks like "Alvin and the Chipmunks" into hits,
are keen on it.
Latinos, who tend to be among
the most avid moviegoing groups in the U.S., could give "Beverly
Hills Chihuahua" a huge boost, especially in urban markets such
as Los Angeles and Chicago. According to the Motion Picture
Assn. of America, Latinos saw an average of 10.8 movies in 2007,
compared with 7.9 for Caucasians and 7.8 for African Americans.
But some think Disney's
marketing could also spark a backlash.
"The movie's generalizations
about Hispanics and its stereotypical depictions of Mexicans
will not get a positive response from most of the 46 million
Hispanics living in the U.S.," said Anton Diego, president of
EveryMundo Inc., a marketing firm that helps businesses target
Latinos online.
The trailer, Diego notes, opens
with the voice of a Chihuahua called Papi describing how his
descendants fought alongside Aztec soldiers, then pans to
footage of Machu Picchu in Peru -- a symbol of the Incan Empire
located on a different continent. The music in the trailer is
mambo, which originated in Cuba, he adds.
A viral video campaign (with no
mention of Disney or the movie title, in today's fashionable
stealth style) has elicited groans for its portrayal of
Chihuahuas as revolutionaries declaring "No mas!" to being
carried in purses -- but "Mas!" to all-you-can-eat taco bars.
Disney declined to comment on
the movie's marketing.
Alex Nogales, president of the
National Hispanic Media Coalition, said he saw two screenings of
the completed film after hearing a complaint about the project
and found nothing offensive.
"It's not supposed to ignite the
world with social consciousness, but this is a clean,
entertaining picture with an all-star cast that brings the
Latino presence to a whole new height," Nogales said. "It's a
marvelous little film that is going to send everybody off to buy
their own Chihuahuas."
The marketing effort appears to
be clicking with broad audiences.
The trailer, featuring a Busby
Berkeley-type musical number, has been popular since it
premiered with this summer's "The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince
Caspian," according to executives at Disney and rival studios.
Disney has also raised awareness
for the movie, originally titled "South of the Border," with a
poster campaign in various cities featuring a Chihuahua and the
simple message "Heel," done in the style of artist Shepard
Fairey's "Hope" signs for Barack Obama.
The company's more traditional
movie posters are plastered with a series of cheeky tag lines:
"I, Chihuahua," "You Want Some of This?" "Actual Size" and, of
course, "50% Warrior. 50% Lover. 100% Chihuahua."
Exhibitors and Wall Street
analysts expect "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" to gross $40 million
to $50 million domestically during its full run, targets that
are almost certain to rise as the opening draws near. If the
buzz turns out to be really good, "Chihuahua" could end up
nipping at the heels of "Chipmunks" ($217 million domestically).
With summer over, current films
such as "Burn After Reading," "Righteous Kill" and "The Women"
have been tailored toward adults, said Bruce J. Olson, president
of the Marcus Theatres chain, based in Milwaukee.
"There is a pent-up demand among
families, so the market is ripe for 'Chihuahua' to be the first
sleeper hit of the fall," he said.
Chris White, an analyst at
Wedbush Morgan Securities, noted that DreamWorks/Paramount's
over-the-top, R-rated action comedy "Tropic Thunder" drew fire
from some groups for supposedly stereotyping the mentally
disabled, but it opened at No. 1 and topped the box office for
three weeks in late summer.
"I'm not a hard-core dog fan,"
White said, "but even I think 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua' is a
cute concept and I definitely want to see it." |
|
Top
|
Spend Halloween in
Disney World
VillageSoup Belfast - Celebrate Halloween at Mickey's Not So
Scary Halloween Party at Walt Disney World!
Boo! Don't be afraid. The screams
you hear are squeals of delight, not fright. Disney fantasy and
Halloween fun come together on selected nights in September and
October for a one-of-a-kind celebration. Seize this rare
opportunity to visit the Magic Kingdom in costume*, ride some of
the most popular attractions and enjoy some really sweet
trick-or-treating with favorite Disney characters in their
finest Halloween outfits. With special music, a parade and the
spectacular Happy HalloWishes fireworks show, this is no trick —
it's a real treat.
ENTERTAINMENT
HIGHLIGHTS:
-Mickey's "Boo-to-You" Halloween Parade!
-Trick-or-treating throughout Magic Kingdom Park at numerous
locations
-Happy HalloWishes fireworks spectacular — where the Disney
Villains go trick-or-treating in the sky!
-Characters decked out in their favorite costumes — so wear
yours, too.
-Some of the most popular Magic Kingdom attractions.
|
|
Top
|
|
Disney
advises U of I on service strategies
DesMoinesRegister - The University of Iowa is looking to add a
little magic to a new off-site hospital facility.
U of I Hospitals paid $3,000 to have two consultants from the
Disney Institute visit last month and talk for three hours about
the Disney approach to business. Strategies for creating "warm
welcomes and fond farewells" could be implemented for a new
ambulatory care center to be built by 2010, said Gordon
Williams, chief of operations for U of I Health Care.
"We don't want to create the
Disney experience, we want to create the Iowa experience,"
Williams said during a break in the Iowa Board of Regents
meeting Wednesday in Coralville.
The Disney Institute provides professional development courses
for organizations ranging from Amtrak and McDonald's to medical
centers such as the Mayo Clinic and Johns Hopkins Health System,
according to its Web site.
Williams, who worked with the Disney Institute when he was an
administrator at Northwestern University, said the customer
service experience at Disney parks can translate to hospitals.
An example is the underground "city" below the Magic Kingdom, in
which goods and people are moved without being seen by park
visitors, he said.
A subcommittee working on the U
of I ambulatory care center will decide whether to take a small
group to Orlando to learn how to implement Disney techniques,
Williams said.
The ambulatory care center will focus on services that do not
require overnight stays. The cost has not yet been determined.
U of I Hospitals officials also said Wednesday they are leaning
toward building a new children's hospital and critical care
tower just west of the hospital in Iowa City. The site would
require removal of a major parking ramp, but the plan could save
more than $150 million from the project, expected to cost more
than $700 million, Williams said.
The regents spent nearly two
hours in closed session Wednesday conducting the job review of U
of I President Sally Mason. The review will be concluded during
a special regents meeting Sept. 25 in West Des Moines. |
|
Top
|
Disney's Toy Story Mania with Physical Challenges: Riding with
Health Issues
PR.com - Though it’s getting rave reviews from park guests, if
you have certain health conditions it may not be right for you.
“We expected it to be relatively gentle and similar to the Buzz
Lightyear ride in the Magic Kingdom, but once we got on it we
were surprised to find that it was a rough ride,” said Stephen
Ashley, author of the guide book Walt Disney World with
Disabilities. “For my wife Sarah it was a bit of a shock, and if
she had known what it was like she probably would have chosen
not to try it because of her neck problem.”
This highly advanced interactive ride opened in June 2008, and
it’s become one of the most popular rides at Disney. Considered
a 4-D experience, it’s inspired by Disney Pixar's "Toy Story"
films. Guests will be “shrunk” to toy size to play an assortment
of midway games with the stars of the film; Woody, Buzz, Rex,
Hamm and others. Using a spring action shooter gun, participants
will shoot 3-D targets for points.
Using newer technology, this experience will be a blast for a
large percentage of Disney guests. However the motion and
special effects may be challenging for those with certain
conditions including neck and back problems, weakness, epilepsy,
balance issues and vertigo. It has rough tracks, jerky motion,
high speed turns and spins and sudden stops that can feel quite
rough. Regardless, many people even with mild to moderate health
issues will be able to participate and enjoy it.
Want to know what to expect? You can find a thorough description
of Toy Story Mania on Diz-Abled.com. It includes in-depth
details about the physical and emotional feel of the ride, along
with tips for riding with greater comfort. The description is
designed to assist travelers in deciding whether the ride is
appropriate for them.
Stephen Ashley posts sections of the book Walt Disney World with
Disabilities on the official website; however he does not
ordinarily include ride and attraction excerpts. “We made an
exception for this one ride. We just released the revised and
updated version of Walt Disney World with Disabilities, making
it current to 2009,” explained Ashley. “My wife Sarah and I had
tested out Toy Story Mania after the book went to print, so we
decided to write a full article and place it on the website.”
That web article along with the book provides readers an
up-to-date 2009 version of Walt Disney World with Disabilities.
The article includes photos of the attraction including the
queue and the ride cars, as well as a link to a video of the
ride in motion.
The description of Toy Story Mania will be included in the next
edition of Walt Disney World with Disabilities. The book is
designed to support travelers with minor to major health and
emotional concerns so they can safely and comfortably enjoy
Disney to the fullest. |
|
Top
|
|
Wednesday
September 17, 2008 |
ESPN Wears Weekly Ratings Crown With 'MNF' Doubleheader
Disney
Magic in drydock at Norfolk shipyard
Disney
plans tailor-made film for Cyrus
Union
hopes to wear down Disney with bad PR
Disney Japan To Focus On Games By Merging Net, Software Ops
Disney offers VOD in
New Zealand
Disney goes to the Emmy's
El Capitan Theatre for
sale
Quebeckers voicing French version of Disney film
11th Annual unofficial Gay Days at Disneyland announces line-up |
|
ESPN Wears Weekly Ratings Crown With 'MNF' Doubleheader
Multichannel News - When it came to primetime last week, pro
football trumped Barack Obama at the top of the cable ratings.
ESPN, lifted by the return of
Monday Night Football, claimed cable’s ratings crown, averaging
a 2.6 household rating and 2.53 million viewers on average from
Sept. 8 through Sept. 14, according to a Disney Cable Networks
analysis of Nielsen Media Research data. The total sports
network was boosted by the return of cable’s top franchise, as
the Sept. 8 season-opening MNF doubleheader played big: the
Green Bay-Minnesota game tackled 12.5 million viewers and
Denver-Oakland 9.67 million.
Those contests, up 12.8% and
13.7%, respectively, over the corresponding games in 2007,
marked cable’s biggest audiences of the year until the Sept. 15
MNF matchup between Dallas and Philadelphia became the medium’s
most-watched live show ever with 18.6 million viewers.
Fox News Channel was second
last week with a 2.3 household ratings average and nearly 2.77
million viewers in primetime. The cable news leader was buoyed
by a trio of interview segments with Democratic Presidential
nominee Obama on The O’Reilly Factor. Those shows grabbed 4.57
million viewers (10th highest for the week) on Sept.
8, followed by 4.3 million (13th) and 4.23 million
(15th) on the next two nights. The Factor ’s Friday
show scored with 4.15 million watchers (17th).
USA Network’s bounty of original
series, Monk (5.02 million), Burn Notice (4.77 million) and
Psych (4.02 million), combined with its WWE Monday Night Raw
franchise and newly stripped episodes of House (2.95 million),
to secure a 2.2 household rating and 2.94 million viewers on
average for cable’s 2008 leader. USA officials said
House's premiere performance was the best ever for the network
with a stripped series.
TNT, benefiting from The Closer
(7.44 million to rank third) and Raising The Bar (seventh with
4.98 million) on Sept. 8, was fourth with a 1.9 average and some
2.33 million viewers, according to Nielsen data.
Disney Channel, topped by a
Sept. 14 Hannah Montana installment that drew 4.61 million
viewers, good for 10th for the week, finished fifth
with a 1.8 average and 2.20 million viewers.
Lifetime was sixth with a 1.7
average and 1.97 million viewers. The numbers were fashioned
by a puissant weekend duo of Shirley MacLaine’s Coco Chanel
original biopic on Sept. 13, fourth for the week with 5.23
million viewers, and original series hit Army Wives, which
marched before 4.13 million to finish 18th for the
period. Chanel was ad-supported cable's second most-watched
original movie this year, behind the network’s Emmy-nominated
The Memory Keeper’s Daughter, which garnered 5.8 million
watchers. Disney Channel's The Cheetah Girls One World is
cable's top movie so far in 2008.
CNN and Nick at Nite each
registered a 1.4 with the news network averaging 1.69 million
viewers and the sitcom purveyor notching 1.65 million.
TBS (1.3, 1.67 million) and
History (1.2, 1.49 million) rounded out the top 10. The latter
was led by 9/11 special, 102 Minutes That Changed America, which
became the service’s second-biggest show ever with 5.15 million
viewers.
Another top show: the mid-season
finale of ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager
pulled in 4.54 million watchers Sept. 9.
Among the Madison Avenue-coveted
18-to-49 set, ESPN set the pace with 1.72 million primetime
watchers on average last week, according to Nielsen. It was
trailed by USA’s 1.36 million viewers in the demo, 997,000 for
TNT, 946,000 for TBS and 793,000 for Lifetime. |
|
Top
|
Disney
Magic in drydock at Norfolk shipyard
WVEC - You may have noticed the Mickey ears at a Norfolk
shipyard.
 The
Disney Magic cruise ship is in drydock at BAE Systems and, for
two weeks, about 200 employees are working around the clock.
It's being worked on in Titan,
the largest floating drydock on the East Coast.
At 980 feet and 47,000 tons,
Disney Magic takes up the whole drydock.
Workers are blasting and
painting and repairing rudders, propellers and thrusters. Disney
folks are onboard doing upgrades up above.
"Disney has approximately 800
people onboard doing habitability work -- the state rooms, the
swimming pools, the restaurants," explains Dave Thomas, vice
president of ship repair for BAE Systems.
Superintendent John Lifesey is
the project coordinator.
"Most of our work involves
underwater portions. The ships have to dock every two years and
they have surveys that are required to be worked. Sea valves,
the thrusters, the ships have stabilizers which make them go
smother through the water, we're taking two of those off."
Lifesey says there hasn't been a
Minnie or Mickey sighting.
"They keep a crew on here and
Mickey and those folks are actually working here, too, right
now. Out of uniform but they are working too," he noted.
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
Top
|
Disney News - When the gold-standard Bocuse d’Or USA culinary
cook-off unfolds Sept. 26 and 27 at Epcot in Walt Disney World
Resort, TV personality Al Roker will emcee the excitement. When
the contest concludes and spatulas rest, culinary great Charlie
Trotter, along with other star chefs from around the world, will
host a Gala Dinner and Awards ceremony fit for the most
discriminating gourmet.
The opening-weekend event of the
13th annual Epcot International Food & Wine Festival, open to
park guests, promises to deliver celebrity panache, high kitchen
drama and extraordinary culinary moments.
Roker, together with Dana Cowin, editor-in-chef of Food &
Wine magazine, will spotlight the action for Epcot guests in
the park’s World Showplace arena-like setting. There, eight
two-person teams of the country’s top chefs will turn up the
heat in the kitchen with the hope that their culinary creations
land them a top spot representing Team USA at the Bocuse d’Or
World Cuisine Contest – commonly called the Culinary Olympics –
in Lyon, France, Jan. 27-29.
Epcot guests can attend the competition and observe the culinary
wizardry. Each of the eight teams will serve up elaborate fish
and beef dishes to be judged by a top-chef panel: Thomas Keller,
Daniel Boulud, Trotter, Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Georges
Perrier, Laurent Tourondel, and former Bocuse d’Or USA
competitors. Dishes will be judged on excellence in taste,
presentation, technical skill and overall kitchen organization.
The competition culminates Sept. 27 with a Gala Dinner and
Awards ceremony recognizing the first-, second- and third-place
teams. Tickets are still available for the
star-studded event featuring gourmet cuisine, live musical
entertainment, dancing, a silent auction and a chance to meet
and mingle with some the world’s top chefs, including the Gala
Dinner Chefs, as well as contest founder Paul Bocuse, and the
Deans of The French Culinary Institute, Alain Sailhac and Andre
Soltner.
