Hello Dear Readers! Let’s get right to today’s topics, they are:
Win a Trip to DisneyWorld • Everybody Dies • Crew Call • California Design
• It’s A Small World • Spiders — Why’d It Have To Be Spiders!
• Nightmare At El Cap • Remembering Grandpa
Everyone loves to go on vacation and winning a vacation makes any trip even sweeter. Want to win a trip to Walt Disney World? Here’s how:
Funjet Vacations is hosting a photo contest specifically targeted to fans who love Walt Disney World Resort. Participants are encouraged to post their photos displaying their love for Walt Disney World Resort. Then, three winning families will enjoy an all-expense-paid trip for four to Walt Disney World Resort this November. One of those families will have the rare opportunity to spend a night in Cinderella Castle (photo below) on 11-11-11!
From September 20 – October 4th, 2011, the Funjet website and Facebook page will feature photo submission forms for interested contestants to enter photos displaying their love for Walt Disney World Resort. Random winners will be awarded daily prizes and featured on the main contest pages. After the photo submission ends on October 4th, people will have one week to vote for their favorites. The two top vote-getters along with a 'Funjet Favorite' will be awarded the Walt Disney World Resort trips and become eligible for a night in Cinderella Castle.
For contest entry forms, visit this link.
Is your October calendar filled with Halloween events you want to attend? Well, here’s another one to add to your list, the Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival, which takes place just north of Disneyland in the city of Brea:
Just in time for Halloween, a brand new horror film festival is coming to one of the most terrifying places in the world: Orange County, California! Friday, October 21 —Saturday, October 22, the Brea Plaza Cinema will host the Everybody Dies Horror Film Festival. The fest will present a variety of independent short and feature films displaying everything from brain-chompin' zombies to knife-wieldin' crazy killers. The weekend will be presided over by the festival's mistress of ceremony, the super sexy psychopath: Machete Betty.
Brea Plaza Cinema is located at 453 S. Associated Road in Brea, CA (Next to the 57 Freeway & Imperial Highway). For more information on the film lineup or to purchase tickets, visit the festival’s website: http://www.EverybodyDiesFilmFest.com
Switching gears, from horror to Hollywood, I love behind the scenes stuff, don’t you? Getting to peek beyond the camera or behind the curtain and see how stuff is done is just terribly interesting and continually fascinating. The current exhibit at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences allows you to do just that — Crew Call 2011: Celebrating the Crafts Images from The Society of Motion Picture Still Photographers:
The Society of Motion Picture Still Photographers returns to the Academy’s Grand Lobby Gallery with a show of more than 115 new images, taken on film sets by 25 of their members. The exhibition will include photographs depicting the work of numerous, and essential, 'below-the-line' craftspeople on a movie set, from animal wranglers, puppeteers, makeup artists, seamstresses, stunt performers and prop masters to grips, gaffers and P.A.s. Several images show how production design and visual effects departments work preparing sets and staging action sequences, and provide glimpses of how the magic of the movies is achieved during long days and nights of shooting.
The exhibit runs through December 18th and is open Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 AM to 5:00 PM, and on weekends from noon to 6:00 PM. Admission is free. The Academy Grand Lobby Gallery is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, CA and is closed on Mondays. For more information, visit this link.
I grew up in an era when what we now refer to as “Midcentury Modern,” was nothing special but just the stuff we lived with. Now it’s the subject of museum exhibits and this one, opening October 1st at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, sounds fascinating — California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way"
This exhibition is the first major study of California midcentury modern design. With more than 300 objects—furniture, ceramics, metalwork, fashion and textiles, and industrial and graphic design—the exhibition examines the state’s role in shaping the material culture of the entire country. Organized into four thematic areas, the exhibition aims to elucidate the 1951 quote from émigré Greta Magnusson Grossman that is incorporated into the exhibition’s title: California design “is not a superimposed style, but an answer to present conditions…It has developed out of our own preferences for living in a modern way."
California Design, 1930–1965: "Living in a Modern Way" runs from October 1st, 2011 trough March 25th, 2012 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in the Resnick Pavilion. LACMA is located at 5905 Wilshire Blvd., in Los Angeles CA. For more information, including hours and entry fees, visit this link.
I’ve got two more exhibits to tell you about, one is sweet, one ... not so much. We’ll go with the sweet first...
Gallery Nucleus is currently running an exhibit based on Disney Press’ latest children’s book, which just happens to be about It’s A Small World:
Timed with the release of illustrator Joey Chou's latest children's book from Disney Press, Disney: It’s A Small World, a select group of talent will contribute work paying homage to this beloved and enduring theme of global peace. The book features Chou's illustrations interpreting the Sherman Brothers classic song written for the popular Disney park attraction.
It's a Small World at Gallery Nucleus is open now through October 3rd, 2011. The gallery is located at 210 E. Main St. in Alhambra, CA. For hours and more information, visit this link.
