Insights Into Entertainment: Episode 36 “A Lifetime of Happiness”

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Speaker 1: 00:01 Insightful, informative insights into a podcast network.

Speaker 2: 00:28

Speaker 3: 00:28 Into insights, into entertainment, a podcast series, taking a deeper look into entertainment and media. Your hosts, Joseph and Michelle Whalen, a husband and wife, team of pop culture, phonetics are exploring all things from music and movies to television and fans.

Speaker 2: 00:50

Speaker 4: 00:50 Welcome to insights and entertainment. This is episode 36, a lifetime of happiness. I am your host, Joseph Waylon, and my lovely and talented cohost. Michelle. Where else are you doing today, Michelle?

Speaker 5: 01:07 I am cold. How are you finally? Did have weather change? Although we went from 95 degrees one day to 65 degrees, then absolutely. Yay. Fall

Speaker 4: 01:23 One. Everybody’s getting sick. Yeah, exactly. So we’ve got a pretty busy show today. Disney detective, we will talk about a Disney being sued by a man with autism and why that’s happening. We’ll talk about Disney’s domination at the box office coming to a close and looking at the 2020 movie year and seeing where they’ll stand. Then we have Disneyland’s first ever customer using his lifetime ticket every year since 1955 and in our entertainment news, we have some star Wars news as the screenwriters have promised to tell us who is re, which is kind of nice since it’s the last movie in the series. So might as well do it now. Exactly. Don’t save it till later. We’ll talk about stranger things being renewed for another season. And then we have some information on the Billy Joel anthology TV series that we are eagerly anticipating. Let’s get right into it. Okay. Go for Disney.

Speaker 5: 02:46 So it seems that Disney obviously is in the news for this policy that had changed a couple of years ago actually. And what it is, is that the cases, actually I’m finally getting a date. So the lawsuit is actually against Disney for because they changed their policy for guests with disabilities. So back in the day, if you had any sort of disability, you usually were able to just go to the front of the line and not have to wait or have a, a minimal wait. And they really didn’t require you to, to prove anything for it. Now, there were special cards that people with more severe ailments, you know, received you know, to get a little bit more special treatment. But basically if you had an electric scooter or were in a wheelchair, you were able to kind of go to the front of the line.

Speaker 5: 03:45 And a lot of that too was because the rides themselves, the queue line wasn’t equipped for handy, you know, navigate to navigate for people in, in wheelchairs or electric scooters. But then what had happened was there was a couple of travel companies from like the, the New York area where people were hiring them to be their quote unquote tour guide throughout the park. And these people were basically going to the park and, you know, quote unquote cutting the line really, because nobody had a disability. They would just, you know, somebody would kind of pretend and they’d get one of these little passes, you know, they’d bring a doctor’s note or something and they were able to cut the line. Well, when word got out about this, Disney changed their policy. So now the policy is you still have to get this medical card from guest relations.

Speaker 5: 04:44 But for most of the rides, when you go to, to get on the ride, they give you an appointment time cause sorta like a fast pass to return, but you’re not waiting, you know, in the FastPass line, you know, there’s a separate line, but you’re still coming back at a separate time. While the lawsuit was actually filed in 2014 by a man with autism who said that this was actually more detrimental to him than just waiting, you know, in line. And they were saying, you know, that it wasn’t fair for people. You know, that had certain diseases or certain conditions because just giving them a return time is almost just as bad because of, you know, the severe, you know, autism that they might have. Because they have to follow, you know, a certain path and a certain timeline and you know, you telling them to come back and 45 minutes is, you know, for them in some cases they feel just as bad as having to just sit and wait in line. So we’ll see. You know, where this goes. You know, for

Speaker 6: 05:58 Us, we’ve gone to Disney, we’ve, you know, used electric scooters. You know, we had my mom at one point, you know, in a scooter. You know, and it did kind of help to, to ease, you know, the trip. And I understand, you know, for some families you know, with, with kids, you know, waiting in line is hard, but you kind of have to know that going to Disney, that you’re gonna wait in line. That’s part of it. And that’s a thing. Like, you know, the first time that we went, I wound up using a scooter because of the issues I had with my bag. Right. And we were able, this was before their policy change. We were able to take advantage of that. And, and you know, and we weren’t I didn’t get the scooter for the sole purpose of driving. Right. so to a certain extent I can understand the frustration and the need medically for that, but I think the accommodation that Disney made is more than fair as a compromise for that because you can’t accommodate everyone.

Speaker 6: 07:02 Right. And Disney isn’t obligated to accommodate every, right. If you’re incapable, like there are numerous rides that I don’t get on because I have a bad back. Right. I simply don’t fit, what am I going to do suit Disney because they’re not fat people friendly. Right, right. I mean, that concept itself is, is just idiotic. I’m sorry, the ability to just Sue a company because they’re not convenient for you. You’re welcome to take your business elsewhere. I’ll tell you what, take your business down the street to universal and see how much more accommodating universal is. You’ll find universals far less accommodating than Disney is. And we actually kind of ran into the change when we actually went to Disney land. If you remember when we were out there a couple of years back and you had the scooter and we went to go on the haunted mansion and they said, Oh you have a scooter.

