Jentasmic! on World AIDS Day: A Friend Like Kami

My Jentasmic! column this week on Studios Central takes a look at a muppet who’s close to my heart:

December 1 is World AIDS Day, a time that many of us remember those we’ve lost to this illness, and re-affirm our commitment to helping others who are facing this life-changing syndrome. While there are many resources for kids with AIDS, there’s one that may be extra-special to us Disney fans: Kami, a muppet from the South Africa edition of Sesame Street, who is living with HIV, the virus believed to cause AIDS. From MuppetCentral News:

The HIV-infected character was created at the urging of the South African government, which helps sponsor the show, to reduce stigma about the disease.

“Education is vital to ensure that people understand what HIV/AIDS is,” Education Minister Kader Asmal said.

At the unveiling, Kami, who has a mop of brown hair and wears a vest, wanders onto Sesame Street and wonders nervously if residents will want to play with her.

She needn’t have worried. The other Muppets enthusiastically welcome Kami.

Tony, I still miss you.

GraphJam: Wholesomeness of Disney

Yup, that sums it up.

And hey Disney geeks……if you’re headed down to Walt Disney World next week, be sure to check out the various fan meets that are going on. Everyone’s welcome! I’ve listed the ones I’m aware of on this older post. Those Darn Cats, the podcast I co-produce and co-host, is having a meet Sunday, December 13, at 10:00AM at Haunted Mansion.

Animals with Lightsabers

What could be better than Animals with Lightsabers? Not much, really.

Hat tip: BoingBoing.

Jentasmic: The Cautionary Tail of Mickey Unrapped

Bob Iger’s got a team of experts working on updating Mickey’s image. Let’s hope they have history in mind, lest they be destined to repeat it. From my Jentasmic! column today at StudiosCentral:

Hearing Mickey Unrapped for the first time is a bit like listening to Florence Foster Jenkins: You can’t quite believe someone not only produced this, but actually put it in print. In some ways, Mickey Unrapped is no worse than Mickey Mouse Disco, a similar concept album (to use the term quite loosely) which drew on the popular dance music of the 1970s. And perhaps it’s just my age that makes me feel Mickey Unrapped is even worse, but there’s something about Tag Team’s call-and-response Whoomp (There It Went) with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy that’s just more radically wrong than anything I’d heard in some time.

There’s also some discusison of Mickey Unrapped on this week’s Those Darn Cats. But beware the words of my friend Ken:

I love you gals, but OMG…….

those songs at the end of the podcast made me want to vomit and run screaming from the building.

More on Epic Mickey: “Twisted, broken, dangerous”

The New York Times has a must-read story on the upcoming Wii video game Epic Mickey, including more details about the plot and characters:

Epic Mickey, designed for Nintendo’s Wii console, is set in a “cartoon wasteland” where Disney’s forgotten and retired creations live. The chief inhabitant is Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character Walt Disney created in 1927 as a precursor to Mickey but ultimately abandoned in a dispute with Universal Studios. In the game, Oswald has become bitter and envious of Mickey’s popularity. The game also features a disemboweled, robotic Donald Duck and a “twisted, broken, dangerous” version of Disneyland’s “It’s a Small World.” Using paint and thinner thrown from a magic paintbrush, Mickey must stop the Phantom Blot overlord, gain the trust of Oswald and save the day.

Twisted, broken, dangerous, disemboweled? I’m shivering with ghoulish glee!

New York Magazine has a brief piece as well, including a YouTube link to this concept art (yeah, the soundtrack is irritating, but the little on-screen comments are worth it):

I do not think I have to tell you how excited I am that Oswald will play a major role.

Just as interesting, though, is the larger picture of Mickey makeover described in the New York Times article, of which Epic Mickey is just a trial balloon:

“Holy cow, the opportunity to mess with one of the most recognizable icons on Planet Earth,” said Warren Spector, the creative director of Junction Point, a Disney-owned game developer that spearheaded Epic Mickey.

The effort to re-engineer Mickey is still in its early stages, but it involves the top creative and marketing minds in the company, all the way up to Robert A. Iger, Disney’s chief executive.

Jentasmic!: Star Tours 2.0? Meh.

Disneyland Paris, where nostalgic fans will be able to enjoy Star Tours 1.0 for the forseeable future!

My Jentasmic! column this week at Studios Central displays my level of enthusiasm for the upcoming Star Tours update:

It’s been over a month since the announcement at the D23 Expo that Star Tours 2.0 will be coming to both Disney’s Hollywood Studios and Disneyland in 2011, and I’m still mulling it over. Will I love this like the new Haunted Mansion, or are we headed for another Journey into Imagination without the freakin’ Dreamfinder?

Head on over to Studios Central to read the rest….

 

Tank Riot Podcast on Walt Disney

The hosts of Tank Riot Podcast are outrageously smart, irreverent, hip, and beyond geeky. And occasionally foul-mouthed, so don’t listen with the kids! But you owe it to yourself to find some time to listen to their discussion of the life and works of Walt Disney.

We discuss the life, works, controversies and urban legends of the animator everyone thinks they know. From Mickey Mouse in Plane Crazy to Donald Duck and Pluto, we discuss the animators like Ubbe Iwerks and the voice actors like Clarence “Ducky” Nash and Pinto Colvig that made the myths possible. Also: Where the Wild Things Are, Zombieland, Paranormal Activity, Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soapbox, Big Man Japan and more!

Disney history geeks probably won’t learn much new, although I’ll confess I didn’t know what the last words were that Walt wrote. But even if you already gots all the facts, this is good listening.

More Disney Parks Fan Meets. December 2009

The Disney Podcast Network has announced a number of meets at Walt Disney World, running from December 10-13, 2009.

Add these of course to the meets scheduled by Celebrations Magazine, All About the Mouse Podcast,  WDW Today Podcast, and Those Darn Cats Podcast, and clearly there’s a critical mass of Disney Digerati in town that weekend! I’m sure we’ll see more events announced too; I’m trying to keep track of them all here on Broke Hoedown, mostly for my own convenience as my schedule spreadsheet develops.

For those of you looking for something a week earlier, there’s Pixelmania at Walt Disney World. and Mousemeets at Disneyland Paris.

Rumor has it that the D23 event December 12-13 sold out within minutes of tickets becoming available for sale, and that guests of D23 members were put on waitlists. I wonder how many tickets were sold?