The Gala Dinner includes hors d’oeuvres, a four-course tasting
menu, and a dessert reception prepared by Chefs Boulud (Daniel,
New York City), Trotter (Charlie Trotter’s, Chicago), Patrick
O’Connell (Inn at Little Washington, Washington, D.C.), Perrier
(Le Bec Fin, Philadelphia), Tourondel (BLT, New York City),
Soltner (French Culinary Institute), Salihac (French Culinary
Institute), David Myers (Sona, Los Angeles) and Traci des
Jardins (Jardiniere, San Francisco), and will be paired with
Diageo Reserve Signature Cocktails and Moët Hennessy Champagnes.
The highlight of the evening will be
a Dom Pérignon toast and the
announcement of the Bocuse d’Or USA winning team.
The eight finalists competing
for a spot on the US Team include:
Timothy Hollingsworth, Sous Chef, French Laundry, Yountville,
Calif.
Chef Hung Huynh, “Top Chef” Season 3 Winner, Solo, New York City
Rogers Powell, Instructor, French Culinary Institute, New York
City
Chef John Rellah Jr., Executive Chef, Hamilton Farm, Gladstone,
N.J.
Richard Rosendale, Chef/Owner, Rosendale’s, Westerville, Ohio
Michael Rotondo, Chef de Cuisine, Charlie Trotter’s, Chicago
Kevin Sbraga, Culinary Director, Garces Restaurant Group,
Philadelphia
Percy Whatley, Executive Chef, Delaware North Parks, Yosemite,
Calif.
The newly selected Bocuse d’Or USA team will join 24 teams from
around the world at the Bocuse d’Or World Competition in Lyon,
held every two years.
Reservations for the Gala Dinner and
Awards event are $450 per person, plus tax, at 407/WDW-FEST and
include 2-day Epcot admission (a $150 value). Proceeds benefit
Bocuse d’Or USA (a not-for-profit organization sponsoring the
competitors’ training, travel and culinary education).
Throughout the six-week-long Epcot International Food & Wine
Festival, Sept. 26-Nov. 9, guests can sample food and wine from
around the world at international
marketplaces and specialty dinners, attend seminars and wines
schools and meet guest chefs. For more information, call 407/WDW-FEST
or visit
www.disneyworld.com/food. |
|
Top
|
Disney plans
tailor-made film for Cyrus
Digital Spy - Miley Cyrus will star in a Disney film which is
being written for the Hannah Montana actress and singer
by Nicholas Sparks.
The author is working simultaneously on a novel and a screenplay
adaptation for the film, which will be produced by Disney-based
Offspring Entertainment partners Adam Shankman and Jennifer
Gibgot.
The project came about after Disney executive Jason Reed met
Cyrus and discussed her career plans, reports Daily Variety.
The plot is being kept secret, but it has been revealed that
Cyrus will act and not sing in the Sparks drama.
"Certain opportunities garner your interest, and this was one of
those," Sparks said, adding that Cyrus's familiarity with his
work "played a role" in the project coming together.
Cyrus was recently likened to Madonna by director Brett Ratner,
who said she was "impressive" to work with. |
|
Top
|
Union
hopes to wear down Disney with bad PR
OC Register - For almost eight months, the union that represents
more than 2,000 hotel workers for the three hotels at the
Disneyland resort have been staging demonstrations against the
entertainment giant.
Disney officials say they are befuddled by the disruptive
marches and exhibitions, because union leadership and company
negotiators have been in ongoing negotiations. The company
negotiator said Disney hasn't reached the point of putting a
last, best offer on the table. Likewise, the union president,
Ada Briceño of Unite Here 681, won't even broach the subject of
a possible strike vote.
Why, then, such public
antagonism between Unite Here leadership and Disneyland?
There have been about as many
union-organized protests against park management as there have
been actual negotiating sessions – the last march ended in
arrests when activists blocked a congested thoroughfare during
rush hour.
Tom Revnue, a labor lawyer from
a Midwest firm that represents corporate clients throughout the
nation, said that Disney's public image is a particularly
vulnerable point of attack. He said it seems union leaders hope
to wear down Disney's public image until the company succumbs to
demands, particularly demands concerning workers' health
benefits.
"The union is trying to tarnish
Disney's corporate image by doing what they're doing," Revnue
said. "If you look at a company like Disney, their corporate
image is very important to them – they bill themselves as being
the happiest place on earth."
THE STRATEGY
Only one or two people at each
of the more than a dozen protests against Disneyland over the
past eight months have been actual Disneyland hotel workers.
Briceño and other Unite Here leaders have recruited
rank-and-file members of union locals in Los Angeles, leaders in
other locals, some quasi-political faith-based groups and
students to support their efforts.
During the last protest, the
president of a union representing Disney World workers in
Florida participated in support of Unite Here 681, along with
religious and student activists. The protesters dressed up as
Disney characters and blocked busy Harbor Boulevard at 5 p.m.
Anaheim Police – notified of the planned civil disobedience –
were on hand to arrest the activists.
Unite Here 681 also organizes
food workers at Angel Stadium. Earlier this year, Briceño and
other union leaders staged similar protests to garner publicity
for the dispute there. A few dozen activists descended on the
Irvine corporate headquarters of food contractor Aramark,
chanting protest slogans outside locked office doors. That
dispute has since been resolved.
By assembling such events that
attract press coverage, the union is keeping its disputes in the
public eye, Revnue said. He cited examples of other unions'
activities. For example, several years ago union leadership at a
grocery company called Food Lion filed complaints of unsafe food
handling practice with the Food and Drug Administration. Often,
unions during a labor dispute file complaints with the FDA,
Occupational Health and Safety Administration or other
regulatory agencies, Revnue said.
Whether those complaints turn
out to be legitimate or not, the union's purpose is served by
submitting them into the public record, he said.
THE DISPUTE
According to Disney negotiators
and Briceño, healthcare benefits are at the center of the
Disneyland labor dispute.
Currently, benefits are paid to
workers through Unite Here 681. The company pays the union trust
$2.55 per hour, per employee for their healthcare. Disney wants
to take control of the healthcare plan from Unite Here 681 – a
final holdout of the more than two dozen unions at Disneyland to
have a union-run health plan.
The union offers their
healthcare plan at no cost, Briceño has said.
To keep it that way, union
officials tell Disney they need 70 cents more per hour, per
worker, from the company in healthcare contributions. Disney
argues that current employees could stay with that system, while
new ones would be gradually moved into one of several company
plans with higher contributions and co-pays.
Disney also wants to ratchet up
the number of hours per week workers have to work to get health
care – from 17.5 to 30 hours.
The next meeting between Unite
Here and Disney negotiators hasn't been scheduled yet, but
another sit-down is expected sometime this month.
There's no way of knowing how
the current antagonism will be resolved. But more than 2,000
housekeepers, valets and cooks continue to show up at the
Disneyland Hotel, Paradise Pier and the Grand Californian for
work every day. They're still being paid under the last contract
that expired at the end of January. |
|
Top
|
Disney Japan To Focus On Games By Merging Net, Software Ops
TradingMarkets - In a move to bolster its domestic game
business, the Japanese subsidiary of Walt Disney Co. will
combine its Internet and packaged-software divisions next month.
Bringing these two organizations
together is aimed at hastening development of products and
services that can be enjoyed on a variety of platforms,
including game consoles, mobile phones and personal computers.
The firm's strategy is to penetrate the game market with the
Disney brand, making it a mainstay alongside movies and theme
parks.
Plans include creating new
online communities by attracting fans via games. For example,
Disney Japan will launch a service that tracks a user's history
when playing Nintendo Co.'s Nintendo DS hand-held, awarding
unique items according to level of activity.
This month, the firm launched an
official game site for mobile phone users. And on its official
site for personal computers, it has begun a service that lets
users maintain rooms for their avatars free of charge. |
|
Top
|
Disney offers VOD in
New Zealand
Hollywood Reporter - New Zealand will be the second market in
Asia Pacific to deliver a free VOD catch-up service from
Disney-ABC International Television Asia Pacific, broadcaster
TVNZ and Disney said Wednesday.
TVNZondemand, TVNZ's free online service, will offer a selection
of ad-supported U.S. network series, kicking off with the first
season of "Private Practice," episodes of which go online 12
hours after their broadcast on TVNZ's TV2 channel.
The deal marks the first time a U.S. series will be offered free
of charge online in New Zealand. All episodes will be available
on
tvnzondemand.com for 28 days.
The service has been in operation for more than 18 months with a
mix of local shows, news and current affairs and some selected
U.K. and Australian. The broadcaster said New Zealanders are
watching more than 30,000 hours of TV through the free online
service.
Other Disney series to join the service this year will include
new seasons of "Eli Stone," "Lost," "Desperate Housewives" and
"Grey's Anatomy."
Series launch dates on TVNZondemand will depend on the TV2's
broadcast schedule.
"We're delighted to be the first U.S. studio working with TVNZ,
a pioneer in the digital media space in New Zealand, to bring
our hit U.S. series in ways that are innovative and relevant to
viewers here," said Rob Gilby, senior vp and managing director
at Disney-ABC International Television Asia Pacific.
Disney already has a similar deal with TVB in Hong Kong and has
a number of programs available for sale through Apple's iTunes
Store in Australia. |
|
Top
|
Disney goes to the Emmy's
Disney Insider -
Ever wonder what it's like to be
nominated for an Emmy Award? What would you wear on the red
carpet, and would you rehearse your speech ... just in case? A
new crop of nominees are facing the elation — and the
butterflies in the stomach — that an Emmy nod bring. You can
catch the excitement at home when "The 60th Primetime Emmy
Awards" air live from the NOKIA Theatre in Los Angeles on
Sunday, September 21 (8:00-11:00 PM, ET/PT) on the ABC
Television Network. "High School Musical 2," "Hannah Montana,"
"The Suite Life of Zack and Cody," and more are in the running —
and among the nominees is the brand-new Disney Channel series "Phineas
and Ferb," which has snagged two nods for its music. The
animated show has wowed audiences with its combination of
cutting-edge animation, endearing characters, and catchy songs.
The Insider had a chat with proud nominees Jeff "Swampy" Marsh
and Dan Povenmire, both writers for "Phineas and Ferb," about
what it's like to be nominated, what's unique about "Phineas and
Ferb," and how they write all those songs.
For those who imagine that Emmy nominees are notified by a
midnight congratulatory phone call, the truth turns out to be
less glamorous. Dan says, "I didn't know we had been nominated
until a friend sent me an e-mail saying 'by the way,
congratulations!' and I didn't know what she was congratulating
me for. She said on the Emmy nominations, so then I left Swampy
a message ..."
Swampy adds," ... which I didn't get that morning, so I had no
idea!" Dan laughs, "We had a whole conversation about the Emmys
that morning, and I didn't know Swampy hadn't gotten my message.
About midway through the conversation, he said 'What are we
talking about? I'm lost here!'"
Conversation with the two writers is often like this — they riff
off each other, finishing sentences and laughing frequently. So
perhaps it's no surprise that their songwriting partnership
works the same way. One of the best aspects of "Phineas and Ferb,"
they say, is getting to compose together. Dan explains, "Swampy
and I are both frustrated musicians, we've both played in bands
and wrote songs all the time when we were younger. So we got
together and wrote songs!" Swampy continues, "That's our Friday
night! We get together, Dan and I, and usually a couple of
members of the crew and we'll drag out the guitars and a
keyboard, and we say 'All right, this week we need a song about
giraffes and motor boats, in a Broadway musical style.'" Dan
adds, "Or a song that sounds like ABBA about miniature golf! The
great thing is that we write the song, we sing it into our
composer's answering machine on Friday night, he produces it
over the weekend, and we get a finished song back, ready for the
air, by Monday. It takes us about an hour to write a song about
anything."
"Phineas and Ferb" is all about exactly that kind of invention
and imagination. And as Swampy and Dan point out, that spirit is
very Disney. "Walt Disney said that 'it's kind of fun to do the
impossible'," observes Swampy. "Well, that's 'Phineas and Ferb'
in a nutshell! The whole premise of the show is 'dream big and
go out and do stuff,' and that's Disney all over!"
Another Disney hallmark is family entertainment that's fun
without being snide or insulting, and that has been a hallmark
of "Phineas and Ferb." Swampy explains, "One of the things we've
always felt about Disney is that parents see it as a safe place
for kids, and we're both parents. We like to make sure that 'Phineas
and Ferb' keeps its edge but is never anything parents wouldn't
want their kids to watch." Dan agrees, "We try to keep them very
innocent — they're never mean or snotty. We always try to
remember that Phineas and Ferb are motivated by fun."
With a writing team planning to attend the Emmys in kilts, it's
clear that the spirit of fun is the heart and soul of "Phineas
and Ferb" — as well as the heart and soul of Disney. After all,
Walt Disney himself was always one to embrace new opportunities
and technologies, and television was no exception. Way back in
1955, when television was in its infancy, he created the
pioneering "Disneyland" TV series. "Disneyland" was honored with
no less than three Emmy awards that year, and Walt would surely
be smiling as Disney goes to the Emmys once again. |
|
Top
|
El Capitan Theatre for
sale
Los Angeles Times - The historic El Capitan Theatre on Hollywood
Boulevard, where "Citizen Kane" had its world premiere and a
generation of children have watched actors dressed as Disney
characters cavort onstage, is for sale.
The $31-million price tag includes the six-story, 1920s office
building into which the theater is built.
Walt Disney Co. will remain the
long-term tenant at the theater, which the studio renovated
in the early 1990s and has used to showcase many of its
recent children's movies.
The building also houses several entertainment industry
tenants, including the studio and offices of "Jimmy Kimmel
Live."
In its gilded splendor across Hollywood Boulevard from
Grauman's Chinese Theatre and the Hollywood & Highland
entertainment complex, the El Capitan is the picture of
prosperity now, but it's had more comebacks than many an
actor. Since its debut in 1926 as a live theater, many of
Hollywood's best-known performers have appeared there.
"The El Capitan has a bright
history in the entertainment industry and we really want to
find a buyer who will maintain its entertainment legacy for
a long time," said Rick Uhlmann, a spokesman for owner CUNA
Mutual Group, which came to own the property by happenstance
and ended up holding on to it for many years.
The Madison, Wis.-based financial services company came into
possession of the property after the 1994 Northridge
earthquake.
Its then-owners walked away and left CUNA Mutual holding
title and facing some hard decisions. The quake's force had
compromised the building's frame and emergency sprinklers
flooded the interior. Public safety inspectors deemed it
uninhabitable.
Hollywood at the time seemed to be in an intractable funk of
seediness and squalor, with a well-deserved reputation for
danger after dark.
One of the few bright spots was the El Capitan, which had
been restored by Disney and Pacific Theaters in 1991. The
$6-million renovation restored the building's colorful
outdoor lighting and the architectural features created by
theater designer G. Albert Lansburgh, who also planned Los
Angeles' Wiltern and Orpheum theaters, as well as the Shrine
Auditorium's interior.
With Disney remaining as a tenant, CUNA Mutual spent almost
$10 million bringing the structure up to safety codes, while
also restoring the commercial space upstairs from the
theater. The firm attempted to keep it looking as developer
Charles Toberman envisioned it in the 1920s. Toberman,
sometimes called "the father of Hollywood," was also a
partner in building the Chinese and Egyptian theaters with
Sid Grauman.
Upon completion of the restoration, CUNA Mutual dared to ask
for high-end rents in a decidedly low-end neighborhood --
and eventually succeeded. The rebirth of Hollywood that
followed the 2001 opening of Hollywood & Highland brought
businesses back to the area, and today the El Capitan
offices are fully leased.
