13 July 2009 @ 05:43 pm
63 icons: The Lion King
Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket
The rest HERE at my LJ

 
 
Before we start, there is no fundamental difference between a dove and a pigeon. The birds in this family called pigeons are often larger while the doves are more petite, but this doesn't always stand. The Perth area is home to 5 species of dove/pigeon, 3 of them feral (and the two native ones are hard to find in the metro area).

Coo-coo C-joob )
 
 
Current Music: alking - Winamp *** 4637. Pink Floyd - Keep Talking
 
 
By David Lambert - The National Parks: America's Best Idea is a six-episode series directed by Ken Burns and written and co-produced by Dayton Duncan. Filmed over the course of more than six years at... (more)
 
 
13 July 2009 @ 02:26 pm
The Lion King for [info]disney100
Count: 100/100
Finished: July 13, 2009

Teasers:


( Hakuna matata! )
 
 

While droves of Harry Potter devotees are positively tingly in anticipation for the July 15 release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince—the sixth film based on J.K Rowling's beloved book series—there is a sobering fact to remember that tempers some of the euphoria. After eight years of a seemingly endless stream of annual Potter film sequels to count on and look forward to, this film means that there are only two more movies to come ... ever!

It's a depressing idea indeed, and one that even the Harry Potter cast can't quite fathom, as they admitted last week in a news conference in New York City to promote the latest film. Actors Daniel Radcliffe (Harry Potter), Rupert Grint (Ron Weasley), Emma Watson (Hermione Granger), Tom Felton (Draco Malfoy) and Bonnie Wright (Ginny Weasley) all seemed uncomfortable contemplating the franchise's end.

 
 

Over his career, Christopher Heyerdahl has played a Wraith, a demon, Bigfoot and now the centuries-old vampire Marcus, in the cast of the upcoming sequel film The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

It's perhaps one of the highest-profile roles for the versatile Canadian actor, who is known to fans of Syfy's Sanctuary, Stargate Atlantis and dozens of films and TV shows.

 
 

As we all know, the rules of life and death are different in superhero comic books. No death can remain unreversed; a character is not permanently dead unless you see the body, and even then the grievousness of the wounds and the finality of the corpse's disposal do nothing but ramp up the ridiculousness of the devices that must later be used to bring him back.

In a field where Doctor Doom once survived being cremated, where Spider-Man's Aunt May is still alive and kicking despite two separate funerals, where the Jason Todd Robin came back from his own burial because a super-strong madman spent a few years angrily punching a wall, and—most importantly, for our purposes—where the assassination of Captain America in the aftermath of Marvel's Civil War led to his replacement by the teen sidekick who was himself blown up real good way back in World War II, it was only a matter of time before the star-spangled avenger returned to fight anew, even though we all saw the burial of the man shot dead on the Manhattan courthouse steps.

 
 

Some adaptations of classic stories make surprising changes to the source material. Romeo x Juliet probably sets the record for how quickly this is put into practice; Shakespeare's original play opens with a street brawl between warring families, but this fanciful TV anime adaptation begins with one family completely overwhelming the other, a botched assassination and a flight to safety on a winged horse.

In Romeo x Juliet's world, the clan Montague reigns over the city of Neo Verona, which floats high in the sky, suspended by some arcane technology, and appears to be constructed from at least three separate Renaissance-era cities stacked atop one another. The rival Capulets, almost wiped out by the Montagues' power grab 14 years earlier, have been driven underground. The last surviving scion of the family and the remnants of the rest of the clan bide their time hiding in a theater run by a skilled but laconic playwright named Bill Shakespeare. How clever.

 
 

Finishing third after two weekends in the number one spot, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen took in an estimated $24.2 million domestically for the July 10 weekend, raising its domestic haul to $339.2 million, the Associated Press reported; the sequel passed the $319 million total of 2007's original Transformers.
...

Caprica writer Jane Espenson tweeted that her former Buffy the Vampire Slayer co-writer Drew Z. Greenberg has joined the writing staff of the Syfy Battlestar Galactica prequel series.
...

 
 

Young Kodi Smit-McPhee is set to make his mark in serious movies as the unnamed Boy in the upcoming film adaptation of Cormac McCarthy's grim post-apocalyptic novel The Road, which opens Oct. 16.

But before audiences have a chance to see him with Viggo Mortensen, he's reportedly about to be cast in another high-profile drama with otherworldly overtones, the Australian Moviehole Web site reports:

 
 

Seems like the zombie genre just won't die. And the trend seems to favor funny movies about the flesh-eating undead.

