Time Travel with Communicore Weekly!

Communicore Weekly travels through time!

On this week's show, we have a special guest star to help us introduce the show. He also lets us use his TARDIS...

Jeff and I travel back to the past to look at TimeKeeper. I review Our Friend the Atom in my Book of the Week segment. We look at some bathrooms of Tomorrowland and a Five Legged Goat of Tomorrrow.

Communicore Weekly Giveaway!

You can enter to win the Chimpanzee Blu-ray Combo Pack and the hardcover book Chimpanzee: The Making of the Film.

You can get one entry for liking the Communicore Weekly Facebook page. You get five entries for watching the latest episode (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-sm25NTi4I) and entering the secret phrase from the video. The contest ends Friday, August 31, 2012.

Good luck!


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Mr. Toad's Wild Ride, Disney Blu-ray Reviews, Toy Story Book

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-sm25NTi4I

We had a lot of fun with this week's Communicore Weekly. Jeff and I look at the history of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland and we review some of the new Blu-ray releases from Disney. For my book of the week, I share The Toy Story Films: An Animated Journey and Jeff shares a Five Legged Goat from Mr. Toad.

Don't forget to subscribe to the MiceTube channel so you will know when the latest episodes are uploaded!

New Disney Blu-ray Releases!

Disney has releases a slew of movies to Blu-ray! Some are pretty exciting and some are...well...some are not very exciting.

• Disneynature: Chimpanzee - is pretty spectacular, heartwarming and charming. A full review is coming.

• Pocahontas is reason enough to buy this Blu-ray set. The movie is gorgeous, the songs are fantastic and it is a fun film. Pocohantas II was a terrible film that should never have been made. I can't figure out why Disney included it. If nothing, it will only serve to hurt sales. Check out our review over at Mice Chat.

• TThe Rescuers (35th Anniversary Edition) / The Rescuers Down Under is a wonderful combo pack. It is quite amazing to see the difference in animation over the course of 13 years.

• The Aristocats - This film has always been a favorite of my boys. I enjoy the broad humor, but the real enjoyment comes from the fantastic songs penned by the Sherman Brothers.

• Lady and the Tramp 2: Scamps Adventure - I can't figure out how and why this film made it to Bu-ray. Granted, I haven't watched it yet...

So, are you looking forward to any of these films?

Picture Spots, Dreamfinder and Communicore Weekly!

Hang out anytime at ImagiNERDing and you will see that I do like some of the geekier spots, including the Kodak Picture Spots. Check out my latest ImagiNERDing article at Mice Chat about the picturesque Picture Spots.

Jeff and I review Ron Schneider's book From Dreamer to Dreamfinder at Mice Chat. This is definitely a must buy for every Disney fan.

Communicore Weekly

For this week's episode, Jeff and I tackle Discovery Island, the latest news about Walt Disney World's NEW Executive Producer Kathy Mangum and a dark and mysterious Five Legged Goat. For my Book of the Week, I review Disneyland Resort Then, Now and Forever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=97IhwD3uxOM

Pixar Commercials as Silly Symphonies

I just received a preview copy of The Toy Story Films: An Animated Journey by Charles Solomon.

Even though I am barely 50 pages into it, I can tell that it is going to be fantastic. The artwork is gorgeous and acclaimed animation historian Charles Solomon really brings a lot to the Toy Story, um, story.

I ran across this quote on page 30 from Pete Docter and thought it tied in very nicely with the evolution of the early Disney animated shorts, except on a slightly different path. Pixar, in its earlier days, stayed afloat financially by doing a lot of commercial work.

"All these different products moved in different ways," adds animator Pete Docter. "So We tried to think, ‘How would a Life Saver move?’ The commercials became our equivalent of the Silly Symphonies, training us not only in movement, camera, and lighting, but in economy of storytelling. We wanted to tell some sort of story, not just cut product shots together. It showed us what we could do in thirty seconds."

Are you looking for other Disney book releases?

Check out my Mice Chat article on upcoming Disney-related books!

Carsland Giveaway!

We are participating in a giveaway with some other great sites.

This is another Rafflecopter giveaway with eight chances to win! You can click to like each site's Facebook page. Even if you are already a fan, you can still click like and it will add your vote. You have to click on each page in order to win

The giveway starts Friday August 10th at 12:01 a.m. and goes through August 17th. Included in the giveaway is a Cars flag, Disney California Adventure Mickey Ears, and a set of Disneyland poscards.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Hidden Mickey Watch in the Rescuers

In one of the opening scenes of the upcoming Blu-ray release of the 35th Anniversary Edition of The Rescuers, there is a Mickey Mouse watch hanging from the wall of the Rescue Aid Society.

Originally released in 1977, this animated classic is a great family film and was one of the last two films released before Eisner and Wells took over the reigns of the Company.