Speaker 6: 07:59 Oh here, return back. And they gave us a little pass to return back in like 20 minutes or something. Right. Because again, their cue line couldn’t fit the scooter but they didn’t want us to just, you know, cut the line. You know. And even taking that the next step further, you take a look at how much money Disney land Disney world has spent on reshaping their classrooms to accommodate people with disabilities. They spent millions of dollars on, on their cue lines now to accommodate that. So everyone is created equal. No, no one gets special treatment. They had a policy in place where people were getting special treatment and kudos to Disney for actually shutting that down. Right, right. Cause you had a few bad apples who were trying to take advantage of it. Right. If you’re going to Sue anybody shoe the people that force Disney to change their policy to Disney for it cause they’re already trying to accommodate you and make it as convenient

Speaker 4: 08:56 For people with disabilities as as possible. Oh my God. Wait, am I defending? Yeah,

Speaker 5: 09:01 You are. So the lawsuit goes on to argue Disney’s current policy that treats people with all disabilities the same rather than recognizing that some impairments require special treatment. So a judge has ruled that the lawsuit will go to trial to federal court court on February 18. The article came from w E S H a to news and Disney had sent them a statement saying Disney parks has an unwavering commitment to provide an exclusive and accessible environment for all our guests. We fully comply with the ADA act and requirements and believe that the legal claims are without merit.

Speaker 4: 09:40 And I would as much as it pains me to say so take note as much as it comes to this day. So I would have to agree with Disney here and I’ll bet you that Disney more than compliance with the ADA,

Speaker 5: 09:53 I believe they go above and beyond. You know, when, when it comes to that,

Speaker 4: 09:59 As much as I am, as much as I bash Disney for some of their business practices, they are exceedingly accommodating for disabilities, allergies, you know.

Speaker 5: 10:08 Yeah. We talked about last week the, the food, you know, and not only the, the options of the plant based food for, you know, for vegans, but just the gluten and the allergies and everything else. They do go way beyond, you know, any other theme park I think in my opinion, you know, or restaurant or entertainment, you know, as a whole

Speaker 4: 10:33 To go to Disney if you have disabilities because of how accommodating they are. It’s not just a matter of, you know, providing wheelchairs, you know, they’ve reformed their queues, they’ve set up complete systems for this. They’ve got,

Speaker 5: 10:48 There are special ride cars for, for certain rides. Like obviously a rollercoaster, somebody that’s in a wheelchair where you can’t medically, you can’t medically do that. But for a lot of the other rides, they made special ride vehicles where you don’t even have to get out of your wheelchair. You just, you know,

Speaker 4: 11:07 You step back and you take a look at mission space where mission space was a centrifuge based ride that people with certain medical conditions could not enjoy. So what did they do? So they came up literally with a second version of the rise, so you could still go through it without having that medical risk. So, you know, I it Disney’s totally in the right on this one. So next story.

Speaker 5: 11:32 So Disney has dominated the box office for years, but experts are saying that they might actually have some challenges with 2020. So it’s kind of like the fourth street year in a row that they have been raining. But now Hollywood insiders are saying that, you know, things might be going South for next year, but obviously they have, you know, things like Marvel and star Wars and obviously with the FOC merger avatar is now, you know, under it. But that this year was very strong and next year, you know, they might actually have some competition from other studios like universal and Sony. You know, in 2018 they ruled the box office with black Panther Avengers, infinity Wars, Incredibles too. They set a domestic box office record with 3 billion and then topping 7 billion globally. You know, and then they broke records this year.

Speaker 5: 12:34 You know, they broke records once they got to July. And that was in part two, you know, the lion King movie captain Marvel toy story for Aladdin, a vendor’s end game. And obviously, you know, with Avengers end game they surpassed quote unquote cheating. They cheated to get past avatar. And yet we still have for the end of this year, we still have frozen two coming out and then obviously star Wars which are both this year I think. So I think I heard rumors about it and both are probably gonna, you know, gross over a billion, you know, each by the end of the year. So looking at what you know, 20, 20 has so far, really not a whole lot, you know, a as much of a powerhouse as this year. Obviously it was, so you have Pixars onward and Seoul, which will be coming to the theaters in March and June.

Speaker 5: 13:33 Then obviously the live action remake of Milan will be in the end of March. Then Marvel’s black widow, we’ll hit theaters in may and the Eternals will arrive in November. And then there’s Artemis fowl, which is based on OSI fi series. And that is going to premiere in may. And then there’s jungle cruise, which I didn’t even remember coming. I probably do, but I blocked it out maybe, which is based on the Disneyland ride and is going to be S starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily blunt. And that debuts in July. So, sure. Fuller, corny jokes probably, I hope. You know, so they’re saying, you know, obviously there’s going to be, you know, hopefully the, the sequel of, you know, captain Marvel coming and then you have, you know, some newer stuff from Pixar. But obviously there’s no Avengers on the docket and that was really kind of that big push.

Speaker 5: 14:32 Yeah. You’re not gonna get the kind of a vendors push with black widow. Right. You know, star started can Zachary it’s going to be, you know, you’re going to get a fraction of it and knows how, you know, black widow store in so, right. So it’s kinda like, Oh yeah. So it’ll be, you know, interesting to see you know, what they do and who kind of comes to the forefront, you know, for, for next years. And I want to put my Disney bashing hat on here. Okay. So when their box office numbers drop below your best friend in the whole wide world, your BFF dropped below their expectations. He’s going to go to take the blame for it. Is Bob Iger going to pay? No. Not your BFF or is Bob Iger already trying to find a scapegoat for this? It’s Fox’s problem. Yeah. It’s never blame on, someone’s going to blame it on Fox because they spent all their money buying Fox and not putting it into more movies for sure.

Speaker 5: 15:35 He’s already got a scapegoat line that every good plan starts with a good scape. Right? Absolutely. So, okay, so our next feel good Disney story. Yeah. I had to make sure to kinda, you know, wants, I bashed him wants, so this’ll be a right. So there’s your balance. So Disneyland’s first ever customer has been using his lifelong ticket every, every year since 1955. So Dave MacPherson was 20. He was a 22 year old college student back in July of 1955. He was watching Disney opening festivities on television on July 17th. And he marveled at all the celebrities that were enjoying the park and thought to himself, why not go and be one of the first commoners to go? So he turned the TV off, hopped onto his motorcycle and rode approximately 10 miles from long beach, California to Anaheim. He walked to the nearest ticket booth and just waited online. And that was at two o’clock in the morning. Oh, hang on a second. Have you waited online? How’s you the first customer? Well because he got to the ticket booth and he just stood and waited. Well, if he’s waiting on, Oh, so he, there wasn’t alignment. No, there wasn’t. It was two o’clock in the morning. He was the first one there.

