The Disney/Star Wars Thing

Darth Goofy!?

Why not the slave girl outfit?

     A few months ago Disney announced they were purchasing Lucasfilm for 4 Billion dollars. A million fan-boys cried out in terror but I was not one of them. I have been a fan of both Star Wars and Disney since I was a child and still am one to this day. In fact Star Wars was the reason I got an annual pass to the Disney Parks three years ago.

     I have read that people think that Disney will ruin Star Wars but in the past few years Disney purchased both Marvel Comics and The Muppets and I have been pleased and surprised with their handling of both franchises. I am excited to see what J.J. Abrams does with the next film and what Dave Filoni does with the end of the animated series. It Sucks that the animated series is ending.

     Another reason for my excitement is that I have seen what Disney has already done with Star Wars and it is awesome.

Star Wars Weekends:

Jedi Mickey with Porkins - 2010

     One of the first complaints I heard was "Disney will have Mickey running around the park dressed like Luke Skywalker..."  Well, that has been happening for a few years now and it is really cool. Since 2008 I have attended Star Wars Weekends at Disney's Hollywood Studios, or as I still call it Disney's MGM Studios. It is an experience like no other and the reason I have been an annual pass holder for the last three years. 

Stormtrooper patrolling
the park entrance

Before you enter the park the awesome begins. Stormtroopers patrol the park entrance making sure guests enter in an orderly Imperial fashion. Once inside, the opening ceremonies are held in front of the (eyesore) Sorcerer's Hat that introduces the celebrity guests and events. Character meet and greets are spread throughout the park. Aside from the Jedi Mickey and other Disney characters dressed as Star Wars characters, guests can meet and take pictures with characters from the Six films as well as the Clone Wars animated series. The most impressive being a dancing C-3PO (see last video)

James Arnold Taylor 's
one man show:
Obi-Wan & Beyond

Chubby Trooper patrolling
the snack carts

It is a Star Wars convention inside of a theme park. Filled with exclusive merchandise, amazing artwork and live shows there is something for everyone. There is a parade that features Characters from the films and animated series. Disney even lets members of the 501st (Fat-O-first as I call them) march in the parade. In the past few years the highlight of the event has been James Arnold Taylor's one man (many voices) show Obi-Wan & Beyond. (link is to official video by James Arnold Taylor) They would not allow the show to be videotaped so I took a bunch of photos instead.(my favorite is on the left)




     Over the years I have had the pleasure of meeting some awesome Star Wars celebrities at the event like Ray Park (video below), Peter Mayhew and Jeremy Bulloch.

Peter Mayhew and the Wookiee Lumpy

This is why the Empire lost.

Now admit it, Mickey Jedi is not going to ruin Star Wars, Greedo shooting first already did that.

So here is this week's video: 

Filmed on 05-19-2012 with a Canon T2i running Magic Lantern. 

Edited with Adobe Premier CS6.

Bonus Video:

This is not my best work. I quickly put these together back before I could upload videos longer than 10 min. and only in 720p. Shot with my Canon T2i and edited on Sony Vegas. DSLRs are not the best cameras to shoot long shows without proper stabilization. If I record the show this year I will use my Canon VIXIA HF R200. 

My photos from the 2010 event: Star Wars Weekends 2010

Confessions of a Lazy Photographer

Blog: Take 3

     So I am attempting this blog thing again. I have been a bit productive lately and have a few more videos to post in the next few weeks. One of the hard drives on my editing computer died on me but fortunately no videos or photos were lost. I recently upgraded to Adobe CS6 which is nice but like before I still need to do some upgrades to help with render times.

My Editing PC: Pretty Lights
sadly do not add horsepower. 

Now that prices are down a bit I might finally get a Blu-ray burner. After that I need to get a few more terabytes and a ton more ram. Maybe a few more LED lights and stickers for added horsepower. 

     After transferring most files from the bad hard drive I came across some videos I had not finished. 

I threw together a quick video to test a few features in CS6. Enjoy!

     This performance was shot with my T2i running Magic Lantern. It is of drag performer Twila Holiday performing Anything Goes at Old Town in Kissimmee.  

Confessions of a Lazy Photographer

Some Funny Comedy for You

Last November I attended and video taped a comedy show at Sleuths Mystery Dinner Show. Only a short 8 months later I posted the videos on YouTube. Enjoy.



The playlist is an hour and 16 min long. The only comedian I know is Kevin Sutton of kevinsuttonshow.com. If you want to watch just that video:

 

There were two other performers after Kevin but I'm too lazy to upload them now. Maybe on a future installment of Confessions of a Lazy Photographer.

Blog: Take 2

So after a few months of hiatus I am back to try and attempting to keep this blog thing going on a regular basis. I have come up with a schedule and I will try and post daily Monday through Friday, giving me weekends to collect more subject matter. Most of the posts will be photos but eventually I will attempt to have more videos posted.

The Schedule:

Monday: Another Lost Weekend

Tuesdays: Confessions of a Lazy Photographer

Wednesday: Gripe

Thursday: Video

Friday: Kevin Sutton Show Recap

I might not always stick the schedule. I might even Skip a day or two and even do a topic twice in a week. The goal is mostly to keep me posting regularly so I do not skip 3 months like I just did.

MegaCon 2012

MegaCon 2012

I somehow survived MegaCon 2012. This was the first year I attended all 3 days. I am posting this a week later and I am still exhausted. I met a bunch of awesome people ranging from artists, writers, and filmmakers that I hope to work with someday. I shot a bunch of photos and some video too. Most of the Images can bee seen on my Flickr page and the videos will be up shortly.
Images Day 1
Images Day 2
I am already counting down the days until next year's Megacon and I will be posting up my images from Megacon 2011 once I find them.

Orlando's Mayor Buddy Dyer

Mayor Buddy Dyer

My images were used recently in an article about Orlando's Mayor Buddy Dyer and the NBA All-Star game.

The article can be read at sunshineslate.com
http://www.sunshineslate.com/2012/02/20/kevin-sutton-show-orlando-mayor-buddy-dyer-nba-all-star-game/

I also have video footage of the interview which will be up shortly.