First came Shaun of the Dead, soon we'll have Zombieland, and coming up is Gatekeeper, which has the distinction of featuring Hellboy and Marty McFly's mom together for the first time!

 
 

Hollywood loves toys! Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen is still on a roll, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra is due, and now comes word that the studio behind both of those movies is developing a film based on Mattel's Max Steel action figure.

Variety reports that Paramount Pictures is teaming with producer Joe Roth for a movie based on the property, about a 19-year-old extreme sports junkie recruited by a secret agency after an accident infects his body with nanobots, making him superhuman.

 
 
13 July 2009 @ 02:06 am
I've been planning to enter the Texas State Fair this year for photography. I need to pick two photos. I'm going to drop a bunch here that I'm personally very proud of, and I'd like some opinions on the two I should pick.

What I've shown are 20 of my personal favorites. I've got a few weeded out already, but I do want to hear people's opinions on what I pick. Thank you very, very much.

EDIT: PLEASE BE AS HARSH AS POSSIBLE. D: This is the big state art competition. XD;;

Sections mentioned are:
K102 = Birds/Insects
K113 = Texas Scenery-Landscapes or Waterscapes - Color - Adult Level
K114 = Texas Skies-Sunrise/Sunset/Weather - Color - Adult Level
K115 = Texas Architectural Features/Buildings/Monuments - Color - Adult Level
K118 = State Fair/State Fair Theme/Texas Festivals/Holidays - Color - Adult Level
K125 = Texas Architectural Features/Buildings/Monuments - Black and White - Adult Level
K127 = Still Life (Any assemblage of objects, either in an arranged or natural setting) - Black and White - Adult Level

Image Heavy! D: )
 
 
12 July 2009 @ 11:28 pm
As all of David's squirrels (aka fans) know, he was the grand marshal at the Point Roberts, Washington July 4th parade. A local paper at http://www.bclocalnews.com/richmond_southdelta/southdeltaleader/community/50473017.html in which a local chamber of commerce lady talks about the parade, but better, David is interviewed as well. The video is only 1.22 minutes, but fun to watch. The parade looked quirky and fun with its scifi theme!

 
 
Recently several of the podcasts I listen to have mentioned the pending opening of the "First Holiday Inn" on Walt Disney World property, this announcement gave me that feeling that I think was best described by Yogi Berra when He said "It's deja vu all over again". You see there was a big announcement several years ago when Holiday Inn purchased with the transfer Courtyard by Marriot to Holiday inn took place effective Dec. 31, 2003, I don't think that it ever opened as a Holiday Inn though because it was very shortly thereafter that renovations began, and it is not hard to imagine that, later on that year, after three hurricanes affected central Florida in just a few months (Charley, Frances, and Ivan) the renovations became much more extensive, additionally at that time I would imagine that many construction companies probably had to re-prioritize their jobs, and that a business that was already closed may have taken a back burner to other jobs, for instance if Holiday Inn has any of their own "in house" construction crews, they would probably have been prioritized to fix up other OPEN Holiday Inns that had suffered damage. Still I'd love to hear some of the stories behind this.
This hotel will be one of a very small number of hotels that are actually ON Disney property but that are not ran by Disney four of those hotels opened in the early 1970's (Dutch Inn -- Howard Johnson's -- Royal Inn -- Travelodge)  on what is today known as "Hotel Plaza Boulevard" (though at the time they opened it was known as Motor Inn Plaza ), a few more opened around the time Epcot Center opened (Buena Vista Palace, Pickett Suites Hotel, and the Hilton), and then in 1990 on the new resort property developed between Epcots' then newly opened "International Gateway" and the Disney-MGM Studios the Swan and Dolphin Hotels opened The Swan was originally operated by Westin, the Dolphin by Sheraton, one additional lessee is a group that operates resorts for use by the folks in the United States Armed services, they converted the former "Disney's Golf Resort/ Disney Inn" into a resort called "Shades of Green".  These hotels have MUCH better bus service than "off-site" hotels, though still perhaps a bit below the level of service Disney offers to it's own resorts.


Here is a brief history of this particular property from my site:
www.bigbrian-nc.com/wdw-sb03.htm

Howard Johnsons Resort Hotel / Courtyard by Mariott / Holiday Inn

The view I have of this hotel is a bit unusual in that the view picked is one I think is an unflattering view of the hotel showing I-4 behind it,



 a better view might have been a view with the Walt Disney World Shopping Village in the background. I think this view is contemporary with the view of Americana's Dutch resort that has the Empress Lilly in the view, the reason I think this is that the number on the back of this card seems to be in the same series.