The not so sweet exhibit is perfect for this time of year. It’s full of creepy crawlies — the Spider Pavilion opens September 25th at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County:
While the butterflies are away, the spiders will come out to play! Come meet some of the world's most misunderstood creatures in a one-of-a-kind exhibit. Get up close and personal with these shy and fragile animals by placing yourself into their enclosure and marvel at their beauty and at the magnificent webs they produce. The Spider Pavilion is a beautifully landscaped area in which the spiders are able to create their webs in plain view, allowing a very immersive experience. A visit to this exhibit gives you an opportunity to examine the spiders as close as you wish in a comfortable and safe environment. None of the animals exhibited in the Spider Pavilion are dangerous to humans and these spiders are extremely reluctant to leave the silken webs they produce.
The Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County is located at 900 Exposition Blvd., in Los Angeles, CA. For hours, entry fees, and more information, visit this link.
I haven’t talked about the El Capitan Theatre in a while, so I thought now would be a good time to bring that subject up again ... because you know, their annual screening of Nightmare Before Christmas is coming up. There is nothing better than seeing a film as it was meant to be seen, and that’s on a gigantic screen in a great movie house, which describes El Cap to a tee.
Nightmare Before Christmas 4D (they’ll be adding wind, snow, and fog to further enhance the film) runs at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood, October 21st through November 3rd. And if you really want to go all out, enjoy the Pumpkin King Dinner before the film:
Disney’s Soda Fountain and Studio Store presents The Pumpkin King Dinner on select dates between October 21st and November 3rd. Two seatings per Day: 5:40 PM with a 7:00 PM movie and 8:00 PM with a 9:15 PM movie. Tickets must be purchased in advance in conjunction with movie ticket. You choose one of four entrees for the Pumpkin King Dinner at booking. The meal also includes beverage, dessert, a commemorative photo, and special gift. Prices include movie ticket, Adults: $43, Child/Senior: $40, and VIP: $52
The El Capitan Theatre is located at 6838 Hollywood Blvd, in Hollywood, CA. For showtimes, tickets, and more information, visit this link.
We’ll close out today’s edition of Pressing Matters with a few words about remembering a grandpa, a man you and I would call Walt Disney.
Recently, the Walt Disney Family Museum hosted a very special program entitled, Walt Disney Our Grandpa. Five of Walt’s grandchildren got together to talk about what it was like having Walt Disney as their grandpa. Seating was limited, tickets were instantly snapped up, and lots of folks, myself included, wished they could have been there. Luckily for those of us who couldn’t attend, we can enjoy the event vicariously — the museum has written about the day on their blog:
From left to right: Tammy, Chris, Joanna, Walter and Jennifer.
Millions of children around the world knew him as Uncle Walt, but to Chris, Joanna, Tamara, Jennifer, and Walter Miller, he was Grandpa. In honor of National Grandparents Day, The Walt Disney Family Museum hosted five of Walt Disney’s grandchildren as they reminisced not about the internationally-renowned storyteller, but about the attentive “Grandpa” who, as Tamara Miller recalled, “Appreciated and adored all of us.”
Visiting Disneyland with Walt was an unforgettable experience. The grandchildren fondly remembered spending the night in Walt’s apartment on Main Street U.S.A. Located just a few yards away from the Jungle Cruise, Chris recalled that they could hear the ominous chants of the headhunters’ village—all night long. That sound is still stuck in their minds to this day. Joanna remembered how Walt would stuff his pockets full of pre-autographed note papers before leaving the apartment so that he could be ready for the autograph hounds that might stop him in the Park. She also remembered how casually and warmly he would speak with all of the Cast Members throughout the park.
Walt Disney and grandson Christopher at Disneyland.
One Disneyland experience that the grandchildren were unanimously terrified of was riding in the parades with Walt. They hated being in the spotlight, but now understand that he was only showing off the grandchildren he was so proud of.
At the end of the program, there was a Q&A with the grandkids. Walt’s granddaughter, Joanna, turned the tables and posed a question to the crowd, she wanted to know just what is it everyone finds so interesting about her grandpa?
I’m in the same age range as Walt’s grandkids and I was one of the millions of kiddies who thought of him as Uncle Walt and couldn’t wait to see him on the television every Sunday on Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. I can’t speak for all of you, but I can tell you why I think Walt was interesting. There’s the usual, he was creative, a downright genius, a visionary, etc. But more than anything, I think he was interesting because he never forgot the child he once was. So many adults do, you know? Not Walt, he was a grown man who was capable of enjoying things with child-like glee.
I still remember watching him on television talking about the new attraction they were building at Disneyland and the pure joy he radiated as he described how the boats would exit Pirates of the Caribbean. You go down a waterfall to enter the ride, he explained. And then, I swear you could see a twinkle in his eye as the little boy took over and he described that if the boats went down a waterfall, they would have to go back up a waterfall to get out.
As long as I live, I’m never going to forget that moment I watched Walt Disney talk about building Pirates. And every time I go back up that waterfall, I think of Walt Disney and all the marvelous and magical moments he has brought to my life.
What about you? Why do you find Walt Disney interesting? To read the full story about Walt Disney Our Grandpa, visit this link.
Okay, we’re all through here for today. If you want to know what I’m up to, you need to follow Pressing Matters on Twitter. You never know what you’ll find there — food, museums, shopping, Disneyland, Halloween! Follow along as I search for the all the latest Pressing Matters & tweet about what I find:
I'll say goodbye until we meet again to discuss more... |