Commercial real estate brokerage CB Richard Ellis will shop
the building to wealthy individuals, Hollywood landlords and
investors in Europe and Asia, broker Timothy L. Bower said.
"We're not insulated from what is going on on the national
stage," Bower said of the current credit crisis. "But
Hollywood remains one of the strongest markets we have in
L.A."
Disney confirmed Tuesday that it would remain a long-term
tenant at the El Capitan. The building, which housed Barker
Bros. Furniture Emporium in its commercial space for nearly
50 years, is a designated national landmark and one of
several prominent historic structures that have come to
market in recent years.
Other historic Hollywood properties that have changed hands
in recent years include the Hollywood Palladium, the former
CBS broadcasting building and the former Warner Bros. and
Columbia Pictures movie studios. The Magic Castle and
Yamashiro restaurant are on the market.
|
|
Top
|
Quebeckers voicing French version of Disney film
Globe and Mail - For the first time ever, Walt Disney has
chosen a trio of Quebec talents as the lead voices for a
French-language dubbing an animated film, the forthcoming
Volt.
Renowned actor Claude Legault will speak the role of Volt, a
dog who thinks he has super powers; comedian Guy Jodoin will
play Rhino, a TV-obsessed hamster; and 13-year-old
Frédérique Dufort, a current star in the film
Un été sans point ni coup sûr,
will act as Volt's owner, Penny.
The
English version - entitled Bolt
- stars Miley Cyrus as Penny and John Travolta as Bolt.
|
|
Top
|
11th Annual unofficial Gay Days at Disneyland announces
line-up
QVegas - Following last year's successful event, which
attracted nearly 30,000 gays and lesbians from California
and all over the country, the Gay Days at Disneyland this
year will be held Friday, October 3-Sunday, October 5.
Gay Days Anaheim is a "mix-in" with straight park-goers. Gays
and lesbians are encouraged to wear red shirts to the parks to
identify one another and show strong numbers. Official T-shirts
are available at the official Gay Day at Disneyland Web site:
www.GayDaysAnaheim.com.
Both days in the park will have gathering times for specific
groups including gay youth (sponsored by The Trevor Project),
families, women, singles, and, of course, bears. There will be
scavenger hunts and a group photo inside the park. A complete
schedule is available at the Web site.
The weekend opens Friday, October 3 with Wonderland, a dance
party with DJ Ray Rhodes (Tiger Heat, KBIG 104.), hosted by Los
Angeles drag diva Momma. Alec Mapa (Ugly Betty) will host the
VIP room. The event, which benefi ts The Trevor Project, runs
from 9:30 p.m.-1 a.m. at Ralph Brennan's Jazz Kitchen located in
Downtown Disney at the Disneyland Resort.
Tickets are $15 at the door.
Saturday, October 4 will be Gay Day at Disneyland, which
culminates with Kingdom, the weekend's signature dance party
with music from reknown DJ Kimberly S. There will be special
performances by Erin Hamilton ("Dreamweaver"), Shoshana Bean,
and Matt Zarley. The event will be held at the House of Blues
Anaheim in Downtown Disney, 9 p.m.-1:30 a.m. Tickets are $30 in
advance, $40 at the door.
Sunday, October 6 will be Gay Day at Disney's California
Adventure.
Other events at the weekend include free screenings at the
Gay Days Entertainment Center presented by here! (located inside
the Trillium Room of Disney's Grand Californian Hotel), where
Chad Allen will introduce his new here! film Ice Blues on
Saturday night, and Sunday there will be a screening of the
indie hit Shelter followed by a Q&A with its star Brad Rowe.
There will also be a Gay Days Pin Trading event on Sunday at the
Gay Days Info Center (also located inside the Trillium Room of
Disney's Grand Californian Hotel).
Discounted hotel rooms and park tickets are currently offered
at www.GayDaysAnaheim.com. Gay Days Anaheim is not a
Disney-sponsored event so Disney will not have any information
regarding the "unofficial" happening.
Premiere Sponsors for the event are here! and Bacardi.
Sponsors are PRIDE, Rainbow Vacations, Holiday Inn Buena Park,
Sheraton Anaheim, Howard Johnson Anaheim, and the Anaheim/Orange
Country Visitor and Convention Bureau. Media sponsors are HX, IN
Los Angeles, PIX, Odyssey Hawaii, Gay Chicago Magazine, The New
York Blade and QVegas.
Gay Days Anaheim are October 3-5 at the Disneyland Resort in
Anaheim, Calif. One-day, single park passes are $66 for adults
and $56 for children and are available at Disneyland's entrance
or from www.disneyland.com.
Complete details about Gay Days at Disneyland are available
at www.GayDaysAnaheim.com. |
|
Top
|
|
Tuesday
September 16, 2008 |
|
|
|
 Disney
News - Two highly anticipated resort developments announced
today will expand the Walt Disney World experience and continue
the rapid growth of Disney Vacation Club, Disney’s innovative
vacation-ownership program:
the 15-story Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort is
scheduled to join the Disney Vacation Club family of properties
in fall 2009, while
the Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa,
scheduled to open in summer 2009, will become the next room
category offered at that resort.
Disney
Vacation Club also announced that Bay Lake Tower sales are
scheduled to begin on Sept. 21 for Disney Vacation Club Members,
while sales to the general public and sales for the newest phase
of Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa will begin at a later
date.
“Our founder, Walt Disney, was well known for having one foot in
the past and one in the future,” said Disney Vacation Club
President Jim Lewis. “These new resort developments share that
dynamic sensibility, blending modern luxury and design with the
nostalgic spirit of two of the most storied resorts in Walt
Disney World history.”
 The
announcement comes during an unprecedented era of growth for
Disney Vacation Club, established in 1991 to give families
decades of affordable vacations at Disney destinations and
beyond. Disney Vacation Club membership has more than doubled
since 2004, expanding to include more than 350,000 individuals
from approximately 100 countries and every U.S. state.
That membership growth has also driven Disney Vacation Club
expansion, inspiring Walt Disney Imagineers to dream up new
vacation home opportunities. In addition to Bay Lake Tower and
the Treehouse Villas, development continues on Disney’s Animal
Kingdom Villas at the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida, The
Villas at Disney’s Grand Californian Hotel & Spa at the
Disneyland Resort in California and the recently announced
resort at Ko Olina on the island of Oahu.
“What excites me most about this tremendous growth is that we’re
not only creating new accommodations, but new experiences,”
Lewis said. “Each of the projects we’ve undertaken at Disney
Vacation Club is unlike anything previously available in our
resort portfolio, and both Bay Lake Tower and the Treehouse
Villas proudly build on that tradition.”
Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
 The
new, curvilinear Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s Contemporary Resort
is designed to complement the fabled styling of the original
building, which opened with the Magic Kingdom Park on Oct. 1,
1971, and featured comedian Bob Hope as master of ceremonies.
Mimicking the color palette and strong horizontal lines of its
iconic predecessor, the new structure even sports a rooftop
lounge inspired by the original resort’s A-frame architecture.
The tower’s crescent shape, hugging lush landscaping, planned
recreation options and a lakeside pool, promises to deliver some
of the most dramatic views available anywhere at the Walt Disney
World Resort. Some villas face scenic, undeveloped stretches of
Bay Lake, while others offer spectacular views of the Magic
Kingdom Park, located a short walk away.
The views promise to be equally appealing inside the tower’s 295
two-bedroom-equivalent villas, where visionary design meets
Disney chic to define the vacation experience. As the closest
resort to the Magic Kingdom Park, Bay Lake Tower guests can
easily return to their rooms for quick breaks from their busy
day in the Park, where they can relax in an inspiring setting
offering many of the conveniences of home.
 Most
of the rooms in this iconic resort will feature innovative
touches, such as modern artwork designed specifically for Bay
Lake Tower, flat-screen TVs, full kitchens complete with granite
countertops and modern appliances, separate bedrooms, washers
and dryers, and other home-like amenities. Plus, to accommodate
larger families or families traveling together, many Bay Lake
Tower vacation villas are designed to sleep up to nine, though
some units can also be divided into one-bedroom villas that
sleep five and studios that accommodate four, creating flexible
options for smaller groups.
“These vacation homes will be furnished with some amazing custom
pieces that are works of art unto themselves,” said Imagineer
Brian McFarland. “It’s all about maintaining that feel of clean
lines and open spaces, with plenty of Disney touches.”
Add to the plans a spacious lobby filled with woven woods and
glass-wrapped columns, sweeping views from a rooftop lounge and
fireworks viewing deck, and the convenience of a sky bridge
linking families to shops, restaurants and the monorail station,
and you have a Disney Vacation Club destination that is both
practical and fashionable.
Treehouse Villas at Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
 Meanwhile,
nestled in natural forest glens just around the river bend from
the bustling Downtown Disney area, the Treehouse Villas at
Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa will mark the newest
phase of what has become the largest Disney Vacation Club
resort. Phase one of the idyllic lakeside community debuted in
2004, and phase three sold out earlier this year.
This new phase will revive Walt Disney World “treehouse living,”
a cherished tradition from 1975-2002. While crews are replacing
villas of the ‘70s with brand-new vacation homes, Imagineers
took special care to honor the original octagonal design.
The construction process itself is unique as each stand-alone
Treehouse Villa will come together like a giant 3-D puzzle to
ensure both superior quality and environmental sensitivity.
All 60 three-bedroom homes, elevated 10 feet off the ground on
pedestals and beams designed to blend into the forest
environment, will sleep nine and are planned to offer modern
luxuries such as cathedral ceilings, granite countertops and
flat-screen TVs, all presented in a style dubbed “cabin casual.”
“I was lucky enough to have a treehouse as a kid, but it was
certainly nothing like this,” said Imagineer Todd Thomasson. “In
developing this resort, we’ve all learned a new word, ‘glamping,’
which apparently means glamorous camping. The Treehouse Villas
will be glamping at its absolute best.”
Disney Vacation Club is owned by Disney Vacation Development
Inc., part of the magic of The Walt Disney Company. To learn
more, visit
www.disneyvacationclub.com.
Bay Lake Tower at Disney’s
Contemporary Resort, a Disney Vacation Club Resort, will
complement the strong horizontal lines of the original resort
while adding its own unique touches, including a fireworks
viewing deck, a rooftop lounge, a lakeside pool and much more.
Add to that a sky bridge linking the tower to the original
resort’s monorail station, restaurants and shops, and you’ve got
a new classic Disney resort that allows guests to blow Tinker
Bell a kiss goodnight as they relax after a fun day of theme
park experiences.
Building upon a Beloved Icon
Bay Lake Tower builds on the celebrated legacy of Disney’s
Contemporary Resort, hailed as a modern marvel of American
architecture when it opened alongside the nearby Magic Kingdom
Park on Oct. 1, 1971. While its innovative design drew early
crowds, it was Disney’s Contemporary Resort’s unparalleled
convenience that kept families coming back. Today, Disney’s
Contemporary Resort offers conveniences unavailable at any other
resort hotel, including a monorail station right inside the
building, the fine dining and amazing views of the Walt Disney
World Resort available at the California Grill, the innovative
and healthful dining options served at new restaurant The Wave
and the new game arcade and quick-service eatery located on the
resort’s fourth floor. Plus, the proximity to the Magic Kingdom
Park continually proves to be among the resort’s most popular
“amenities,” allowing families to easily return to their rooms
for quick breaks from their busy day in the Park.
Bay Lake Tower will take that experience one step further,
adding the conveniences of “home” to this world-class vacation
destination. Most rooms feature full kitchens complete with
granite countertops and modern appliances, separate bedrooms,
washers and dryers, and other home-like amenities that will add
even more comfort and convenience to the unique experience
offered by Disney’s Contemporary Resort.
Unparalleled Views
Bay Lake Tower’s crescent-shaped tower will boast some of the
most dramatic Walt Disney World views available, offering open
sightlines to an amenity-filled courtyard, the picturesque
lakefront or one of the most beloved theme parks on earth. The
view will be equally appealing on the other side of the window,
with rich woods and warm fabrics complementing interior spaces
and creating a welcoming, family friendly environment.
Planned Rooftop Lounge and Fireworks Viewing Area
The only view better than the one families will enjoy from their
rooms may be the one available* from the exclusive rooftop deck,
offering sweeping views of the resort and a dramatic look at
Magic Kingdom Park’s fireworks by night. Plus, as an homage to
the original, Bay Lake Tower’s rooftop lounge, Top of the World
Lounge, was actually inspired by Disney’s Contemporary Resort’s
former restaurant of the same name.
*Availability is limited and usage guidelines do apply.
Planned Spacious Lobby
After checking in at the original resort, Guests’ first glimpse
of the tower’s interior will be revealed in the lobby area
filled with woven woods and glass-wrapped columns. From the
area, guests can catch their first look at Bay Lake Tower’s
lakeside pool area and outside pool bar.
Planned Bay Cove Pool
Nestled in the shadow of Bay Lake Tower, the resort’s zero entry
pool includes a water slide, separate whirlpool spa and an
interactive children’s water feature – all overlooking
picturesque Bay Lake.
Planned Resort Amenities
Beyond the rooftop lounge, spacious lobby and lakeside pool, Bay
Lake Tower will feature a covered outdoor sky bridge that
connects to the original resort so that guests can access the
monorail as well as the restaurants and merchandise shops Guests
love at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Plus, Bay Lake Tower
Guests can pamper themselves with room service available through
the original resort or make use of Community Hall, an activity
center.
Disney Vacation Club
Disney Vacation Club is a vacation-ownership program that helps
families enjoy flexibility and savings on vacations for decades
to come. By purchasing a real estate interest in a Disney
Vacation Club resort, families enjoy flexible vacations at
Disneydestinations worldwide, as well as more than 500 other
popular Member Getaways vacation locations around the globe.
Disney Resorts
Walt Disney Parks & Resorts operates 38 resort hotels with more
than 35,000 hotel rooms worldwide.
Disney Vacation Club properties include the following eight
deluxe resorts:
· Disney’s Old Key West Resort
· Disney’s BoardWalk Villas
· The Villas at Disney’s Wilderness Lodge
· Disney Beach Club Villas
· Disney’s Saratoga Springs Resort & Spa
· Disney’s Animal Kingdom Villas
· Disney’s Vero Beach Resort
· Disney’s Hilton Head Island Resort
Fun Facts
Disney Vacation Club has doubled its membership since 2004 to
include more than 350,000 individual members from each U.S.
state and approximately 100 different countries.
There are 167 miles of post-tensioning cable running through the
concrete slabs. These cables could stretch from Bay Lake Tower
to Disney’s Vero Beach Resort and back.
There are 1,398 tons of reinforcing steel, known as rebar,
within the structure. This is equal to the weight of 254
full-grown elephants.
Bay Lake Tower rests on a foundation of more than 800 concrete
piles that are 16” in diameter and extend 70’ into the ground.
Stacked on top of one another, these would reach more than 10
miles into the sky.
Quick Facts
Date Announced:
September 16, 2008
Targeted Completion Date:
Fall 2009
Location/Geography:
Bay Lake Tower is ideally situated between the Magic Kingdom
Park and Disney’s Contemporary Resort with easy access to the
monorail
Room Mix:
Bay Lake Tower offers studios, one-, two- and three-bedroom
units. The majority of room categories include views of Bay Lake
or Magic Kingdom Park
Number of Units:
295 two-bedroom equivalent villas
Planned Resort Amenities:
Zero entry pool with water slide, separate spa and interactive
children’s water feature. Exclusive lounge on the top floor with
outdoor fireworks viewing area* (* availability is very limited
and usage guidelines apply). Covered outdoor sky bridge connects
Bay Lake Tower to the existing resort so that guests can access
the monorail. |
|
Top
|
Kungaloosh! Souvenir cups at Pleasure Island Adventurers Club
Theme Park Rangers - Looking for a souvenir of the wacky
Adventurers Club at Disney World's Pleasure Island before it's
shuttered in a few weeks?
