Archive for 2013
History of Vogue Magazine
Vogue magazine has influenced American society for over a hundred years. The magazine has evolved to reflect modern women. Vogue has gone through many changes and has created a market for women’s magazines. Originally, Vogue was more of a high society paper than a mass marketed magazine.Vogue was founded in 1892 by Arthur Baldwin Turnure. Turnure’s original vision was to be a social gazette for New York’s elite. Turnure’s investors for Vogue included the Vanderbilts, A.M Dodge, William Jay, and Marion Stuyvesant Fish. Turnure hired a staff with a higher socialite status rather than a staff with literary talent. Socialite Josephine Redding was the magazine’s first editor. By all accounts, Redding seemed less worried about fashion and more passionate about animal rights.
Vogue was a weekly journal that aimed to appeal to only high society women and gentlemen. Originally men’s sports were chronicled in the magazine. Fashion was not the focus. Rather, the focus was the traditions of high society; fashion was only mentioned when talking about what was appropriate to wear to an occasion. Vogue had articles reviewing plays, books, music, and discussions of the societal etiquettes of the time. Two regular articles were called “As Seen by Him” and “Of Interest to Her.” “As Seen by Him” was particularly snobbish with articles like “A Word about the Treatment of Servants”. The staff also included “Society Snapshots” which were features of their friends and socialite acquaintances.Vogue was not focused on advertising sales and revenues were decreasing for its wealthy stockholders. This soon changed when Conde Nast bought Vogue in 1909. Conde Nast graduated from Georgetown where he became close friends with Robert Collier. Robert Collier soon inherited Collier’s Weekly from his father and gave Nast a job as an advertising manager. Under Nast’s management, Collier’s Weekly became first place in advertising revenue for magazines. His salary grew to forty thousand dollars a year at Collier’s Weekly. Nast then left the magazine to build the Home Pattern Company. Nast desired to expand his business into fashion news and set his sights on Vogue.
Conde Nast admitted that he was not creative but was an advertising and sales genius. He transformed Vogue’s advertising base. Because the magazine appealed to high society readers, he courted high-end advertisers who were willing to pay more for a wealthy audience. Nast made Vogue a completely women’s fashion magazine. He also pushed for the covers of Vogue to be done by the best illustrators and photographers. Thus, the covers of Vogue became notable and reflected the art movements of each decade of the twentieth century. With Nast’s previous experience with the Home Pattern Company, he expanded the pattern section in the magazine even though this caused controversy within the staff. Vogue patterns were very successful and gave all of the readers a chance to make their own fashionable pieces. Even women with higher incomes used the patterns. Eleanor Roosevelt reportedly acknowledged that she used the Vogue patterns for herself and her children.
Nast had a constant need to expand his company. In 1916, he established a separate British Vogue and later a French Vogue. Today Conde Nast publications owns many magazines such as Glamour, Allure, W, Self, GQ, Details, Elegant Bride, House and Garden, Domino, Lucky, Golf Digest, and The New Yorker, just to name a few. In addition, Vogue has versions in nine countries including Austrailia, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Mexico, and Spain.
During the war and the Great Depression, high tariffs were imposed on imported French designs and many French designs were not being made because of the state of France after the war. America had always looked to France for the latest fashions and Vogue editors were worried about the effects of the lack of French fashion. The magazine started to look to American designers. At first, they were only a substitute for French designs. However, by WWII, American designers were seen as a separate category. Vogue began to dedicate much of the magazine to the runway fashions in New York. Edna Chase even started Vogue fashion shows. This lead to the growth of American designers and fashion houses.
Conde Nast died in 1942. Time Magazine said that, “for a generation he was the man from whom millions of American women got most of their ideas, directly or indirectly, about the desirable standard of living.” The Conde Nast Corporation still lives on today.
The History of Chocolate
The first recorded evidence of chocolate as a food product goes back to Pre-Columbian Mexico. The Mayans and Aztecs were known to make a drink called "Xocoatll from the beans of the cocoa tree. In 1528, the conquering Spaniards returned to Spain with chocolate still consumed as a beverage. A similar chocolate drink was brought to a royal wedding in France in 1615, and England welcomed chocolate in 1662. To this point "chocolate" as we spell it today, had been spelled variously as "chocalatall, "jocolatte", "jacolatte", and "chockelet.11In 1847, Fry & Sons in England introduced the first "eating chocolate," but did not attract much attention due to its bitter taste. In 1874, Daniel Peter, a famed Swiss chocolateer, experimented with various mixtures in an effort to balance chocolates rough flavor, and eventually stumbled upon that abundant product -- milk. This changed everything and chocolate's acceptance after that was quick and enthusiastic.
