BlogAllAlong » Cartoons http://blogallalong.com News and articles about technology, computers, internet, search engines, books, video games, movies and documentaries Mon, 31 Oct 2011 18:28:27 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 UP Blu-ray 4 Disc Combo Pack http://blogallalong.com/2009/09/01/up-blu-ray-4-disc-combo-pack/ http://blogallalong.com/2009/09/01/up-blu-ray-4-disc-combo-pack/#comments Tue, 01 Sep 2009 11:31:07 +0000 Bashar http://blogallalong.com/2009/09/01/up-blu-ray-4-disc-combo-pack/ Up blu ray 4 Disc Pack

The previously announced high-priced pre-order from Amazon for the PIXAR animation UP has now got a a lower price, and more details about the item contents. The new price guarantee now for pre-order is $31.99, and it comes as a set of 4 discs that includes a DVD copy, and a digital copy that you can play on your PC, Mac, or iPhone. One is ofcourse for the movie it self, and a fourth for the bonus materials, like several original ideas about Muntz’s end. Amazon page has all the details.

Sounds cool, and is a fair price now. Only bad thing is, it’s still two months to go!

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]]> http://blogallalong.com/2009/09/01/up-blu-ray-4-disc-combo-pack/feed/ 1 The Magical World of Disney… SUCKS! http://blogallalong.com/2009/02/01/the-magical-world-of-disney-sucks/ http://blogallalong.com/2009/02/01/the-magical-world-of-disney-sucks/#comments Sun, 01 Feb 2009 15:51:28 +0000 Bashar http://blogallalong.com/?p=972 Disney Shopping

Since the release of Lion King back in 1994, Disney have gone into dark ages, deteriorating quality, and lack of focus big time, with some few exceptions. I keep arguing with my parents about their current status, and how they are only saved by PIXAR acquisition, which they refused as an idea several times over the past two decades. Acquiring it eventually ofcourse was a bad piece of news for me, as I really believe in PIXAR and lost faith in Dinsey. I hope with time I turn out to be wrong, and John Lasseter manages to set things straight again.

Regardless though, as I was preparing for my kid’s birthday this year, I decided for it to be a Wall-E themed one, and I got decorations, story books, and other stuff for it. For the main gift, it had to be a Wall-E toy then. But why on earth is Amazon listing the toy for almost triple the price of Disney store? I rarely find minor differences, but never something like this!

Wall-E Truck Toy @ Amazon

Wall-e Truck Toy @ Disney

Whatever I said, I will order from Disney now and contact Amazon later on. This was 2 weeks prior to the birthday date, and I made sure I select the fastest shipping method of 2 days. But then I though, Oh My God, my mother will never let me hear the end of this. Buying my kid’s gift from Disney online store!

As the time passed, I started receiving most of the items, and thought of checking on this one as well. Where is it? Several attempts and I finally got to it’s status: “Not Shipped“! What? Why? This must be a mistake. It was already too late to wait for it to hit Aramex box and reach Kuwait, so I wrote this email of good faith:

“Dear Disney,

I have unfortunately placed the order for a WALL-E Electronic Truck by the order # #### for
my kid’s birthday, and I requested a two-day Express shipping to make sure I am way ahead of the
deadline.

I did not expect this from such a big brand, but I’m sorry to say your online store did more than
just let me down. I have planned for most of the birthday online and the main part of it, the gift,
is now still not shipped according to your tracking information, and as far as I’m concerned, I don’t
need it anymore as it won’t arrive in time anyways.

The deadline already passed as far as I’m concerned and I’m in no need of the item anymore.

May I please inquire as to why it had to face such great delays and without any notice? The fact it
had a GIFT WRAP makes it clear its a gift with a deadline.

Also, since the deadline already passed, I regret to ask you to kindly cancel my order and refund
the full amount.

I will be waiting your kind reply for confirmation on order cancellation.

