Tuesday, December 14, 2010

100 Years of Magic: 2001

Another entry in the 100 Years of Magic Celebration. Not quite a slap in the face (but pretty close), Disney shares the iconic image from Tokyo DisneySea. Arguably, this theme park is considered the best theme park ever designed and executed. It was also closely tied to the initial designs for the Port Disney / Westcot park that would have been a second gate to Disneyland Park.

TOKYO DISNEYSEA®, which overlooks Tokyo Bay next to TOKYO DISNEYLAND®, opened its gates on September 4, 2001. Here, Guests can explore the myths, legends and lore of the ocean in seven distinct “ports of call.”
The coming year will be a fun-filled celebration, as we honor the 100th Anniversary of Walt Disney’s birth.
The colossal Sorcerer Mickey hat at Disney-MGM Studios is the centerpiece of the celebration. Interactive kiosks at all four parks will offer inspiring opportunities to explore the history of Disney and discover fascinating surprises.
This year's celebrations promise more fun than ever before. Disney imagination promises wonderful new resorts and attractions, and much more festivity in the years to come.


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Monday, December 13, 2010

Win a Free Copy of Epic Mickey for the Nintendo Wii from 2 Lonely Deeks!


Just in time for the holidays, we have a little present for you to unwrap!

Disney was nice enough to give us a copy of the Collectors Edition of Epic Mickey for the Nintendo Wii to giveaway to one lucky fan.

This thing is loaded with all the extras--check out the picture for all the goodies inside.

Here is all you have to do to enter:
  • Become a friend of Two Lonely Deeks on Facebook
  • Comment in the comment box on any of our articles at Two Lonely Deeks (they will all go to one location for us to keep track)
Enter as many times as you like. The more you spread the 2 Lonely Deeks the more chances you have to win. Please use a valid way for us to contact you if you want to win.

*For additional entries Retweet the Giveaway and follow us on Twitter!

I will pick one lucky person this Friday (12/17/2010) at Noon from all the Comments, Tweets and Facebook friends. (No matter where you enter you have a chance to win!) That person has 24 hours to reply back to me with their address or I will pick someone else.

If you have any questions just email me at chip@2lonelydeeks (dot) com

Spread the Disney Geek or Deek love this holiday season and win a something nice for that oversized stocking!
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Saturday, December 11, 2010

Epic Mickey Hidden Books!

Epic Mickey for the Nintendo Wii has been getting some serious game play at Imaginerding. In short: it is gorgeous (for the Wii), a lot of fun and sounds fantastic. It is obvious that Warrren Spector and the crew at Junction Point Studios really, really know their Disney history! Besides meeting a lot of older and forgotten Disney characters, you also get a brief and fun history of the characters through various cut-scenes. It is pretty stupendous to be able to play a side-scrolling rendition of Steamboat Willie, the Clock Cleaners and various Oswald shorts! Walking through the Oswald versions of different Disneyland areas is a real treat. My two complaints relate to the camera controls (you will die many, many times) and the lack of spoken dialogue. Beyond that, this game is a dream for Disney geeks, enthusiasts and historians.

Hidden in the Mickey Junk Mountain Zone are a plethora of Mickey Mouse-related collectibles. It is a lot of fun to explore that area; just like in the Parks, keep looking all around!

I ran across two books in the zone.

The first one is The Adventures of Mickey Mouse Number 2. It was published in 1932 by David McKay and was 32 pp of comic goodness!


Our next hidden book is The Mickey Mouse Book. This is a 1930 release and is one of the first licensed images of Mickey Mouse.


David at Vintage Disney collectibles wrote a wonderful piece about this book:
Bibo and Lang, one of the Studio’s earliest licensees, published the first Disney character book in 1930. The book was titled simply, and fittingly, the Mickey Mouse Book.


While some collectors have assumed Disney animator Ub Iwerks drew the Mickey Mouse image on the book’s front cover, a New York freelance artist named Albert Barbelle may have in fact been the illustrator. Barbelle submitted a bill to the Studio in September 1930 for his work on the book.

