People are stealing Disney rides, the Little Mermaid Live adds a 'Glee' Alum and we get some details on the new "Behind the Attraction" Docuseries that will be premiering sometime in the near future on the Disney+ streaming service.
In Entertainment news Samuel L. Jackson has some choice words for Martin Scoresese, the return of the Animaniacs, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is going on a Jungle Cruise, and Mark Hamill is shooting a new movie in the podcasts neck of the woods.
A brief "In Memoriam' to a fallen Mouseketeer and we finish up with our Insightful Picks of the week for another great podcast.
People are stealing Disney rides, the Little Mermaid Live adds a 'Glee' Alum and we get some details on the new "Behind the Attraction" Docuseries that will be premiering sometime in the near future on the Disney+ streaming service.
In Entertainment news Samuel L. Jackson has some choice words for Martin Scoresese, the return of the Animaniacs, Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson is going on a Jungle Cruise, and Mark Hamill is shooting a new movie in the podcasts neck of the woods.
A brief "In Memoriam' to a fallen Mouseketeer and we finish up with our Insightful Picks of the week for another great podcast.
Insightful pod sites, a podcast network
Speaker 2:[inaudible]
Speaker 3:come to insights into entertainment, a podcast series, taking a deeper look into entertainment and media, your hosts, Joseph and Michelle, Waylon, a husband and wife, team of pop culture fanatics, or exploring all things from music and movies to television and film.
Speaker 2:[inaudible]
Speaker 4:welcome to insights into entertainment. This is episode 37. Dude, where's my ride? I'm your host, Joseph Whalen, and my brilliant and insightful cohost, Michelle Wayland. Hi everyone. How are you doing today sweetheart? Wonderful. How are you dear? I'm doing fantastic. So we have quite a full show. Yeah. When you talk to me early in the week about it, you didn't, you seem to suggest it wasn't that full.
Speaker 5:Well, what was kind of funny was up until yesterday, I had like one thing and that was it. And I'm like, yeah, everything exploded. All everybody. Yeah. Everything kind of exploded at once and went, Oh, we actually have something. Just talk about.
Speaker 4:So in our Disney detective, we will be talking about, um, over$20,000 in attraction parts are being stolen from Disney world. Then we'll talk about some news with the little mermaid, a live movie coming out. Then, uh, some Disney plus, uh, series information before we move on to our entertainment news with uh, uh, our friend Samuel L. Jackson, responding to some criticism. Uh, then we'll talk about, uh, Animaniacs news. Uh, yeah, I know, I was never a big fan of that show. And then Dwayne Johnson is in 12 other movies. Again,
Speaker 5:I swear he's literally the hardest working man in Hollywood shore is he's in five movies a year. Yeah, if that,
Speaker 4:Oh. Then we have some local moving news with Mark Hamill filming in our neck of the woods in New Jersey here with the new movie. We'll have a brief in memoriam and then we will finish up with our insightful picks of the week. So very full show today. Ready to get into it. Let's do it.
Speaker 5:Go for Disney detective. So this was kind of a, I guess a funny story, but not really. So Walt Disney world has reported that$20,000 worth of pieces to a pair of magic kingdom attractions have gone missing from their storage area. Last week, a Disney employee notice that a set of sales used on the high flying Peter pan, right a ride were gone in the storage shed that's held behind Epcot test track. And then while he was doing the inventory counts, he also realized that a shell from space mountain was also missing. A Disney had declined to provide any more information on what the shell was used for. Uh, on the ride. Um, the materials attendant contacted the planning manager who then notified the Sheriff's office the following day. None of the items have any unique markings or serial numbers. So it's going to be kinda hard to, to find, I guess. Um, it was a mystery as to how, you know, the theft occurred and you know, the products left cause you're figuring, it's not like it's something you can just put in the, you know, in your pocket and walk out. We're talking, you know, big massive, you know, the sales[inaudible] and the shell of, of the ride. Uh, so, you know, the items were in a padlock storage area and fencing around the shed, uh, was also there according to the report. So Disney spokeswoman declined to comment, calling it a law enforcement issue. Um, the black market for rare Disney items is a very lucrative one. Um, there's actually, you know, if you look on eBay at, at any given time, there's usually always something, you know, a park piece of a park ride or a year, a costume or something. There's even a, you know, a company, um, that's outside of Orlando, um, that, that sells, you know, used, you know, things and you know, you kind of always wonder how they, they get some of them. Um, you know, just this past may a former Walt Disney world cast member was arrested after entering a restricted area in Disney and stealing and reselling over$7,000 of items from the haunted mansion, his arrest warrant, uh, also detailed facts behind the missing buzzy audio animatronic that was also stolen back in December, as well as the audio, the audio animatronics missing clothes, which were sold for$8,000 on eBay. So obviously if you look on eBay or you might find the guy check things on this one, like first of all, they estimated those$20,000$20,000 the material cost of it or is that, I'm guessing it's going for, I'm guessing it's probably the material costs for, you know, both of those things is it's stolen
Speaker 4:property. How do you sell it on eBay if it's stolen?
