disney – Observations Along the Road

News Chum Stew: Onesies and Twosies

Posted onSaturday, August 20, 2016Saturday, August 20, 2016Authorcahwyguy

Observation Stew Last night, we had a Shabbabaque at Temple (“Shabbat” + “Barbeque”). There was a bunch of food leftover, and so I brought some home — the sliced tomatoes and roasted zucchini — and threw it into a crockpot. That’s a great thing to do with leftovers: make a stew (and I intend to suggest formalizing that next year*). Just like at the Shabbabaque, I’ve got loads of leftovers — onsies and twosies of news articles — that don’t make a coherent dish. Perhaps they’ll make a good stew. What do you think?

Jewish Summer Camp

LGBTQ and Jewish Summer Camp. Two articles related to this subject. The first looks at how one camp is trying to rework the Hebrew language, so transgendered kids fit in. The second explores the ways that Jewish summer camp helps LGBTQ fit in, and the ways that they don’t.
Ga-Ga. One more camp related article: If you’ve been to a Jewish summer camp, you’ve likely seeing that an octagonal court and an odd game of dodgeball called ga-ga. Ever wonder where it came from? Hint: It wasn’t Israel.

Food and Eating

Turmeric. My wife has recently been turning to turmeric for its anti-inflammatory properties. Users of the herb should note that a number of formulations have been recalled due to possible lead contamination.
Rotisserie Chicken. We’ve all heard that rotisserie chicken is cheaper than uncooked chicken, because markets are trying to get rid of the chickens before they spoil, and some profit is better than none. Someone actually investigated. In most cases (i.e., Costco), it is still cheaper to cook it yourself.

Local Returns and Departures

Returning: Labels Table. According to this article, Labels Table has returned to Tarzana. The problem is: I don’t remember it being here in the first place (although my wife says that it was, and that it was pffffft).
Ports O’Call. It appears that the demolition order has been issued for the old Ports O’Call in San Pedro. Replacing it: A hipsters revisioning called “San Pedro Public Market”.
The Music Center. Supposedly being reinvented is the plaza at the Music Center. Spend 30 million, and let’s see if you can make this hulk of concrete friendly. I’ll believe it when I see it. The structure is massive and above ground due to the parking, and that may just be an incurable.

The Body

Smell. The sense of smell may be found all over — outside and inside — the body. It turns out there may be a good reason. Think of smell and taste not as an odor detector, but a general purpose chemical sensor.
Vocal Fry. We’re supposedly in an epidemic of vocal fry and uptalking. But the real complaint may not be the vocal characteristic, but the fact that it is women doing the talking.

History

Right Hand Over Your Heart. Did you ever wonder why we put our hands over our heart for the national anthem and the pledge? Or why we have the pledge in the first place? Wonder no more. Hint: The former is so that we don’t look like Nazis, and the latter is to unify a nation of immigrants.
Grinning Ghosts. Here’s the true history of the Haunted Mansion, and why it couldn’t be built until Disney died.
Pinball. I bet you thought the only Pinball Museum was in Las Vegas. Think again.

What’s Left

TV Musicals. The Flash and Supergirl are doing a musical crossover episode.
Passings of Note: Fyvush Finkel, a major force in Yiddish Theatre and a builder of Picket Fences. Jack Riley, the voice of Stu Pickles and Elliot Carlin on Bob Newhart.
Theatre Briefs. Fun Home tour casting announced, including Kate Shindle, the Prez. of AEA. One wonders if she really wants to come to LA (#pro99). CSULB is doing two lesser known musicals: Stop the World, and Bubbly Black Girl. Dear World is coming to VPAC, and Parade to Thousand Oaks. Oh, and Allan Sherman is coming to Temple Ahavat Shalom — get your tickets now.

