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.