Wondercon is an annual gathering for your popular culture needs! Media, literature, trading cards, education, oddities and tons of cosplay fill the Anaheim Convention Center. Just so you know, Wondercon is officially staying in Anaheim. But it is better this way, if Wondercon went back to San Francisco, we would have to share the space with iWorld. No! Just No! Besides, a trip to Wondercon and then walking up the street to Disneyland is a great deal!
Originally, I would go to Wondercon to shop and haggle for rare model figures but this time I did a few things differently. I attended panels with directors, authors, writers, actors and illustrators of my favorite television shows and cartoons to add more field notes to this study as well as introduce my friend to her first con. She was shocked when she saw people standing outside the doors on Thursday when we could pick up our tickets. An older woman stopped us and said, "I love everyone's smiles. Even you! Everyone comes out with their bags smiling." I replied,"Its the magic of Wondercon!" A girl in front of us started sobbing when she picked up her bag. I gave her a tissue and she said, "I can't believe it! This is my first time!" Even the Wondercon employees gave her high fives. I told the woman that we did see a few tears. She laughed and said, "Tears for now smiles tomorrow!" Indeed they were =) I saw the girl the next day in costume skipping happily to the showroom.
My friend had a few revelations and reflections about popular culture in her life and why she felt excluded from popular culture experiences as a child. She concluded that it was cultural and economics related. Some of the problems educator's mentioned in literature I have read and the words of those I have worked with have revolved around a problem of economics. Many felt popular culture demands consumers spend money to be a part of the culture. It is a misconception that money is needed to participate in popular culture or feel a part of the culture. I explained this to my friend after her conclusion. When our imaginations create worlds and stories are told or written, it becomes popular culture when references of mainstream characters become our own creation. For me, its like legos building heroes. For my friend, instead of feeling regret, she has chosen to start dreaming now.
An example of this dream, hero, imagination building is with fuse beads in early childhood and elementary schools. While I love doing this project, many of my fellow educators feel it is a one sided project. However, Wondercon revealed many for sale. Many of the school agers I work with create their own icons from Minecraft and other video games. Here are some displayed at Wondercon for sale. I had to take the picture quickly since there is a sign that say no pictures! Sorry for the blur. Fuse bead art allows children to create their own visions of their favorite characters and games.
Various cartoon characters and superheroes!
Disney and Pokemon are examples of various merchandise available for all economic ranges all over the world. One of the interesting aspects of Pikachu adventures is when Pikachu is on an adventure with his friends there is a limited amount of human speech for the majority of the film. Also, children do not need to purchase films to understand Pikachu's language because their friends and classmates can pass on the details of the story while teaching them the meanings of all the Pika-pika-chu-chu's. Popular culture is about the connections we make beyond ourselves to the world outside. The connections we make with other people is how popular culture is transferred verbally, physically, internationally, domestically, virtually and physically. As long as adults and children are still seeing, hearing. speaking and writing to convey the worlds of their imagination, popular culture will continue to grow from our minds and hearts into the pages of books and artwork for all to enjoy!
Thinking about Skylanders has always made me smile. Last Spring, I began my collection after attending the opening day celebration of the Downtown SF's Microsoft Store. Because I had won a $25 gift certificate and they had 20 percent off grand opening promotion, I knew what I wanted! New Xbox 360 games! I really didn't know which games I wanted exactly. . Something filled with adventure and treasure hunting was a must. The Microsoft Store employees sold me on Skylanders Giants! They played the game themselves so I picked a few characters I thought looked cool plus the game starter pack. It was such a great deal on the set!
Of course to my brother's credit, he told me about the first series, Spyro's Adventures.
Spyro is one cool dragon! Since dragons are one of my favorite mystical creatures I was already interested. Especially when I found out my other favorite mystical creature, unicorns, are also in Skylands! Whirlwind is pretty cool! He even told me about Gamestop employee exclusive figures!! LUCKY! My brother also explained to me how the system worked. There were many characters from various elements needed to unlock doors to treasure. There were various versions of each character. Legendary Skylanders were rare exclusive ultra powered types. There were also seasonal holiday themed Skylanders that were limited edition specials as well as store exclusives found only at Toys R Us, Walmart, Target and Game Stop.
Whirlwind: Part Unicorn part Dragon!
