Mousekingdom Blog

… my god … finally … I couldn’t have waited much longer … the Daytime EMMYs past June didn’t even work as a quick fix for me … I just need my regular awards … big scale awards … worth clogging up this blog together with Andy with endless posts about who won and how well or bad the Walt Disney Company with its various outlets did fare in a particular award season … and now the ball is finally rolling again.

Coming Sunday the 59th Primetime EMMY Awards will be presented in the Shrine Auditorium - and fans have a chance to watch the ceremony on FOX in the US (in Germany the telecast is relayed live on Pro7). So how is Disney poised to do in the 59th Primetime EMMY Awards?

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Do you believe in lucky charms? Andreas Hoivold does, a professional poker player from Norway who brings a little sorcerer Mickey to the table. He won the European Poker Tour Season 3 event in Hohensyburg, Germany (This happened on 21 March 2007). With the help of Mickey he got the big price cashed in; 672,000 EURO (approximately $845000)

But he is not the only one. There is even a poker player who shares the famous name; Mickey “Mouse” Mills. And he seems to be good at the game too with 8 recorded 1st places and enough wins “in the money”.

And if you want to try your luck maybe a Mickey and Minnie Mouse Chip Card Guard is the right investment for you (you can find some on Ebay)

(Note; remember, poker should be fun and affordable in regards to your own financial possibilities. Only put as much money in an event as you can miss)

It’s that time of year again (almost): The San Diego Comic Con (From July 26 to 29).

I have had the opportunity to visit this awesome convention in the past and have been dreaming of a return ever since. Unfortunately it will not be this year (but there is always a chance for another year)

For those (Disney fans) going to visit the event; here are some highlights you really should not miss:

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We all know that Disney isn’t only for the kids, its for adults too. Now Disney will have their newest celebrity, Remy from the movie Ratatouille, shine on bottles of wine.

Disney has faced a challenge in marketing the film, which has a strange name, an unusual premise (a rat who loves gourmet food), and a lead character that doesn’t lend itself to cuddly stuffed animals. In response, the company is looking for other ways to capitalize on the film’s success. Much of this alternative merchandizing centers on food, such as branded kitchen utensils and tableware. The Ratatouille branded French chardonnay will be sold only at Costco stores, at $12.99 per bottle. The wine goes on sale in August. (Join Together)

Sounds strange to me to promote wine with a rat, even if it is a lovable rat from a Disney Animation. Anyways, anybody drinking the wine, please do so in moderation and let me know if it is any good.

Picture copyrights MatthewA

Who would you pick for artist that most inspires you? Art Award asked and got their answer. For young adults ages 18 to 25 Walt Disney came on top.

“The results show that young people are inspired by a range of artists who they feel are relevant to their lives today” (BBC news)

While he leaves Leonardo da Vinci behind him in that age group (4th place) he can’t win in the “all ages” list. There they literally switch places and also has Bob Dylan (2nd) and Andy Warhol (3rd) in front of him.

What if Mufasa was Darth Vader? Or what would happen if the Muppets would invade the world of the pirates?

You can find out on YouTube where you will find a trailer of the Pirates of the Caribbean; At Worlds End that includes a bunch of the Muppets and a great little video where Darth “Mufasa” Vader talks to Luke.

You can check out the videos made by Leprechaunproduction here (Via Brokehoedown)

My fear was justified, my provider didn’t keep their word and I am still not connected. I was just wondering; if your main business is putting people online but you can’t fulfill this task after 16 days (today it is the 20th day I have no internet, I am writing this from another location… again) then you must be doing something wrong. I still don’t know the cause of the problem, and judging from their answers they still don’t know what is going on.