Speaker 5: 16:51 So with his ticket, he received a complimentary card but didn’t actually get to use it because the long ride back to long beach awaited him long ride. It was only 10 miles. Like it wasn’t like he was walking. He had a motorcycle. Yeah, that’s true. So luckily for him, he received a lifetime pass for being the first commoner ever to enter the park and enjoyed his privilege. And he has enjoyed his privileges annually ever since. He takes his wife Wanda, to the happiest place on earth along with a couple of his friends. And what was neat was the friends that he frequents the park with, he the, the the guy friend, he had actually been at the park on opening day as well, but they didn’t know each other back then. It was actually years later that they, you know, found each other and because of their common interest of Disney and realize, Oh my God, we were both there, there on opening day.

Speaker 5: 17:46 He said that seeing a line of 6,000, 6,000 people behind him was something he would never forget for its opening day. Disney executed a televised event, which was open to Walt Disney’s family, the media and invited guests who were mostly celebrities of all kinds. And we actually have, we’ve watched it. There were DVDs that came out. So it is really kinda cool to watch. It was this big media, you know, event Reagan hosting with Ronald Reagan and our art Linkletter. Right, right. And, you know, various technical difficulties, you know, happened. Cause it was all done line. Crockett Oh, I can’t think of it. He made an appearance. He made it appear, you know, so it was, you know, and obviously all the kids that were there were all celebrity kids. You know, Kurt Russell, Kurt Russell was there. Yeah. so during the Park’s opening so so again, it was a televised event for all of that.

Speaker 5: 18:46 So then the Park’s opening to the public the next day, Walt Disney actually was there, but then kind of disappeared shortly after the opening of the gate, leaving many people, you know, kind of disappointed. But despite that, he says it was still one of the best days, you know, ever for him. So that’s kind of cool. Right. Exactly. Exactly. So, yeah, so that was kind of a nice little, you know, first ever paying guests, you know, money, lifetime passes. Has Disney ever given out? Yeah. I don’t know. I don’t know how, how many they, they ever gave out, but that’s kind of cool that, you know, he’s still using it, you know, so many years later. I suspect they are few and far between. Yeah. So, so that does it for Disney. Detective detectives is done. I’ll take off my years now. They didn’t put a warm this week. I didn’t. I should have was, we’ll come back with entertainment news.

Speaker 5: 19:52 So tell us who is Ray? Tell us a star Wars story. I know we have to go to the movie and find out. No spoilers, no spoilers. So a, the rise of Skywalker, the screenwriters have promised to answer the question, who is Ray? So it’ll obviously be the last chapter of the Skywalker saga. In the final installment the trilogy is actually picking up the last installment of the trilogy is actually gonna pick up. Sometime after the last Jedi I ended and I’ll answer and raise some pressing questions about the star Wars universe. The screenwriters spoke with empire about two pivotal questions that shaped the movie. One is obvious and hard pressing, and obviously fans want to know who is Ray. In the interview, he said that that the ever present inquiry will be answered, not only literally, but metaphorically.

Speaker 5: 20:52 How can Ray become the spiritual heir to the Jedi? We keep coming back to who is Ray and you know, and nothing really kind of answered that, you know. But more importantly you know, who is she as a character? Obviously Kylo Ren kind of answered it and was like, ah, you’re nobody. But that was really more, you know, a cop out that you know, that the, the fans kind of felt with that. So now they’re, they kind of went back and rewrote, so now we’re going to have more of, you know, a, an answer. You know, he, he said that, you know, it’s, you know, that there’s obviously something within her bloodline. And obviously after, you know, again rise of, you know, the judge I, and just kinda like throw, throwing it, you know, out, you know, made it kind of, Oh, it’s, it’s nothing, but really it’s, it’s going to be something. So there’s that underlining thing

Speaker 4: 21:56 And what I take away from this is this is a JJ aprons first step to roll back that absolute horror film. Yeah. That travesty of justice, that, that was the last Jetta, right? Because, you know, Abrams set it up to be this mystery of who she is. And then Brian Johnson just totally screwed the pooch on that one and ruined the entire thing. And now Abrams has to come back in and save his original vision. So it should be interesting. I just hope he doesn’t have the burn too much of rise of the skywalk arises of Skywalker, a hatching up all the stuff that Bryan Johnson screwed up.

Speaker 5: 22:37 Yeah. So you only have to wait a couple more months cause December 20th is, is right around the corner.

Speaker 4: 22:44 Nice. Looking forward to it. Hopefully it’ll be better than last, Jenny. I don’t think it could be much worse. So we’ll see. Yeah. So tell us about stranger thing.

Speaker 5: 22:56 So the Duffer brothers have signed a multi year overall packed on the back of their 1980 PSI Phi series, which is reportedly one of the streaming services most watch original series. The streaming giant has handed out handed out a fourth season renewal to the breakout, hit changer things, which we kind of knew, but they also gave the creators Matt and Ross Duffer a multi year film and TV deal overall that’s worth about nine figures. The news arrives nearly three months after the third season of the 1980 PSI Phi drama returned after almost a year of being off the air of return date for the fourth season has not been determined. So when they said, you know, the streaming service, which normally doesn’t release their viewership data announced on July 8th, that some 40.7 million household accounts had watched part of season three since July 4th when it, the third season launched.