Speaker 5:Right. And that's the thing is as soon as somebody tries to sell it online or there has to be a black market for this. Right, exactly. There would not be the black Mariah. Exactly. And that's the thing is it says, you know that there is a black market for, you know, like there are people that get their hands on, you know, various Disneyana of some sorts
Speaker 4:different than like the black market for art smuggling know antiquities or whatever. You just don't list it on eBay. You know, someone doesn't steal the MonaLisa and put it up on eBay.
Speaker 5:Right. Well. Well, you know, it'll be interesting to see, you know, if this surfaces, and the other thing too is Disney didn't have any cameras or anything
Speaker 4:given the sheer size. I mean just talking to sales from the right, just given the sheer size of these things, you can almost bet it was probably an administrative screw up somewhere where stuff was being moved. It wasn't documented properly and somebody went the look for the stuff where originally it wasn't there. So this cause I can't imagine somebody walked you guys. Yeah, you have to come in with a tracker trailer to get these at night and nobody will notice that. Put it in like a little box and just right where we're talking about fiberglass shells sales that are 12 foot by 12 foot rough. You're not picking these up by hand. No. You know you're using a forklift or something to put these on a flat bed that taking them out of there and I can always guarantee you it's probably just an administrative screw up on Disney's part. Well I guess we'll, we'll find out if there's more that come out afterwards. Yeah, it should be interesting. So tell us about the little mermaid lies. So
Speaker 5:not to be confused with the little mermaid movie that they're doing. So there were actually two little mermaid projects that they're kind of doing at the same time. One is the movie that hasn't started filming yet, that's, you know, coming out I think later next year or the year after. But then they're doing little mermaid live, which is actually gonna be on television. Um, so ABC's upcoming live staging of the little mermaid has added Amber Riley to the cast. Riley will appear as the MC for the show that will present the daughters of Triton with a special performance for King Triton and his subjects. Um, the rest of the cast includes, and I had to write her name phonetically because I knew just looking at it, I was going to screw it up and I'm probably gonna still screw it up, but it's our Lee, I'm sorry, Ali E Carvalho who she actually is the, she's actually the actress that did the voice of Milana. Oh. So that too. So she has a beautiful singing voice. So she's actually going to be playing Ariel. Then queen Latifa is Ursula shaggy is going to be Sebastian. John Stamos is chef Louie and Graham Phillips is going to be Prince Eric. Um, Riley obviously is best known as um, uh, one of the stars of glee. She has also previously performed with queen Latifa in NBCs live version of the Wiz. Um, she's been on Broadway. Um, she was actually in one of the seasons of dancing with the stars and, and one, um, she has been in dream girls, one of the revivals, uh, with that. So you know, she has a fantastic voice. Um, so the wonderful world of Disney presents the little mermaid live. We'll be airing on November 5th. So just around the corner. And I actually saw a commercial for it on television, you know, just last night. So is the live version they're coming out with on ABC, a promotional thing? No, I don't think so. I think they were kind of two separate. So then what's pushing the revival? A little mermaid is an anniversary coming out probably. I don't know. That's why. And I think that was why, like there were so many conflicting stories when you know, a news about the movie was coming out and who was gonna be playing. So like, you know, Jenny McCarthy playing Ursula and then whatever. So it was kinda like, so this sounds more like this is going to be more of a musical where the little mermaid movie coming out might not be as much of a musical as, as this is just a one time line. Yeah. Just like they've done no, just like, you know, they've done with grease and they did, you know, I mean they've all been on Broadway. Right. Right. So I guess my question is this isn't kicking off a Broadway run or anything like that? Not that I know of. No. Okay, cool. So Disney plus, uh, has announced, uh, docu, it'll be coming out where we have some details on that. Right? So this is actually one that, that definitely peaked my interest. So according to variety, Disney plus has ordered ten one hour episode episodes of a docu series entitled behind the attraction. The series will actually take viewers into the history of how popular Disney attractions and destinations became to be and how they changed over time and how fans continue to obsess over them. This series will feature interviews with fans as well as Disney, Amanda Imagineers and other behind the scenes, uh, shots. Um, it's, you know, kind of one of their quintessential projects said the VP of, uh, the original unscripted content for Disney plus. Um, he said that, uh, best in class storytellers collaborating across multiple Disney units to, you know, pull back that rich history. It's going to be a very special, uh, series, uh, behind the attraction right now. Doesn't have a debut date. So it's probably still, you know, in, in process of, of being filmed. But I'm sure as a haunted mansion fan, that will definitely be one of, uh, the, the, you know, episodes. Um,
Speaker 4:so have they peeled back the details on this to let us know what rides are going to be detailing or nothing. This was the only thing because we have a couple third party, um, DVDs of document of documentaries that people that have done the ride and stuff like that in various parts. We've got, we have them on a mansion. Um, the Disneyland one, the opening in Disneyland and then some of the behind the scene stops gone in and interviewed some of the Imagineers. I'm kind of picturing it being like that. Is that sort of how they're,
Speaker 5:I think so. And you know, from what I've read, again, there hasn't really been a whole lot, you know, more teasers then than anything else. But that's what it kind of, you know, sounds like it'll all be, you know, with probably footage from, you know, when the rods were first opening and you know, from when they were, do you know the scale models of them? You know, up until,
Speaker 4:cause it was this, it was this third party, uh, DVD that we learned about the gum catcher in the mechanics of right on it mansion. So cool. Stuff like that would be interesting to see in there. Another reason to, you know, sign up if you haven't already. And we haven't yet, but I'm sure we will. I have no doubt that we will, we've already decided the sacrifice, Hulu in favor, we will trade off sacrifice the gods of Hulu.
