TSMM – Joe Ranft Tribute

Originally uploaded by indigoskye

I had been through the Disney’s Hollywood Studios version of the Toy Story Midway Mania! Fastpass queue at least a dozen times before I noticed this wonderful detail. Just before you enter the main queue room, there’s a blue bookend with the title of “Magic Made Easy” with the author J. Ranft.

It’s a tribute to Joe Ranft, a Pixar story artist who died in a tragic auto accident back in 2005. Besides being incredibly talented, funny, and warm hearted, Ranft was a bit of a magician, hence the book title.

It’s obvious his absence is still keenly felt in the halls of Emeryville. Major points to Walt Disney Imagineering for adding this detail.

There is one mystery detail remaining; the book’s publisher is “Planet Fog Press”, (see photo on flickr) which I assume pays homage to the California San Francisco Bay Area. But if you know different, please chime in below.

The AP is reporting that Fats Domino is missing after not evacuating ahead of Hurricane Katrina. Not that this has a huge impact on the effects of the devastation, but it’s still very sad if it is true.

Update: Fats Domino has been found alive.

[Technorati Tags: hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, lost, fatsdomino, refugee, evacuee, flood]

Today is Blog For Relief Day. My suggested charity is Convoy for Hope, as I blogged earlier. Once you’ve made your donation please visit the Blog for Relief Day tracking site and log your donation to show the power of fundraising through the Web2.0. Then visit the Katrina Help Wiki to see what else you can do to help.

I have family friends who are currently being safely relocated from the Superdome to the Astrodome, at least I hope so. They’re hoping to hook up with other family in and around Texas. But not everyone will be so lucky. Just look around at the blogs, the news, the tv web channels (wdsu.com and wwltv.com), and you’ll see thousands and thousands of stories of people not so lucky.

So please give what you can.

[Technorati Tags: hurricane, katrina, hurricanekatrina, flood+aid, give, donate, nonprofit, charity, relief, blogrelief, ]

Hong Kong Disneyland officially opens September 12th. But via the magic of the internet here’s a quick pointer to some great merchandise from the park. LaughingPlace.com has managed to secure availability of some souveniers and pins that are exclusive to the new theme park. I’m thinking of getting this Stitch Mug myself.

Update: I forgot to mention that this merchandise is only available for a limited time through The Laughing Place Store.

[ttags: disney, disneyana, shopping, laugingplace, hongkongdisneyland, hong+kong+disneyland, disneyland, hkdl ]

Adventureland is the biggest land at Hong Kong Disneyland. It sort of sucks up what would be both Adventureland and Frontierland in any other Magic Kingdom style Disney theme park. LaughingPlace.com has 16 pages of amazing photos from the Hong Kong Park.

That completes all the lands of the new park. You can see all the pictorials here.

I wasted many a study session watching the Disney Afternoon back at the college dorm. That was a really great time for Disney television, certainly the greatest since the prime of the Mickey Mouse club and the Disneyland show. I’m not alone apparently, here Steve downloads a copy off alt.binaries.* and reminisces.

Of course, if he wanted to predict the future he could always turn to The Disney Afternoon Tarot Deck.

[ttags: disney, animation, tarot, television, disneyafternoon, cartoon, cartoons, disneycartoon, disneycartoons, binaries ]

In addition to the tributes I’ve already linked to here and here, people continue to mourn the loss of Joe Ranft. I’ll continue to list as many of these tributes here:

First, CartoonBrew highlights exactly why Ranft was riding in a car along the coast that day. He was heading toward a retreat to help coach two men from Watts who were trying to straighten out their lives. More details in this story from the Marin Journal, as well.

The Whittier Daily News, the paper from Ranft’s home town, has posted an obituary.

The post I linked to earlier at Tirade has become a condolances book of comments, many very moving.

UpcomingPixar is understandably moved and has some interesting quotes from others at Pixar.

Ain’t it Cool News posts a tribute from Harry: "The world’s greatest gag-man, Joe Ranft has passed away. Years and years ago when I was invited up to the wonderful world of Pixar – the man I spent the most time pal-ing around with was Joe Ranft. I never laughed so hard, nor learned more about animation from one person in my life. Joe was funny as hell, grotesquely talented."

Alvin at Doodles posts this moving tribute: "The animation industry is saddened by the loss of a great storyteller.
I, for one, felt a certain grief when I heard of his death. I never
knew him personally, nor met him even. But he was responsible for most
of the films that inspired me to be in animation. For that, I think I
owe him a great deal."

Kat at ThinkRadical: "its a ghost town around pixar… we lost our soul Tuesday night with
the passing of story genius Joe Ranft. i often chatted with him while
we walked into work. there are no words to describe how everyone is
feeling around here."

Amelia at GeckoCafe, who wants to be a storyboard artist tells her story about meeting Joe.

Louie Del Carmen writes: "It’s comforting to know that Joe’s essence, wisdom and philosophies
will be handed down to future craftsmen of the industry through the
people who where fortunate to have worked closely with him. It is a
legacy that I know his family and friends will appreciate and for Joe
himself to be truly proud of."

Barry at InkTank was moved to write: "I wanted to BE Joe Ranft … envying a man’s life who I never met.
Plus, I could tell in his writings that he was a warm man, full of good
humor. A man I would hope to someday shake hands with and … dare I
dream … get to work with."

[ttags: pixar, disney, joeranft, joe+ranft, death, obituary, tribute, memorial, animation, emeryville ]

Don’t know how I missed this one but somehow the latest Wallace & Gromit film has completely avoided my radar screen. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit (wikipedia) is due into theatres this October. It’s the latest in stop motion animation features from the excellent Aardman Studios.

I have yet to be disappointed by a release from Aardman and I’m sure this one will be no exception.

Btw, for a Disney tie-in, Aardman is the studio that does those lovely Chevron Cars that haunted Disneyland’s Autopia.

[ttags: aardman, wallace, gromit, animation, dreamworks, stopmotion, film, movie ]