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Minnie Mouse has high apple pie in the eye hopes as the Disney Design Group reveals its first Disney Store Times Square exclusive via its official blog. It will retail for $12.95 and will be limited to a purchase of five per guest per day.
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This past weekend, tens of thousands of families partook in the inaugural USA Science & Engineering Festival held on the National Mall in Washington, DC as well as satellite events throughout the country. The two-day free festival was created in order to inspire the nation’s youth to pursue careers in maths and sciences by offering various hands-on activities. One of many participants, The Walt Disney Company presented a booth and multiple presentations in conjunction with the National Academy of Engineering featuring TRON: Legacy as well as Walt Disney Imagineer Lanny Smoot.
The concept behind the booth was ’14 Grand Challenges,’ created by the NAE, which is essentially a list of tasks that the NAE believes will need to be addressed in this and future generations. Inside the booth were a few exhibits that demonstrated some of the challenges in practice as well as items from the Disney film. On display from TRON: Legacy was the life-size demonstration model of the lightcycle as well as the SHIVA laser invented by Kevin Flynn which was actually used during the movie’s production.
Relating to the sci-fi SHIVA laser scanner (which the original TRON featured back in 1982) was an exhibit on 3D scanning which helps scientists understand objects better. By using a scanning in a physical object, the computer can generate a point cloud which then translates into a mesh model and finally a digital representation of the object, which can then be explored further in digital space, modified and even re-printed as a physical object.
The next demonstration made every one into a virtual brain surgeon, even if — especially in my case — they aren’t one. Using the the NeuroTouch VR brain surgery simulator developed by the National Research Council in Canada. The NeuroTouch takes MRI data and generates a virtual copy of the patients’ brain and allows the surgeon to visualize and even practice operating on the brain, even providing physical feedback in the virtual 3D space. The exhibit offered visitors the opportunity to remove a brain tumor while controlling any bleeding that was occurring as a result and scored the visitor’s performance. As I mentioned earlier, I’m no brain surgeon, so we’ll just leave it at that.
The final demonstration in the booth was created by Walt Disney Imagineering specifically as an offering for the festival as well as the film’s premiere and uses a new innovention called ‘light painting.’ A two-step process, the visitor first finds him/herself alone in a room with what essentially amounts to a sawhorse. Reclining on the sawhorse as if one were riding a lightcycle, the system uses stereoscopic imagery to take a 3D photo of the visitor. Following the photo, the visitor is handed a wand whose tip is tracked by the cameras placed all around. This allows the visitor to virtually paint their missing lightcycle in the virtual 3D space. Imagineer Lanny Smoot, who talked about the exhibit during his presentation which I’ll cover next, compared it to using a digital camera at home and leaving the shutter open so that the camera constantly captures every movement, but here it’s in a literal 3D space, not just the 2D space a single camera could capture.
In the longstanding tradition of showcasing groundbreaking artists, “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” welcomes Atomic Tom, the band that became an instant viral sensation following their revolutionary performance using iPhones as instruments while riding the New York city subway. Playing their hit song with traditional instruments as well as iPhones, it’s an event you definitely will not want to miss, Thursday, October 28 on the ABC Television Network.
Check out the video below that made the band famous, an iPhone rendition of their single “Take Me Out,” which is at almost 3 million views on YouTube since posting on October 15th. Atomic Tom’s debut album, “The Moment,” hits stores November 23rd and is available now for download.
“I’m literally just rotting… there’s nothing I can think of that’s good in my life right now,” Ashley, a 21-year-old who smokes as many as 100 hits of heroin a day, tells “20/20″ in a rare look at a largely unknown and growing problem for American families — heroin addiction. The number of addicts in America has nearly doubled since 2007, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. ABC News Anchor Chris Cuomo reports that heroin addiction is not to be dismissed as an inner-city scourge — kids from suburban families are falling victim like never before. Chris Cuomo’s report airs on”20/20,” Friday, October 29 (10:00 – 11:00 p.m., ET) on the ABC Television Network.
