Whilst on vacation at Walt Disney World in 1978, John Lamouranne was inspired to paint an egg for his daughter for Easter, portraying images such as the Monorail, the Contemporary Resort, Cinderella Castle and Disney characters. After honing his new craft, he made the natural leap to crafting whole bodies of personalities using eggs as his base as his art. Today, he is known as the ‘Egg Man.’

His art was recently featured on The Telegraph, including the Toy Story 3 display, and his spot-on caricatures of celebrities (both real and fictional) and fondness for Disney immediately grabbed hold of our attention and imagination. We were especially eggcited when John agreed to share some of his favorite Disney egg art with us, which we proudly present in our gallery below.

Because most other real eggs are too fragile, only goose eggs are used when their size is a match. Ceramic and wooden eggs fill in when other sizes are needed, although ‘Egg Man’ has been known to use real ostrich and emu eggs on rare occasions as well. The Toy Story piece, which he counts among his favorite projects, contains one real goose egg which forms the body of Rex. The entire piece took about seven hours to build.

[View with PicLens]

Undoubtedly one of the more complex pieces, however, is that of a single 4″ tall goose egg. On its shell, John has hand-painted six homages to Walt Disney World: Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, Cinderella Castle, Ellen’s Energy Adventure, Big Al from Country Bear Jamboree and, of course, Mickey Mouse and Walt Disney himself. That egg is currently available for sale, complete with glass case, on eBay.

The good news is that many of the ‘Egg Man’s’ work is also available for purchase today via his eBay store. The bad news, however, is we’ve already purchased the Toy Story 3 one.

For more information on John ‘Egg Man’ Lamouranne, sample images of his egg art and to order custom egg art, visit his official website at iamjohntheeggman.com.

All images courtesy of and © John Lamouranne.

[via slashfood via @magic2go]

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Art, Collectibles, Merchandise, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, TS, TS3

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Walt Disney Studios UK has released the following clip from the upcoming Toy Story Toon, ‘Hawaiian Vacation’ which will be attached to Disney/Pixar’s Cars 2 when it rolls into theaters on June 24, 2011.

Set in new owner Bonnie’s bedroom, ‘Hawaiian Vacation’ features Woody (voice of Tom Hanks) and Buzz (voice of Tim Allen) and the rest of the favorite Toy Story 3 toys as they create the ultimate Hawaiian vacation for Ken (voice of Michael Keaton) and Barbie (voice of Jodi Benson).  It seems Ken badly miscalculated their travel arrangements, so the gang has to create a dream getaway in Bonnie’s Midwestern bedroom—in the middle of winter.  ‘Hawaiian Vacation’ also features the voices of Joan Cusack, Wallace Shawn, Don Rickles, Estelle Harris, Blake Clark, Bonnie Hunt, Timothy Dalton, Kristen Schaal, Jeff Garlin and John Ratzenberger.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uFTMcL0v64

Special thanks to HeyUGuys for the tip.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: CARS2, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, Toy Story Toons, TS, TS3, TST

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Nearly forty million viewers across the United States tuned in last night to see which of the past year’s films would be acknowledged with the most coveted award in the industry. Among the nominations were thirteen for Disney films across nine categories. When all was said and done and the pixie dust had settled, Disney walked away with four Oscars, split evenly among its 2010 billion dollar babies, Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3 and Tim Burton’s Alice in Wonderland.

With half the nominations for best original song going to Disney films (‘I See the Light’ from Tangled and ‘We Belong Together’ from Toy Story 3), it was a good bet that one of them would take home the Oscar and, sure enough, Randy Newman took the honor for his Toy Story 3 tune after his live performance along with a performance by Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi, accompanied by Alan Menken on piano.

During his acceptance speech, Newman joked regarding his ratio of nominations to wins, noting ‘my percentages aren’t great. I’ve been nominated 20 times and this is the 2nd time I won. At the Academy, at the lunch they have for the nominees, where they have like a Randy Newman chicken by this time…’

Backstage, Newman remained humbled and surprisingly candid as he addressed the press regarding his win and his career in general.

‘This is really very nice, you know.  I didn’t totally expect it.  You know, last year, I was nominated for a couple of songs from Princess and the Frog, but I knew it wouldn’t win. I knew the country thing wouldn’t win.  This time, I thought I might.  It didn’t help me prepare anything to say, but it was very nice, as it always is, when people want to give you something.’

Newman also confessed that he didn’t necessarily feel that the award-winning song was one of the best examples of his work, stating ‘this isn’t the most consequential thing I’ve ever done for a movie by a long shot. You know, I remember I thought the score of A Bug’s Life really helped. Toy Story 2 also. The Natural.’

This was Newman’s second Oscar win for the category of best original song, his first being for ‘If I Didn’t Have You’ from Disney/Pixar’s Monsters, Inc.

