Upcoming Disney Projects

So, happy April Fool's Day, everybody. I can't tell you how many times I got "fooled" today - I am the most gullible person you could ever meet... tell me anything and I will probably believe it. The GMail prank was pretty hilarious, I have to admit.

Anyway, on to Disney news. 

Well, first off, I'm going to go a little off-topic for a few seconds.

1. I just wanted to tell you guys to listen to Alabina if you haven't. I don't know if they've come up with any new music, but I used to listen to these folks a lot when I was in elementary school. I'm not sure how I came about listening to them again; I just had this strange urge to look them up on IMEEM suddenly. It's a mixture of Latino and Middle Eastern sounds, and it's addictive. Their songs have been in my head for DAYS!

2. If you haven't seen 21 yet, I recommend watching it! My school is pretty much in the entire movie, and you can even see my dorm! (Well, from a distance at least). Oh, did I mention that Jim Sturgess is in it?! Or possibly that it's a really good movie? =D

Here's some eye candy.

3. To all you Anne of Green Gables fans, my friend recently informed me that this summer, Prince Edward Island is going to have a gigantic extravaganza to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the series. OMG!! It's like my childhood dream come true! I loved the series when I was little and actually started re-watching the films/re-reading the books only a few weeks ago! I loved Anne's quirkiness. And Gilbert Blythe. =P

For a fun Anne-related video, click here!

Anyway... back to Disney news. Here are lots of new Disney projects coming up soon that you should look out for.

[1-3] JONAS BROTHERS PALOOZA

1. Camp Rock: Disney's newest DCOM is supposed to air on Disney Channel on June 20 (three days before my birthday!) I haven't seen any promos for Camp Rock yet, as I don't have the Disney Channel in college. Verdict? Looks good? Looks bad?

2. J.O.N.A.S.: The Jonas Brothers continue to reign on the Disney Channel it seems. This newest show, which features the JoBros as musicians who are actually undercover spies, is rumored to air on the Disney Channel in the fall. So basically... Hannah Montana is a regular girl who also happens to be a popstar. Now, the Jonas Brothers are popstars who also happen to be secret spies. Wow, Disney. Just wow. The premise for these shows just keep getting more and more ridiculous.

3. Jonas Brothers: Living the Dream: This will be one of Disney Channel's short series (similar to As the Bell Rings, I guess). The title seems pretty self-explanatory... a documentary of the lives of the JoBros on tour? Who knows when it's going to start airing, although I'm assuming probably in the summer.

(Honestly, WHEN did the Jonas Brothers become so popular, and WHY? They seriously came out of nowhere.)

[4-6] OH, RIGHT - OTHER THINGS EXIST IN DISNEY TOO

4. The Cheetah Girls 3: The third installment of the Cheetah Girls will take place in India and will be sans Raven. It is expected to air on Disney Channel in August, similar to when the first Cheetah Girls aired. I admittedly liked the music in The Cheetah Girls 2... the music was catchy and something I could work out to. Hopefully the music for the third one will be good as well... if it's Bollywood-type of music I would die of happiness. BRIDE AND PREJUDICE, ANYONE?

5. High School Musical 3: As probably all of you know, HSM3 will air in October and will be in theatres, not on the Disney Channel. Okay, I admit I LOVE my HSM, but I love it on my TV screen. They better be stepping it up a notch if they want to put this in the cinemas. Already, I think they did a pretty good job by denying Ali Lohan (hallelujah! yuck) and casting the British Jemma McKenzie-Brown as sassy Mini-Sharpay and Matt Prokop as Jimmy. But they'll need to do more..

6. Wall-E: This newest Pixar film will be released on June 27 (four days after my birthday!). If you don't know the story, it's about the last robot on Earth, who had to deal with the Earth's rampant consumerism and the large amount of trash as a result. The poor guy has to pick up all the trash by himself! I dunno... it looks, interesting I guess.

