Monthly Archives: February 2019

Harry Potter, the Boggart and Anxiety: Curious?

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In “The Prisoner of Azkaban,” Professor Lupin is teaching the students at Hogwarts how to protect themselves from a boggart. Boggarts take the shape of what the person fears most. Lupin advises the students to picture what they fear most and use the incantation “Riddikulus.” However, just using the incantation isn’t enough. “What really finishes a boggart is laughter. You need to force it to assume a shape you find amusing.”

Todd Kashdan offers similar advice for dealing with anxiety in his book “Curious?”. The incantation he uses is “I’m having the thought that…” followed by whatever the anxiety producing thought is. Kashdan points out that we aren’t our thoughts. Our thoughts do not always reflect reality. By adding the observation that you’re having a thought, you’re able to separate the thought from reality and look at the situation more objectively while limiting the power of the thought.

After exploring the incantation, Kashdan talks about other ways of dealing with anxiety, including imagining the anxiety as an animate object, like a purple puppy dog or a tiger with candy cane claws and licorice teeth. “It becomes a lot easier to confront unwanted experiences and prevent fusion (the strength imbued in a thought when it is taken as literal truth) when they look silly and nonthreatening.

So, imagine your anxiety as a black widow on roller skates it can’t control or as Snape dressed like Neville’s grandmother and start getting control of your anxiety. Who knew that Harry Potter had insights on how to deal with anxiety and fear?

Disneyland Attractions and Their Movies

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Many Disneyland attractions already have movie attached to them. The Jungle Cruise will get its eponymous movie, starring Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt in 2020, though the boat designs were based on 1951’s “The African Queen.” The Indiana Jones Adventure has a series of films and a TV show based on the popular character; there are rumors of a fifth film in the works for 2021. Tarzan’s Treehouse is connected to Disney’s animated feature of the same name and was formerly known as the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse; the Swisskapolka is still played in memoriam of the former incarnation. This leaves only the Enchanted Tiki Room as an attraction in Adventureland without a movie.

The Pirates of the Caribbean has had five movies based on it. A sixth one was scheduled but the writers walked out and Disney has yet to clarify whether the reboot will move forward. The Haunted Mansion had a terrible movie made about it and deserves a do-over. Tom Sawyer’s Island, based on the Mark Twain stories of Tom and Huck Finn with a pirate overlay, has a movie starring JTT and the tie-in to the Pirates of the Caribbean. The seasonal Davy Crockett Explorer Canoes have the surprise hit of the 1950s “Davy Crockett: King of the Wild Frontier,” which started on the weekly Disney TV show and moved to the theaters after it became so popular. New Orleans Square is pretty much covered unless you want to count the Blue Bayou or Club 33 as attractions.

Critter Country’s Splash Mountain is based on the never-to-be-seen-in-the-U.S.-again “The Song of the South,” and Winnie the Pooh has several films, and TV shows – most recently, “Christopher Robin.” The Country Bear Jamboree also got a movie; however, the film released after the show was evicted from the premises.

Over at Frontierland, the Mark Twain doesn’t have its own movie; neither does the Sailing Ship Columbia or Big Thunder Mountain. Big Thunder Mountain does have a series of comic books. The Golden Horseshoe Stage was designed by Harper Goff who also did the saloon in “Calamity Jane.” The Shooting Exposition is another attraction that is missing a movie. But does it deserve one?

Fantasyland is all about the mostly animated films of Walt Disney, which contributed to the TV show “Once Upon a Time.” From “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” to “Frozen,” just about every attraction has a movie to go with it. “Dumbo” and “Alice in Wonderland” are represented twice, and that’s not including the miniatures in Storybookland Canals. Even the Matterhorn is tied to “Third Man on the Mountain.” It’s a small world, however, does not.

Toon Town is also replete with films, or at least, the short cartoons of Disney’s past. Home to the Big Five, Toon Town also features nods to the Disney Afternoon with Gadget’s Go Coaster. “Who Framed Roger Rabbit?” provides the framework for Roger Rabbit’s Cartoon Spin.

Tomorrowland has its own movie, which was better than it was given credit for. The attractions in Tomorrowland mainly rely on “Star Wars,” “Toy Story” and “Finding Nemo for their themes. The exceptions are Space Mountain, the Monorail, the Astro Orbitor and Autopia.

Main Street U.S.A.’s attractions appear to be completely ignored by Disney’s movie making machine. Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, the Penny Arcade, and the Main Street Cinema are all attractions without movies though Disney did distribute “Lincoln” in 2012. None of the vehicles on the street have their own films.

So, which of the attractions that do not have films should be made into a movie? Or is Disney going to need to create new attractions to find the next Pirates of the Caribbean franchise? Leave your comments below, include a possible plotline, just keep it PG.

