Miscellaneous

Happy 63rd Birthday to the place that I can actually call my "second home", Disneyland.

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Always an amazing and humbling experience to come up to Walt's apartment once in a while with my favorite peeps from The Walt Disney Company! 

I’am truly blessed that I can make Walt's dream a reality every day infront of thousands of guests.

LOCATION: Walt Disney's Apartment - Disneyland, CA

LOCATION: Walt Disney's Apartment - Disneyland, CA

DeMarcus Cousins says conversations with Warriors sealed decision to join

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All-Star center DeMarcus Cousins, recovering from a torn left Achilles, has agreed to a one-year, $5.3 million deal with the two-time defending champion Golden State Warriors, league sources told ESPN.

Joining the Warriors, who already have a staggering lineup of All-NBA talent, should allow Cousins enough time to comfortably recover from his injury prior to returning to the court next season.

A two-time All-NBA selection, Cousins, 27, became expendable in New Orleans on Monday after the Pelicans agreed to a deal with free-agent center Julius Randle.

Cousins, who averaged 25.2 points, 12.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists and shot 35.4 percent on 3-pointers last season in 48 games, told The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears he was confused and hurt that he had no offers, even from the Pelicans.

Cousins told Spears that he called his agent and they discussed various options, including the Warriors, who lost center JaVale McGee in free agency to the Los Angeles Lakers. Sources told ESPN's Chris Haynes that Cousins had narrowed his choices down to Golden State and Boston.

The Warriors, already -110 favorites to win the 2019 NBA championship at the Westgate Las Vegas SuperBook, jumped to -150 favorites when Cousins' impending signing was reported.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the 2018-19 Warriors will be the sixth team in NBA history -- and first since the 1975-76 Celtics -- to have five All-Stars from the previous season.

Source: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2398015...

LeBron James agrees to four-year, $153.3 million deal with Lakers

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LOS ANGELES -- LeBron James' next NBA chapter will be set on the West Coast.

James will be playing for the Los Angeles Lakers on a four-year, $153.3 million contract. He will try to bring the storied franchise another championship.

The announcement was made through his agency, Klutch Sports Group, which announced the deal as $154 million.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst reported that the fourth year is a player option. It is the longest deal James has signed since inking a six-year contract with the Miami Heat in 2010. His previous three deals were three years or shorter.

James leaves his hometown team as a free agent for the second time in his career. Four years ago, James had stated his intention to finish his career with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Whether the four-time MVP and 14-time All-Star does that or not, he certainly has left his mark on his city.

James, 33, thanked his home area in an Instagram story. He wrote in text overlaying a photo from the Cavaliers' 2016 NBA title victory parade, "Thank you Northeast Ohio for an incredible 4 seasons. This will always be home."

He delivered the first championship to the sports-obsessed city in 52 years and did so with storybook gusto, helping the Cavaliers become the first team in NBA Finals history to rally from a 3-1 series deficit to win it all. The team he took down, the Golden State Warriors, had the best regular-season record in league history, at 73-9.

"Words do not express the meaning and the feeling this accomplishment brought to the people of Northeast Ohio," Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert said in a lengthy statement thanking James. "None of this would have happened if LeBron James did not agree to come back home and lead the Cavaliers to the promised land.

James leaves the Cavaliers franchise as its leader in nearly every major statistical category: games played, points, rebounds, assists and steals.

Source: http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/2396772...

HIKE #2 (2018): Spent my day-off exploring nature w/ these lovely ladies (sis & cousin.)

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LOCATION: Etiwanda Falls

LOCATION: Etiwanda Falls

LOCATION: Etiwanda Falls

LOCATION: Etiwanda Falls

LOCATION: Etiwanda Falls

LOCATION: Etiwanda Falls

LOCATION: Etiwanda Falls

LOCATION: Etiwanda Falls

LOCATION: Etiwanda Falls

LOCATION: Laguna Beach, CA - Johnny Rockets

First look: Pixar-themed billboards to welcome Pixar Pier Guests

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From Disney Parks Blog

Pixar Pier is opening June 23 at Disney California Adventure Park, and there are many exciting things awaiting Guests to discover!

From Disney Parks Blog

Upon entering Pixar Pier, just past Adorable Snowman Frosted Treats, four large billboards will greet you as you make your way through the newly reimagined land! Each portrait depicts a beloved Pixar story moment—set in the seaside surroundings of Pixar Pier.

Hope you enjoy this sneak peek. There will be two other billboards to discover when you stroll along Pixar Pier this summer!