In the fall of 1930, 26,219 copies of the book were printed. The first copies were offered for sale in the November 15, 1930 issue of The Official Bulletin of the Mickey Mouse Club. Copies of the book were priced between 7 and 8 ½ cents each, depending on the number ordered. The suggested retail was 15 cents each.


Copies in the first run were offered almost exclusively to theater managers as a promotional item meant for distribution amongst Mickey Mouse Club members. One Salem Oregon theater ordered 2,500 copies. First run copies contain advertising on the inside front cover, inside back cover, and the bottom edge of the back cover.

David also provides some images of several of the pages. Head on over and check them out!
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Friday, December 10, 2010

Geek-End Update, Saturday, December 11, 2010


Thursday, December 9, 2010

Video Game Review: Tangled for the Nintendo Wii

Disney Tangled, a review by a seven year-old.

What Do You Do In the Game?
You try to get Rapunzel back to the Castle where she belongs.You do games to help people in the game like helping Tor protect his flowers in Flower Defense.

What Do Flynn and Rapunzel Do in the Game?
Flynn can knock out the bad guys and they disappear with a sword. Flynn can cut down the thistles so Rapunzel can get through. Rapunzel uses a frying pan to knock them out. Rapunzel can grow flowers to find insects, birds and flowers. Then she draws them in her book. She uses her hair to swing to get into places and help Flynn climb up.

Who Will Like this Game?
Both boys and girls can play. Dads and moms will like playing too.

Why Will Boys Like this Game?
Because Flynn is fun. The mini-games are fun. When I played with my dad, he was Flynn and I was Rapunzel and it was still a lot of fun!

Will Girls Like the Game?
Yes, of course they would!



A Parent's Perspective
We are a gaming family. We have two Xbox 360s, a Nintendo Wii, two DSI XLs and several computers. Our kids have grown up with games and they are a part of our family time. We love multiplayer games that foster a sense of adventure and teamwork. Surprisingly, this game excels in the area of cooperative play. The characters have different skills and you need both to complete the level. Also, each character collects a different item: Flynn grabs coins and Rapunzel picks up sundrops. I loved this! There was no competition to get the items before your partner did. The coins and sundrops also act as your health. When you stun an enemy they lose coins and sundrops; conversely, your character loses coins or sundrops if you get stunned or knocked down.

Most co-op games inspire a bit of evil camaraderie. Disney Tangled is a true co-op game. When your characters wander two far away from each other, the screen splits and magically merges back when you get close. It was disorienting at first, but made the gameplay that much better. It is really a good setup for parents and young children to play together. If the kids get stuck, you can guide them or switch characters on-the-fly to get out of a jam. We have played "family-style" games before where one person got left behind and their character died. It was very frustrating. With Tangled, we never got stuck or lost. We just followed the coins/sundrops and looked for places for Rapunzel to let down her hair!

There were many interesting and simple mini-games, like painting!

Most of the gameplay is split into two major types: sidescrolling levels and mini-quests. The mini-quests can get fairly redundant, but should keep most younger children engaged. (You know...go get this cup and I will give you the key, etc.) The graphics are well done and look similar to the film. The cutscenes are very enjoyable and follow the artwork that Rapunzel did in the films. You can also play the game with or without the nunchuk attachment.

Disney Interactive furnished a copy of this title for review.





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Wednesday, December 8, 2010

100 Years of Magic: 1918

Another entry in the 100 Years of Magic Celebration Trading Card Series. This time, it is 1918 and our boy Walt is standing in front of an ambulance in France. Notice the drawing of the doughboy on the canvas of the ambulance. The Walt Disney Family Museum has a replica of the ambulance in its gallery.

During the Spring of 1918 Walt was inspired by his brother Roy's joining the Navy to enlist inthe military himself. However, only sixïeen at the time, he found that he was too young to enlist. That’s when he learned of the Red Cross Ambulance Corps, and its lower age limit. As it turned out, the war ended before Walt was sent overseas. He served his duty in postwar France, delivering supplies and working in a motor pool. Years later, Walt told his daughter, “The things I did during those eleven months I was overseas added up to a lifetime of experience in one package."
1918 - Air Mail service begins between Washington, D.C., and New York. Price: 24 cents.

