New Disney Review Copies

Two more review items arrived at ImagiNERDing HQ!

The Art of Disney: The Golden Age (1937-1961)100 Collectible Postcards

Front of the box.

Back of the box.

This is a collection of 100 collectible postcards that are completely gorgeous. The set is made up of concept art and frames from Disney's golden age of animation (1937-1961).

Disney Declassified: Tales of Real Life Disney Scandals, Sex, Accidents and Deaths

Aaron Goldberg's new book looks promising. Not many people have covered the troubles that Disney has run into without coming off as having an agenda. David Koenig's books (Mouse Tales and Realityland) are great examples of writing about the the Disney theme park experience without being too negative or condemning, especially the legal battles.

Are you going to purchase either of these?

New Disney Book: Once Upon a Dream by Charles Solomon

Over the past few years, we've seen some great books come from D23, the Walt Disney Family Museum and Disney Publishing Worldwide. I just received a review copy of Once Upon a Dream: From Perrault's Sleeping Beauty to Disney's Maleficent by Charles Solomon.

Solomon is a biggie in Disney history circles and has written quite a few titles on animation history and Disney animated films.

I'm only about half-way through the book and it's already quite spectacular. The book is large and Solomon takes advantage of the larger format to present art across both pages for some breathtaking shots.

A full review will be coming to Mice Chat and Communicore Weekly, soon!

The Art of the Wind Rises by Hayao Miyazaki

If you're a fan of Hayao Miyazaki and films by Studio Ghibli, then you'll be very interested in picking up The Art of the Wind Rises.

The film saw limited release in the United States and dues to the timing, there wasn't a lot of attention heaped onto the film. The film is gorgeous and I urge you to seek it out when it's released on Blu-ray. The book is a great addition to your library and if full of pre-production art and text about the creation of the film.

• Check out my review of The Wind Rises at Mice Chat.
• Check out the review of My Neighbor Totoro and Howl's Moving Castle from Jeff and me at Mice Chat.

Films from Studio Ghibli and Hayao Miyazaki are particularly stunning and true modern masterpieces. Disney owned the United States theatrical and home video release rights and spent a lot of time, money and effort to provide an amazing English translation and overdub work. My Neighbor Totoro, Spirited Away and Ponyo are usually regarded as the most spectacular, although you can't go wrong with any of the other Blu-ray and DVD releases that Disney had a hand in.

Theme Park Books Update

It's been a while since I've posted some of the new books that we've added to my collection. I ran across a lot over the past few weeks that looked into theme parks.

• Hatch: Brainstorming Secrets of a Theme Park Designer by C. McNair Wilson (former Disney Imagineer)

• The Immersive Worlds Handbook: Designing Theme Parks and Consumer Spaces by Scott A Lukas

• Theme Parkby Scott A Lukas

• The Theming of Americaby Mark Gottdiener

• Theme Park Design: Behind The Scenes With An Engineerby Steve Alcorn  (check out my review, here.)

• Walt's Revolution!: By the Numbersby Harrison "Buzz" Price

Have you read any of these books?