3 career habits that helped Walt Disney launch the company that is now worth $156 billion

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  • Walt Disney approached his job with craftsmanship - and there are a few lessons that everyone can learn from.
  • While creating boundaries between your work life and home life is important, you should approach work as if it's part of your life and not something separate. Find something you want to incorporate into your identity.
  • It's also important to note what your intention is. If your motivation is to do the work for the sake of fame and money, your work won't be as inspired as it could be.
  • Disney approached his work with the intention of doing a good job - and if you do the same, the money and success will follow.

In 1937, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was released .

It was the first full-length traditional animation feature, and despite the world suffering from the effects of the Great Depression, its commercial success created a new media giant.

Although The Walt Disney Company would continue to see many ups and downs over the next few decades, it had managed to infect the cultural consciousness. Animation wasn't just for children. It became a timeless way to communicate the most basic of our human values.

The person behind all of this was an eccentric man who had grown up drawing cartoons.

The name Walt Disney is now synonymous with iconic film characters and the world-famous theme parks that bear his name, but in the early days, he was just a man with an artistic itch. He wanted to show the world what happens when you mix elements of fantasy with reality.

The term artisan is often used to describe a craftsperson. Someone who makes things with their hands. However, it also connotes the idea of a job done with care for its own sake.

While a case can be made that Disney's success was attributed to his craftsmanship, the more interesting observation about his life and his work is the level of satisfaction he derived from his career. He was practically infatuated with his job.

What you do for a living takes up a big part of your life, and it should be more than just work. It should be a craft. Disney was the prime example of an artisan, and his story illustrates this to its core. Let's steal a few lessons.

1. No separation between work and life

One of the most common discussions regarding careers is one concerning work-life balance.

We all have limited time, and naturally, it makes sense that we want to spread it across the different responsibilities in our life without falling into the trap of over-committing to any one.

While the idea of having a balance is important, the distinction that is often created in such discussions is not. It separates your life from work when the goal should be integration.

If you think about how much time the average person spends working (approximately 80,000 hours, or 9 full years, by some estimates), it becomes clear that there isn't really a way to separate work from life. Even if we compartmentalize, that's only a psychological distinction.

We eventually become what we do. The daily actions you take as a part of your job become ingrained in you as habits, which shape your identity. This affects you in a substantial way.

Walt Disney famously came up with the idea for the first Disneyland while watching his two daughters ride a carousel. He wanted to create an environment where families could come together to enjoy each other's company just as he was in that moment with his children.

Even when he wasn't working, his work augmented who he was at home. Similarly, when he was at home, his family life inspired what he built and created for other families at his work.

While boundaries are key, being an artisan isn't just about having a work identity. It's about aligning who you are as a result of work into a larger, holistic way of operating as a person.

If you're an artist, you are an artist outside of your studio. If you are an entrepreneur, you are an entrepreneur outside of the office. This is true regardless of whether you think that way.

We are what we do. It's on us to make what we do something we're proud of outside of that.

2. Progress is in the details, not the image

Between 1931 and 1968, Disney was nominated for 59 Academy Awards, winning 22 of them. That's the second most nominations out of anybody else and the most wins ever.

As he inspired the creation of more and more animation films as a producer, he received more and more acclaim from the world. He went from being a simple animator in his early days to a man better described as an industrialist. His company became a force of nature.

Yet, by all evidence, it appears that Disney was more concerned with details than image.

His goal was always to mold the impossible in with the possible, and he defined his progress more by how each individual felt and reacted to his creations than by general perception.

In most work, there is always an ever-present conflict between what you have to do to win over external praise and what you have to do to feel a sense of internal accomplishment.

Often, these are interconnected. Sometimes, if you don't win over the external praise, you may no longer have a job. That said, just as often, the external praise we seek is a product of satisfying the ego and not born out of necessity. That's where things tend to go wrong.

It may be gratifying to hear praise and to gain status or prestige in the moment, but at the end of the day, that's not the kind of progress that really counts. That's not what truly fulfills.

Artisans do things for their own sake. They do things to learn and to master. To challenge and to be challenged. The goal is to be a little bit better today than you were yesterday, and that metric isn't defined by some outside committee, but it's determined by your product.

You love what you invest in, but the best investment is found in the details. And the beauty is that, if you focus on simply learning, mastering, and improving, the image takes care of itself.

3. Reward for good work is more work

The core intention we have for doing something shapes every subsequent choice we make.

If your core motivation is success and fame and riches, then even if you consider yourself an artisan in your mind, your behavior won't reflect what it is that you tell yourself about work.

If you focus on mastery and have an intrinsically motivated definition of progress, however, then the only reward of going through the process of work is more work. It's the luxury to do what you're already doing in a more complex environment or on a more impactful scale.

No matter how big The Walt Disney Company got, there was one thing that Disney would always remind people of. Profits were important, and necessary, but they didn't come first.

"Do a good job. You don't have to worry about the money; it will take care of itself. Just do your best work - then try to trump it."

