Losing Media : Disney Movie Club

 I am posting this, more as a thought on the current trend I have been witnessing. Where online streaming is replacing hard copy media. People seem to be enjoying the convenience of online movie rentals, as well as audio streaming. But what does that mean for people in the long term?

What happens now with the movie club closing? How do people locate copies of hard to find Disney movies? Are they going to frown on people downloading titles that are not included in the Disney+ line up? What is the actual purpose of closing the movie club? Because in all honesty I don't feel it was really offering the films at a discount. What it did do though was make it a little easier to get copies of hard to find things.

This is where I finally got an official copy of Mr. Boogedy, and The Bride of Boogedy. Previously I had only been able to get a copy that someone transferred from a TV tape of the original airing of the films on the Disney Night Movies. The quality of the official DVD is much better (even though the slight clipping of commercials takes me back to the copy my parents had for us that we watched foreverrrrrr)

I know that right now the Disney company seems to be trying to cut the fat. The movie club really can't compete with Amazon at this point, especially with the Disney+ service being offered. Disney+ makes it much easier to watch the majority of their content.  But not everything is available there.

Anyway, I just wanted to save a screenshot of their goodbye page, as well as the 3 panel image they sent in their goodbye email. Mostly because I am sorry to see it go, even if I only used it minimally. Some things will still be remembered while they are gone. 

My worry now though, is what do we do when physical copies are being made obsolete? They're not making DVDs as readily available at stores anymore, so how are we going to get copies of the movies we love and want to collect for places and times there are no streaming services available? It's definitely something to keep in mind.

Just a Personal Update

I know that last week seemed a bit odd, since I pulled out some older writing of mine to share with you. But the thing is sometimes it's fun to look at the old pieces and compare them to the style of the new ones. The same goes with some of the crafts I've been working on for the crafts swaps I'm participating in on instagram. I thought maybe you'd be interested in seeing some of the pieces I've been working on lately, I'm a little proud of how some of them are progressing.

So one thing I have finished lately is a necklace that I've titled Greenman #2. I started this piece over a year ago, along with another that I have yet to get a good photograph shot of. Both pieces are different, but feature the metal greenman face pendant.

I found the pendants in my travels, and picked up what few were available at the time squirreling them away until the inspiration would hit me. When it did last year, the piece I'll call Greenman #1 dragged. It wasn't cooperative, and it felt stagnant to work on, so I stopped putting them all away until a later date.

But now my muse is back and my inspiration has let me finish not just #1, but #2 as well. I think I have 2 more of the pendants, but one is already spoken for. The one seen here is mine, because while it may look very long, it's shorter than I intended for it to be.



Another project that I'm working on is something that is completely new to me. You can see my progress to the right. (Don't mind the needle and thread in the picture) It's a Nightmare Before Christmas inspired wreath, sort of.

While I may not usually be the sort to make wreaths this one has been coming along a little bit at a time, slowly. There's little details that you can't exactly see clearly in the image, such as the pinking sheared outer edges of the Burton-esque toe pincher casket shape.

The current status of this project is unfinished though, I still need to add a few more flowers, and maybe a couple of large bells if I can get my hands on any. Unfortunately as far as I have found so far, they're not in season. Not the large ones anyway.

 The last project I'll share with you today is my cheshire cat painting. While I know it appears to be non-traditional, I did my best to try and utilize the source material in a manner that would let the character be seen.

I tried to merge the grey and blue version of the cat from the live action films with the purple and pink cat from the classic animated film that Disney had released. The result as you can see is a bit odd. But I'm happy with how it's come out.

It's not just paint though. It's actually a mixed media painting. There's sharpie, acrylic, pencil, and watercolor used in order to express the image I had seen in my mind. It's not a perfect expression of what I imagined, but I find the result pleasing enough. Not that it's something to worry about I suppose. I still need to seal it to prevent any possible running.

There are some other projects that I am working on, but as of yet they're incomplete and I don't feel comfortable sharing them with you. Thank you for your interest and patience, hope you're having a magical week!