Speaker 5: 24:07 That’s more than any other film or series in just four days. And obviously, you know, the whole show kind of took off. It ended up, you know, being nominated for a number of Emmy awards and actually winning some, you know, the, the stars, you know, the, the kids were all, you know, unknowns and now you know, how they’re doing sprint commercials and other, you know, things as well. You know, the the, the cast actually the kids actually ended up making 12 times their previous salary deals from when they first started. And we’re basically making $250,000 per episode and the adult stars we’re making close to $350,000 per episode in just this last year. So it’s unsure, you know, right now if season four will actually be the last one because the Duffer brothers had really been open about it from the get go that they knew it wasn’t going to be a long running series and they said that it was either going to be somewhere between four or six seasons that they were going to do and then they, you know, but it’s cool that now there’s, you know, there’s other things that are in the works, you know, that they’re going to be doing.

Speaker 5: 25:25 So, you know, even if stranger things, you know, comes to an end, there’s something else that they’ll be part of. And I think one of the, you know, technical issues that you’ve run into when you’re doing a series, like this is the production time the season runs and you’re working with kids, right? Kids grow up. Right, right. And that was kind of, you know, you, you definitely saw it in season, you know, three versus season one and you know, they do have to kind of move quickly if they, you know, if they don’t want it to be two years later or something like that. Kind of like, you know, the same thing with the Harry Potter season, you know, this series of movies they had to kind of move quickly through them because they didn’t want them, you know, to age five years between one film, you know, and the next.

Speaker 5: 26:15 Yeah. Cool. Cool. So stranger things is up for another season and we’ve got at least another season. Don’t know how many more, are they the day established anything as far as any spinoffs or anything like that? No, it sounds like it’s, you know, it really kind of sounds like they’re, you know, the Duffer brothers are just going to write and produce other TV shows and you know, nothing. You know, I could see them still kind of sticking with like the 80s theme. Right. You know, cause that’s just so much of, of their brat, you know, their background, their childhood, you know that even with, Oh yeah, you’re current season of American horror. Oh my God. Right, right. So you know, for all of us 40 somethings, 30 somethings, you know, it’s just cool to, to relive that and see that. So speaking of the 40 somethings, let’s talk a little about Billy Joel.

Speaker 5: 27:14 So yeah, this was something that I actually hadn’t heard about. And w I was listening to the radio the other day and they kind of did a quick little blurb on it. So then I, I looked it up. So Billy Joel, they’re actually going to be doing an anthology TV series based on his music. So Billy Joel’s catalog is populated with Vivi vivid story lines and popular characters. Enough apparently to fuel a TV series. MGM is partnering with universal music publishing group to develop a scripted anthology series based around the songwriters music. According to the Hollywood reporter, the show was going to be titled scenes from an Italian restaurant, which is named after a Joel’s 1977 track of the same name. And he actually had told Stephen co bear in an interview that it’s ranked as one of his five bests. Each episode of the project we’ll build around his famous lyrics, including characters like the stranger, the piano man, mommy Leoni and Sergeant O’Leary.

Speaker 5: 28:17 Joel worked with his music team to kind of revamp the songs with new arrangements. Kevin Fox who worked on law and order SVU is creating an executive producing the show alongside Joel and his song writer and the songwriters. Long time producing partner, Steven Cohen, who worked on the 19 the 2017 documentary. Billy Joel, New York state of mind. So the president of MGM, T, V, a, M, M, G, M, T, V, he’s whoo development and production told the Hollywood reporter that the focus is less on Billy Joel’s life and more on the stories inside the catalog of the classic songs. So with, you know, everything that that happened, you know, the last couple of years with Bohemian Rhapsody being such a popular movie. And then obviously rocket man, the singer actually told rolling stone in may that he doesn’t have enough objectivity to do one. He said I was going to run an autobiography at one time and I did. And he said there just wasn’t enough sex, drugs and rock and roll in it for the publisher. So I gave the advance back and I said, F it, that’s may, I don’t know if you know, I’m interesting enough to make a movie out of my life. You know, I’ve lived it. I don’t want to be redundant. So I thought that was, you know, a very, Billy Joel definitely

Speaker 6: 29:42 Sounds know Billy Joel Kahn. Yeah. So, you know, he kind of feels like, eh, you know what my life food thing, you know, all that exciting. But it definitely, you know, sounds like doing it from the perspective of the songs and the characters and how he came up with them. And it’s an interesting tale on Joe is a storytelling. Absolutely. Get that from his music. You know, we talked last week comparing Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen where Bruce Springsteen tells his stories, right. And Billy Joel tells everybody else’s story and he’s much more comfortable with that than obviously his own story. Billy Joel’s had a very interesting life. Oh absolutely. Look at his early career and some of the setbacks that he had and how he came up with piano man. And you know, the story behind that was fantastic. And then, you know, he was married to a supermodel. He went, the Russian played in Russia at like the height of the cold war like right.

Speaker 6: 30:38 Like all of this stuff he’s so modest about. Yeah. And he doesn’t think it was significant stuff. But in the grand scheme of things it was, it was incredibly easy. We had so many downfalls that he was able to, to rise up, you know, the different car crashes and you know, the different bouts with, you know, alcoholism and things like that. And you know, after Christie Brinkley, you know, a couple more failed, you know, marriages and things like that, but yet still going out on tour. And, and, you know, kind of, he, he stopped, you know, writing new music for others. You know, he’s still quite, when he went from running rock and roll to writing classical music, it was a whole, you’re like earth shattering change. Like all, there’s a story behind all of that. Right. And you know, I don’t know if it’s that he’s just so modest.