Life as a Theme Park

Posted onTuesday, September 1, 2015Authorcahwyguy

userpic=eticket As we continue the process of cleaning out the links, today’s three-theme brings together articles related to current and former theme parks, although the term is used loosely:

Ensuring the Votes. If you want politics to go way, the easiest way to do it is stack the votes. Disney did this with how they engineered the governance of the land that makes up the Walt Disney World resort. They designed the city and improvement district structures specifically to speed what they wanted to do, and provide the hand-picked residents with special perks to keep them voting Disney’s way. Sometimes, of course, such attempt backfires …. such as in Columbia MO, where they thought they had engineered an improvement district to have no residents… but it turns out they forgot one. Lastly, sometimes these attempts just lead to rampant corruption (as in the City of Industry). You’re probably thinking Disney could never get away with this in California; however, just look at how they got out of paying gate taxes in exchange for a promise to expand the park.
For The Birds. Those of us who are old enough and live in the San Fernando Valley remember the days of Busch Gardens. There was recently an article exploring a relic of the Gardens that exists to this day: the bridge over the railroad tracks connected to nothing. It turns out that it once was a pedestrian walkway to a log ride known as the Ya-Hoo Flume, which entered a giant misty aviary with waterfalls and squawking parrots that flew freely. Yes, the parrots still exist as well.
An Adult Theme Park. Back in May, the adult theme park that is Las Vegas lost an attraction when the Riviera closed down. But it turns out that the Riviera is living on in many ways. … from the people to the neon to the Crazy Girls to all the stuff that once existed in the hotel.

Sunday Stew: A Day Late, and Appropriately Short

Posted onSunday, May 18, 2014Authorcahwyguy

Observation Stew It’s Sunday again, and … what’s this? No stew on Saturday? We must remedy this, with this hastily thrown together pot of material collected during what was, again, a very busy week and an even busier weekend:

It’s Too Big. Here’s a call from a congressional candidate in Los Angeles to break up LA Unified. What’s interesting here is how he wants to do it: His bill would make school districts with more than 100,000 students ineligible for federal aid. This would affect almost every major city school district, and result in lots of wasted money as many of the supporting school services — payroll, human resources, legal, and such… as well as school boards — get duplicated. The larger question, perhaps, is how much of LA Unified’s problem is LA Unified. After all, there are schools within the district that are excellent (many of them charters, such as Granada Hills or Pacific Palisades). There are lower performing schools, but these tend to be in lower performing neighborhoods. Often, the district’s hands are tied by state and federal requirements, as well as their own procedures. Breaking up the district doesn’t solve those problems. Decentralization (where appropriate) and local empowerment (when appropriate) does.
It’s Everywhere. One little snippet in the latest from Donald Sterling was not emphasized in the news — where he repeated Jewish stereotypes. You might have thought or hoped antisemitism would be dead … but you would be wrong. A new ADL survey shows that pnly 54 percent of people polled globally are aware of the Holocaust — and an alarming 32 percent of them believe the mass genocide of Jews was a myth or has been greatly exaggerated. The survey found that 26 percent — more than one in four — of the 53,100 adults surveyed are “deeply infected” with anti-Semitic attitudes. Nine percent of Americans surveyed harbor at least six of the 11 anti-Semitic views. About 31 percent of respondents believe Jews “are more loyal to Israel” than the U.S.
It’s Scary. Antisemitism is really scary. The Disney comedy Frozen, edited into a horror movie trailer, is less so. Still, it is a great example of how the Frozen mania is continuing unabated. I think the last Disney film that got this deep into the social context was The Lion King.
It’s Dying. When they came out, CDs were touted as the perfect music medium. Crystal clear digital reproduction (as opposed to those scratchy vinyl records or tapes that wore out and broke), and they would last forever. Guess what? That was all a lie — CDs are degrading at an alarming rate. I have a large CD collection (and a large LP collection, and a large digital only collection … my iPod just crossed the 34,000 song mark). Of these, only the LPs have a long life — they degrade by scratches and stuff. All the tapes I made of records are long gone, and I rarely pull out the physical CDs anymore. Will they be there as backups, or will only the professionally made ones be readable. This, friends, is why people stick with analog data in the form of vinyl and paper.
It’s Dead. The death of the Fountainbleu in Las Vegas is closer: the construction crane has been removed. It is now less likely that this 80% finished mega-hotel will ever be completed. More than likely, it will be an expensive scrap recovery project, with loads of material destined for landfills. What a waste. How much dead landfill space in Las Vegas is taken up by the remains of hotels?
It’s, uhh, I forget. There might be some good news for those of you taking antidepressants. It turns out that certain antidepressants — particularly Celexa — is good a combatting memory loss. This may help combat Altzheimers Disease.
It’s Back. Lastly, those in the Bay Area can rest assured in the safety of the Bay Bridge. Sure, the bridge might fall down in an earthquake due to newly discovered flaws. But the protective troll is back, protecting drivers from his barely visible perch.

