"The old formats are dead! Long live the old formats!"

We have been awaiting the death of movies, film, flickers, the studios, for decades now, but looking at the boxoffice figures for 2009 we can see that it was yet another stellar year for the industry. The thing that continues to change is not the appetite of the movie going audience but how they "see" film, how they view movies not only in the theaters but at home as well. The 2009 holiday shopping season saw the rise, not only in the number of advertisments but in sheer tonnage moved out the door, of Blu-ray high definition movie players and large flatscreen tvs, showing once again that if you make quality goods affordable to the middle class, technology, and peoples tastes, will change.

I am happy, once again, for the change. I like to stay a trend or two behind the bulk of humanity. I like to catch up after the parade has passed and reap the benefits of the discard pile. Right now is a grand time to be a film collector. VHS tapes for fifty cents a throw, pawn shop DVD's going for little more than a buck, second hand hi-fi players for under ten dollars and used dvd players for less than the price of a movie ticket.

For the time being I am not too worried about the imminent demise of Hollywood Video or Blockbuster rental stores. I am not struggling with the high cost of retail films or outrageous ticket prices at the door. I have my own "movies on demand" system going on at home 24/7 and have hundreds of movie titles to choose from. Let it rain, let it pour. The Futon Cinema is always ready to screen something new or old, and baby, if I haven't watched it before, it's all new to me.

Action!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Return of Captain EO

I was the source of all forms of envy when I was a child. I had a doting grandfather who lavished me with toys. I was a good student and was the pet of all the ancient aunts who made it a bad habit to rub my good grades into the noses of my pesky, wild cousins. I also had the distinct priviledge of being the only kid in the family tree to go to Disneyland twenty some odd times before I hit high school. It was a sore point in many circles of kiddom, but I didn't care. I was a true Disney nut. I caught their movies whenever I could, read the comics, cried the day that Walt died. As I grew up I cultivated friendships with other Disney nuts, making major battle plans for each and every vacation and holiday period in order to maximize our time in the park. Didn't hurt that I lived six miles away, close enough that I could walk there, close enough that I could sit on my garage roof and watch the fireworks go off each and every summer night.

So, it baffles me to this day that right before I went off to join the fleet I stumbled on a job there and turned it down. Disney offered me a job selling ice cream bars full time, or, as full time as a summer job can be. My head wasn't in the right place to sell ice cream at the end of high school. I was spoiled, I must admit, with the wild times my free drive in pass and my swap meet job offered. I looked hard at the restrictions that working every night until one or two would have on my "love" life and drinking soirees with my pals and said nix to that. Closest I ever got to renewing that particular form of joy was bagging a reference library job with their research firm right out of the service. Instead of pushing ice cream bars at the Park I ended up checking out books to the Grand Old Men of Disney. What a difference a few years before the mast make.

All the same I've remained a big fan of the organization and their product all my life. My kids were raised on a steady diet of renewly rereleased classics and were treated to big screen thrills whenever new Disney product hit the market. And while we haven't made the Disneyland pilgrimage as much as I would have liked, all but the youngest has had a chance to visit the Magic Kingdom. So that makes it almost time to load up the van and haul them down for a week or so to do the long soak in the all various forms of magic that make up Disneyland.

In the meantime I keep up with the business of the Parks with posts on Miceage.com or via news announcements in the LA Times. It was great to see that the old Michael Jackson attraction Captain EO was back online. It was never a grand piece of 3-D but it had serious film pedigree. Francis Ford Coppola as director, George Lucas as producer, Angelica Huston as a the very scary space witch and Michael, hip thrusting, moon walking Michael Jackson as Captain EO.

After reading the article posted below I might have to race down the coast and catch it again but luckily for me and the rest of the world the film is available for all to see on YouTube. It was grand to see it again, even without the 3-D specks. I was amazed to see how fresh and vital that incredibly cool young man was back in his heyday. It truly was a great time to see him up on the screen like that, in a family park like Disneyland. Now, with his passing, the movie is a sweet bit of homage, a nice touch of nostalgia, a nice "adios, Michael". Give it whirl. It was far more fun than I remembered, and maybe, just maybe you'll feel the same way, too.

Action!

LA Times: Captain EO rides again!
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2010/02/michael-jackson-fans-line-up-at-disneyland-for-return-of-captain-eo.html

Captain EO, Pt I:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AstW05bDiQU

Captain EO, Pt II:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l2Zt-57Cg0U


Yesterland's story of Disneyland's Captain EO attraction:
http://www.yesterland.com/eo.html

Great all around source of Disney news:
http://www.miceage.com/
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