>Disneyland Dream (1956)
http://www.archive.org/flow/flowplayer.commercial-3.2.1.swf
In July 1956, the five-member Barstow family of Wethersfield, Connecticut, won a free trip to newly-opened Disneyland in Anaheim, California, in a nationwide contest. This 30-minute amateur documentary film tells the fabulous story of their fun-filled, dream-come-true, family travel adventure, filmed on the scene at Walt Disney’s “Magic Kingdom” by Robbins Barstow.
In December 2008, “Disneyland Dream” was named to the National Film Registry by the Librarian of Congress.
Note: The first uncredited screen appearance by Steve Martin occurs in the film at around the 20:20 mark – very brief, in the lower right corner. He is the 11 year old in pink shirt, black vest and top hat, hawking guidebooks.
Found at the Internet Archive.
Robbins Barstow, the creator of (and the dad in) the film died in November of this year. His obit is here.
Category: travel
>some snaps from our vacation…
>
These were taken at Black Butte Ranch.
A grove of aspens.
Two of the the Three Sisters rise above the lake at the lodge.
The pool at evening.
On our bikes.
Stopping by Aspen Lake.
Three Fingered Jack and Mt. Jefferson in the distance.
At the spring.
>A Tour of the Deschutes Brewery
>
We began with some tasting while waiting for the tour to begin.
Our guide knew just about everything about the process and her enthusiasm was clear.
Nothing like fresh hops! Wonderful smell, and part of the secret to one of the world’s hoppiest beers.
People come from all over, even places that do not sell Deschutes. One way or another people find out just how good it is. The white pins show where the distributors are. The latest is in Minnesota. My friend Brian likes that a lot.
Lots of big tanks for lots of good beer.
Overall it was an informative homeschooling experience.
>vacationing over, rest needed
>
Three longs days of traveling, intense heat, too much coffee, strong drinks, family visits , book stores, fun parties, and lots of good friends have finally done us in. We are back, hunkered down, and needing to recover. But we are doing good and glad for the opportunities we’ve had.
I also came away with two prizes at cheap prices:
Jean Renoir: Letters, Ed. Lorraine LoBianco and David Thompson, Pub. Faber and Faber, 1994.
Jean Renoir: A Conversation with His Films 1894-1979, Ed. Christopher Faulkner and Paul Duncan, Pub. Taschen, 2007
>Flying United (for the last time?)*
>
Becoming one of my least favorite brands.
I arrived home Friday night from the sales conference in Las Vegas. It is good to be back with my wife and kids, sleep in my own bed, etc.
I have to say something about my flight experience. In my previous post I mentioned how great Virgin Airlines is. Now I have to describe my overall experience on United Airlines. Here’s how it went:
Tuesday: Trying to leave town with a 6:15 AM flight. We sit on the plane for an extra hour and a half because of a hydraulics problem with the plane. While we sit there they turn off all power to the plane, which means no lights and no air-conditioning while we wait. Another airline fixes it for United and we’re off. The planes lands with a teeth-rattling thud in San Francisco. We’re late. We all miss our connections.
Friday: Trying to check in my bag. As I stand in line and watch the person ahead of me, I see a man behind the counter working on the printer for the bag-tags. He disconnects the machine and walk away with it. I step up to the counter and the ticket agent goes to print my bag-tag and is stopped short. Where is the printer he wonders. Fifteen minutes later, after getting his supervisor involved and phone calls to tech support, he finally gets a tag printed and checks in my bag. I have been standing at the counter the entire time wondering what kind of airline this is.
Friday: Flying from Las Vegas to San Francisco, trying to get home after a long week. The flight is delayed because some fuses have blown on the plane. An hour an a half behind schedule we board. We are all wondering how old the United fleet must be. My gut tells me United may not be as safe an airline as they should. I pray I see my family again.
Friday: Flying from San Francisco to Oregon. The plane was delayed over two hours because the autopilot was broken. We were told that it was likely we would have to stay the night and take an 8AM flight on Saturday. My wife tells me my oldest is nearly in tears waiting for me to get home. They did get the plane running, but we landed in Oregon almost three hours behind schedule.
Ironically, the nicest United employee I dealt with was the boarding ticket counter person for the last flight – and it was his first day on the job! The others were not so friendly. I guess once someone has worked for United for a while cynicism sets in. No surprise there.
That’s three different flights, three different planes, three different mechanical problems, and three flight delays – all in less than a week! Nice job United! Most of us that were flying United for those flights have vowed not to fly with them in the future if we can help it. Remarkably, it still could have been much worse.
It’s good to be home… finally.
* * * * * * * *
I am not the only person who has struggled with United Airlines, check out here, here, here, and here.
…or this clip from Mad TV:
*I had titled this post “United Airlines = poo” but my wise wife suggested I change the title.
>where the sales people are
>Today was a travel day, mostly. I’ve been on the go now for 16 hours. The goal: get to Vegas for my company’s World Wide Sales Conference. Just in case you’re wondering, that’s 5,400 sales people all in one place, and yes it’s insane.
I had to get to the airport at 5:00 AM. The lines were crazier than I had ever seen. Then, after sitting in a United Airlines plane for an extra couple hours because of a malfunction that kept us from taking off, I missed my connecting flight (Virgin Air) in San Francisco. [Note: a Horizon Air mechanic actually fixed the plane. Someone commented that it might be in his interest to not fix a competitor’s plane perfectly. Nervous laughter.] San Francisco was a mob as usual. Fortunately Virgin Air had a later flight from SF to Vegas.