Saturday Clearing the Links: Time, Mistresses, Insurance, and Disney

Posted onSaturday, June 22, 2013Authorcahwyguy

userpic=observations It’s Saturday and we’re about to go out for dim sum. I guess that means I should clear out the links that didn’t really form into coherent themes of three or more articles:

The Paper It’s Printed On. The magazine business is one of razor-thin profits, if any. Time Magazine’s answer to saving money: going to thinner paper in the magazine. Of course, so as not to offend advertisers, they are using different stock on the West Coast and East Coast than they are in the center of the country.
A Hidden Relationship. Here’s a fascinating piece about Clifton’s Cafeteria in downtown Los Angeles… and the mistress of the original owner. Although a very straightlaced Christian, he found what worked for him, and she’ll always be a part of his restaurant.
The Health Insurance Game. Scientific American this week had a blog piece on the health insurance shell game. The problem is: they got the origin story wrong. Heath insurance was not created to share risk — it is distinctly different than other forms of insurance. Want the real origin story? I strongly recommend the excellent This American Life pieces on health insurance. There you will learn that health insurance was created in 1940s as a way to give employee’s raises (that is, more benefits) while getting around wage limitations from WWII. They were originally marketed by doctor’s groups (Blue Cross) and hospital groups (Blue Shield) as a way to drum up business.
Broadway News. Neil Patrick Harris will be starring in a Broadway production of “Hedwig and the Angry Inch“. I hope he goes on tour with it (or at least to Los Angeles).
Little Girls, Little Girls. Speaking of Broadway, in Annie Miss Hannigan sings of her hatred for little girls. Does Disney hate little girls? Well, other than loving their parent’s money, that is? Perhaps — for in addition to all the problems with Disney princesses, there are concerns that Disney TV is poisoning the minds of tween girls.

P.S.: I’m beginning to think about a blog post about loss of trust in the government — that is, how we’ve gone from a society that trusted in the good of the government (in the WWII and post-war years) to a society that no longer trusts the government. How did happen, and what were the turning points. If you have something you want me to think about as the subject firms up in my head, please drop me a note.

Music: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968 Soundtrack) (Orchestra): “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Main Title) (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang & The Roses of Success)”

Life as a Theme Park

Posted onFriday, June 7, 2013Authorcahwyguy

userpic=eticket Today’s news chum brings together a collection of stories related by… well, they all struck me as having some connection with a theme park or similar attraction:

Disney Raises Prices. This one has the strongest connection: Disneyland is raising its prices. Why did they do it? This article offers a possible explanation. To my eyes, it is in the “not worth it” department — especially for a one-day visit. It gets better if you can afford an annual pass and plan to go very regularly. Although I love Disneyland (and its history), I don’t go all that often — perhaps once every 5 to 10 years. My wife and daughter did the pass route for a number of years, but that stopped with Berkeley (which is a theme park of its own).
The Red Car Conspiracy – Not. If you go to DCA, you see a romanticized version of the Red Cars… and thanks to Roger Rabbit, you know about the conspiracy that got rid of them. Of course, none of that this true. The real reasons behind the disappearance of the Red Cards is much less sinister and much more complicated. This article discusses what really happened, and this paper provides more information.
Where Do The Trains Go? Thinking about the Red Cars makes me think about one of my favorite museums, Orange Empire Railway Museum, and that makes me think about their model train displays. It appears that, in another city, a model train display is looking for a new home. In St. Louis, the old Famous-Barr (now Macy*s) building downtown is being closed… and the model train display that used to be housed there is looking for a new home.
A Crushing Experience. For the artists among you: Here’s an entire amusement park compacted into a 4 meter cube.
Oswald Found. No, I’m not talking Texas, but Oswald the Rabbit — a Disney character that predates Mickey. It looks like one of Disney’s lost Oswald shorts has been rediscovered.