Alright, that's all I know at the top of my head. Be sure to keep reading for another update, because I'm sure there's a LOT more going on!

Yes, I'm Anti-Miley

Yesterday, I opened up my Safari - as usual - and looked through my MSN home page - also as usual. There was something different, this time, though - a little square picture of Miley Cyrus and a headline that asked "Is Miley Cyrus a Bad Role Model?" Naturally, I had to click. Immediately.

Why? Because I have NEVER liked Miley Cyrus, her awful show Hannah Montana, and anything remotely related to her. It's a shame, because I love Disney a lot, but now that Hannah Montana is beginning to represent the brand more and more, I'm starting to feel ashamed of my Disney pride. And most media about her, unless it's a scandal about her personal pictures or her lack of wearing seatbelts, are usually positive.

I'm going to save the article for you to read at your own pleasure, but I would like to add my two cents to this issue. I honestly do NOT understand anything about this Miley/Hannah craze. I knew about the show way before it actually aired on television, during the time it was yet to be green-lighted to the channel. I crossed my fingers that something this horrendous would never make it on television. Instead, it did make it on television - and much, muchhhh more than expected.

The description I had originally read basically discussed the premise of the show, which is a story about a girl from Tennessee who moves to California and is a regular, brown-haired, unpopular girl by day, and a blonde-haired, makeup-caked popstar by night. She goes by the name Miley Stewart in the day and Hannah Montana at night.

Honestly... THAT IS THE MOST RIDICULOUS THING I HAVE EVER HEARD FOR A STORYLINE. So basically it's trying to say that being blonde DOES make you more a more popular person, and that it's okay to pretend to be someone you are not just for the fame and riches.

Does it not? Because it certainly seems that way to me.

On top of that, who names themselves "Hannah Montana?" I may be in college now, but I was a pre-teen once, and I loved the likes of Britney and Christina... but if there was a popstar out there named Hannah Montana, I would have laughed hysterically, thought it was a joke, and ignored her completely. Then I would have gone back to my Baby One More Time and Genie in a Bottle. Who wants to listen to a song called "Best of Both Worlds?" It doesn't even make sense - considering the audience doesn't even know that she is supposed to be someone else named Miley Stewart. Because if they knew, the storyline would be kaput.

Speaking of that... does Hannah Montana have her own statistics? Her own birthday, her own favorite foods, her own favorite place to hang? What exactly would her fansites say about her? Wouldn't they be wondering what she does in her spare time? All I know about her is that whenever she dons her blonde wig outside her concerts, they're usually at a Hollywood party. And usually, that's not a positive thing.

Yeah, yeah, I know this is just a story, and that she's just a character. Wait - not really. Miley is taking advantage of her success to become her own pop star. So yes, she is very real, and very irritable beyond belief.

Hannah Montana may not have a life outside the stage and parties, but Miley does have one, and it's a very annoying one. Let's see what we know about her: She drinks ketchup out of bottles - gross. She holds "sleepovers" with her friends practically every weekend it seems - some of which she engages in sharing Twizzlers mouth to mouth, as those famous leaked pictures depict. She claims she has a purity ring and is waiting until marriage - yet she seems to go against such morals by taking Myspace photos of herself in the bathroom pulling up her shirt, exposing her underwear, and making a kissy face to the camera. I'll leave that up to you for your own judgment. She dresses like a complete hooker at many events, such as the featured picture in this post... and she's not even pretty. That picture is one that could very well give me nightmares in my sleep. And she makes YouTube videos with her friends, which are supposed to showcase how down-to-earth and normal she is - blah blah blah. To me, she and her friend both seem like obnoxious brats.

Whether Miley ends up with the likes of Britney and Lindsay, who knows. All I know for now is that she and her alter-ego make me ashamed to be a Disney fan. And all I can hope is that she slowly disappears, and that in ten years people will laugh about how ridiculous this whole craze was. Seriously... letting kids skip school to watch her movie? Spending more than a thousand dollars to receive tickets to her concert? What is wrong with this world?