Speaker 6:Woo.
Speaker 4:So that's all we had for Disney detective today. We'll be back with entertainment news.
Speaker 7:Uh,
Speaker 4:so Martin Scorsese had some things to say about Samuel Jackson. Well, actually it was the reverse. Well it was in response to things more than[inaudible],
Speaker 5:right. Martin Scotia Scorsese had actually, uh, made a reference saying, um, you know, a couple of weeks back that, you know, right now all there are Marvel movies, you know, nobody's going, you know, there, there aren't quality movies out there, you know, everything is a, a Marvel, you know, superhero movie. Uh, and Samuel L. Jackson kind of came, you know, to the defense, um, with remarks, um, you know, coming back saying, it's kinda like saying bugs bunny, you know, ain't funny. Films or films, everybody doesn't like, you know, his stuff either, you know. Uh, he said, he said, uh, everybody doesn't like his stuff either. I mean, we happen to, but everybody else doesn't. There's a lot of Americans that don't think he should be making films about them and things like that. Um, everybody's got an opinion, so it's okay. It's not going to stop anyone from seeing a, for making movies. So basically it was, you know, not everybody likes Marvel, but not everybody likes gangster movies either. So it was, it was an interesting, you know, thing
Speaker 4:sounds, you know, awfully clean cut in for a response from senior all Jackson.
Speaker 5:Well he was out on the red carpet, you know, at an event. So I'm guessing there was probably a not so clean version of, of his commentary, more colorful commentary from him. Yeah. So, you know, Scorsese actually had made comments while he was promoting his latest film, the Irishman, which is a Netflix crime drama, um, about Frank the Irishman she had and his dealings with, um, various crime families, you know, as his Hitman. Um, he basically said, I don't see them. I tried, you know, but that's not cinema. Uh, he told empire magazine. Honestly, the closest I think of them as well as they're made is that the actors are doing the best they can under these circumstances. It's kind of like a theme park. Uh, it isn't the cinema of human beings trying to convey emotions, psychological experiences to another human being. Um, both, and this was Scorsese saying that
Speaker 4:he did not see anything.
Speaker 5:Obviously he did not because that was an emotional rollercoaster. If there wasn't one, um, heck, you know, the end scene, you know, if you haven't seen it, we won't spoil it. But too, that was just heart wrenching. Um, both James Gunn and Josh Weeden actually both came to the defense of Marvel movies in the wake of, you know, the comments obviously because they've, you know, both directed, you know, write them. But yeah, it was kinda like, why would you, you know, as a F and I guess my thing is, why would you be a bully about it? Like that's almost what it sounded like.
Speaker 4:Well, and it's amazing, you know, and I'll let, maybe not a bully, but no, we'll go with that thought. Cause in this week's episode of insights in the teens, we had talked about this. And when people act like this, it's because they're threatened. And you know, and the fact that end game came out and made so much money, he broke all these records and Scorsese who comes out and thinks he's making these wonderful artistic movies and isn't getting a 10th of the crowd feels threatened by it. So he's going to come out and attack it. Just like any bully out there. Yeah. So, but that's the whole, the
Speaker 5:thing is, you know, you look at and you know, look at Scorsese, he has this wide, you know, history of movies. You know, it's not like he's only made, you know, five movies in his lifetime. He has, you know, this whole library of films that yes, are great films, but you know, not everybody is into watching, you know, gangster movies or mob movies. But then not everybody is into superhero movies either. So
Speaker 4:where I would lodge, my criticism of Scorsese is that he, much like other directors, has a very set recipe for his movies and he doesn't step outside that comfort zone. And that's a discredit to him as a director. The movies he makes are very good for what he's making, but he either he lacks the carriage or the constructive, you know, fortitude to step outside of that. Like I would offer him a director job for a Marvel movie now and say, okay,
Speaker 5:you try and do it right. Do justice or the other thing too, and you know, not to say that there aren't other directors that do this, but it's always the same actors in his movies too, right? It's, it's, you know, looks like it's literally the same movie, right? It's like, Oh, what character is, is this now granted with, you know, Marvel movies, you have to use the same actors. If you're using the same character, you know, your, you know, captain America is captain America and now everybody knows until it's a new one. But then you'll have the explanation of it. But you couldn't have, you know, just a different actor. Right? Right.