Regards,
Bashar”

And in record time almost superior to their auto-reply, 3 minutes at most, I received a reply from Disney. A response full of joy and happiness informing me (some words highlighted for clarity):

“Dear Bashar,

Thanks for the email and the chance to help!

After review, I am happy to inform you, I was able to  cancel your order
as requested.  Any emails that you may receive regarding your order will
not reflect this change but please be assured, it has been completed.
Should you have any further questions please feel free to contact us.
We are always happy to assist our Guests!“

So the guy is so happy he was able to cancel my order rather than sorry for ruining my gift. Then he says that I may receive future emails about the order, but I should neglect them they are also false! And he reassures how happy they are assisting their guests. Well ofcourse I’m a guest and nothing more. Customers buy, but for some reason you don’t want to sell! I felt like he was waiting for me to say it, perhaps he wanted it for his own kid. The irony however continues with the rest of his email:

“We look forward to being of service to you in the future and hope you
will continue to enjoy the Magic of Disney!

Sincerely,

Nick
The DisneyShopping.com Team

Have a Magical Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!“

How nice! Not only is he happy, but he assumes I am as well somehow and wishes that I continue to do so. Ohh, and he also blessed me with a “Have a Magical Day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” (27 Explanation marks) Is he trying to piss me off? As by that time, I really started laughing. Mom is not gonna hear the end of this now!

Also, wonder why he used 27 explanation marks exactly. Hmmm… Is it their magical number?

For the record, when confronted, Mom admitted “Yes, you’re right this time”. Family converted!

PS: Now I know why Amazon charges triple the price. They deliver, Disney just offers!

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]]> http://blogallalong.com/2009/02/01/the-magical-world-of-disney-sucks/feed/ 14 Pyrats and Monkey Island fans the same… http://blogallalong.com/2007/02/12/pyrats-and-monkey-island-fans-the-same/ http://blogallalong.com/2007/02/12/pyrats-and-monkey-island-fans-the-same/#comments Mon, 12 Feb 2007 07:41:27 +0000 Bashar http://blogallalong.com/2007/02/12/pyrats-and-monkey-island-fans-the-same/ Previously, I wrote about Monkey Island Cartoon, and it wasn’t really a Monkey Island cartoon, but rather a short film by a group of 5 French graduate students. The animation was so nice, characters were really drilled into, and you can see some real effort put into it. As a Monkey Island fan, I immediately recalled it and got a feeling there is a similarity with it. Very likely those guys could be Monkey Island fans as well who got inspired to do their work. I emailed them asking about it and never got any reply sadly.

I noticed however, that the highest search query that resulted in hit to my sit was “pyrats monkey island“. So it was interesting to see how many people are trying to reach the same conclusion as I did, along with many others who saw it ofcourse.

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]]> http://blogallalong.com/2007/02/12/pyrats-and-monkey-island-fans-the-same/feed/ 2 Pixar Vs Disney http://blogallalong.com/2007/02/08/pixar-vs-disney/ http://blogallalong.com/2007/02/08/pixar-vs-disney/#comments Thu, 08 Feb 2007 13:56:55 +0000 Bashar http://blogallalong.com/2007/02/08/pixar-vs-disney/ Walt Disney have been for long the brand for children entertainment and animated movies. Companies used to clone whatever Disney does, but were always less fortunate. Over the past few years however, things have taken a different path. Every decade or two, with the evolution of new technologies, a company has to invest and risk to save it’s prosperity and survival. Walt Disney did not take that thing seriously as it seems. With the emerge of the 3D animations, new competitors started rising up as serious threat, and very quickly take on the top. While Walt Disney have been busy producing quick and low quality sequels to their big movies, along with short series as well that brought nothing but frustration for the fans, as they kept watching their character quality sinks lower and lower. Things became so much commercial there, and no more we can see a four year production movie like The Lion King. We saw Lion King 2, 1 & 1/2, Aladdin 2 and series, Little Mermaid 2 and series, as well as many others. But that was most about it.

