Cover Art for DOING DISNEY finalized!

I don't really have anything to say here other than that my talented friend Rich Siegle has completed the cover art for DOING DISNEY:  HOW TO SPEND A WEEK IN DISNEY'S FLORIDA RESORT.  I'll post the final art shortly here for all to see.

I am in the process of making my final pass, copyediting and adding a few bits here and there.  I expect to have it published by the end of November, 2013.  It will be available as a Kindle e-book through Amazon, and I am looking at potentially doing a paper version of both that book and my (currently available) short story collection, 14 DARK WINDOWS.  I may also publish both of them through the Nook store at Barnes and Noble.  But that is a project for later...

I noticed that The View on the Disney-owned ABC channel was filmed at Disneyland, and they did a focus on Carsland.  It does look really cool.  They had an interview with John Lasseter, they talked with Tim Allen (voice of Buzz Lightyear), and had a performance by Disney star Demi Lovato.

Any other Disney news?  Just a reminder that Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry has the special exhibit, "The Treasures of Walt Disney" with lots of cool stuff from the vault.  The exhibit is sponsored by D23.  If you want to check it out, go here.

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If you get a chance, please take a look at my latest offering, 14 Dark Windows, on Amazon for Kindle.  It's a collection of short stories, some horror, some milder with supernatural or horrific elements, some just nice stories, available in ebook form for $2.99!  Thank you!

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What is that...???

...in Joe Rohde's left ear?

Yesterday we were flipping channels and I came across a History Channel showing Modern Marvels:  Walt Disney World.  I have the DVD of this one, but it's hidden aways somewhere and so my son and I watched just about the whole thing. 

When we got to the part on the Animal Kingdom, they show a lot of Imagineer Joe Rohde discussing the construction of that park.  At first I didn't think much about it, but my son asked me, "What's that thing hanging from his ear?"  I told him it was an earring or something, but thought that it was awful big! 

A bit later, they showed him a bit more from the left side, and it looks like his ear lobe is grossly stretched out. 

Anyone know what it's supposed to be, and what is the point of doing that?

I guess I'm just getting old...but Joe doesn't look like a spring chicken (as they say)...

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The Disney Channel

While laid up, I got to spend more time around the family than I usually did. In the winter months, I usually don't get home till relatively late, and by the time I'm home the kids are getting ready for bed, or at least immersed in homework that I need to go over with them.

This additional time translated in part to watching some TV shows with my middle school kids that I usually wouldn't see. A fair number of them were Disney Channel shows.

The shows that they like a lot are Wizards of Waverly Place, Shake It Up, Jesse, Austin and Ally, and of course, Phineas and Ferb. Three months ago, I doubt that you could have forced me to watch these programs. But they have their charm, as I realized from sort-of-forced viewing. They have their innocent humor, their cute girls, their cool guys, and stories that are simple but at least effective enough to occupy my middlee schoolers' minds. They have another show or two that they like quite a bit, but not on Disney. (They're big fans of Big Time Rush.)

These aren't just shows for girls. Austin and Ally, for example, has my kids interested in internet programming and its possibilities, not to mention songwriting and playing music. (They already have a pretty strong basis for this interest.) Wizards of Waverly Place (which has apparently ended as a series but is still being shown in reruns) entertained them with its Harry Potter wannabe vibe. They just find the other shows entertaining.

I'm glad to report that maybe Disney is doing something basically right with their programming on the Disney Channel.

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