A Geek's Cogitations, Conjectures and other Cortical Experiences

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Disney and Galaxy’s Edge

Disney and Galaxy's Edge

As crazy as it sounds, we went to Disney World last month. I know, COVID!! When we bought the tickets and made all the reservations things were improving. We thought the only thing we would have to worry about were hurricanes. It’s amazing how much can change in three months but cancelling would mean we were out quite a chunk of change. So we bought masks and stocked up on hand sanitizer and we made plans on how we can be safe. I’m sure some folks are curious about our trip to Disney and Galaxy’s Edge so that’s what I’m here to talk about.

But, but COVID!!

Yes, the cases of covid and delta variant are rising and Florida, apparently, is one of the bad states. All but one of us were vaccinated; Bee isn’t eligible yet so we made sure she wore a mask most frequently. We have masks that breath well in the heat and I’ll be honest, it really wasn’t that bad. It only really sucked for pictures but if my 7 year old can do it without complaining, then so can I. Strange that a child complains less than most adults about masks.

Disney does enforce that masks are worn while indoors, in line and on all attractions. We wore our masks the majority of the time in the parks, even outdoors in the open air. In fact the only time we ever took them off is if we weren’t around a lot of people, or eating. Magic Kingdom seems to have the largest crowd. It’s the most difficult park to find sufficient open space to take the mask off, even for just a minute.

We are now beyond two weeks since we visited the last park and nobody is sick. I guess our precautions paid off.

Which Parks Did We Visit?

We planned for 5 days at the parks. However, our budget and scheduling only allowed for us to visit 4 parks. Epcot was our first park and our primary objective there was the World Showcase. We thought it would be fun to try different foods from each of the countries represented. About a third of the way through it occurred to me, I should be drying beer at each world, provided beer was available. A choice I should have made much sooner (and one I think I will do again).

We spent two days at the Magic Kingdom. It’s the bigger park and the one our daughter would enjoy the most. We splurged and did the “Be Our Guest” lunch in Belle’s castle. The food is pretty damn good and the atmosphere is great (despite the covid restrictions).

This was also my first time visiting Animal Kingdom. I’ll admit, I’m not terribly impressed. The Pandora section of the park is about the only thing worth visiting. We went on both rides which were OK. I’m not sure why the line for “Flight of the Avatar” is so long. I feel like this ride would be better as an actual rollercoaster. As it is, it’s essentially Soarin 2.0.

We didn’t go to Universal Studios this time, but we did go to Hollywood Studios; home of Galaxy’s Edge! More on that in Part 2.

RTotD: The Dwindling Supply of Physical Movies

Dwindling Supply of Physical MoviesWhen I was in college I had a ritual every Tuesday. After classes were done for the day I drove to Best Buy. Tuesday’s is when new releases hit the store shelves and they were always on sale the week their first week. Lately I’ve noticed a terrible trend. A dwindling supply of physical movies in stores.

I’ve noticed it at Best Buy, Meijer and Target. The movie section used to span several rows of motion picture delectation. I’ve also noticed a dwindling presence of Blu-ray players available for purchase. This is all very disconcerting! I don’t always feel like streaming a movie. In fact, I rarely feel like streaming a movie!

Streaming Services Ruin Everything!

I’m not opposed to streaming services; actually I really enjoy them. We have accounts on several of the main services available, but I mostly use them to stream television series. My problem is I prefer to watch movies using my 4K setup with my own Blu-ray, sound system and television. I don’t want to always rely on an Internet connection to stream a 4k movie. Also, I don’t trust the steaming companies. They like to add things (ex: “MACLUNKEY!!”) or remove things to suite their political agenda.

It’s also not easy to find the movie I want. A lot of these streaming services cycle movies and no single streaming service has ALL the movies. Basically, if you want more variety, you have to subscribe to multiple services, which gets expensive. I got rid of cable so I didn’t have to pay the high price for television. I’m not going to turn around and pay the same amount of money subscribing to 14 different streaming services so I can access any movie I want at any given time.

Amazon still sells physical movies, which is fine, I can order it online and it’s “usually” delivered in about 24 hours. However, sometimes I don’t like to wait. Like most people these days, I want instant gratification. I’m curious about what the future of “home video” will look like. VHS replaced betamax, DVD replaced VHS, Blu-ray replaced DVD. Are streaming services on course to replace Blu-ray and, in turn, any form of physical movie? I’m not sure I’m a fan of that.

/cheers

The things that go through my mind when I’m alone with nothing but my thoughts for entertainment is dangerous. Some might even say eccentric. Consider this your warning about today’s Random Thought of the Day

 

Ten Star Wars Projects Announced!

Ten Star Wars ProjectsOn December 10th Disney held their investor day which is when the Disney Corporation announces it’s major plans and projects. Obviously Disney+ is about to increase its library, dramatically. In case you missed it, TEN Star Wars projects were announced!! I was inundated and overwhelmed with so much exciting information I could barely contain myself.

