Disney Weekend

I spent this weekend on the couch. Other than breakfast on Saturday and dinner that night with my parents I never left the house and hardly left the couch. I was feeling fine, I just wasn't particularly ambitious. It was a thoroughly relaxing weekend although this morning I could have done with a couple more hours of sleep.

Friday's weather left quite a bit to be desired so I decided that we would stay in and order pizza. A nice thick pan pizza sounded wonderful on a day when it had been drizzling all day and the temperature had barely topped fifty. I was cold and ready to relax. So we ordered pizza and I decided that I needed to watch a movie. I've had Wall-E sitting on my shelf for months now. I'd borrowed the movie from my mom and although I'd really wanted to see it, I just hadn't made the time. I giggled and ahhhed through the entire film. It was just so funny and cute and poignent. Jeff thought it was okay but I think it might be my favorite Pixar so far. I tend to like books and movies with a bit of a message this one had it in spades. I was impressed by Pixar's guts in putting out a film that challenges our consumer lifestyle. That is a bold move and one that I haven't seen from a film company in a while. Not that Disney didn't do its standard merchandising mania when the movie first came out. But the story was wonderful, the characters were cute, and I loved the humor. A great movie with a big heart. Pixar films beat modern Disney films anyday.

Jeff and I went to breakfast the next morning and then did a bit of shopping. When I got back home I was in a painting mood. I broke out some new colors and worked on my picture for class. I'm almost done but I don't think I'll be posting my first attempt. A little too rough still. But I love the gouache. I love the bright colors and the thickness and how easy it feels to work with. Time flies when I'm painting and I look up at the clock after what feels like 20 minutes to find that an hour has past. It will be a hobby I continue to play with.

We had dinner with my parents on Saturday night at the restaurant my sister works at. It was nice to get a chance to see her. We had been talking about going to the zoo on Sunday but she had an 18 hour work day the day before and understandably begged off. Which actually worked out okay for me. A couple weeks ago, my little sister asked me for a biography of Walt Disney. Now I'm a die-hard Disney fanatic. I've been to the parks a ton of times and still would love to go back. I'd go yearly if I could. I adore most of the Disney films and have had a huge interest in Disney himself for as long as I could remember. I had brought her a couple biographies and realized that one of the ones I had, I'd never read. It's a massive book. Well over 900 pages and with dense type. I've been reading it whenever I get the chance over this past week and am completely hooked. I actually plan my lunches alone recently so that I can read. So Sunday I grabbed breakfast and my book and read ALL day. I started reading at 8:30 in the morning and stopped at 10:30 at night.

If I bad mouth the Disney Studios occassionally it is because I know where they came from. Walt Disney himself had very little interest in making money. Money for him was a means to an end. The more money a film brought in the better his next movie could be. He pumped all his profits back into the company. For many years he didn't even collect a salary so that there would be mroe for film-making. He was an idealist in some ways. I have been fascinated with his early career, when he was still making the Alice pictures (before Mickey). He would beg and borrow to make his pictures. They hardly ever made him any money but he just kept working.

And he was incredibly anti-sequel. After his Silly Symphony, The Three Little Pigs, came out, people were clamoring for him to make more pig films. They wanted a pig sequel. Disney famously said, "You can't top pigs with pigs" and went on to make other movies. He was always interested in pushing the envelope to make his films better or more innovative. He was not a man to rest on his laurels. Which is why I have become somewhat ashamed at the Disney Company in the last 20 years or so. As they pump out Cinderella 2 and Peter Pan 3, all to make a fast buck, I realize what the company is in business for. And I think back to where the company started and just shake my head. Walt would never have stood for it.

Source:Life

Google has been doing some amazing things in the last couple of years. And I'm not just talking about the new data center they are building here in Iowa. (my office helped bring the company in). Des Moines was recently added to the street view images which is pretty incredible. I can literally walk down any of the streets in Des Moines all from the comfort of my desk. Here for example is my favorite lunch place. When I talk about Lucca for lunch, this is where I mean.

Google has also been great about putting book content online. Bookstores and publishers are grumbling, but I still say that the more information that is out there, the better. Education and knowledge are simply the most important resources we have. Without education, society simply isn't possible. So all of these books are now becoming increasingly available online, thanks to Google and it's gigantic servers. (the environmental aspect of servers and data centers I won't get into)

But my favorite new thing that Google has done recently is Life. The company has posted thousands of old Life Magazine photos on their image search. These are original pictures pulled straight from the magazine and searchable by all. To find old Life images, go to Google, click on image search, type in your subject words, and then type source:life. This will search only the Life Magazine pictures. You can also access the entire archive from the image search page. This is a rather impressive archive and a wonderful treasure trove for a history fan.

As I'm a huge Walt Disney fan I searched for him in the Life photos. And luckily, no single person, spent more time getting photographed for Life than Disney did. All interesting shots. Here is perhaps the most famous one going around. This is mostly because it shows Disney smoking. Since the man was a pack a day or two pack a day smoker, I'm only surprised that more photos don't show him that way.

Here are some great photos of early Disneyland and the building of Disneyland. I was in history heaven.

And here is perhaps my favorite picture I've ever seen of Disney. This reminds me of why he was a creative genius. Even if he didn't draw Mickey Mouse (Ubb Iwerks did most of those drawings) he still had a hand in everything. He was naturally curious and just loved what he did.