GROWING COCOA BEANS
Cocoa beans are usually grown on small plantations in suitable land areas 20 degrees north or south of the Equator. One mature cocoa tree can be expected to yield about five pounds of chocolate per year. These are planted in the shade of larger trees such as bananas or mangos, about 1000 trees per hectare (2,471 acres).Cocoa trees take five to eight years to mature. After harvesting from the trees, the pods (which contain the cocoa beans) are split open, beans removed, and the beans are put on trays covered with burlap for about a week until they brown. Then they are sun dried until the moisture content is below 7%. This normally takes another three days.
After cleaning, the beans are weighed, selected and blended before roasting at 250 degrees Fahrenheit for two hours. Then shells are removed leaving the "nib." Nibs are crushed to create a chocolate "mass." This is the base raw material from which all chocolate products are made.
KINDS OF CHOCOLATE
Milk Chocolate
This consists of at least 10% chocolate liquor ("raw" chocolate pressed from carob nibs) and 12% milk solids combined with sugar, cocoa butter (fat from nibs), and vanilla. Sweet and Semi-Sweet Chocolate Are made from 15-35% chocolate liquor, plus sugar, cocoa butter, and vanilla. Imprecision of the two terms causes them to commonly be called "dark" or "plain" chocolate. Dark chocolate has a large following among dessert makers, and for this reason is referred to as "baking" chocolate.Bittersweet and Bitter Chocolate
Bittersweet usually contains 50% chocolate liguor and has a distinct "bite" to the taste. Bitter or unsweetened chocolate liquor also is used in baking and is also referred to as "bakers" chocolate.Creams and Variations
Bite sized and chocolate covered. They are filled with caramels, nuts, creams, jellies, and so forth.White Chocolate
Is not really chocolate as it contains no chocolate liquor, Carob This is a brown powder made from the pulverized fruit of a Mediterranean evergreen. It is used by some as a substitute for chocolate because it can be combined with vegetable fat and sugar, and made to approximately the color and consistency of chocolate.HOW CHOCOLATES ARE MADE
There are four basic methods of coating chocolate onto something such as caramel or a nut.- They are:
- Enrobing
- Least expensive method. Centers are carried by conveyer through a machine that showers them with chocolate.
- Panning
- Chocolate is sprayed on the centers as they rotate in revolving pans, then cool air is blown in pan to harden the chocolates.
- Dipping
- Generally done by hand by small scale producers. Shell Moldinq Most sophisticated method. Used for most sculptural chocolates. The process consists of many intricate steps, thus causing it to be more expensive than other methods.
(Source: Chocolate: The Consuming Passion by Sandra Boynton. Workman Publishing: New York, 1982)
Official Disney Bio
Known as “The Glitch,” Vanellope is a pixelating programming mistake in the candy-coated cart-racing game Sugar Rush. With a racer’s spirit embedded in her coding, Vanellope is determined to earn her place in the starting lineup amongst the other racers. Only problem: the other racers don’t want her or her glitching in the game. Years of rejection have left Vanellope with a wicked sense of humor and a razor-sharp tongue. However, somewhere beneath that hard shell is a sweet center just waiting to be revealed.
Background
Vanellope von Schweetz is the central character of the video game,Sugar Rush. Not only was she the lead character, she was also the world's princess. However, at some point, an old video game character named Turbo, hijacked Sugar Rush, turned himself into a character named King Candy, and tried to delete Vanellope's codes, turning her into a glitch in the game's code. Once Vanellope became a glitch, King Candy was free to rule the kingdom, having all the inhabitants' memories of Princess Vanellope locked up. However, if Vanellope was to ever cross the finish line in an official race, her codes will be restored and the throne will be hers once more. To prevent this from occurring, King Candy had the citizens of the game believe having a glitch race can lead to the game being unplugged. Due to this lie, Vanellope was repeatedly tormented by the game's citizens, most notably the racers, led by Taffyta Muttonfudge. Vanellope was able to find sanctuary within Diet Cola Mountain, where an unfinished bonus track is located.