Speaker 6: 31:30 He doesn’t think it’s significant words. One of those, they’re too personal for him to talk about, to give away. You know, they’re his stories. Yeah. And he’s always been the type of person who’s written about other people’s stories, you know, and every song he has is a story that his music is so diverse. The stories behind the music are so diverse. I mean, you’d go from, you know, this is the fall of the steel industry with with Allentown to, you know, the, the fall of the fishing industry in Maine and New York. And it’s like, you know, the different journeys he’s taken his audience through that. And there are, I’m sure there’s a, there’s elements of truth in everything. I’m sure he told the stories from people that he’s talked to knew, or talk to. Yeah. But he’s always been about telling other people’s stories. So this’ll be interesting right now with this, this anthology, he’s not appearing in it and, right. No, it doesn’t sound like it. It’s basically, it’s his music. It’s not about, so, you know, step

Speaker 5: 32:40 Deeper into looking at the characters and stories she’s created. I guess, you know, I kind of wonder if it’s more along the lines of the Broadway show moving out and you know, is it that where, you know, or is it a deeper dive in who was right and who was the stranger, you know, obviously we know the piano man was him. You know, so I wonder if it’s going to be more, you know, like that or is it going to be more like the Broadway show, you know? Interesting. Yeah. Look forward to, that’s all we had for entertainment news this week. It is. We will be back with our insightful picks of the week, which I didn’t put mine on the show notes to soprano. Oh, is, Oh yes. We’ll be back. Okay.

Speaker 5: 33:35 I bow to you my now, I’m like so intrigued. I can’t wait. So my insightful pick, I’m going to try and keep with the theming of this, the time of year. So obviously we’re in October, it’s Halloween season. Our favorite time of year. Yay. And why is it our favorite time of year? Well, it’s Halloween. Oh, has nothing to do with the fact that our anniversary is on house. Yes. We actually got married on Halloween, so Halloween is also our wedding anniversary. So that’s, it’s special to that. And why do we do that? Because it was your favorite holiday because it was my favorite holiday and this way you wouldn’t forget our, at our anniversary. And our daughter was actually born a couple of days before Halloween, so she’s an October baby. So October is just a, and my son was born in October. Right. Mother was born in October. So October is a pretty bad, yeah.

Speaker 5: 34:31 So October is a very busy month for us, so I’m gonna, you know, so for my insightful picks, you know, I’m going to try and keep with the theme and we were kind of, you know, talking earlier that maybe we’ll leave and do a special Halloween episode, you know, so I got like a little less than a month now to, to plan. So. Right. So this was actually a movie that a friend of mine who was very into horror movies had suggested that I watch. And thankfully when I watched it, I watched it during the day in the morning with all the lights on, because if I had watched it at night, I really, yeah, it was very disturbing. It is called hereditary. And so a brief outline of the movie is when the matriarch of the Graham family passes away. Her daughter and grandchildren begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying stories about their ancestor trying to out run the sinister fate that they have inherited.

Speaker 5: 35:36 The release date was actually on June 8th of last year. It’s streaming on Amazon prime. And it’s just creepy. If you want to be surprised by it, don’t go to Wikipedia and read what the plot is because the plot basically tells you the entire spoiler alert. Yeah, spoiler alert. Cause I went there to kind of get more information and when I read it, I’m like, that’s exactly what happened and I probably would have been upset, you know, so the, the whole suspense of it, you know of everything there were, you know, and, and I think what was so great about watching it on Amazon was like, when something happened, I was able to pause and go,

Speaker 5: 36:24 Whoa, did that just, and like, I rewound it, like, you know, so definitely if you had seen it in a theater, you know, you would’ve had a different, you know, but, you know, definitely the whole, you know, the, the Creek aspect of, you know, you’re, you’re watching it and you know, the focus is on, you know, the main character right there. But there’s something going on now, right outside of your vision and you’re like, Oh, Holy freaking. Wow. Yeah. So, definitely not for those that don’t like horror movies. Not for kids. Definitely a little bit of say tannic undertones. You know, w with the stuff with like the grandmother and a little scene in there. Yeah. Yeah. You know, the, the one daughter you know, cause it’s, it’s a mother. It’s a Tony Colette who was the mother in a sixth sense.

Speaker 5: 37:21 She plays the, the mother in this Gabriel Burns is the father. And then there’s a son who’s in high school and then the, the daughter who’s a junior high and the daughter is like totally creepy. You know, there’s just something, something off about her. You know, so good makings for a, a horror movie. It’s two hours long. Again, if you like watching movies in the dark, go right ahead. Maybe have somebody with you. But if you’re kind of like a little bit of a scaredy cat, but you still like that, that horror draw, watch it with the lights on and, and have the pause button ready. Nice for you to go. What is streaming on Amazon? On Amazon prime. Very cool. Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 4: 38:11 So my super secret in central pick this week is a bit of self promotion. A Friday night at nine, we released our latest podcast show called insight into tomorrow. During that show my son Sam and I we talk about current topics that have an on today’s society and how those impacts carries through into the future and how they’re gonna impact him as he continues to grow and mature. Sam is in his 20s, he’s in college at this point in time. So getting the perspective of someone his age is for an old fogy like me, healthy thing. We had a very interesting discussion. Our first show was about gun violence and we talked about the second amendment historical rulings on the second amendment and how the second amendment has evolved from the time of when the constitution was written to where we are today.

