So the backstory here is that Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher said that it was “wrong” for Jay-Z to perform at Glastonbury Festival, which traditionally has featured rock musicians. So Jay-Z opened with an accapella version of Oasis’ Wonderwall before cutting into his 99 Problems. Looks like a great show, I wonder if I can get it in HD somewhere.
Monthly Archive for June, 2008
Hansen, other Nike swimmers face big decision. Despite being sponsored by Nike, the company is allowing Brendan Hansen and other swimmers to wear competing swimsuits like Speedo’s LZR Racer in the Olympic trails since they are supposed to give a competitve advantage. It’s nice to know they have their priorities straight. On the other hand, if a suit does give a swimmer a competitive advantage shouldn’t swimming’s governing body ban it? Are Speedos different than steriods other than the health risk?
In anticipation of seeing WALL-E tonight, I started re-watching on Ratatouille. First of all, I had forgotten what a great movie it is – likely Pixar’s best to date. Pixar has made 9 feature length films and 5 are on Imdb’s Top 250 movies of all-time: Toy Story (#177), Toy Story 2 (#225), Finding Nemo (#139), The Incredibles (#145), and Ratatouille (#127). Halfway through the film I realized an amazing secret – the film is a metaphor for Pixar and Disney (the microwaveable Gusteau meals are kind of a giveaway, think of all those direct-to-video sequels). This blogger gives a more in depth analysis of what it all means. What’s also funny about it all is that part of the Disney mythology is “it all started with a Mouse”, but with Pixar and Ratatouille its all about the rat. And the scene where Anton eats the Ratatouille and is immediately reminded of his youth – well that’s the kind of goosebumps feeling when I saw Finding Nemo the Musical in Disney World two weeks ago and the kind of experience I’m expecting at WALL-E tonight. Disney magic, reinvented.
Update: Since I posted this yesterday, WALL-E has shot up to #110 on Imdb’s Top 250 list. I’m sure it will drop a bit over time, but it deserves to be up there. It was really spectacular and probably the best science fiction film of the decade.
And so the ogre left CT and ESPN, but left us all the better for having known him.
Moving pictures in slideshow format. Our last day in Disney World was a bit crazy. We were heckled by stormtroopers and suffered through the extra crowds they brought with them. We got lost on the backlot streetscapes. We had to stood through Indiana Jones. We got rained on. I paid more than I would have liked for buffet dinner. BUT, I did learn to draw Tigger (I wish I did more of the animation classes). And we saw Fantasic and rode Toy Story Mania twice. Fun times.
Now with clever captions. On day 3 we started the day with Space Mountain, the went through Fantasyland. We got stuck in Splash Mountain but made it out. I got Woody’s Round Up stuck in my had. We slept through the Hall of Presidents. We laughed with Monster’s Inc. We went on Space Mountain again. We saw two parades and a fireworks spectacular.
This gallery has been Flickr-ized. On day 2 of our trip we flew to Mars in a spaceship and flew over California. We tested cars, found Nemo, and journeyed into imagination. Then we did a nine country tour of Mexico, Norway, China, Germany, Italy, America, Japan, Morocco, France, United Kingdom and Canada. So we racked up a lot of frequent flyer miles and then saw fireworks.
Slimmed down and Photoshop-ed for easier consumption. On day 1 of our Disney vacation we checked out the animals of the Oasis, Pangini Forrest, and Kilminjaro Safaris. We saw the Festival of the Lion King and Finding Nemo the Musical. We encountered a Yeti on Mount Everest and Dinosaurs in a meteor shower. So a pretty sweet start.