As a result of her being a glitch, Vanellope was unable to leave the game and escape her tormentors. She also gained the ability to glitch, or teleport, from place to place in the blink of an eye, though she didn't have much control over it.
Personality
Vanellope is an energetic child, filled with life and humor. Sadly, years of bullying has left Vanellope with a sour look on life and people, meaning she is often prone to heavy insulting and sassy remarks. Luckily, Vanellope was able to see the goodness in people through the friendship of Wreck-It Ralph. Though she was often bullied by the game's other young racers, Vanellope was apparently more than happy to attempt making amends, referring to the others as her "fellow racers".
Appearances
Wreck-It Ralph
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Once upon a normal day, Vanellope is lounging about in the candy tree forest when she encounters a hulk-like man named Wreck-It Ralph, who claims to be part of the "candy tree department" and was doing some "candy tree trimming". However, the minute Vanellope notices a "gold coin" atop the tree, she becomes very excited and makes way for it, ignoring Ralph, who confesses to Vanellope, telling her that he is from a different game and desperately needs the medalthat she has mistaken for a gold coin. After "winning" the coin from Ralph and taking it for herself, Vanellope instead runs off to the race track starting line, where the racers of Sugar Rush are prepared to pay their fees (one gold coin) to race in the Random Roster Race: a daily race that determines which racers will be featured in the game's roster on the following day. Vanellope disguises herself and sneaks into the lineup to insert the medal for her coin, putting herself in the race officially.
Unfortunately for Vanellope, she is a glitch, and glitches are not allowed to race by orders of the Sugar Rush ruler, King Candy. The moment the king notices the glitch, he orders his security guards, Wynchel and Duncan, to arrest her, but then Ralph (covered in taffy and other candy) arrives to reclaim his medal. The scene that follows distracts the king and his guards, allowing Vanellope to escape, and the excited 9-year-old heads to the junkyard with her junky homemade kart. Vanellope is then confronted by Taffyta Muttonfudge (the best racer in the game, next to King Candy), Candlehead, Rancis Fluggerbutter and the otherracing kids. They torment the girl, calling her "an accident waiting to happen" and destroys her kart to prevent her from racing. Ralph witnesses the cruel bullying and sympathizes with Vanellope after the kids toss her into the mud, then he charges out of hiding and scares the kids away. Vanellope, however, is far too upset and embarrassed to even thank Ralph, who reacts badly to her snappishness and calls Vanellope a thief for stealing his medal.
Vanellope explains that she will return the medal the moment she wins the race, but without a kart, both she and Ralph are out of luck. In anger, Ralph begins to wreck things, including a jawbreaker, something that is rock-solid. Witnessing Ralph's strength gives Vanellope an idea to have him break her into King Candy's kart factory in order to make a real kart so that she can really race. She convinces Ralph to help her by telling him that once she wins the race and the winner's prize (and all the coins along with it), she'll return the medal. Ralph reluctantly agrees and the duo sneaks into the factory. There, they build the kart together and bond during the chaotic process, while Ralph is amazed when he discovers that he can create as well as destroy. Because of how Ralph has mishandled the decorating part, though, the cart appears very different from what it is supposed to be. Disappointed, Ralph thinks the kart is broken and a let-down at first, but Vanellope is more than happy to have a real kart in her possession. To finish their newfound "masterpiece", Vanellope and Ralph sign the kart. Just then, King Candy, alerted by the security about the break-in, arrives with his minions and attacks Ralph and Vanellope. The duo try to drive away, but Vanellope has no clue on how to drive a real kart. Ralph instead gets the kart going and steers it by hand. King Candy, Wynchel, and Duncan are in hot pursuit until Vanellope glitches herself and Ralph into Diet Cola Mountain, where she secretly resides. Inside, Vanellope shows Ralph her home and explains to him that because she is a glitch, she is bullied and tormented by everyone in the game. Not only that, she cannot leave the game and escape her tormentors because glitches lack the ability to do so. She figures that if she wins the race, the others would stop treating her harshly and make amends.