Right now, you can collect differently designed drink cups,
filled with such specialty drinks as the signature
Kungaloosh (with or without whipped cream, of course) and
the Balder-Smash (named in honor of the club's legendary and
prestigious Balderdash Cup.)
The promotion has been running
a few weeks already. I have seen a cup with Babylonia, the
large stone-faced lady in the club's main salon, and a cup
featuring two talking masks from the Mask Room. Apparently,
just one cup is released at a time until that design runs
out... then the next design is revealed. There are five in
all.
Of course, the biggest
difficulty might be getting into the Adventurers Club at
all. Fans far and near are flocking to hear the comedic
tales of derring-do and chat with the noble explorers before
the Sept. 27 closing date (I'm still bitter, in case you
were wondering.) On a recent visit, the club was at capacity
when I wanted to enter, and I had to wait for a few people
to exit.
I've caught a few shows at
the AC recently.
* Radio Show in the Library:
Frantically fun as two club members try to pull off the
Adventurers Club weekly radio adventure serial. Audience
participation livens up the proceedings. At my show, the
woman pulled from the guests to play the "Swedish" heroine
had such a Southern drawl, just her speaking made the crowd
roar. A performer gamely concluded she must be from "South
Sweden."* Balderdash
Cup Show in the Library: Three adventurers compete for the
coveted Balderdash Cup by telling tall tales of their
exploits ... and putting each other down. A bit more
sarcastic than the Radio Show, but just as funny.
* Hathaway Browne
entertained in the Mask Room. He's an all-around ladies man
and a legend ... in his own mind. Different adventurers (and
the club maids!) entertain in the Mask Room throughout the
evening, in short programs.
Kungaloosh!
|
|
Top
|
Disney grabs TV
filming site in Torrance
Contra Costa Times - The Daily Breeze is ready for its cinematic
close-up - again.
About 15 months after the stoner
comedy "Pineapple Express" was shot at the newspaper offices at
Torrance and Palos Verdes boulevards, a new Disney children's
television series begins pre-production there Monday.
The comedy, which has the
working title "Mongoose & Luther," tells the story of "two best
friends who set their sights upon becoming world famous
skateboarders," according to a Disney press release.
Turtle Rock Productions, which
is producing the series for Disney, has signed a one-year lease
for the 31,800-square-foot former Daily Breeze circulation
office at the west end of the 6.7-acre parcel, said Dave Visel,
community relations consultant for Little Company of Mary
Hospital. The production company has options to extend that
lease, presumably depending on how well the series does.
The hospital purchased the Daily
Breeze site for more than $14 million in April 2007 and plans to
develop the property into medical office condominiums.
The hospital will build the more
than 170,000 square feet of office space and two three-story
parking garages that are planned in phases starting at the
eastern end of the property, so conceivably Turtle Rock could
occupy the building for some time.
Joseph Barrell, owner of
Torrance-based Film Friendly Productions, who also found the
Daily Breeze location for the producers of "Pineapple Express,"
sold Turtle Rock on the site.
Barrell said the company wanted
a vacant warehouse with an office attached in the South Bay.
"They are going to be building
sets inside the warehouse," he said. "They are also going to
build a facade on the outside west end of the building
(depicting) the house where the kids live.
"They'll be skateboarding around
the parking lot, probably," he added. "They'll be shooting at
locations all over the South Bay."
Fred Savage of "The Wonder
Years" fame directed the series pilot, which has not been seen
publicly, but prompted Disney executives to order an unspecified
number of episodes to be filmed. It's unclear whether Savage
will direct future episodes or when actual shooting will start.
Adam Bonnet, senior vice
president of original programming for Disney, declined to
comment.
The series stars newcomer Hutch
Dano, Adam Hicks (who was in the 2006 movie "How to Eat Fried
Worms"), Daniel Curtis Lee (star of the hit Nickelodeon sitcom
"Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide"), and Manhattan Beach
native Ryan Newman (perhaps best known for the 2006 movie
"Zoom," which starred Tim Allen, Courteney Cox and Chevy Chase).
Shot in what Disney describes as
"single-camera documentary style," the series will air next year
on the Disney cable television channel Disney XD, which debuts
in February.
Disney XD is the rebranded name
of what's now called the Toon Disney channel, seen on Time
Warner Cable Channel 189 in the South Bay. |
|
Top
|
American Beverage Corp. launches Disney drinks
SmartBrief - American Beverage Corp.'s newest drinks are named
for Disney productions "WALL-E" and "High School Musical." Lunar
Lemonade and East High Fruit Punch are a couple of the flavors.
just-drinks.com |
|
Top
|
101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure Special Edition on
DVD
 Walt
Disney Studios Home Entertainment - For the first time in almost
five years, an irresistible animated classic returns to DVD in
the delightful 101 Dalmatians II: Patch's London Adventure
Special Edition, available to own on September 16, 2008 from
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. For a limited time only,
Pongo, Perdita and their adorable brood are back in another
action-packed feature. Feisty pup Patch longs to be special but
feels lost in a sea of spots. His dreams of being a larger than
life hero like his TV idol, Thunderbolt, come true when his
brothers and sisters are kidnapped and Patch is the only one who
can save them from the clutches of their archenemy, Cruella De
Vil!
All of the lovable Dalmatians
are on hand for an adventure that will be unforgettable fun for
the entire family. Non-stop thrills, inspiring messages, music
videos and a new interactive game make this an unbeatable
addition to every Disney DVD library. |
|
Top
|
101 Dalmatians on
DVD
 Walt
Disney Studios Home Entertainment - Disney's all-time classic
puppy tale comes to life in the live-action adventure 101
Dalmatians, available to own on DVD on September 16, 2008 from
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. In their small London
flat, Dalmatians Pongo, Perdy and their human "pets" Roger and
Anita welcome a litter of 15 adorable puppies. But their joy
turns to dismay when fur-loving Cruella De Vil dispatches her
clumsy cohorts, Jasper and Horace, to dognap every Dalmatian pup
in London. As Pongo and Perdy rally the city animals for a
daring rescue, the pooches manage to outwit their captors long
enough to bring on a thrilling final showdown with Cruella and
her henchmen!
Available on DVD for the first
time in more than seven years, 101 Dalmatians has thrilled
audiences of all ages with its fast-paced mix of adventure and
comedy, as well as the largest and cutest collection of puppies
ever brought to the big screen. The film also features a superb
cast of human actors including Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson
and Joan Plowright, plus a bravura performance by five-time
Academy Award nominee Glenn Close as Cruella De Vil (Best
Actress 1987, 1988, Best Supporting Actress 1982, 1983, 1984).
Bring home Disney's live-action comedy hit, praised by critics
as nothing short of "phenomenal!" |
|
Top
|
102 Dalmatians on
DVD
 Walt
Disney Studios Home Entertainment - There's even more outrageous
fun for the dog lover in everyone when 102 Dalmatians comes to
DVD for the first time in four years on September 16, 2008 from
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The hilarious adventure
stars the audacious Oddball, an all white Dalmatian puppy in
search of her rightful spots, and Waddlesworth (voiced by Eric
Idle), a wisecracking macaw who thinks he's a Rottweiler. From
the streets of London to a posh Parisian bakery, this barking
mad duo leads a posse of puppies on a mission to outfox
unrepentant fur felon Cruella De Vil. Filled with chases, close
calls, hilarious antics and thrilling escapes, this
adventure-packed tale is a wacky good time that will have the
entire family howling with laughter.
Starring five-time Academy Award
nominee Glenn Close as Cruella De Vil (Best Actress 1987, 1988,
Best Supporting Actress 1982, 1983, 1984), 102 Dalmatians comes
with a pack of bonus features including behind the scenes
featurettes, a special deleted scene with optional commentary, a
music video, audio commentary by the filmmakers and much, much
more. |
|
Top
|
Dirty Sexy Money: The Complete First Season on DVD
 Walt
Disney Studios Home Entertainment - ABC Studios most sizzling
new series, Dirty Sexy Money: The Complete First Season, comes
to DVD from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment on September
16, 2008. The debut season of the show that redefined "rich"
will be available for the first time ever in a three-disc set
with exclusive bonus features including deleted scenes and
behind-the-scenes revelations.
Take a look behind the closed
doors of America's wealthiest family in Dirty Sexy Money: The
Complete First Season. All ten scandalous episodes of
television's juiciest hour-long drama's premiere season are
available on DVD starting September 16, 2008.
Outlandishly wealthy,
unimaginably powerful and relentlessly scheming, the Darlings
have everything money can buy, including the poshest palazzo in
Manhattan. It's up to incorruptible family attorney Nick George
(Peter Krause) to help them keep their secrets from destroying
them—which makes him a very busy man. From the collapse of
daughter Karen's fourth marriage to the loss of the real estate
empire's flagship property, Nick has an eye on every aspect of
their life…at least, he thinks he does.
Dirty Sexy Money's superlative
cast includes Peter Krause ("Six Feet Under"), Donald Sutherland
("Path To War," The Italian Job), William Baldwin (Noise, The
Squid and the Whale), Natalie Zea ("Without A Trace," "CSI"),
Glenn Fitzgerald ("Law & Order," "Six Feet Under"), Samaire
Armstrong ("The O.C," "Entourage"), Seth Gabel (The Da Vinci
Code, "Nip/Tuck"), Zoe McLellan (Conversations with God, "J.A.G")
with Blair Underwood ("Sex and the City," "In Treatment") and
Jill Clayburgh (An Unmarried Woman, Running With Scissors).
Dirty Sexy Money: The Complete
First Season on DVD is priced $39.99 (SRP) for U.S.; $44.99 (SRP)
Canada, from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. |
|
Top
|
Private Practice - The Complete First Season: Extended Edition
on DVD
 Walt
Disney Studios Home Entertainment - From the Golden
Globe-winning creator of Grey's Anatomy, ABC's most compulsively
watchable new series, Private Practice: The Complete First
Season – Extended Edition, arrives on DVD September 16, 2008
from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment. The debut season of
this critically acclaimed show will be available for the first
time in a three-disc set with exclusive bonus features including
deleted scenes and behind-the-scenes revelations.
In Private Practice: The
Complete First Season Extended Edition, Seattle fades into grey
as renowned surgeon Dr. Addison Montgomery (Kate Walsh) aims to
reinvent herself in the Golden State. The promise of a new
beginning finds her working alongside medical school friends at
California's Oceanside Wellness Center. But is this sunny new
life the cure for what ails her?
Join Addison, Drs. Naomi and Sam
Bennett—a newly-divorced but still professionally bound
couple—the ultrakissable Pete Wilder, and Violet Turner—a
psychiatrist with plenty of her own issues—in a medical practice
where affairs of the heart are known to cause acute symptoms of
love, lust, and high drama.
"Private Practice" stars Kate
Walsh as Dr. Addison Forbes Montgomery, Tim Daly as Dr. Pete
Wilder, Audra McDonald as Dr. Naomi Bennett, Paul Adelstein as
Dr. Cooper Freedman, KaDee Strickland as Dr. Charlotte King,
Chris Lowell as William Dell Parker, with Taye Diggs as Dr. Sam
Bennett and Amy Brenneman as Dr. Violet Turner.
"Private Practice" was created
and is executive produced by Shonda Rhimes ("Grey's Anatomy,"
"Introducing Dorothy Dandridge"). Betsy Beers ("Grey's Anatomy,"
"Casanova"), Marti Noxon ("Grey's Anatomy," "Buffy the Vampire
Slayer"), Mark Gordon ("The Hoax," "Saving Private Ryan") and
Mark Tinker ("St. Elsewhere," "NYPD Blue") are executive
producers. "Private Practice" is an ABC Studios Production.
Season 2 premieres Wednesday,
October 1 (9:00 p.m. EST) on the ABC Television Network. |
|
Top
|
A fatwa
against Mickey Mouse
Ynetnews - Maybe Islamic cleric Muhammad Al-Munajid is just more
of a Bugs Bunny sort of guy?
In an interview with Al-Majd
Television the sheikh, a former diplomat who once served in the
Saudi
embassy in Washington, condemned
cartoons that endear rodents to their viewers.
Islamic law, he said, sees the
mouse as "a repulsive, corrupting creature" while children today
see mice as loveable and "awesome" because of animated shows
like Tom and Jerry, and Disney staple Mickey Mouse.
"Mickey Mouse has become an
awesome character, even though according to Islamic law, Mickey
Mouse should be killed in all cases," Al-Munajid tells the
interviewer.
"The shari'a refers to the mouse as 'little corrupter,' and says
it is permissible to kill it in all cases. It says that mice set
fire to the house, and are steered by Satan. The mouse is one of
Satan's soldiers," he goes on to say.
In August the cleric, well known
for issuing creative fatwas, slammed the Beijing Olympics as the
"bikini Olympics," referring to them as "satanic." |
|
Top
|
Walt Disney's "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" Doggie Screening at the
Fine Arts Theatre in Beverly Hills
MarketWatch - Tails were wagging Saturday at the Fine Arts
Theater in Beverly Hills when more than 300 Chihuahuas attended
an exclusive doggie screening of the upcoming canine comedy
"Beverly Hills Chihuahua." The movie, which features an
international cast of dogs, including some found at rescues in
Los Angeles and Mexico, hits theaters October 3, 2008.
|
|
Top
|
Disney supports
Handheld Learning 2008
MCV - Disney
have signed up to become one of five main conference sponsors at
next month’s Handheld Learning Conference 2008.
The firm joins Nintendo, Apple, T-Mobile and Studywiz as head
sponsors.
Cindy Rose, the Senior Vice-President of the Disney Interactive
Media Group, will also be speaking at the conference.
"We are very excited that Disney have chosen Handheld Learning
2008 as a platform to share their thoughts and vision for how
relevant their properties are in informing and educating young
people as well as entertaining them,” said Handheld Learning MD
Graham Brown-Martin.
“Disney's participation along with Nintendo's demonstrates the
undeniable impact that the worlds consumer electronics and
entertainment software industries are having on the global
education sector.
“The Handheld Learning Conference has now, without question,
become the global meeting place for these sectors to
cross-fertilize for the benefits of learners everywhere." |
|
Top
|
Disney not Rocket Science for Stone
C21Media - Disney-ABC unscripted programming division Buena
Vista Productions (BVP) has nabbed Rocket Science Laboratories'
development head David Stone to take up a VP position.
As VP of development, Stone will create programming across the
unscripted genres, including talk, game and reality, for
primetime, cable and first-run syndication.
He will also work on programming for other ABC-Disney internal
partners, like daytime production unit SOAPnet, and will manage
BVP's first-look development deal with ITV-owned Swedish
producer Silverback.
At Rocket Science, Stone created programming for the company's
primetime US, cable, international and internet divisions, and
was responsible for titles such as Joe Millionaire, My Big Fat
Obnoxious Fiance, Trading Spouses and Duel, all of which aired
on ABC, as well as Ballrun for Spike and Must Love Kids for
fellow cablenet TLC.
At BVP, Stone will report to senior VP Ann Lewis Roberts.
"David has a strong track record for developing and creating
successful reality programs for cable and broadcast," said
Roberts. "I’m especially thrilled to add his varied creative
background to our team as we expand the programming offerings at
SOAPnet and continue to grow Buena Vista's domestic and
international production slate." |
|
Top
|
Hands on with Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell on iPhone
Pocket Gamer - We already know that Disney's cast of cartoon
all-stars can't play a game of cards to save their drawn lives.