Speaker 4:Robertson arrow will probably not fit well in a Marvel movie in a costume. That would be kind of, but like I launched the same complaint against other directors like Tim Burton. You know, there are people that swear by Tim Burton movies, but to me they all look the same. They're all dark and brooding and depressing. And I like Tim Burton with the little bit of comedy mixed in, but they all look the same and night Shyamalan same thing. All these movies are the same thing with a twist at the end. Well the twist, but like that's my point is it's like everybody has their niche, right? And that's the thing. A, a truly great director doesn't have a niche, a truly great, and this is like, as much as I hate it, last Jedi Ryan Johnson step outside of his normal comfort zone to do that. And I give him total props for that. He failed miserably at it last year, but at least at least he stepped out of what he normally does to do that. So I gotta give him, give him credit for that, you know, and Scorsese complaining about Marvel movies. Well, clearly people go to see superhero movies. Maybe he doesn't, but he's also like 90 years old. So it might not be his cup of tea, but you got no right going on criticizing an entire genre of clearly
Speaker 5:successful movies because you're threatened by him. Right, right. Anyway, let's talk Animaniacs. So I was very excited about this and that makes one of them. Yeah. So, uh, they are Animaniacs and they are making a comeback with the same voice cast that made the original such a blast. Um, yes, the poorly constructed parody raw. Oh, so sorry. I was just reading. Um, so the, uh, enemy acts are ready to announce our reboot on Hulu. So of course now that we're getting rid of Hulu, Oh, I don't know. Well, maybe we'll see. We'll see when the, the, the series comes out. Uh, so Rob Paulson, we'll be back is Yacko. Um, and uh, test McNeil. We'll be back as dot and just hard. Now we'll be back as wacko. Uh, once again, delivering his signature. Ringo Starr voice parody of a character. Um, so this is really fun news, you know, for, for anybody that was, uh, uh, an Animaniacs fan. Um, right now nothing has, has been in production, but from what people were saying that the art of this reboot kind of, you know, looks like the classic Animaniacs cartoons with a little bit of run Stimpy type vibe of the show. Oh. Cause I love that. Uh, it's best, you know, and that's probably for the best because a lot of kids love SpongeBob and have that, you know, zany look about it. Um, so, you know, it definitely looks like it's going to obviously speak to, you know, the grownups who watched it as kids, but obviously have, you know, something for, you know, kids of today. Um, I know our daughter, there's some YouTube video that they kind of take one of the, the videos from Animaniacs and kind of revamp it and she gets hysterical watching it. So, you know, to be able to actually see, you know, a new version of it, you know, she might actually, um, enjoy. Um, they basically said, we can't wait to work with Steven Spielberg and the entire cast, uh, team at Amblin and Warner brothers, um, to, you know, produce more sketches and catchphrases and songs and laughs, uh, for kids and adults everywhere. Um, and this, you know, like I said, it's going to be another, you know, thing for, for Hulu, you know, cause they haven't really had too much, you know, out there. But didn't Disney plus and Hulu have like a package deal too, wasn't that right? So there was that from, from the, from what I've read so far, the more adult stuff is supposed to be going over to Hulu. Right. So, you know. Yeah. So maybe we'll have to say when it comes out,
Speaker 4:kind of divided on this one, like the nostalgic part of me is like, Oh, okay, it's cool he brought, bringing back something that, that we loved, some of us loved as kids, but the creative side of me was kind of disappointed in the disc because it's like, Oh great. Another reboot. Have we absolutely no creative talent. Yeah.
Speaker 5:Well, yeah. And that's, and that's something, you know, with, you know, with everything, not just with the cartoons but with, you know, various movies and things like that. And you know, when we talked about with, uh, you know, Terminator, the new version of Terminator that was basically, you know, wiping out, you know, all the other movies and you have all these other, you know, movies that they're doing newer versions of or, or whatever, you know, even television shows, they, they've done that too where they've, you know, basically recycle
Speaker 4:PII. You've got Hawaii five Oh one. It's like, you know, I know the negative Nancy in me thinks that it's, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm down on all this stuff, but I wish there was more creative.
