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Archive for April, 2008
Category: Technology, Video Games, Customer service
With the imminent release of one of the most highly-anticipated console games ever, Grand Theft Auto IV, I decided it was finally time to purchase a “next-gen” video game system. That is, since GTAIV was only being released on the XBox 360 and Playstation 3, I wasn’t going to be able to use my wonderfully-entertaining Nintendo Wii to play it, so I had to pick one of the other systems.
At first, my decision was an easy one, one that would be made on price alone. The least-expensive version of the XBox 360 (the “Arcade” system) is roughly $280. The least-expensive version of the Playstation 3 is roughly $400. Plus, I soon discovered that if I purchased an XBox 360 along with GTA IV from BestBuy.com, I would receive a $50 Best Buy gift card for free, essentially bringing the price of the XBox 360 down to $230… what a deal! I couldn’t pass that up.
I quickly made my purchase on Monday, April 27th, 2008 and selected store pick-up for both the console system and video game. Shortly after placing my order, I received a series of e-mails from BestBuy.com letting me know that my $50 gift card was getting ready to ship, GTAIV would be ready for in-store pick-up on April 29th, and that the XBox 360 Arcade would be ready for pickup on April 28th, since the store was closed when I placed the order. Fair enough. This was shaping up to become the easiest game release ever. I had everything pre-ordered for store pickup, so no waiting in line and no worrying if they’d run out of copies before I got my hands on one. Boy, was I wrong about that.
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Posted by Ricky on April 29, 2008 at 12:17 pm · Permalink
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Category: TV
It’s fanboy week on Deal or No Deal. Tonight (April 28), Star Wars takes over the popular game show adding stormtroopers and models posing in slave Leia costumes… with Darth Vader as the banker!
Then, on Wednesday (April 30), Hellga, Titan, Mayhem, and Wolf from the new American Gladiators join in a 2-hour special episode of the show.
With DoND’s recent failed attempt at finally having a million-dollar winner (they had up to half the cases with $1,000,000 in them and still no success), it’s becoming increasingly clear that the show needs gimmicks to continue to draw viewers, since we all now realize that it’s nearly impossible to actually win big. Regardless, I’ll be tuning in this week… or at least recording and fast-forwarding through it.
Link to Deal or No Deal official site
Posted by Ricky on April 28, 2008 at 9:30 am · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Theme Parks
From attractionsmagazine.com:
We now have a complete 49-minute video online of Disney Imagineer Joe Rohde’s presentation on the history of Animal Kingdom given at 9:45am on April 22, the park’s 10th anniversary.
The presentation was delivered in front of cast members and fans at the theater that houses the Finding Nemo Musical stage show.
Click here to download the video from our videos page.
Link
Posted by Ricky on April 23, 2008 at 3:05 pm · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Theme Parks
From attractionsmagazine.com:
Disney’s Animal Kingdom celebrated its 10th anniversary today with a morning ceremony in front of the Tree of Life featuring Imagineer Joe Rohde and Dr. Jane Goodall. After the ceremony, we had a chance to talk to Rohde and Goodall about Animal Kingdom and their favorite parts of the park.
You can download a high-quality video of the complete ceremony and interviews by visiting our video page.
Link
Posted by Ricky on April 22, 2008 at 5:47 pm · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Movies, Travel
In perfect timing for Earth Day tomorrow, The Walt Disney Company has announced a brand-new series of nature documentaries under a new name, Disneynature. They’ve also created a Disneynature logo that’s a wonderful blend of the traditional castle-themed Disney logo with a natural mountainous terrain:
From go.com:
The Walt Disney Studios is launching Disneynature, a prestigious new production banner that will literally go to the ends of the earth to produce major big screen nature documentaries, Studios Chairman Dick Cook announced.
In the great tradition established by Walt Disney himself, Disneynature will offer spectacular entertainment about the world in which we live. The significance of the new banner goes beyond the studio, with The Walt Disney Company embracing this new initiative around the world through a number of its businesses, including publications, licensing, parks and educational outreach. Disney veteran Jean-Francois Camilleri, who has served as senior vice president and general manager for Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures France will head the new unit. Disneynature will be based in France, where Camilleri and his team will oversee the initiation, development and acquisition of high quality feature projects.
Among the first films to be released domestically under the new label will be Earth, from award-winning British producer/director Alastair Fothergill, whose credits include the landmark Planet Earth series for the BBC and The Discovery Channel and The Blue Planet. Earth, which is produced by BBC Worldwide and Greenlight Media and co-directed by Mark Linfield, will take us on a tour of our home planet as we’ve never seen it before. It will be narrated by renowned actor James Earl Jones and will premiere theatrically on Earth Day, April 22, 2009. The film will also be released under the Disneynature banner in Latin America.
To go with the information about the upcoming documentaries, Disney has created a fabulous web site that really gives you that “big screen” feeling on your small screen at home. Not only does the site contain a clips and information from the upcoming new documentaries, but also a look back at the history of Walt Disney’s “True Life Adventures” series of nature films, including a brief interview with Walt himself. The site is definitely one to check out.