A little pixie dust may turn their fortunes, however, and Disney
Fairies: Tinker Bell should do just that, bringing Peter
Pan's silent sidekick to iPhone in an adventure that parallels
her new film out later this month.
The game casts you in the role of Tinker Bell in the years
before joining forces with Peter Pan. The fleeting little fairy
is only one of six playable characters, however. Each of the
other fairies is intimately tied to the natural world,
responsible for serious work such as placing dew drops on petals
and the like.
The high-flying adventure involves tilting your iPhone to guide
each fairy through a series of two-dimensional stages. Playing
as tiny Tink, for instance, we led her through an early jungle
stage to avoid obstacles and collect trinkets along the way.
Safety pins, thimbles, and other knick-knacks can be gathered
for points. Of course, they're placed right next to dangerous
obstacles, which often makes it tricky to pick them up.
Each fairy behaves differently, a factor of their ability in
four areas: Fast, Nimble, Tough, and Dust. Fast relates to the
speed at which a fairy flies, whereas Nimble correlates to their
agility and ease of navigation. Tough is similar to endurance,
which essentially determines how much damage a fairy can
withstand. A health bar on the upper left corner of the screen
whittles away with each bump into an obstacle. Drain this gauge
and you lose the level.
Lastly, Dust affects how much pixie dust is gained by finding
globules during play. Glowing yellow clouds of dust contribute
to your pixie dust meter that goes toward unlocking bonus
content. It's worth noting that you don't have immediate access
to all six fairies; rather, you have to gather enough dust to
unlock all six for play. You'll also have the option of
unlocking bonus material in Disney's upcoming Pixie Hollow
online PC game by inputting codes gained here.
While the game play is obviously basic, the pleasant music and
colorful graphics help to make it entertaining. Most of the
music has been pulled from the upcoming Tinker Bell
animated film, which ties the two together nicely. We're
interested in seeing a few more levels to gauge whether there's
some variety to be had or if each level involves routine item
collection. Good music makes repetition a little easier to
swallow, but it's repetition nonetheless. With a release planned
within the next month, we'll let you know. |
|
Top
|
|
Monday
September 15, 2008 |
Disney Helps Establish First Rescue Center for Gorillas in
Eastern Africa
Disney Launches Production of its First Movie in Russia
Disney Unveils 'Sleeping Beauty' Blu-ray Specs, Exclusives
Disneyland
-- The Happiest Place on Earth
Disney
Channel's Camp Rock Rocks London
Behind the Scenes
of Disney's Bolt
Disney taking the Mickey
Fox Slams Disney
Over Teen Stars
Spooky fun for Disney
visitors
Lehigh-Carbon Lccc, Disney Team For Study Program
Disney hires stores
comms head
Disney Channel and Girl Scouts Partner for Exclusive Movie
Premier
Disneyland trip worth a
smile |
|
|
Disney News - The first center
in eastern Africa designed to rescue, rehabilitate and
reintroduce orphaned gorillas back into the wild will begin
construction later this month in the Democratic Republic of
Congo. The center will also include a conservation education and
public information program, and will work in partnership with
local conservationists and authorities.
 The
new center is projected to hold up to 30 eastern lowland (Grauer’s)
and mountain gorillas and will be located on 370 acres of land
within a 1,235-acre forested area near the Tayna Nature Reserve,
in Kasugho, North Kivu, a stable region of eastern DR Congo.
The Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund
International initiated the project, which has been granted
funding from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and USAID. The
Fossey Fund has already been caring for 11 such orphaned
gorillas that are victims of poaching and other illegal
activities, in temporary facilities in Rwanda and DR Congo, in
partnership with the Mountain Gorilla Veterinary Project.
Eastern lowland gorillas
(Gorilla beringei graueri) are classified as “endangered” and
mountain gorillas (Gorilla beringei beringei) are identified as
“critically endangered” by the 2007 World Conservation Union (IUCN)
Red List, and experts consider both subspecies at high risk for
extinction within several decades.
“This is a critical opportunity
for us to help many more young gorillas that have been
victimized by unlawful activity or habitat destruction, and also
to strengthen our partnership with the people who are the true
stewards of the land and the animals,” says Fossey Fund
president Clare Richardson. “All gorilla species are threatened
with extinction. Both public education and rehabilitation
services are critical to their chances for survival.”
“Rescued gorillas require
intensive care and specialized psychological rehabilitation if
they are ever to contribute to the long-term survival of their
species,” says Alecia Lilly, Ph.D., Fossey Fund vice president.
“Our decades-long studies of mountain gorillas and ongoing work
with eastern lowland gorillas will provide a sound basis for
this rehabilitation and socialization process.”
The Fossey Fund will operate the
facility in partnership with the Congolese conservation
authority ICCN (Institut Congolais pour la Conservation de la
Nature) and the Pan African Sanctuary Alliance. Also included in
the partnership are the Tayna Nature Reserve and Tayna Center
for Conservation Biology, the association of community-based
gorilla reserves in Congo (UGADEC), Conservation International,
the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund and animal experts from
Disney’s Animal Programs.
Pan African Sanctuary Alliance (PASA),
which represents 18 primate sanctuaries in 12 African countries,
will coordinate design and construction of the facility. PASA
will also oversee a management team and staff to run the center
once it is opened.
"Unfortunately, orphaned
gorillas have become a serious problem in eastern Africa,” says
Doug Cress, PASA executive director. “With the creation of a
specialized center, we will be better able to meet their unique
needs and begin to reduce the poaching and illegal trade that
has decimated these species.”
The Disney Worldwide
Conservation Fund will provide funding toward initial operating
expenses for the facility. In addition, experts from Disney’s
Animal Programs will provide materials and in-kind services to
assist with development and construction of the center, help
relocate the current orphaned gorillas and provide educational
opportunities for students and the community.
“We are pleased to collaborate
with these respected conservation groups to provide staff
expertise and funding in the creation of this much-needed
facility to rehabilitate young, orphaned gorillas and,
ultimately, reintroduce them back into the wild,” says Jackie
Ogden, Ph.D., vice president of Disney’s Animal Programs and
Environmental Initiatives.
The land for the new center was
donated by the Tayna Center for Conservation Biology. The site
is adjacent to some 222,000 acres of forest in a fully protected
nature reserve. |
|
Top
|
Disney Launches Production of its First Movie in Russia
MarketWatch - The Walt Disney Company CIS has joined forces with
some of Russia's top filmmaking talents for their first Russian
produced feature, "The Book of Masters." The film started
shooting in September 2008 outside Minsk. Upon completion of the
first stage of shooting, production will then move on to the
Mosfilm Studio stages.
Nikita Mikhalkov's Three T
Studio is the production company. Three T Studio is known
for movies like "12" (Golden Lion award at the 2007 Venice
Film Festival; Golden Eagle award for 2008 Best Film of the
Year from the National Academy of Cinematographic Sciences
and Arts; and an Oscar nomination for 2008 Best Foreign
Language Film), "The Councilor of State", "Barber of
Siberia", "Burnt by the Sun" (Grand Prize at the 1994 Cannes
Film Festival and an Academy Award for 1995 Best Foreign
Film), "Urga" (Golden Lion award at the 1991 Venice Film
Festival, and an Oscar nomination for 1992 Best Foreign
Language Film).
"The Book of Masters" is being
directed by Vadim Sokolovsky, who is known for such
television projects as "An Occasional Fellow-traveler", "The
Ticket to the Harem" and "Ambulance-2". In 2007,
Sokolovsky's "The Ticket to the Harem" series was nominated
for the Golden Eagle National Cinematography Award. The
director also gained invaluable experience during the time
he worked with major Hollywood studios when he had the
opportunity to collaborate with Steven Spielberg. Presently,
Sokolovsky is the local production and acquisitions director
for The Walt Disney Company CIS.
"We are very happy that the
first Russian Disney movie starring famous Russian actors
will be adapted from Russian fairy-tales we all know from
childhood," said Marina Jigalova-Ozkan, managing director of
The Walt Disney Company CIS. "'The Book of Masters' is
targeted to a family audience. This is a light-hearted
comedy adventure told with love and self-deprecating humor,
continuing the Disney spirit and traditions. We hope that
both children and adults will enjoy the adventures of our
characters. We're honored and thrilled to be working with
Three T Studio and their talented team to create an
exceptional movie in the Russian language that is culturally
relevant for the avid movie-going audiences in Russia."
Jason Reed, general manager of
Walt Disney Studios International Production, said, "The
credit goes to our team in Russia. Because of Marina
Jigalova-Ozkan's strong leadership and the hard work of her
team, our first Russian language production fully delivers
on the goals of our mission internationally: we are working
with a legendary cast, a great director, one of the premier
production companies in the world, and perhaps most
importantly we have a wonderful story which will be a strong
addition to the Disney tradition."
"We are glad to render
production services and to be working with The Walt Disney
Company CIS on the first Disney movie to be produced in
Russia," said Leonid Vereshyagin, general director of the
Three T Studio LLC and producer of the movie. "We are
extremely encouraged that the Disney Company, known
throughout the world for its film versions of immortal
stories, aims to revive the feature-film fairy-tale genre in
Russia."
Commenting on the announcement,
Vadim Sokolovsky, director and co-author of the screenplay,
said, "I have always longed to shoot a modern film
adaptation of a kind-hearted fairy-tale. I am thrilled to
have this opportunity in the first Disney project".
"The Book of Masters" stars
several generations of well-known and much loved actors
including some talented young stars. The film's cast
includes: Leonid Kuravlyov, Valentin Gaft, Irina Apeksimova,
Olga Arosjeva, Mikhail Efremov, Gosha Kutsenko, Artur
Smolyaninov, and two large-screen debutants. The featured
actors are Maria Andreyeva, a Pyotr Fomenko Workshop Theatre
actress, and Maxim Loktionov, student of the Drama
Department of the L.V. Sobinov State Conservatory at
Saratov.
"The Book of Masters" Russian
premiere is scheduled for fall 2009.
About The Walt Disney Company
CIS
The Walt Disney Company CIS
LLC, subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company, has been
established in Russia in April 2006. Marina Jigalova-Ozkan
is Managing Director for The Walt Disney Company CIS.
Currently the Company's business activities in Russia and
CIS comprise the following directions: films and DVDs
distribution, TV content licensing, licensing Disney
Consumer Products such as Toys, Home, Stationery, Food,
Health & Beauty, Clothing categories, production and
distribution of PC and console games as well as mobile and
Internet content, publishing of books and magazines for
children.
About The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company,
together with its subsidiaries and affiliates, is a leading
diversified international family entertainment and media
enterprise with four business segments: media networks,
parks and resorts, studio entertainment and consumer
products. Disney is a Dow 30 company, had annual revenues of
more than $35.5 billion in its last fiscal year, and an
equity market capitalization of more than $62 billion as of
September 12, 2008.
About Walt Disney Studios
International Production
Walt Disney Studios
International Production is the production entity for The
Walt Disney Studios that is responsible for creating
original motion pictures in local languages for the
international marketplace. Productions to date include the
2007 critically acclaimed and award-winning Chinese film,
"The Magic Gourd," the animated feature, "Roadside Romeo,"
to be released in India and other territories, and the
upcoming Russian feature film, "The Book of Masters," based
on classic fairy tales from that country.
About "Three T Studio"
Productions
Three T Productions was founded
in 1989, soon after the start of perestroika, by the
prominent Russian filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov. The three T's
in the company's name stand in Russian for Creativity,
Comradeship and Labor. Since that time Three T Productions
has become one of the major independent film production
companies in Russia.
The company majors in the
feature film production, and its films, directed and
produced by Nikita Mikhalkov are extremely popular in Russia
and widely acclaimed by the international audience. "Close
to Eden (Urga)" (1991) was awarded the Golden Lion at 1991
Venice Film Festival and European Film Award in 1993. "Burnt
By the Sun" (1994) has won the Grand Prize of the Jury at
1994 Cannes Film Festival and Academy Award in 1995 as the
Best Foreign Language Film. "The Barber of Siberia" (1998)
was opening the 1998 Cannes Film Festival, and still holds
the all-time box office record in Russia. "12" (2007) won
the Special Lion for Overall Work at 2007 Venice Film
Festival and was nominated for Oscar as Best Foreign
Language Film. All of these films were awarded, in
respective years, the Russian State Prize in Literature and
Arts.
Three T Productions produces
films by other Russian directors as well. During the last
years the company has started production of TV series for
Russian Television, mostly for ORT, Channel 1, and is quite
successful in this area.
|
|
Top
|
Disney Unveils 'Sleeping Beauty' Blu-ray Specs, Exclusives
High-Def Digest - Rolling out the red carpet for its premiere
Platinum Blu-ray release, Disney has unveiled final specs for
'Sleeping Beauty' that include hours of high-def exclusives and
never-before-seen bonus content.
 Disney's
most high-profile Blu-ray release of the year, the studio will
debut 'Sleeping Beauty' on October 7, as the first in its
much-touted Platinum series of animated classics. (As previously
reported, future Disney Platinum titles confirmed for release in
the coming years include 'Snow White,' 'Fantasia' and 'Beauty &
the Beast.')
After months of anticipation
amongst Disney fans, the studio has now finally confirmed
complete tech specs and supplement details for the two-disc Blu-ray
'Sleeping Beauty,' and the title looks to easily earn the mantle
of 'Platinum" with hours of bonus features and interactive
next-gen content.
Blu-ray exclusives will include
a "Cine-Explore" mode (with full-motion PIP commentary by
Pixar's John Lasseter, Andreas Deja and critic Leonard Maltin),
"Maleficent's Challenge" interactive game, the "ultimate audio
experience" Dragon Encounter allowing you to immersive yourself
in a 7.1 surround sensory adventure, the "Restoring the
Soundtrack" featurette, and a "Customized Living Menu"
facilitating real-time customization to the disc's menus.
Additional BD-Live content
boasts a fully-functional "Disney BD-Live Network." Extras will
include "Movie Chat" (allowing for synchronized viewing across
the Internet), "Movie Mail" personalized user video messages, a
"Movie Challenge" online interactive real-time trivia challenge,
and "Disney Movie Rewards Live," featuring downloadable movie
content such as avatars, wallpapers and more.
Features shared with the
standard DVD Platinum release of 'Sleeping Beauty' enjoy an
all-new "Picture Perfect: The Making of Sleeping Beauty"
documentary, additional "Four Artists Paint One Tree" featurette,
the "Original Disneyland Sleeping Beauty Walk-Through Attraction
With Walt Disney Imagineering" 3-D experience, four deleted
songs and an alternate opening, a pair of interactive games
("Briar Rose's Enchanted Dance Game," "Fun with English") the
Oscar-winning short film "Grand Canyon" ad a episode of the
legendary Walt Disney TV series "The Peter Tchaikovsky Story."
Tech specs for the Blu-ray will
see the 75-minute feature film spread across a BD-50 dual-layer
disc with 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 video and uncompressed English PCM
7.1 Surround audio.
As previously announced,
suggested retail price for the Blu-ray has been set at $35.98. |
|
Top
|
Disneyland
-- The Happiest Place on Earth
San Diego Reader - I went to Disneyland Saturday.
I was expecting the worst. It's
a Saturday. Great weather, the place would be packed.
I drive up and see parking is
$12. Lame. But then, at a Charger game a few weeks ago, parking
was $25. Yikes.
My girlfriend and I had both
been to California Adventure previously, but neither of us went
on that Hollywood Hotel elevator ride. We loved it. And, loved
that there was only a 15 minute wait. The one time I was there
previously, we were told it was a three hour wait.