Speaker 5:Right. And that's, and that's been, you know, for years now that, that they've been doing that, you know,
Speaker 4:most of these reboots usually ruin what the original, until you go back and you watched the original, you're like, Oh my God, did I answer you? You watch this stuff
Speaker 5:phase. So, in some cases not so bad, but yeah, I don't know. The, the, the kid in me, you know, is kind of excited, you know, about seeing, you know, Animaniacs again, and it's been years since I've watched it. So it would be kind of interesting to go back and, and you know, find older episodes and see, you know, if they still, you know, have that same, you know, appeal. Cause there are certain things that you go back and watch it, like you said, and you're like, Oh my God, that was so not funny. Like what was I thinking? And then there are other things that, you know, you watch and you're like, Oh my God, this is totally, you know,
Speaker 4:yeah. Like I wasn't very impressed with Hawaii Five-O when it came back, so I don't watch it anymore because I got bored with it. But, so, so let's talk about one of the 15 movies at Dwayne Johnson is in this year.
Speaker 5:So Dwayne Johnson and Emily blunt, uh, we'll be in the jungle cruise and the trailer for the movie actually just dropped the other day. Um, so the pair, um, star in the trailer for a Disney's jungle cruise, which is, uh, they have it, it's an early 20th century adventure that follows the riverboat captain Frank, who is played by Johnson and a scientist, um, who is played by blunt as they venture into the wilderness. Uh, neither Johnson nor blunt are strangers to the Disney family. Obviously he has voiced a Maui in 2000 sixteens marijuana and obviously played Mary Poppins, uh, in last year's Mary Poppins returns a jungle cruise is based on one of Disney's oldest and most enduring properties. Uh, the original jungle cruise, Disney land ride opened in 1955 and during the D 23 expo in August, both Johnson and blunt promised an adventure that puts a new spin on the ride. Think pirates of the Caribbean meets Indiana Jones. Um, they said that we are both so moved and honored to be in a movie like this because we grew up madly in love with Indiana Jones and romancing the stone blunt had said on stage during D 23. So to be part of something like this in the same spirit makes my heart race. Uh, the film also starts Jack Whitehall, Edgar Ramirez, Jesse, uh, Plemons and Paul Giovanni, and it'll cruise into theaters July 24th, 2020. So this one is kind of interesting because again, it's another one of these Disney rides. It's been turned into a movie. Right. And what was kind of funny watching, you know, so if you go in and you watch it, you know, there are those S you know, if you've ever gone on the jungle cruise ride, you know those, there are those, you know, one liners that they all, you know, no matter how many times you go on it, certain puns are always mentioned. And in the one scene they show something and they go through like three of them and you're like, okay. So that's how they're kinda tying in the ride. But other than that, that's really, you're on a, you're on a jungle cruise. It kind of, you know, it was funny because before reading the article and just watching it, I was thinking, you know, a comical jungle cruise. Um, a not jungle cruise, um, Raiders of the lost Ark, something Indiana Jones ish. And then it had that, you know, vibe of romancing the stone, you know, um, you know, they, they don't show if it's a romantic, you know, thing, but it kind of, you know, had that, Oh yeah. I kind of, I think I've kind of seen this before, you know, African queen even, you know, as a[inaudible] my first impressions when I saw like the African queen, but if it was a comedy, you know, so it has that, that look about it, you know, she hires him to, you know, take her into the Amazon, you know, type thing and, and you know, so, so we'll say should be interesting. Yeah. And dream Jonathan's always fun. Oh, absolutely. So tell us about our filming in our backyard with Mark Hamill. So this was a, an interesting little story that popped up. Uh, earlier in the week there was one, a news outlet that had this. And uh, then, uh, another popped up with a little bit more, uh, information. So Vineland New Jersey and Millville New Jersey, which are in like South South Jersey, if you know, if you deep, deep South of Jersey. I'm also happened to be where, where I work. Uh, the, so this was kind of funny. Um, so Vineland and Millville are getting ready for their closeups, a new feature film starring Mark Hamill and Sean Aston. We'll film in both towns beginning sometime next week. Um, the movie is called the retaliate hours. Um, filming in violin is expected to take place at the palace of depression, which I know that sounds like really, um, and I don't even know how to a gamma P P a TRO park. I'm sure anybody that is from Vineland could probably tell me how to pronounce that. Um, and that was based, um, uh, according to the daily journal, which is a local paper from the, the area in South Jersey, um, site scouting in Millville include the upper reaches of the more East river, which isn't too far from, from where I work. Um, which was kind of funny because somebody else from, from my office had posted about this as well. And I said, Oh, are we taking a road trip during lunch? Sometimes. So if we happen to leave the office for a couple of words, if we hear about something, we might be a, going to see if we can find anybody. Um, so the project utilizes the New Jersey film and digital media tax credit, um, which uh, is a financial incentive for productions primarily filmed in our state. Cumberland County actually offers the state's highest tax credit incentive at 35%. Um, so the South Jersey film Alliance is handling the films, locations and amenities. The S J F a is also behind a production of army of the dead, which is a Netflix zombie movie that's actually currently shooting in Atlantic