Tuesday, March 26, 2013

New Blog: Theme Park University

I was surfing through my Disney blogs today (I wish some of them updated more regularly) and, on Leonard Kinsey's Dark Side of Disney blog, I noted a link to a new blog from Ron Schneider (Dreamfinder) and Josh Young, titled Theme Park University

It appears to be an interesting look at the creative development behind theme parks in a general, and sometimes specific, sense. 

Of note is a three article (so far) series by Josh Young about the development of the Hard Rock Theme Park in the Myrtle Beach area. 

It actually got me excited about my own ideas about theme park development, some of which I wrote about in a series of blog articles back in December of 2009 and January of 2010.  (You can find them by clicking on the archives over there to the left, selecting those two months and picking and choosing the articles, if you're so inclined.) 

Take a look at the new blog if you find this sort of stuff interesting.  I know I certainly do!

*****

Monday, March 25, 2013

Disney Film - JOHN CARTER

A long time ago (it seems) I wrote a couple posts (edit:  it was only one post, located here) on the theatrical release of John Carter, the big budget Disney SF fantasy adapted from the Edgar Rice Burroughs novel A Princess of Mars.  In the first, if I recall correctly, I commented that it wasn't a movie I had much interest in seeing, nor did my boys.  Our initial reaction was due to the television advertising for the movie.  It just didn't look that good.  It didn't make me want to see it.

In another post (actually, in edits to that first and only post) I suggested that maybe that initial impression was mistaken, since I had read numerous commentaries on blogs stating that it was in fact quite good.  And those reviews were enough to inspire me to buy the Blu-Ray/DVD release when it came out.

But then we never watched it.  Until last Friday night.

We had a rare "boy's night" with me and my sons having the evening to ourselves, and I decided that *I* was going to pick out a movie to watch.  Going through the stack of unviewed movies, I came across John Carter and thought, What better time to watch this one?  It is not one my wife would want to see AT ALL, so it was a perfect time to pop it in and watch.

So the verdict is in.  We all liked it quite a bit!  Was it great?  No, maybe not great.  But it was very good and told a good story (albeit a story that's been covered before) and had very good effects and settings and the acting was decent.  (I noted that the director was Andrew Stanton, I believe...)  I wouldn't mind seeing it again sometime, and I would be interested in seeing a sequel.

I know, because it didn't do well at the box office, that a sequel is very unlikely.  Too bad Disney flubbed the marketing of this movie.  Because they had something pretty good and didn't get the promotion right.

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