Legendary Trigger Happy
Springtime Trigger Happy (Swap Force - Seasonal)
I continued to visit the Microsoft Store to buy more Skylanders. Every time employees saw my face they would disapear quickly into the back to bring me a selection not on the shelves. Once I collected all the characters I thought were cool from the Microsoft Store, I told myself, "Ok I'm done! This is how my collection looked last Spring! You will see what it looks like now at the end of this post!
One of my online gamer friends in Norway showed me a picture of his collection on Facebook. He had every single Skylander both normal, rare and legendary types! I was shocked how much he invested into his collection because there is no Toys R Us Norway! He relied heavily on inflated eBay prices and high international shipping to obtain his collection. He said his collection was well over 2k U.S. Dollars! YIKES! ! That's dedication!
Ket's 2013 collection
It was not until August 2013 that I met a boy in a new school I worked at with a Skylanders shirt and shoes! I yelled from across the playground, "Look it's Eruptor!! His jaw dropped and he ran over to me. He said "How you know this is?" Once I told him I owned Eruptor he told me each and every new Skylanders he owned! He said his legendary bouncer was his best one. I was really happy with my Tree Rex but he said there was a special one coming soon. When I bought Gnarly Tree Rex I couldn't wait to tell him. He laughed when I was cheering about the other new additions to my collection. He high fived me for finally finding Ninjini ... well my brother did! She is a ninja/genie with two katanas...we both said, "That's so cool!" He said I should have done the pre order for Scarlett Ninjini because she was "so so so so so strong!"
During our classroom circles many of the children without Skylanders would ask to see videos of the characters personalities. The cartoons shorts were really funny. When Swap Force was released, I told the boy I wasn't interested. ..but then he told me about how you can swap the parts of the swappable friends making 256 combos!
The boy mentioned to me how he would dress as Spyro for Halloween. Since there were two versions I showed him on my tablet to verify which Spyro he would choose. He choose the outfit that was fully covered so he could Ram Charge.like Spyro. He giggled when he mentioned how funny the pink on the costume was. He said it wasn't too much but even if Spyro was all pink he would still like it! (While this Spyro appears purple, he said it looked more pink in person!)
During Black Thursday, Skylanders Swap Force was marked down from 75.00 to 35.00, so I finally decided to invest in Skylanders again. I bought the Swap Force starter pack and multiple Skylanders for 40 percent off. Another great deal! This is how my swap force yet looked back in November.
As the boy and I continued to compare our Skylanders each time I arrived at his school, our conversations were so high energy I forgot I was a teacher. Rather than remind the children to rest during nap time, the boy and I told stories of the Skylands with the star night light nd flashlights on. Some children contributed to our stories with the knowledge they carried of Skylanders. Others listened intently to find out what happened to Kaos the bad boy. They had trouble deciding if he was a big kid or a little big kid because he was so short, bald and always needed his mom's help to stop the Skylanders!
Kaos and his Mommy
All of January, I was assigned to another school. When I returned in February to my fellow Skylander's school, I came into the room with my Eruptor plush keychain. The boy stared at it before looking up at me. I patted him on the head and saying, "Hey you Skylander!" He nodded and then poked me hard. He stomped his foot and said, "Hey! Where were you??" I laughed and said the other school down the street! He laughed and asked if any kids were Skylanders fans. I told him a bunch! I asked him if he was still my Skylander friend and he said yes! He took his strategy guide from his cubby and showed me all of his Skylanders. He pointed to two he did not have. Scratch, Fire Bone Hot Dog and Stink Bomb. It took me tons of camping Toys R Us, Target and Wal-Mart to find them! The store employees in the video game section would cheer me on and give me search tips for those three if they saw them in other stores around town. I ended up finding Fire Bone Hot Dog and Scratch at Walmart and picked up the last Stink Bomb at Target. He is awesome! A Ninja Skunk!! What more could one ask for? Stealth and Funk ability. That's awesome!
Fire Bone Hot Dog
Scratch
Stink Bomb
While the boy was amazed I found Scratch, . .yes that was the last one in stock also! He asked me if he could use my phone to call his parents so they could put it in his Easter basket. Scratch really is the ultimate cat warrior griffin. Seriously, this game has the characters with the coolest personalities! Here are some items I found at Target and Toys R Us showing how children could have a very Skylander/Pop Culture filled Easter!
