I have to admit that I love a parade. I think part of it is because parades are pure Americana to me. The Colonials were having parades down the streets during the fight for independence and we've been having them ever since. We may not have invented them, but a good parade can be a blast (pause here to chuckle at the thought of Shriners throwing candy, which they can't even do anymore).
Comcast OnDemand has a Disney section...yes, they do. And my wife found it. I didn't. I watched a piece on there the other night that showed what all goes into a Disney parade and I got a new appreciation for what they do. Obviously, for it to be Disney, it has to be almost perfect and those cast members in them are not paid much...AND they have to wear these costumes in Florida and California heat. I'm a sweater...come from a long line of sweaters...wouldn't make it as a parade person.
If you have On-Demand, check it out. It's under an obscure section called "searchlight", then "travel & leisure", then Disney/Making the Magic. You follow this poor guy trying to make it as a parade cast member and see what it takes to put one of these together. Maybe you'll have a new appreciation next time you see one at Disney.
Love up...2 posts in 2 days...I'm on a roll baby
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Welll...
what do you know. HE LIVES!!
Ok, lots has happened since I last posted. George Bush became President, we moved from horse drawn carriages to cars....ok, not that long.
Here's what's going on in MillerDisneyville. We are now Disney Vacation Club members. I think it scares my wife to death. I think she thinks we'll only be visiting the parks for the rest of our lives. She's mistaken but I guess I'll need to prove that to her. Our first trip is the week after Thanksgiving with my parents. One of the reasons we did this is so we can take people and I can be a "guide"...if they want me to be of course.
The last of the Nine Old Men, Ollie Johnson, died. The Nine Old Men were Walt's main animators during the Disney golden years and basically wrote the book on animation AND did a lot to help create Disneyland for Walt. Marc Davis, another of the group, was instrumental as an imagineer in putting together many of the rides and such. So, that's a sad chapter to end for Disney historians. Kind of the last link to Walt and those magical times.
Life is good. Starting to travel again which isn't the best but I'm racking up some good travel rewards. We're using 2 free flights for the Disney trip and I have 140,000 Marriott points. Have no idea when I'll get to use those. Maybe find a nice Marriott by a beach somewhere...don't tell my wife.
Love up everyone!
Ok, lots has happened since I last posted. George Bush became President, we moved from horse drawn carriages to cars....ok, not that long.
Here's what's going on in MillerDisneyville. We are now Disney Vacation Club members. I think it scares my wife to death. I think she thinks we'll only be visiting the parks for the rest of our lives. She's mistaken but I guess I'll need to prove that to her. Our first trip is the week after Thanksgiving with my parents. One of the reasons we did this is so we can take people and I can be a "guide"...if they want me to be of course.
The last of the Nine Old Men, Ollie Johnson, died. The Nine Old Men were Walt's main animators during the Disney golden years and basically wrote the book on animation AND did a lot to help create Disneyland for Walt. Marc Davis, another of the group, was instrumental as an imagineer in putting together many of the rides and such. So, that's a sad chapter to end for Disney historians. Kind of the last link to Walt and those magical times.
Life is good. Starting to travel again which isn't the best but I'm racking up some good travel rewards. We're using 2 free flights for the Disney trip and I have 140,000 Marriott points. Have no idea when I'll get to use those. Maybe find a nice Marriott by a beach somewhere...don't tell my wife.
Love up everyone!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
My new, little Mouseketeer
Eli Scott has arrived. He showed up on Wednesday morning, March 19 at 7:55 am and weighed 9 lbs 8 oz. and was 21 inches long. My little mouseketeer. Heather has called him "Brother Bear" (because he does have a bit (ok, a lot) of dark baby fur and a head full of black hair) trying to keep the Disney thing going. It's a fun time at the house these days. We're dealing with sleep deprivation but it's definitely worth it. We were driving around yesterday and today with all 4 of us in the car and I thought how cool it was to have a full family in the minivan. I'm a lucky man. A great wife who's a wonderful mom, a great little girl who's so excited to be a big sister and now a son who I can teach how to fish and hit a baseball...not that Emmy won't want to learn that too. I see many Disney trips in the future. Maybe Disney will ask us to model for them. They always show a family with a girl and a boy and they build the rooms for a family of four.