I have to say that the difference between United and Virgin is the difference between darkness and light. I love Virgin Air. New planes, nicer people, hipper styling, giving everyone on the plane a gift, etc. Too much to go into now, but I recommend them if you have the chance.
Also, it was no fun arriving three hours late to the hotel only to find they did not have the room ready. Finally I got a call on my cell from the front desk telling me the room was now ready – at 7:30PM!! Fortunately the rooms at The Palazzo are posh.
Somewhere East of San Francisco
The cool/funky interior of Virgin’s plane.
The first General Session of the sales conference. 5,400 people, rock music, gigantic video screens, and the superstar CEO. It’s quite a show.
Looking out my hotel window.
Finally, I used to think that a cell phone was the coolest thing, then I thought a cell phone with a camera was the coolest thing, now I am generally appalled at the poor quality of my phone’s pictures. What is the world coming to? What have I become?
The Red and the White
There is a communion of more than our bodies when bread is broken and wine drunk. And that is my answer, when people ask me: Why do you write about hunger, and not wars or love?
– M.F.K Fisher
- Note: buy organic if at all possible. I like to
- 1 typical can/jar of red sauce (I like to start simple, so this is partially semi-homemade)
- 1 large can of diced tomatoes (if you want to peel and dice them yourself, go ahead, I applaud)
- 1 small can of tomato paste
- 1 large yellow onion
- a 1/2 bunch of fresh basil
- A bunch of mushrooms (you decide the amount and the kind)
- 4 to 8 large garlic cloves
- 1/2 lb of ground beef
- 1/2 lb of thick-sliced bacon
- 1/2 lb of sweet Italian sausage links
- Red wine (
- Balsamic vinegar
- Sugar – anywhere from a couple of tablespoons to a half cup, depending on your preference for sweet sauces. The kids like the sweet.
- Extra virgin olive oil
- Sea salt
- Fresh ground pepper
Optional ingredients
- Whole Olives
- Red or Yellow bell peppers (roasted, peeled, and diced)
- Capers
- Molasses
Throw the red sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, a couple tablespoons of the balsamic, about a cup or more of the red wine, the basil (torn or chopped up), and the sugar in a big pot and bring it to bubbling, then turn down the heat a bit and let it simmer. The rest of the wine is for the cook. Additional bottles will be opened for the guests. Chop the onion into thick chunks and toss in a frying pan. Do the same with the mushrooms and add them to the onion. The point here is to get the onion and mushrooms
Ingredients
- 4 to 8 large cloves of garlic
- 1 pint of heavy whipping cream
- Extra virgin olive oil
- 1 lb of turkey apple sausage links (or similar mild/sweet sausages)
- Shredded Parmesan cheese
- Sea salt (to taste)
- Fresh ground pepper (to taste)
Again, go with good quality ingredients – it’s worth it.
Peel and slice the garlic (do not crush the garlic or use a garlic press) as thin as possible – use a sharp knife. Place the garlic in a frying pan with a generous amount of olive oil.
I’m rarely any good at getting through life, especially when it comes to loving people and being friendly. I can get downright grumpy at times. But one thing I love to do is cook for others. I don’t have many recipes in my bag of tricks, but these two I’ve had some good success with. Never do they turn out exactly as they have done before, but each time they seem to always please the palate and make people glad they came to dinner. Try them for yourself and let me know how they turn out and if if those you serve it too don’t also praise you for ability to raise the pasta bar just a little.
Also, I have made this blog
>for me, more like ocean’s three
>
I have been out of pocket this week at my employer’s annual Americas (N. & S.) sales conference, so blogging has had to take a back seat. Even so I do have a couple (or so) of film-related moments.
This year we are where we were last year, at
The Venetian, in Las Vegas. The other night a few of us walked down the strip to the The Bellagio for some steak at Prime Steakhouse. I could see the famous fountains outside the window, but did not get outside to see them up close. That’s my first film reference for this post – of course to Ocean’s Eleven. Unfortunately, even though I bought a new phone that has a camera built into it, I forgot to take any pictures of the fountains, hence the web-grab image above. (btw, the rare fillet mingon with a bearnaise sauce was exquisite! Much better even than the excellent steak frites I had the day before at Bouchon – which has become one of my fave eateries.)Also,
Chris Gardner spoke to our sales team (about 2,000+ headcount), which was kinda cool. Just in case you didn’t make the connection, he wrote the book that became the film The Pursuit of Happyness. Now I have to say that his story is remarkable and inspiring, and his message is a good one. But I also have to say that I found him rather full of himself and in need of making sure we knew about his successes (like just how many copies his book sold, etc.). I would rather have had Will Smith as our guest speaker, but I did enjoy Chris Gardner. Again, I forgot to get any pics. Anyway, that’s my other film reference for this post.Also, we have had the comedian Jake Johannsen as comedy relief during the general sessions at the conference. He is rather funny guy – been on Letterman a few times. And don’t forget, he played a drug dealer in Loaded Weapon 1 (1993). So that’s another lesser movie reference. Again, no pictures. I really haven’t figured out the fact that I’m carrying around a camera with me.
Finally, I have to say that I am not impressed with Las Vegas. This is my second time here and I find the place fake, dirty, and very boring. Maybe it’s a fine setting for a film or a music video. But, then again, probably most people who truly love Vegas would not find watching a film by Angelopoulos or Buñuel to be anything other than boring. I guess there’s something for everyone in this world. I am also surprised by how many young couples with little kids and babies are here, even in smoke filled rooms with their kids. And, just in case you needed to know, I’m a very efficient loser at the slots. Bye now.
pilgrimakimbo 