Seeing Green...

The new Entertainment Weekly cover finally reveals what Hal Jordon's alter ego will look like on the silver screen...

What think you?

I kinda like it. It's faithful to the comic without being slavish in its design. And I can't wait to see some of that footage from Comic-Con next week. Of course, I won't be getting into all those swanky parties and behind-the-scenes things that Colonel Kurtz will be attending.

Color me, green with envy...

Mid-Adventure...

Nice start, good end please...



With WOC now playing in DCA for over a month it's time to reflect on where the Resort stands...

Because all the construction going on, California Adventure is now at the half-way mark. For the last couple of years people have been complaining about not seeing enough progress. With the opening of this new night time show there is finally tangible evidence that the Disneyland Resort's Second Gate is becoming a "Disney" park.

And as well as that new show, you can see the visible signs of next years E-Ticket, The Little Mermaid attraction. Or the desert mountains of Cars Land that now are blocking the outside world (something that should have been done a decade ago).

And then there are the Red Car tracks that are slowly working there way through what will soon be known as Hollywoodland. And the walls that are going up over near the restaurant near Mulholland Madness or Madness itself. Then after Christmas you'll see the Maliboomer disappear and the front entrance will be behind walls as well. Walls, walls and more walls. But more progress as well. As Paradise Pier/Paradise Park has become the center of the park, you'll start to notice the transformation of the pier from a cheap, unthemed seaside sideshow, to a detailed and lavishly themed, idealized representation of a Victorian/Edwardian turn-of-the-century seashore. This area will continue to be the gathering place for Disney California Adventure all through next year with Ariel's attraction opening up. Not till late summer when the recreated Radiator Springs will attention turn away from the pier.

As 2012 comes to a close, those that enter the new front entrance and take in a revitalized attempt at presenting a park worthy of the Disney name, will not recognize the park as they walk down Buena Vista Street. Or perhaps they just won't remember it? Kids/Families that stroll down the new areas for the first time, will not realize how much different this park is from the one that opened barely a decade before. Not that there won't be work to still be done. There will be.

It just won't be the extreme measures that had to be taken to save this park and finally create a real resort...

Sophomore Year, Medfield College...

Ahhh, for those good old college days...



On this day, thirty-eight years ago, Walt Disney Productions "Now You See Him, Now You Don't" was released in theaters...

I loved watching these silly, flippant, and just plain fun films as a kid. I mean, really, how cool could a school be that Kurt Russell attended? The film, was the second in the "Dexter Reilly" trilogy of films featuring the wacky antics of some way out college kids, set in Medfield College. I would call it the Medfield Trilogy, but these are not the only films set in the well known, yet fictional college. "The Absent-Minded Professor" and "Son of Flubber" as well as the remake, "Flubber" were all set at the school. Bet most of you didn't know that, did ya? Also, the fight song of the school that we hear in the Fred MacMurray film was composed by none other than the Sherman Brothers.

In case you don't remember, here are the three films:

"The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" (1969)

"Now You See Him, Now You Don't" (1972)

"The Strongest Man in the World" (1975)

A while back, there was buzz going around that the Mouse was working on another film or reboot of the series, but alas, that project now resides in development hell. Perhaps someday it'll get a reprieve and wind up making a great, fun film starring the likes of Zac Efron and Corbin Bleu as, errrr, wait. On second thought, I think staying in that state sounds better than what I just said. Of course, if they were to make a well written project starring real actors and not tween heartthrobs I'll reconsider my opinion.

Until then, I'll look forward to attending the Fortieth class reunion...

Insert Coins...

Greetings programs...



