Guygadbois sez, "Two years in the making, this one-of-a-kind mechanized miniature Main Street Electrical Parade runs nighttime shows from a display the size of a coffee table."
This guy is the poster child for Happy Mutantism. What a wonderful video. I want to grow up to be him.
The Orange Bird, mascot of the Florida Citrus Growers and one-time Adventureland icon from the opening days of the park, has been relaunched at Walt Disney World after a campaign by Disney parks fans and their sympathizers in the park. A source close to the company says, "People had to REALLY fight the system to make this happen, and were almost laughed out of the company for wanting to try. A lot rides on the success of this line." Disney parks management is in a perpetual three-sided war between engaging with its trufans, maintaining margins, and trying to engage people who visit rarely, if at all.
Soon after his unveiling and introduction in Magic Kingdom, the Orange Bird was recognized nationwide through his association with Florida citrus growers. The character was seen on billboards, television advertisements, and a wide assortment of Orange Bird products that could be found throughout Walt Disney World and the Sunshine State.
But the Orange Bird’s permanent home was in Adventureland, where he swung from a branch of the fabled Sunshine Tree. For many years, park guests could pose for pictures with a strolling character, designed by Disney Legend Bill Justice. Sadly, in 1987, the Orange Bird left the Magic Kingdom when the Sunshine contract with the Florida Citrus Commission expired.
Today, after a quarter century away from his Magic Kingdom home, the Orange Bird has returned, allowing a whole new generation of guests to experience this classic Disney character. “With the 40th Anniversary for Walt Disney World, we thought this was a nice way to bring a slice of 1971 back to the park… bringing back the original figure is a great way to do that,” Jason said. In honor of this milestone, several teams within The Walt Disney Company have come together to celebrate the Orange Bird’s return. At Magic Kingdom Park, the original Citrus Swirl—along with new refreshing offerings—is available once again at the Sunshine Tree Terrace. A whole new array of adorable Orange Bird merchandise will roll out in the months ahead. And the Walt Disney Archives has dug deep to uncover rare documents, photos, and stories that illuminate the character’s origins.
Apropos yesterday's post about 1970s science fiction convention costumes, Strephon Taylor sez, "I just saw your post on the 1970's science fiction costumes. I made a documentary on the early northern California Star Trek conventions called "Back to Space-Con", it has a ton of costume footage, I think you will dig it. We have some of the earliest full sound film on the subject. We got contacted by the producers of Trek Nation for our convention footage! "
This feature-length documentary film tells the story of the 1970's Bay Area Sci-Fi conventions called Space-Con. Told by the original organizers and fans. Includes celebrity interviews, costume contests and over 40 minutes of rare convention footage. See the Federation Trading Post in Berkeley and very first Star Trek convention in San Francisco. A real treat for any Star Trek or Star Wars fan. Film stars Bob Wilkins, John Stanley, Ernie Fosselius, and many more.
STNautilus created a detailed model-train replica of the long-gone, dearly missed Disneyland Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland. Dan sez, "I nearly plotzed from this scene being so charming." (Warning: contains animated varmints).
Bill Lin snapped this picture of a ice-sculpture AT-AT in Bend, OR, made with chisel and chainsaw. This is just a little thumbnail, click through to see the full image at Kotaku. AT-ATs make surprisingly good fanac fodder.
Jeff sez, "Communicore Weekly is a brand new, online VidCast/Podcast with George Taylor and Jeff Heimbuch, exploring Disney news and obscure history. With segments such as the Bathroom Break & The Five Legged Goat, you'll never look at Disney the same way again. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll have a new favorite online show. Come on and get geeky with Communicore Weekly!"
My daughter's almost four, and we quite enjoy fishing around on YouTube for great cartoons to watch. I've just introduced her to the Animaniacs (don't tell her, but we've got the whole DVD set coming for her birthday!), starting with the classic I'm Mad, which led me to this kick-ass live-action fan-version posted in 2007.
Matt Freidell, a video editor/producer who created a company called The Glossary to produce short trailers for books, wrote to say, "I read the novella included in your newest release The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow and between the nostalgia of the actual Disney ride and all the great futuristic elements, it really conjured up some fantastic visuals. I noticed you didn't have any kind of videos promoting it, so I decided to put together a little something in my spare time."
That 'little something' is this tremendous video. I'm immensely gratified and grateful for Matt's work, not to mention excited and delighted!
Jim, the resident genius at Jim's Pancakes, has made an AT-AT Walker OUT OF PANCAKES! PANCAKES!
Total time to create it was about 15 minutes, mostly because it took a while to get the legs “crispy” enough to hold up the body. From there, I placed the parts back on the griddle and used more pancake batter as “glue”. If you let the parts sit on low heat for long enough, the batter eventually cooks through and makes a nice strong connection.
Noah sez, "Freehand Profit, the guy behind the fantastic MASK365 project, has created an incredible new piece for Star Wars Remix: a wearable Stormtrooper helmet made out of 2 pairs of Adidas sneakers!"
StarWarsRemix.com launched August 30th with an entry from Noah himself, make sure you check out his Aspirin Stormtroopers. Since then they’ve continued the creative flow with blasters set to kill, even Charlton from Burger 365 came up with the Twist TIE Fighter. In the spirit of the numerous sneaker gas masks from the Branding Wars/MASK365 I chose to create a stormtrooper helmet made from the exclusive Adidas X Star Wars Superskate Mids. This was the first piece that required more than one pair of shoes to create and it gave me hell. I pushed through and couldn’t be happier with the result. The best part about it is it’s being sold on eBay right now.
Kevin sez, "The Fellowship of the Strings finally recorded their hot new single, The Ballad of Helm's Deep! We think the Boing Boing crowd would definitely get a kick out of our music, and of course we've included the lyrics and guitar chords if anyone would like to learn it."
"No Escape" is an addition to the growing canon of high-production-value short fanfilms inspired by Portal/Portal II. Though simpler in plot than "Beyond Aperture," it's nevertheless a pretty pulse-pounding bit of entertainment, and unmistakably affectionate toward the original source.
Hugh sez, "This corset was made by my good friend, Nikki Cohen of MayFaire Moon Corsets. It's designed to look like the TARDIS from Dr. Who. It may be the first corset that's larger on the inside than the outside..."
Bill Lin snapped this picture of a ice-sculpture AT-AT in Bend, OR, made with chisel and chainsaw. This is just a little thumbnail, click through to see the full image at Kotaku. AT-ATs make 