Disney Links and Communicore Weekly (Western River Expedition)!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQyfKa0qUOU

This week, Jeff and I tackle the Western River Expedition--how it developed and what happened! We do a tag team review of Ron Schneider's book From Dreamer to Dreamfinder: A Life and Lessons Learned in 40 Years Behind a Name Tag. Speaking of Dreamfinder, what about a Five Legged Goat from Journey Into Your Imagination? We also take a peek at a pretty fascinating Window.

Don't forget to check out my articles over at Mice Chat!

• At ImagiNERDing, I write about some interesting book titles that you might have missed at Disney's Animal Kingdom.
• In The Disney Review column, I take a look at a recent Walt Disney World book release. Does it stack up?

Now, on with some of the best links from the past week or so!

• Foxxfur at Passport2Dreams discusses show buildings and the magic of making them disappear..sort of.
• David at FutureProbe follows up Foxx's article with one about Epcot.
• Todd at the Disney History Institute posts about building the House of the Future.
• Ryan at the Main St. Gazette shares a fantastic pre-opening EPCOT Center Collectible.
• Long-Forgotten Haunted Mansion theorizes on the Gargoyles.
• Jennifer at Broke Hoedown posts about a unique Disney find at an interesting museum.

New Disney Books

I've had some great (and strange) titles show up at Imaginerding over the past few days. Are there any that you are really looking forward too?

• From Dreamer to Dreamfinder: A Life and Lessons Learned in 40 Years Behind a Name Tag by Ron Schneider (I just finished this one and it is spectacular!)

• A Mary Blair Treasury of Golden Books

• In the Shadow of the Matterhorn: Intimate Stories about Life, Love, and Laughter at Disneyland by David W. Smith

• Disney It's A Small World: Guess Who!

• The Disneyland Encyclopedia by Chris Strodder. I reviewed this amazing Disneyland title over at Mice Chat. Check it out and let me know what you think!

• Disney Trivia from the Vault: Secrets Revealed and Questions Answered by Dave Smith. I reviewed this title at Mice Chat. Is it one you are going to pick up?

• Let the Memories Begin: Impressions of the Walt Disney World Resort. I reviewed this book at the Disney Review over at Mice Chat. Check it out and see if it is worth adding to your collection.

Empress Lilly Secrets, Imagineering and Communicore Weekly

I delve deep into the archives this week at Mice Chat to look at some of the secrets of the construction of the Empress Lilly. Most of us know it today as Fulton's Crabhouse at Downtown Disney.

Also, I take a look at one of the essential theme park books that should be in everyone's collection at the Disney Review. You do own this book, right?

Communicore Weekly


Don't forget to subscribe to the MiceTube channel and like Communicore Weekly on Facebook.

This week's Communicore Weekly is pretty enlightening! Jeff and I look at the Main Street Electrical Parade, I review the Walt Disney World 15th Anniversary book, we share a special bathroom break for our four-legged friends and we look at a two and a half legged goat at the Animal Kingdom.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q46b6_4lIDw

Disney Living Character Initiative Beginnings?

Remember when Disney rolled out Lucky the Dinosaur and the Mobile Muppet Labs?

Long before that, Disney was investigating other ways to make the Animatronics more lifelike, portable and in your face! Well, maybe not  the last part.

In a 1977, Eyes and Ears (July 22, 1977), we meet Imagineer Steve Mcintyre who was working on a portable computer that fit into a briefcase in order to control smaller Audio Animatronic figures.

NEW PORTABLE COMPUTER TESTED 

James Bond managed to carry many interesting things in his suitcase, but the one thing he never did manage to fit in was a computer. That has been left to our engineers at MAPO to build. MAPO' s new Micro Animation Control System (MACS), designed primarily by Steve Mcintyre, may soon make it possible to program and operate by portable computer small AudioAnimatronic figures ... from a "suitcase." 

At both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, there are many AA figures located too far from DAC Central to operate off their huge computer systems, so they are currently run by a drum timer or cam machine. The drum is something like a music box cylinder and provides digital function only, whereas MACS would provide analog function as well. Digital function provides one shot of power per command, something like an on/off light switch. Analog function, in comparison, acts something like a light "dimmer" switch, providing gradations of movement. MACS would allow the AA figures a larger number of movements, all much smoother, with fewer mechanical parts to wear out in the control system itself. It's actually two units used together. The portable "suitcase" programmer would be carried out to the animation. A small playback unit would be attached permanently to the animation and the programmer hooked in. Then you just feed in your commands. The current MACS is limited to eight analog commands, which is not sufficient for the larger AA figures, but is certainly an improvement for small animation in remote locations. A prototype MACS is currently working in the lab at MAPO. 

If you want to now a little more about Imagineering and MAPO, then check out my Mice Chat article about Garner Holt Productions.