Alice in Wonderland‘s two awards were unsurprisingly for categories of the visual persuasion. The first of the two Oscars awarded went to production designer Robert Stromberg and set decorator Karen O’Hara for Best Direction. During his portion of the acceptance speech, Stromberg plussed the prized statuette by adding a Mad Hatter hat, scaled down to Oscar size, courtesy of his props department (you can see the hat applied to Stromberg’s awards in the photo

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Academy Awards, AIW, Alice, Alice in Wonderland, Awards, Events, Oscars, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, TS, TS3

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Starting with series debut Disney/Pixar Presents: Cars Magazine #1 (written by Alan J. Porter & Mark Cooper and penciled by Allen Gladfelter, Magic Eye Studios & Travis Hill), each issue contains 96 full color pages of content, including a mix of brand new stories, classic adventures, puzzles, games and more. Featuring characters from Disney/Pixar’s hit movies Cars, Cars 2, The Incredibles, Toy Story 3 and more, Disney/Pixar Presents will be available at bookstores, retail chains, comic stores and other retail locations.

“We’re excited for the launch of Disney/Pixar Presents, teaming with our friends at Disney/Pixar to bring some exciting new material to fans all over the world and introducing a whole new generation to comics,” said Axel Alonso, Marvel Editor-in-Chief. “We’re committed to providing a great product and ensuring these books are available in locations that parents and kids frequent. The Disney/Pixar library includes some of the most popular characters of all time, making Disney/Pixar Presents exactly the kind of comic magazine that kids and parents have been demanding!”

Rev up those engines and join your favorite characters in Disney/Pixar Presents: Cars Magazine #1 as Lightning McQueen organizes a charity race for young cars with special needs, but he didn’t invite Piston Cup champion Chick Hicks. The snub gets Hick’s competitive juices flowing, and he’s out to show McQueen a thing or two about racing! Will Hicks ruin the good nature of the Radiator Springs Rally Race? Find out this May everywhere books and comics are sold.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cars, CARS2, Magazine, Marvel, The Incredibles, Toy Story 3, TS3

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Pixar pals take the stage front and center in the form of much larger-than-life, reaching heights of seven and eight feet tall. At the park’s main entrance, guests will find a sandbox display complete with sandcastle and playground toys featured in Toy Story 3. Also on display will be a brand new topiary of film villain Lotso who will (needless to say) smell like strawberries.

While a topiary Woody has made a brief appearance at Disney’s Hollywood Studios in the past, the 2011 Flower and Garden Festival marks the first year that any Pixar pal is represented as a topiary inside Epcot.

To further that, this year also marks the first time in seven years that new topiaries will be featured in this prized location. According to festival horticulture manager Eric Darden, ‘It created unique challenges and it’s meticulous work. Woody is skinny, and it was a challenge to create his legs. The detail on Buzz is pretty daunting.’

In honor of the new film, the World Showcase Plaza area will feature an all-new Cars 2 display featuring buddies Lightning McQueen and Mater beneath a black-and-white checkered arch, surrounded by floral flags representing Japan, France, Italy and the United Kingdom, just like the destinations of the Cars characters in the film.

Also popping in to say hello will be Winnie the Pooh, Tigger and pals who will appear in topiary form in support of their new movie this summer. They’ll be located at the Hundred Acre Wood wildflower display between Future World and World Showcase.

Other special designated weekends for the festival are: Art in the Garden, March 25-27; Fresh from Florida Farmer’s Market salute April 29-May 1; and Florida Federation of Garden Clubs and Guerlain’s Enchanted Gardens events May 6-8.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cars, CARS2, F&G, Festivals, Flower and Garden Festival, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, TS, TS3

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Disney will see both of its nominated songs, ‘I See the Light’ from Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Tangled and ‘We Belong Together’ from Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3 presented by their original performers.

Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore will be reprising their roles as Flynn Rider and Rapunzel as they perform ‘I See the Light’ while being accompanied by co-nominee Alan Menken on piano, while Randy Newman will perform ‘We Belong Together.’

Other nominees and performances include: Gwyneth Paltrow performing ‘Coming Home’ from Country Strong; and A.R. Rahman and Florence Welch will perform ‘If I Rise’ from 127 hours.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ABC, Academy Awards, Alan Menken, Awards, Events, Mandy Moore, Oscars, Randy Newman, Rapunzel, Tangled, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, TS, TS3, Zachary Levi

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Kicking off the series on February 22, 2011, is ‘Shorts!,’ honoring the nominees in the animated and live action categories which includes the Toy Story 3 lead-in, Night & Day, by Pixar Animation Studios’ Teddy Newton. The event will be hosted by legendary Hollywood personality Kenneth Branagh, a former nominee himself for the 1992 live action short, Swan Song. For more information, see here. Note that appearances by talent is not guaranteed, although The Pixar Blog has confirmed Teddy’s appearance.