**Now for a shout out to you C-section moms... As the nurses were working on Eli after he was born, I stole a look over at the table where they were working on Heather. I saw a lot of stuff; stuff that had to be put back in. I didn't get queasy, but I do have a new appreciation for recovery and for Percoset.
Also, a thanks out to Mom and Dad for their help..and for my 80+ old Grandma for mopping our floors.
back to posting a bit more often now that I have some new experiences to share...
**Now for a shout out to you C-section moms... As the nurses were working on Eli after he was born, I stole a look over at the table where they were working on Heather. I saw a lot of stuff; stuff that had to be put back in. I didn't get queasy, but I do have a new appreciation for recovery and for Percoset.
Also, a thanks out to Mom and Dad for their help..and for my 80+ old Grandma for mopping our floors.
back to posting a bit more often now that I have some new experiences to share...
Friday, March 7, 2008
101 dalmations, over 6 million spots
We bought 101 Dalmations this week and watched it tonight with Emmy. She likes Lucky the best because we bought her a little stuffed dalmation at the Disney store and I told her that was his name. It was fun watching it with her.
Did you know Walt didn't like this movie, from a stylistic standpoint. He loved the story by Dodie Smith but didn't like the look of the story and was pretty vocal about it. I think more than anything he was bemoaning the passing of an era. Up to then, and most recently Sleeping Beauty in 1959, each animated cell was hand painted. This created the vibrant, smooth lines you see in all of the Disney classics until then. This process was labor intensive and expensive. Ub Iwerks, Walt's earliest collaborator and animator of the original Mickey Mouse, came up with a technique using Xerox to copy cells onto each other and add color without painting in by hand. Much cheaper, but put many cell painters out of a job and drastically changed the look of animation. You'll see it if you compare 101 to, say, Cinderella. All animated movies from that point forward utilized this Xerox technique, until Pixar came along. It was the end of an era and I think Walt realized it.
101 is a very contemporary, stylish piece. If you buy it, be sure and check out the second disc that details much of what I've said here and really gives a lot of credit to Milt Kahl, Marc Davis, and Ken Anderson...Disney legends of animation.
There's a lot of snow in 101, and there's a lot of snow coming down outside. It's MARCH, for goodness sakes! Maybe we'll animate a snowman tomorrow.
Did you know Walt didn't like this movie, from a stylistic standpoint. He loved the story by Dodie Smith but didn't like the look of the story and was pretty vocal about it. I think more than anything he was bemoaning the passing of an era. Up to then, and most recently Sleeping Beauty in 1959, each animated cell was hand painted. This created the vibrant, smooth lines you see in all of the Disney classics until then. This process was labor intensive and expensive. Ub Iwerks, Walt's earliest collaborator and animator of the original Mickey Mouse, came up with a technique using Xerox to copy cells onto each other and add color without painting in by hand. Much cheaper, but put many cell painters out of a job and drastically changed the look of animation. You'll see it if you compare 101 to, say, Cinderella. All animated movies from that point forward utilized this Xerox technique, until Pixar came along. It was the end of an era and I think Walt realized it.
101 is a very contemporary, stylish piece. If you buy it, be sure and check out the second disc that details much of what I've said here and really gives a lot of credit to Milt Kahl, Marc Davis, and Ken Anderson...Disney legends of animation.
There's a lot of snow in 101, and there's a lot of snow coming down outside. It's MARCH, for goodness sakes! Maybe we'll animate a snowman tomorrow.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Dad Part II
I'm getting excited about having a son. We're due in just a couple of weeks and we've been working on the nursery. No, nothing Disney. Lots of Baseball stuff though. St. Louis Cardinals baseball is another love of mine, along with history. So, we're combining those 2 things with a bit of a vintage baseball theme going. If anyone has "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" sung in lullaby, let me know. My dad coached me in baseball when I was little and those are some of the best, most vivid memories I have of my childhood. I can't wait to do that with my son...and my daughter, for that matter. My daughter has my heart. My son will have my name and I know I'll relive my childhood through him. I've been told watching him will awaken long-forgotten memories. That will be cool. Can't wait to see you Eli!
