Sad Tea Party, WDW Today Reunion 2012

From WDW Today Reunion 2012:

Earlier this year, my friend and I were waiting in line to ride the Mad Tea Party at Magic Kingdom. We watched a group of guests riding it. There was one young girl who was with there with her mother and maybe her aunt? But her family had sat in one teacup and she had chosen to sit in another. Her mother and aunt were having a blast, spinning the cup, smiling and waving to the girl… who was just sitting still, looking so indifferent, not even spinning her tea cup at all.

This inspired me to create this Reuinion 2012 event. Here’s what we do. We fill up all the tea cups on the Mad Tea Party and just sit there, looking sooooo over it. Do not spin the tea cups at all. Don’t look like you’re having any fun.

It will be the Saddest Tea Party ever.

Submitted by: Mark Diba

Russia Bans Mickey Mouse Jesus Painting

From Deseret News:

The Kaluga Region court has banned as extremist a painting by Alexander Savko that depicts the Sermon on the Mount with Mickey Mouse sitting on a rock surrounded by halo-clad disciples and admiring onlookers, reports RIA Novosti.

The story’s been covered in Business Insider Europe as well, which provides this handy link to a LiveJournal page which provides the image I’ve displayed above. Plus, a couple years before the image was banned, two prominent Russian intellectuals were found guilty “of inciting religious and ethnic hatred in an exhibition called “Forbidden Art — 2006,” which displayed works that had been banned by Russian museums” including this same painting (New York Times).

Traveling to Germany last month, I was struck by the number and style of irreverent iconic Disney images.

Street art in Heidelberg, photo courtesy of Mr. Broke Hoedown

Unknown gallery in Munich, photo courtesy of Mr. Broke Hoedown

Unknown gallery in Munich, photo courtesy of Mr. Broke Hoedown

So, am I offended by the Mickey Jesus image? As a person who respects many faiths, I do feel a bit tweaked and disconcerted when I look at it.

I believe that one of art’s many roles is to challenge the viewer. And what I’m really offended by is the reality of what it portrays: That consumerism has trumped spiritual life for many people. As Savko told the Huffington Post:

THE PUPROSE OF THIS PAINTING IS NOT ABUSE OF CHRIST AND NOT ABUSE OF CHRISTIANS. THIS IS DISPLAYING OF CURRENT REALITY: THE SUBSTITUTION OF HUMAN SPIRITUAL, MORAL VALUES WITH MASS-CULTURAL VALUES.

Mickey Mouse is a cultural icon (as are some of his buds); his image belongs to the global, visual language of artistic expression.

Aoi Nishimata Artwork Coming to US Disney Parks

From Anime News Network:

Aoi Nishimata, the artist who designed the characters in the Shuffle! and We Without Wings – Under the Innocent Sky anime, announced on her blog on Sunday that she is collaborating with Disney. The “Disney Collaboration” Princess Line feat. Aoi Nishimata will not be sold in Japan at first, but at the Disneyland Resort in California and the Walt Disney World Resort in Florida.

I’m of two minds about the Tinkerbell artwork above. On first glance, it feels a little disturbingly moe to me. On the other hand, I like that it reflects a more girlish Tink, and a more, well, sprite-ly fairy than some of the more glamorized, ditzy Tinks that we’ve seen in recent years (for example, this pin). So I’m very curious to see more as the series continues.

Banksy Billboard: Drunken, Lecherous Mickey and Minnie

My friend Geoff just tipped me off to this billboard, as seen on the LA Times web site. Some are speculating it’s a Banksy, in support of the Oscar nomination of Exit Through the Gift Shop.

And there are more, too:

There’s the one in Westwood that’s been dubbed “CrayolaShooter,” on the back of an Urban Outfitters in the UCLA neighborhood. Then there’s one known as “The Charlie BrownFirestarter,” spotted on Sunset Boulevard, that features theCharles M. Schulz-created character with a cigarette in his mouth and a can of gasoline in his hand. Soon after the “Firestarter” went up on the side of a fire-damaged building, someone cut it off the side of the structure.

Not surprisingly, no comment from Disney.

Guerrilla Art: Mr. and Mr. Disney Wedding Pins

Spotted at the MCO Disney Earport

Spotting this “Mister and Mister” wedding pin set at the MCO Disney Earport store a couple weeks ago, I couldn’t help but wonder. Did someone put the two grooms pins together on one card just to make a point about same-sex marriage? Or was this the aftereffect of a lesbian couple rearranging the pin cards so that they could have the two brides pins? Or perhaps it’s a bit of impromptu performance art?

In any case, it made me smile.

$120,000 for Banksy’s Jungle Book “Execution” Print

A poster version of the print, which was never distributed. From the Telegraph UK.

CNN International reports that a Banksy print recently sold for $120,000 on auction in London Tuesday. Some details:

The work, “Save or Delete Jungle Book,” went under the hammer alongside works by other urban artists as part of an Urban Art sale at Bonhams auction house in London.

The image was originally commissioned by Greenpeace for a poster campaign highlighting the problem of deforestation, with the characters transposed onto an image of a devastated forest. But the posters were never circulated due to copyright issues with Disney.

Seems to me that this work is a beautiful piece of political commentary. Unfortunately, I’m not sure it would qualify for the first-amendment satirical protection under which the Paul Krassner Disneyland Memorial Orgy is distributed.

Banksy’s work is always controversial, and has touched on Disney more than once. Perhaps most famously, his 2006 guerrilla installation at Disneyland commented on Guantanamo Bay. His documentary, Exit Through the Gift Shop, includes video footage of setting up the costumed dummy in Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, as well as commentary from a cameraman who was detained by Disneyland police after the installation was discovered. It left me unsure of how comfortable I am with the private security forces at Disneyland, and their powers to detain persons of interest.

Dystopian Art by Yanobe Kenji: Mickey the Knight

Mr. Broke Hoedown sent me this Pink Tentacle post:

Mickey the Knight, a sculptural work by visionary neo-pop artist Yanobe Kenji, is a mouse-eared, gas-masked, fully-armored warrior who looks like a mutant samurai member of the Mickey Mouse Club.

According to Yanobe’s notes, which were on display along with Mickey the Knight at a recent Yokosuka Museum of Art exhibit, he was invited to submit a Disney-themed piece for Disneyland’s giant 50th anniversary celebration held in 2005. Known for work that explores issues like how to survive and have fun in post-apocalyptic settings, Yanobe drew inspiration from the legendary Mickey Mouse Gas Mask, an intriguing historical artifact whose background story reflects some of the themes found in Yanobe’s work.

Not surprisingly, Disney chose not to display this work after all.

The same Pink Tentacle post includes a color photo of the Mickey Mouse gas mask previously mentioned here. It’s even creepier in color.

Wall-E Postcards from Comic-Con

Kung-Fu Rodeo has posted scans of great Wall-E promotional postcards, which were distributed by Pixar at San Diego Comic-Con. Another visit to the future that we dreamed about yesterday! (Hat tip to Upcoming Pixar. . . if it’s not in your blogreader, it should be.)