When we hopped over to
Disneyland, we were surprised it was only a 20 minute wait for
the Matterhorn. She mentioned she had never been on that before,
which blew me away. I wondered what she ever did when she went
to the park previously.
I remember being a 3-year-old,
and at Disneyland for the first time. My only two memories were
being on the rockets with my dad (who left when I was 4, and I
never really saw again). I kept thinking I was going to slide
out of them.
I remember being on his
shoulders, and always feeling like I'd lose balance. When I'd
grab his head he'd yell that I was pulling out his hair.
I also remember being on the
Matterhorn and my mom pointed to the bobsled behind us, saying
"There's your dad." I didn't see the car, but the Abominable
Snowman. I thought he had changed into that outfit to try and
scare us, and when we got off the ride, he had changed back. It
wasn't until years later, I realized how impossible that was,
and what my mom must've meant when she pointed him out. Child
logic, or lack of it, is funny sometimes.
And I love listening to the kids
at Disneyland. You're eating somewhere, and they're just bugging
their parents to hurry up so they can go on the rides. It
reminds me of kids on Christmas morning, buggin the parents to
scarf down their breakfast so they can get to the presents.
My girlfriend had never been in
the Haunted House. Which, reminded me a lot of the Hollywood
Hotel. That attraction was closed down. Somebody speculated that
they were doing something different to it for Halloween.
It's a Small World was also
closed, but we didn't care.
Pirates of the Caribbean had an
hour wait. Now, that was more like a Saturday crowd.
The sun finally came out. And, I
was wishing I had brought a baseball cap. I started thinking
about forking over some cash for Mickey ears or a Disney cap.
Luckily, a lot of the lines had shade or were indoors.
We got in line for Space
Mountain, a rollercoaster we both think is highly overrated.
But, you still have to hit it when you're there.
The sign said the line would
only be a 30 minute wait. After about 15 minutes in it, the
rollercoaster broke down. They told us that would probably be 15
minutes. We waited 10, before splitting to grab a Coke.
I couldn't bring my digital
camera, since it's no longer showing pictures, but a variety of
colorful lines.
I don't know if that's what made
me less patient for those around me snapping photos.
I'm somebody that will often
volunteer to take a photo for someone. But, I've noticed at
places like amusement parks, someone will find the perfect spot
for a picture. I'm not talking about with some teenager working
in a giant Mickey costume. But, a pretty bed of flowers. Or in
front of an old-fashioned train. Then, they get mad as people
walk in front of them.
Well, why is the photographer
standing 100 feet back? And, why are they expecting to stand
there, to get everything just right, and that the crowd of 50
should all just stop and wait? We wouldn't mind, except that 10
feet further down Main Street, there will be another group doing
the same thing.
Either snap your photo quickly,
don't stand so far away, or just realize you're going to get
people strolling around you or in front of you. |
|
Top
|
Disney Channel's Camp Rock Rocks London
FemaleFirst - Thousands of fans flocked to London’s Royal
Festival Hall last week for the European premiere of highly
anticipated Disney Channel Original Movie Camp Rock. Following
huge success in the US, where it was watched by 24.5 million
people over its premiere weekend, the movie makes debut on
Disney Channel UK at 19th September at 6pm.
The movie's stars, the
platinum-selling recording artists the Jonas Brothers (Joe,
Kevin and Nick), Demi Lovato and Alyson Stoner (also of Disney
Channel's "Phineas and Ferb") were greeted by hordes of
screaming fans as they walked the red carpet along with 1,500
VIP guests and celebrities including Jaime Winstone, George
Sampson, Meg Matthews, Liz McClarnon, The Saturdays and Michelle
Collins, all eager to get a first look at the movie. Following
the screening, the star-studded audience were also treated to an
exclusive performance by the Jonas Brothers and Demi Lovato who
performed songs from the Camp Rock soundtrack and from their
respective solo albums, the platinum-selling A Little Bit Longer
from Jonas Brothers, due to launch this month in the UK, and
Demi Lovato's debut album "Don't Forget" in stores this month in
the U.S.
Disney Channel UK star Brad Kavanagh from As the Bell Rings, who
recorded a cover version of Camp Rock track Here I am, was a
special guest at the premiere, along with the cast of Disney
Channel’s newest UK production Life Bites including Amy Wren and
Benedict Smith.
Joe Jonas, who stars as Shane in the movie, commented, "We're so
excited to be here in London to celebrate the European premiere
of Camp Rock. The reaction from our UK fans has been incredible
and we are so appreciative."
Demi Lovato added, "This is my first visit to London and it's
beyond my wildest dreams to see kids and parents here, and all
over the world, connect to this movie and its music. It's all
been an amazing experience."
John Hardie, Executive Vice President and Managing Director,
Disney Channels EMEA commented, "Reaching kids and families will
great entertainment content that they can enjoy together is our
goal and we're delighted that so many of our business partners,
media industry colleagues and their families joined us this
evening as we 'camp rocked' Royal Festival Hall. The evening,
and the movie's record-setting U.S. debut and subsequent reach
in Canada and Latin America has set the stage for a successful
European movie debut."
The movie has already proved a smash-hit Stateside and since
premiering on June 20, "Camp Rock" has reached over 45.4 million
unduplicated viewers worldwide The "Camp Rock" soundtrack spent
a remarkable 10 weeks in the Top 10 on the Billboard Top 200
Album Chart, shipping Platinum in the United States, Canada,
Argentina, Mexico and Venezuela, and Gold in Chile, Brazil,
Colombia and the Philippines.
Camp Rock
follows the story of a talented yet unsure teenager, and a
hot-headed young popstar who's lost his passion for music and
needs to find it again, who is sent packing to Camp Rock by his
band mates. Together, at Camp Rock for aspiring young music
artists, they learn to believe in themselves and to value the
freedom to be who they really want to be - all to a rocking
soundtrack.
Don't miss the
rocking sensation set to take the UK by storm, when Camp Rock
premieres on Disney Channel on Friday 19th September at 6pm.
|
|
Top
|
|
Behind the Scenes of Disney's Bolt
ComingSoon.net - Meet Bolt. He's the canine star who gives the
title to Disney's latest animation; one that boasts an
unprecedented 3-D experience and one for which new techniques
had to be invented by the studio's ever-resourceful artists.
With production just wrapping up, Disney gave ComingSoon.net the
chance to go behind the scenes and experience firsthand the
incredible level of detail that goes into a project as ambitious
as Bolt.
The story of Bolt begins in Hollywood, CA where an American
White Shepherd (voiced by John Travolta) has spent his entire
life as the super-powered lead in a popular television series.
Alongside his young owner, Penny (Miley Cyrus), Bolt appears on
TV sets across the nation, saving the day and ridding the world
of evil. For Bolt, however, there's no line between fiction and
reality and he doesn't realize that the powers and abilities he
has on the show don't carry over into real life.
When an accident has Bolt shipped from Hollywood to New York
City, he sets off across America to be reunited with Penny.
Convinced that his odyssey is the fault of on-screen villain
Doctor Calico (Malcolm McDowell), Bolt captures a streetwise
alley cat named Mittens (Susie Essman) whom he mistakes for one
of the Doctor's minions. Herself convinced that Bolt is insane,
Mittens still has no choice but to join the young pup in his
quest. The triad of traveling house pets is soon complete when
the pair is joined by Rhino (Mark Walton), a hamster who, having
spent his entire life in a plastic ball in front of a television
set, is as convinced as Bolt that the dog is every bit a
superhero.
Helming the project is the directorial team of Chris Williams
and Byron Howard. Though it's the first time directing for both
of them, Williams' time at Disney goes back to Mulan and
Howard's to Pocahontas. Together, they've worked out a clear
look for Bolt from a variety of inspirations.
Williams and Howard showed off two scenes from Bolt. Though they
were the same two scenes that were shown earlier this year to
Comic-Con goers, this was the first time the footage had been
screened with full 3-D effects. Both Williams and Howard were
extremely proud of the 3-D in Bolt, explaining that, for the
first time, Disney was developing the 3-D throughout production,
rather than adding it after the fact. This allowed for 3-D to be
used to help tell the story instead of inserting it after the
fact.
The first scene was from an episode of the ficitional-within-a-fiction
episode of Bolt where Penny and Bolt are chased through the
streets of San Francisco by masked motorcycling ninja henchmen
(click new photo above for bigger version!) and enormous black
helicopters. The directors were offered a challenge by Executive
Producer John Lasseter: Make the "Bolt" TV show so exciting that
a network would actually want to show it. To that end, the look
and feel of the sequence apes Michael Bay's artificially
stylized action. Never, though, does it venture into parody and
instead offers an interesting contrast to the "real world" rest
of the film.
In the second clip, we're well into the story; Mittens has been
captured by animal control and locked in an animal shelter. Bolt
and Rhino work out a plan to save her, springing a nighttime
jailbreak against unsuspecting guards. It's very interesting to
see the differences in art direction here, not just of the look
and feel of the 2-D environment but of the 3-D one as well. In
the same way that the action sequence can go for extreme angles
and rapid cutting, this sequence offers a more muted (but still
action-packed) look at Bolt's world. There's a lot more subtlety
to some of the effects including a rather impressive 3-D lens
flare.
The look of Bolt's American journey was largely inspired by both
the paintings of Edward Hopper and the cinematography of Vilmos
Zsigmond (especially his work in Robert Altman's McCabe & Mrs.
Miller). To this end, new software was created that allowed 3-D
environments to be painted as though by brushstroke. Mimicking
Hopper, detail is planned to drop off from the foreground to the
background, capturing the painterly look and feel. To a similar
end, Art Director Paul Felix and Director of Lighting Adolph
Lusinksy took to the road, moving across the United States to
find appropriate looks and area-specific details to add to the
film.
Robert Neuman, the Stereographic Supervisor, was ultimately
responsible for the 3-D in the film and utilized a "3-D Score"
to chart the emotional intensity of each shot. Mapped out
exactly like a shooting script or storyboard, the 3-D Score
examined every frame and determined how intensely the 3-D should
effect the viewer. The key, Neuman explained, was creating a
balance between "comfort and immersion." More important than
pulling off an effect for effect's sake, the viewer needs to be
pulled in to the 3-D world and to just accept it as part of the
storytelling.
The biggest problem to overcome, Neuman explained, was something
called "window violations" which is a problem that exists
uniquely in transforming 2-D to 3-D. In a normal film, the
viewer's vision is limited by the confines of the theater
screen. In Bolt, though, some objects projected right to the
edge should -- in a 3-D environment -- be visible on beyond the
end of the screen. A number of creative tricks are employed to
trick the viewer's eye including one known as a "floating
window"; an artificial screen, slightly smaller than the actual
one, is simulated within the 3-D, allowing for objects to drop
right off the edge.
Taken downstairs to the recording studio, I was given the chance
to see how the voicing process worked and got to, myself, take
on the role of Bolt for a practice scene. Mark Walton, who
provides the voice of Rhino the hamster, has worked for Disney
for years as an animator. It's a common process for animators to
step in and voice characters for temporary tracks and -- every
now and then -- the voice fits so well that the actor sticks.
Walton was rather doubtful that he'd ever win the role but kept
his fingers crossed until, one day, he was brought in for a
recording session and given a script that included the line,
"...and Mark Walton is the voice of Rhino!"
The upstairs offices are decked out with a full Bolt theme.
Every production is allowed to, early on, design the look and
feel of their workspace. This one included a number of tributes
to Hopper-esque Americana, including a diner-styled (and fully
operational) cereal bar.
In addition to images from the film, the walls included a number
of interesting bulletin boards; On one, everyone in the office
had pinned up photographs of their own pets across from one of
"Production Babies," featuring 37 babies born during the film's
production. Another, down the hall, charted a "Beard Off" the
male crew members underwent to see how long they could grow
their facial hair during the production process.
The office was also home to Doink!, a crew hamster who provided
MAYA animators with a reference to Rhino's movements. Animal
movements, that is, crossed with human facial expressions. For
that, the office houses a special room where crew can record
themselves doing the same lines and grab the expressions they
like to translate over to Rhino.
It's clear that all around, Disney is embracing 3-D technology
in a major way and that, very soon, the Bolt offices will make
room for the studio's next production. (In fact, there was a
door with a small poster for Pixar's 2012 Phillip K. Dick
adaptation, King of the Elves which, sadly, had to remain closed
for now) But if the level of care and creativity that has gone
into Bolt can come close to being matched in future projects,
animation fans are definitely in for some treats.
Bolt opens in theaters on November 21. |
|
Top
|
Disney taking the Mickey
New Zealand Herald - As tuis sing out from the dense bush, a
group of teenagers are mucking around with some milk crates,
trying to build a tower.
"Chuck us another one, bro," calls one of the boys atop the
towering crate stack.
Behind them, flattened pongas
line a muddy ravine after a recent flash flood. Beside them, fat
dairy cows moo lazily as they squelch around their paddock.
It's a quintessentially New
Zealand scene. Or as these kids might say - it's Kiwi as, bro.
And certainly a far cry from the plastic mouse ears and fantasy
castles most of us associate with Disney.
Yet here we are, in the Hunua
Ranges, on the set of Disney Channel's latest production; a
reality series spin-off of the Jonas Brothers' film Camp Rock.
Hosted by former C4 presenter
Jane Yee, the series features two teams of performing arts
students - 10 Kiwis and 10 Aussies - battling it out in a
transtasman challenge.
Set to screen on Disney Channel
early next year, Camp Rock the Tasman will comprise five
half-hour episodes and marks the network's first long-form local
production. It's part of a growing commitment by the channel to
produce more local Australian and New Zealand content.
While Camp Rock the Tasman has
seen the network move into long-form programming, the majority
of their efforts have come in the form of short, five-minute
episodal series, known as interstitials.
In the past two years Disney has
developed five interstitial formats, including the comedy series
As the Bell Rings, filmed in ABC's Elsternwick Studios in
Melbourne.
Set in the corridors of a local
high school, the comedy series revolves around 10 young teens -
including one New Zealand character - and plays in between
regular programming on both Disney Channel Australia and New
Zealand.
Executive producer Graham
Cousens is at the forefront of the movement, hired in 2006 as
the creative director for the channel.
"My job is to connect to the
local kids," he explains. "That's a huge priority for Disney, to
have a local presence wherever they are and to engage with the
local audience."
Disney has long been synonymous
with happy childhood memories, but for most of us, the brand is
distinctly American. With Disney Channel now screening 24/7 in
countries around the world, the network realised it needed to
diversify its content and reflect its global viewers.
In New Zealand, Disney Channel
began screening in late 2003 as part of the Sky Digital network.
But the closest it came to local content was an Australian
hosted magazine-style show, called Studio Disney.
Though the format was popular,
Disney soon began searching for a better way to reflect local
culture and feature local talent.
General manager Melissa Dixon
explains: "Internationally, all the Disney channels used to have
a live daily magazine format show. A conscious decision was made
to move to a more localized form of production that was
repeatable and interactive in a different way."
The result was five interstitial
series; As the Bell Rings, Undercover Coach, What a Life! , My
High School Musical and Hidden Talents.
Two of the series - Undercover
Coach and What a Life! - feature episodes filmed in New Zealand
and As the Bell Rings recently wrote a New Zealand character
into the script, played by Kiwi actress Amelia Reynolds.
Both Cousens and Dixon believe
the comedy aspect of the series is key to reflecting our local
culture.
"Comedy is a very local thing,"
says Dixon. "Because of our very dry sense of humor in this part
of the world, some of the things that might have worked in a US
script or a UK script, don't really relate to here."
