desertDJ’s Halo Halo

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In light of today’s valley wide rainstorm in the Phoenix area, and the 1 year anniversary of going back to the Philippines, I thought this self pic would be great for today.

This was up in the mountains in the Philippines. We went up to escape the heat and check out a waterfall. This pool was fed by fresh waters flowing from the rain forests in the jungle. After coming back from the hike to see this magnificent waterfall, the skies opened up and out came the rain. It would be one that would receive national news attention in Phoenix, but probably just an extra strong storm for the island of Negros Oriental.

Rain brings dread to the Filipinos, but to this guy from the desert, it brings excitement (as you can see from everybody’s facebook and twitter posts from people in Phoenix!) So I made the best of it and had my wife take this fun shot of me in the pool.

(As always click on image to see full size)

It’s been a while since I posted a “weekly photo” (it’s been more like yearly photo) but here is a special photo I would like to share for the Weekly Photo’s grand return!

On one of the last weekends cool weekends in the year before the hot desert son scorches everything in it’s path,  my brother in law Josh and I hiked the famous Superstition Mountains.  The alien like rock formations have always intrigued me. Visible from my 10th floor office view, they create the backdrop for the sunrise for myself and most of the East Valley. 

It wasn’t until about a year ago I found out that there is a hiking trail to the top. (Flatiron Trail)  The opportunity presented it self and we were off, early one May morning. My GPS app on my phone was off capturing my every move while I broke in my brand new Camelback for hydration, key for any desert hike.

The hike was tough, but gave me confidence in my hiking ability after making the 2,717 ft elevation climb. (See my hike stats below the photo) The awesome part of such as drastic climb is you are changing climate zones. You go from small shrubs, to tall trees. Along the way I captured this colorful cactus. The bright purple bloom is in stark contrast to the reddish brown rock that was surrounding it. Another contrast is the sea of yellow needles surrounding and seemingly protecting the delicate prize in the middle.

This was just one of the several snapshots of nature I captured on the hike.  I recommend you try this hike as soon as the weather permits! Like I said, it’s not easy, but the panoramic view from the top is a worthy reward. (Pack a sandwich to eat on top of “flatiron”)

 (Be sure to view (and download!) the full size version by clicking the image, check out the pollon on the petals) 

Growing up, my parents didn’t take me and my brother to see too many movies. In fact, I could count on one hand how many movies we watched. But the ones we did watch were real winners. I still have the ticket stub of when I watched Toy Story at the AMC 6 theaters near Baseline & Rural. Yes, they used to have movie houses with only 6 theaters in it, by the way. Today the theater is a sign of a past time since it now houses a large gym.

A lot has changed since 1995 when Toy Story was originally released. For one, I’m not 10 years old anymore. Movies have to compete with Facebook, iPods, ADD themed TV programming. How can a kids themed movie entertain us twenty-somethings when we get blown away by movies like Avitar? Another question is can Pixar even remain relevant to its original viewers, while capturing a whole new generation of kids?

In 1995, computer animation was novel. Toy Story was the first full length computer animated feature film. Today you can hardly find a movie without animation in it. Although as strong as Pixar’s strength in computer animation was, Pixar always knew it was about the story. A weak story line can’t make up for great graphics.

15 years after the initial Toy Story, another level of depth is brought to the story. Woody, Buzz Light Year, Rex, Slinky, Mr. Potato Head and the rest of the familiar cast have been though a whole lot together. Toy Story 3 expands the depth even further where they face their greatest challenge yet, their owner Andy moving to college.

Right from the opening scene, you can see the new challenges the toys face. Cell phones, laptops. Everyone around these main characters are aging, moving on. Everyone, but the toys.

Now don’t let the same looking Woody and Buzz fool you. They are determined to be relevant and be some owner’s toy. In that quest, their friendships are tested, their morale is broken, and their survival is at stake. What comes out of this challenge is one of the most emotional, heart wrenching scenes in an animated film I have ever seen.

I believe they are able to pull this off because, over 15 years, we have become attached to these toys. We’ve seen them when we visited Disneyland. We played with them in our Happy Meal toys. Our friends wore Buzz Lightyear shirts, or Woody hats. If some of those memories faded away, Disney subtly put them back in our mind. That nostalgia, in part was planted by Disney. Here are two examples below of great Disney advertising:

As far as I know, there is no such thing as Lots o Huggin bear, one of the main characters in this film. But we do all remember those old commercials for kids toys growing up. Some of us have even revisited those old ads on YouTube. Disney caught on to this and created this ad that looks as if it was ripped straight from ABC’s 1985 Saturday Morning time slot.

Another trick Disney used around college campuses was to place Now Hiring signs on kiosks for Pizza Planet, which you have to remember from the first film with the aliens and the claw. It included a tear off website to apply. That website led you to Toy Story’s Facebook page. (Via http://www.pixartalk.com/2010/04/pp-hiring/)

There are numerous other examples of great Disney advertising, and all of it, whether you seen the film or not, built up to one great movie.

Now with the success in the box office, there will certainly be talk of another sequel. I’m sure Pixar can pull off a Toy Story 4, but I don’t know if they would even want to. Toy Story 3 is a great finale to a generation of Toy Story movies. I felt a lot of closure to the ending of the film, and a lot of satisfaction afterward. So go see it and relive your childhood memories of Toy Story.