February 6, 2008 - Cinderella & Dumbo

Double the pages today, as even I'm getting a little bored of these single posts each day. We're going to wrap up the Disney on Parade scans soon, then move onto other little niche things.

February 5, 2008 - 1964 Disneyland Fun Map by Sam McKim

Fun Map Best Cropped (Large), originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

This was a little project I tried out with some success. I scanned a 28x42 map bought off eBay, piece by piece, and then stitched them together. Once done with that, cleaned up the colors, creases, and such in Gimp. The result turned out quite good.

February 4, 2008 - The Jungle Book

07, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Update on the Fun Map: 99% of it looks like it did in 1965. Excited the share this!

February 3, 2008 - The Jungle Book

06, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Another two pages. Just made the post in before the deadline. Spent the weekend scanning a very rare Disneyland book and a Disneyland map.

February 2, 2008 - Alice in Wonderland

05, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

A great cast shot, with some extremely creepy flower people in the background.

Chumby Review

First the background of why I wanted something called a Chumby. There was a blurb in Popular Science about a consumer product in development what promised a Linux-powered mini-computer, always connected wirelessly to the internet, with a touch screen displaying user-created widgets, enclosed in a fabric pouch. On top of this coolness, iPods connect to one of the two powered USB jacks in the back, which allowed the iPod to recharge and be controlled through the Chumby. These specs piqued my interest, and I kept an eye on the official website through the long gestation process.

In the summer of 2007, a notice went up on their website to allow fans the chance to sign up on a mailing list for first chance to grab a prerelease Chumby. My email was added to the list and in October, I ordered one of the first available units. The little device arrived at my front door via UPS from China, I unpacked it, configured the network, and then disappointment hit like a brick.

To be fair, the Chumby acted exactly like it was advertised: The unit connected to my wifi network with ease and downloaded the widget I selected from the website. These widgets included a Flickr photo stream viewer, weather, little games, a flash video player, and alarm clocks. The widgets may have changed, and there are new ones since I owned the unit, but these thoughts are based on what was available at the time.

The Flickr widget sounded great in theory; a way to view random people’s pictures and see a little bit of the outside world. In practice, the stream presented a very limited number of photos, which cycled through very quickly. The weather widget worked fine, tough to mess that one up, and the alarm clock functionality was awful.

This is why: you can only choose two alarms, and each has standard rings for alarm tones. The only way to override this setting is to trim down MP3s of your own to fit the correct file size, rename them ‘alarm1’ and ‘alarm2’, and then make them override the built in sounds. I imagined being able to use the iPod as an alarm sound source, or even tuning into an internet radio station, because that makes sense. A mini-computer should have unlimited alarms, one for each day, and be customizable.

So the widgets were disappointing. Other failures I found: The touch screen looked nice, a little low-resolution, but no problems with color or clarity. The touch aspect was not so good, as it required a good jab to register a touch, each time felt like I was going to break it. The fabric casing was great; it helps to set this apart from the hard, industrial design much consumer electronics strive for. The speakers sounded fine, nice and clear for the size.

I did not experience one feature: advertising imbedded in the widget channels which help to support the network costs and allow the Chumby to be offered without any kind of monthly fees.

The novelty wore off within hours of setting the device up, and within two days it was the first-ever Chumby to be sold on eBay. There is nothing particularly wrong with the device, the features work as promised, and many people enjoy it. To me, it failed on a more basic level, that it is an unneeded device that brought nothing new to the table. You must use a computer to set up the widgets; it has to be plugged in, with no rechargeable battery offered. There is no internet memory available to load music, or anything on to, this much be done through the USB ports on the rear.

There have been updates to the operating system since I used a Chumby, and new widgets are popping up as the user base grows. These small fixes will not make the device suddenly relevant to most people. Give it a year, as the current devices feels much like a beta for sale to the general public. When (and if) the Chumby 2 comes out, we could be looking at a much better device.

If you must have something now that plays music, connects to the internet, and has a touch screen, spring for an iPod Touch with an alarm dock. It is a more expensive choice, but you get the added value back in spades.

Check out www.chumby.com for the details of this product.

(All pictures come from the Chumby website unless otherwise noted. All right reserved.)

February 1, 2008 - Alice in Wonderland

04, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Two more pages!

One Month In...

Spending is going alright. Not perfect, but improving slowly as I get a little more self-control. Bought one magazine this month, strangely enough it was a copy of GQ, which I never buy. This was bought mainly to combat bordem in my Thursday night Qualitative Research Class, as the professor has banned laptops, and I left my current book to read at home. Happily, GQ has an odd Disney World vacation insert I am going to scan and share when I have the time.

Books: Bought four this month using real money. The justification still comes too easily when I see a title I want on the shelf. Sales have been good on the Amazon store, which allowed me to purchase a second digital camera, with more pro features, without spending a red cent.

DVDS: Spent $15 of my own money on one disc. Much better than my habitual buying of new releases every Tuesday.

Toys: No toys, avoided the toy aisles, and the urge to obsessively haunt toy aisles daily looking for new Transformers has not returned.