Cousens adds: "The issues these
kids are facing are pretty much universal. But the dialogue and
all the subtleties of language are Australian and New Zealand.
We do really try and use our own vernacular."
But while Disney is happy to
embrace different accents and language, all productions must
still adhere to the network's universal "brand promises".
"Believe in yourself, follow
your dream, celebrate your family ... quite honestly, it's
drilled into us," laughs Cousens. "There are principles we try
to keep in mind with all our storylines. We don't go into dark
places."
Though the Australian side of
the operation is required to fulfill a local content quota, as
set by the Government, Dixon says the channel is committed to
producing more than the bare minimum. And here in New Zealand,
where there are no quotas, the network aims to film between 30
to 40 per cent of their short-form programs in New Zealand.
New Zealand on Air CEO Jane
Wrightson commends the channel for their efforts, which receives
no funding from her organization.
"It's a great thing when foreign
channels make an effort to include local content. Let's face it
- they don't have to," she says.
"Local content for kids is
important because children need ongoing reinforcement that they
are New Zealanders. That's part of how you build pride and
self-esteem." |
|
Top
|
Fox Slams Disney Over
Teen Stars
Showbiz Spy - Actress MEGAN FOX has slammed media giant Disney
for catapulting youngsters such as MILEY CYRUS and DEMI LOVATO
to stardom.The
Transformers star is convinced teenagers employed by the company
are given such rigorous showbiz training that it stops them from
enjoying their youth.
She tells America's GQ magazine,
"They (Disney) take these little girls... teach them how to sing
and dance, and make them wear belly shirts, but it won't allow
them to be their own people. It makes me sick."
|
|
Top
|
Spooky fun for Disney
visitors
Asheville Citizen-Times - Deciding to treat your family to Walt
Disney World Resort was probably easy — determining the best
time to go may be tricky.
Crowd levels, weather, holidays and school schedules should be
considered when selecting vacation time. With a little research
and self-education, deciding on the best time for your family to
visit Disney World may be only a few clicks away.
If smaller crowds and concerns
about the weather are the key drivers behind your decision,
www.touring
plans.com provides statistics on
daily crowd levels and tried-and-true, time-saving touring
plans.
“We have professional
statisticians and patented software to support our Web site,”
said Len Testa, Webmaster and co-author of the “Unofficial Guide
to Walt Disney World.” “Our crowd calendar and touring plans
help you plan when and how to visit the theme parks.”
When determining the least
crowded time to visit Walt Disney World, Testa said, “Most
people care more about wait times than crowds. What they really
want to know is how long they can expect to wait for headliner
attractions.”
Testa shares the secret to wait
time predictability.
“Disney controls the wait times
on their rides and attractions to maintain 20 minutes at all
times — even during slow periods. This is done to keep visitors
in the parks longer so that they will purchase food and
souvenirs.”
During peak season — mid-June
through mid-August — expect to spend several hours per day
waiting in lines. Visiting Disney World during the peak summer
season, or the week between Christmas and New Year, should be
avoided unless this is the only opportunity for a family
vacation.
Fall visits offer festivals,
events and parties with mild weather and reduced crowds.
Tim Spicer and family of
Maryville, Tenn., prefer visiting Disney World during October.
“The weather is perfect and our
family enjoys Mickey’s Not-So-Scary Halloween Party,” said
Spicer. “A limited number of tickets are sold, so there are no
lines for the rides, plus the special parade and fireworks are
amazing. The characters even dress up in Halloween costumes and
there are several locations for trick-or-treating, which our
kids love.”
Questioned about taking their
children out of school, Spicer explained, “Our children, ages
18, 11 and 5, attend year-around school, so they get a fall
break which works well for our family.”
Charlotte area empty-nesters and
grandparents, Cindy and Bob Reid, have annual passes and favor
spring and fall trips to Disney World.
“The weather is cooler and the
rates are lower, so you get more bang for your buck,” said Cindy
Reid. “We went to Epcot’s Flower and Garden festival in May. The
flowers were beautiful and we enjoyed the various gardens.”
Asked about upcoming trips, Reid
said, “We are looking forward to taking our granddaughters, ages
5 and 3 1/2, to Walt Disney World this fall. We won’t take them
out of school, so this is the last year we can go outside of
summer. We are also going back with friends in early December to
take in the holiday decorations and events.” |
|
Top
|
Lehigh-Carbon Lccc, Disney Team For Study Program
Allentown Morning Call - Lehigh Carbon Community College will
offer a cooperative work experience for students at Walt Disney
World, Orlando, Fla. during the spring 2009 semester.
The program is available to LCCC or other college students.
The co-op allows students to earn six college credits as they
spend one semester working, learning, and living at Walt Disney
World. Participants will be chosen by Disney recruiters.
Students work in one of a variety of major operating areas, such
as food, merchandise, attractions, custodial, tickets, water
recreation and transportation, and attend classes at the Disney
entertainment complex.
Since the program began in September 1989, more than 300 LCCC
students have participated.
Interested individuals may attend the following informational
meeting to learn more about this co-op at 2:15 p.m., Oct. 1, in
Room 8 of the Science Hall Building, Lower Level, LCCC's
Schnecksville campus.
Disney recruiters will conduct interviews for prospective
participants at LCCC's main campus at 5 p.m. Oct. 8 and at 2
p.m. Oct. 29, both in Room 8 of the Science Hall Building. |
|
Top
|
Disney hires stores
comms head
PRWeek UK - The Walt Disney Company has hired James Ward as its
European PR Manager for its chain Disney retail stores.
In his newly created role, Ward
will be responsible for Disney Store communications in France,
Spain, Italy, Portugal and the UK.
Ward joins the entertainment
giant from Manning Selvage & Lee where he worked in the food,
drink and nutrition division. He has held a number of other
in-house and agency roles including JCPR, NMEC, Arcadia Group
and Golin/Harris.
There are currently 56 Disney
Stores in the UK, including its flagship store in Oxford Street.
In addition to its European stores, the Ward's brief includes
responsibility for its retail website disneystore.co.uk. |
|
Top
|
Disney Channel and Girl Scouts Partner for Exclusive Movie
Premier
Ventura County Star - The Disney Channel and the Girl Scouts of
the Conejo Valley recently hosted a very special "Bring A
Friend" recruiting night which included an exclusive satellite
screening of Disney's latest movie, "The Cheetah Girls: One
World", and pizza, popcorn and friendship! The movie, shot on
location in India, inspired the other activities which included
temporary henna tatoos, raffle of movie merchandise and a
special photo op, sari's optional! Movie goers shown here from
left to right are Erika, Tia and Alena from Junior Troop 1068
and Nicole from Cadette Troop 735. For information on joining a
Girl Scout Troop in your area, please contact Pattie Mullins,
Girl Scouts of California's Central Coast at (805) 658-8210 ext.
321 or visit us on the web at
www.girlscoutsccc.org. |
|
Top
|
Disneyland trip worth a smile
Olean Times Herald - When Kylee McLarney traveled to Disneyland
earlier this month with her family, a smile broke out on her
face during a special visit with Cinderella.
For Kylee, who has a rare
neurodevelopment disorder called Rett syndrome, the trip to
Disneyland in California with her parents and brother gave her a
lot to smile about. The trip was sponsored by the Make-A-Wish
Foundation of Western New York, which treated Kylee, 13; her
parents, Kim and Robert; and brother Robert Jr. (RJ) to an
all-expense-paid trip to Disneyland last week.
In addition to the trip, the
family was provided a rental vehicle to do sightseeing in
Hollywood and Los Angeles as well as surrounding areas.
Mrs. McLarney said Kylee was 10
months old and talking when she began regressing in her
development. Doctors eventually determined that Kylee had the
disorder which causes seizures and respiratory problems. Many
children with the diagnosis also are non-verbal. Kylee's
condition requires frequent visits to doctors, daily medications
and treatments. During the school year, she attends a BOCES
class at Prospect Elementary School in the Salamanca City
Central School District.
Mrs. McLarney said when her
brother filled out a Make-A-Wish application for them online in
May, they thought they might not qualify, as they believed the
program only helped children with terminal illnesses.
"They said because she has a
life-threatening illness" she would qualify," Mrs. McLarney
said. "Three days later (after contacting the foundation) we got
a letter in the mail stating she was accepted."
She said their wish was granted
sooner, as the family is never sure when Kylee will become ill.
She noted that Kylee had been hospitalized with respiratory
illnesses in the past and is very susceptible to double
pneumonia. As a matter of fact, she was in the hospital only a
month before the family left for Disneyland.
The day the family was scheduled
to leave for California, a special limousine arrived at their
home and drove them to the airport. Once at Disneyland they were
treated like royalty. They were given early entry to the park
and didn't have to wait in lines.
"It was really nice and they
(the Disney staff) were really accommodating," Mrs. McLarney
said. "It definitely gives you a break from the everyday
routine. ... I didn't want to come home."
Little RJ also had "a lot" of
fun and enjoyed the Buzz Lightyear 3-D ride.
Mrs. McLarney said a lot of the
rides could accomodate wheelchairs, therefore Kylee was able to
get on board.
"She got to go on a lot of
rides," Mrs. McLarney said.
She also got to meet some of her
favorite Disney characters, including Ariel and Cinderella.
"She loves Cinderella and had
her picture taken with her," Mrs. McLarney said. The family also
drove around Hollywood and saw Hannah Montana's house, as Kylee
loves the young celebrity's music.
She said the family wanted to
share their Make-A-Wish story with others because a lot of
people are unaware of all the good the organization does for
children.
Cheryl Unger, director of
program services for Make-A-Wish in Buffalo, said the
organization provided 139 wishes to area children and their
families last year. Nationally, the organization has been in
existence since 1980 and has operated regionally in Buffalo
since 1992. The organization serves 17 Western New York counties
and has granted more than 1,500 wishes in the last 16 years. Ms.
Unger said children can wish to be something, wish to have
something, wish to meet someone or wish to go somewhere.
"We try not to look at the
monetary value" and the only rule is that we can't grant more
than one wish," Ms. Unger said. She said funds are raised
through black tie galas each year in Buffalo and Rochester, as
well as through the annual 97 Rock Radio-Thon slated to be held
Sept. 18 and 19.
She said some of the more
unusual wishes she has seen have been for one little boy to
become a Buffalo Bill football player for the day, and a hockey
rink built in the backyard of another boy's home. She said
another unusual wish was for a little girl who wanted a
custom-made saddle that was pink with jewels and had a belt to
hold her on.
"I really feel very fortunate to
be doing this job," Ms. Unger said. "It's always different
(wishes) for everyone."
To help the foundation, or for
more information, call 1-888-336-WISH or visit the Web site
www.WestNY.wish.org. |
|
Top
|
|
Sunday
September 14, 2008 |
Keeping up with the
Jonases
Enjoy
Disney's Earth adventure for free!
Grand
Rapids Symphony to perform Disney hits
Disney grabs
TV filming site in Torrance
Independent and Disney offer encyclopedias to young readers |
|
Keeping up with the
Jonases
Melbourne Herald Sun - They're cute, clean-cut and taking the
tween market by storm. So why are the Jonas Brothers so hot
right now?
Manhattan is in the middle
of a heat wave. Environmental zealots might claim it's the
result of climate change, but I suspect the elevated temperature
could have something to do with the hundreds of screaming
teenagers crammed behind police barricades on the southern side
of 54th Street, holding banners proclaiming, 'Jonas Bros 4Ever',
'I heart Joe' and
'We came from Michigan for
Camp Rock'.
Across the busy street stands
the majestically dated Ziegfeld Theatre with its marquee
announcing the world premiere of Camp Rock, Disney Channel's
music-filled movie starring the Jonas Brothers, the hottest
boy-band to break out in the US in recent years.
New York cops with
seen-it-all-before expressions wipe the sweat from under their
hats and roll their eyes every time a high-pitched wave of
hormonal hysteria drowns out the noise of midtown traffic.
The boys in black are here to
prevent the predominantly female crowd from swarming onto the
street when brothers Kevin, Joe and Nick Jonas make their grand
entrance on the white carpet - well, it is a Disney premiere -
at 5pm.
The Jonases, who descend in age
from 20 to 19 to 15, returned to the US the day before, after
opening a gig in Paris for punk princess Avril Lavigne.
Twenty-four hours later, they'll be back on the private jet
heading to Italy for another concert.
Their schedule is grueling but
they look positively relaxed and in control when they arrive.
They're flanked by their bodyguard and an entourage befitting
pin-up superstars - which always includes parents Kevin and
Denise, and their younger brother, Frankie (who, at seven, is
known as the 'Bonus Jonas').
As soon as the boys are sighted
strolling down the middle of the road - the police have stopped
traffic for them - the swell of excited, expectant and emotional
girls shivers with energy and lets out a synchronized primal
scream. They look as if they're in pain, but they're in
heart-throb heaven. The JoBros, as they've been dubbed, move as
one, shaking outstretched hands, smiling and signing autographs.
Each and every move, no matter how small, results in a
helium-pitched squeal.
Then they're on the white
carpet, stopping for the requisite, quick camera-friendly chats.
The fresh-faced boys aren't nervous, just hot - temperature hot
- in spiffy suits that show off their evolving sartorial sense
and fast-growing fashion clout. Kevin and Nick mock middle
brother, Joe, who they say took the longest time to get ready.
Joe, quick on his feet, quips, "about seven hours". They have
their breezy banter down pat; clearly, they've done this before.
Turning to the issue at hand -
Camp Rock - Kevin says, "I'm hoping that when they're watching
the movie, and it's supposed to be funny, they actually laugh."
He needn't have worried. Later,
at the post-premiere party, the Jonases belt out a couple of
numbers onstage and more kids - and even some of their parents,
who approve of the clean-cut brothers - swoon.
The next afternoon, in a nearby
hotel, Joe, who's unofficially the 'hottie' of the trio - and
does a mini-me version of Mick Jagger onstage - considers the
mania.
"It was great. It was insane for
us because, you know, we've been out of the country for a while,
with Avril Lavigne in Europe. Coming back and seeing the fan
response, you're kind of scared. They're screaming and going
'rah'," he says laughing as his hands fly to both sides of his
face, mimicking the fans' exuberance. "Your initial reaction is
to be afraid and look around the corner and wait for something
bad to happen. Then it's, 'All right, they're here for a movie
and we're in a band, and this is really fun. Really cool.'"
In three years, the Jonas
Brothers have come from virtually nowhere to grab the tween and
teen worlds by their collective throats. Nick is the most
experienced, having made his Broadway debut, aged eight, playing
Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol: The Musical. Over the next few
years, he appeared in Annie Get Your Gun (as Little Jake),
Beauty and the Beast (Chip), and Les Miserables (Gavroche). Joe
first hit Broadway in the children's chorus of Baz Luhrmann's
2002 production of La Boheme, and Kevin taught himself to play
guitar and appeared in TV commercials.
The brothers were going the solo
routes but then formed the band in 2004 and made their debut
on Radio Disney in the US in
October 2005. After a record-company change, they eventually
soared up the charts with a string of certifiable hits.
In early 2007, savvy Disney
Channel executives hand-picked the trio to co-star in an episode
of Disney's hit TV show Hannah Montana, starring its other
megastar teen of the moment, Miley Cyrus.
The appearance won Hannah
Montana its highest ratings ever in the US, and it came as no
surprise to anyone that the built-in teen audience would develop
an instant crush on the brothers. They subsequently joined the
Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds tour last year
for 54 gigs. All sold out.
Around then came Camp Rock,
Disney's purpose-built encore to the film franchise, High School
Musical, which charts a similar dramatic arc.