On the contrary, Dreamworks have been working hard with a long term strategy plan, that resulted in Shrek. The story of an ugly ogre who managed to get into the hearts of people so quickly. They did come with a sequel, only 3 years later with better graphics, much better, and a movie that outperformed its former, taking on the third place of all time domestic income in the box office. Another runner was Pixar then. A company with leading technology, yet no market to accommodate it. Company was struggling to continue, until they managed to sign a joint agreement with Disney in 1991 to produce three movies. The terms were not on their side however. Disney’s condition was that, unless the first movie was a big hit, Pixar would get nothing more than ZERO out of the project. Toy Story however proved Disney was wrong. Six more films followed Toy Story, all were big hits. 15 years later, Disney found them selves struggling to reach an agreement with Pixar for contract renewal. Confused what to do, the famous Walt Disney had no choice but to acquire Pixar for $7.4 billion! Can you believe that. After being the leaders and only brand in the market, they signed with Pixar for BIG or nothing, and then they had to bow for them to keep the Disney Wheel running.

I was really sad because of this, and hope Pixar does not get lost in the merge. I read some news about a split in Pixar already, and some people left to start their own new technology. Don’t have much details though. But as for Pixar, Disney have already lined them up for Chicken Little sequel, so I have a feeling the same Disney spirit is going to affect their work too. There is a debate going on for Pixar Vs Disney right now at ConvinceMe.net, which is a real great new site for online debates. It’s fairly simple and easy to use, still not spoiled by spammers and lousy writers. What is interesting to know is that, according to IMDB reviews, half of Pixar movies had a rating of 8/10 or more, and overall average was 7.9. On the other side, latest big 3D film from Disney, Chicken Little got only 5.8! Lowest Pixar film was rated 7.3. Difference in numbers speak for them selves, and people started asking the question in public, who is better? For me, Disney can come third after Pixar and Dreamworks.

Anyhow, I came across this trailer today for RATATOUILLE, the story of a rat in Paris, who wants to live a luxurious life, and does not like to live the garbage food lying around. The film is coming from Pixar this summer, and seems very worthy to wait for. Hope you like it.

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]]> http://blogallalong.com/2007/02/08/pixar-vs-disney/feed/ 10 Monkey Island Cartoon… http://blogallalong.com/2006/12/21/monkey-island-cartoon/ http://blogallalong.com/2006/12/21/monkey-island-cartoon/#comments Thu, 21 Dec 2006 13:02:56 +0000 Bashar http://blogallalong.com/?p=26 Its now almost 10 years since the last worthy Monkey Island game sequel, and 17 since the start of the monkeying era. Since 1997, and the fans are eagerly waiting for a Monkey Island sequel. The cries were heard and a frustrating Escape From Monkey Island, by all means do escape it, was released. Most fans were let down, and to me, it was a like a clear message “Don’t ask for a sequel next time!”.

Still, loyal game fans are all over the net posting, creating fan sites and themes. We have seen the Monkey Island theatric play by high school kids, which was not bad at all. Later on, we started hearing about the Monkey Island movie, except that it was released by Walt Disney based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride that initially inspired Ron Gilbert to create the Monkey Island game. Still, even Ron himself admired the movie, and the fans loved it crazy, me included ofcourse. The last part of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy is coming in 2007, and Lucasarts have clearly said they will get back to the old games by 2015! Thats a long wait for the fans.

Today however, I came across a great 2D animated Pyrats movie, with some 3D aid. It was soPyrats fun and amusing to watch. Reminds you of the Curse of Monkey Island drawing, though much more advanced. But it was also TOO SHORT! when I looked for the release date I found out this is only a short movie that was made by 5 French students over 7 months for the Annecy 2006 international animation festival. It was so much frustrating, but very promising at the same time. From what I see, they have created the characters and theme of the movie, and this all can’t be done for 1.5 minute play and thats it. I think they must be trying to sell their skills to come with a full length movie later on. Check the site to see the movie. If Disney wants to get back in the 2D cartoon business, those are the people who they should be hiring.

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