Twenty eight years ago I was sucked into another world. It was a world unlike anything anybody had seen before. It was a place that existed on the other side of the computer screen when video games dominated the cultural scene and arcades like Aladdin's Castle existed as places of enchanted amusement. Tron was my second Star Wars. Just five years after being taken away to a galaxy far, far, away, I was transported to an entirely different place not so far away, an electronic Wonderland, that would change my life forever. Star Wars had already changed cinema with its groundbreaking visual effects and set the benchmark by which blockbuster films would be produced but Tron would again alter the course of visual effects in cinema, albeit on a much less successful commercial level. While George Lucas was the undisputed master of the box office Force, lesser known visionary Steven Lisberger was the wizard of an electronic Oz. Tron was a film that was both technically as well as metaphorically ahead of its time by almost two decades as it narratively struggled to define itself in a relatively uncharted technical frontier and convey complicated themes, ideas and modern colloquialisms that hadn't yet existed. I vividly remember watching the film's opening day coverage that weekend on Entertainment Tonight where they interviewed audiences leaving the theater and most were left scratching their heads. Two teenage girls in particular were perplexed by their reactions such as "I just didn't get it," which seemed to sum up the the reasons why Tron had failed to resonate with mainstream audiences at the box office. Coincidentally, science fiction author William Gibson would be the first to coin the phrase "cyberspace" in his short story "Burning Chrome" which was published that same month in the July issue of Omni magazine while Blade Runner having been released just two weeks before it and whose initial reception was seen as both a critical and commercial failure, would go on to be regarded as one of the most influential films ever made.

Tron has a very unique place in cinematic history in that it is the first and only film of its kind to employ the complex techniques that were used to create its electronic world under the stewardship of Disney special effects supervisor Harrison Ellenshaw, commercial artist Peter Lloyd, and the conceptual designs of artists Jean Giraud a.k.a Moebius and Syd Mead whom had also worked on Blade Runner that same year. To render the film's ambitious computer graphics, several industrial computer animation companies such as Information International, Inc. were approached and a tediously complicated process of marrying the graphics to the film by blowing up the 65mm film negatives into "kodaliths" and matting or "rotoscoping" the elements into each individual frame of celluloid by hand. For this reason, Tron would be the first and last film of its kind to use these cumbersome methods to deliver special effects and as a result gives the film a stylistically unique look and quality that could not quite artificially be replicated per se in the digital filmaking world of today though many such processes have become simplified and streamlined by digital technology to the point that almost anyone can render similar looking visual effects on their home PC with relative ease. Ironically, several Disney animators refused to work on Tron out of fear that computer animation would inevitably replace them and render their jobs obsolete, a prophecy that would come to pass nearly 22 years later when Disney shut down its traditional ink-and-paint animation studios but would eventually be resurrected by Pixar's John Lasseter.

Tron was released on July 9, 1982 grossing $33 million on a $17 million dollar budget. While some might argue that the film was a commercial failure, and certainly not the blockbuster Disney had hoped it would be, it was still marginally profitable. On December 17, Disney will be rolling the dice again on its long-awaited sequel, Tron Legacy, which hopes to set another benchmark for computer visual effects and animation much like its predecessor. Let's all hope this time audiences and critics have caught up to Tron and this time will be much more receptive.

END OF LINE.

The Birth Of Flynn's Arcade...

Twenty-Eight years ago today, Walt Disney Productions released "TRON" on an unsuspecting (and unready) public...

And Decadent Dave would never be the same. The film went on to make a disappointing $33 million dollars with a 17 million dollar budget. The film was one of a collection of underwhelming box office performers greenlit by Ron Miller. This was another nail in the coffin of Miller's career as head of the studio/company. Less than two years later, Ron would be gone and a young executive from Paramount named Michael Eisner, that he had tried to recruit to run the film division would be in his place.

Almost three decades later, Eisner is now gone and a sequel to the film Miller thought would help bring Disney back in touch with the modern youth (that abandoned Mickey in the mid-70's/early-80's) would be coming out in theaters. I wonder if this December, Ron will sit down in front of a silver screen to watch this and have a slight smile on his face.

Karma...

Perspectives In Tangent: Tokyo Disneyland Hotel...

Reservation for one, please...





That is gonna cost how much...
Today is the second anniversary of the opening of the Tokyo Disneyland Hotel...

