I recently returned from a week-long conference/seminar hosted in one of the Disney resort hotels and have come to the conclusion that Disney really sucks. Now there are typically two schools of thought regarding the previous statement, 1) guys like me who will say “no shit”, and 2) Soccer Mom’s who will be appalled that I dare criticize “the mouse”. The conference I attended was top notch, the suckiness I’m referring to is in regards to Disney in general. As I mentioned previously, I stayed at one of the resort hotels, I won’t mention it by name but it is named after a sea-faring mammal that can perform tricks and people seem to like.  I have laid out a few examples below to prove my point.
The first example is pretty much a no-brainer but worth mentioning, Disney exists to part your money from your person. We all know this but it is worthwhile to cover the basics.
Hotel room was in the upper $300’s per night after taxes, more taxes, hidden taxes, fees, more fees, hidden fees, and mouse pedicure fees
I made the mistake of ordering breakfast room-service the first morning I was there. Breakfast consisted of A bagel, bowl of corn flakes, toast, OJ, and hot coco (from a pouch). Total cost, $47, before tip.
Parking fee $16 per night… at first blush this might not seem excessive, but Disney owns half of Florida, with that much space there is no premium for parking, just a captive audience.
Internet fee, $15 per day, with the high room costs, why isn’t this baked in? And the speed was slightly better than dial-up, as an example, youtube clips couldn’t stream.
Mixed drink at the lobby bar, $12
People are too friendly. Why is this a problem you might ask? Because it is fake friendly, and there is an underlying “fuck you” lurking beneath the surface of most interactions. After the third “Have a magical day” spoken from a pimply faced punk, who was dying to say it, I was annoyed.
It is 95 degrees with 100% humidity in October.
The room wasn’t spectacular, I’ve been in hotels all over the world, and for this price the room wasn’t great.Â
I actually had to request a room change for the first time in memory after I found a cockroach the size of baby’s head.Â
In the new room, the AC was broken. I didn’t feel like moving again so I dealt with it.Â
The bed was shaped like a U and you sunk into the middle after an hour.
On the positive side, the view was really good and I had two balconies. I had a view of the Epcot “ball” and could see the nightly fireworks from my balcony.
It seemed that Orlando and the state were in on the fleecing, there are two main approaches to the airport and both are covered with multiple tolls to and from the Disney lair. In fact the most direct route to Disney has a higher toll fee than the longer route.
Relationships with Turkey have been strained due to a House resolution to label the World War I massacre of Armenians by Turkey “genocide”. According to a CNN.com article regarding this matter, Turkey has recalled its ambassador to the US, and Turkey has not allowed France to fly over it’s airspace since a similar resolution was passed there last year.  Turkey’s response to the resolution was:
A top Turkish official warned Thursday that consequences “won’t be pleasant” if the full House approves the resolution.
Why are we so stupid? The US was not involved in the Armenian-Turkey conflict during WWI and Turkey is currently a NATO ally and critical access point for the US in the middle east. There is little good to be gleaned from this resolution, why doesn’t the House of Reps just fly over to Turkey and take a big stinking shit on the Prime Minister’s lawn, it would probably be less offensive. The issue here isn’t whether there was actual genocide or not, but rather why are we getting involved now after 90 years… we need a better foreign policy in this country.
I don’t know how many times when I was a kid (ok, I still do this) I dreamt of doing something nutty like, oh I don’t know, steal a bus. Offbeat news had an interesting post about a kid plus accomplice who did just that.
This story is about a 10 year old who stole a school bus and then the police on another chase. Apparently this wasn’t the first time either, he and some friends had tried to steal a bus earlier that month!
This is probably the coolest kid alive today, or a future ex-con, either way.
We all know (and love) Mr. Henry Rollins as the aggressively opinionated former front-man of the band Black Flag, former front man of the Rollins Band, spoken word artist, and current host of the Henry Rollins Show on the Independent Film Channel (IFC). He had some of his spoken word footage animated with surprisingly good results for his IFC show. The following clip is definitely NSFW (which stands for “Not Safe For Work” - for those of you with a life). Check it out if you dare…
In late September Michael Vick attended a “rigorous” (8 hour) course and test on empathy and animal protection given by PETA. I’m not going to get into PETA at this point, that is a whole different rant for a different time, but PETA bullshit artist spokesman Dan Shannon was quoted to say in the following CNN.com blurb:
“Actually, we were very surprised he took us up on it,” PETA spokesman Dan Shannon said Tuesday. “We made it clear to him that this was something he needed to try to get something out of. We weren’t interested in some kind of PR ploy.”
Sorry DAN, horseshit just flew out of my nose from that comment, and I don’t remember eating horseshit. Not interested in some kind of PR ploy, that’s rich! Maybe Vick was still stoned and wandered into the wrong classroom.
I’m not sure if you’ve been following the news about Blackwater (Blackwater incident witness: ‘It was hell’), but the more I read and hear about these guys the more it smells like the rotten farts of my former roommate (name withdrawn to protect the guilty). This is seriously scary, Blackwater USA was formed in 1997, obtains 90% of its revenue from Government contracts, many of which are no-bid contracts, and has created a private army that does not fall under government oversights as our regular armed forces. According to the Blackwater USA wikipedia page, which is chock full of information nuggets by the way:
It is estimated by the Pentagon and company representatives that there are 20,000 to 30,000 armed security contractors working in Iraq, and some estimates are as much as 100,000, though no official figures exist.
I’m breaking out in a sweat just thinking about this….
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