On February 24, the 2010 Oscar nominees in the category of animated film will be honored. Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3 director Lee Unkrich (who has confirmed his appearance) will participate in the panel which is being hosted by animator and animation historian Tom Sito. Lee, along with fellow nominees, will present selected clips from their respective films and discuss the creative and development processes behind the nominated films. For more information, see here.

Tickets for all events are just $3 for Academy members or students and $5 for the public and will go on sale on February 1 at 9 am PST.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Academy Awards, Day & Night, Events, Lee Unkrich, Oscars, Teddy Newton, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, TS, TS3

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Toy Story 3 definitely took the more significant categories however, nominated for both Best Animated Feature Film (Lee Unkrich) and Best Picture (Darla Anderson). The critic and fan favorite was also nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay (Michael Arndt with story by John Lasseter, Andrew Stanton and Lee Unkrich) and Achievement in Sound Editing (Tom Myers and Michael Silvers) in which it competes against fellow Disney film TRON: Legacy (Gwendolyn Yates Whittle and Addison Teague). Toy Story 3 also received a nomination for Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures (Original Song) for Randy Newman’s We Belong Together where it competes against Tangled‘s sole nomination, I See the Light by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater.

The accompanying Disney/Pixar short Day & Night, by Teddy Newton, received a nod for Best Animated Short.

Alice in Wonderland received nominations primarily for its visual elements in categories Achievement in Costume Design (Colleen Atwood), Art Direction (Robert Stromberg – Production Design and Karen O’Hara – Set Decoration) and Achievement in Visual Effects (Ken Ralston, David Schaub, Carey Villegas and Sean Phillips) in which it will compete against Disney/Marvel’s Iron Man 2 (Janek Sirrs, Ben Snow, Ged Wright and Daniel Sudick).

Julie Taymor’s take on The Tempest was also nominated in the category for Achievement in Costume Design (Sandy Powell).

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2011. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Academy Awards, AIW, Alice, Alice in Wonderland, Awards, Oscars, Tangled, Tempest, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, TS, TS3

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

#bbpBox_16381980891414529 a { text-decoration:none; color:#272642; }#bbpBox_16381980891414529 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; }Ken and Barbie want to go to Hawaii. I don’t know what it’s gonna be attached to. Fun stuff, however. December 19, 2010 2:39 am via TwitterrificReplyRetweetFavorite @floydnorman Floyd Norman

#bbpBox_16432631678 a { text-decoration:none; color:#CC3366; }#bbpBox_16432631678 a:hover { text-decoration:underline; }Yes. RT @ambienceofmedia @leeunkrich Is it true that a Toy Story short will be in front of Cars 2? June 17, 2010 9:44 pm via TwitterrificReplyRetweetFavorite @leeunkrich Lee

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cars, CARS2, Toy Story 3, Toy Story Toons, TS3

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Disney/Pixar’s Toy Story 3 is the weakest link in the nomination chain with a single, but very crucial nomination in the Best Animated Feature Film category in which it competes against Walt Disney Animation Studios’ own Tangled along with unsurprising entries from DreamWorks Animation, Universal Studios and Sony Pictures.

Tangled also has its work cut out for it in the Best Original Song (Motion Picture) category for ‘I See the Light’ by Alan Menken and Glenn Slater. There it competes with entries from Burlesque, Country Strong and Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

Meanwhile in the live action department, it’s all smiles for Tim Burton’s take on Alice in Wonderland which scored nominations in three categories: Best Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical), Best Original Score by Danny Elfman and Johnny Depp for Best Performance in a Motion Picture (Comedy or Musical) in which Depp is pitted against himself for The Tourist.

On the small screen, it’s all about ABC’s  ‘Modern Family’ (produced by 20th Century Fox) which received a nomination for Best Television Series (Comedy or Musical), Sofia Vergara for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Series, Mini-Series or Motion Picture Made for Television and Emmy-Award winning Eric Stonestreet for the male counterpart of the same category.

The 68th Annual Golden Globe® Awards will air LIVE coast-to-coast on Sunday, January 16, 2011 on NBC from 5:00-8:00 p.m. (PST) /8:00-11:00 p.m. (EST) from the Beverly Hilton Hotel with host Ricky Gervais. The 68th Annual Golden Globe® Awards will be seen in more than 160 countries and is produced by dick clark productions in association with the Hollywood Foreign Press Association.

The full list Golden Globe nominees can be found on HFPA’s official blog.

UPDATE #1: Corrected animation studio information.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: ABC, AIW, Alice, Alice in Wonderland, Awards, Golden Globes, HFPA, Modern Family, Nominations, Rapunzel, Tangled, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, TS, TS3

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The pair are not only nominated for Best Animated Feature, but both Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3) and Dan Fogelman (Tangled) are being considered in the Writing in a Feature Production category. Toy Story 3‘s Lee Unkrich is also nominated for Directing in a Feature Production.