An update to traditional Easter Baskets
For those of you who are wondering why I did not include Disney Infinity - it was released after the clear success of Skylanders Giants launched. The only reason I would buy a figure is if the planned Captain EO figure is actually released. I don't want the game only the Captain EO figure! I have noticed that children who do not have Skylanders have Disney Infinity because their parents play/love Disney and even a few have both. My Pre K Skylander friend's father figured out I was the teacher his son always talked to about Skylanders. His father was upset because he had spent so much money on his son's collection. I did ask him to work on building and creating new stories with the characters. That did very well because now his Skylanders have a new life and purpose outside of game play. Video games create a space for children to build stories from their own experiences with the journeys they experience through game character's lives. Whether the experience is comical or tragic, children are learning what it means to live with choices they make, whether good or bad and draw strength and courage to make the right decision that places them one step closer to who they want to become.
Disneyland's Tomorrowland is the first spot my brother and I run to inside the park. Its the home of Space Mountain and Captain EO! Some of the children I work with told me they checked out Captain EO with their parents. Many of their parents, also Michael Jackson fans, said they were glad their child got to see "Beat it Michael."
When I look through multiple music videos and interviews from actors and music artists, I see and hear influences MJ has left on the lives of us all - whether music video, blogging and even online reviews of music and games can be traced to what MJ brought to artistic visual - creative expression through music.
There is also a change going on with Disney music in animated films. More children are singing along to their favorite songs at school. Home culture is appearing in the classroom through their favorite cartoons, movies and musical artists. When I was a child, Hakuna Matata, Under the Sea and A World New World were the melodies my classmates and I hummed in my classroom. I do not recall teachers or children singing or humming Disney songs quietly to themselves or with us. But teachers always sang Michael Jackson, Aerosmith, Metallica, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Prince and Queen songs in the classroom. Notice the rock and soul trend the teachers were interested in back then?
In today's classroom, some of the children sing their version of songs they hear on their parents' radio in the car, Pandora and iheartRadio apps from Imagine Dragons, Katy Perry, Adele, Beyonce and Rihanna. One boy in one of my Pre - K classes, wants to become a singer. He always says Adele is his idol and can sing all of her songs verbatim. He prefers to use the classroom CD or iPod for melody but will sing "Rolling in the Deep" in acapella if you make a respect during outside time. He prefers a large audience of teachers and children watching rather than singing for only one person.
Since January, this boy has recently gotten into singing Frozen's Let it Go and Do you wanna build a Snowman? He and his classmates sing the song together repeatedly throughout the day. One change I have noticed over the past two months are children adding in Elsa's exact movements to Let it Go - They ask me to tie their jackets or sweaters around their body like a shawl and they rip it off and smile while singing the line, "Let the storm rage on, the cold never bothered me anyway."
While singing Anna's, Do you wanna to build a snowman? The children jump around the room and then lay on the floor watching the clock like Anna, while singing, "I think some company is overdue I've started talking to the pictures on the walls- (Hang in there, Joan!) It gets a little lonely All these empty rooms, Just watching the hours tick by- (Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock, Tic-Tock)"
Sometimes the children leading the songs will stop the children and make them start from the beginning if the song is inaudible or the words are out of order. Even if the child mixes up or omits lyrics, the children stay in sync with the rhythm of the characters voices and their verbal and non verbal language throughout the song.
From The Little Mermaid, I do hear children singing Ariel's "Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh" to give their voice to Ursula or the child who deems herself as a powerful witch.
When the children in my Pre K class are happy they sing:
Hatuna Makata - What a wonderful day!!
They are quickly corrected by the Adele singing child," No no start again that's wrong!"
The children giggle and sing even louder
It means no worries for rest of your daaaaays its our problem beees papeepeee!
He interjects, "NOOOOO nonono! Like this!" He puts his hands up to conduct and sings:
Hakuna Matata, what a wonderful phrase, Hakuna Matata Aint no passing craze, It means no worries for the rest of your daaaaays. Its our problem free philosophy Hakuna Matata! He leads the other children and prances around the room just as Timon, Pumbaa and Simba do in the sequence when Simba is growing up.
