thewayne: (Default)
*SMH*

This is a tragedy and Disney is making it worse and worse. A man and his wife are at Disneyworld and have dinner at one of their restaurants. The woman, Dr. Kanokporn Tangsuan, had severe dairy and nut allergies. She expressed this problem to their waiter in detailed terms and was told that their kitchen was quite capable of handling this matter.

She died hours later of anaphylaxis. She administered an epi-pen to herself that she kept on-hand, but it wasn't enough. Sounds to me like she was given a standard dish of whatever it was she was having, rather than a custom one made special.

Her husband, Jeffrey Piccolo, is suing on behalf of the estate. And Disney is saying that because he had a trial subscription to Disney+ streaming service for one month, four years prior, that he is bound by said TOS that any legal matters have to be decided in binding arbitration. Likewise, the TOS for the Disney smartphone app has similar binding arbitration clauses.

While it is not referenced in this article, the amount Disney is fighting over? Piccolo was suing for $50,000. Basically to cover funeral costs and such.

https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/08/disney-fighting-restaurant-death-suit-with-disney-terms-absurd-lawyer-says/
thewayne: (Default)
Disney will manage its streaming side, Sony will do the physical side. Except for this one weird little line in the article: "According to Disney, the licensing model allows the studio to continue to offer films and TV shows through physical retailers...".

So sometimes Disney will still sell physical media? That doesn't make sense. If they're not continuing to churn out physical product, their cost per unit to do limited runs is going to by sky-high. Even media manufacturers who relabel product for them are going to charge them more for doing off-runs since they're not doing on-going runs for them. This is really weird.

Also mentioned is the continue softening of home media sales, which distresses me. I don't want to be forced into "buying" digital-only releases as we've seen how trustworthy these idiots are with making sure that you "own" these things for your lifetime. Give me a physical copy, or a way to download a file that I can make a copy from! Yeah, and monkeys might fly out of my butt!

The one thing that the article doesn't mention is Disney's vaults, so I imagine that those are going to continue to be clamped shut and things will go on disappearing, to reemerge every 10-15 years or slower to try to gin up consumer demand for infrequent releases.

https://variety.com/2024/film/news/disney-sony-pysical-media-dvd-blu-ray-disc-business-1235917294/

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/24/02/21/0143244/disney-strikes-deal-for-sony-to-take-over-its-dvd-blu-ray-disc-business

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/24/02/21/0143244/disney-strikes-deal-for-sony-to-take-over-its-dvd-blu-ray-disc-business
thewayne: (Default)
Now here's the interesting bit about this particular comic - it's based upon the original Mickey Mouse - Steamboat Willie!

Steamboat Willie was the first animated incarnation of what would become Mickey Mouse, and the Disney Megalith guarded the copyrights on him like a rabid... rat. They got copyright extension laws passed, but eventually, that stopped working and now Willie has fallen into the public domain and anyone can use Willy - AND ONLY WILLIE! - any way they want in the USA.

And here is a very clever interpretation.

The comic is by Randy Milholland, and the most recent strip is on top. Since it's only been going since the first of the year, there's not far to get to the bottom of the page and start scrolling up. He also provides lots of commentary about other public domain comic entities that he plans to introduce into his comic.

I think it's going to be an interesting ride!

https://mousetrappedcomic.blog/
thewayne: (Default)
YAY! *insert Happy Kermit Flail*

From the article, "In 2024, though, you'll get the chance to see those animated films on the big screen. Soul will get a theatrical release on January 12, Turning Red will hit cinemas on February 9 and Luca will emerge on a silver screen near you on March 22."

LOVED Turning Red, really enjoyed Soul at a different level. Luca was fun. Will definitely try and catch all three.

https://www.engadget.com/pixars-disney-pandemic-movies-are-hitting-theaters-after-all-193622444.html

https://entertainment.slashdot.org/story/23/12/05/239237/pixars-disney-pandemic-movies-are-hitting-theaters-after-all
thewayne: (Default)
Now THIS I like! I currently pay for, and will maintain, my Apple TV subscription. Getting Paramount on it would be great so I could see Star Trek Below Decks and the entire Picard series! I can't say there's much else on Paramount that interests me, but that could change.

Currently, Disney+ is also streaming Hulu and ESPN in a similar bundle since they own both properties.

https://gizmodo.com/apple-tv-paramount-streaming-bundle-might-be-coming-1851065662
thewayne: (Default)
This is not a repeat post!

A few weeks ago, the Marvel VFX unit unionized. NOW, a unit that DIRECTLY works for Disney and did animation for the live-action remakes of Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and The Lion King has unanimously voted to unionize!