It's a very subtle distinction, but making that clear changed everything from the projects they picked to who they partnered with to the kind of characters they choose to develop.

If treated the right way, work can be one of the most rewarding gifts that life has to offer.

Humans are creative and productive, to some extent, by nature. We make things, we build things, and we create on top of what we have already made and built. If a task is aligned with whatever drives our inner nature, we thrive on adding more complexity to our work.

While there is a prevailing narrative in our culture that sees work as something to be done until you don't need to do it anymore, the truth is that, if you truly respect and value whatever your work is, the real benefit of working is actually the ability to continue to do more of it.

Waking up and feeling truly grateful to do what you do is the reward. That can't be bought.

Due to individual circumstances, not everyone can aspire to the kind of work that brings out the artisan in them, but anyone can at least try to adjust their mindset with what they have.

Walt Disney is one of the enduring cultural icons of the past few generations, and much of both his success and his level of fulfillment can be traced back to his craftsmanship at work.

Most of us have careers that last between 30 to 50 years. That's a significant part of life, and the only way to ensure they mean something is to treat what you do with the right intention.

There's an artisan in all of us. Whether or not it shows through depends on our daily choices.

New ‘Incredibles’ float to join ‘Paint the Night’ parade June 23

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The fan-favorite “Paint the Night” parade at Disney California Adventure park is currently dazzling audiences during the limited-time Pixar Fest at the Disneyland Resort. This electrifying parade uses more than 1 million brilliant lights, high-energy music and cutting edge special effects featuring many beloved Disney and Pixar pals.

Joining “Paint the Night” on June 23 is a new float inspired by Disney•Pixar’s “The Incredibles” and “Incredibles 2.” The Parr family and their pal Frozone will make their debut in this spectacular parade with high-tech, pop-art effects.

Here’s how the fun and excitement of “The Incredibles” will be brought to life:

  • The dynamic and colorful new float connects both “The Incredibles” and “Incredibles 2,” picking up where the first film left off and portraying the scene that shows the Parr family banding together against the supervillain known as “The Underminer.”
  • Violet Parr uses her super powers to surround herself with a “force field.” It will come to life through a custom-built persistence-of-vision (POV) globe – the first and largest ever to be installed on a Disney parade float.
  • Dash’s super-human speed is captured through an innovative system of 64 individually lit frames, flashing as he races in circles around the float.
  • Mr. Incredible and Mrs. Incredible, along with their pal Frozone, light up the night in new super suits. The suits have been installed and wired by hand and are fully programmable to be in sync with the music and the float lighting.
  • The super suits, designed by eccentric fashion designer Edna Mode, are illuminated with nearly 100 sheets of flexible, miniature LEDs. This is the first time these light-up suits will be worn by any Disney or Pixar character.
  • The chest logos on the Incredibles’ glowing super suits are made up of 60 individually programmable LEDs.

This super float joins “Paint the Night” this summer during Pixar Fest, the limited-time celebration happening now through September 3. Pixar Pier will also welcome Guests at Disney California Adventure park on June 23.

Netflix, ESPN Films Releasing a 10-Part Michael Jordan Documentary

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In what can only be described as a gift from the Basketball Gods, Michael Jordanand his Chicago Bulls of the 1990s are getting a massive documentary treatmentfrom Netflix and ESPN Films.

“The Last Dance” features over 500 hours of “never-before-seen footage” from the Bulls’ last title.

ESPN Films and Netflix today announced a joint production “The Last Dance,” a 10-part documentary series that will chronicle one of the greatest icons and most successful dynasties in sports history, Michael Jordan and the 1990s Chicago Bulls. Directed by Jason Hehir (“The Fab Five,” “The ’85 Bears,” “Andre the Giant”) and produced by Mike Tollin, the anthology will examine the simultaneous rise of Jordan and the NBA during those years.
Anchored by more than 500 hours of never-before-seen footage from the team’s last championship run in the 1997-98 season, “The Last Dance” will have the full participation of Jordan and other key figures from the Bulls’ championship teams, as well as dozens of other luminaries from basketball and beyond.

Rami Malek Is Freddie Mercury in New 'Bohemian Rhapsody' Trailer

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20th Century Fox has released the first trailer for Bohemian Rhapsody, a film celebrating the music and legacy of the iconic rock band Queen and its acclaimed frontman, Freddie Mercury. In the visuals above, we see the meteoric rise of Mercury (Rami Malek) as the band begins to develop its revolutionary sound and unconventional style.

The film will also highlight the spiraling lifestyle of Mercury as well as the band’s triumphant Live Aid reunion in 1985, which resulted in one of the greatest performances in rock history. In addition to Malek, Queen members will be played by Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, and Joseph Mazzello.

Check out the trailer above and catch the film on November 2.