Thinking deeply about a subject is part of becoming more creative. If you like Disney, a great place to start to think deeply and improve your creativity is with “Disneyland Is Creativity: 25 Tips for Becoming More Creative.” Preorder “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity” for a more in-depth analysis of my favorite ride. For other articles related to Disney check out these links.

The ABCs of Creativity: Definition

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Creativity is on of those things that people don’t know how to define, but they know it when they see it. In 1950, Joy Paul Guilford, the president of the American Psychology Association, called for greater emphasis on creativity research. Almost 70 years later, psychologists still haven’t reached an agreed upon definition. Many people say that creativity is the generation of something new that has value. This is vague because the question of “to whom?” remains unanswered.

Creativity is the way that people solve problems in new and better ways. From cooking over an open fire to using a pot-bellied stove to using a stove with controlled temperatures to using an energy efficient stove, these improvements are due to someone being creative with the question of how do we make food better to eat and more convenient to make. Without creativity, humans would still be eating raw meat if they survived as a species at all.

There are many definitions of creativity. The most important thing to remember is that being creative involves the use of the imagination to solve a problem in a new way. Don’t let a definition stop you from realizing your creative potential.

Need more definitions of creativity from artists, comic book writers, and other people who make a living through their creativity? Check out these videos on my YouTube channel. You can also find more definitions in “Disneyland Is Creativity: 25 Tips for Becoming More Creative.”

The Seven Secrets of Creativity

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You are innately creative. It’s in your genetic coding. Schools, systems, jobs and fear may have burned a lot of your creative ability out of you, but you can get it back. Here are the seven secrets of creativity:

  1. Exercise Imagination: Gene Wilder sang it best – “There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there you’ll be free if you truly wish to be.” Stop the video games, shut off the TV, get rid of Netflix. To exercise your imagination, you need to create the story yourself. Read a book. Have a tea party with dolls. Avoid the hot lava monster. If you have children, play with them and let them be right. Study how they use their imagination. Add to the play with “Yes and…” Join an improv comedy troop. Free paint, free write, keep an imagination journal. Ignore your internal editor; Elly Brown says to “Fire that guy.”
  2. Play: Go outside and be a kid again. Play on the playground. Find an old game you loved and a couple of friends to join you. Make a tough job into a game. Have a playful attitude. Make all the dad jokes. See how you can manipulate word through puns and imagery.
  3. Think Deeply: Learn about a new subject. Don’t just spend 20 minutes researching it on the Internet. Go deeper. Examine a TV episode or movie. Think all the thoughts about it. Start with whether or not you enjoyed it. Why? What was the director trying to say? Was there a star who stood out? Was there a quote that touched you as truth? Was there a fact that you thought wasn’t right? What surprised you? Research those things.
  4. Make Connections: Creativity happens at the intersection. Steve Jobs said that creative people weren’t smarter, they just had more dots to connect. Each of those dots was an experience that the person had and thought deeply about. Combine things that may seem absurd and see what you can make from them.
  5. Embrace Failure: When you’re doing something new, you will fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not doing something that is creative. It’s okay to fail. Embrace it and learn from it.
  6. Learn from Mistakes: A mistake can be a valuable lesson if you learn from it. Don’t make the same mistake twice, make new ones every day. If you make a mistake, laugh at it and move on, or figure out how to profit from the mistake.
  7. Take Action: You might be the most creative person in the world, but until you make something it won’t matter. Take action on your ideas and move forward with it. The world needs you and your positive creativity. Paint, write, sing, do science, whatever it is that helps you be more creative.

Creativity is the essence of humanity. It is tempered by fear and the need for safety. Through of the shackles that fear provides and create. The more you do, the easier it’ll get. If you need a creative mascot, get one of our handmade penguins!

Want to learn more about creativity and improve your creative process? Get a copy of “Disneyland Is Creativity: 25 Tips for Becoming More Creative.” Try “Penguinate! Essays and Short Stories: Improve Your Creativity for a Better Life and World.” Preorder “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.” Or just check out these links to articles on my blog.

Want to Create a Better Experience? Think about Dessert

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In “Curious?,” Todd Kashdan writes about the “peak end” experience. Memory is a reconstruction not a recall. This means that the way we remember experiences is different than the objective event itself. In this case, Kashdan explores the fact that an experience that ends well will be remembered more positively.

Kashdan offers up the unappetizing and unappealing example of research conducted on people having a colonoscopy. Apparently, this procedure can be painful and uncomfortable. Two people have the same procedure. However, when the procedure is over, the first person has the tube removed immediately; the pain is over. The second person has the tube left in for an additional five minutes; the pain is over, but the tube still feels uncomfortable. Who reports having a better experience?

