Attack of the new Star Wars movie

"Hey Rocky, watch me pull a new Star Wars movie out of my hat!”

This is a bit of news that I definitely wasn’t expecting. Most die-hard Star Wars fans are aware that a new animated TV series featuring “Star Wars” characters was in the works. But to find out that another MOVIE is coming out later this year?! The same year that a new Indiana Jones movie is due to arrive? Amazing.

The movie, like the future TV series, will feature computer animation rather than real people in the roles. It takes place during the “Clone Wars,” after “Attack of the Clones” and before “Revenge of the Sith.” Apparently, while working on the series, George Lucas decided that it was possible to make a theatrical film out of it, and so he has done. I assume that the film will be able to stand on its own, and not be called “Episode 2 and a half.”

I have sort of mixed feelings at this point. Animation is great, but it’s not the same as “reality.” We may miss some of the dramatic tension that only a live actor or actress can give. But we shall see. It certainly sounds like a good time. Back when “Phantom Menace” came out, some radio Djs joked that the film would have made twice as much money if everyone who saw it hadn’t only bought one ticket. Ouch. Well, this “Clone Wars” film, along with “Indy 4”, changes all that. It means I’ll have to buy two movie tickets this year instead of one.

http://www.starwars.com/

=============================================

TAKE A BITE OUT OF CRIME: The latest installment of “Just My Show” has an interview with Jack Keil, the voice of McGruff, the crime dog. Here’s where you can listen - and be sure to check out some of their past shows in the reruns section!
http://www.justmyshow.com/PSA_Paradise.html

=============================================

DINKY:1, POPEYE 1: It looks like some episodes of “The All-New Popeye Hour” will be making it to DVD after all. Read all about it here:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/All-New-Popeye-Hour-Volume-1-Trailer/9171

And speaking of strong people, future seasons of “The Incredible Hulk” are coming your way:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Incredible-Hulk-Seasons-3-and-4/9168

============================================

NOT MARY ANN! Sigh. Dawn Wells, the actress who played Mary Ann on “Gilligan’s Island,” has been arrested on drug charges. Sigh. Ginger, I could understand, but not Mary Ann! The Skipper, maybe. But not Mary Ann. Sigh.
Read more about Gilligan’s Island at my post:

http://heroshaven.blogspot.com/2007/02/gingers-i-mean-gilligans-island.html

And attention K-Mart shoppers: You may have noticed that a “Complete Series” set of Gilligan’s Island is now available for purchase. It’s what we have to rely on until Gilligan returns to a TV set near you.
==================================

CAROLYNE, YOGA AND YOU: As the unofficial leader of the “Carolyne Heldman fan club” (yes, I know there wasn’t any such thing until I made it up just now), I’m proud to announce that you can now watch clips of Carolyne online! No, not from her MTV days. This is the new Carolyne, the yoga instructor. She’s teaching yoga classes, and you can see her demonstrate some yoga moves on Expertvillage.com. Her series is on how to avoid common yoga injuries. The site has a brief biography of Carolyne since her post-MTV days:

In 2001, Carolyne Heldman discovered the healing and transformative powers of yoga. She soon became hooked and began studying with some of the preeminent teachers of our time: John Friend, Sean Corn, Ana Forrest and Rodney Yee. However, Heldman derives special inspiration from the teachings of Shiva Rea, director of yoga at Sacred Movement in Los Angeles. Carolyne teaches in three Denver-area yoga studios and has been teaching for two years.

http://www.expertvillage.com/video-series/4267_avoid-yoga-injuries.htm

I practice what I call “poor man’s yoga”. It’s basically just some simple stretching exercises. When it starts to hurt, I stop. I’m thinking that watching Carolyne’s videos will ensure that it never starts to hurt!

For more about Carolyne, click on “December 2007” in my archives.
===============================================

The suite life at Disneyland

Most visitors to Disneyland are completely unaware of the fact that they are, for all intents and purposes, peons. They are the lower class. They are the adoring masses who slave for the benefit of the power elite. Hey think about it. All the “important people” there are either big movie stars (Mickey, Donald, etc.) or royalty (Snow White, Cinderella, etc.) or both! This blatant inequality is evident regardless of the fictional characters. First there was “Club 33,” an exclusive dinner club for the upper crust right above the Pirate ride in New Orleans Square. No one is exactly sure how you can join this club. Honestly! Nobody seems to know! Or at least, nobody is telling. Talk about sinister! What do I have to do, bring back Snow White's heart in a box?