There was only one solution; change provider. So yesterday I got my logon information and a letter that I will be connected today. Although I am cautious with their promises, it does look like I will be fully online again as from tomorrow. I’ll be back, will have a lot of catching up to do, so be sure to check out the blog a lot again…

… or: “Pirates take over - Part II: battlefield breakfast table”. I admit that I followed the numerous reports and discussions about the sweetened breakfast cereals that Kellog’s offered adorned with Disney brands and characters in the US amusing. But then I opened the flyer of the local supermarket last night to scan the offers for the coming week and saw it: TWO Disney branded cereals from a company called Weetabix, here in Germany (and as I learned online also available in the UK)!!

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We are so used of having access to the internet that when we are disconnected for a while we can’t even describe how much we miss it. For over 12 days I have no internet connection at home and it is terrible (I’ll spare you all the disastrous stories of the provider I have to deal with). This is the longest I have been without connection to the web. Although I did post one entry within these days from another location it was impossible to keep this blog going like I used to do.

Not only can’t I update the blog, I miss a whole lot of Disney magic with the access gone. I used to read a whole lot of web pages trying to still my hunger for Disney information… This has been close to impossible without internet connection at home.

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Pictures, reports and even a video have been circulating on the internet about the fake Disney park “Shijingshan” in Beijing.

A banner over the entrance said, “Disney is too far, so please come to Shijingshan.” (Biz Yahoo)

Visitors get to see a collection of Disney faces and Characters like Mickey, Minnie, Donald and some of the princesses. The managers of the park have other views on this.

Take our Cinderella as an example. The face of Disney’s Cinderella face is European, but ours is a Chinese. She looks like a young Chinese country girl”

Really? They want to get away what that?

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Remember the Volvo car you could win when Pirates of the Caribbean II came out? With the release of Pirates III a new chance for all the hunters to get their hands on a key for a Volvo XC90 has come.

Together with 50.000 doubloon a key has been sunk into the ocean this time. To find the key you will have to solve 4 puzzles that you can find on the Volvo “The Hunt” website and a 5th puzzle that can be found on the map you need to pick up from your local Volvo Dealer.

This map will be crucial to solve all the puzzles and to find your way to the treasure… Good luck, and feel free to share your adventures here.

Picture Copyrights Volvo

Mondays is podcast day for me and the Monday is getting fuller and fuller. I can only say it’s a good thing that I can listen to podcasts while at work. Since Mousetunes stopped we knew that we would get 2 for 1. This time it’s Nathan M Rose turn to proof that there is life after Mousetunes. He got re-enforcement in by asking Tim Devine to be the other half of the new “Magical Definition Podcast”. I missed their debut a couple of weeks ago, but with four shows so far it wasn’t to bad catching up.

Well, I can say that the team of Nathan and Tim works very well. It is real fun listening to both of them talking about all Disney things. You’ll get all your Disney news and rumors when listening to the podcast but that is not all of course.

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If there is one drink I love it is Champagne (it is about the only drink with alcohol that I drink). So, occasionally, as it is pricy, we open a bottle and enjoy the bubbly liquid. When we open one for a celebration of some sort we cannot have a drink without something for our son. He will then get a nice Kidibul, a champagne look-a-like drink for kids. Never would I think that this would turn my son into a future drunk, but is seems some people have other ideas about this when it comes to drinks that look like champagne:

Scottish health officials have accused Disney Partyfizz, a juice drink, of contributing to underage drinking because of its resemblance to champagne. (upi.com)

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A hotel in Edinburgh, Scotland is sending one of its staff members to Orlando for a “smile” course in the Disney Institute.

The first thing which springs to mind when you think about Disneyland is people smiling and, although Edinburgh is a long way from Florida, it would be great if we could be as cheerful…

(Notice the Disneyland and Florida in the same sentence It’s that “little” mistakes you see sometimes)

…The Americans have a reputation for service with a smile and The Disney Institute is renowned for its hospitality expertise. They have thousands of staff and motivating them all is a major task. I look after 20 to 30 staff but want them all to be happy and positive. (Edinburgh News Scotsman)

A man from Clearwater claims to be the owner of the very First original Mickey Mouse drawing from Walt Disney. He had the artwork, ink and paper tested to authenticate the drawing. He has been trying to contact Disney since 1989, but they refuse to even look at it. Well maybe because this is not even close to the very first Mickey cartoon we know making this either a fake, a work from somewhere later in Mickey’s life, or a cause to try (and I stress try) to get a quick buck out of Disney as he is suing them for $50 million.