Walt Disney Animation Studios has released the next in a series of video montages featuring the stars of its upcoming release Disney’s Tangled. This time around, the subject is none other than the jewel of the King’s army, the heroic steed Maximus.
Disney’s Tangled stars the voice talents of Mandy Moore, Zachary Levi and Donna Murphy and opens nationwide on November 24. For more information on the film including featurettes, concept art, character art, fun facts, photos of the meet & greet characters at Walt Disney World and Disneyland and more, follow this bookmark.
As most likely part of ‘TRON Tuesday,’ Walt Disney Studios has begun releasing this video montage featuring ‘Derezzed’ from the TRON: Legacy motion picture soundtrack by electronic music duo Daft Punk. The abbreviated sample video is basically comprised of all footage from the film which includes Daft Punk’s cameo appearance. This video has so far been released by Walt Disney Studios Italy and Walt Disney Studios Norway, which is who we’ve been able to obtain it from.
TRON: Legacy debuts in theaters nationwide on December 17.
Last week, Disney Cruise Line unveiled additional details in terms of entertainment for its upcoming ship, the Disney Dream, which is scheduled to leave the shipyard this weekend and will eventually make its way to Port Canaveral on January 4 in anticipation of its official ‘maiden voyage’ on January 26, 2011.
Back in May, we first talked about the new stage production which we now know to be titled ‘Disney’s Believe.’ ‘Disney’s Believe’ will be one of the most ambitious staged projects to date for the Disney Cruise Line. At a whopping 50 minutes in length, the show will feature a total of 18 musical numbers and over 20 popular Disney characters including Genie, Mary Poppins, Peter Pan, Cinderella, Tinia, Belle and Rafiki.
New DisneyStore.com arrivals and sales for October 26, 2010
Below is a list of new items and sales now available for purchase at DisneyStore.com. Clicking on a product’s image or description will launch the product’s page on DisneyStore.com in another window.
Note that this list is generated and posted automatically. Stitch Kingdom should not be held responsible for any inaccuracies, misinformation or item availability.
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RDZ 150MM R/C STREET CHASSIS  share this item |
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Royal Dreamer Princess PJ Pal share this item |
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Lightning McQueen PJ Pal share this item |
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Glitter I’m All Princess Tee Glitter I’m All Princess Tee |
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”Acid Drip” Mickey Mouse BLOC28 Tee ”Acid Drip” Mickey Mouse BLOC28 Tee |
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Disney Fairies: Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure for Nintendo DS share this item |
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RDZ NITROUS OXIDE TANKS share this item |
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Organic ”Lets Hear it for the Toys” Toy Story Tee Organic ”Lets Hear it for the Toys” Toy Story Tee |
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RDZ LIGHTNING BOLTZ- REAR TIRE share this item |
Country music artist Brad Paisley and his wife, actress Kimberly Williams-Paisley (“Father of the Bride,” “According to Jim”), pose Oct. 25, 2010 with a Halloween-clad Minnie Mouse in front of the Haunted Mansion at the Magic Kingdom in Lake Buena Vista, Fla. The singer and his wife also were celebrating Brad’s October 28th birthday at Walt Disney World this week. On Nov. 10, 2010, Paisley will co-host “The 44th Annual CMA Awards” telecast on ABC-TV. He will share hosting duties with Carrie Underwood.
Photo by Gene Duncan, courtesy Walt Disney World Resort.
Although I tend to stray from the topic of not preserving the magic as much as possible, a recent article by the Orange County Register has gotten the wheels in my head turning and I believe it’s time one seriously begins to ponder just where The Walt Disney Company is planning on taking its technology and just how far it’ll go to turn heads — articulated heads even.
The OC Register article takes a look at the new stage show at Disney California Adventure, Disney Dance Crew, in which Mickey Mouse performs on stage lip-syncing to track and blinking his eyes. While this is new technology for the Disneyland Resort, it’s not all that new for the company. What is new however is just how the articulated head is being used.
