Greetings from the West Coast field office of JimHillMedia.com.
Sounds kind of impressive, don’t you think? Well, don’t be so sure. This “office” occupies a corner of a very cluttered kitchen in Poway, CA. My desk consists of a briefcase that’s perched on top of a trash can. My chair … Well, it’s a potty chair. You know? One of those things that they give to people who’ve just had back surgery. With handles & a seat.
Of course, given the quality of crud that I usually churn out for this website, some JHM readers will probably find it highly appropriate that I’m seated in a potty chair.
That is – of course – assuming that JimHillMedia.com still has readers.
My sincerest apologies, folks, for the website being so erratic this week. Only updating every other day. But it’s been kind of tough this week out here in Southern California.
You see, I’ve been trying to serve two masters while I’ve been out west. Every other day, I’ve been charging up to LA to do interviews and research. Gathering material for future stories at the site.
And – when I’m not doing that – I’ve been helping my ex-mother-in-law and my daughter pack up their house in Poway. Which involves hoisting heavy furniture, packing dozens of cardboard boxes and driving loaded panel trucks up to Fallbrook, CA. Where Nancy (No. Not my Nancy. Nancy Smith. Michelle’s Mom. Alice’s grandmother) is stored a bunch of their belongings.
The deadline for having everything packed up in June 30th. With a little luck, I think that we’ll make it …
But – what with burning the candle at both ends as well as in the middle – something had to give while I was out west. And that (sadly) had to be my regular updates at the site. What with the two-to-three-drives (both coming & going) to Los Angeles as well as pulling Divorced Daddy Duty down here in Poway, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do.
Like today, for example. I have to finish up packing up all of Alice’s crud out on the patio. Then – mid-afternoon – I have to drive up to Hollywood to try & cover the Godzilla Film Festival at the Egyptian Theater. Then – after that – I have to drive out to Long Beach Airport to pick up Roy Mitchner, JHM’s Creative Director. Then he and I drive down to Santa Ana, checking into a hotel. Where we’re catch a few Zzzs before heading over to Anaheim tomorrow to run the latest set of JHM Disneyland tours.
I know, I know. The above paragraph probably just sounds like a lot of whining to most of you. And I apologize for that.
The point I’m trying to make here is that I know that JimHillMedia.com has been kind of erratic for the past few days. And I sincerely apologize for that. But I also wanted you to understand that the site has been somewhat low on content NOT because I’ve been sitting on my ass. But – rather – because I’ve been busting my ass.
If you can just hang in there another couple of days, folks … I’ve scored some truly killer stories during my most recent stay in California. Great anecdotes about what’s really going on these days inside Disney Feature Animation. Plus some travel pieces that I think you’ll really enjoy. Like what it’s like to visit Ron & Diane Disney Miller’s winery up in Yountville, CA. as well as Charles Schulz’s museum over in Santa Rosa, CA.
I’ll also probably be doing some stories about how surreal things have gotten for me lately. What with the increasing prominence of JimHillMedia.com, I’ve been finding myself in increasingly bizarre circumstances.
Like what? Well, how about yesterday … When I had to drive up to Hollywood. Where the U.K.’s Channel 4 had asked me to take part in a taping of a new TV special, “100 Greatest Tearjerkers.”
This taping actually took place in a hotel on Sunset Boulevard. The Standard at 8300 W. Sunset, to be exact.
Now I don’t know if you folks are aware of the Standard. But it’s one of these ultra chic, ultra sleek hotels. Where the lobby is bone white and the only thing to sit on are these low-slung bean bag type chairs.
As I arrived at the Standard, I couldn’t help but notice that everyone at the hotel seemed to be … beautiful. Thin, young, tan. Whereas I was fat, old & sunburned.
Obviously, I didn’t feel like I fit in there. I mean, here I was – surrounded by all these pretty, young things with their belly shirts. While I was wearing a shirt that I hoped might hide my belly.
I honestly have never been in a situation like this before. Where I felt totally intimidated by my surroundings. Which was why – rather than sit around in the lobby, waiting for the folks from Channel 4 to come get me for my interview – I actually went outside and sat at the bus stop at the corner of Sweetzer & Sunset. Figuring that – if these folks wanted to get ahold of me – they could just call me on my cell phone.
Long story short: The Channel 4 folks DID call me. After learning of my predicament, they came down and escorted me through the lobby. Where the thin, buff staff eyeballed me with obvious disdain. As if they were wondering how I managed to get out from under that bridge, where I spend most of my time frightening small goats.