I am sure Bob Iger is supremely unhappy, not to mention the undead head of Walt Disney in the sub-sub-basement under Cinderella's Castle is probably spewing profanities that it's a good thing it's so far underground!

https://gizmodo.com/disney-vfx-union-iatse-vote-hollywood-labor-strikes-1850895304
thewayne: (Default)
You just know Disney is not happy with this at all. Walt was a huge hater of unions, and I'm sure that's an ongoing thing with The Mouse.

Amongst their complaints are unpaid overtime, being forced to skip meal breaks, and "incredible pressure to meet deadlines".

https://gizmodo.com/marvel-vfx-studio-unionize-historic-unanimous-vote-yes-1850834298
thewayne: (Default)
Disney announces Loki, Wandavision, Mandelorian to be released on home media! These are going to be 4K UHD metal boxes, which I expect will translate to 'not cheap'. Allegedly you can play 4K Blurays on non-4K players, you just won't get the full resolution.

From the article: Loki season 1, WandaVision, and The Mandalorian seasons 1 and 2 will release physically on September 26, November 28, and December 12, respectively."

I definitely want Loki, ambivalent about Wanda and Mando.

https://gizmodo.com/wandavision-loki-mandalorian-physical-release-disney-1850757575
thewayne: (Default)
The opening credits are AI-generated and causing a lot of controversy.

Disney had always been about the artists, and now they bypass the artists and had a computer generate the credits. Now, granted it took a lot of coaxing and back and forthing to get that output, and lots of people were involved and paid for it, but amongst the controversies are that the AIs used are the ones that scraped the web and stole images from people without permission!

Now, the credits - linked in the article - are very evocative and atmospheric. I think they're pretty good, but honestly, a team of hoomans could have done better.

https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2023/06/marvel-angers-artists-and-fans-with-ai-generated-secret-invasion-tv-intro/
thewayne: (Default)
Disney+ streaming, of course. Starring Tatiana Maslany from Orphan Black, I'm glad to see her getting some major attention, she's extremely talented.



https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2022/05/orphan-blacks-tatiana-maslany-goes-green-in-she-hulk-attorney-at-law-trailer/
thewayne: (Default)
I did it by unsubscribing from Lucas emails! That's two Disney email series that I've received and unsubscribed from in as many weeks. I'M ON A ROLL! :-)

I grew increasingly disappointed by the movies and maintain that Episodes 4-6 were the best. I liked the first two seasons of Mandalorian, grew increasingly disappointed with whatever the Boba Fett series is, aside from kind of a hot mess IMHO. Personally, I probably wouldn't bother with the new Obi Wan series except Russet is in the "He's a pretty boy!" fan club, so we'll probably be watching that. She asked me about the status of our subscription this morning and she's also interested in Moon Kannnnnigit.

May the Fourth be another day on the calendar preceding the Fifth and following the Third.
thewayne: (Default)
All because Disney decided to speak out against Florida's "Don't Say Gay" legislation. Which they didn't do until Disney's LGBTQA workforce segment and friends called the company on its position.

Now, this is going to have some very interesting repercussions. The special tax district was enacted in 1967 when Roy Disney started working on Disneyworld. Walt died in December of '66 from complications of lung cancer. The special tax district effectively made Disneyworld its own city with the ability to levy tax, build roads, it was responsible for its own law enforcement, sewage, it could build its own airport and theoretically its own nuclear power plant if it wanted to. And let's face it, Disney had the money.

UPDATE: Disney does not handle law enforcement. They use Florida Highway Patrol for that. Disney Security is about on par with night watchmen, as they describe it. Orange County Sheriff's Dept maintains an office, used mainly for processing shop lifters.

And June 1 next year the special tax district goes away. TAKE THAT, MICKEY! DE SANTIS HAS YOUR NUMBER! And he'll be getting your tax dollars, too!

Or will he?

If Disneyworld is no longer a special tax district, seems to me that the local municipality is now on the hook for providing those municipal services: water, sewer, law enforcement and fire protection/EMS. And has to provide the fire equipment, too, or buy/lease the trucks/equipment from Disney on-going. There is absolutely no way the area municipality has budgeted for that as De Santis is a Republican True Believer and has been slashing taxes, causing reductions in budgets and Rainy Day funds throughout the state.

Disneyworld makes more than enough money to keep all those services well-funded for the area they're responsible for. As a big business, under the Republican paradigm of tax cuts, they shouldn't have to pay a lot as they are one of Florida's largest employer with 80,000+ employees - including all those fire fighters, EMS, police, water/sewage workers, etc. Who are no longer going to be working for Disney. Will the local municipality going to hire all of them, or are they going to contribute to local unemployment numbers?