Against all logic, the person who had the tube left in an additional five minutes rated the procedure higher than the person who was done immediately. In a second experiment, the scientists performed the colonoscopy for different lengths of time from four to 69 minutes and found that time had no effect on the reporting of experience. Because the, um, end of the procedure for those who had the tube left in felt less painful, the entire memory of the colonoscopy was colored as better.

Kashdan uses this research because of its scientific validity. More than one experiment reproduced the same result. However, for those who want a more tasteful representation of the “peak end” experience, you might consider the last time you had a great meal. Did it end with an amazing dessert? If so, you might wonder if the rest of the meal was as good as you think it was.

Kashdan recommends using this knowledge to improve experiences you don’t like, and he offers several examples of people doing something at the end of an activity to help make them feel better about the activity. For example, a person ends a gym session with a soak in the hot tub.

In my own life, I used to love going to the dentist when I was a kid. Our dentist had video games in the waiting room and never rushed me when I was on the hunt for a high score. More importantly, at the end of the visit, I would get to choose a toy from the toy box to take home with me. As a child who didn’t have enough toys because of our financial position, the dentist was able to end an experience that most people don’t enjoy, in such a way that I was able to remember the visits as great. For other businesses, it’s important to figure out how to end the transaction in a positive way, especially if someone has a bad experience.

Get my book and read more about “My Life in the Projects: a kid’s-eye view of HUD housing in the 1980s.”

Speakers’ Club for Feb. 16, 2019: Name’s the Same

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Speakers’ Club Rules.

Word Crimes sing along.

Pure Imagination.

Minister’s Cat E.

One Word Story.

Names the Same.

https://youtu.be/Wh9UeUgrk5Q

Refuse the refuse and re-fuse the dynamite.

This team’s the Steams.

There are only three things in life that are fair: A pretty woman, a carnival and taxi cab rates.

What are your best English jokes?

‘Frozen 2’: The Fall of Elsa

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Let’s forget the mildly entertaining and somewhat inconsistent shorts that Disney spun from its billion-dollar franchise ‘Frozen’ and look at the new teaser that just dropped. A determined Elsa faces the fury of a stormy coastline. Was she kidnapped and left on an island? Shipwrecked? We don’t know. We do know, by the determination in her face and body language, that she’s going to get off the island using her ice powers. The ocean can’t defeat her. (I don’t know why she needs a running start or how long she plans on running.The ocean is big.) She could probably make a stairway or bridge over the waves, but that would be way less cool.) Winter is coming!

Floating multi-colored diamond shapes…

All the SVENS! Gather the herd, we have places to run!

Anna shows off her athleticism. That’s quite a leap. Of course, tossing a bust around like it’s a bouquet of flowers showed off some of Anna’s unexpected strength.

Elsa is fighting fire to save her friend Olaf. Is this the time we see the demise of Olaf? If this scene comes before Elsa fighting the ocean… I fear for our friend who likes warm hugs. Maybe, it’s retribution for the short that was too long and shown before “Coco.” Olaf! Some people are worth melting for. Just maybe not right now!

The wind through the leaves as fall settles across the land. Has fall come too early? After Elsa’s eternal winter of the first movie, is this how the trees would react? Are those two new characters? It doesn’t look like Christoff’s coat. And he’s being blown like a leaf on the wind. It could be Hans or the son of the Duke of Weselton.

There’s a fell voice on the wind. All of those blowing leaves… It’s the Fall of Elsa. How else would a queen, her sister and the official ice deliverer be able to leave the castle and ostensibly the kingdom? Who did they leave in charge? Hans? He was a capable leader who seemed to care about the people of Arendelle, even if he wanted to kill the sisters.

The all female version of “Vuelie,” the seemingly weirdly out of place opening to the first movie featured a choir of men and women. This trailer version is different. And cut! No, Anna, I didn’t mean that literally!

I have already proposed several different plotlines that I’m pretty sure Disney didn’t consider. You can see them on my Patreon page as a preview of my planned book “Penguinate! The Disney Company” if you join today! You might also want to check out five bad pick-up lines from “Frozen” at our Weebly archives.

The ABCs of Creativity: Courage

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Human beings have a biological need to be accepted as part of a group. In tribal situations, being sent away from the group was a punishment that often resulted in the banished person’s death. One human alone would have difficulty surviving the elements, finding food, and fighting off those animals at the top of the food chain. Even as recently as the Middle Ages, banishment from a country was a punishment on the same level as death. We want and need to be accepted; taking the safe path and avoiding ideas that might not work allows people to feel safe. No group would banish someone for doing what he or she was told to do.

For better or worse, people also have a drive to explore. As tribes grew and competed for resources, people needed to push the boundaries and find places with more resources. Everything that has ever been discovered required someone brave or stupid enough to try it first. It takes courage to go over the next mountain to find food. It takes courage to convince your tribe to stay in one place while crops grow. It takes courage to suggest a new action because failure could mean laughter, ridicule and ostracization.