What's on Screen? : Moana

I haven't been up to date when it comes to seeing a large number of films of late. But I do have a very soft spot when it comes to animation. No one has done animation as reliably as the Disney studio. It was very interesting when I heard they were going to do a movie based in Polynesia I was excited. Now I know there was a lot of arguments and controversy about the character designs. But I really have to say it was worth the wait.

Now Moana is  a great story. You have a strong female character, general conflict with a small number of characters as the focus. Maui is a charming self centered character, who through Moana's intervention relearns to be a  more positive character. You also have a variety of new looks that have been lacking in most movies.

There are no direct villains in this film, which seems a bit odd. Meaning there is no direct bad guy. There are some characters that are used to move along conflict, and offer action. There's the coconut pirates, and a giant crab.

I give it a huge high amount of stars. And eventually I'll add it to my own film collection, I think.  I hope it's not a spoiler for most of you, but below you'll see my favorite scene in the movie.

What's on the Screen? Pom Poko

Movies are something that a lot of us take for granted. But I've had the pleasure to watch a variety of different films of late, and I'm going to share my thoughts about a few of them with you over time. Today I want to tell you about a film we watched called Pom Poko. Now I know not everyone has heard of it, and I'm sure some people consider it to be a classic. But I've only seen it for the first time recently.

This movie was absolutely adorable. It centers around a group of racoons and their homes. It also gives racoons the ability to transform. Throughout the movie this leads to some adorable images. It also helps them as they try to solve their problems.

The movie (spoilers here) focuses on the idea of urban sprawl and the problems it causes to nature. Human buildings invading the countryside reduce the space for animals to have their own habitats and homes. This is a fact that most people can understand, but to see it displayed and presented the way it is in the film leads to a number of questions.

But the biggest one is what can people do about it? While we cannot expect other folk to do the same things that we do, we should remember that our own choices change the things around us whether we can see these changes or not.

I do recommend this as a film to share with the family. While smaller children may not understand what the film is really saying, they will find humor in some of the situations. As with most Ghibli films the artwork is beautiful and the landscapes are as beautiful as paintings, so the film has points for everyone to enjoy.

^_~

Slaughter Your World

Wow! I never knew that Looking For Group had any animated shorts, let alone an animated feature! And spoofing Disney songs? Score! Can't argue with the enjoyment this short animation brought me. Richard is an awesome character.

Maleficent is going LIVE

That's right, Disney is bringing Maleficent (you know the evil/bad fairy from Sleeping Beauty) to life in her very own SELF  TITLED film! I don't know when it's going to be released for sure yet, but what they show in the  teaser trailer sure makes it look like it will be an appealing watch. Oh, and see the little blue fairy creatures on the video? they look an awful lot like those water sprites from OZ The Great and Powerful...

Disney Dudez

Todrick Hall & IM5 : Disney Dudez

Well this is a different way to look at the princes. Definitely adorable and fun. Hope you enjoy.

Music Monday (5)

So this Monday is a Disney Monday. Mostly older songs though, but you should enjoy them. I hope you have a great week.

Pete's Dragon : Brazzle Dazzle Day

Bedknobs and Broomsticks : Age of Not Believing

The Jungle Book : I Wanna Be Like You

101 Dalmations : Cruella De Vil

The Parent Trap : Let's Get Together

Happy Birthday Cayden!

Well Happy Birthday Kiddo! Am sorry that I haven't sent your present yet, I just haven't had a chance to. BUT here's a picture of what I got for you. I know how much you like Peter Pan so I thought you might enjoy having your very own Lost Boy Sidekick, Twins. Sorry it'll be shipped later, but at least this way you can see what we got for you.

Am glad to hear that a bunch of you are going to be celebrating your birthday with Thomas the Train Engine as well. I bet that will be a lot of fun for you. Am sorry that am going to miss it. But that's okay, am sure someone will take a few pictures. I just hope that they'll share with me.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY SQUASH!