Lastly, to continue yesterday’s post about the joke’s just writing themselves… Yesterday, I cited an article with the headline “Why Did The Chicken Lose Its Penis?” because the responses that came from the headline just seemed to write themselves. If you went to the link, the comments gave a lot of them (such as “Because its pecker is on the other end”). Here are three more headlines that caught my eye:

“Police find evidence linked to homicide in La Brea Tar Pits“. My favorite comment says it all: “The wooly mammoth is expecting to be indicted on several counts within the week. The sabertooth tiger, who cooperated with investigators, will be placed in a witness protection program.”
“From Russia, Without Love: Vladimir Putin Divorces Wife Lyudmila“. No good responses in the comments, but I can just see Putin walking into a bar in Moscow, sliding up to a comely young female comrade, and bringing out a line about being the President of Russia.
“N.H. posthumously frees 14 Revolutionary War slaves“. Note that these folks were freed more then 230 years after they submitted their petition. The paperwork was lost on a clerks desk.

I expect to see most of these showing up on “Wait Wait” in the coming weeks.

Evolution in Action: TVs, Tumblr, Disney, and Cheese

Posted onWednesday, May 22, 2013Authorcahwyguy

userpic=masters-voice Today’s lunchtime news chum theme is evolution. I’m not talking Darwinian evolution here, but the evolution of ideas, companies, and places. As with Darwinian evolution, sometimes this results in something better. Sometimes it doesn’t. I’ll leave it up to you to decide.

Evolution of … Televisions. For those of you who are old (like me), you may remember the TV sets of the 1960s. Big, elegant wood cabinets housing gigantic tube televisions … often in black and white, but increasingly in color. You remember how the sets changed over the years into the sleek designed monitors of today, with nary a wood box surrounding them. Television has gone from being a piece of furniture to being art on the wall. One of my various feeds led me to this article, which chronicles the rise and fall of Television Manufacturer empires. A very interesting piece, exploring how we went from black and white sets to the new color TVs, creating explosive growth of RCA… which then fell to the Trinitron monster of Sony… which then fell to the electronics of Samsung… which is now falling to the new manufacturing approach of Visio.
Evolution of … Tumblr. With the recent news of the Yahoo acquisition of Tumblr, it is interesting to look at the origins of Tumblr and how it began as a site for Tumblelogs. What I found interesting in this article was the repeated comparisons of Tumblr to Livejournal, the seminal journaling site where I began blogging. I can see some comparisons with friends list, but I haven’t used Tumblr enough to see the creative free-form blogging, especially with the detailed commentary and discussion. Tangentially related to this is the evolution of language, and how teens are using what is called social steaganography, hiding meaning in banal and otherwise topical discussions. This is a movement of language from straightforward expression we saw in the USENET days to discussion explicitly designed to be public yet private, with one level of surface meaning and another level designed only for friends.
Evolution of … Disney. We start with an article that links to the early history of Disneyland: the prospectus sent out to investors. Reading the linked prospectus one can see some of the original ideas; if one is familiar with the park in the 1950s one saw those ideas executed. Some of them failed (Recreation Park, Holiday Land), and some succeeded (Fantasy Land). The evolution of the park and of marketing led to the evolution of the Disney Princess. This concept is being shaken somewhat with the kerfluffle over Merida, and it has created the question of whether the notion of princess must evolve beyond either “girly-girl” or “tomboy”.
Evolution of … Cheese. We’re all familiar with Little Miss Muffet, who ate curds and whey. What we probably aren’t familiar with are curds and whey. Curds are the coagulated milk solids one gets when you coagulate milk with acid or rennet; the remaining liquid is the whey. One used to never see curds and whey, but now they are everywhere. Curds, of course, are in cheese (or you can just buy curds at Sprouts… yum!). Whey is also making a culinary comeback, both for cooking purposes and for making protein powders (in fact, there’s so much money in the latter that California dairyfarmers want in on the windfall). However, not all whey is valuable. The growth in the Greek Yogurt has resulted in the growth of acidic whey, which is difficult to convert to profitable uses. But that doesn’t stop people from trying.

Music: Backstory (2011 Original London Cast): “Money”

News Chum Stew: Reusing Pens, Disney U, Rerecording Classics, and Herschel

Posted onSaturday, May 11, 2013Saturday, May 11, 2013Authorcahwyguy

userpic=observations Continuing to catch up after vacation, I’ll take this morning to clear out the links of some miscellaneous articles. Still to come this weekend will be a sample ballot analysis, and (quite likely) a review of Fame at Nobel MS.

Disposable Pens. If you are like me, you accumulate pens from conferences and all those places that give them away as advertising promotions. Ever wonder what to do with them? A student at CSUN has an interesting use for them: he has created a non-profit organization called The Power of Pens that distributes writing utensils of any kind to developing countries where these are not easy to come by. The purpose of the organization is to provide utensils that will help educate children and adults who don’t have an exposure to pens or pencils. The organization relies on donors, varying from companies to people, who can spare a pen. Any type of writing utensil in any condition is accepted. They also look for volunteers to distribute the pens. This sounds like a great idea that needs more publicity. According to the article, those interested in donating or obtaining further information on the organization can send an email to thepowerofpens@gmail.com; they also appear to have a Facebook page.
Disney U. Here’s an interesting waste of time: An artist has imagined animated Disney characters as university students. I have a number of quibbles with this, most notably that they all wrong to me. All the female characters have this “come hither” look (and the look is especially wrong for Belle), whereas the guys all look like surfers or slackers. What do you think? Do these look like college students to you, and do they look like the Disney characters would look if they went to college?
Under The Covers. A really interesting article from Slate looks at the practice of the original artists rerecording classic hits and passing them off as the original. Why is this done? Simple — royalties. In the original days, the artists earned nothing on royalties. Rerecording allows them to regain control of the royalties from the rerecording… which can be significant. This often happens on “Greatest Hits” albums, which I often thought were just cheap reassemblies of songs. Not always, it seems.
Seeing the Universe. The Herschel telescope is shutting down, and the Atlantic has posted five of their favorite images from Herschel. A lovely way to close out this post.

Music: Tintypes (1980 Original Broadway Cast): “Rich And Poor – Then I’d Be Satisfied With Life”

Theme Park News Chum: Universal Hollywood, Knotts, and Disney Chairs

Posted onThursday, April 25, 2013Authorcahwyguy1 Comment

userpic=eticket Today’s lunchtime news chum brings together some articles related, perhaps peripherally, to theme parks….

Universal: A Gain and A Loss. Lots of news out there regarding Universal Hollywood. Their expansion plans are on the verge of approval. There are many good things about this plan: it was developed with community input, and it will add not only the Harry Potter-themed area but a walking path along the Los Angeles River. The bad news: something has to go to make space for this, and that something is the Universal (oops) Gibson Amphitheater. Also going will be the former Nickelodeon, now Curious George, Playarea behind the amphitheater. I have fond memories of the amphitheater, having seen both Peter, Paul, and Mary as well as Roger Whittaker there. Nowadays their programming sucks, and there hasn’t been an interesting show in years. I won’t miss it — both it and the Greek have gone downhill in their shows. What will replace the Gibson as a large concert venue? The Galen Center at USC.
Knotts – Log Flumes and Animatronics. Knotts (which I haven’t been to since I was a little kid) is updating their tired log flume ride with its well-worn scenes and weak animation. What’s interesting is the story behind the man who do the work: a man who turned a love of tinkering and mechanics, without a high-school education, into a career. He is now the keeper of Disney animatronics (with all the original spare parts), as well as building animated characters for lots of other theme parks.
Disney and Furniture. OK, this one is a little bit of a stretch. But perhaps a comfy one, as it is about the famous Disney chair. This chair was coveted by managers and animators alike. Not interested in chairs? How about futuristic couches? I could see my daughter liking some of this. Need more Disney? How about a collection of Disney park pictures — then and now.

Music: Home Before Dark (Neil Diamond): “Act Like A Man”