That was a weird, weird experience. But – then again – LA is a weird, weird town.
Here, that was sort of a sad story. So – to balance things out – let me tell you sort of a funny story.
Tuesday afternoon, after dropping Nancy (My Nancy. Nancy Stadler. Not Nancy Smith) off at LAX and picking up some of my ex-wife’s belongings in Long Beach, I drove up to Burbank. To the Burbank Public Library, to be exact.
My mission was to chase down some additional information about the Disney-MGM Studio Backlot project. Given that – just last week – I had managed to mangle Wade Sampson’s article about this same subject.
You see, Wade had sent me a column about this never-built project. Which stated that the Disney-MGM Studio backlot was supposed to be built on this 40 acre parcel in the middle of beautiful downtown Burbank.
Of course, I knew that to be wrong. Because – years ago – I had spoken with an animator that was very familiar with the project. Who had told me that one of the big draws to the Disney-MGM Studio Backlot project was that guests were going to be able to tour Disney Feature Animation, the Disney Channel’s production facilities as well as the Disney Archives.
Which – given that all three of these entities now have presence on the main Disney lot in Buena Vista – is why I mistakenly thought that the Disney-MGM Studio Backlot lot project would be be built there … as an ambitious sort of expansion project. Which is why I reworked Wade’s article to say this.
Well, sad as it is to say this … Wade was right and I was wrong. The Disney-MGM Studio Backlot was originally supposed to be built in beautiful downtown Burbank. On the spot where the Media Center now stands.
Mind you, I was right about one thing. Disney Feature Animation, the Disney Channel & the Disney Archives were supposed to be part of the Disney-MGM Studio Backlot tour experience. But what the Imagineers had wanted to do was relocate all three of these corporate entities to that 40 acre site in downtown Burbank. Where they would have been housed in brand new facilities which would have featured tour corridors. (You know? Those glassed-in thing you used to walk through while touring the backstage portions of the Disney-MGM Studio theme park in Florida. So that you could see what was actually going on without disturbing the talented staffers who were hard at work on the other side of the glass.)
Anyway … So – before I continue with my story here – let me make a brief apologies to Wade Sampson for screwing up his story. Further on down the line (I.E. When I’m back home in New Hampshire. When I’m not sitting on a potty chair and I’m not pounding out stories on an overturned trash can), I promise that I’ll make the appropriate changes to Sampson’s story.
Getting back to my story now … It’s this past Tuesday afternoon. I’m at the Burbank Public Library, trying to get some additional information about the Disney-MGM Studio Backlot project. But the only problem is … This branch (I.E. The one that’s just up the street from Walt Disney Studios) doesn’t really have a whole lot of info on the Studio Backlot.
The research librarian who’s helping me spends 15 minutes or so, burrowing through the stacks. And she can unearth lots of information about the Burbank Media Center, the project that eventually got built on the site where the Disney-MGM Studio Backlot was supposed to have been built … But nothing on the Backlot itself.
So I settled down at one of the library’s terminals and being burrowing through back issues of the “Los Angeles Times.” Trying to track down as many articles as I can about the Backlot project. And I’ve been at this for about 40 minutes, when I notice that the research librarian (You know? The one who’d been helping me earlier) is now standing at my elbow.
She tells me that she just feels terrible that I came all the way from New Hampshire looking for information about the Disney-MGM Studio Backlot and that the Burbank Public Library has been unable to help me. And – seeing as this woman just didn’t want me going home empty-handed – she had just gone on the Internet and done some research on the project.
Which was why she then handed me a printout of Wade Sampson’s article. You know, the one that I had recently mutilated by putting in the wrong info?
It’s at times like that that you just have to laugh. Sort of like right now … When I’m sitting here, on a potty chair. Trying to pound out a new column for the site.
Not to worry, though, folks. Things will get back to normal soon. Or – should I say – as normal as they usually are at JimHillMedia.com. Though – what with all the work that still has to be done with this move – I’ve been forced to extend my stay in Poway (I was originally flying back to New Hampshire on June 28th. Now, I won’t be heading home ’til July 4th).
Anyway … If you can just hang in there for another week or so, I promise that JHM will get back on its regular update schedule.
Okay. That’s enough whining & excuses for today. Now – if you’ll excuse me – I have a date with my daughter on the patio. Where we have to get another dozen or so boxes ready to be shipped off to Hawaii.
Have a great weekend, okay?