Chez PLJ

I have to admit, I was pretty skeptical when Disney bought out Pixar, thinking “That’s it, that’s the end of the golden era of Pixar”. There are still a lot of dangers for the two companies while they merge (not the least of which is Creative Head Honcho John Lassiter spreading himself too thin), but I’m optimistic that Pixar’s influence is going to rub off on Disney a lot more than the other way around.

This NY Times article describes Pixar’s business ethos, most interestingly the concept of “Pixar University”, an onsite school where all staff—from CEO to cafeteria cook—are encouraged to take any of over 100 courses in filmmaking, animation, drawing, sculpting or creative writing. Time briefly describes some of Pixar and Disney’s upcoming movies.

Pixar has already made the reassuring move of cancelling Disney’s knock-off Toy Story 3, saying they’re not categorically opposed to sequels of their movies, but only if they’re good. (There’s a big difference between Toy Story 2 and, say, The Lion King 1-1/2.)

And most encouragingly is Jim Hill Media’s description of John Lassiter’s initial walkabout through the Walt Disney Features Animation unit and the Imagineering unit (the people who create the resort attractions and rides). At WDFA the gist of his message was: “If you don’t draw for a living, then you don’t belong here”, backing up the rumour that he will eliminate an entire layer of middle managers. Animation directors would no longer report to a bunch of bean-counting senior VPs, but only to him and the Disney/Pixar Animation president.

It’s a good start.

From Business 2.0’s annual “101 Dumbest moments in Business”. Most of the entries just show corporations’ eye-poppingly dumb moves:

36. We know why you fly … JetBlue.
The winner of the American Airlines “We Know Why You Fly” contest, which promised to award 24 round-trip tickets to the traveler who submitted the best video about his airborne experiences, turns down the grand prize. Why? Because American fails to cover the winner’s federal, state, and local income taxes, which amount to about $19,000, or $800 per ticket.

But the last one is pretty funny:

101. Little Big Man
In September, as the result of a typo in a spreadsheet, Electronic Arts issues an update to Madden NFL 06 that reduces 6-foot-3, 305-pound New York Jets lineman Michael King to a height of 7 inches. The next day, EA fixes the bug—to a chorus of complaints from customers who enjoyed watching the shin-high blocker get steamrollered by full-size players such as seven-time All-Pro linebacker Derrick Brooks of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

I meet the bears. The bears are going to the house. The bears are going to read a book. The bears are going to go outside to go for a walk in the rain. They are going to go outside to play in the playground. They are going to slide down the slide.

Jon

[From Jon's teacher: Jon wrote this without supervision, with only reminders that sentences start with a capital. Three times he wrote a sentence, then was not happy with it, so he'd erase it and write a different one. Sentences I thought were in the story would disappear to be replaced by better ones!]

[Jon is very enthusiastic about his new educational computer game called Math Missions. Among the activities, wandering around town on various transit and (not while) mixing smoothies]
I love going to go on the sub way train to find the crect stop before I poosh go. I put the money in the change box before I poosh go. I like megering 10 cups of juse and 10 cups of booster. First I set the clock to the right time before I poosh go.

Jon

[The second school creative writing assignment where Jon picks a photo from a wide selection and writes a story about it. This is his second time making up names for the characters--this time it took him 5 minutes to come up wiht the first name (down from 25), and almost no time to invent the second, giggling with delight]
Rabits are soft. I feel the rabit fer. I call him Eyes. I call her Beb. The rabits do eat broclley. I like them to play with me. I like the rabits. The rabits are going home to work on the computer.

Jon

My last election link is, of course, satirical. Rick Mercer’s site, once again, leads the way with Youth Vote, which brings some tiny degree of dignity back to this country. While you are there, the Liberal War Room and a pretty good summation of the Liberal attack ads are worth your time. Not to mention the shot they take at those damn Lakota ads. Well aimed, Mr. Greene!

Nope, nothing partisan here today. Heartily tired of the political aspects of this election (ie, pretty much the whole thing), I started perusing CBC’s Election FAQs (information mainly supplied by Elections Canada) to find some interesting nuggets of non-partisan Election trivia.

For instance, without looking it up first, do you know the answers to:

• Are there any adult Canadian citizens who can’t vote in a federal election?
• What was the last group of people to get the vote?
• How many people are hired by Elections Canada for a federal election?
• What city’s the smallest riding (in area, not population) in?
• Where’s the largest riding?

Update:
I’ll post my answers in election updates throughout the day!

• Are there any adult Canadian citizens who can’t vote in a federal election?
  Only two people: The Chief Electoral Officer of Canada and the Assistant Chief Electoral Officer of Canada.
• What was the last group of people to get the vote?
  Federal prisoners, serving more than two years’ sentences, in 2002.
• How many people are hired by Elections Canada for a federal election?
  170,000! For an election you need deputy returning officers, poll clerks, registration officers, information officers, and other coordinators, data entry staff and security officers. That’s why these things cost so much, over $220 million for the last election.

Ah well, as if anyone cares anymore (at least our riding’s guy won):

• Smallest and largest ridings: Papineau (in Montreal) and Nunavut.