Link to Disneynature web site
Posted by Ricky on April 21, 2008 at 4:01 pm · Permalink
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Category: Movies, Universal Studios, Theme Parks
We attended a Back to the Future screening / panel discussion at Celebration on Saturday, April 19 in which actor Christopher Lloyd and writer/producer Bob Gale revealed some interesting tidbits about The Simpsons Ride and the upcoming Blu-Ray release of Back to the Future.
From attractionsmagazine.com:
During the Q&A session, Christopher Lloyd revealed that he had, in fact, voiced his BTTF character, Doc Brown, for The Simpsons Ride at Universal Studios. He stated that the crazy, wild-eyed doc would be making a brief cameo appearance, as a Simpsons character, near the beginning of the new attraction.
Bob Gale also mentioned that they are seriously considering adding the Back to the Future: The Ride flim to the Blu-Ray release of the movie, which does not yet have a release date.
Link to full post and event photo gallery
Posted by Ricky on April 20, 2008 at 9:20 am · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Travel, Theme Parks
From attractionsmagazine.com:
The Top 3 candidates for Disney’s first-ever Chief Magic Official have arrived in Orlando and will begin engaging in various competitions tomorrow.
Below is the schedule for the CMO events around Walt Disney World for the next few days, in case anyone wants to try to see and/or take part in the various competitions:
Thursday, April 17:
8am - Stroller Derby - Skyway Stroller Parking in Fantasy Land
11:30am - Noon - Throw In The Towel. This is a non-public event, shot in a resort room for the web.
2pm - The Loudest Crowd - Main Street, MK.
Friday, April 18:
10am - Know The Show - Epcot Tip Board
2pm - Make A Face - AK, Lower Bradley Falls.
Time unknown - Shadow the Dream Squad.
Tuesday:
8am - Selection Ceremony, MK Rose Garden.
It appears that the 8am events will take place before the Magic Kingdom opens, so they are likely not going to be open for public viewing, unless Disney allows early entry for them.
We have been told that the CMO Selection Ceremony on Tuesday will be broadcast live on DreamCMO.com. Voting to select the winner of the contest is currently ongoing at the web site as well and will continue through Monday, April 21. Videos of the competitions will be posted there over the next few days.
Thanks to Kenny (”the pirate” - one of last year’s Dream Job winners) for sending in the schedule.
Link
Posted by Ricky on April 16, 2008 at 10:36 pm · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Theme Parks
From jpgmag.com:
On a recent vacation to the West Coast I ventured to one of the World’s most beloved, and for obvious reasons unnamed, Theme Parks in Southern California. After an hour or so I became fascinated with the lack of enthusiasm on the faces around me. While waiting near a ride to take pictures of my friends as they drove by in a tiny yellow car I decided to snap some random shots of other people driving by.
It quickly became clear to me that most of the people around me were here because of some sort of cultural obligation to have fun. Just one in a long list of “not to be missed” experiences that Americans feel the need to indulge in.
As part of my experiment I began to take pictues while walking past crowds of people going the other direction. I just held up my camera and snapped.
Link
Posted by Ricky on April 15, 2008 at 1:13 pm · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Movies
From cartoonbrew.com:
The end of an era.
The last of the Nine Old Men, Ollie Johnston, passed away today in Sequim, Washington at the age of 95. Jenny Lerew confirms it.
UPDATE: Howard Green sent us this quote from Roy Disney…
“Ollie was part of an amazing generation of artists, one of the real pioneers of our art, one of the major participants in the blossoming of animation into the art form we know today. One of Ollie’s strongest beliefs was that his characters should think first, then act…and they all did. He brought warmth and wit and sly humor and a wonderful gentleness to every character he animated. He brought all those same qualities to his life, and to all of our lives who knew him. We will miss him greatly, but we were all enormously enriched by him.”
Such awful news just a few days after The Walt Disney Company’s announcement of their plans for their next 10 major animated motion pictures, which may bring Disney back to the animation glory they once enjoyed while Ollie Johnston and the other eight “old men” worked so diligently and creatively on what have become classics.
Link
Posted by Ricky on April 15, 2008 at 12:07 am · Permalink
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Category: Disney, Theme Parks
From attractionsmagazine.com:
The Walt Disney Company has a long history of sending interesting and collectible swag to the press to boost their excitement for attractions opening soon. The newest attraction headed for both Walt Disney World here in Orlando as well as the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, Ca. is Toy Story Mania, scheduled to officially open this Summer (and possibly unofficially open within the next couple of weeks).
This attraction blends “4D” technology (3D screens/glasses practical effects, like water squirting riders) with an interactive carnival-themed shooting element, similar to Disney’s own Buzz Lightyear’s Space Ranger Spin at the Magic Kingdom, only taken to the next level. The new attraction will feature not only Buzz Lightyear, but a host of other characters familiar to any fan of the Disney/Pixar films Toy Story and Toy Story 2.
Today, we received this fun and inventive box, not as an invitation to a press event, but simply as a reminder (to us and everyone reading this) that Toy Story Mania is on its way soon
Link to pictures
Posted by Ricky on April 11, 2008 at 5:22 pm · Permalink
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