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Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Book Review: The Alchemy of Animation

The Alchemy of Animation: Making an Animated Film in the Modern Age by Don Hahn. 144 p. 2008.

Don Hahn is heralded for his animation production work at Disney: The Hunchback of Notre Dame, The Lion King and Beauty and the Beast. He is also the first producer of an animated film to be nominated for an Academy Award (Beauty and the Beast). Hahn started his animation career at Disney under the tutelage of Wolfgang Reitherman, one of Walt's Nine Old Men. He is currently at Disney working on his next animated feature.

I wasn't sure what I would find between the covers of this book, at first. Due to the subtitle, I inferred that it would be similar to The Illusion of Life: Disney Animation (Thomas and Johnston)--the seminal work on animation. Hahn's book is a quarter the size of Thomas and Johnston's work; it really acts as a supplement, an animation Cliff's Notes and an update to The Illusion of Life.

Hahn takes us through the stages of creating an animated film, whether is is hand drawn, computer-generated or stop-motion. The principles outlined are the basics for creating an animated film and can be used as an animation primer. The focus is creating a film using today's standards and the book reflects that. A majority of the text (and lavish illustrations) centers on digital technology--not to the exclusion of the other arts, but since CGI has become so popular. Many of the jobs and duties in CGI are unique to that medium.


Another interesting take, is that Hahn has created a work that can be used by people interested in animation as a career. He covers almost every position in the hierarchy and offers details about their duties and general work. (Ever want to be a Look Development Artist?) The only information Hahn doesn't provide is a link to a pay scale and a road map to making it big. Hahn is able to break down each job and explain it in layman's terms. If you have a youngster interested in the field of animation, this title is for them.

Animation enthusiasts will relish the concept illustrations and artwork from all stages of animation. Hahn includes anecdotes from Disney animators young and old. The book has three major divisions: Act One (looking at the production team, the story and the major steps of every animated film); Act Two (the differences in production for 2D hand drawn, CGI and Stop-Motion); and Act Three (marketing, roll out and post-production). Hahn also includes a fantastic glossary and bibliography for additional reading. He treats the book just like an animated film and builds the story, layer upon layer.


Bottom Line: If you have any interest in animation or animated films, you will love this book. If you want to be part of the animation field, you need to own this book. It is a fairly straightforward look at creating an animated film with today's technology and work processes. Hahn's passion for animation shines and it is evident in The Alchemy of Animation.








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Monday, December 6, 2010

Fantasia Bonus Features!

The Fantasia / Fantasia 2000 (Four-Disc Blu-ray/DVD Combo) package has some fantastic bonus features! There's not much I can say about the films that animation critics and historians haven't already stated. Simply that the films are gorgeous on Blu-ray and deserve a fresh viewing in high-definition.

What captivated me were the bonus features! Hands down, the most exciting were the tour of the Walt Disney Family Museum and the Shultheis Notebook. I have highlighted some of the best features below. In particular, the Shultheis Notebook was very eye opening; imagine discovering a treasure that no one knew existed! Also, woven throughout the features were interviews with some of my favorite bloggers and authors: Dider Ghez, Michael Barrier, John Canemaker, JB Kaufman, Brian Sibley, Charles Solomon and more!





The Notebooks





Finding the Notebooks

Fantasia Bonus Features:
  • New Audio Commentary with Disney historian Brian Sibley
  • Disney Family Museum (running time: approx. 5 minutes) – Walt’s daughter Diane Disney-Miller takes viewers on a tour of the new Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, California featuring a very large exhibit on Fantasia and most importantly, the Schultheis notebook with long lost Fantasia production notes found in more recent years in the walls of a convent.
  • Disney View – This viewing mode maximizes the Blu-ray viewing experience with a 16 x 9 aspect ratio. Original artwork created by a Disney artist, in a style that complements the beauty of the film.
  • The Shultheis Notebook: A Disney Treasure (running time: approx. 14 minutes) –An in depth look at the recently discovered Schultheis Notebook. The detailed log was created by Herman Schultheis, an effects man on Fantasia, and intricately breaks down the film from a technical view. Many of the special effects used in Fantasia were a mystery to modern day animators until this notebook was recovered.
  • Interactive Art Gallery and Screensavers – Viewers can explore the artwork of Fantasia asnever before, in HD resolution with unique Blu-ray interactivity and programming.
  • Audio Commentaries from Fantasia Legacy Collection With executive producer Roy E. Disney, conductor James Levine, animation historian John Canemaker, and Scott McQueen, manager of film restoration.
  • Audio commentary with interviews and story note recreations by Walt Disney, hosted byJohn Canemaker.

