Harry Potter Tour

My daughter is a HUGE fan of Harry Potter and I own all the movies.  When we first heard about the new Harry Potter attraction, we were stoked.  Now that it is finally completed, it is now of the bucket list of family vacations.  Thank goodness I have a timeshare in Daytona Beach every Christmas week.  Orlando is just about an hour from there.  

 

Before I went into the Army, we lived in Florida for 10 years as a family.  Every Christmas we go to Orlando and "feed the mouse or the whale" as we called it.  That was the big family gift.  The tour looks like a blast and based on the visit to Universal Studios in the past, this attraction will not disappoint I am sure.

There is a huge money franchise in Harry Potter that will feed the imagination of children for years to come.

 

Screening Room - Mark Osbourne's "More"

"More" is a touching short film that took Mark Osbourne nine months to create in his garage. It was nominated in 1999 for Best Short Film.  It is a stop motion short about a man looking for happiness and inventing what looks like "Google goggles" that create a visual world of bliss. 

 

The downside is once he has it the fire within him is gone.  His chase of the memories of his blissful childhood and the subsequent invention change him into the person that he least wanted to be.  Now everyone can see beyond the drab colorless world that they drone through every day.

It is very touching six minute short film.  The concept and execution were spot on.  Definitely something everyone will enjoy.

The Warner Brother Virtual Tour

I love me some "The Big Bang Theory".  For that alone, I would go on the tour.  It makes geek sexy and the humor is awesome.  Finally us science nerds get some "cool" attention.

 Holy crap to hear Bernadette's real voice, wow and it is cool that Mayim Bialik actually has a PhD.

Yes, Ellen and Colin Firth video was super cute.  So glad that there is going to be a Dory movie.  Can't wait to see.

The Weather Channel Virtual Tour

Okay, it's great that the Weather Channel decided to build green when building their new studio.  But the virtual tour was not as crisp and user friendly as the New Times Virtual Tour.  That virtual tour was better orchestrated, which is funny since the Weather Channel deals with visual media and broadcasting far more than the New York Times does.  Maybe it is the whole New York thing, gotta do things bigger and better.

None the less, hats off to Weather Channel for being Eco-friendly.  

The New York Times Virtual Tour

Nicolai Ouroussoff is correct about the institutional exterior feeling of the New York Building with the rods, steel beams, and grayness of it.  But I did find the atrium to be rather beautiful with the birch trees and green mossy ground cover.  It added a bit of serenity to the interior and made it feel a bit organic.

The interior design colors are not user-friendly to me.  Why make the stairs a focal point?  Red is not one of my favorite in interior design.  My new house came with a red dining room wall as a focal piece that I immediately painted a lovely cilantro green.  In the cafeteria it is fine.  Red does induce a sense of hunger in a person.  But not the stairs..... you are paying attention to those more than you are the action and buzz of the newsroom,

The building does look a bit "sexier" at night with the lights gleaning off of the structure and surrounding area.  I'm still partial to the original building.  Neo-gothic to me is way cooler than urban sleek.

Recording Studios Tour

Okay, that was a LOT of fun.  Music is my passion and karaoke is my playground.  I have even sung in a local band and laid some tracks for friends who produce their own music.

The tour of Pachyderm Studio introduced me to a new band that I have never heard of but am now an instant fan..... Indigenous and their song "Little Time".  The sound just makes you move in your seat.  Very infectious.  It sounds a lot like my cousin's music in Metairie.  Very cool indeed.

But the trivia about Blue Jay Studios and how Aerosmith, while laying tracks for Night in the Ruts, tested how  soundproof the walls really were.  Very assume!  But one of the partners of the studio is none other than Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys.  Oh how I was subjected to their music when my daughter was growing up.  The background jazz infusion music playing as you tour the website was way too cool.  

Makes me want to make a personal pilgrimage to one of the studios.  Who wants to join me?











 

State of the Media

Well it is good to know that I'm not in the "in crowd" in television viewership.  

I'm a ABC kind a girl.  I think some of that was formed because of my time overseas and exposure to Armed Forces Network (AFN).  Much of the news coverage was ABC with a sprinkling of other news affiliates here and there.  Also my childhood was spent watching Joan Lunden on Good Morning America.  My mom watched every morning when I was a little girl.

I was surprised by how popular NBS Nightly News was and I knew that the Today Show dominated as it has for decades.  Poor CBS trailing in the pack.  But I still watch CBS Sunday Morning like clockwork.  Another one of those family traditions instilled in me.

What I am not surprised by is the surge of online media taking command as the traditional outlets of newspapers, magazines, and television slowly losing ground.  What I was surprised by was the strength that radio still has.  But then I thought about for a moment and remember all the road trips to my folks' house in Texas and how I am a captive audience for 12 hours in my Suburban flipping through radio stations until I can find one that I will enjoy.  Makes me wonder if Sirius or Pandora is worth the money?