As I mentioned before, in 1991 many of these hotels had postcard strips produced the ones for this Howard Johnsons are shown Below. (NOTE: There are more photos on the site than the two below, but they are other scenes of WDW not the hotel, so I'll leave them out).







In 1995 this hotel became the Courtyard by Marriot. They issued the continental sized post card pictured below.




On Dec. 30, 2003 it became a Holiday Inn. ( information from Disney A to Z .pdf update available free from the Disney web site)

I don't think it ever opened as a Holiday Inn before the hurricanes damaged it and it began its LOOOOONG refurbishment.




Additionally here is a view that has not yet made it onto my site it's part of a series that came out in the early to mid 1990's that are actual WDW postcards complete with the WDW logo and Disney copyright on the back:






 
 
Current Mood: disappointed
 
 
I just received a Nintendo DS, and I've been looking in to getting either Kanji Sonomama Rakubiki Jiten, my Japanese coach DS, or 200 man nin no Kanken , but I'm wondering if any of these programs are actually good for TEACHING you kanji, or if they are only for those who have already learned kanji and want to drill/review.

I've read through many reviews, but none of them address the subject of teaching.

Anyone here have first hand experience with any of these products?

Thanks!
 
 
12 July 2009 @ 08:07 pm
Hope this is alright to post. Click the cut for linkage
click it. )
 
 
12 July 2009 @ 04:36 pm
Challenges
[info]mcshep_match: Deadlines and Guidelines
[info]je_lims: Reminder 4/6
[info]lantis_icontest: Challenge 55: Voting
[info]lantis_lims: Round 5 // Challenge 6 Results
[info]lantis_lims: Round 5 // Challenge 6 Alternates
[info]lantis_lims: Round 5 // Challenge 7
[info]fic_rush: Round 2
[info]mcsheplets: Reminder for challenge #49 (Wet) and poll for #50

Miscellaneous
[info]alyburns: SGA DVD + more
[info]jmallozzi_blog: July 11, 2009: Alright, I’m Done!

Fanfic Gen
[info]penknife: Uphill - [PG]

Fanfic Het
[info]x_varda_x: Heaven's Light - (McKay/Keller) [Adult]
[info]jademacgrath: The long Journey (2/?) - (Sheppard/Weir) [PG13]
[info]scherryzade: Paradigm Shift (KellerOMC) - (McKay/Keller) [PG]

Fanfic Slash (McKay/Sheppard)
[info]lavvyan: Lord of the Sea - [PG]
[info]anyanka_eg: Deep are the thoughts of a child - [PG]
[info]scherryzade: Paradigm Shift (KellerOMC) - (McKay/Keller) [PG]
[info]bitter_crimson: Silly Sappy Drunken Strip Durak - [PG]
[info]melagan: Vanity - [NC17]
[info]blackchaps: No Good Deed - [PG]

Fanfic Slash various
[info]whizzy: Blown Away - (Sheppard/OMC) [NC17]
[info]jendavis: Can't Find My Way Home #5 (Firefly, Dex/Cobb) - [PG]

Icons
[info]mirnell: 83 Icons
[info]krissie678: Icons
[info]jenniferjensen: Multifandom Icons

Screencaps
[info]daily_flan: Link
[info]sparky_daily: 2x02 - The Intruder
[info]lizabeth_daily: 2x09 - Aurora
[info]sparky_4ever: Epiphany
[info]ronon_liz_daily: July 11
[info]sga_ships_daily: July 11
[info]ronon_daily: July 11
[info]jt_daily: July 11
[info]keller_daily: Trio
[info]jstaite_daily: Behind the Scenes: Higher Ground
[info]daily_mcshep: BEHIND THE SCENES - (McKay/Sheppard)

You can reach us at sga.newsletter@googlemail.com or just leave us a comment (comments will be screened).
 
 
07 July 2009 @ 04:05 pm
I made a post with some scans from the book "One True Love" here. One True Love book for the curious at Amazon.com

And I thought this was funny:



Whoo, boy, look at that sale! The Jasmine shirt was $9.50 and now it's "on sale" for $9.95! The amount of money you're saving is almost unreal!
 
 
Current Mood: I am so hungry right now
Current Music: Goo Goo Dolls--What A Scene
 
 


A remix video using only sounds & footage from "The Three Caballeros" an animated 1944 film produced by Walt Disney.