Disney Goes Back To Basics

Disney Goes Back To Basics

Today in a theater near you, Disney returns to the stuff that made them famous.. 2D animation. While we've all enjoyed the 3D and CGI fest that they have been doing, it's nice to get back to the classic 2D fun that made Disney great. Yes, the Disney Princess magic is back!

The movie takes place in Louisiana. It is consistent with all the folklore of that state. So in saying that it's pretty clear to see why the bad guy is literally a voodoo doctor. I'm sure religious groups will give Disney a lot of shit for this in itself. When will Disney make a villain that is a rich white developer set on demolishing the local teen center to make room for a gentrified strip mall.



They've been making these Disney Princess movies for almost 100 years now and there's one about Chinese, Indians and even the fish people but it took until 2010 to include blacks.. and she turns into a frog at the end of act 1. Way to go, Disney! Yup, she'll spend a good amount of time during the film as a frog, not as a black princess. What will the ACLU say about that?

Oh, it's nothing new. Disney is a vile parasitic corporation of racist, fascists, misogynists and animal abusers which has never contributed anything of any value to the world and never will.... But god damn will I be going to see this sucker!



I think people are complaining because instead of taking this opportunity to provide a positive role model for kids (black or otherwise), disney is instead choosing to play into a number of stereotypes. and in fact transform the princess so she doesn't even get to be a person for most of the movie, hardly someone a child can identify with.

Maybe I'll continue to boycott Mulan, a children's movie, because it does not address the crushing poverty experience by most rural Chinese during the Northern Wei Dynasty. But perhaps the idea that the classical Disney Princess is completely dependent on her Prince gives the wrong ideas to children.. Let's take a look at the following ad.. Oddly enough, this message is not in your average Disney Princess themed movie.



I know a couple who won't let their five year old daughter watch Disney Princess movies because none of them have mothers or something. It's true though, they generally are motherless and depend too much on daddy to do things before the Prince picks up the tab and runs with it.

Here's hoping that Tiana can actually take care of herself and be her own person without the need of the Disney Prince by her side to define her. I mean, that's the bigger concern in this film. Let's just get past that whole racism stuff. This film probably wont be as racist as Peter Pan. Then again, nothing can really be as racist as Peter Pan.



Yeah, it's bad enough that they made Splash Mountain without even acknowledging what movie all the characters are from. Hell, there's parts of Song of the South that nobody sees because they've been locked in a vault for decades. It's only if you're outside of North America can you see the full version.

This isn't a critical take on Walt Disney's lack of Black heroes. I mean, there isn't very many Spanish/Latin heroes or Disney Princesses or anything. At least Disney has never released anything like this...



But like I said, we should just move on from the whole racism stuff. Let's get to the real meat and potatoes.. the return to awesome movie posters. Call me a sucker for either red heads or mermaids, but the one that was released for the little mermaid really was something that I considered art when I was much younger.

It didn't have much in terms of big name stars listed on it. It didn't have the critical praise for it or the situation where they have large floating heads of the characters plastered on it. It was simple. It was beautiful.



That in itself is a poster worthy of framing and hanging. It's very simple in its beauty and if you saw it outside of a movie theater, you would know everything you need to know about the film and want to see it. It's a nice take on the whole movie art.

So when I see a poster like this for it, I can't help but think it looks pretty cool.. Yeah, I realize that I held back from saying "Awesome". But hey, I'm trying to be a man here... A man talking about Disney films. So with that said, the following poster for this new Disney film is pretty damn appealing.



Since this story is set in a sort of modern time.. at least modern enough that you can actually study and view the areas within a few generations of when it is suppose to take place, I wonder how much that effected the production of this. Hell, for things like little mermaid they only had swimmers to work with.



Having been to New Orleans a couple of times. Both pre and post Katrina, and considering I really haven't been to the locations or areas that the other Disney films have taken place in, I suppose that adds a new element to it. It's actually real, or real enough in that regard. So it being on American soil is something interesting that I hope will come in handy from the artist and creators of this. It's always a problem if you don't get input of the source or, in some cases, the original artist you end up things like this...

Can't blame them for how screwed up it was. I mean, I also really hate it when the person I'm kissing's face falls off and turns into moths. It's almost as horrifying as if you were to see the Disney Princesses as zombies.. Oh wait, that's been done already... I can' say that the Disney Princess brand isn't being a bit progressive.. especially if we've gotten to the point of them being able to not only fend for themselves.. but now they fiend for themselves...

Earth Day 2009

Earth Day 2009

Tomorrow is Earth Day.. congrat-u-fuckin-lations. I bet you fuckers just feel oh so good about how you're living a cleaner life that will allow your children and their children's children to enjoy the air, water and land without the use of a hazmat suit.

It's a nice effort and very kind thought but it's hard for me to think that things are getting better, especially when the sales of Hybrids are on a decline

Sales of hybrid gasoline-electric cars and trucks have fallen along with gasoline prices, but in a market that looks like a train wreck they're holding up relatively well, analysts say.

Mike Omotoso, global powertrain manager for the market research firm J.D. Power and Associates, said sales of hybrid cars and light trucks fell by 29 percent last month from a year earlier. But, he noted, the entire car market was down by more than 40 percent.

So while this time last year when gas prices were going up to the $3 plus mark, they couldn't keep the cars on the lot. Now that both the gas prices and the economy has gone down the shitter, it's pretty clear that there's really no financial reason to get a hybrid.



But it's not to bad. Your efforts to shop at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's with your reusable bag may be helping us after all. You see, Los Angeles is in the top 5 least wasteful cities

Not so oddly San Francisco is on the top of that list but I'm a bit surprised that New York is up there as well. What better than a city that recycles its urine in the streets. Ho ho, I kid. New York... what a city. Back to circle jerking Los Angeles, making it on this list is pretty nice. Especially since the Cities Zero Waste plan kicks into effect.

