Entertainment here we come.
It’s a funny thing, this need for people to be entertained.
Think about it. We work to pay the bills, keep a roof over our heads, food on the table, keep the kids happy, etcetera… For the most part, that manages to take up most of the time.
Or it used to. Count me as one of those outside the box. While I don’t have children, there is a fairly demanding pair of cats to be kept in kibble. And they also demand attention along with amusement. Much like a fair number of people I know, they get bored. Easily bored…
Sure, the same going day in and day out is monotonous. Nothing new under the sun there. In the 1890’s, my great grandfather worked as a vaquero at a series of ranches in central Nevada. It was life on the back of a horse, dull, seven days a week and pretty much the same every day. Free time was something of a non existent concept. You worked through the day and slept when you were done.
A yearly occasion was the round up of wild horses out on the land around the ranches for shipment east by rail. A rear amusement during that time was for someone to try and ride a wild horse for a pot of cash put together by the ranch hands. That glorious sum? Maybe all of six bits, say around 37 cents.
So, when you look at today, the wonder of the age is that we all have free time to enjoy. And with the electronic wonders at hand, there are plenty of things to take up that time, without even venturing beyond our own doorways. Not to mention movies, games, television, hobbies, sports or the watching there of, collecting and on and on… How we decide which diversion to fall into is something of a mystery.
Let’s face it, we humans like to be entertained. We have ever since the first of our ancestors stood up at a fire and told a tale. Something to stir imagination, a tale of a successful conquest or a prosperous hunt.
Give props to that guy or gal who was brave enough to stand up and share. They probably took a portion of grief and skepticism for doing so. Yet perseverance paid off. And all who came after, from pulp novels to music halls and vaudeville through radio, television, motion pictures and more all carry on that tradition of sharing the story, keeping the audience entertained.
Not a bad profession. It pays off, hopefully in many ways, including paying the bills and keeping everyone in kibble, too.
PS: It’s an interesting time for me right now. So, I’m going to try and keep writing for a bit of set and centered as it were. Hope you will enjoy what comes from the keyboard.
Best Laid Plans
Well…
As you may have read in this space, my intentions were to blog every day in July.
The real world has a funny way of changing intentions such as those. Long story short, other more important things got in the way. So, here I am early on a Sunday morning, iPad at the ready as I tell the tale to fill this space.
Had a chance to head back to the summer of 1970, when my family made the change from, as my mom called it, “a Charlie Brown” tract house neighborhood where we knew most of the people in Mountain View to the other side of the San Francisco Bay and the rural living in Walnut Creek. A brand new house in an area without streetlights or sidewalks in unincorporated Contra Costa County.
Today the tract house we have such fond memories of is just one of many with concrete replacing the front lawn and a conversion to house a large family under one roof. The trees have prospered along the streets that were safe and secure in the neighborhood. But all the families we knew are gone now, the last member having left for a board and care facility two years ago. Now she too has passed and a well remembered part of those wonder years becomes a treasured memory.
As I type this, I am listening to Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong sing some of the best tunes from those years ago. Yes, another case of terminal nostalgia comes to rest…
in retrospect, that tract of homes may have been sheltered from things going on elsewhere in the world. But young parents of that time tended to have their own worlds to focus on. Young children created their own brand of challenges. School, sports, Scouting for girls and boys, church and all of the things that made up life. Working mothers were making their starts while dads brought home the bacon after the 40-hour work week and the daily commute.
it wasn’t that the issues of the day were not important, but dealing with the latest visit from the measles, come home from school and visiting all family members at the same time were of greater import.
Courtesy of the US Army, my parents saw how life in the late 50’s Alabama differed from that of California. Segregation was the way of life to the point that young soldiers had to be reminded not get involved in things they may have seen as wrong. It would take time and the passage of Federal laws to see things change and begrudgingly for many.
Looking back on those days, I can see how the parents of those days helped shape the young men and women we were to become. The basic respect for each other was not just a simple platitude, it was expected and not out of the ordinary. I honestly can say that I never once heard a deragatory term for anyone from the parents in that neighborhood.
Civility today is something that has been in the minds of many. From the top down, it is indeed something I don’t understand. Either as a way to excite others or draw attention to the differences between us all, no one should have an expectation that civility should not be an expectation in society around the world.