This time the story is set at a
summer camp where junior rock stars get their start, and where
teenagers flirt with the usual angst of innocent crushes and the
desire to fit in, all while breaking into catchy song-and-dance
numbers. Central to the plot is the lead singer of teen boy-band
Connect Three (played by the Jonases), who's been marched off to
camp for getting too big for his boots.
"Camp Rock is a movie everyone
can relate to - you kind of always want to fit in," says Kevin.
"Sometimes it's the same thing with Connect Three - you want
people to understand who you really are."
Serendipitously, the movie was
filmed in August in 2007, just before the JoBros morphed from
band to brand. With their newfound status, Disney Channel had
ratings gold (8.9 million tuned in for the TV premiere) and
hopes to repeat the success when the movie screens in Australia
later this month.
"This phenomena has exploded in
the past eight to 10 months; I mean, they weren't the Jonas
Brothers we know now when we started production," says Gary
Marsh, president of the entertainment division at Disney
Channels Worldwide. "We captured them when they were just taking
off. Now they're part of our family, and they've become
superstars."
Superstars indeed, to wit:
People magazine dedicated an entire 80-page special collectors'
edition to the brothers in June; Oprah had them on her TV show
to explain the 'phenomenon'; they were guests at the White House
Correspondents' Association dinner with President George W Bush
and performed at the White House for the Easter Egg Roll, a US
tradition since the late 1800s; they've made appearances on The
Ellen DeGeneres Show, the US version of Dancing with the Stars
and the season finale of American Idol; and they upstaged
comedian Ben Stiller on The Tonight Show with
Jay Leno. That was just the
warm-up.
In the past three months, the
Jonas Brothers took their own 50-date sell-out tour across the
US; released an album, A Little Bit Longer (their third); were
photographed for Vanity Fair; launched their own reality show
called - what else? - Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream; and
signed up to star in their own TV comedy, J.O.N.A.S (Junior
Operatives Networking As Spies).
Oh, and did I mention they made
it onto the cover of music bible Rolling Stone in August?
Their whiplash trajectory isn't
lost on the three brothers. "It's been a great journey," says
Joe.
"This past year has been like a
whirlwind for us - it's been amazing. Now, touring the world,
it's phenomenal. It's our first time and we can't wait for
everything to actually happen. We're really just truly pumped
that we can actually live out our dream every day."
"It's funny; we're now starting
to see fans outside our house. It's a little odd at times," says
Nick, who was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at 13 and performs
a show-stopping ballad about his health. Kevin continues: "There
was one time when this
girl wanted to get our attention
and had her friends handcuff her to a pole in the front of our
house thinking we'd go out and help her."
"We kind of just looked at her,"
says Joe.
"We went out and when we came
back, she was gone," finishes Nick.
The New Jersey-bred boys are a
close-knit outfit. They finish each others' anecdotes, share the
limelight as equal partners and you feel they really do like
hanging out together, which they say they do. Luckily enough,
too, because they have to share close quarters on tour buses and
private jets as
they eat, live and breathe being
the Jonas Brothers (the youngest three are home schooled; Kevin
had finished high school when the band took off).
The Jonas family is devoutly
Christian - Kevin Sr was a minister in the Assembly of God
church in New Jersey, and the three older brothers wear purity
rings pledging to remain chaste until they wed. Although, on
this particular day in New York, Nick isn't inclined to discuss
it.
"We're here to talk about Camp
Rock and we choose not to talk about that," he says emphatically
as the older brothers look
straight ahead. However, on the official Jonas Brothers website,
Joe says he wears the ring as "a promise to myself and God to
say pure until marriage".
Asked to describe each other,
Joe says, "I would definitely say Nick is the leader type, who I
think will be president one day. Kevin is definitely the
businessman - he's always coming up with ideas for the tour. How
would you describe me?"
"Funny, making people laugh all
the time," says Nick, who turns 16 this week.
Adds Kevin, "Not afraid to talk
to the girls."
Laughter all round. Actually,
there have been well-publicized rumors that Nick and Miley Cyrus
were 'close' during the Hannah tour, while Kevin
has recently been keeping
company with a striking brunette. But given their purity pledges
and tightly honed moral compasses, any romance is purely
academic. Their female co-stars in Camp Rock all rave about how
'down-to-earth', 'amazing', 'gorgeous, talented and sweet' they
are.
"Jonas Brothers - they're so
hot," gushes Demi Lovato, another of Disney's rising teenage
stars.
She plays Joe Jonas' innocent
love interest, Mitchie Torres, in the film, and toured the US
with JoBros.
"I was expecting them to act
like rock stars, but I wasn't intimidated. They were completely
not what
I expected. They turned out to
be classy gentlemen, who'd open the door for you and pay for
dinner. They're sweet guys who've been raised very well."
Was there any romance on set?
"Actually, no. You'd think there would be," she says, "but it
was fun because there was no pressure on anyone hooking up.
We're all friends."
Asked how they stay so grounded,
Nick says,
"We have a really good family
and we have each other to talk to at the end of the day, which
is really nice. We're just normal guys. We try to be the best
that we can be."
Any pressure to be extra good?
Without hesitation, Kevin
answers, "You want to be a good person." Nick adds, "It comes
naturally."
Their future is already mapped
out. "I think we'll definitely continue to make records - we've
been
on a cycle of a releasing an
album a year here in the States - and I think we'll do more
movies and write songs for other artists, produce for other
artists," says Joe. "We're doing a 3-D movie, a book and a lot
of really exciting things, and a TV movie is in the works for
Disney, so the next five years looks pretty busy." And they want
to come to Australia soon, too.
Marsh admits the long-term
potential of the JoBros brand is appealing. "I hope we can keep
them in the family for a long time, partly because I just like
them - they're good guys, honestly. What you see is real;
they're humble. What I respect about the Jonas Brothers is their
authenticity. They write their own music, they play their own
instruments, they sing their own songs. There's a point of
personal pride in everything they do," he says. "To me, an
artist who comes from that place - of personal quest, of
personal fulfillment, of personal expression - has the greatest
opportunity to have a long career. I feel blessed we've managed
to corral them at this point in their lives."
Marsh pauses, then adds,
"Honestly, they're just exploding for the world." SM
Camp Rock premieres on
Disney Channel on Friday September 26 at 6.30pm. Jonas
Brothers: Living the Dream airs on Mondays at 5.25pm, also
on Disney. |
|
Top
|
Enjoy
Disney's Earth adventure for free!
Independent - The fantastic children's encyclopedia collection
continues tomorrow, with Book 2 in the Disney's Wonderful World
of Knowledge series, Planet Earth.
Find out how Earth was formed,
all about days and seasons, earthquakes, volcanoes, glaciers,
deserts, gravity and much, much more in this fascinating book.
With lots of bright, colorful
illustrations, photographs, maps and diagrams, your child can
learn all about Earth in a fun and accessible way. Each page is
packed with facts, written in short, easy to read paragraphs,
perfect for children who are just starting to read, and also for
older children who need information for school projects.
Written by a team of experts
including Derek Elsom, Professor of Climatology at Oxford
Brookes University; it's a stunning introduction to the world we
all live in. It also includes a handy glossary of key words,
from acid rain and atmosphere, to trade winds and tsunami; and
an index.
Each different topic includes
one of the Disney characters: Goofy and Donald glide down a
glacier, Mickey and Minnie are blow away by a tornado, and
Donald fishes beside some polar bears, which makes this book
great fun even for very young readers. Planet Earth is ideal for
sharing with children and its attractive maps and diagrams make
the information given easy to understand.
There are lots of amazing facts
to wonder at. Did you know the world has about 10,000 different
grasses or that the Atacama Desert in South America has had no
rain for 400 years?
It's never too early to
introduce children to books, and this collection would be an
asset to any household, library or school. Look out for Book 3
in the collection, The Human Body, next week.
How It Works
Each Saturday, a new book in the
Disney's World of Knowledge series will be introduced.
Tomorrow, Book 2, Planet Earth,
will be available at the RRP of €4.99 plus one book token, found
daily on page two of the Irish Independent.
A new token and corresponding
book are available each week -- running from Saturday to the
following Friday. The series will run over 20 weeks. Tokens may
be redeemed in store on the day of purchase or within one week.
To make the collection extra
special we have a spectacular Bonus Disney Atlas of the World
free for all of our collectors.
Simply collect the bonus letters
which you will find on page 2 of the Irish Independent every
week throughout the collection and once you can spell the words
'Amazing Encyclopedias' with the letters that you collect, send
them straight back to us along with your name and address and
we'll send you your FREE Disney Wonderful World of Knowledge
Atlas of the World!
Please send your Free Atlas
Letters to: Disney Wonderful World of Knowledge, Independent
Newspapers, Independent House, 27/32 Talbot Street, Dublin 1.
Closing Date: February 20, 2009.
Should you miss a book in the
series, don't worry. Simply visit our website www.independent.ie/books/
and find your local participating newsagent. Follow the
instructions and you can then order the book (with a token and a
payment of €4.99) from your local store.
The 20 books in our collection:
Dinosaurs; Planet Earth; The
Human Body; Plants are Amazing; Wonders of the Sea; The Kingdom
of Mammals; Insects and Mammals; How Machines Work; Reptiles and
Amphibians; The Marvels of Science; Dance, Drama and Music; From
Stone Age to Space Age; World of Art; Great Inventions; Children
of the World; Birds; Space; Travelers and Explorers; Transport;
Communications. |
|
Top
|
Grand
Rapids Symphony to perform Disney hits
The
Grand Rapids Press - In some remote corner of the world, in a
place where you actually might see Tarzan swinging from trees,
it's possible no one's heard of Mulan or Mary Poppins.
But don't bet on it. It is a small
world, after all.
The wonderful world of Walt
Disney comes to DeVos Performance Hall this weekend.
Not the movies but the tunes
that accompany the films that made Disney famous.
The Grand Rapids Symphony opens
its Pops Series this weekend in DeVos Hall with Academy Award-
and Grammy Award-winning music from the Disney songbook.
"When you think about it, the
Disney folks have been cranking out the hits for a long time,"
said associate conductor John Varineau, who will lead the
orchestra in music from such animated Disney films as "Aladdin,"
"The Lion King" and "The Rescuers Down Under."
A couple of brief film clips
will be screened along with some 400 still images from the
films, most of which were made during the past 20 years.
Normally, in animated films, 29
frames fly by per second. In this show, each image lingers.
"You almost get a new
appreciation for the animated art, when you spend 10 seconds
looking at one single cell of animation," said Jonathan Heely,
director of Disney Music Publishing.
"You're amazed by how much is
there," Heely said.
"That's the other part of the
Disney magic in this show."
But the music is the main event
with original songs rearranged, in some cases by the original
orchestrator, such as Irwin Kostal, who worked on the 1964 film
"Mary Poppins" and arranged a new "Mary Poppins Fantasy" some 30
years later, shortly before his death in 1994.
"His idea was to pick up the
themes where they were used in interesting ways, sometimes
hidden, throughout the film," Heely said.
The show titled "Around the
World with Disney" has, in fact, been around the world during
the past two years -- from Portugal to Poland, south to Dubai in
the United Arab Emirates and north to Edmonton in Alberta,
Canada.
"It's a little tricky to find a
niche that works," Heely said. "But Disney is in the
entertainment business."
Grand Rapids soprano Diane
Penning will join the orchestra to sing songs as Ariel in "The
Little Mermaid" and as Belle in "Beauty and the Beast."
"I grew up with Disney films and
so have my children," Penning said.
Which is another of the secrets
to the Disney organization's success.
"The genius of Disney," Varineau
said, "is they can write music that transcends generations." |
|
Top
|
Disney grabs
TV filming site in Torrance
Contra Costa Times - The Daily Breeze is ready for its cinematic
close-up - again.
About 15 months after the stoner
comedy "Pineapple Express" was shot at the newspaper offices at
Torrance and Palos Verdes boulevards, a new Disney children's
television series begins pre-production there Monday.
The comedy, which has the
working title "Mongoose & Luther," tells the story of "two best
friends who set their sights upon becoming world famous
skateboarders," according to a Disney press release.
Turtle Rock Productions, which
is producing the series for Disney, has signed a one-year lease
for the 31,800-square-foot former Daily Breeze circulation
office at the west end of the 6.7-acre parcel, said Dave Visel,
community relations consultant for Little Company of Mary
Hospital. The production company has options to extend that
lease, presumably depending on how well the series does.
The hospital purchased the Daily
Breeze site for more than $14 million in April 2007 and plans to
develop the property into medical office condominiums.
The hospital will build the more
than 170,000 square feet of office space and two three-story
parking garages that are planned in phases starting at the
eastern end of the property, so conceivably Turtle Rock could
occupy the building for some time.
Joseph Barrell, owner of
Torrance-based Film Friendly Productions, who also found the
Daily Breeze location for the producers of "Pineapple Express,"
sold Turtle Rock on the site.
Barrell said the company wanted
a vacant warehouse with an office attached in the South Bay.
"They are going to be building
sets inside the warehouse," he said. "They are also going to
build a facade on the outside west end of the building
(depicting) the house where the kids live.
"They'll be skateboarding around
the parking lot, probably," he added. "They'll be shooting at
locations all over the South Bay."
Fred Savage of "The Wonder
Years" fame directed the series pilot, which has not been seen
publicly, but prompted Disney executives to order an unspecified
number of episodes to be filmed. It's unclear whether Savage
will direct future episodes or when actual shooting will start.
Adam Bonnet, senior vice
president of original programming for Disney, declined to
comment.
The series stars newcomer Hutch
Dano, Adam Hicks (who was in the 2006 movie "How to Eat Fried
Worms"), Daniel Curtis Lee (star of the hit Nickelodeon sitcom
"Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide"), and Manhattan Beach
native Ryan Newman (perhaps best known for the 2006 movie
"Zoom," which starred Tim Allen, Courteney Cox and Chevy Chase).
Shot in what Disney describes as
"single-camera documentary style," the series will air next year
on the Disney cable television channel Disney XD, which debuts
in February.
Disney XD is the rebranded name
of what's now called the Toon Disney channel, seen on Time
Warner Cable Channel 189 in the South Bay. |
|
Top
|
Independent and Disney offer encyclopedias to young readers
Independent - 'You know, reading is probably the best
education you can get." This gem was delivered last weekend
by that adored author Anthony Horowitz to a wildly excited
crowd of children at Books 2008. But if your little ones are
reluctant seekers of knowledge here's an excellent new
initiative: our sister paper the Irish Independent is
launching its brand new Disney "Wonderful World of
Knowledge" children's encyclopedia collection.
This exclusive Disney
collection, the latest in the series of popular book offers
from the Irish Independent, will appeal to families and
schools alike as an engaging educational tool for young
minds.
Each volume in the
collection (which comprises 20 encyclo-pedias) is packed
with fun educational facts brought to life by beloved Disney
characters. From The Kingdom of Mammals, Wonders of the Sea,
Travellers & Explorers to Dance, Drama and Music and World
of Art the books offer topics that will encourage children
into new worlds and parents too can take their youngsters on
a magnificent journey of knowledge and discovery while
building up a fabulous collection.
Last weekend (September 6)
readers of the Irish Independent received the first
encyclopedia, Dinosaurs, absolutely free with every purchase
of the paper.
Readers can now collect the
remaining 19 books in this charming collection for only
€4.99 every week with each purchase of the Irish
Independent. As a bonus, the Irish Independent will offer
collectors a bonus Disney Atlas of the World. A new book is
available each Saturday through Friday (while stocks last).
Tokens may be redeemed in store on the day of purchase or
within in one week.
For more details visit
www.independent.ie/books/
|
|
Top
|
|
|
|
Main Back
News |