While many teachers whose classrooms I work in tell me, "We have too much Disney in our lives so no more singing!" As I reflect on all the Disney moments mentioned in this post that children have chosen to emulate and experience sorrow, joy, pain and growing up. These Disney songs provided children with opportunities to role play and embody the qualities of their beloved characters they admire. It is more than a child just having too much Disney or too much of anything they love, it is about children understanding how their lives intersect with what they are interested in and knowledge they need to learn as they grow older. Through media, their popular culture artifacts and their imagination, children can extend the adventures of their favorite characters and create new adventures for themselves continuing the journey with that character.
The first Saturday of every May is Free Comic Day - Were you able to head to your favorite comic book store and support such a wonderful event? Many happy faces were leaving the stores once they could get inside! But the long lines are worth it for the experience =)!
I hope everyone had an awesome Star Wars Day! May the Fourth be with you and also the Fifth! I supported the day by wearing my Yoda shirt. A few children I saw around the city had Princess Leia hairstyles, Star Wars character shirts or lightsabers. The Disney Store had an event at noon with a giveaways and fun for all ages. Yay!
George Lucas and Disney Characters in their Star Wars roles.
One topic that appeared Fall and Spring semester in my field notes was the children looking at characters and not knowing really knowing their gender. Children could tell with ease the gender of characters from stories like Star Wars. They told me it was based on their clothing. Yet, My Little Pony (MLP) brought up major debates in the classroom. Is Rainbow Dash a boy or girl?? Most of the ponies have a clearly masculine or feminine look. Yet, Rainbow Dash's look is gender neutral. Her body color is blue, her hair type is multi-colored with a messy style compared to the other female MLPs with neatly combed hair. A few of the three year olds, both boys and girls, believed Rainbow Dash was a boy because, "He do what he wants!" and "He is wild!" When I asked what does being wild mean to them, most of the three year olds paused and could not respond. Another three year old tried to explain it to me with many "Um.. Um.. Um.. Um...well...I don't know! He ....just is!" I was really curious about this answer. When watching MLP, I can see why a child would interpret Rainbow Dash's actions as wild or as some of the three year old girls say to other girls when playing boys or daddys, "You have to act like a boy!" Rainbow Dash is not as feminine as the other female ponies. She is very adventurous and very impulsive, traits children typically associate with boys in the classroom. When I told the Pre -K boys and girls about what the three year olds felt, they thought it was silly they mistook her for a boy. But, they did agree that Rainbow Dash was wild! One boy described jumped up with both hands up describing Rainbow Dash as free! He liked her because he wanted to be like her and make his own rules. He always mentions hating nap time because he never wants to sleep. Girls that participated in the conversation felt that Rainbow Dash was "really cool" and "funny silly" because she got into trouble but was still a good friend.
Dr Whooves
Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash
Rainbow Dash is the pony pulling the others to safety.
The boys and girls mentioned Twilight Sparkle and Rainbow Dash as their top favorite ponies. You can check out their personalities in the clips below.
Fall semester, one Pre K class was so involved in MLP, their large class of 26 had daily Bronies and Princess Pony sessions. While I tried to capture all of the dialogue by hand, it became nearly impossible when six groups of Dr. Hooves, Princess Celestia and Rainbow Dashes were stampeding through the room! These teachers were aware of their classroom's popular culture power play and let the play continue as long as they galloped and without running. The girls often fought over who would be Princess Celestia but there were two girls who were always Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle because those ponies were "bffs" on the show and the girls grew up together after meeting at school when they were in the Toddler room. The most interesting dialogue between the boys and girls was exchanged when they assumed their pony personalities. The girls and boys playing Fluttershy and was really accurate. So much so, their teachers mistakenly thought the children were scared by sudden lights, darkness and voices/sounds in the room. It was also quite the event when the children continued their pony personas during snack. Rainbow Dash was scolded by Princess Celestia for having her hooves on the table as well as eating her yogurt and graham crackers too quickly. Twilight Sparkle was told to be a better princess by sitting up straight. Dr. Hooves said he would help anyone who had a tummy ache from too much yogurt at his doctor's office and send them to the store for free medicine.