Speaker 4: 39:20 Some of those developments I found kind of a disturbing but you know, it’s, it’s a fluid document. Some of the things kind of scared me. How what probably should have been amendments to the constitution turned out to be arbitrary rulings from the Supreme court. And you know, that’s not restricted to just the second amendment, but we looked at deaths in the United States and what the leading causes of death were. And, and really, you know, gun deaths are, don’t even make the top 10, you know, in the country. But there’s a huge focus on gun violence where there’s a a mass shooting. You know, we’ve talked about some of the numbers where you’ve got over half a million people that die from heart disease and you know, just slightly less than that you have cancer. And, you know, we talked about how the main form of, of cancer out there at this point in time is tobacco.

Speaker 4: 40:27 And, you know, everyone wants to see gun control legislation when by an order of magnitude. We have more people dying from tobacco use in the federal government, subsidizes the tobacco industry. So we, we stayed on topic, but we talked about a lot of different things that influence the the topic itself. We looked at some of the options that are on the table for gun control moving forward. And we also looked at the numbers. You know, we looked at how much money, a gun control and a gun advocate lobbies we’re paying into political campaigns. And again, by an order of magnitude the amount of money that the gun lobbies are pouring in far out seeds, the gun control lobbies of course, almost a factor of 10. You know, and the discouraging fact is America has the best politicians that money can buy man and lobbyists, you know, take advantage of that.

Speaker 4: 41:33 So it was a constructive conversation. There was some things he and I agreed on, some things we didn’t necessarily agree on. But I think it, it makes for a good subject matter discussion. We’re going to be doing it monthly. So this obviously this episode was our October edition. We’ll have another one coming out in November. We’re working on, on topics for that. But it’s available on our website. Well, not on our website yet. Scratch that. I haven’t gotten up there yet. It’s on YouTube, it is on YouTube, and it is available for audio@podcastdotinsightsintotomorrow.com.

Speaker 5: 42:14 And it was posted on our Facebook page yesterday when it went live. And that is facebook.com backslash insight into things podcast.

Speaker 4: 42:25 So check it out. It’s a little bit different than our other shows. And you might find that interesting and insightful. You might say. That was all I had for that one. Did we have any afterthoughts today? No afterthoughts today? No. We are doing for our live audience, we are going to the Delaware toy show tomorrow, tomorrow with the NERC temple on Wilmington and Newcastle. Sorry, Newcastle. So if any of our local listeners are interested in doing that, that’s always a great show too.

Speaker 5: 43:02 Yeah. The toy show, the train show is today and the toy show is

Speaker 4: 43:06 Tomorrow. Right. And I’m hoping to pick up another piece of gold down there. I always seem to get at least one decent .

Speaker 5: 43:16 Right. There’s always that one obscure star Wars thing that you find. So

Speaker 4: 43:22 Scored my, my empire strikes back, carted Darth Vader down there, and a, that’s my biggest score today.

Speaker 5: 43:28 Yeah. I ended up getting the Mickey mouse play house for the 1970s. Yeah. So it’s great if you’re in a Hess trucks, if you’re in, Oh God. Trucks, they got tons of trucks down there. Even a lot of people that do the trains from today, a lot of them are still there, you know, tomorrow’s, or if you’re into trains, they have that old tin toys from the fifties and sixties. Tons of those video games,

Speaker 4: 43:55 Video games. Lot of modern toys.

Speaker 5: 43:59 Brian bootlegged TBD. Yeah.

Speaker 4: 44:05 But it’s a huge variety of their narratives. It’s, it’s a nice day. So that’s it. I think we’re done. Yeah. We’ll catch everyone next week with another great show. And we’re out another one of the books, right? Have a good week. Everyone.

Show Notes

• Introduction
  • Insights Into Entertainment Episode 36 “A Lifetime of happiness”
  • My lovely and talented co-host Michelle Whalen
• Disney Detective
  • Man with autism sues Disney over disability policy on lines
  • https://www.wesh.com/article/man-with-autism-sues-disney-over-disability-policy-on-lines/29343014?fbclid=IwAR2FXCbaThXUZEi6JT896ogYv29hA6SLKMGc_RO99MVszEGFHJqa9wdIIlk#
  • http://bit.ly/2nohkEI 
    • A federal lawsuit against Disney could force the park to return to a policy of allowing guests with autism to go to the front of the line.
    • The legal battle has been five years in the making, but a court date has finally been set for the issue to go to trial.
    • Prior to 2014, guests with autism and other disabilities were allowed to go to the front of the line, eliminating the wait.
    • After reports popped up online that some guests were hiring people with disabilities to accompany them to the front, Disney changed its policy.
    • The current policy allows people with disabilities to use a Disability Access Service Card to reserve a ride in advance, similar to getting a Fast Pass.
    • A lawsuit set to go to trial in Orlando’s federal court argues that for someone with autism, getting a return time is the same as being asked to wait and is difficult for those with severe autism who don’t understand the concept of time.
    • In the lawsuit, filed on behalf of a man with autism identified only as A.L., Tampa attorney Anthony Dogali writes: “The disabled plaintiff is mentally and physically incapable of traveling across the park to the site of an attraction only to be told to come back later. This experience will induce meltdowns in the large majority of persons with cognitive impairments.”
    • The lawsuit goes on to argue Disney’s current policy treats people with all disabilities the same rather than recognizing that some impairments require different treatment.
    • A judge has ruled the lawsuit will go to trial in federal court Feb. 18.
    • Disney sent WESH 2 News a statement saying: “Disney Parks have an unwavering commitment to providing an inclusive and accessible environment for all our guests. We fully comply with all ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements and believe that the legal claims are without merit.”
  • Disney has dominated the box office for years, but experts say it will face challengers in 2020
  • https://www.insider.com/disney-movie-release-slate-box-office-compared-to-other-studios-2019-10?fbclid=IwAR1aPboaS56M5I3Z-5gGNq9XuUYy0vC9y4HxFL1XAL-ho7wU7sz4nFZL6NI
  • http://bit.ly/2LPvTKO 
    • Disney is on its way to winning the domestic box office for the fourth straight year, but its reign could be in jeopardy in 2020.
    • It still controls some of the most popular entertainment assets of all time and is in a solid position to rule Hollywood for the next decade with more Marvel, “Star Wars,” and after the Fox merger, “Avatar” movies. But after its unprecedented domination in 2019 (it’s made up nearly 38% of the domestic box office so far), Disney could face actual competition next year.
    • “This year has been so strong for Disney that it was hard [for other studios] to find holes in the calendar,” Paul Dergarabedian, the Comscore senior media analyst, told Business Insider. “Next year is more wide open for the rival studios and they’ll share the wealth more evenly. Disney will still be a major factor in 2020, but it will be a great year for studios to present a diversity of content.”
    • Disney ruled 2018 with blockbusters like “Black Panther,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” and “Incredibles 2,” setting a domestic box-office record with $3 billion and topping $7 billion globally for the second time in the studio’s history (it first did so in 2016).