Fantasia 2000 Bonus Features:
  • Musicana – Walt’s Inspiration for a Sequel (running time: approx. 10 minutes) – This documentary reveals rarely-seen art created for Musicana, a late 1970’s project intended as a Fantasia sequel with a focus on exploring other cultures via their greatest musical compositions. Viewers are offered a look at the origins of pieces that were started by Walt, such as “The Emperor and the Nightingale” which was then taken over by a very young John Lasseter. Ultimately, Musicana was stopped to begin production on “Mickey’s Christmas Carol,” but the memories of this piece still live onwith the animators who conceived it.
  • Dali and Disney: A Date With Destino (running time: 82 minutes) – This feature length documentary explores the collaborative relationship between Walt Disney and Salvador Dali, revealing how and why the Destino short came to fruition under the lead of Roy E. Disney in 2003 so many years after its inception in 1946.
  • Destino (running time: approx. 7 minutes) – The legacy of Walt Disney and Salvador Dali lives on in this highly anticipated short film.
  • Disney’s Virtual Vault -- BD-Live Feature
  • Original DVD Bonus Features from Legacy Collection
  • Audio Commentaries from Fantasia Legacy Collection (total running time: 84 minutes) With executive producer Roy E. Disney, conductor James Levine, and producer Don Ernst. Audio commentary with the directors and art directors for each segment.



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Sunday, December 5, 2010

Book Update #350

Five more books have shown up over the past week. The first one is by Tracie Cook and looks like a great title for the tween crowd. You can follow her on twitter.


These additions put my personal collection at 350 Disney-related books! You can see all of them at my LibraryThing account.





Friday, December 3, 2010

Geek-End Update, Saturday, December 4, 2010


Sounding Fantasia

On page 515 of Volume 9 of the Walt's People series, we find the following quote from Tom Sito concerning the differences in the recordings for the scores of Fantasia and Fantasia 2000:
Then the other issue people had was when you work in the original footage, because our film was going to be done in the modern screen format of 1:85. And it’s also six-track Dolby digital stereo and the original  Fantasia, even restored, still was in the 1:33 original aspect ratio, the old cinema aspect ratio, plus they had all kinds of problems with the stereo.
In 1949 they transferred the original tracks from the original recordings on the nitrate strip. And they went to magnetic tape. The new invention in the 1940s was magnetic recording tape, so they wanted to go to mag-track on it, and the best labs in the world at the time were at NBC TV. So they wanted to transfer the Fantasia tracks to magnetic tape, but in so doing they transferred them along telephone lines and by doing that they lost a lot of the high and low registries, some of the high notes and some of the low notes. And it has always been part of the problem when they digitally re-mastered the sound: It always loses a little something, because some of the parts of the performance were lost in the recording. The preservationists go crazy trying to figure out: They had scientists working on it full-time, like John Carnaughan and Alex Rannie. It was interesting, because every couple of weeks they would have us into the Studio and they would say, “I think we licked it. Okay, let’s play the modern stuff and then let’s play the old stuff,” and then they would say, “Can you hear the difference?” We would say, “Yeah, you can hear a difference.” [Laughs] They still sounded different. To their credit, they were not going to make the mistake of getting rid of Stokowski’s soundtrack.






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Thursday, December 2, 2010

Two Lonely Deeks Holiday Disney Gift Guide!

We have released our Deek flavored Holiday Disney Gift Guide at Two lonely Deeks: DVDs, video games, a book and a few surprises!





You can see the links in our lists at the following posts:
A special thanks to Steve Willard and Andrew Taylor for the new holiday theme song!