Categories
Disney

D23 Expo 2019 Highlights

D23 Logo - The ultimate Disney fan event

D23 Expo, the largest Disney fan event in the world, celebrates all the wonderful worlds of The Walt Disney Company under one roof, including the best of Disney, Marvel, Pixar, and Star Wars across film, television, theme parks, products, online, music, live entertainment, and more. D23 Expo 2019 marks the sixth biennial Expo held in Anaheim.

Highlights from the first day of D23 Expo 2019:

Probably a lot more interesting to me is the trailer that was released for the Disney+ exclusive show “Star Wars: The Mandalorian”.

From The Mandalorian entry on Wikipedia:

The Mandalorian is an upcoming American space-opera web television series scheduled to premiere on Disney+ on November 12, 2019. Set in the Star Wars universe, the series will take place a few years after the events of Return of the Jedi and follows a lone Mandalorian gunfighter beyond the reaches of the New Republic.

Here are Saturday and Sunday’s recaps:

Categories
animation

The Lion King Opening Song Lyrics

To everyone singing along with The Lion King when the sun is rising: the words are “nants ingonayama, bagithi Baba” and it means “here comes a lion, father” “Sithi uhhmm ingonyama” – “Oh yes, it’s a lion”

It’s in Zulu, one of the official languages spoken in South Africa. And it makes sense if you think about it because — and I hope I’m not spoiling it for you — it’s a movie about a lion.

Categories
physics technology

Flyboarding Frenchman crosses English Channel on a Jet Powered Flyboard

French inventor Franky Zapata has crossed the English Channel on a kerosene-powered hoverboard. The 40-year-old is the first person in history to complete the flight following a failed attempt last week. He landed 35 km away on the White Cliffs of Dover after just 23 minutes of flight following takeoff at Sangatte, France.

Categories
Apple technology

Apple’s Q3 Financials

“This was our biggest June quarter ever — driven by all-time record revenue from Services, accelerating growth from Wearables, strong performance from iPad and Mac and significant improvement in iPhone trends” — Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO

It turns out1, Apple is not doomed after all.

I bought Apple stock in 2014 and it has been a very good decision. I only wish I would have bought Apple stock in 2004 instead of that iPod Photo. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the iPod Photo but the same $450USD invested in owning part of the company itself would be worth about $20,500USD today (about $26,800 CAN). Talk about an expensive music player2.

To get a picture of how this quarter’s results compare to Apple’s past performance, check out Jason Snell’s Q3 Results Charts.

1. Once again.
2. That based purely on stock price and doesn’t include the dividends.

Continue reading “Apple’s Q3 Financials”
Categories
bad review revue

The Bad Review Revue

The Lion King (2019): “Some of these remakes have been more inspired than others, but few have felt quite as futile as The Lion King. This isn’t the circle of life; it’s more like a creative dead end.” — Justin Chang, NPR

Stuber: “With apologies to Foghat, this latest effort is a slow ride; perhaps Stupor would have been a better title.” — Matt Brunson, Film Frenzy

The Secret Life of Pets 2: “Insert the obligatory you-can’t-teach-an-old-dog-new-tricks reference here, and even at 83 minutes, the three mini movies that are The Secret Life of Pets 2 struggle to keep the laughs going.” — Julie Crawford, North Shore News

Men in Black International: “One of those memory-erasing flashes would be nice right about now, please.” — Adam Graham, Detroit News

Aladin (2019): “In short, it’s a whole old world.” — Anthony Lane, New Yorker

Categories
crime family

Scary Clown on Venice Beach

My sister and two of her kids were in Los Angeles over the weekend to watch the Premier Lacrosse League All Star Game. After picking up her rental car, first thing they did was hit up Venice Beach near Santa Monica pier. She was having a good time with her boys when four helicopters (at least one police) showed up, and surrounded what she described as a scary clown guy that had been in a slow-speed police pursuit. Although he attracted a crowd, my sister said it was frightening and she wanted nothing to do with the action. It took a while but eventually an officer followed the man onto the beach, waited for more officers to arrive and they arrested the man.

Full story after the jump.

Continue reading “Scary Clown on Venice Beach”
Categories
entertainment video

Picard

Star Trek Picard Title

I’m super excited about the new Star Trek. I love all of the surprises that come at the end of this trailer. I never got into Voyager so I’m not super into the backstory of Seven of Nine but I’m guessing Picard won’t be either. I was however, super into TNG and Picard centred episodes were my favourite. Here’s the trailer if you haven’t already watched it multiple times yet:

Categories
backmasking space

Man Will Spacewalk

Neil Armstrong and Moon Lander

With today being the 50th Anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s historic walk on the moon, I bring you this little classic reverse speech from the first words spoken on the surface of the moon which, when reversed, sound like “man will spacewalk”.

Neil Armstrong’s Moon Landing Speech Backwards

Play Forward

Forward:’a small step for a man’

Play in Reverse

Reverse: ‘Man will spacewalk.’

Also of interest, on this anniversary of scientific achievement, NASA has released a collection of 45 panoramic photos from the surface of the moon based on images stitched together from the various Apollo missions.

(Previously, on Jeffmilner.com.)

Categories
humor Politics

Electability on McSweeney’s

caricatures of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump
DonkeyHotey [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

I Don’t Think a Woman Is Electable In 2020 Because Last Time Around the Female Nominee Only Got Three Million More Votes Than Her Opponent by Tom Smyth

Now don’t get me wrong, I love Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris. But as great as they and the other female candidates are, I think Democrats should be focusing more on a sure-fire nominee who can beat Trump. Electability should be our number one priority, and I’m just not sure if America is ready to embrace a female candidate yet — especially considering that Hillary Clinton only got three million more votes than Donald Trump in 2016.

Categories
baby family

Ian

Last week, we welcomed new baby boy, Ian, to our family. His stats: 9lbs (4.1 kg) and 20 1/2 inches (52cm). He likes snuggling, eating, sleeping, and processing food. Both mom and baby are doing great — most importantly… he’s a sweetheart.