With Ralph having experienced a similar story wanting to become a hero as opposed to the villain he is, he feels badly for the young girl, and the bad guy decides to build a track in the mountain so Vanellope can learn how to drive. Before long, Vanellope turns out to be a natural, and the duo begin to make way for the race, but not before Vanellope runs back into the mountain to get something. During her absence, King Candy shows up to return Ralph's medal. King Candy then tells Ralph that he must not let Vanellope race, because if she wins and becomes a character in the game, the players will notice her glitching and think the game is broken, causing the game to be considered out of order and unplugged, with Vanellope (as a glitch) being the only one unable to escape to Game Central Station, being left inside the game to die. King Candy then leaves Ralph with these heavy thoughts. When Vanellope returns, she gives Ralph a medal she made just in case they didn't win. It reads "You're my hero", and Ralph is more than thankful, but he told Vanellope that racing might not be the best thing for her. Confused at Ralph's change of heart, Vanellope asks why, and Ralph tells her that he has been talking to King Candy. Before he can explain further, Vanellope notices Ralph's Hero's Duty medal around the former's neck and figures he has ratted her out to the king in exchange for said medal, and the two begin to argue. Vanellope decides to race without Ralph's help, but Ralph, refusing to risk Vanellope's safety, hooks her in a branch by her clothes and proceeds to destroy the kart. Vanellope tries to stop Ralph, but to no avail, as her kart has been destroyed, along with her dreams of winning the race and getting a better life. Sobbing, Vanellope then says to Ralph, sobbing, "You really are a bad guy," and runs off in tears, and the downhearted Ralph returns to his game. After Ralph's departure, King Candy captures Vanellope and imprisons her in his fungeon.
Meanwhile, arriving at his own game, Ralph, finding out that it is about to be unplugged due to his game-jumping and everyone else having abandoned it in anticipation, throws a tantrum, during which he throws his medal at the glass of the cabinet which lets him see the side of Sugar Rush's cabinet, on which an image of Vanellope is featured prominently on it with her original white tracksuit and cart. Going back into Sugar Rush, Ralph interrogates King Candy's assistant, Sour Bill (who is sweeping the remains of Vanellope's kart), to find out why this is. He learns that she was a legitimate character in the game, but King Candy hacked the coding of the game to remove her and all memory of her previous status from it, causing her glitchiness, and only by having her cross the finish line in an official race would the damage be undone and the original coding be restored. Ralph then takes the pieces of the kart and goes to the fungeon to rescue his friend Fix-It Felix, Jr., whom he begs to fix the kart, the only hope for Vanellope. Ralph breaks into Vanellope's cell and rolls in her kart now repaired, confessing to her that he has been an idiot, a real numbskull, a selfish diaper baby, and a stink brain. Vanellope, along with Ralph and Felix, rushes to the Random Roster Race, which has already begun. Ralph instructs her to just cross the finish line to be a real racer as she does not have to win, but Vanellope, proclaimg herself to be real racer already, is determined to win the race. Luckily, Vanellope's glitching gets her in second place, behind King Candy, who then tries to destroy Vanellope's kart by ramming into it. As King Candy attacks her, Vanellope begins to glitch nervously, causing the king to glitch as well. King Candy is then revealed to be Turbo, a character from an old racing game who was supposedly killed when his game was unplugged and took over Sugar Rush as King Candy.
The evil racer tries to murder Vanellope by ramming her into an oncoming stalagmite and reveals that he has reprogrammed the world while doing so. Vanellope is able to escape her death by glitching out of King Candy's grasp, and makes her way for the finish line. Suddenly, a swarm of Cy-Bugs from the game Hero's Duty, which have been breeding in the catacombs undernearth Sugar Rush, explode from the sides of the track. Vanellope's kart is caught in the explosion, which sends her falling off the track, prompting Ralph and Felix to come to her rescue, but the Cy-Bugs destroy the finish line. Sergeant Calhoun, the lead character in Hero's Duty, orders the citizens of the game to evacuate by heading for the Game Central Station. Ralph also tries to evacuate Vanellope, but Vanellope, still being a glitch, is unable to escape. Despite this, she tells Ralph to go without her, but Ralph refuses to leave her to die and desperately thinks of a way to save her. Ralph then overhears Calhoun telling Felix that the bugs cannot be stopped without a beacon and quickly comes up with an idea to erupt Diet Cola Mountain, hoping to have the erupting lava act as a beacon. Ralph then hurries to the top of Diet Cola Mountain and begins to smash the crater of mentos, but is attacked by King Candy (who had transformed into a Cy-Bug after being consumed by one). Vanellope is forced to watch as King Candy flies into the air with Ralph in his grasp. While this is occurring, a swarm of Cy-Bugs turn their attentions to killing Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun, and King Candy forces Ralph to watch the horrific scene from the air. Fortunately, Ralph is able to break free of Candy's grasps and plummets down to the mountain, sacrificing himself for Vanellope, and brings the whole crater down into the volcano with one forceful smash. When Vanellope sees Ralph plummeting, she glitches past the bugs, takes one of the karts, and glitches into Diet Cola Mountain, where she is able to catch Ralph before he falls into the lava. Together, they escape the volcano just as massive amounts of mentos plunge into the lava, causing the mountain to erupt. The eruption of Diet Cola Mountain produces a beacon that attracts all the Cy-bugs, including King Candy, and vaporizes them for good, saving Sugar Rush and the entire arcade.