Everyday Magic

Everyone is looking for something different to do or see now and then. Now, back in Buffalo our Disney stores closed down and aren't around anymore. So one of the things that I was curious to find out was if there was one around here in San Diego. And there is. When we hopped off the trolly they had a giant key behind the counter, and I was curious as to what it was for. The salesperson explained that every morning they use the key to start the day, opening up the imagination. Also she said if you come it's possible to get your own key to imagination if you're chosen to use the key.

Hrmmm... now where is everyone and why is it so quiet?

See Proof! We were there!*points at Polke a Dot in the picture near the key hole*

Lucky Little kids ^_^

Organization is Key

Organization is a very important thing. It's what helps us to keep things in order so that we know where things are. Well, am sure you know that moving can be frustrating, and sometimes there's not enough room to take much in one time. So, with that in mind I want tot tell you about part of what I did this past Saturday. And when I say I did something, it was a very long tedious task. But am very proud to admit that I did it. I started sorting out my movies.

When I moved out to California, I uncased my dvd's and movies and loaded them into ziploc baggies and onto spindles to be shipped west. Which means that now they've been sitting here in a cardboard box uncased and just waiting for me to start organizing them. So Saturday I spent about 9 hours just writing down the titles of all the movies that I have. I didn't realize that I had as many as I do. Not that I'm complaining. I know that there are a lot of movies that I would still like to get.

ANYWAY! After it all was said and done, I've found that I have somewhere around 375 DVD's. Which really isn't that any I suppose. Though, when it comes to figuring out a reliable and easy storage solution is a bit frustrating. So I've decided that I want to get a large disc case to store them in. Now I've seen some that store about 500 discs, But I've decided that I want to order the one that holds 1000, because there are a lot of DVD's and movies that I've been getting that have multiple discs in the set. PLUS I already know that there are a number of movies that I'm still interested in acquiring. So by having that much space, I more or less guarantee myself enough room to expand.

Of course, it also means that I can plan on figuring out where to store the case.  But definitely, I have a lot more movies than I realized that I did. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. The one thing that is a bit annoying though is because they're not in their cases I don't have the description of what the movies are about. Plus I've found out that there are a small number of movies that I have duplicates of because they came in sets.

But yeah, That's what I did on Saturday. I worked on getting my movie collection organized so that I will be able to have it straightened out. So you should be proud of me. It's very tedious to flip discs and write down their titles when there's so many of them. But it was kind of nice to get it done so that I can start planning what to do once the movie case get's here.

There is MOST DEFINITELY going to be a DISNEY section. As well as a horror section XD.

People Presentation and Misconceptions

When it comes to animation there's a lot of things that have changed over the years. In earlier animations, be it movies or shorts, there were often a lot of stereotypes evident. Not always good ones, but they weren't really done to be malicious. Examples of this can be seen in many things. But the one that I figure most of you would be able to recognize are found in Disney films. I know that this is something that many of you have likely thought about on your own. But  humor me just the same.

We have two clips here, one from Peter Pan (1953) , and the other from Pocahontas(1995). You're looking at a 42 year gap of time between the two. But the drastic change in the way they portray Native Americans is noteworthy. You also see evident in the clips, that there was a large difference in the way society was in general. In the 1950's Cowboy and Indian westerns were very popular. Often times with the Indians being 'used' as the bad guys. In the 90's we see that there is an understanding that people are people regardless of what they look like.

The thing to see here is that at one time people believed that people were different just because of how they looked or what their culture was. Which, yes things like that do mean that we are different but it doesn't mean that we are whole different beings. But yes, there are many things evident in the animations that show how people saw others. RATHER not necessarily how they saw others, but how they could have people exaggerated in ways that were comical. These aren't faults, but they do show the way that progress has been made.

All in all they're both well done animated films. (And everyone knows that Peter Pan is one of my favorites). But the point is that there are many things that can be seen as very telling of the time that they were made. These are things that we should take into consideration when we are looking at our own histories. The things that we do and like often change over time as our understandings of the world around us changes. This leaves us in an ever changing world, where progress is both made and lost as people learn facts or choose to be ignorant to them