city, also our neck of the woods. Um, cause if you walk off the boardwalk, I was, I was waiting for you to say that. Um, so details on the movie haven't been publicly released. Um, but a representative told the daily journal that the movie involves a man who tries to help people find justice by, uh, capturing a suspected criminal. The film will also feature all five members of the metal band. Five finger death punch. Ooh, sign me up. So obviously Hamel is known for playing Luke Skywalker. He is, we, we've seen him a couple of times on that. And he's also done the voice of the joker in the Batman, the animated series. And Aston, uh, was obviously known, uh, for Sam wise and Lord of the rings, Mikey Walsh in the Goonies and Rudy. Rudy. I'm from the self-titled movie, Rudy, and also he was in last seasons, uh, stranger things as well. So, so that'll be kind of cool to, to know that, you know, right in our backyard, you know, or you know, something exciting is being filmed. So very cool. Yeah, that's it for entertainment news. We'll come back. That was it brief in Memorial.[inaudible]
Speaker 7:uh,
Speaker 5:tell us about a fallen Mouseketeer. So a Karen Pennelton was one of the original Musketeers on the Mickey mouse club and she unfortunately passed away from a heart attack, uh, last Sunday in Fresno, California. Uh, a Disney historian had actually made the announcement. Uh, she was 73, uh, among the youngest of the kids on the show. She was known for her shoulder length blonde curls and for being paired with fellow musketeer chubby, uh, cubby O'Brien in the shows, sweetest closing number. Um, now it's time to say goodbye to all our company. So yeah, so taken us down at the, uh, she worked on the Disney series throughout it's four year run on ABC, uh, then entertain generations of children around the world for decades after it played in syndication. Uh, she was one of only nine kids who actually appeared in the program during the entire run of the original airing. Uh, she was recruited, uh, recruited to audition for the Mickey mouse club when producers approach dancing schools in the Los Angeles area, seeking kids to try out for this new show. After the Mickey mouse club, she left show business, finished her high school, finished high school, got married, and had a daughter. Unfortunately, she got divorced a couple of years after that. Uh, in 1981 in 1983, she was involved in an automobile accident that actually paralyzed her from the waist down. Uh, she needed a wheelchair for the rest of her life, but returned to school to earn her bachelor's and master's degree. Um, she also went on to work for a shelter for battered women and became an advocate for those with disabilities as a board member for the California association of the physically handicapped. Um, her daughter said my mom loved her mascot too. Your family I'm getting together with her. Co-stars was always a high point. It gave her the opportunity to relieve, uh, relive great memories and to meet so many Mickey mouse club fans that had watched the show as kids and loved her. Many told her that they named their daughters Karen in her honor. She also co-starred in many a Mickey mouse club reunion shows and parades at Disney land. Um, and at fan shows and convention. She is also survived by two grandchildren. We wish the family our condolences. All right, let's come back with insightful picks of the week,
Speaker 7:uh,
Speaker 5:to you, my dear. So, as I had mentioned last week, I was gonna try and keep with a certain theme for the month of October a to keep with spooky Halloween horror type things. Flashback October, right? Sure. Well, last week it wasn't as old of a movie. This one is, what are you trying to say? Okay, so this happens to be one of my all time favorite horror movies and it is Bram Stoker's Dracula. It's actually the 1992 version. Um, that was directed by Francis Ford Coppola and obviously based on the novel Dracula by Bram Stoker, uh, it started, uh, Gary Oldman as count Dracula, Winona Ryder as Mina Harker, Anthony Hopkins as professor van Helsing and Kiana root, uh, Reeves as Jonathan Harker. Um, obviously most people know the story of, you know, Dracula, uh, count Dracula is a 15th century Prince and he's condemned to live off the blood of the living for eternity. Uh, and the young lawyer Jonathan Harker is sent to count Dracula's castle to finalize a land deal. And when the count sees a photo of Harkers fiance Mina, she happens to be the spitting image of his dead wife. He then imprisons him and sets off to London to track her down. Nothing like a good stalker with some bats and rats and, and other things. Um, this version of Dracula really is a love story. Um, you know, you, you S, you know, it starts off in, in the 15th century with Vlad the Impaler and you kind of, you know, find out, you know, it's obviously not historically correct. You know, in any way you, Vlad the Impaler was a real person, you know, uh, when Bram Stoker wrote the, the novel, he kind of based it off of legends and things like that and put his own, you know, twist to it. Uh, you know, so the movie starts off where, you know, he's fighting a war and he comes home and finds that his wife has committed suicide because the enemy of who he was fighting sent a letter to her saying that he had died in the war. So she didn't want to Romeo and dry. She didn't want to live without him. So she killed herself. And then, you know, he's told, you know, that her soul will, will never be saved because she committed suicide and it's a sin. And so, you know, he basically has a whole lout, you know, Holy war and basically becomes immortal from drinking blood. So that's kind of how he turns into this count Dracula. And then again, you know, so many, you know, centuries later Harker you know, poor Jonathan shows up and he happens to see this picture and it's, you know, somebody that looks exactly like his wife, so hit, you know, in his mind it's his wife reincarnated and you know, he