By the way, first trip to Disneyworld was when I was 14, in 1984 with my family. I remember it well...I remember how hot it was (middle of the summer). That was a great vacation..didn't have many that long or expensive. I'm not sure how mom and dad paid for that. Do you think my kids will be there a few times before they're 14? Emmy's already been 3 times and she just turned 3!
Have a good one everybody!
By the way, first trip to Disneyworld was when I was 14, in 1984 with my family. I remember it well...I remember how hot it was (middle of the summer). That was a great vacation..didn't have many that long or expensive. I'm not sure how mom and dad paid for that. Do you think my kids will be there a few times before they're 14? Emmy's already been 3 times and she just turned 3!
Have a good one everybody!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
what's next
just fyi...we've put in a bid for a resale Disney Vacation Club "property". It's not real property as this is Disney's version of the timeshare but there are good deals out there as the economy pushes folks into financial issues and they want to sell their interest. Also, Disney is not buying these back as much now as they have their own to sell. We plan on taking family and friends over the years so be nice to us!! Other than owning stock, it's the only way to "own" part of the magic....
anything in particular anyone wants to know about? It's been awhile since I posted, I know.
anything in particular anyone wants to know about? It's been awhile since I posted, I know.
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Pinocchio
February 7, 1940..what, 68 years ago tomorrow, Pinocchio opened at the Roxy Theatre. Walt and his animators, not to mention animators and critics since, consider Pinocchio Walt's best picture from a technical aspect. It's detail and first feature use of the multi-plane camera gave the picture more vividness and depth than any disney feature before or since. Based off an old Italian story, Pinocchio had to "grow" into the picture it became. Did you know in the original story, Jiminy Cricket is a background character that ends getting squished by Pinocchio? So Walt came up with the idea of him being Pinocchio's conscience. Walt was keenly aware of needing the audience to gain sympathy for the main character and by using Jiminy, you could see and hear the battle going on over right and wrong in Pinocchio's little wooden head.
There are interesting side stories about how they came up with Jiminy's look and name...for another time (thank you Ward Kimball, one of the famed "Nine Old Men"). You may wonder why I'm focusing on the cricket. Well, at Disneyland's animation building down in the "Sorcerer's Workshop", you can take a test to see which Disney character you most resemble. Yep, mine was Jiminy. Maybe Heather will share hers in a response. Can anyone guess?
Pinocchio didn't really make money for Disney until it was re-released years later. You see, much of Snow White's revenue was made in Europe. Well, in late 1940, there was a bit of a disruption going on in Europe, so Pinocchio didn't make it over there. Maybe Hitler should have seen the picture. Maybe it would have awakened his inner Jiminy Cricket.
And yes, Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney comes from Pinocchio. I'm waiting for this one on dvd by the way.....
There are interesting side stories about how they came up with Jiminy's look and name...for another time (thank you Ward Kimball, one of the famed "Nine Old Men"). You may wonder why I'm focusing on the cricket. Well, at Disneyland's animation building down in the "Sorcerer's Workshop", you can take a test to see which Disney character you most resemble. Yep, mine was Jiminy. Maybe Heather will share hers in a response. Can anyone guess?
Pinocchio didn't really make money for Disney until it was re-released years later. You see, much of Snow White's revenue was made in Europe. Well, in late 1940, there was a bit of a disruption going on in Europe, so Pinocchio didn't make it over there. Maybe Hitler should have seen the picture. Maybe it would have awakened his inner Jiminy Cricket.
And yes, Pleasure Island at Downtown Disney comes from Pinocchio. I'm waiting for this one on dvd by the way.....
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