The drawing below is of a "Princess Pony." When I asked her which pony she drew, she asked me to guess. Of course, it is Princess Celestia! When I showed this child's picture to the Pre K children at the school who called Rainbow Dash free and wild, the three year olds could also tell it was Princess Celestia. After examining the photo closer, the majority of the class decided it was not really Princess Celestia and just a Princess Pony because her "cutie mark" was wrong. Some girls protested that it could only be Princess Celestia if the cutie mark was a sun like the Real Princess Celestia. Some of boys and girls felt that it could be whatever she wanted it to be. Through MLP, children
Princess Pony - Princess Celestia
Princess Celestia
Many of the children in my classrooms become aware of gender through their choice of clothing, hairstyle and the personas of their favorite characters. When we sing songs from Disney's Frozen, children from all of my classrooms ask me what the other children are doing. I noticed that many questions are emphasizing gender, "Do the boys sing Frozen too like me?" "Are the boys Elsa or Anna?" "Do the girls play Hans and Kristoff? 'Cuz no one likes Hans. I can be Kristoff and you be Anna!" While there are many boys and girls in my classrooms who love MLP,only the girls wear MLP clothing: hoodies and shirts. One boy did like one of the girl's new MLP sweatshirt. When she entered, I said, "Good Morning Pinkie Pie!" She giggled and pointed to the other two ponies. I continued, "Wow! Its Rainbow Dash and Twilight Sparkle!" One of the boys ran up and hugged her and said, "Now all the best friends are here!" He is huge Rainbow Dash fan! His parents mentioned to me before that they would prefer he plays with MLP's of other children at school rather than buy him MLP toys and he feel embarrassed later. It reminded me of a recent MLP incident at an East Coast elementary school...
The incident caused quite a bit of sadness in my school age classroom when I informed them about a boy who was bullied in his school for being a liking MLP. He was picked on for bringing his MLP lunch box to school. Since the school administrator deemed the lunch box the cause of the bullying rather than discipline the bullies, many of the Pre K and school age children were shocked. They felt very sad for the boy for not being able to bring what he loved with him to school. It alludes to the connections children build with each object from popular culture they accumulate. Each popular culture artifact was chosen by the child because they identify with qualities of the character and place meaningful memories and feelings representing the experience they had when the artifact was bought/given to them.
I assumed with the highly successful and popularity of RuPaul's Drag Race franchise and movies with superheroes of both genders found in Avengers and X-Men that children were growing up with images of gender flexibility promoting gender freedom. There are so many toys marketed for boys and girls to create play free of gender it seems one boundary that not all children or adults will choose to break. It is a step forward that there are so many types of toys, cartoons and pop culture items children can choose to represent themselves just the way they want. It is just such a shame children are suffering to stay brave and show who they are. Individuals who are not accepting of another child's bravery to be themselves and do things differently than other children of the same gender shows there is much to be said for children and their identity building as well as adults' acceptance of children working through multiple traits and qualities children want to incorporate into their identity.
When SF Symphony announced a few weeks ago Yoshiki, band leader, drummer and pianist for X Japan will come to SF in April I was so excited, I immediately bought my ticket! X Japan was the first of its kind in Japan introducing Glam Rock and Metal. Yes, Yoshiki was inspired by the American Hard Rock, Heavy Metal band, KISS. X Japan's music genre/style became known in Japan as "Visual Kei."
X JAPAN
Yoshiki today
Whether classical or rock, Yoshiki creates awesome ballads and rock songs. I became aware of X Japan in the mid 90's when I heard their song on a commercial promoting their new single release on TV Japan. Like Micheal Jackson is the King of Pop, Yoshiki is the father of Visual Kei in Japan. If you ever have time to read about X Japan's story, you will realize how their type of look and sound was new to Japan outside of what was known in the media from Western rock musicians like David Bowie, Kiss and Iggy Pop. While not exactly Glam Rockers, Queen and Elton John were also well known in Japan at the time for their outfits, hair and songs. In Japan, there are certain expectations for how Japanese expect other Japanese citizens to look and act to show their national pride as Japanese. When X Japan came out in the 1980's, visualize shock and avoidance from the everyday Japanese person. It was quite the culture clash. The 1980's and X Japan prompted many Japanese youth to begin rebelling against Japan's expectation of them. The 1990s-present day Japanese youth culture reveals the many type of sub cultures like Goth Lolita(1980's -present day), Ganguro, a form of Blackface some youths used to embrace Black culture/ resemble some Hip Hop and/or R&B artists or the youth had a very dark tanned face with light hair and white lipstick/other white makeup over the tan( height of this sub culture was in the early- mid 2000's).