goes to London and he basically, you know, woos you know, Mina and you know, and she kind of has flashbacks of this former life. So you kind of, you know, in the movie you kind of feel for her realizing, Oh my God, maybe this is a lost love. And then obviously everything kind of goes to hell in a handbag. And was the one with the, the Dracula makeup job that was described as a bedrooms, but right as that was his age, I just want to make sure they actually, uh, they were nominated for three Academy. This movie, this version of the movie was a nominated for three Academy awards and actually one best makeup because if you see, you know, the, the various incarnations that Gary Oldman goes through as Dracula, you see him as the, the warrior, the 15th century warrior. Then you see him as this, you know, 500 year old man, you know, 400 year old decrepit thing with the baboons, but hair. And then all of a sudden he becomes this, you know, a dapper, uh, you know, the, the 18th century, uh, you know, this very well dressed, you know, noble men, you know, and, and, you know, so it's just amazing, um, you know, makeup and whatnot. So, um, some of the acting, you know, like Kiana Reeves part, you know, like, well I'm, that's the thing is it's one of those, Oh, it's so cute, you know, but it, you know, it was nice to see, you know, uh, like, you know, um, Anthony Hopkins, you know, plays, uh, you know, there just anything with, with, with um, you know, van Helsing, he's, he's just hysterical. And he's like, of course I'm going to cut off his head, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. And um, you know, and I think for me it was kind of the love story part, you know, cause the tagline of, you know, the movie was love never dies. Right. So that just, and the movie cannot reach like dude. Right, exactly. And this was actually back in 92. I was in college and for some reason I was just obsessed with this movie. I actually went and saw this like three or four times in the movie theater. And it was probably one of the only movies that I've, I've actually, you know, ever done that with so,
Speaker 4:well, good pick.
Speaker 5:And because of the Halloween season, it is going to be on, you know, regular TV. Obviously a little cut up and you know, some of the language and some of the violence taken out. But I think like BBC America was going to be playing it, you know, coming up in the next couple of days. So
Speaker 4:an oldie but a goodie. Yep. All right. We'll be back with my pick. So I didn't go back, uh, in the archives for my pick this weed mine. Mine was, uh, produced in 2019. Uh, and shockingly, it's a documentary. Oh my God, that was actually on that flight. Uh, so I'm going to go with the great hack this week. Um, data, arguably the world's most valuable asset is being weaponized to wage cultural and political Wars. The dark world of data exploitation is uncovered through the unpredictable personal journeys of players on different sides of the explosive Cambridge Analytica Facebook data story. The great hack explores how a data company named Cambridge Analytica came to symbolize the dark side of social media in the wake of the 2016 us presidential election. And I don't want to get into the politics of this, but watching this and seeing the information that came out and how it was used, um, you could probably say that no laws were broken by certain political figures, but what was done was morally questionable or ambiguous. Um, and what was really interesting takeaway here was that Cambridge Analytica really didn't do anything legally wrong either. Even on there, cause they had an entity in the U S and they had an entity in the UK and the movie starts out with this one particular individual who was made to understand that his information was being, his digital information was being cataloged and indexed and used for marketing purposes. Okay. Big shocker. And there wasn't any legal recourse. He had to get this information out of the company that had it in the U S then he found out about the subsidiary in the U K and there were UK laws and he pursued those laws and the company was basically ordered to turn the data over. They failed to turn the data over, uh, pled guilty in a criminal case. And then the company went bankrupt. And all the assets were liquidated. So all that data was, uh, you know, no longer available. But as they dig into it, the really interesting thing about this documentary is they actually went in and interviewed people who were involved in the process. Media people, executives from Cambridge, Analytica, people who were literally in the trenches. And there's, they establish a history of how Cambridge Analytica used multiple sources. Facebook being one, you know, they had, they, they bragged that they had 5,000 points of data on millions of people, 30 million people, of which they were basically getting profile information from Facebook. And they had put out a questionnaire on Facebook, which was a targeted questionnaire. And that targeted questionnaire started to develop. What, you know, we've all heard of, um, Oh, I can't think of the word now, but what they did was they were using this to target certain individuals that they thought could be influenced in an election, kinda like profiling basically. But then the step further that they went was they then looked at these, they got permission from the people as part of the agreement for the survey to look at their friends lists. Then they went and started scraping their friend's pages to get additional information on those people. Now Facebook had admitted to giving access to these, but then relinquishing or, or, or removing that access. And at one point in time Cambridge Analytica had had said that they had deleted the data. Proof came out later on that they hadn't had it. They had retained the data and were continuing to build profiles. Of course they deleted it. So the interesting thing here was they use this information to influence elections around