Disney had broken its own annual global box-office record by July with $7.67 billion thanks to mega hits that all crossed $1 billion worldwide: “The Lion King,” “Captain Marvel,” “Toy Story 4,” “Aladdin,” and “Avengers: Endgame,” which passed “Avatar” to become the biggest movie of all time. And Disney has yet to release “Frozen 2” and “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” which will both likely gross over $1 billion by year’s end.

• 2019 will be tough to top and Disney’s 2020 release slate, while strong, may not have what it takes.
• Some of Disney’s biggest releases next year are below:
  • Pixar’s “Onward” and “Soul” come to theaters March 6 and June 19, respectively.
  • Disney’s live-action remake of “Mulan” arrives on March 27.
  • Marvel’s “Black Widow,” starring Scarlett Johansson, hits theaters on May 1 and “Eternals” arrives November 6.
  • “Artemis Fowl,” based on the sci-fi series of novels by Eoin Colfer, premieres May 29.
  • “Jungle Cruise,” based on the Disneyland ride and starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Emily Blunt, debuts July 24.
• Jeff Bock, the Exhibitor Relations senior box-office analyst, told Business Insider that Disney will have released all sequels and remakes from “Captain Marvel” (in March of 2019) to “Onward” (in March of 2020). But in 2020, there is no “Avengers” movie on the docket. The Pixar releases aren’t anticipated sequels. And a “Star Wars” entry isn’t on the schedule for another three years.
• “Those [movies] resonate with people,” Bock said. “Those are all very derivative of Disney’s biggest hits or are blatant outright cash grabs. Disney can’t expect to compete with themselves when they have a year like this. We’ve never seen something like this and we won’t see it next year. You could look at Disney’s 2019 schedule and say ‘that’s a slam dunk.’ You can’t say that for 2020.”
• Disneyland’s First-Ever Customer Has Been Using His Lifetime Ticket Every Year Since 1955
• https://www.boredpanda.com/disneyland-first-customer-still-uses-his-lifetime-pass/?utm_source=&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=organic&fbclid=IwAR0JLBeJ7kzXb6FqmitICzOYff0hlN0hqnrkExJoD98RCRiqBpaPKsyLJZE
• http://bit.ly/35bvry0 
  • Dave MacPherson was a 22-year-old college student back in July 1955. The young Scotsman observed Disneyland’s opening festivities on television on July 17th, 1955. He marveled at the celebrities enjoying the park when the thought struck him – why not be the first of all the commoners to enter the park.
  • He then turned off the TV, hopped onto his motorbike and rode approximately 10 miles from Long Beach, California to Anaheim. He then walked to the nearest ticket booth and just started a line… at 2 o’clock in the morning! After waiting for a good few hours, he then proceeded to purchase the first ticket sold to the common public.
  • With his ticket, he received a complimentary card but didn’t actually get to use it because the long ride back to Long Beach awaited him. Luckily for him, he received a lifetime pass for being the first commoner ever to enter the park and has enjoyed his privileges annually ever since.
  • And even takes his wife Wanda to the Happiest Place on Earth with a couple of friends
  • He said that seeing the line of 6,000 people behind him was something he would never forget
  • For its opening day, Disney executed a televised event, which was open only to Walt Disney’s family, the media and invited guests who were mostly celebrities of all kinds. During the park’s opening to the wide public the next day, Walt Disney himself disappeared shortly after opening the gate, leaving many people, including our Scotsman Dave MacPherson slightly disappointed. Despite that, he still said it was the best day!