After Felix fixes the finish line, Ralph pushes Vanellope's kart, with Vanellope inside, across the line, and the game resets. Suddenly, Vanellope magically transforms into a princess, revealing her to be the rightful ruler of the kingdom. Taffyta, Candlehead, Rancis and the other racers, whose memories have been restored after being wiped during King Candy's reign, remember Vanellope's rank as a princess. Horrified about their mean attitudes toward her, they apologize to Vanellope, begging for her forgiveness, but Vanellope decrees that everyone who has bullied her to be executed. This makes the racers react in horror and break down in tears about their impending death. However, Vanellope reveals that she is just kidding and accepts their apology. Ralph is surprised to see Vanellope as a princess and thinks that as her real self, but Vanellope, who glitches out of her princess attire to show her real self, explains that though the code may say she is a princess, she is really a racer with a greatest superpower: her glitching abilities that she decides to retain, as she feels thankful to have this power that has helped her and Ralph save Sugar Rush. However, she still accepts to lead the kingdom as President Vanellope von Schweetz. At this time, the arcade is about to open, and as Ralph prepares to leave Sugar Rush, Vanellope hugs him and offers Ralph a private wing in the castle with her where he will be happy and loved. Ralph warmly turns down the offer and explains that her friendship makes him happy enough and that he has a job to do: playing the bad guy in his own game. Ralph and Vanellope bid farewell, after a few rounds of humorous name calling between the two. After Ralph leaves with Felix and Calhoun, the other Sugar Rush racers surround Vanellope as they reconcile with her, befriend her and accept her back into the game.
During the finale, Vanellope, seen in her princess attire, serves as the maid of honor at the wedding of Felix and Calhoun. It is also shown that, due to her glitching abilities, Vanellope has become a fan-favorite in Sugar Rush. Now that she's able to control her glitching, she uses it to pass by the other racers as a special ability. During the end credits, Vanellope and Ralph, along with Felix and Calhoun are shown constantly enjoying each other's company and also game-jumping into numerous games.
History of mickey mouse
He is one of the most well-known animated characters in the world. If you've been in any store here in the states (or in the world for that matter), you've seen his face in many products. If you've been to any Disney park, you've probably gotten a big bear hug from him. He's Mickey Mouse! ...And he will be the focus of my second article here on Retro Junk. I will (hopefully not going into TOO much detail, thus that could make this an extremely boring post) talk about the highlights of Mickey's past career, what the lovable cartoon rodent is up to nowadays, and what plans Disney holds for him in the future.
Before I get started, let's review what I talked about on "R..I.P. Disney Channel 1983-2006" (which unfortunately got criticized by some RJ users as one of those infamous "this channel sucks now" posts that invaded this site over the past decade). In that article, I talked about how in 2006, the Disney Channel became the black sheep of The Walt Disney Company as a whole, meaning that it transformed itself (not exactly for the better, and to the dismay of "traditionalist" Disney fans like myself) from what could have been Disney's version of what the Hallmark Channel is today, to an MTV for little girls that spews out teenybopper starlets who may eventually become future versions of Lindsay Lohan in a few years (with the exceptions of Selena Gomez, Demi Lovato, and Bridgit Mendler, they turned out pretty decent despite Demi's brief meltdown in 2010). However, that won't stop Mickey from remaining the face of Disney for years to come. Plus, in this day and age (especially the tough times we're in right now), the world needs Mickey more than ever.And now, we invite you to relax. Let us put up a chair, as Retro Junk proudly presents, The History of Mickey Mouse!
