For this Independence Day, we returned to the Esplanade in Boston for the Boston Pops concert and fireworks.  We did it differently this year, showing up around noon and being content with being able to hear the concert by being near a speaker station and being right on the riverbank for a great view of the fireworks.

After a great day and a fantastic fireworks display (that was unfortunately clouded by a lack of wind that kept the smoke in the way of the fireworks), we turned around to see the field where we were and discovered that our fellow concert-goers had shown their love for their country by leaving their trash all around it.  Add not just cups and napkins, but towels, a deck of cards, pizza boxes, and bottles.  It was so disappointing to see all this trash ruining a beautiful city park on a the river after a day of celebrating our country.

It is beyond me that people can have such feelings of self-importance that they feel they can just leave their garbage on the ground for others to clean up after them.  I know that it was a lot of younger people that did this, since it was where those groups were that the biggest messes were left, and it is particularly disappointing since with all the issues in this country involving pollution and the environment seem to be having some sort of an impact on people, but then something as simple as picking up after yourself is too much for them.  

Very interesting and funny article from Wired magazinethat talks about predicting the popularity of nostalgia entertainment.  I agree that while I’m excited for a new X-Files movie, I’m not quite sure if the timing is right – it hasn’t been quite long enough for me to truly yearn for another movie, and with Lost on the air, that is fulfilling the freaky sci-fi conspiracy show void.  After Lost finishes up would be a perfect time – people would be looking for a similar thing to fill that void, and looking to old DVDs of X-Files and Lost would be a great segue into a new X-Files movie.

For this week, most of my blogging activity will be happening over at The Johnson Family Vacation Blog, which is part of the overall Johnson Vacation web site.

However, I did have some thoughts while walking about Disney’s Animal Kingdom this afternoon – how could a Pop Culture Gangster not after all? – and wanted to share them before they snuck out of my poor tired little brain.

It has been about 10 years or so since I’ve been to Disney, and since then I’ve been fortunate enough to travel many places and have a great number of experiences: from dancing in a New Orleans parade, to attending a Mass at St. Peter’s Basilica; from walking the Sunset Strip in Los Angeles to strolling along the streets of Vancouver.  Whether I’ve traveled for work or business, I’ve sought out authentically local experiences, from food and drink to culture and pastimes. 

When you go to Disney, they try very hard – and succeed mostly – to give you a taste of a different world.  It may be weird mix of Dinosaurs and Americana as is the case in Dinoland in the Animal Kingdom, or the very cool Tibetan/Asian vibe that the area around the Everest ride has.  That was probably my favorite part of the park – I thought they did a great job with the decor and extras, as well as with the smells of the food and little touches in the waiting lines that gave you a taste of the country that you’re supposed to feel like you’re in.  Not that I’ve ever been there, so I guess more appropriately, it feels like what I think it is supposed to feel like.

Which brings me to my main observation: Disney is incredibly good at creating remarkably realistic imaginary tableaux that make you feel like you’re elsewhere, but when you turn around from that, you’ll still surrounded by vendors selling Coca-Cola and McDonald’s fries, ice cream carts and souvenir stores every ten feet.  It is a delicate line that they tread: educational vs. fun, experiential vs. simply being an amusement park.  I think it is that attention to detail and Disney’s unique ability to take the harsh Nepal terrain and make it family-friendly that drives so many to their parks.

However, like anyone else who looks at these things with a critical eye – and Disney certainly has their fair share of critics and analysts – one hopes that it doesn’t REPLACE the real experience, or that it forces the real thing to become more Disneyesque to meet the false expectations set by the fake thing.

I’m not going to give you any big insight here, partially because it is 1:00 A.M. and I’m pretty friggin tired.  But because I haven’t quite figured it out.  Tomorrow is Epcot and its pavilion of 13 countries.  Maybe that will help me pin it down.  I know that it isn’t a complaint, but it is something that makes me want to experience the real thing; to see a trading post in Nepal, to see a 60’s-style roadside Dinosaur exhibit or eat Chinese food in China.  It makes me appreciate how realistic they make the Disney experience but yearn for the real thing.  Maybe I’ll be able to answer why by the end of the week. 

Obviously, there’s a heightened awareness regarding environmental responsibility in the United States today, but sometimes it takes an artistic vision to communicate how much STUFF we go through.

While watching the weather this morning, trying to decide whether I was going to be able to make it into work or not, I saw something go by in the scrolling news at the bottom of the screen that I was puzzled by.  Today is the 50th anniversary of The Smurfs.  As far as I knew, that made NO sense, since the Smurfs were the creation of some corporate cartoon making machine back in the 80’s.  I watch the Smurfs.  I had Smurfs Colorforms and a huge collection of Smurf Cards (which I gave away to some girl I was crazy about back in high school… stupid, stupid, stupid!).  I know my Smurfs.

Or at least I thought I did.  Apparently they HAVE been around for 50 years.  Back in 1958, they started off as secondary characters in a cartoon book.  They then became toys and the figurines became popular in the US and then they created the cartoon series that ran for 256 episodes! 

The official Smurf website has a guide to The Smurfs, and it explains why there’s only one female Smurf.  I didn’t know she was a creation of Gargamel and was made into a hottie by Papa Smurf.  What a dirty old man.  Bet he didn’t consider what would happen when she was dropped into the little all-male community of Smurfs who hadn’t seen a female in 500 years.  The web site avoids the whole question of how they survived without females, or where the hell they come from.