Comics: $37 in the last 5 weeks, including some for the wife. This number will shrink as I am getting my collection ready to be out on sale, hopefully to cut down the size by 90%. The plan with this is to replace the comics with the sale proceeds with trades, and shed the rest (which is dead weight).

Food: Need to curb these spendings, as most mornings I buy breakfast, probably eat lunch out twice a week, and then some meals on the weekends. This will be the toughest habit to break, and the one that most needs it.

Coming Up: More Disney posts daily, simply to keep me working on at least something each day. Reviews of things I like or dislike, mostly tech reviews, probably not media reviews, because there are plenty of those around.

Thanks for reading for the last month!

January 31, 2008 - How Do You and Shake Hands

03, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Another page!

I have more scanned in the works, including a really cool map, that if I can get it stitched together Photoshop, should be a real treat!

Thanks for reading.

January 30, 2008 - Next Page

02, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

I wish I had more interesting things to add. Click to view the pages in high-res to read all the little print.

January 29, 2008 - Disney on Parade

01, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

Pages 1 & 2.

January 27, 2008 - Disney Map Coupon

Disney Map, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

An old paper product advertising a Disneyland map. Offer expired years ago, but its still neat. This came from Old Stuff Only, a webstore selling old stuff found in warehouses and such. Its worth a look around, and I'll be sharing more Disney paper products over the coming posts.

January 26, 2008 - Pepsi-Cola Pavilion: "Peace Through Understanding"

Pepsi-Cola Pavilion: "Peace Through Understanding", originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

"Animated figures representing children in national costumes entertain visitors on a Walt Disney-created cruise taken in specially designed boats. A UNICEF exhibit is also included."

-From the back of the postcard.

January 25, 2008 - C&H Sugar Disneyland Ad 1961

C&H Sugar Disneyland Ad 1961, originally uploaded by Neato Coolville.

No quotes today, wanted to highlight an great collection of old advertisements.

January 24, 2008 - Grizzly Peak

IMG_0525.JPG, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

"It was only a matter of time before a mountain supplanted a castle as the central icon for a Disney Park. In February 2001, Grizzly Peak became the defining landmark of Disney's California Adventure. The property's second gate was designed to be a celebration of the Golden State and all its natural and man-made wonders, from amusement piers and Hollywood backlots in the southern region, to the quiet charm and scenic beauty of Northern California."

-The Disney Mountains

January 23, 2008 - Star Tours

IMG_0773.JPG, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

" [George] Lucas and WDI show producer Tom Fitzgerald worked out a story line for "Star Tours," an intergalactic sightseeing company that would whisk guests around the universe in all the comfort of a luxury jetliner. "George wanted to make the audience think the spaceship was a typical Disneyland ride vehicle on a track," says Fitzgerald. (The designers programmed vibrations and bumps into the motion base to make the passengers believe they were actually moving along a track.) "Then, look out! Something really does go wrong. Although we saw the ship ahead of us successfully blast off on its mission, we take a wrong turn, blunder through the maintenance doors, and start Disneyland's first 'misadventure.' " Causing the misadventure in the first place is a friendly but totally incompetent droid pilot named Rex, whose presence in the flight cabin brings a humorous Lucas touch to the journey."

-Disneyland: Inside Story

January 22, 2008 - Pirates of the Caribbean

IMG_3120.JPG, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

"Xavier Atencio figured out what they would say. Or, for the most part, sing. "When we did 'Yo Ho, a Pirate's Life for Me,'" said Atencio, "we couldn't have a beginning or an end, because you didn't know where you were going to come into the song in the ride. Each verse had to make some kind of sense, no matter when you heard it." "

-Disneyland: The Inside Story

January 21, 2008 - Artscapes

Artscape - Pixar at MOMA, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

A little different post - This is a two-page scan from "Pixar at the Museum of Modern Art", which is an exhibit catalog from the amazing exhibit of the same name a couple years ago. Part of the exhibit was this mind-blowing video display, which has a higher resolution than high definition. The video took you through storyboards of the (then) current Pixar films in sort of a quasi-3D experience. The easiest comparison is how the teaser for Wall-E transformed two dimensional photos into 3D.

Click on the picture for higher resolution.

January 20, 2008 - Norway

IMG_1942.JPG, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

"The Norway pavilion joined World Showcase on May 6, 1988. Sponsored by a consortium of Norwegian corporations, the cobbled village square of the pavilion showcases architectural styles of towns like Bergen, Setesdal, and Oslo, including the Stave Church (which houses a gallery) and a castle (which houses a restaurant) modeled after Akershus, a 14th century fortress in Oslo Harbor. The Norway pavilion also contains beautifully crafted rock and stone work, some of the finest ever fabricated by Disney Imagineers."

-Since the World Began

January 19, 2008 - its a small world

its a small world, originally uploaded by Jeremy ES.

"In 1966, with the [world's] fair over, Small World moved to Disneyland, minus the Tower of the Four Winds, which proved too costly to disassemble. The ride was refurbished and lengthened. The housing was also slated to be replaced by something more monumental and whimsical than its original corrugated box."

-Designing Disney's Theme Parks