“I’m suing them for $50-million, the copyright on Mickey Mouse, and the right to tell the Walt Disney story,” (Fox)

He might have only paid $3 for this “original” (Claiming with it the copyrights to the mouse) but once he is done suing Disney it will cost him a lot more when he will have to pick up the bills of his lawyers after loosing the case.

Picture from FOX

Many of you contacted us regarding the technical problems the RSS-feeds here on the Mousekingdom Blog. Let me say that we regret the problems you encountered in the past weeks. We finally solved the technical riddle (a plug-in of the blog-software somehow broke our rss-feed) and got the two feeds back up online. So good news for all of you, who wan’t to stay up-to-date with the recent posts and comments without any hassle!

Now we are so free and will use this opportunity also for some advertising … and kindly point out that there are three more feeds you might be interested in: the DLP.info News & Updates feed, the Clickmagique’s PicParade feed and the DLP.info-Boards feed! With these feeds you won’t miss any new posts on the DLP.info boards, news and updates published on DLP.info or photos uploaded by fellow Disney fans to the free photo hosting site Clickmagique’s PicParade … or did you know that user Androland just uploaded 14 photos of the construction of DLRP’s Space Mountain over at Clickmagique’s PicParade?

More info about all five feeds and for webmasters - who are invited to integrate the feeds on their sites - can be found on the RSS-Feed-overview page.

The new Disney.com has gone live since a couple of days and looks great. The first page shows you a lot of options to choose from like Movies, TV, games, and so on. However, the first section I checked out was the Travel section. All the little trailers of the parks and other Disney locations where fun to watch (and makes me want to be there even more as before).

Parents and adult will have a lot of fun planning their next trips… but beware of the children’s section; before you know it you will be playing the games. (I was playing Mickey’s Tool Shed game and it was fun – I’ll never grow up)

Tonight another exciting season of american football in the NFL will come to an end, as the world champion is determined by way of the SUPERBOWL XLI in Miami, Florida. Ok - is this blog now sponsored by the NFL? No, in fact the Superbowl attraction millions around the globe on tv and regularly raking up the highest viewer numbers of any shows on tv really wouldn’t need any promotion from this blog. So, why are we suddenly posting about an american football game? Well, I could just say that I am looking forward to seeing the game - which would be true but is not really enough reason to post here. No, the real reason is … there is a connection between the Superbowl and Disney that is often forgotten and which I therefore would like to point out again. And no, I am not talking about ESPN or ABC here. We are talking show here!

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Michael Eisner spoke to a group of Toronto businessmen about his 21 years at Disney and how he changes a $7 billion revenue into a $20 billion one.

He had a couple of “Disney” lessons to spill: Here his lesson on Failure

DISNEY LESSON #4: Encourage failure
“Failure is not a corporate death sentence,” he says, “and punishing failure leads to mediocrity. If people are afraid to take risks, you risk being bland and mediocre.”

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The Walt Disney Company is continuing its push into the European TV-markets and only recently announced the latest big step. After concentrating on family tv and in particular its local Disney Channels in the past, TWDC is now looking at its other strong brand in TV … no, not ABC … ESPN the cable sports channel (which TWDC holds through ABC, which own 80% of ESPN). TWDC already introduced ESPN Classic in selected European markets in 2002 (re-airing highlights of past sport events) as well as the ESPNsoccernet (a soccer news and informationsite) and ESPN Mobile (dsitributing X Games video, wallpapers). Now ESPN is finally ready to enter the market for live-tv coverage of sports events in Europe - or sort of as it recently announced that it will acquire NASN.

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