Now, we have word of the Disneyland “Dream Suite”. It's actually a beautiful suite that was apparently once intended to be Walt Disney's apartment in the park. (I thought that Walt's apartment was over the Main Street fire house. Two apartments in the park? Hmmm. One for Walt's wife, the other for Julie Andrews. . .I'M KIDDING, I'M KIDDING!!) Take a look at these awesome pictures of the suite, courtesy of Mouseplanet.com:

http://www.mouseplanet.com/articles.php?art=mm080131av

But how exactly does one get the chance to spend the night in this lavish suite? How much does it cost? Well, for the time being it's FREE- assuming you are very, very lucky and win a night there in their current promotion. Beyond that? Not even the folks at Mouseplanet are sure what this room will be used for. It makes me wonder if this room could be used as a dealmaker. For example:

DISNEY: We want to build another theme park over the freeway.
ANAHEIM: Well, I don’t know. . .
DISNEY: We’ll pay the city a gazillion dollars!
ANAHEIM: Well, I don’t know. . .
DISNEY: We’ll give the entire City Council admission to Club 33!
ANAHEIM: Well, I don’t know. . .
DISNEY: And we’ll throw in a weekend stay at the dream suite!
ANAHEIM: Well. . .okay.

Walt Disney once said “Disneyland is a show.” It certainly is. There are so many things to see and do that you could spend days there and not take it all in. But how would you feel if someone told you that you weren’t allowed to go on a particular ride? And when you asked why not, they said “because only special guests can do that.” By allowing Club 33 and this dream suite, Disney is (perhaps unintentionally) creating an “upper class” in the “happiest place on Earth.” I’m not sure how happy I would be knowing that I wasn’t allowed to enter a certain fine restaurant or check into a certain suite. Disney people, please don’t treat us like trash. That’s not what Walt would have wanted.

CAN YOU PICTURE THAT? : My family rarely if ever used Polaroid cameras. But when they first came out, they created quite a stir. For it was no longer necessary to drop off your film at the store and wait a week (!) or more to get your prints. Amazingly, a print would appear within a few minutes after you took the picture. It would come right out of the camera! True, you couldn’t make copies of it, but there it was! Your own picture within minutes! Amazing!
While checking out Todd Franklin’s “Neato Coolville” blog, I found out that Polaroid camera film is about to “fade away.” No more instant photos! Perhaps in this digital age, “instant” photos have become old-fashioned. But they’re not going away without a last look. Enjoy Todd’s Polaroid photos below:

http://neatocoolville.blogspot.com/2008/02/where-have-you-gone-polaroid.html

YOUTUBE, YEAR TWO: Yep, I'm getting older. It's hard to believe that my YouTube page will be a year old this week. Even sadder when you consider that I still don't have any videos posted! But thankfully, other posters have continued to put up their treasures for us to enjoy. I've only put a few of them in my favorites folder. There are many more, and I would encourage you to do your own search. Here are just a few of the things I've enjoyed in the past year on YouTube:

The "Jedi training academy" at Disneyland

John Denver and "The Lord's prayer"

Seekers concert footage ("Georgy Girl" and "Morningtown ride")

Ed Ames: They call the wind Mariah

Commercial: Sparkletts Water ("Me and Sparkletts water makin' friends!")

Commercial: McDonald's shamrock shakes (remember the Green Grimace?)

Also, it seems that YouTube and Viacom have come to terms with each other. At least there hasn't been much talk lately about shutting down the site due to copyright restrictions. Let's hope we've reached the end of all that. Or perhaps by this time next year, it may not matter, as the "world" makes the transition to digital broadcasting. Ugh! Will we have to convert everything to a new format again? I still haven't copied all my VHS stuff to DVD! Please, oh leaders of the video world, take pity on us. Don't change formats on us every decade! We can only handle so much.