Jentasmic! Moneysavers: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

I was surprised that the first comment on this week’s Jentasmic! was arguing that one doesn’t have to tip housekeeping unless one has trashed the room. Really? C’mon, people.

I do a lot of things to save money on Disney trips. Just one simple example:

Breakfast in my room has always worked out really well. Sometimes I’ve been offsite with a kitchen, eating many meals offsite. Sometimes I’ve been onsite without so much as a mini-fridge, and packed nonperishable breakfast foods in my carry-on. Either way, I’m just as happy having a quick and easy meal while watching Stacy on TV before I head out. Every now and then I might treat myself to a Mickey waffle from the food court, too.

I may be cheap. I’ve carried almonds and canned fruit in my carry-on in order to save a few bucks on breakfasts from the food court. I’ve brought a notebook from home for character autographs rather than buy the fancy in-park books for 5 times the price. But I won’t leave the room in the morning without tipping the housekeeping staff. Everybody’s got their priorities.

Head on over to Studios Central to read the rest, and maybe leave a comment if you like.

Tokidoki Vader Project

Love Vader, love Tokidoki. Helllloooo? More info on the Tokidoki site.

Jentasmic: On Toy Story 3 and the Barbie Liberation Organization

Is Toy Story 3 sexist? This week in my Jentasmic! column at StudiosCentral, I explore this question, and can’t resist mentioning one of my favorite guerrilla groups.

Old folks like myself remember way back in the early 1990s, when furor arose over a talking Barbie doll that said, “Math is hard!” and “I love shopping!” (It’s hard to imagine this doll could hit the market today, but if she did, I’m sure Computer Engineer Barbie could help her out.) On the surface, it’s easy to dismiss this as not being particularly damning, since in fact many people struggle with math, and enjoy conspicuous consumption. But with a screwdriver, a soldering iron, and a little ingenuity, the contrast between “boys toys” and “girls toys” was made clear

And come to think of it, in Toy Story 3 it often does seem as if Barbie’s had a bit of a personality transplant. Nice job, Pixar.