Toy Story Hotel

If the news that Disney are working on Toy story 4 aren't exciting enough, Disney fans in Asia and around the world will be excited to hear about Disney's plans to open a Toy Story Hotel in Shanghai. No date has been released yet but this is yet another reason to plan a vacation at Disneyland Shanghai in the future. Read more about the preliminary plans at http://www.slashfilm.com/toy-story-hotel/

All in a day at Disney

Two men, Shane Lindsay and Ted Tamburo rode ALL 46 rides at ALL four parks at Disney World on November 7th in a crazy 17 hour time span that required the two men in their 40s to run a total of 22 miles, just for the fun of it!! 

Read the full article here...http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/men-46-rides-disney-world-day-article-1.2013869

Ursula's recreation of Kim Kardashian's photo

Gael Sweeney’s Dilemma, Are Timon and Pumbaa gay?

In her article, "What Do You Want Me to Do? Dress in Drag and Do the Hula?": Timon and Pumbaa's Alternative Lifestyle Dilemma in The Lion King, Gael Sweeney proposes four very provocative yet not very convincing dilemmas present in the Lion King. Her argument is laid out very clearly and concisely, however, I feel that many of her claims lack sufficient evidence to back them up and her claim that Timon and Pumbaa are a gay couple is based on a very biased interpretation of the film.

In her opinion, the main dilemma is that “Timon and Pumbaa subvert the realistic” in this movie as they are not like all the other animals in Pride Rock and are therefore gay partners. While I agree that Timon and Pumbaa are definitely different from the other animals due to their flamboyant personalities and unconventional lifestyles, I don’t think they are any more unrealistic than any of the lions or hyenas. Talking animals are an integral part of many Disney movies and are certainly not a realistic portrayal of real life wild animals. Sweeney claims that Timon and Pumbaa only wear the disguise of a meerkat and Warthog and that they have nothing to do with Africa. However, Africa is in fact the natural habitat for these animals in real life and both their diets predominantly consist of insects, fruit and berries just like Timon and Pumbaa’s in the movie.

 In my opinion, Timon and Pumbaa’s role in the film was primarily to add some comedic relief to the movie especially after the poignant death of Mufasa, as the intended audience for the film was mainly children. People watch movies to be entertained and to laugh and that is exactly what Timon and Pumbaa succeed in doing. Personally, I think that Sweeney is reading too deep into the part of the film where Timon dresses in drag; it was meant to be funny rather than be an indication that Timon was gay. She evens argues that they are “obviously a same sex couple” based on the fact that they sing, live together, raise Simba together and work together.  Personally, none of these factors convince me that they are a gay couple. Most college students live in a dorm with a roommate of the same sex, many of us sing together in our car with our same sex friends on a daily basis, people of the same sex work together all the time and yet do not identify or are not viewed by society as being gay. While I acknowledge that they raise Simba together like a foster family, I feel that the way they care for Simba is driven out of protective animal instincts rather than their desire to be homosexual parents and have a family. We are not given any indication in the film that they longed to have a child, they simply woke up one morning and Simba was lying on the sand beside them, they did not plan or discuss it but cared for him as if he was their own. Sweeney also suggests that it is obvious that Timon and Pumbaa are outcasts of their respective societies because they are gay. They could be outcasts from their societies for a number of plausible reasons, not exclusively because they are gay and I feel that this claim is very presumptuous with very little concrete evidence to support it. It appears to me that Timon and Pumbaa’s supposed dislike of Nala and Simba’s relationship is born out of fear rather than out of distaste for heterosexual love as they feel threatened by her presence and are afraid that they will lose their new friendship with Simba.

Overall, I don’t think that Disney intended to portray Timon and Pumbaa as gay characters but perhaps the personalities of the voice actors played a significant role in any supposed “gay” characteristics or mannerisms that Timon and Pumbaa convey. Lane and Sabella, the voice actors for these two characters, were given the freedom to ad lib many of their lines, unlike many other voice actors in Disney animations. Lane openly acknowledged that he based his portrayal of Timon on himself and being a gay actor, likely contributed heavily to any homosexual tendencies of Timon in the movie.

To Infinity and Beyond

The good news is that Pixar/Disney are making another Toy Story movie, the bad news is that it's not going to be released until 2017. Toy Story 3 seemed to be the end of the line for Woody and Buzz and all the other toys as Andy began a new chapter of his life as he went off to college. Maybe Andy will pass his toys onto his children in Toy Story 4?? Whatever the plot, I'm excited that Pixar are making another Toy Story movie, as it is my favorite Pixar creation. It's also scary to think that the first movie came out the year I was born and more than twenty years later Buzz, Jessie and Woody will be saving the day once again... Read more about Pixar's plans for Toy Story 4 on Buzzfeed        http://www.buzzfeed.com/adambvary/toy-story-4-is-coming-to-theaters-in-2017

October was Breast cancer awareness month. Many people do interesting things to help educate and spread awareness about this terrible yet treatable disease that affects so many women annually. I came across a striking article on Yahoo portraying Disney princesses as breast cancer survivors. These illustrations are very original yet highly effective and are utilising the worldwide appeal of Disney princesses for a very worthwhile cause, rather than just for the usual reasons of pure commercial gain.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jeffrubin/drunk-guys-who-have-never-seen-pixars-up-experience-that-ope?sub=3500066_4171567

Drunk Guys' reactions to Up's Scene

A video that I found on Buzzfeed of different drunk guys watching the opening scenes of Up for the first time.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/jeffrubin/drunk-guys-who-have-never-seen-pixars-up-experience-that-ope?sub=3500066_4171567