Creativity takes courage because it leaves the person open to all of his or her primal fears. The group may not only reject the creative work or suggestion, but also the person may lose status or membership in the group. That loss of an identifier may not be as physically bad as death, but it is as emotionally bad as banishment. In a business setting, standing up to your boss in the face of things that have always been done a certain way is rarely rewarded. More often, it is dismissed. Sometimes, it leads to being fired.

If you’re going to be creative, you have to be ready to face people who will tell you all sorts of things. You can’t make a living through creativity. It’s never been done before. It’s not safe. Don’t rock the boat. You’re too stupid, too clumsy, and/or too flighty to accomplish the new task. You may even face these arguments from your own internal editor.

As Elly Brown says, “Fire that guy!” Don’t listen to him, her, or them. Draw on your courage and create. It’s okay to be afraid; do it anyway.

For more on creativity, get “Disneyland Is Creativity: 25 Tips for Becoming More Creative.” Order “Penguinate! Essays and Short Stories: Creating for a Better Life and world.” Preorder “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.”

Press Release: Penguinate.com Raising Money to Save Penguins

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For Immediate Release                     Contact: Shad Engkilterra, penguinate.com
Email: shadexaminer@gmail.com

$1 from each penguin sold until July 1, 2019 will go to Global Penguin Society

Penguinate.com will donate $1 for every stuffed penguin it sells between now and July 1, 2019 to the Global Penguin Society (GPS) through the Wildlife Conservation Network (WCN).

 “What can be funnier than a penguin that is running to hug you,” said Jenya Engkilterra, penguin designer at penguinate.com. “Maybe he’s not running to hug you. He’s just running, but it doesn’t make it any less funny.”

Penguinate.com’s handmade penguins are made of faux fur and stuffed with holofiber. The eyes are hand embroidered, which gives every penguin a unique look and means there are no hard pieces for children to swallow. Our penguins love to cosplay, and costumes can be made to order.

Product Availability

Handmade stuffed penguins can be ordered at penguinate.com. They will also be featured at the penguinate.com booths at Lilac City Comicon 2019 in Spokane, WA, from June 1 – 2, Ogden UnCon 2019 in Ogden, UT, from June 7 – 9, and Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con 2019 in Las Vegas, NV, from June 14 – 15.

“Our penguins are made to bring joy and happiness to the world,” said Shad Engkilterra, Owner at penguinate.com. “We want to honor the birds that inspired so many happy moments for us and those who have adopted our stuffed penguin friends.”

Penguins and the Charities

Of the 18 species of penguins, only the Galapagos Penguin lives north of the equator. The International Union for Conservation of Nature lists 10 of the species as vulnerable or endangered.

“We are concerned about penguins and their environment,” said Jenya Engkilterra. “We want to save penguins in the wild.”

Charity Navigator rates WCN with a score of 100 out of 100 and four stars. Over 90 percent of donated funds go to programs to protect wildlife. GPS has partnered with WCN and its president, Pablo Garcia Borboroglu, was awarded the National Geographic Buffet Award 2018. The organization also received the Whitley Gold Award in 2018.

DisneyNature chose GPS and WCN to receive a portion of the box office take in the first week for the “Penguins” scheduled to be released April 17, 2019.

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The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.

For more information, press only:

Shad Engkilterra

shadexaminer@gmail.com

For more information on Product:

http://www.penguinate.com

Penguin Charity Press ReleaseDownload

Want a More Fulfilling Life? ‘Curious?’

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In “Curious?,” author Todd Kashdan writes about several different ways to get more out of life. From taking on mundane tasks to exploring once-dismissed activities, Kashdan says curiosity is the way to make life more fulfilling. Too many times, we shut off our attention to a task, which leads to a missed opportunity to be in the moment while opening up the mind to negative self-talk.

Kashdan urges people to engage their curiosity through practice. The steps of practice he suggests are:

  1. Choose something you consider an unappealing activity.
  2. Do the activity and look for three novel or unique things about it.
  3. Write those down and discuss them with someone else. (Use our comments section below!)

Kashdan uses this technique when he changes his daughter’s diaper, and when he does, he always finds something pleasant. He gets “a moment to reflect and feel close to my little one. Instead of losing a moment, I gain one” (p. 82).

In much of the first part of the book, curiosity is linked to creativity. Be curious, be more creative, and live a fuller life. For more on creativity and curiosity, check out “Disneyland Is Creativity: 25 Tips for Becoming More Creative,” and “Penguinate! Essays and Short Stories: Improve Your Creativity for a Better Life and World.” Preorder “The Haunted Mansion Is Creativity.”