Month: April 2009

Detooning Disney in Five Lessons, a Response

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 14, 2009

PROGRESS CITY, USA‘s latest article in their “TEN WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR” series is entitled “DETOONIFICATION“. In it, PCU writes about how they would like to de-toon the Disney parks, and how the recent character overlays on various rides are a bit of overkill.

PCU does have a point: the overlay of Iago and Zazu into Walt Disney World’s Tiki Room is a perfect example of how not to add characters to an attraction. While the number crunchers may have interpreted the declining turnstyle numbers on the attraction as an indication that the Tiki Room was tired and needed to be modernized, the reality is seen across the country in Disneyland’s beautifully restored Tiki Room: that with a little bit of attraction maintenance – cleaning up the audio, blowing the dust off the electronics and lights – the crowds will once again flock to a beloved attraction.

Tags Blog, Disney, Epcot, Walt Disney World

Disney Movies

D23 exclusive screening of Pixar’s “UP” (and you’re not invited)

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 14, 2009

Details are starting to emerge about the upcoming exclusive screening for D23 members of Disney-Pixar’s latest film, UP.

All you have to do, it seems, other than have your Disney D23 membership card at the ready – is to go to the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, California for the special showing on Thursday morning May 28th, at 12:01am.

Of course, further details are scarce about whether there is going to be any actual D23 preview ticket distribution or similar, in order to control the massive crowd that is sure to show up for this fantastic D23 benefit.

Tags D23, Disney, Movies

Games Music

Game: Guess the Mix

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 14, 2009

Here’s another game you can play on long car rides: GUESS THE MIX.

Come up with a themed mixtape consisting of 10 songs. The theme can be anything you’d like: cars, breakups, cooking, songs that feature cowbell…anything you’d like the theme to be.

There are three ways to play this:

Play the mix for your friends. This option allows everyone to hear the songs that you’ve chosen, and is the best version to play if your friends do not have a large musical brain to pull from.
Tell your friends the track titles. This option is for the more experienced player, as they will need to know what those songs sound like on their own.
Tell your friends only the artist names. This is the most advanced option, as it will require your friends to determine what songs from those artists would combine into a single theme. For hardcore players only.

Tags game, Music, Party Talk

How To Websites

How to Find an Internship or Job, Off-the-Beaten-Path

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 13, 2009

One common conversation topic I find myself having with my unemployed friends is that – after they’ve been unemployed for an extended period of time – they are willing to try anything, even if it means switching career paths. And frankly, some are using their job hunt time to switch to a career that they’ve always wanted to try.

But if you are out of the college market, what are some ways to discover new, interesting internships that aren’t necessarily in your own field of experience? Sure, you could check the want-ads in the newspaper, but why not check out an intern-specific website like ONE DAY ONE INTERNSHIP?

Tags Blog, How To, website

Disney Gadgets Internet Travel

Disneyland iPhone Application

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 12, 2009
1 Comment on Disneyland iPhone Application

I know what one of the first applications any new iPhone-owning Disney fan is going to want to go out and buy from the iPhone Apps Store: the DISNEYLAND PARK PLANNER from HyTech Professionals.

Sure, the park planner has the basics down that any decent park planner would have: scrollable/zoomable map, restaurant menus, park and show hours, attraction descriptions, FastPass locations, etc.

But where the “DPP” shines is with special features that utilize two built-in features that the iPhone has: geotargeting, and interactivity with the Internet.

The geotargeting app is handy, as the DPP can pinpoint your location within the park and then direct you to the nearest restroom, restaurant, attraction, or food stand that you are looking for – the ultimate Disney tour guide in your pocket.

But even better is when you use the DPP to tell you what rides have the shortest wait times. Sure, Disney has come up with a way to do this with their Official Cell Phone Sponsor, Verizon – available for all Verizon subscribers in the parks – but the DPP opens up this information to everyone who is using the DPP.

To better describe how this works, let me explain how Disney calculates their ride wait times:

Tags Disney, Internet, iPhone, theme parks, Travel

Gambling Internet Websites

Top Three Stickiest Websites

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 11, 2009

According to Nielsen Online ratings, these were the top three Internet destinations based on the total number of unique users (in February 2009):

Google
Microsoft
Yahoo

This includes all sites owned and operated by these companies, such as email, photo sharing, search, chat, etc.

The top three Internet destinations based on the average amount of time spent on the site per individual user were:

Full Tilt Poker (average time spent: 12:44:25)
Electronic Arts Online (average time spent: 6:56:18)
PokerStars (average time spent: 6:26:04)

Tags Gambling, Internet, website

Movie Review

Movie Review: Observe and Report

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 10, 2009

Rated R for language, full frontal male nudity, a boob shot, a little violence, alcohol, drug use, a couple of sex scenes, and even more full frontal male nudity.

Rating: B

Observe and Report is about your typical gung-ho mall cop (Seth Rogan) who sees himself taking his job a bit more serious than most in his career path of choice. He’s good at what he does, but wants more. The audience roots for Rogan throughout, cheering his successes as much as feeling his pain as he works towards his goals.

In the end, I left the film happy, and pleased with the film’s resolution (compared to other films that leave you wanting more or wondering what the characters’ next steps are going to be).

Tags Movie Review

TiVo Alert: BBC America’s “BBC AMERICA REVEALS”

Post author By web gangsta
Post date April 9, 2009

The BBC has given us lots of high-quality programming over the years, such as Doctor Who and Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

But if you really want to watch some fascinating TV, you should check out the documentaries that BBC America is airing on Thursdays at 9:00pm ET, as part of their “BBC AMERICA REVEALS” series.

Coming in the next few weeks are episodes about women who fall in love with inanimate objects (“Married to the Eiffel Tower”), and men who are sexually attracted to their cars (“My Car is My Lover”).

Recent episodes have included the following:

Tags Party Talk, TV