Tribute: Russi Taylor

Posted on July 31, 2019 at 9:54 am

We mourn the loss of sweet-voiced, sweet-spirited Russi Taylor, who was the voice of Minnie Mouse and many other animated characters. Michael Cavna has a lovely tribute to her in the Washington Post, and to her made-for-a-movie love story with — wait for it — the guy who voiced Mickey. They met when she was cast as Minnie in 1986, and fell in love.

She did other characters as well.

“When they were together, like Laurel and Hardy, they were just meant to be together as a team — and as a lifelong team,” Farmer said. “If you looked in Webster’s and saw the word ‘marriage,’ it should have a picture of Wayne and Russi.

“They were just so in love and so wonderful together. I think that love came through in their performances, and gave it a little something extra.”

Related Tags:

Actors Tribute

On Her Shoulders — PBS July 22, 2019

Posted on July 18, 2019 at 9:10 am

On Her Shoulders is the story of Nadia Murad Basee Tah, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her advocacy on behalf of the victims of ISIL. The film has its national broadcast debut on the PBS documentary series POV and pov.org on Monday, July 22 at 9 p.m. (check local listings). The film is a co-production of RYOT Films and American Documentary | POV. POV is American television’s longest-running independent documentary series now in its 32nd season. The film was an official selection at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and the 2018 SXSW Film Festival and was shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature for the 91st Academy Awards.

I reviewed the film for rogerebert.com. An excerpt:

Director Alexandria Bombach understands that there are two stories here. First there is the inspiring story of a young woman who had no ambitions of becoming a world figure but who overcame unthinkable loss and trauma by devoting herself to helping others. Then there is the story of a young woman who is forced to relive her most painful experience over and over and who is constantly bombarded by the overwhelming needs of others, from the photo-op sympathy of politicians and journalists to the heartbreak of her surviving community, most still living in refugee camps, who sob in her arms and beg her to get them some help.

Related Tags:

Television

Comic-Con 2019: 50th Anniversary!

Posted on July 18, 2019 at 12:23 am

Fifty years ago, a bunch of comic book fans got together to swap comics and stories and now it is a world-class extravaganza encompassing every possible category of what they call the lively arts. Television, movies, games, books, and, still comics — everything with an element of fantasy or science fiction and plenty that is just plain entertaining. Television comedy favorites are here: Superstore, The Good Place, Seinfeld, Brooklyn 99. Upcoming shows like Pennyworth (the backstory of Batman’s Alfred character) and The Dark Crystal.

This afternoon, I visited the FutureTech Live demonstration of amazing technology, including Focals by North, eyeglasses with a holographic display of your appointments and apps, VR technology to simulate a forklift for training purposes, the KOOV robotics and coding kids that let kids build all kinds of fabulous toys while learning STEM skills, a stunning tour of the galaxy from the University of California at San Diego Center for Astrophysics and Space Sciences, and an astonishing 3D VR art creation program from Deploy XR. I saw glow in the dark and LED-lit temporary tattoos from Sprite Lights.

More coming, including cosplayers and interviews. Stay tuned.

Related Tags:

Understanding Media and Pop Culture

Behind the Scenes: The Lion King

Posted on July 17, 2019 at 8:00 am

They’re not revealing much about the technology, but this behind the scenes look at the making of the new “Lion King” is fun.

Related Tags:

Behind the Scenes

What It’s Like to be a Disney Historian

Posted on July 8, 2019 at 3:13 pm

At the splendid Library of Congress tribute on the 70th anniversary of Disney’s Cinderella, I got to speak to Mary Walsh, the Managing Director of Disney’s animation library for thecredits.org.

She told me that “Cinderella” was Disney’s first animated feature after WWII, where it was mostly working to support the war effort. So this return to classic fairy tales was very meaningful for them. An excerpt from the interview:

Cinderella’s blue gown has to be one of Disney’s most iconic dresses.

Yes, like the ultimate Christian Dior design from the 1950s. It’s really interesting for me because if you think about the time in which this story takes place in the 19th century, 1800 – 1840-ish, but yet it was made in the late 1940s and released in 1950, so the design aesthetic that they chose is influenced by that particular time period in France but also the reflections of the artist working in the late ’40s to early ’50s. So her hair, the style of her gown, reflect both eras.