Maybe we can increase the lack of waste by going along with this new invention of Green Styrofoam.

Pretty good invention if not for the guy's annoying voice. Which I say should be recycled by sending him to the moon. That seems only fitting. That's mean. What can I say, it's not "Be Nice Day", it's Earth day. Big difference there, my friend.

So what other ways should we save the Earth with? Well, if you're half baked still from 4/20, perhaps you should pass the herb and go for some shrooms. Here's 6 ways mushrooms can save the world. It seems Mario loves growing once he eats these, so perhaps there's some truth to all this.

When you're talking about mushrooms, perhaps you're going to have to grow them to really make them your own. How about planting a new garden? It seems like it's the latest craze... That is if you're not the first lady. Then you're going to get a lot of shit for growing an organic garden as Michelle Obama has recieved for growing one at thewhite house.

Pro-Pesticide Group Criticizes First Lady’s Organic Garden

And First Lady Michelle Obama is coming under criticism from a pro-pesticide industry group for deciding to plant an organic garden at the White House. The Mid America CropLife Association recently wrote to the First Lady to urge her to consider using pesticides, or what they call crop protection products. One official with the pro-pesticide group said, “While a garden is a great idea, the thought of it being organic made [us] shudder.” Mid America CropLife represents agribusinesses like Monsanto, Dow AgroSciences and DuPont

Seems pretty stupid to complain about. What are their concerns? That they'll make a compost pile and executive free range chicken area? Maybe they are actually concerned. Without pesticides most gardens get infested with big, green catipillars that come and destroy your crop. The answer, and not many people know this, is that you use ladybugs. They're very effective and not to mention cute.


It's not easy being green.. but for some, I guess it's easy being sexy?

How do I know some of this shit? I've been meaning to plant an herb garden for some time. I have some experience in the field. I am Mexican, after all. We're good with our hands. I hope to some time soon grow my own rosemary, thyme, mint, basil, sage, pineapple sage, catnip, chives, scallions, and a tomato plat for good measure. If you've never had your own tomatoes in the summertime, you don't know what you're missing. They are the best thing possible.

If you u want to learn a bunch about organic farming and farming in general, check out this documentary: The Real Dirt on Farmer John

The epic tale of a maverick Midwestern farmer. Castigated as a pariah in his community, Farmer John bravely transforms his farm amidst a failing economy, vicious rumors, and arson. He succeeds in creating a bastion of free expression and a revolutionary form of agriculture in rural America.

Basically this guy grew up on the family farm and worked tending the land, then left to find himself. Eventually he ended up as the only one willing to take care of the farm, so he came back and started experimenting with all-organic techniques. He found the first year everything was destroyed by pests, but after a couple of seasons the crops and helpful insects gradually balanced out, and now the farm is thriving. It's on Netflix, too. Well worth the rental.



Michelle isn't the only one stealing this idea from me, me ME! It looks like our first lady (of the state) Maria Shriver is growing a garden as well.

Just days after Michelle Obama broke ground for a vegetable garden on the White House lawn, California’s first lady announced that Sacramento is getting a public edible garden too.

Maria Shriver announced Monday that a garden will be planted in May in a flower bed on the east end of Capitol Park in Sacramento.

Again, I can't blame them. It's a good idea and they should encourage more of this sort of action. It does keep you busy tending to something and it does yield results and provides you with some treats to enjoy for dinner. Whenever I go to the farmer's market I'm always giddy that I just bought some fresh fruit/veggies/meats/oysters(?) and I'm very much excited to create some food out of it. I'd imagine that the feeling is ten fold when you actually pick it out of the ground yourself.

Then we come to Disney and their efforts to recycle when they can. Ah, the wonders of animation. To think, I wanted to be apart of that industry. Now that we got the land and air covered, let's talk about the ocean as covered by Disney. They did one thing that puts a huge smile on my face. The Little Mermaid has reason to request you keep the seas clean.

The National Marine Sanctuary Foundation and its partners, launched the second phase of its Public Service Advertisement (PSA) campaign featuring characters from Disney’s film The Little Mermaid: Ariel’s Beginning (debuting on DVD August 2008), to encourage Americans to keep our ocean clean and free of debris. The first phase of the campaign, originally launched in 2006 with Disney’s Little Mermaid characters, proved such a success that the partners decided to continue the campaign in conjunction with Disney’s newest Little Mermaid film.

The campaign’s web site, www.KeepOceansClean.org. is part of a multi-media effort to help Americans understand just how massive the problem of marine debris is. Each year, an estimated 6.4 million tons of debris enters the ocean. Most of the marine debris that ends up in the ocean starts out as trash on land that isn’t properly disposed of, including consumables packaging, fast food packaging, cigarette butts/lighters, and beverage containers.

What can I say, if there's ever a reason to think of the environment it's because of a red headed mermaid. I guess I'll come out and say it, I can't stop thinking of Ariel. You can find the PSA here.



This is a product use of the characters. I once saw a snow white and sleeping beauty PSA for keeping the forest clean. I have to say, maybe you shouldn't rely on someone who has the whole lazy title of being called Sleeping Beauty to change much of anything. Damn lazy princess! Snow white isn't much better as she has seven dwarfs do all her work for her.

You can see that Ariel, someone who can't breath if you keep dumping shit into the ocean may be a stronger proponent to this sort of ecological waste. There you have it. Some pre-earth day advice and hopes that you wont just be ecologically friendly one day out of the year as is often the case with this whole hype behind earth day.