And it's an incredibly beautiful design to add to the list of Disney Hotels/Resorts (not as stunning as the DisneySEA Hotel MiraCosta, but amazing nonetheless). When Tokyo Disneyland opened back in 1983, all of the hotels were essentially owned by other companies and the Oriental Land Company was in a similar situation like Walt with the original Disneyland Hotel. When the park was expanded to become a resort, there was a plan to include Disney themed hotels that would compliment the resort and expand the revenue for the OLC. But the two hotels that were built, the Disney Ambassador and Mira Costa, while great hotels, didn't include that iconic name. But with the successful expansion of the park to resort status, a plan was put into place for another hotel to satisfy the Japanese obsession with Disney. The third hotel would be their very own Disneyland Hotel, and it would be built right in front of the entrance to the park, much like the Disneyland Hotel Paris that you go under to get to the gates of Disneyland Paris. It will/now is the largest of the three Japanese Disney themed hotels with 705 guests rooms, a huge, lounge lobby level and two restaurants. The TDLH has four banquet rooms, as well as four shops that offer Disney merchandise, gifts, clothing, ect.
Now that is what I call a lot of money...




Like the other moniker hotels, it shares a Victorian/Mictorian theme that evokes the idyllic days of Walt's youth. Modeled in colors reminiscent of Cinderella Castle, it is an impressive and detailed enhancement to an already impressive park. Much like an exclamation point on a sentence.



I thought we'd take the opportunity to look at some lovely examples of what a Disneyland Hotel, particularly this one, can and should look like. While our own original in Anaheim gets updated, this one shows you what can be done with a parking lot once Imagineers get hold of it.
Wow, that's purty...



I'll pay any price...

If you'd like to see an extensive collection of pictures and video of this fabulous hotel then click on this post over at Disney and More and immerse yourself in the magic. It's going to be interesting to see how the original Disneyland Hotel will compare once it's makeover is done in 2012. It's not really the same kind of hotel to compare it to though, since it's more California's version of the Contemporary really.



Then again, there are those other hotel plans you could compare it to...

The Color Of Money...

The world is a carousel of color...


There's a lot of colorful bling on the nighttime scene...

If you've seen Disney California Adventure's "World of Color" night time show, then you've more than likely have seen the many things you can buy to show all those that haven't seen it that you have.

Disney is never one to miss an opportunity to market something to its guests and to milk it for everything it's worth. This isn't an insult by the way, I happen to have several shirts from this thing as well.

I figured we would take this opportunity to show you that haven't seen it, some (but not all) of the items you can spend some green to show some color. Or, show the world that you've seen the world.




Last night, a group of friends and I spent the evening watching the 4th of July fireworks at Disneyland and then went over to DCA for that new swanky, water show. If you were there, you would have seen me. I was wearing this...







It comes in light blue and pink as well. I don't own a pink one, btw.

Not enough info? Well, my lovely date was wearing this...







And a good friend tagging along happened to be wearing this...









And his lady-friend was wearing this...







When she wanted this...







When it got a little chillier, I put on this...







Because this would have been too spot on for me...








And after watching the show from the shower that is the front section, I dried off with this...





Of course, they offer several items exclusively for Annual Passholders as well, like this pin...






I don't know why anyone, even a kid would one of these goofy, useless things...





I mean, one of those rainbow lightsabers would've been better.

Then there were the people I saw walking around wearing bracelets like these...



I was hungry, but we decided to wait until later. Flavored popcorn is not my thing...




But those drinks were tasty, once alcohol was added, I mean...



And this glass was magical. Literally, because it changes colors depending on what you put in it. If you put orange juice, it turns orange. If you put grape juice it turns purple. If you put water in it, it miraculously turns transparent...



And those balloons that glow are interesting, but I'd hate to be the kid that wakes up the next day to find it flat. I swear it was glowing and floating last night, dad...






And that's only some of the things you can buy while there. But I think Disney has done a great job of creating interest in the show and watching these things fly off the shelves shows that guest really like it. It's nice to see people coming into the resorts sister park for something only it has. Instead of people coming simply because they have one more day on their pass and they haven't checked out the other park yet.

Change is coming and this is only the beginning and it's good to see some fruit of the TLC that this part of the Disney Empire is getting. It's slow, but it is happening.

I can't wait till they start working on that new front entrance that is going to give the park it's own version of what Main Street is to Disneyland. It now has it's own version of "Fantasmic!" to get guests into the park.

It's going to be interesting to see what becomes this park's "Pirates of the Caribbean" attraction as we move into the second decade of this second gate...