The year was 1928, and during a trip to New York City, 27-year-old Walter Elias Disney found out by Charles Mintz that he had lost the right to produce anymore cartoons starring the character that served as his first success, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. To make matters worse, all of Walt's artists had been hired away by Universal Studios (who owned the Oswald character the whole time). Devastated, Walt now had to start from scratch and create a new character, one that he would own the rights to. He asked his friend Ub Iwerks to draw up some ideas for new original characters. Walt got the idea for a character inspired by a pet mouse he owned back when he was a child living in a farm in rural Missouri. Walt insisted on naming this new mouse "Mortimer", but his wife Lillian insisted on renaming him into something cuter than "Mortimer", and thus... Mickey Mouse was born. Later that year, the cartoon "Steamboat Willie" premiered to rave reviews. The cartoon achieved it share of innovations as well. It was one the first sound-cartoons ever made, and the first cartoon to introduce Mickey and his girlfriend Minnie to the public. However, it's not the first Mickey Mouse cartoon ever made. Mickey's first on-screen appearance was actually Plane Crazy, which wouldn't be released to the public until the success of "Steamboat Willie". Due to the success of "Willie"in '28, and the huge success of Walt's first color cartoon "Flowers and Trees" (a Silly Symphony), the Disney Studio asked themselves, "What will the next step be?", and then they had a brainstorm. They decided to let Mickey hop on the color bandwagon as well, and in 1935, "The Band Concert was born.
Yes, "The Band Concert", the first ever Mickey Mouse cartoon presented in Technicolor. In the cartoon, Mickey has an orchestra he formed perform a concert at a local park. This is also the first Mickey cartoon Donald Duck (who first appeared in the Silly Symphony, The Wise Little Hen) made an appearance in. This cartoon was just a test for what was to come for the Disney studio. "The Band Concert", along with another groundbreaking cartoon short (A Silly Symphony titled "The Old Mill") gave way to a feature film that many thought could never be done, but ended up being a surprise success, 1937's "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs".In 1940, three years after Snow White came out. Mickey was declining in popularity. He and Donald were overshadowed by cartoon series created by rival studios such as Warner Bros.' "Looney Tunes", and Paramount's "Popeye" series. Walt was desperate to have his favorite character back in the spotlight again. His solution, a Silly Symphony with Mickey called "The Sorcerer's Apprentice". That idea evolved into a feature film called "Fantasia", and "The Sorcerer's Apprentice became the third segment of that film, making it Mickey's first feature film role. Unfortunately, Fantasia didn't do so well at the box office when it first premiered, but it did somewhat succeed in making Mickey popular again (although not quite surpassing his friend Donald at the time).In 1941, Disney released a Mickey Mouse and Pluto cartoon called "Lend a Paw", a remake of the 1933 black-and-white Mickey cartoon, "Mickey's Pal Pluto". In the cartoon, Pluto rescues a kitten from cold weather, and later feels jealous of him after Mickey takes him in and decides to keep him as a pet. The short became the first Mickey Mouse cartoon to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1942.
Well, those are all the big Theatrical achievements, now we move to the 1950s, where television started to rule. Mickey and Donald were starting to be overshadowed by TV cartoons created by Hanna-Barbera such as Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound. However, Walt Disney had bigger plans for the medium. Along with a new anthology series called "Disneyland" (which would later be called "Walt Disney Presents, and after that, "Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color"), he had another plan for Mickey Mouse. Not exactly a cartoon show per say, but a show that makes him the leader of the club that's made for you and me. That's right, in 1955, "The Mickey Mouse Club" was born. The group of kids who presented this show were called "Mouseketeers", and they were let by a man named Jimmie Dodd. Perhaps the two most-well known Mouseketeers on the show are Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon (both pictured above), with Annette being the only Mouseketeer personally picked by Walt himself. Unfortunately, Mickey was only seen very rarely in the show itself (except for the opening sequences), but even bigger things were in store for the big cheese... the opening of Disneyland, also in 1955.