There are literally hundreds of posts and articles out there discussing these projects. I’m sure you can go read some of the other official posts but I’m writing my bit about it anyway because it’s my blog. I am using the official announcement as my source for these projects. I think most of these are all going to be limited series; probably one season of 10-12 episodes, but I’m cool with that.

Movie Review: Saving Mr. Banks

Saving Mr. BanksSaving Mr. Banks IMDB Link

Directed By: John Lee Hancock
StarringTom Hanks, Emma Thompson
Release Year: 2013

My Rating: [rating=5]

I realize this movie is 7 years old but nobody is really going to the theater right now so I might as well review something new I’ve watched. Perhaps others on the fence about this movie will finally reach their decision about whether or not to watch it.

Tom Hanks must be one of those actors that can be made to look like anybody. It’s an uncanny transformation to be able to go from Fred Rogers to Walt Disney. Personally I think his portrayal as Fred Rogers is nearly spot on, while he mostly just nailed the look and mannerisms of Walt Disney. He never actually sounds like Disney, however, that is not a deterrent in this film.

Brief Synopsis and Biggs’ Review

This movie is based on true events about the adaptation of Mary Poppins to film. Walt Disney has been pursuing the rights to produce Mary Poppins for 20 years but the author, P. L. Travers, refuses to give them up. Finally, in 1961, she agrees to travel to Los Angeles to oversee the adaptation of the film. However, she is not very forthcoming and really pushes Walt Disney to his wits end.

Maybe its my love for Mary Poppins but I really enjoyed this movie. Based on some of the reading I’ve done, the events in this movie, for the most part, are historically accurate. They took a few poetic liberties, but since they had the actual tapes of her and one of the Sherman brothers, you know they couldn’t bend the truth too much. I love how they incorporated some of the real life Disney culture into the film, such as the “man is in the forest” phrase animators would say when they heard Disney approaching.

There isn’t a lot of humor in this, it’s pretty much your typical heart-strings drama however it gave me an immense amount of nostalgia. I doubt the real P.L. Travers would ever approve of this film but it’s really interesting to see the story of this beloved Disney classic was, almost, never made.

I definitely recommend this movie, especially if you are a Disney fan and/or love Mary Poppins.

film_reel“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.”
– Stanley Kubrick

 

Movie Review: Onward

Movie Review of OnwardOnward

Directed By: Dan Scanlon
StarringTom Holland, Chris Pratt

My Rating: [rating=4]

A side effect of these extraordinary times is the early digital release of new movies. The latest Disney film became available on Disney+ after only a month in theaters. While nothing will compare to the theater experience, it’s nice to be able to see new movies during quarantine. Keep in mind, not all movies will be free with a subscription to a streaming service. Another obvious perk to Disney+. Here is my movie review of Onward.

Brief Synopsis

Spiderman (Tom Holland) and Starlord (Chris Pratt) team up for this typical Disney “feel good” film. Ian (Holland) and Barley (Pratt) Lightfoot are eleven brothers who lost their father to illness. Upon Ian’s 16th birthday their late father prepared an extraordinary gift. He was a wizard before the world forgot about magic, and he has a spell that can bring him back for one day. Now the brothers must embark on an amazing journey to complete the spell that will “complete” their father’s gift.

Biggs’ Review

Onward is not just about the family bond, but sibling bond. As I already said, this is your typical heartwarming animated film, but it’s quite enjoyable. The most entertaining element about this film is visualizing Chris Pratt performing his lines while recording them. In fact I even went out to see if there are any YouTube videos of Chris and Tom in the recording booth (FYI, there are). At any rate, as a gamer of, primarily fantasy video games, I can easily identify with Barley. However, there is more about this film that kind of hit home.

Barley is the older but nerdy sibling; while Ian is more down to earth, but not really a popular kid in school. While Barley is comfortable embracing his nerdy personality, Ian struggles to be accepted and often feels embarrassed by his brother. I have a younger sister who may have struggled with an older brother that loved Star Wars, reading books, collecting comic books, playing video games and embracing the geek life.

So watching Ian and Barley discover that special sibling bond felt very real to me. It will pull on those heart strings. This movie is definitely worth watching, especially if you have siblings.

(Click here to read my other reviews)

film_reel“The screen is a magic medium. It has such power that it can retain interest as it conveys emotions and moods that no other art form can hope to tackle.”
– Stanley Kubrick

 

The Mandalorian Official Trailer

We were expecting announcements at Disney’s D23 expo this past weekend. Disney delivered as promised. I think a lot of people were expecting more about The Rise of Skywalker. Disney did not disappoint there either, with the release of the “Special Look“. However, this post is about the official trailer for The Mandalorian series.

Check it out!

I think this is going to be an amazing debut of the first Star Wars live action series and I cannot wait. The Mandalorian comes to the Disney+ streaming service November 12th. Let another countdown begin!

The Force. It calls to you. Just let it in.

 

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