Memories of Marceline

I'll be doing a couple of entries on different things, so you don't have to gouge your eyes out because of too much reading about different things in one entry.PX

We'll start off with what happened on my Marceline trip...

We arrived in Kansas City, MO on Friday morning. We drove around for a while, stopped by the Walt sights. We drove by the house he lived in. I got pictures of it this time. No people on the porch staring at us this time, too. That happened last year. We drove by in our car and they looked as if they were about to pick up a musket out of nowhere and shoot us or something. That or call the cops. Walt's house isn't in a very good neighborhood, but oh well. The shed he used to make his first animations is still there, too. I got a picture of it. We drove by what used to be his first animation studio, Laugh O' Grams. It looks better than the last time I saw it. The walls are now up straight(even if they're being supported) and it's condition just looks a whole lot better. I got photos of that, too. An organization of which I forgot the name at the moment is rebuilding it and is going to turn it into a museum. We also got a couple of snapshots of what used to be the middle school Walt Disney used to go to. It's an apartment complex thing now, but the building's the same.

After driving around the Walt sights, we stopped by the Hallmark headquarters. We got a bit of a tour and I must say, it's pretty awesome in there. They make more than just cards. They're going to get into home decor and such now. The people are so nice, too.

We arrived in Marceline towards the late afternoon. We met up with some of the folks we know there and headed to an invite-only party out in a hunting log cabin that's out on the Missouri River. A very peaceful place. I stayed steer clear of the riverside, for fear of making a fool of myself again. When I first came to Marceline and went to that cabin, I had the bright idea to go to the water's edge to read the epitaph of a dog that was buried there. I walked over what I thought was grass and sunk in up-to-my-knees marsh. At first, I was all, "whatever, I guess I'm just dirty now," and was going to walk out like nothing. One problem. I was stuck. I was eventually pulled out and they haven't dropped the topic since. I can admit now that I didn't do anything embarrassing on this trip, though!:D That's a big thing for me.XP

Anyways, back to the cabin. This party I was invited to was pretty cool. I met cartoonists and just a lot of talented, nice people. Mainly guests and friends to Marceline were invited. The cabin itself is full of stuff animals. And I don't mean the cute cuddly ones you find on a little girl's bed. I mean the real ones that are shot dead and stuffed for display. And good God, there were so many. I'm a bit more used to it now, but it's kinda creepy to have more than ten pairs of glass eyes staring at you from all directions. There were deer, elk, a bobcat, just to name a few.

We crashed up in our room at the Uptown Bed and Breakfast later that night. We stayed in a room that has a wall near the entrance where the visiting cartoonists draw. Sadly, some of the drawings were faded. I saw my drawing of my fursona that I did last year. Hate. It. She looks like a bloated rat.*shudder* I touched her up anyways, since I was asked to by the people that run the bed and breakfast. Oh, the lady in charge of the inn. She's the nicest woman you'll ever meet. She cooks you breakfast herself and will do anything for you. I made sure to draw her a pic of Katse and Kovuco in her comments notebook as a gift.

Saturday: The day of Toonfest. As great as always. We watched the little parade that they have in the morning. There weren't neccessarily the kind of floats you would think. A good majority were cars dressed up to advertise certain things about the town. It was cute. It's so funny to see the little kids dive for the candy that was thrown on the street. Oh, and there was a beagle running around and she was following the horse at the end of the parade. She was struttin' her stuff as if she was a part of it. Cutest thing ever. I got a picture of her, too.

I mainly spent that day in the Uptown Theater, watching the presentations of the visiting cartoonists and others. Okay, list of people that were there and I met...

Tony Baxter-One heck of an Imagineer. He worked on Journey Into Imagination, Indiana Jones and the Temple of the Forbidden Eye, and Big Thunder Mountain, just to name a few. He's such a great guy and I'm honored to have met his acquaintence.

Charles Solomon-A Disney historian. I didn't get much of a chance to talk to him, but his presentation was about how Disney had come so far with animating their Disney heroines, Snow White, in particular.