Disneyland is not only a place where the young and old alike can have fun together, it's a place where Mickey and all his friends can meet all their fans 365 days a year. Parks similar to Disneyland later invaded the globe as well (Walt Disney World in 1971, Tokyo Disneyland in 1983, Disneyland Paris in 1992, Hong Kong Disneyland in 2006, and coming soon... Shanghai Disney Resort). Although Walt Disney was never able to see any of them open to the public due to his death in 1966, there's no question that Mickey will still be there to see us all around the world, and his magic will still live on in all of them.Now we fast forward to 1983, where Disney began having its "dark" period. Although they began to lose their innovation in their then-stagnating animation department (When Pixar's John Lasseter joined Disney in the early 80's, he noticed they were trying to cheapen the budget of their animated movies instead of being innovative, which bothered him, and he would later be terminated for pitching an idea using computer technology). However, there were a few good things ahead for Mickey during these times. The Disney Channel launched (which at the time hoped to give him a permanent television home), Tokyo Disneyland opened (marking what I like to call Mickey's first ever business trip to Japan), and he returned to the big screen just in time for his 55th birthday in "Mickey's Christmas Carol". However, despite the title, Mickey only had a supporting role as Bob Cratchitt (he wouldn't have an actual starring role until 1990's The Prince and the Pauper and 1995's Runaway Brain), and Donald Duck only had a supporting role as Fred Scrooge. The starring role actually was given to Scrooge McDuck (who would later star in DuckTales), in the role he was born to play, Ebenezer Scrooge. It also marked a big comeback for Mickey, despite features like The Black Cauldron and The Great Mouse Detective not doing so well at the time (when Michael Eisner joined Disney in 1984, he wanted to shut down the animation division after the failure of "Cauldron", but changed his mind once "Mouse Detective" did better).
Now we fast forward even further to the 90's and today. The 90's was when Mickey would have it big. Disney was having its renaissance, "The Prince and the Pauper" and "Runaway Brain" let him have starring roles in animation again, and two even bigger things were in store... his 70th birthday. His presents? A direct-to-video compilation film featuring his best cartoon shorts, The Spirit of Mickey, and the first TV show to solely focus on him "Mickey Mouse Works" (which would eventually be retooled as House of Mouse in 2001). In 2002, he became the focus of an ongoing video game series co-produced by Disney and the Japanese RPG developer SquareSoft (now Square Enix) called "Kingdom Hearts".2003 was Mickey's 75th birthday, and he once again got two special presents, 2004's direct-to-DVD adaptation of The Three Musketeers (also starring his friends Donald and Goofy), and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" (the second TV show to focus solely on Mickey and Friends), which premiered in 2006. This time, "Clubhouse" was a CG animated preschool show on Playhouse Disney (now Disney Junior) in the vein of "Dora the Explorer" and "Blue's Clues". If you ask me, It wasn't the best idea for Disney to do a show like this. A CG preschool show in the vein of Dora is not a very good fit for Mickey (I don't think it would be a very good fit for any character that was originally animated in 2D, let alone originally meant for young and old alike), but it does its job for reintroducing a new generation of kids to the character.In 2010, Mickey starred in his first non-"Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" and non-"Kingdom Hearts" property in 4 years, the video game "Epic Mickey". The game also reintroduces Oswald the Lucky Rabbit to the Disney Universe. Mickey has also been announced to be the focus of an idea for a full-length theatrical feature being pitched by Walt Disney Animation Studios veteran Burny Mattinson. If it gets the greenlight, it could be one of Disney Animation's major releases, and the first film in the Disney Animated Classics canon starring Mickey and his friends. I personally think Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh (the creators of Phineas and Ferb) should direct the film with Burny and write the script, with John Lasseter overseeing the film as both executive producer and creative consultant. I also think this could be more akin to "The Muppets" and "Winnie the Pooh" (both released last year), in other words, brining back the character and what made him popular, rather than drastically and soullessly re-inventing the characters into live-action/CGI abominations that spew out pop-culture references and fart jokes, not to mention making them "hip" (I'm looking directly at YOU "Alvin and the Chipmunks"!!!). More importantly, I see this potential film also being 2D animated, as it should be because 2D characters in 3D animation just don't work in my honest opinion (Mickey Mouse Clubhouse is an example).In the years to come, there is no doubt in the world that no matter what talentless teenyboppers are being spewed out by greedy TV execs, no matter what uncertainties we have to face, we will see more and more of this cute and lovable cartoon rodent in the future. Whether he's in movies or TV, books or theme parks, Mickey Mouse will always be there to cheer us up, and will always be the face of, not just Disney, but the world.