Other notable nominations for The Walt Disney Company include Disney/Pixar’s short Day & Night in the Best Animated Short Subject category and Jon Colton Barry & Piero Piluso for Disney Channel’s ‘Phineas and Ferb: Nerds of a Feather’ comic-con-inspired episode which featured guest stars Kevin Smith and Seth MacFarlane.

Also of note is the juried award for Special Achievement which has been awarded to the Walt Disney Animation Studios documentary Waking Sleeping Beauty.

The Walt Disney Company, which has supported the Annies over the years, has notably dropped sponsorship this year as well as did not submit their own films for consideration over concerns that membership (and consequently voting rights) doesn’t have ample standards. The company asserts that DreamWorks Animation provides all of its employees with memberships and therefore indirectly stuffs the ballots. With the well received How to Train Your Dragon pitted against Toy Story 3, Disney is not looking forward to a potential upset which could be seen for its face value in the eyes of the public.

DreamWorks Animation, interestingly enough, has little to worry about in the Character Animation in a Feature Production category where all nominees are animators who worked on either How to Train Your Dragon or MegaMind.

The 38th Annual Annie Awards, presented by the The International Animated Film Society/ASIFA-Hollywood will be held on Saturday, February 5, 2011 at UCLA’s Royce Hall in Los Angeles, California.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2010. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Annies, Awards, Rapunzel, Tangled, Toy Story 3, TS3

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Three films will be named as the final nominees in a ceremony to take place live on Tuesday, January 25, 2011, at 5:30 am PT in the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater. The awards ceremony itself will be held Sunday, February 27, 2011, at the Kodak Theatre at Hollywood & Highland Center®, and televised live by the ABC Television Network. The Oscar presentation also will be televised live in more than 200 countries worldwide.

Also competing for consideration in the Animated Feature category are the following films: Alpha and Omega, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore, Despicable Me, The Dreams of Jinsha, How to Train Your Dragon,  Idiots and Angels, The Illusionist, Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga’Hoole, Megamind, My Dog Tulip, Shrek Forever After, and Summer Wars.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2010. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Awards, Oscars, Tangled, Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, TS, TS3

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Currently available for pre-order on Amazon.com, the soundtrack for Disney’s Tangled will be released on November 16 and the soundtrack to TRON: Legacy on December 7.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2010. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Daft Punk, Mandy Moore, Rapunzel, Tangled, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, Tron, Tron Legacy, TS, TS3, Zachary Levi

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

For the extremely popular Disney Princess & Me collection from JAKKS Pacific, you’ll receive a free Princess & Me Royal Wardrobe with any Disney Princess & Me purchase of $75 or more. That represents a savings of up to 47%.

Order Toy Story 3 from ToysRUs.com and you’ll receive a free limited edition Toy Story wall clock (regularly $14.99) or get a free Toy Story popcorn tin (regularly $9.99) with any online Toy Story purchase of $30 or more. For fans of Disney/Pixar’s Cars, you’ll receive a free Cars carrying case (regularly $12.99) with any online Cars purchase of $30 or more.

Toys ‘R’ Us is also offering sales on its educational products and cartridges, many of which feature Disney favorites such as Toy Story, ‘Mickey Mouse Clubhouse,’ Tangled and more. For more information see the specific savings pages for the Leapster, Fisher-Price iXL and Vtech MobiGo and V.Reader systems.

You’ll also find all of these savings and hundreds more in the TRU 2010 Great Big Christmas Book.

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2010. | Permalink | 8 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Cars, Discount, Merchandise, Princess and Me, Rapunzel, Tangled, Toy Story, Toy Story 3, Toys, TS, TS3

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The first is a clip from the accompanying short Day & Night. When Day, a sunny fellow, encounters Night, a stranger of distinctly darker moods, sparks fly! Day and Night are frightened and suspicious of each other at first, and quickly get off on the wrong foot. But as they discover each other’s unique qualities–and come to realize that each of them offers a different window onto the same world–the friendship helps both to gain a new perspective.

<a href="

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH90a_nJUAE

&fmt=18″>

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH90a_nJUAE

The next is another example of what has quickly become mine (and many others’) favorite type of Disney/Pixar bonus features as seen on the recent Toy Story 1 & 2 blu-ray releases, the Pixar ‘Studio Stories.’ This particular animated gem focuses on one of the perks of working at Pixar Animation Studios: the cereal bar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv9MiwWnMtk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QH90a_nJUAE

© Stitch Kingdom for StitchKingdom.com, 2010. | Permalink | 10 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Toy Story, Toy Story 3, TS, TS3

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh