Michael S. Pascua » Disney

Top 30 Artists of 2011: #12 – OneRepublic / Ryan Tedder

Michael — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 03:53:06 +0000

Top 30 Artists of 2011: #12 – OneRepublic / Ryan Tedder

Total Points – 124

Charted Songs:

42 Good Life – OneRepublic 59 points

36 Rocketeer – Far East Movement featuring Ryan Tedder 65 points

Last Year’s Rank: N/A

I will continue to argue that Ryan Tedder is better at writing for women than he is for himself, but either way I don’t think his lyrics are bad per se, they just are hit and miss for me. For example, the song “Good Life” which was whored out for Disney parks commercials uses the word “Piccadilly.” Now I’m not sure if that’s cool, hip, or like tacky hipster that’s trying to be cool, but is now just being ironic. There are a lot of words that could rhyme with the word “City” and “Piccadilly” is an odd choice of location to choose. Some local is like, “OMG! You placed Piccadilly on the map!” Right next to Kokomo.

According to Wikipedia, “21st century Piccadilly is not one of London’s principal shopping streets, despite the presence of several famous shops.” That doesn’t sound like a lot to sing about.

Either way, OneRepublic continues to get points, boosted mostly because Rocketeer is a catchy song that uses the right amount of Ryan Tedder: a chorus.

Random Bonus: Disney Stuff:

PazPins Update – Lion King Set

Michael — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 18:06:44 +0000

I know this is a few days old, but here’s my update for my pin collection. Hopefully you all like.

Top 30 Artists of 2010: 25 – Selena Gomez (and the Scene)

Michael — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 18:48:26 +0000

Selena Gomez

Total Points: 90
Charted Songs: “Naturally” – #11

Selena Gomez gained a bit more fame for me because I had to watch the Disney Channel when I had to babysit my godmother’s daughters earlier this year. I kinda fell in love with ‘Wizards of Waverly Place’ (mostly due to due to the gawky cuteness of David Henrie ) and thought that Selena Gomez did a decent job. I mean Disney-based comedic timing can be hit and miss, but I like the whole ensemble feeling of ‘Wizards.’

The song “Naturally” was horribly catchy; something that could probably translate into really good techno song and the music video is really pretty. I do think that they were inspired by the music video “Seven Nation Army” from The White Stripes. Granted the inspiration was probably one of the better videos to get influence from. I do think that the video is a good example of having only a green screen and a few outfit changes. The video fits the energy of the song and the colors flow really well.

There’s something really gutsy for Selena to actually have a band that she refers to. [According to Wikipedia the rest of the band is Ethan Roberts on guitar, Joey Clement on bass, Greg Garman on drums and Dane Forrest on keyboards] And they were actually in the music video for a few…folds. Why does it seem like her band is like 30 is beyond me, but it’s nice that she actually understands that the backing band is also important.

As for why the song “Round and Round” didn’t make the list, well it’s because it wasn’t as good. And I almost didn’t feel like placing the song in the lower nineties when there were a lot of songs that were better. I will say I liked the espionage music video for “Round and Round.”

Did I just admit to watching The Disney Channel?

Backstage at Who Wants to Be a Millionaire

Michael — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 15:48:18 +0000

So Eric and I went to the afternoon taping of Millionaire yesterday after getting the tip that Tim Gunn was hosting for Meredith. We were originally trying to get to the early showing, but well, that didn’t happen. We ended up getting tickets 98 and 99 and that basically meant that there were 100 people in front of us and got the more camera friendly section of the audience section. Anywho, here are some quips and tips.

+ There was one woman in the waiting line that Eric and I dubbed as “Rhiannon.” She was the type of girl that kinda looked like a chubby Stevie Nicks clone. She ended up sitting in the row behind us next to an Indian woman. Rhiannon was talking about how she had four products that she was making so if we see her on Shark Tank one day, I wouldn’t be surprised… well except for when she turned to the Indian woman and asked her how to spell “Patent.” Maybe you should know how to spell, before you try to apply for Millionaire.

+ Here’s a tip: Don’t be rude to people. The Indian woman behind us also got really snooty and kept telling one of the stage hands that she was upset that they kept shifting her seat. They were just trying to figure out the best seating to get everyone in. They threatened to kick her out, so instead she muttered her grievances instead of screaming at them.

+ Another tip? Don’t fall asleep. I don’t know how anyone could, but there was one man in the same row as Rhiannon that did, and the stage hands had to wake him and threaten him to not fall asleep, or they kick him out.

+ Expect not to leave during taping, but if you mysteriously do, they will fill the gap you missed with people closer to the back rows. So last minute individuals may luck out, but only two people left during the taping. Also expect to not eat unless you brought snacks, but the bottles have to be unopened.

+ We sat through two episodes. [I have a feeling the first taping was 3 episodes] They claimed that it would tape May 19th and 20th (or as one of my professors would say 20rd). Surprisingly they asked questions that were really current, but worded as “in 2010…” one example was basically “Willow, who sings ‘whip my hair’ in 2010 was the daughter of which actor?” They also had a “In 2010, who bought Kelly Blue Book?”

+ Sharpen up on your Shakespeare, one question asked about tennis balls and the contestant asked the audience. The audience gave a confident 33% to the correct answer (I believe the breakdown was 33%, 31%, 25%, 11% and yes I picked the right answer.) and the contestant trusted the audience.

+ Tim Gunn was the nicest guy ever. He’s exactly the size you expected (I usually find celebrities you meet in person to be skinnier than you think) and he dresses impeccably (but duh, that was a given). I felt bad that they forced him to say silly phrases in the script including “Gather Round,” “Make it work,” and they even forced him to say “Project” as if you were supposed to fill out “Runway” right afterwards. Anywho, Tim was very nice, his smile was genuine, and I really liked that his shoes had a buckle.

+ It seems like everyone occasionally has to stand on a platform. A few of the women for their picture had to stand on a platform, but Tim also had to for a few of the panned shots for commercials.

+ Tim had an earpiece in his left ear and it wasn’t working with the first contestant who walked. So they ended up taping the “I’m going to walk, final answer” a second time, so she had to act and pretend like she didn’t know the answer. It was kinda painful when you know the answer.

+ I don’t know why, but for the first of the two episodes we taped, Tim had to re-read a few of the questions that this tall guy (I want to say…Matt? I can’t remember), but I guess it was just to make sure some of the questions were read correctly. Tim flubbed in the second taping, but gathered his composure and read the question again without stopping. Expect pick-ups and commercial tapings.

+ No one got to round two when we taped.

+ This guy who sat next to Eric is now dubbed “Mothball Mike” to me. He seriously looked like he went to the Salvation Army and picked out his clothes. I dunno, it was an odd look and it was more laughable than anything. If it’s any defense, he kinda was cute, but badly dressed. Eric goes to me, “He’s like a better looking Mark.” And I was like…uh, no… but I can see what you see. Stereotypical Long Islanders (his application did say Great Neck).

+ Someone knew that the crowd warmer guy also helped tape for The Daily Show and he was still positive after stressing out from the Rally to Restore Sanity/Fear and taping in D.C.

+ Eric is convinced that the floor director woman is a mother from Pingry.

+ The stage was a bit beat up. Eric commented out busted it kinda looked in person. If anyone recall the stage used for the Millionaire – Play it set at Disney’s Hollywood Studios (or MGM Studios back in the day), that set was not only better quality, the ask the audience buttons for that was better. The producers reminded us that WABC Studios was made for News, not for game shows. I gotta say that they made it work and it looks amazing on TV. I was actually surprised how well the lights can shift colors. I also didn’t realize that the plexiglass section on the bottom had a whole ton of mirrors below to create the lighting effects.

+ Speaking of Disney, I learned how foggy the American Idol Experience was and I was surprised how there wasn’t as much fog used for this set, just enough to get the beams that are closer to the floor to be better emphasized. I think it was only lightly fogged at MGM’s Millionaire, but AI-E was fog extreme to get all the beams of light every which way.

+ They would show clips of the show with Meredith before taping, including replaying one shot of a woman who tripped (back when there was a chair) before getting to the chair and then she took out the glass and it shattered. Speaking of water, the contestants drank it during breaks. But back to the point, they would also show random clips from YouTube including the breaker that kicked the cat and at one point they had Spaghetti Cat up as well.

All in all, I had a lot of fun just sitting there and clapping, but no Millionaires during our episodes.

I’m such a Disney Dork

Michael — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 19:05:20 +0000

I got to see the newest princess being introduced to Disney’s family, unfortunately it was only on YouTube.

I think that their concept is something that used the Mark Twain boat really creatively. It was really reminiscent of the 50s version of Show Boat.

While Disney tends to fail with internet updates and all, they have been keeping up with their YouTube page very strongly. Even their whole faux-Amazing Race Family Edition challenges are funny. There was one where the contestants had to think of celebrations and one woman said “First Yahtzee Game!” Hysterical.