My apologies, folks. I had hoped to have a brand-new article
up on the site this morning. But about 7:30 p.m. ET, New Hampshire had a brown
out. And even though I had my laptop plugged into a power strip which supposedly
had surge protection, the power cord for my HP 6000 series still wound up
getting fried.
And since I'm heading out for Logan Airport at 4 o'clock this
morning (So I can then fly off to LA at 7 a.m. Which will – in theory, anyway – put me in Garden Grove in plenty of
time for my 1:15 p.m. appearance at this year's Disneyana Fan Club convention.
Where I'll be sharing the stage with Jim Korkis, as the two of us duke it out
to see who has the very best stories when it comes to the construction of Walt
Disney World), I don't really have the time right now to rush out and buy a
replacement power cord.
Not to worry, though. If you're really in need of a Jim Hill
fix, there are lots of places around the Web today where you can find new (well,
newish) stories and podcasts that I've recently done.
Take – for example – This week's Season Pass podcast. Via
Skype, I sat down in early June with Doug Barnes (i.e. the owner of Season Pass
Podcast), Brent Young (i.e. the creative director of Super 78), and Robert Coker
(i.e. the owner of Thrillride.com). And
the four of us had a pretty funny & free-wheeling conversation about my
somewhat-checkered career as well as what's going on right now in the themed
entertainment industry.
Yours truly interviewing Frank Antonides, the Director of Project Management for
Walt Disney Imagineering at last month's grand opening of DCA's The Little
Mermaid: Ariel's Undersea Adventure attraction
And speaking of free-wheeling podcasts … Every couple of
months or so, I get together with the WDW Fan Boys. Mind you, it can get pretty
chaotic when Brett Bennett, Tim Grassey, Paul Miller and I start talking about
the Mouse. But it can also be pretty damned funny. You can check out WDW Fan
Boys' July 4th show – where the four of us discuss how Disney Parks
& Resorts are dealing with The Wizarding World of Harry Potter threat by
clicking here.
And – of course – there's always that Magical Definition
podcast which I do weekly with Nathan Rose of Flick Direct fame. Where – this week
– Nathan and I talk about Disney's "Winnie the Pooh" and how Walt Disney
Animation Studios' latest hand-drawn film actually came together.
And speaking of the Magical Definition podcast … Zack Parks
took an answer that I gave to a piece of listener mail on our July 4th
show and – by putting together a transcript of my Marvel-characters-in-the-Disney-theme-parks
discussion with Nathan – wound up creating a story that both the Comic Book
Movie and SlashFilm picked up which features a lot of quotes by me. Which was
kind of bizarre.
And speaking of bizarre … Just over two weeks ago, the
entertainment editor for the Huffington Post reached out and asked if I'd like
to start creating some exclusive content for that news website and content
aggregating blog. Since this was a chance to expose a whole new audience to the
types of stories that I typically post on JHM, I immediately said "Yes."
Yours truly with two other small, round, furry creatures at May's press preview of the
Disney's Hollywood Studios version of Star Tours: The Adventures Continue
Photo by Angela Ragno
If you'd like to check out my first two HuffPo pieces – "The Roads Not Taken With Pixar's 'Cars' Films"
and "Butterbeer: How the Harry Potter Beverage Was Made Real" — you should probably drop by my dedicated
blog at that news website.
Okay. Hopefully all of the stuff that I've listed above will
hold you guys until I can find a Best Buy in Southern California and purchase
a replacement power cord for my laptop.
Sorry about all the gratuitous self promotion, folks. But it
was this or just have JHM not run a new story today. And given that there is so
much other stuff that I've done out there on the Web right now (including the
new audio version of "Disney Dish with Jim Hill." Which the folks at
TouringPlans.com are supposed to be making available thru iTunes later this
week … UPDATE: Here it is! Enjoy. I hope) … Well, I figured that this was the best way to go.
Tomorrow – I promise – JHM will run an actual story, okay? Provided – of course – that I can find a new power
cord.
Your thoughts?