Back to Yoshiki's influence on Visual Kei: He produced Dir en Gray (1997, Death Metal), originally they dressed in Visual Kei but began using traditional rock gear in the mid 2000s. Like Yoshiki. they do look to expand their International audience and come to perform in San Francisco during the Summer months. Look for them if you are interested in one of their popular (and my favorite!) songs below, "Kodou." Even though there is very little English in their songs, they still have a good fan base in the United States that enjoys their music and concerts. Please support them with me at one of their concerts when they return to San Francisco!
Dir en Grey in traditional Visual Kei
A Dir en Grey recent look
Yoshiki and X Japan was greatly influenced Versallies' (1994, Symphony/Progressive Rock) lead Kamijo. This band dresses in Visual Kei but their outfits are modeled after the GothicVictorian Era. From the awesome guitar rifts to the classical ballads you will enjoy a day or night at the symphony! They are on a break at the moment and involved in solo projects but when they are back, I am sure they will tour Asia, Latin America, Europe and North America again because like the other Visual Kei bands, they have International fans.
Versallies
The GazettE (2002, Alternative Metal) dresses in an updated Visual Kei/Punk style. Because I am a regular Anime and Japanese music television viewer, I found out about this band. Anime has opening and ending songs by popular artists and usually features their most recent single release. It is a great marketing tactic both nationally and Internationally.
SID, (2003, Pop Rock) is another Visual Kei band with great guitar rifts and ballads I discovered through an anime, Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Check out their song below, for those of you who love Ed and Al's adventure you will recall this song. Enjoy!
SID
Other rock bands that are not Visual Kei but have multiple songs featured on anime, video games and top charting singles over the past two decades and are well known Internationally are Gackt (1994, Symphonic/Hard/Alternative Rock) and Hyde of lead singer of Larc en Ciel or Laraku (1991, Pop Rock/Alternative Rock) and VAMPS (2008, Hard Rock/Alternative Rock) with K.A.Z. the lead guitarist. Gackt and Hyde constantly recreate their image so I will only feature two of their looks...otherwise this entire post will be filled with pictures!
Gackt
Gackt
While Gackt does not come to the U.S. as frequently, Hyde and K.A.Z. often bring their rock to major U.S. cities. Yes, I was there when they came to San Francisco! Their lyrics mix Japanese and English that is easy for non Japanese speakers to understand the overall meaning of the songs. Kawaiiso Hyde trying to talk to the audience. He said all he knew without appearing too nervous, "Herro San Furanshisuco!!! I love the AISUKURIMU... ICE CREAM!! GHIRADELLI! Hai..Yes... ok that's all! Sore dake...My English...Gomen..." His lyrics have meaning that has drawn many U.S. audiences to his songs. Check out two videos below from his bands.
Larc en Ciel (Hyde in Center)
Vamps: K.A.Z. (left) Hyde (right)
For those of you who are familiar with Japanese 80's rock bands, I have not forgotten to mention Luna Sea* Mr. Children and Glay*. These bands have also made their mark in the Japanese rock scene since late 80s. Japanese television dramas and anime featuring their songs have repeatedly drawn Japanese International audiences to their songs as well. While I love all of these bands I have previously mentioned, these three bands were special for me during my high school years in Japanese class because their songs were always on the radio, featured in Japanese news online, a commercial, anime, video game or television show. I could rock out to Glay and Luna Sea and dance and smile to the songs of Mr. Children \(^-^)/!!
*Luna Sea and Glay began their careers as Visual Kei and were also influential like X Japan on this movement in Japan's 1980's. In the 1990's, both groups shifted away from the Visual Kei hair, makeup and dress styles in exchange for more mainstream rock looks.