Feel free to comment whether or not you agree or disagree with me. I like to listen to all opinions.

Videos of DC Stars being... "Just Like Us"

Remember back in the day, when forums would be filled with "OMG!! I think I found Hilary Duff's MySpace!!!!!!111111" And someone else would respond, "No, Hilary Duff is famous, she's too busy to have a MySpace."

Well, times sure have changed. Either child stars were reallyyyyy busy back then and have all the free time in the world right now, or new media is getting so popular at this moment that celebrities are finding it acceptable to jump on the bandwagon as well and not shield themselves from so much privacy. I'm guessing it's the latter that's correct.

Selena Gomez from Wizards of Waverly Place both has a public MySpace site as well as a shared YouTube account with her best friend Demi Lovato -- who currently stars on As The Bell Rings on Disney Channel and will be in the upcoming DCOM Camp Rock alongside the Jonas Brothers.

Here's the latest YouTube vid they've got posted up on their page. They're modeling their Powerpuff Girls t-shirts... or something.

See? Disney Channel Stars really are "Just Like Us." Forget about those commercial interviews they used to air (and still do?) on DC. Of course, this is Selena and Demi we're talking about, two girls who really haven't crossed the "Super Fame" line. To me, they look like they have wayyy too much time on their hands right now.... but whatever, they're having fun. Who knows what they're gonna be up to in a few years if they suddenly explode into superstardom.

As for the others...

Miley Cyrus used to have a private MySpace, where pictures of her goofing off with friends leaked online for the world to see (remember the lollipop sleepover scandal? Or maybe that one picture of her lifting up her shirt in the bathroom? ...Yeah.) Either she made a new one and has the security settings on complete RED so people won't find out about it, or she gave up, but meanwhile, she still has time to make silly and insanely random YouTube videos with her friend Mandy...

...Personally, I am totally creeped out by this. But I hate Miley Cyrus to begin with, so maybe I'm just biased. I don't think I am though... I just think this is just really obnoxious and creepy. But so is Hannah Montana to begin with... I guess kids these days really go for the whole obnoxious/annoying thing. Sadly.

Then there's Ashley Tisdale, who uses her YouTube strictly to communicate with her fans. While there's quite a bit of videos of Ashley herself thanking her fans for whatever reason... either coming to her concert, voting for her video, whatever... there's also random videos of her in her "everyday life"... such as the following video.

Sometimes, watching Ashley's videos just make me cringe, because it seems like she's trying way too hard to be a good role model to kids. Maybe that's just me though.

And then of course, how can you forget Raviv "Ricky" Ullman. AKA... Phil Diffy from Phil of the Future. Well... let's just say this homeboy has completely put his Disney image behind him. Yes, the following video from YouTube is old... but let's face it, I really don't think it will ever lose its amusement. And just as a fair warning, there's lots of cussing and drug use.

Last but not least, once we venture across the border to Canada, we can see that those Disney Channel Canadian stars are just as Internet-savvy as the American stars. Actually, the DC Canadian crew posted online videos back in 2006, which is a long time before the rest of the DC stars started to join in as well. Here we have Ashley Leggat, who plays Casey on the Disney Channel Canadian show Life With Derek. The video is actually a video from her birthday that she posted from her MySpace, which she uses to communicate with her fans. Life With Derek itself certainly loves the Internet; currently, the show is heavy on "Video Podcasts" alongside the episodes aired on television, which gives "behind the scenes" interviews and really help fans understand the stars of the show better. I personally really like the idea. Then again, give me anything Canadian and I will love it. ;)

Well, these are just a handful of what Disney stars have been up to. They've been embracing new media just like every other normal teen out there... not hiding themselves behind a shield and only allowing themselves to be seen on interviews and television. Am I really excited that Raviv Ullman is now a pseudo-rapper? Or that I can see even more of Miley than the media already spews out left and right about her? Not really. But at least we all know that these celebs are people, just like everyone else.