For everyone who's ever read my LJ and wondered, just why does CJ love Disney so much, I offer you this. They're a corporate behemoth. A megalithic soul sucking entity that reconstitutes the cultural zeitgeist into a series of inoffensive stories for children, and have built a carefully constructed plastic and plaster wonderland that extracts money from your pocket with each step. Walt Disney was a creative tyrant, demanding that his artists pour their heart and soul into every project. Those are the standard arguments anyway, and while I don't disagree with them entirely, the truth (as it often is in this life) is a much more complicated and nuanced thing. Today the company has arguably lost its way. Those of us in the fandom are praying that men like John Lasseter and Joe Rhode can restore the artistry and legacy that's been all but ignored lately.

The following links are to some of the best Disney blogs on the web. With the exception of the first one, they're all completely independent of The Mouse. These people all "get it" and can express their love much more eloquently than I.

Re-Imagineering Disney and Pixar employees anonymously analyze the company for recent missteps, and offer new solutions.
Epcot Central A blog dedicated to Walt Disney's unfulfilled promise of a "Community of Tommorow".
Passport to Dreams Old and New An examination of the rich artistic legacy left by Walt's "nine old men", the animators and imagineers who broke ground in a brand new field.
2719 Hyperion Pointing out small details hidden in the scenery, as well as revealing things from the past, this blog created the logo below:


Its Epcot's 25th anniversery this year, and the company doesn't have a single thing planned. As the park moves from inspirational permanent world's fair to mindless thrill land, we think its terrible how Disney is misusing what could have been their greatest asset.

A few choice photos of thunderclap8, incyr, and myself, taken by dekker117 at Walt Disney World specifically for the benefit of all you crazy Beekeepers and ARGonauts out there:

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=243592161&size=o
The door is marked: "Department of Artificial Reality: This is Not a Door"
How perfect is that?

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=243591404&size=o
"Beauty and the Bees", i suppose we're the bees, so, dancingkids would be the beauty?

http://flickr.com/photo_zoom.gne?id=243589651&size=o
And here we are, enhottenating an axon and receiving special instructions in London Epcot.

edit: updated icon, sequence also taken by Andy on the trip

so i'm FINALLY watching the DVD that i got from Disney, man, i'm grinnin' like a bloomin idjit here! when i ordered it, i marked that there would be a group of 4+ adults, age 20-30 with no kids, so my DVD is the 20-something~no-kids~dvd, full of fresh faced college aged people running around acting like, well... like i suppose we'll act when we go! its emphasizing both drinking wine n' beer AND reconnecting with your childhood at the same time (which really aren't mutally exclusive)

i think i'm going to put up a "Magical Gathering" website for y'all, i know me and Thunder are locked in, but we need a central place for planning and "signing up"

p.s. no, you're wrong, my icon is COMPLETELY appropriate for this post
p.p.s. yes, i've had a few drinks before posting this... what's your point?
p.p.p.s. Micropups on a muthafucken plane!

How the hell did I miss this!?!?!?!
Ok, so its Monday, which means that i'm listening to one my favorite podcasts here at work, Inside the Magic, a fan created Disney news and info show. And the host is talking about the upcoming changes to the Haunted Mansion which is my absolute favoritest Disney attraction above all others, and he mentions a blog of an actress trying out for the part of the new bride, and says the URL, Slate Your Name dot Blogspot dot com! My jaw instantly drops, because I HAD NO IDEA ABOUT THIS! Apparently Princess Yum Yum posted this during the period of time when i was pretty busy and stressed out about getting a job and interviewing for Okuma, so i totally missed it! And then i go check out her post, and there's a comment by none other than Chef Mayhem, a famous Disney internet personality, and owner of Doombuggies, the net's premier Mansion fan site, who's also the guest being interviewed on this week's episode of ITM.

/headsplode

seriously, how did i miss this?

p.s. DancingKids, sorry you didn't get the part, but i'm not sure if you would have wanted to deal with my reaction had you gotten it :) nuclear squee?

p.p.s. When describing SlateYourName, the host warned that some of the language wasn't "family friendly", i got a pretty good laugh out of that.