Luna Sea
Mr. Children
Glay
In closing, each band from Japan allows a space for non Japanese speakers to connect to the messages in their songs whether through lyrics, tone and beat. 2014 has allowed JRock and Visual Kei to be just as relevant as Western Rock, Metal and Punk because different technology media has allowed not only more access to these bands to new Western listeners but also a space to see where the West and East meet, diverge and create something awesome ignoring language, national, International and cultural boundaries. Also, I cannot wait to see Yoshiki share his music April 28th! For me, this is the equivalent of seeing MJ in concert. As for my MJ connection, with Thriller, he showed how to create and use music videos as a form of artistic expression and storytelling by breaking boundaries and creating a grey space between fantasy and reality. If you watched through the videos and live concert clips I included above, you will see MJ's influence is in Japan. Each song has a story being told using their own style as Japanese musicians looking to not only tell their story to their fellow Japanese but expand and share their voices with the West. The same story telling can be applied to Japanese Neo Soul and Hip Hop videos. I chose to represent Visual Kei and JRock because my school agers heard me listening to an X Japan song when I was heading on break. They were interested in Yoshiki since I played clips of both his ballads and rock music. Many of the school agers enjoy Linkin Park so they were able to enjoy Yoshiki's music.
How do I prevent children from hearing bad language in the music I play? Easy. I do not play it around them and when I show clips or music videos I always preview the video and song first by myself. One awesome quote from Yoshiki's live performance at the Grammy Museum is when the producers wanted him to shorten his songs for radio and he stated, "Who the F--k has a radio??" Seriously Yoshiki is awesome for speaking the truth! He stays current and is so well spoken. If you are unable to make it to see Yoshiki check out these videos. Enjoy!
Just for fun if you are still reading: Can you take a guess on which band(s) from the United States influenced which Visual Kei or JRock band?
Usually I travel to Disneyland twice a year. In Fall 2013, I decided to purchase my first annual pass which was a great decision. There are so many things to discover between Downtown Disney, California Adventures and Disneyland that twice a year was not enough anymore. One of my Disney influenced hobbies, pin trading, is a very social event. Before my January trip, I only purchased the pins at shops. However, my Disney friends told me I could trade with any Disney Cast Member with lanyards and look at the store collections available for trade to find the rare Hidden Mickey Pins! What?? Of course when I told my mother and brother they already knew about this. I probably was not listening when they told me. Ah well!
For the majority of my Disney trips I travel solo unless my mother decides to come and that has not happened since Winter 2011. January was the first time I met friends at Disneyland since High School Grad Night. So much fun thank you!! Since my family was interested in the parades, I filmed them to be watched when I returned home after each trip.
Disney Sensation Parade: I filmed this parade in Fall 2013 and there is quite a bit of diversity shown. What do you think? There was a two year old next to me that was perfectly copying the princess procession! Many of us stopped and watched how she remembered the choreography perfectly! As for Disney Princesses, I have had many of my classmates ask me, "Which Disney Princess are you?" Of course my answer is ".....!" I am not and will not ever be a Disney Princess. Princess Tiana and Princess Jasmine are from two of my three top Disney films so when the Disney Designer Princess Dolls came out with all the madness at the Disney store, I did stand in line to get my doll. Actually, I got the last Jasmine which is a whole other story! If you are interested I could add those pictures to a future post.
Three Kings Celebration January 2014: Donald and The Caballeros celebrate The New Year representing Brazil and Mexico. This was a new parade that displays the diversity of these countries through the performers featured. I am sure they will bring this event back. The entire cove in California Adventures dedicated to this event had awesome Mariachi bands, a salsa lesson, arts and crafts and The Three Kings display. I missed out on the Lunar New Year celebration in late January/early February but I am sure the parade would have been just as interactive and appropriate.
If you have not been to Disneyland or you have been and you never watched a parade they are very interactive. I received funny faces from a few of the performers in The Lion King march and a wave from Tiana. Yes, they interact with adults and children which makes the experience a lot of fun. Even when you line up to take pictures with the characters, no matter your age the characters will either give you a hard time like Daisy did me when I had tons of Donald pins on my lanyard but zero Daisy...Sorry Daisy I do have one now! Or do what Goofy did to me and left his leg up to pass gas. Yes, yes I have witnesses! These entertaining acts did transpire! Overall, Disney fun is what you make of it, what and who you can relate to and of course remember to see Genie at the Aladdin show in California Adventures. His jokes stem from every bit of pop culture, vary slighty every performance and are very humorous! Currently, he goes on about twerking. Enough said!
Update: I recently found clips from Disney's Chinese Lunar New Year parade on YouTube. While I was not present for these celebration, I found the parades lacked a special something the other parades had. Perhaps an element of fun? Authenticity? Please share your thoughts. Check out Hong Kong Disneyland celebration from 2009... Do you find any similarities or major differences?
.jpg)
.png)