As a child of the mass media age, I have always believed in a simple concept that came from a 1960’s television show – infinite diversity in infinite combinations. In that we should all celebrate what makes us different from one another is what makes us all the same. People, living on a planet, small and alone in the Milky Way galaxy, all trying to get through today, in search of tomorrow. Some days may be harder than others, but by respecting those differences, we see how we are more alike than not. Each one as deserving to be here as the other.
The lesson that came from that neighborhood so many years ago, it still rings true today. The people in this country still believe and treasure the words that declared our freedom in the summer of 1776.
“… We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. … “
Okay, that’s enough from the soapbox. Time to step down and move forward.
Back with more of the usual as the days come along.
Lest We Forget.
Today we must recall that the freedoms we all enjoy today in the country came at a price.
A high one, paid by men and women, through the ultimate sacrifice.
Without their actions, there would be no Independence Day; no United States of America; no Constitution; and so much more.
As you enjoy this holiday, take time to reflect upon the gifts you have been given and give thanks in return.
Why The Blue Parrot?
Way back when, I had been online in various forms and decided it was time to strike out on my own as it were. Having been about during the Stone Age of the Internet on GEnie and America OnLine, it was inevitable that I would find a place to share stories of my own, while bringing my interests into the light.
Enter 2009…
But finding the good domain name was a challenge. I had last done a series of columns over on Jim Hill Media under the heading of Ruminations. Fun those were, yet inspiration for a name was fleeting; no lead in any direction worth noting. Not to mention designing a web page that wasn’t covered in flashing GIF’s or playing sound clips (as seemed to be the norm at the time) wasn’t as time consuming as it could have been.
I’ve always been a fan of classic films. The Warner Brothers motion pictures of the 30’s and 40’s are particular favorites. Something about how the same sets redressed could represent such diverse locations. As with many folks, “Casablanca” is a favorite. After one too many late night viewings, taking note of Señor Ferrare’s “Blue Parrot Cafe”, it became the perfect name for this space. Yes, a star was born.
Friend and Warner studio denizen Ken Mitchroney helped out by creating the artwork that reproduced the view above. Writing my own content was never such fun. Some 9 years later it still is.
More still to come!
Disney and change
Oh, the cries of panic from the Disney fan faithful…
Yes, changes are afoot at the Disney company.
So, what else is new? Really.
Okay, I can give some credit to the changes related to the departure of John Lasseter later this year. It is a newsworthy item as John has been at the helm of Pixar, Disney animation and even theme parks at Imagineering.
Yet, Disney as a company has been about change long before Walt Disney passed away in 1966. Anyone recall this quote from Walt?
“I just want to leave you with this thought, that it’s just been sort of a dress rehearsal, and we’re just getting started. So if any of you start resting on your laurels, I mean just forget it, because…we are just getting started.”
If you really go all the way back to the start of the company, it was all about change. The whole art form of animation was changing as it went along. First came short subjects. Then feature length films. Then television. Then theme parks. And on and on…
And yes, some of the changes along the way included more than a few stumbles and failures. But if you don’t take those steps, you never find out what works, and perhaps more importantly, what the audience likes. And what keeps them coming back for more.
Take for example the recent “fiasco” of the Han Solo film. It’s easy to sit back at home and call out what you perceive as flaws in the final product. Yet at the studio, decisions were made which impacted that final product. And added to the cost of that final product. Maybe it did not meet the expectations of some folks in many respects. Yes, it was indeed an expensive lesson. But one that was inevitable as the studio branches out from the Star Wars franchise. A quick remembrance? Not every Marvel film has rocked the box office either. Lessons are always being learned.
Bottom line? Disney stockholders continue to like what they see. The Theme Parks division continues to be robust and profitable. People are still making pilgrimages to the wilds of Orange County – east and west. The international parks are also doing well.
Are changes coming? Yes. They have to. When Disneyland opened in 1955, it may have had the marketplace all to it’s self. But that did not last long. And it doesn’t take much of a look to see how changes came along soon.
So, the sky isn’t falling. Despite what some of the faithful may cry, it is a good time at the moment at the Walt Disney Company.
Enjoy it!