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ABC News: Disney Worker Faces Child Porn Charges

Disney World Worker Who Dressed As Goofy and Beast Arrested on Child Pornography Charges

Roommates of Matthew Wendland, 20, tipped police to images in Wendland's room of children in sexual poses, according to an Orange County Sheriff's report. A search turned up a half-dozen printed computer pictures of children under 18 performing sex acts or in sexual poses and at least another 45 images on a CD, the report stated.

He's only worked for Disney since July, and no-one at the park has complained about him, but they suspended him without pay pending the outcome of the charges.

I find it ironic that among the characters he was asked to portray in the park, of of them is the "Beast".

Monsters and Critics.com reports:
Disney has stray dogs at Hong Kong theme park rounded up and killed:
Hong Kong - Disney came under fire from animal welfare groups Monday for having stray dogs on its Hong Kong theme park site rounded up and killed.

The Hong Kong animal control people are saying that Disney's construction workers all but adopted the animals, but then abandoned them when their projects were done - and Disney is saying that they're roaming around in packs and harassing the workers.

Either way, it seems to me that things might have gotten out of hand.....

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AJC.com reports.....
Why scan the hands that feed you?

If Mickey Mouse tried to visit Walt Disney World today, even if he purchased a full-price ticket, he'd almost certainly be refused entry. You see, in order to gain access into the Magic Kingdom, everyone has to submit to a high-tech, digitized laser scan of their finger tips; and Mickey, bless his heart, always wears gloves. He never takes them off — not to sleep, not to eat, not to bathe, and certainly not to go through a turnstile.

Turns out that the biometric "hand scans" that they are doing are an effort to reduce ticket forgeries and "make things better" for the almighty customer. Busch Gardens is doing something similar, so it can't be all bad, right? They all insist that it's a "scan of their entire hand, not just the fingertips".

My favorite part: "There's no pesky 'privacy issue,' because "it's not fingerprinting" said Busch's vice president of operations, Doug Stagner.

As the article points out, one of the problems is that corporations - and the government - have a bad track record when it comes to protecting sensitive data like this. As long as it's only a scan of the dimensions of the hand and not the actual prints, I guess it might work - for a while. I'm sure that the ACLU is already watching this one like a hawk though....

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Marketing Begins At Home:
Dear Walt Disney Corporation,


Not that anyone asked for my opinion, but speaking not only as a communications professional but as a life long ubber-maxi-zoom-dweebie-geek of the first order who watched, listened to and read The Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy more times than I care to remember - you’re marketing of the film version of said property is in a word... awful.

Ever since Douglas Adams died and rumors about this movie started flitting about the internet, I've been nervous about what the end result will be. Will it be true to the story? Will it be true to the feel of the books? Would Douglas like the end result? Or would he feel that it wasn't worth a pair of fetid dingo's kidneys?

I've seen the trailer, and it LOOKS good. Very flashy, some great CGI stuff, and great visuals. But how will I feel about the book afterwards? Will it leave me feeling hollow inside, like I've just wasted time and money - and then when I think of the book, will I feel horrible for having watched the movie?

Or will it be so hoopy that I'll want to go Hitchhiking?

New Statesman - Notebook - Rosie Millard: "It cost £50 to take my child, still in nappies and sitting on my lap, to see The Lion King, writes Rosie Millard"

She goes on to write:

"I know, with £50 tickets and an auditorium full of disgruntled adults who kept turning round and glaring at every squeak, you are probably thinking what a madwoman I was to take a child to a West End show in the first place. But The Lion King is a children's show, produced by Disney, is it not?"

It's the same throughout London, where most of the "child-friendly" musicals that many parents, quite rightly, feel their child would gain from experiencing have a thoroughly adult ticket policy and are seemingly inured to the outlay required, particularly for families with more than one child.

If it's a show based on a kids movie, and supposed to appeal to kids.... Why the hell are they trying to rip off the parents so much? I realize that it costs money to open a show on Broadway (or anywhere for that matter), but if you want people to come to the show, shouldn't you at least TRY to make it affordable? Found this one via a search that popped up in my referrers.

BoingBoing brings us....
Michael Moore says his announcement is no publicity stunt

I've lost track of the number of people who've sent us links to news stories about Michael Moore "admitting" that his campaign to tell people about Disney's last-minute refusal to carry his new anti-Bush movie, Farenheit 911, is a "publicity stunt." Moore convincingly rebuts this on his site.

Michael Moore.com : War Room: Fahrenheit 911 Facts -- Notes + Sources: "Factual Back-Up For Fahrenheit 9/11: Section One
THE FOLLOWING IS THE LINE BY LINE FACTUAL BACKUP FOR 'FAHRENHEIT 9/11'

Section One covers the facts in Fahrenheit 9/11 from the 2000 election to George W. Bush's extended visit to Booker Elementary on the morning of September 11th."

It's interesting that Moore still gets publicity on this - mostly because the idiots who don't like his movie don't know to shut their yappers about the movie. Think about it - if they stop getting his name and the movie itself mentioned in the media outlets, then the story will eventually fade from the front page.

Fahrenheit 9/11

I just watched the trailer, and I'm actually looking forward to seeing it - the same way I usually look forward to a good fiction movie, that is.