the world. Talking like countries like Guyana, Trinidad, uh, believes. I mean they were, they had their hands in so many other countries around the world and it wasn't even so much that they were trying to run campaigns. They were trying to do suppression campaigns. In one case it was, um, in Trinidad, they, and this is based strictly on what was in the, in the, um, movie there in Trinidad. There's a, an Indian population and a black population, and they were both vying for political power and they ran a campaign that encouraged the black people in the country to not vote as a means of protest. And they turned it into a social phenomenon in the country. And just by suppressing about 6% of the black, they were able to swing the election in favor of the other party. Um, then they dig even further and they talk about how Russia gets involved. So Russia's not directly involved with Cambridge Analytica, but Russia is made aware of some of the connections that are involved here. So then Russia then buys up millions of dollars in ads on social media, like Facebook supporting and encouraging white supremacy. Then they wind up funneling money into black lives matter. All in a push during the 2016 election, two calls a race war, you know, they're calls this divide. Um, and it was a divide that was fueled by the work that Cambridge Analytica was doing. Cambridge Analytica came up with the whole crooked Hillary idea that the Trump campaign managed to contract out the Cambridge Analytica and Cambridge Analytica basically became their PR firm. And they look at the spending and you look at, um, the Trump campaign spending something like over$600 million on digital ads during the 2016 campaign and the Clinton campaign, something like 20 or 30 million, and I don't have the numbers in front of me, so you'd have to watch the movie to get the numbers. But it was one of those things where it wasn't necessarily against the law to do it, but it probably wasn't in the best. Yeah. And, and there was a UK journalist who was targeted by this as well because Cambridge Analytica Analytica was involved in the whole Brexit deal as well, pushing Brexit. They had even run a third party, what we would consider a political action committee on, on our side here to basically influence the vote. And this journalist was opposed to it because she knew how it was negatively affecting the democratic process and they targeted her to discredit her. Um, and it was just the way it was laid out in the, in the documentary was showed how blatant it was. It just was undeniable. Um, and the premise of it was to show that in today's digital society, you just can't have a free and open election anymore because of how influential digital media, and in my opinion, I think they kind of drew the wrong conclusions here. And they vilified, um, Cambridge Analytica and, and some of these other bodies. But in reality, it's, it's us, the people that ultimately are responsible for this because we're the ones who willingly give our data to these some things you can't, like, you can't go off the grid. You just can't and function in society, right? Financial transactions, credit card stuff, you know, certain things you can't get away from. But the lesson that I took away from this documentary is that why would you voluntarily give people information answering these goofy surveys, you know, Oh, how do you get your Jenaie name and you answer all this information and you at that point in time have become the product. Um, and that's one thing they point out very good in this documentary is that, you know, there was one, um, politician during this hearing in the UK, uh, who basically asked, you know, Facebook, how do you make your money, you know, how much are your money? How much of your income comes from people's data? And the answer was astonishingly, it was like 97% of of what they do comes from people's data. Oh wow. Um, and we have no control over. And that's really the scary thing. You know, you've seen some things come out of this at this point in time to try and control some of this stop. But really it was, it was a documentary about dated rights. Like you have a right to your data. You have right to know where it's coming from, who was being given to what it's being used for. And you have companies like Google and, um, and Facebook and these other people that they're monetizing your data. And there was a point in the documentary where they talk about how your data became more valuable than oil. Wow. Your data is the number one commodity in the world now. So if there's anything to take away from this, it's keep that in mind. You wouldn't go around giving away money to people. Why would you give away your data, which is more valuable than the money that you spent. Um, so it was a very interesting, very eyeopening documentary. Um, and I would recommend you know, anyone who operates into the digital world, which pretty much is everybody, especially anyone who's listening to this podcast, watch the documentary and understand just where some of the pitfalls are and learn how to defend yourself in this society. So the great hack streaming now on Netflix, uh, I think that's all we had this week, right? That is. So we will be back next week with another one. I'm going to be able to conventions or anything between now and then. Uh, in the meantime you can check us out on the web ed insights into things.com. You can get the video of this on a youtube.com/insights into things. You can check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/insights and a things podcast. You can email us at comments and insights into things, or you're going to hit us on Twitter at insights underscore things. I think that's everything. I think that is so don't give out your information. Yeah. Don't give out any of that information. Right? That's okay. We fuzz all of our genes. We're all good. All right. We'll be back next week, folks. Thanks for watching. Have a good one. Everyone.
Speaker 7:[inaudible].