• Entertainment News
  • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker screenwriter promises an answer to ‘Who is Rey?’
  • https://www.polygon.com/2019/10/3/20896810/star-wars-episode-9-the-rise-of-skywalker-rey-parents-identity-question?fbclid=IwAR0QVO79XwbRAjt5oR4J09Tju_uB7znSJDaOJrC21putOD6puLaiPovT4x4
  • http://bit.ly/30JhILy 
    • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will be the last chapter of the Skywalker saga. The final installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy picks up some time after The Last Jedi ended and will answer and raise some pressing questions about the Star Wars universe.
    • Rise of the Skywalker screenwriter Chris Terrio spoke to Empire about two pivotal questions that shaped the movie. One is obvious — and a hard-pressing question that passionate fans have badgered on about: Who is Rey?
    • In the interview, Terrio says that the ever-persistent inquiry will be answered not only literally, but metaphorically.
    • “How can Rey become the spiritual heir to the Jedi? We kept coming back to ‘Who is Rey?’ and how can we give the most satisfying answer to that not only factually — because obviously people are interested in whether there’s more to be learned of Rey’s story — but more importantly who is she as a character? How will she find the courage and will and inner strength and power to carry on what she’s inherited?”
    • Rey’s bloodline (or lack thereof) is a hot button issue amongst a certain section of Star Wars fans after The Last Jedi revealed that the character was a regular ol’ young lady who was just that good at being a Jedi. 
    • Kylo Ren seemingly answered the question definitively in The Last Jedi, making clear that Rey’s bloodline was absolutely nothing special, but that didn’t sit well with some ardent fans who thought The Force Awakens promised bigger answers. The Rise of Skywalker may rewrite — or at least build on — what writer-director Johnson established in his sequel. Or it may just exploring the concept of Rey metaphorically instead.
    • From more on Terrio, including how The Rise of Skywalker will probe the question of The Force’s true strength, read the full Empire interview.
    • Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker arrives to theaters on Dec. 20. If these questions are making your head spin, check out new character, Babu Frik, for a pick-me-up.
  • ‘Stranger Things’ Renewed for Season 4 as Creators Ink Nine-Figure Netflix Deal
  • https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/stranger-things-renewed-season-4-at-netflix-duffer-brothers-ink-rich-netflix-deal-1222143?fbclid=IwAR1dSNyHOn95E1JmPVqP6n5zlegMAPQbAPfU_1cLtBJshgi_BD2BCeTeaHE
  • http://bit.ly/3342v9n 
    • The Duffer brothers have signed a multiyear overall pact on the back of their 1980s-set sci-fi homage, which is reportedly one of the streamer’s most-watched original series.
    • The streaming giant has handed out a fourth-season renewal to the breakout hit Stranger Things and signed its creators, brothers Matt and Ross Duffer, to a multiyear film and TV overall deal that sources say is worth nine figures. The news arrives nearly three months after the third season of the 1980s-set sci-fi drama returned after more than a year off the proverbial air. A return date for season four has not been determined.
    • “The Duffer Brothers have captivated viewers around the world with Stranger Things and we’re thrilled to expand our relationship with them to bring their vivid imaginations to other film and series projects our members will love,” Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos said Monday in a statement. “We can’t wait to see what the Duffer Brothers have in store when they step outside the world of the Upside Down.”
    • Stranger Things is considered Netflix’s most popular scripted original series. The streamer, which typically does not release viewership data, announced July 8 that some 40.7 million household accounts had watched part of season three since its July 4 launch — “more than any other film or series” in its first four days. It also noted that 18.2 million households had already finished all of season three. Measurement company Nielsen in December 2017 said that more than 15 million people watched the season two premiere within three days of its launch, with 11 million of those viewers in the key adults 18-49 demographic. Stranger Things season two was also crowned the most popular show in the country, per data company Parrot Analytics.
    • Stranger Things is easily the streaming giant’s biggest franchise. The series remains an awards contender — it has collected 18 Emmy nominations (winning five) and created what is likely a multimillion-dollar licensing business of merchandising with a line of comic books and other consumer products.
    • Additionally, the castmembers of the drama have all seen their profiles rise thanks in part to the success of the show. The adult and young actors on the series all successfully renegotiated their contracts ahead of season three (a common practice for a hit show) to earn massive pay raises. The young castmembers — Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, Caleb McLaughlin and Noah Schnapp — secured roughly 12 times their previous deals and earn $250,000 per episode. Adult stars Winona Ryder and David Harbour saw their salaries climb to $350,000 per episode. Breakout Millie Bobby Brown is said to earn somewhere between both levels.
    • In the larger scheme of things, it’s unclear if season four will be the last for Stranger Things as the Duffers have been open about the drama not being a long-running show. The duo have said over the years that they see it running anywhere between four and six seasons.
  • Billy Joel: Anthology TV Series Based on Singer’s Music in the Works
  • https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/billy-joel-anthology-tv-series-890299/?fbclid=IwAR05e5HoGItQLIHth-Qdwqg6-n_vaGXBqZOxRD80btWBEdzKv0OmMASmmdI
  • http://bit.ly/2IFpL67 

• Billy Joel’s catalog is populated with vivid storylines and memorable characters — enough, apparently, to fuel a TV series. MGM is partnering with Universal Music Publishing Group to develop a scripted anthology series (or “arc-thology”) based around the songwriter’s music, according to the Hollywood Reporter. 
• Scenes From an Italian Restaurant is named after Joel’s 1977 track of the same name, which he told Stephen Colbert ranked as one of his five best. Each episode of the project will be built around his famous lyrics, including characters like the Stranger, the Piano Man, Mamma Leone and Sgt. O’Leary. Joel worked with his music team to revamp the songs with new arrangements.
• Kevin Fox (Law & Order: SVU) is creating and executive-producing the show alongside Joel and the songwriter’s long-time producing partner, Steve Cohen (who worked on the 2017 documentary Billy Joel: New York State of Mind).
• Steve Stark, MGM TV’s president of development and production, told the Hollywood Reporter that the series will “focus less on Billy’s life and more on the stories inside his catalog of classic songs.”
• That creative focus falls in line with Joel’s recent comments. Despite the popularity of rock-star biopics like Bohemian Rhapsody and Rocketman, the singer told Rolling Stone in May that he “[doesn’t] have enough objectivity” to do one.
• “I was gonna write an autobiography at one time — and I did,” he said. “There wasn’t enough sex, drugs and rock & roll in it for the publisher, so I gave the advance money back. I said, ‘Fuck it, that’s me.’ I don’t know if I’m interesting enough to make a movie out of. I lived my life. I don’t want to be redundant.”
• Insightful Pics
  • Michelle
    • Hereditary
    • When the matriarch of the Graham family passes away, her daughter and grandchildren begin to unravel cryptic and increasingly terrifying secrets about their ancestry, trying to outrun the sinister fate they have inherited.
    • Release date: June 8, 2018 (USA)
  • Joe

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