Scott Johnston(sp?)-He didn't present, but he was with Mr. Solomon. He was a CGI animator for Disney from the Little Mermaid to the Lion King. *breathe* Guys. He's one of the people responsible for creating and animating the wildebeests in the stampede scene in TLK. That was just omgworship in itself. We must've sat there for a good 20 minutes talking about animation and drawing. He said he wasn't much of an artist, but anyone who could've done that masterpeice is a hero in my book.

Tom Wilson-He's the cartoonist of Ziggy. He's a really nice guy. There was a pie eating contest that he entered during Toonfest. He didn't win, but it was just funny enough to see him eat a whole pie without using his hands and not even mess up his shirt!

Tom Richmond-He's a caricature artist. He's best known for doing caricatures for MAD Magazine. Also a cool person. His art is awesome. I feel like getting a subscription for MAD now.

Gary and Glenn McCoy-Best known as the Flying McCoy Brothers. These guys are so crazy it's awesome. They both do all sorts of cartoons, including editorial cartoons and such. One of them does those really stylized Mickey Mouse comics in Disney Adventures and other freelances. My brain refuses to work right now and tell me which brother it was.

Jim Borgman-The co-creator of the comic Zits. It was awesome to meet him, being a frequent reader of that comic.

I think I got everyone.P:

Unfortunately, Pete Doctor didn't show up. There was a memorial for Joe Ranft on the same day as Toonfest. If you didn't know, Joe Ranft was an amazing PIXAR animator who died in a car accident. I was told the story, but I don't want to repeat it. Pete Doctor tried everything to have the memorial on another date, but I heard that he said he'll most definately be in Marceline next year.

On Saturday night, there was another party going on at Walt Disney's childhood home. It started off with a sort of homage to Walt Disney. It took place under the Dreaming Tree, an old cottonwood that Walt used to lay under as a kid and just day dream. It's a very inspiring place. We also went to the rebuilt barn of Walt's childhood. Everyone who visits it signs it. I had drawn some wacked out, early version of my fursona when I first came and there was a drawing of Katse saying, "what is that" to my older drawing. That drawing was done last year. I left it alone, it looking better than the drawing in my room. I hung out at the party in the backyard most of the time. My dad and I went around to get the cartoonists to draw in a sketchbook for us. This was kind of like a live art trade, almost. Everyone was going around swapping sketches. Heck, one of the kids there even came up to me and asked me to draw in his sketchbook along with the other artists. I mean, little ole me. I'm no professional artist and can't compare at all to these geniuses, but he wanted me to draw in there all the same. Flattered doesn't even beging to describe how I felt. Since my original TLK characters aren't all the great, except Scar, but I'm not about to draw a villain in some kid's sketchbook, I drew Lilo. Yes, I can draw her...sorta.

There was a little girl there that was with me almost the whole night. She was cute and fun to be with. We both liked cats, so that was good. She looked through my sketchbook and we talked about my drawings and such. A crowd came around us and everyone found out that I could draw. It was nice, until my dad told them that I could sing, too. I have this uncanny ability to mimic just about anything, singing like Snow White being my most recent mimic. I ended up singing "I'm Wishing" for the people around us. Can you explain ohdeargodseizurenervous? At least I didn't have to stand up(the shaking would've been more noticable) and the little girl did it with me as the echo.

After a while, my little friend and I decided to get our own tour of Walt's house. The people who live there now added a lot onto it, so there were a lot of things to see. We spent the most time going around the original house. We saw Elias' and Flora's room(Walt's parents), Ruth's(Walt's younger sister) room, and even Walt's room. I've been in the house before, but I was still nervous to step into Walt's room. First of all, I couldn't even find the dang light switch. When I did find it, I was still hesitant. It was like I didn't feel myself worthy to be in that room. It was too amazing.

We left to go back home on Sunday morning. When we got back, it was as if we had never left. That's the only bad thing about going to Marceline:coming back. You only have to go once and you're hooked.