Changing It Up At Disney

Disneyland Resort in California is going to be renovated over the labor day weekend. Therefore, many rides will be closed down for a short period of time. Below is a list of the updates taken directly from the OCregister website. Click the title of this blog for a direct link to the original article.

• Fantasmics!’s last performance of the summer is Monday and that show, along with the Sailing Ship Columbia, will be down through the fall and back up Nov. 7.
• Also, because McDonald’s will no longer be selling food in the Disneyland Resort, the three McD’s locations will close Tuesday: Harbour Galley, Conestoga Fries and Burger Invasion.
• New Orleans Square will be under a bit of construction as first the Haunted Mansion is closed starting Tuesday for a short time to be remade (as it is annually) as Haunted Mansion Holiday. Also, don’t worry about the construction fences that will be going up in New Orleans Square, Disney says the area will be refurbished and repaved during the fall. That construction also means the French Market will be closed during the fall for refurbishment.
• The last performance of Golden Dreams for the public, an American dream film performance in Disney’s California Adventure, is Sept. 7. Disney announced back in fall that as part of sprucing up California Adventure, Golden Dreams will be replaced by a dark ride based on “The Little Mermaid.” So, if you want to see the show — show up by Sept. 7. Still, the theater will be open through the spring, but only to school kids as part of the Disney youth education program.
• Also going on hiatus is the Aladdin mysical performed in the Hyperion Theaterof California Adventure. Don’t worry, we already reported here that the show is coming back next year— this time with some enhanced technology, more stage effects and some new cast members.
• Finally, the Parade of Dreams in Disneyland will be showing daily, with the last fall performance on Nov. 11. There will be no Disneyland parade between Nov. 12 and 20. Then, starting Friday, Nov. 21, the Christmas Fantasy parade shows in the park. And, don’t worry, Disney says the Parade of Dreams (still showing from when it was the 50th anniversary parade) will come back early next year and it will show through the end of September 2009. The Christmas Fantasy parade ends Jan. 5. and the Parade of Dreams picks back up Feb. 13, 2009.

Featured Artist - Hotforwords

Todays featured artist is Hotforwords, who is pretty much the dictionary of Youtube. Combining learning words with seducing pictures and moves, she really makes you want to learn. On her profile is: "My name is Marina and I am a philologist (one who studies linguistics and etymology). I love to discuss the origins of words." Her website is http://wwwhotforwords.com.



Go to the bottom of the page to watch more of Marina's videos.

Earths Calling!

For billions of years, Earth has been clean and safe for all it's inhabitants. Than came man, totally unaware of how he's destroying the balance of Earth and nature. Only a few years ago did men and his machines become aware of what he's doing to the Earth. With the idea of global warming becoming more and more realistic, with all the news about ice caps melting away everyday, men have consistently looked for more ways to reduce it's impact. From taking cars off the roads to completely changing methods and "going green," men have constantly tried to reduce its impact, but to no avail. Scientists have even started using many unnatural ways to reduce emissions. Every year about 13,000 lbs of carbo monoxide is released into our atmosphere because of deforestation, and Earth is beginning to show the weakening signs. From making artificial clouds to reflect sunlight to spreading seeds through airplanes, scientists are coming up with everything under the space to change the impact. Discovery Channel is begginnning to air a new series called Discovery Project Earth which talks all about the ideas. Go to dsc.discovery.com for local listings.

Obama Sets More Records

A few weeks after the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games began, which set a TV record of around 30 million households nation wide, the Democratic National Convention has beat that record. The 4 day convention was aired on ten different channels: ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, BET, TV One, Univision and Telemundo. Based on the counts, the DMC topped 40 million viewers, with an average of 22.5 million households each day. PBS also aired the convention, though they did not pay to have its viewers counted. Obama's speech was the fifth-highest rated, non-sports event watched by blacks in the last 11 years. Obama's speech was a huge success for CNN, which logged an estimated 8.1 million people. ABC was second most watched with 6.6 million. NBC had 6.1 million. CBS had 4.7 million. Fox News Channel had 4.2 million and MSNBC had 4.1 million. Based on estimates of major cities, PBS is estimated to have had around 4 million viewers. President Bush's acceptance speech to GOP delegates had 27.6 million viewers. Rival John Kerry's speech drew a little more than 20 million people.

Phelps Goes Hollywood

With all the success and bling that Olympian Michael Phelps is carrying, who needs swimming? Since his successful 8 medal record, he's announced that he will be writing a book about his road to the olympics, as well as hosting the season premiere of "Saturday Night Live" and star in HBO's "Entourage" series. Friday, he celebrated with a parade at Walt Disney World in Florida. With all this stuff going on, people are really starting to think if all the fame is going into Phelps' head. But that's not all. Phelps is also scheduled to appear on the upcoming 2008 Video Music Awards. Other performers scheduled for the VMAs are HSM 3 stars Vanessa Hudgens, Corbin Bleu, Ashley Tisdale, and Zac Efron, as well as teen stars Miley Cyrus and Lindsay Lohan. But that's not all. The star-studded awards will also feature Scarlett Johansson and Ciara,with music performances by The Jonas Brothers, Katy Perry, T-Pain, Rihanna, Pink, and T.I., who will be appearing for the first time after his arrest lst year.

P.S. This is the 100th blog. Yay!

McCain Picks VP Choice

When people think of McCain's VP choice, they think of a well-known senator or governor that has a lot of experience in foreign policy and somewhere near his own age. Which is why he surprised the world today when he announced that his VP choice was someone most people don't know from a place where most American's don't even think about.

McCain's VP choice is governor Sarah Palin, of Alaska. In just two years, Palin went from small-town mayor to governor to VP choice of a republican presidential nominee. She's also making history as the first ever femal running mate on a Republican Presidential ticket. At 44, she's only three years younger than Obama and a generation younger than McCain himself, who is 71. She has consistenly shown that she is against abortion and opposes gay marriage. Democrats claim that Palin knows more about catching fish than dealing with foreign policy or national affairs. They've started attacking McCain on his choice, saying that he is taking a "roll of the dice" in choosing an unexperienced person as his VP. In fact, Palin's lack of experience is exactly what worries most people of her ability to be VP.

Palin was born in Feb. 11, 1964, and shortly after moved to Alaska with her parents so that they could teach. She received a bachelor of science degree in communications-journalism from the University of Idaho in 1987. The Palins' five children are Track, 19; Bristol 17; Willow 14; Piper, 7, and baby Trig. Track recently enlisted in the army on the 6th anniversary of the September 11th attacks.

Featured Artist - WhatTheBuckShow

Today's featured artist is Micheal Buckley from the WhatTheBuckShow. This youtube style news channel is heavily watched and very funny. The style is celebrity humor, which is pretty accurate. His description on his profile reads, "What the Buck is the most popular entertainment show on You Tube. There are several original episodes posted each week covering important topics such as Britney's Beaver and Tyra's Latest Weave. What the Buck has over 200,000 subscribers, 80 million views and is the top rated show on You Tube. He occasionally covers sports and politics but would much rather talk about what happened on The Hills. Bonus episodes posted everyday on BuckHollywood.Com." His website is http://www.buckhollywood.com.



Go to the bottom of the page to see more WhatTheBuckShow's videos.