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By Michael - December 19th, 2007 WDW Magic has posted an image from the Disney-MGM Studios showing that the park’s logo has been removed from the gateway leading to the courtyard in front of the Animation building. This is, of course, in preparation for the park’s January transition to “Disney’s Hollywood Studios”. Despite my antipathy for this park, I can’t help being a little sad.
When I was in Florida last week I wanted to swing by the Studios and pick up some last-chance merchandise with the Disney-MGM logo on it. Sadly, all the shirts I could find had the Power Rangers or something equally ridiculous on them so that wound up being a wash. Still, I wish I had picked up something.
Note: This post would have featured the delightfully ironic and hilarious title “End of an Error” save for the fact that I’m not sold on the name change itself, and the fact that they’re just changing the name instead of bulldozing half the park and starting over. So I’ll have to save the fruits of my rapier wit for some other day…
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By Michael - December 18th, 2007 Pixar has released a new, exclusive trailer on MySpace (you know how the kids today love the MySpace) and it’s … well … see for yourself. This film is going to be absolutely ginormous. It might also drive me to conniptions from having to wait to see it. Anyway, take a look…
UPDATE: Watch the trailer in higher definition at Rotten Tomatoes.
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By Michael - December 15th, 2007 Well, we’re back from the World so regular posting should recommence soon. Sorry for the media blackout; it was a hectic week leading up to departure and there was no time for blogging once there. It was an interesting trip, though, so we have lots to talk about. Time to get to work…
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By Michael - December 4th, 2007 Up
June 12th, 2009 – dir. Pete Docter
 This unconventional tale from the director of Monsters, Inc. is the story of a 70 year old man (inspired, it’s been said, by Disney animation legend Joe Grant) who teams up with an inexperienced wilderness ranger to fight “beasts and villains.” Whatever you say, Pete!
The following description appeared in a Time Magazine article in June 2007:
Pete Docter, the Pixar lifer who made Monsters, Inc., and co-director Bob Peterson are preparing this “coming-of-old-age story” about a seventysomething guy who lives in a house that “looks like your grandparents’ house smelled.” He befriends a clueless young Wilderness Ranger and gets into lots of alter kocker altercations. Says Pixar: “Our hero travels the globe, fights beasts and villains and eats dinner at 3:30 in the afternoon.”
Crew: Pete Docter – Director, Bob Peterson – Co-Director, Ronnie Del Carmen – Screenplay
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By Michael - December 3rd, 2007 
Alternate story headline: “DENCH MEETS HENCH”
Well, well, well. Confirming what scurrilous web rumormongers previously reported, Disney announced today via their internal Cast Portal that Dame Judi Dench will be the new voice of Spaceship Earth when it returns from its lengthy rehab. It also confirms the rumor that the ride will open for previews in December. But when Disney, when???
Message board postings suggest that testing and Cast Member training are both underway, hopefully indicating that Disney is well aware of the paramount importance of getting this thing open before I get there next week. The posting, also reported on in the Orlando Sentinel, reads in full:
Glendale, Calif., Nov. 29, 2007 – Ten time Emmy®-award winning composer Bruce Broughton conducted a 63-piece orchestra and 24-voice choir for a new musical score for Spaceship Earth at Walt Disney World Resort. Walt Disney Imagineers have been re-imagining the iconic Epcot attraction since earlier this year, and have added new show scenes to the attraction’s story line, along with new lighting effects, costumes, set decoration, and a new narrator – Academy Award®-winning, English actress Dame Judi Dench.
For the musical score, each scene was infused with musical styles and instruments appropriate to the time period, which was not an easy task according to Walt Disney Imagineering senior show producer Bob Zalk. “To have that score transition smoothly as vehicles travel from one time period to the next is extremely difficult,” he said. “The first time we rode through the attraction accompanied by that music, we were amazed.”
Spaceship Earth has been on hiatus since earlier this year, and is expected to re-open in December for sneak previews. When it re-opens, Spaceship Earth will combine the magic of the iconic attraction’s time-travel adventure into the past with a new finale and post-show, presented by Siemens, which provides guests the opportunity to imagine their futures. Guests discover how each generation of mankind has invented the future for the next generation, and how the spirit of innovation has moved people from the caves to the cosmos.
I heart Bruce Broughton.
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The Progress City Primer
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