But my point there is that if standards of service slip, Disneyworld has the right to utterly pack and slam local town council/county board meetings for not providing adequate service. According to the Wikipedia article, Walt wanted to open a theme part in the Eastern U.S. because 5% of Disneyland's visitors were coming from east of the Mississippi even though - at that time - that had 75% of the country's population.

Corporations are people, or so they say. For the most part, Disney stays pretty quiet in the political sphere. Florida just made it very personal for Disney's bottom line. The Mouse can be quite a giant when riled. It's going to be very interesting to see how this plays out over the next election cycle or two.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61179262
thewayne: (Default)
And Disney+ is not yet a week old.

In many cases, the account compromises happened because people frequently re-use passwords, so all the criminals needed to do was to take one of the well-known password dumps and test it against Disney+ until it hit, then change the password and lock the true owner out of the system.

But there are documented cases of people using unique passwords who are getting their accounts taken away by these thieves.

So the question is: has Disney's system already been hacked? There's also the possibility that a number of people have their computers infected with malware such as keyloggers and their accounts were compromised through that vector.

Here's a simple rule to follow: any web site or service that has your credit card or banking information SHOULD HAVE A UNIQUE AND STRONG PASSWORD. Re-using passwords is fine - I do it all the time - for sites that have zero monetary value. But if my banking information is tied to a site, it has a strong and unique password associated to it.

https://www.zdnet.com/article/thousands-of-hacked-disney-accounts-are-already-for-sale-on-hacking-forums/
thewayne: (Default)
Disney and Sony can't come to terms over profit-sharing over Spider-Man movies, which means no more Tom Holland Spidey within the MCU realm. Which is sad. Sony made five Spidey movies which, for me, sucked. I saw a couple, was not impressed, and stopped watching them - but I freely admit I was never a big Spider-Man fan. I loved the latest Sony: Into The Multiverse, and Sony made a lot of bucks with it. I also loved Tom's appearances in the MCU. And Tom is under contract for two more Spidey films, but they won't be able to use any of the MCU characters in it, which will be interesting.

It's all about the Benjamins: Disney wanted a 50/50 split, which is patently ridiculous. They were getting 5% of first day dollars, which is absolutely huge, plus lots of the merchandising, and probably the streaming rights. And they want 50/50? Ridiculous. Now Ars has an update to their story about Feige not being available due to his increased corporate duties. While that may be true, sounds a little like providing cover.

I expect there will be a reconciliation. After all, Spider-Man drifted in and out of the Avengers over the years. And there's just too much money for both Sony and The Giant Rat for them not to reach a mutually satisfying agreement.

https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2019/08/spider-man-is-out-of-the-mcu-thanks-to-sonydisney-standoff/

https://www.theverge.com/2019/8/20/20825580/marvel-studios-future-spider-man-films-disney-sony-fight-kevin-feige-mcu
thewayne: (Default)
Thank you, Disney and The Mouse. [/sarcasm]

Yes, thanks to Disney and Cher's ex-husband slamming into a tree while skiing, copyright got extended and for 20 years, in the USA, nothing was released into the public domain to protect Steamboat Willy. Well, this year that changes. Doesn't mean that Disney won't be gearing up for other changes and exclusions, but at least for now we'll be getting something.

Among new (almost century old) material getting released:
--Poems of Robert Frost
--Plays of Oscar Wilde
--Writings of Winston Churchill
--Cecil B. DeMille’s original The Ten Commandments
and lots of other stuff

A lot of this was already available on sites like Project Gutenberg in Canada and Australia, just not here.

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/first-time-20-years-copyrighted-works-enter-public-domain-180971016/
thewayne: (Default)
We definitely live in interesting times. Just a few nights ago I was watching tv and a commercial comes on for a Disney movie. It appeared to be Bambi, but the animation looked different. And with good reason: it was Bambi II.

Thus continuing to prove that Disney, if not Holleywood et al, is creatively bankrupt.

I came across this story about Toy Story 3 being canceled, today I see it on Slashdot with the comment that this could prove that Pixar is in charge of the merger. This is good news, but is it "too soon" good news? Is the Disney board letting Pixar think they are calling the shots for a couple of years, then bringing the hammer down and making them produce TS 3 and Snow White 7: Dopey Returns From Rehab?

Disney wants to sell toys in all the stores, online, and theme parks. They want giant-sized characters wandering around terrorizing two-year-olds. No movie, fewer toy sales.

According to this article in the Independent and the securities filing, the Creative Chief at Pixar has full decision-making capability for both Pixar and Disney Animation, he's the one that brought the axe down. Apparently they had ONE HUNDRED SCRIPT WRITERS on TS 3! No frickin' wonder they couldn't get a good script out!

And here's the Slashdot thread, if you're feeling like reading a lot of geek fan-boy rantings.

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