Interactive cake patent from Disney

Did you see my new tattoo over at the Knuckle Tattoo blog?




In case you are dense: this is not really a picture of me.

In the latest (old) news, Disney filed a patent for 'interactive cakes' along with a drawing of their idea.

...[Disney Imagineers have cooked up] a US patent
application lovingly titled "Projector systems and methods for producing
digitally augmented interactive cakes and other food products." The application
includes a set of hilarious illustrations depicting over-sized cameras
projecting images and video onto the surface of baked goods in order to promote
storytelling and / or interactivity that is unique and individualized.

Disney envisions images mapped to the 3D topography of
the cake allowing it to sense, for example, when a slice is in the process of
being cut (initiating a sword fight with Captain Hook) or removed (water rushes
in to fill the void). While we doubt that you'll find these in the aisles of
your local Best Buy grocer anytime soon, you might want to check for
availability the next time that you book a birthday party at a Disneyland
resort. Something tells us that these could be a hit with the
youngins.

Forget the youngins, [in my best Huell Howser impression] I think this sounds simply amazing! These cakes would probably be crazy expensive at first, but those first few people will be pioneers in the cake world.

A commenter at Stitch Kingdom linked to this YouTube video of a wedding cake with abstract imagery projected onto it.

This is a very cool first step, and a high-tech way to spruce up an otherwise plain (though delicious) white cake. I personally cannot wait to see a Haunted Mansion wedding cake where crypt doors creak and tombstones actually quake.

Are you as excited about cake technology as I am?!

xo,
KB

Haunted Mansion Wedding

Halloween is coming! Temporary Halloween store signs are going up all over my neighborhood, and I'm seeing lots of spooky things in the stores - it's the start of my favorite time of year!

My friend sent me a link to this gorgeous, amazing Haunted Mansion wedding. If you just want to look at a few of the photos, I'm posting my favorites, but if you want the whole story about this amazing wedding, visit Midnight in the Garden of Eden's post. Normally, I try to re-post here, but in this case I have nothing to offer except lots of gushy praise.


Custom-made signs announce the wedding location. I wonder if they'll make me plaques for my house? These are beautiful and SO well-made.


The lovely couple at their head table. They've really captured all the key Mansion elements.


I just can't believe how perfect all their work is. Love it!!!

-Kay Banks

A real Disneyland marriage proposal

From Daveland (one of the better Disneyland blogs), a REAL Disneyland proposal! Not like that terrible, staged fake proposal from last year (or even this weirdly staged proposal).

Here is Samantha’s story: “Justin proposed to me on Saturday, August 9th 2008. We were at Disneyland by 9am, and I had no clue it was going to be the most magical day of my life! It started off completely normal...we went on Space Mountain, had some breakfast in Tomorrowland, and then Justin told me he was able to arrange our own boat on the Jungle Cruise. He told me he had contacted the park and told them he was bringing a celebrity therefore we could receive special treatment (which I of course believed.) [Note to my husband. Yes, this is possible.] We walked to the exit of the ride, and Larry, our Jungle Cruise cast member escorted us on to our very own boat. I was BEYOND excited. Larry put his jungle cruise hat on Justin, and we began the tour. He stopped in front of every part of the ride and took pictures of us. Silly faces in front of the tiger. Us making trunks with our arms in front of the elephants, and so forth. Until we reached the famous “backside of water.” [I know it's stupid, and I've heard it 100 times, but I love the backside of water joke]



Justin got on one knee, and proposed! It was the best moment of my life. Larry got on the loud speaker and said “by the powers vested in the Jungle Cruise, I now pronounce them husband and wife!” I was crying so hard, that I couldn’t see anything near me. When we rounded the corner, nearing the end of the ride, I saw a bunch of people cheering at the dock. It was my entire family and his entire family. I was so surprised that it just made my cry harder! We all spent the day at Disneyland.



Dining at Blue Bayou for lunch, riding Space Mountain again, eating churros, and hanging out together. When we pulled out of the parking structure at the end of the day, Justin faked missing the 5 Freeway, and pulled in to the Grand Californian Hotel. He had arranged a room with rose petals and the whole nine yards. It was beyond amazing. He is so wonderful and I thank my lucky stars that I have met someone who knows and understands my passion of Disney!”

Wow, such an elaborate proposal! Inviting their entire family was a nice touch. Blue Bayou, Space Mountain, churros...sounds like my perfect day. Since they were engaged a year and a half ago, I assume they're already married and had an equally-amazing ceremony! Congratulations, total strangers! See you at the park.

-Kay

Disney Princess dresses

Hot off of some old press releases, here are the Disney Princess inspired gowns to go with yesterday's wedding rings. I know these dresses are just supposed to be inspired by the cartoons, but they could at least pretend like they watched these movies before making the designs. These gowns are really nice, but clearly not Disney inspired, just Disney branded. (Like Krusty-brand eyewash)


Ariel - this looks nothing like the dress that Ariel wore at her wedding. I remember Ariel's gown having a very full skirt. Also, Ariel was fifteen. Why the hell was she getting married? If Ariel was going to inspire a gown, I think it should be a fit-and-flare gown with a sweetheart neckline that's reminiscent of Ariel as a mermaid.



Belle - I strongly remember Belle's beautiful yellow gown from Beauty and the Beast, and it looked nothing like this. It was more like a corset with a frosted cake at the bottom. I loved that dress.



Cinderella - I can kind of see this one being inspired by Cinderella. Cinderella's gown did have straps or cap sleeves and she had those two panels on her hips and a full skirt. I'm willing to play along with this gown.



Giselle - This one is inspired by Enchanted. Neither dress that I remember from the movie looks anything like this one. The first one had giant, puffy sleeves, and the other had small, puffy cap sleeves with an empire waist. Those dresses were even on an actual human! How could they not at least kind of make it look like the dresses from the movie?!



Jasmine - Just, no. I don't know much about fashion, but isn't this more of a Grecian gown?



Sleeping Beauty - this dress is the winner. I wouldn't wear it, but I think it's the one that most looks like the movie dress. Princess Aurora had a full skirt, two seams up the bodice, and sleeves on her off-the-shoulder gown. To me, this dress is an embroidery nightmare, but it really does look princessy, and I'm sure a real girl could pull this off if she could get the dress out of the Windows XP backdrop.



Snow White - This one is a big fat fail. It looks nothing like Snow White's gown. Adding to that, it's boring and generic.


Tiana from the unreleased movie. I like the bodice, but it's really obvious from all that material under the model's arm that it doesn't fit very well.

Overall, I'm not a fan of these dresses. Mostly it seems like they borrowed from popular wedding gowns and then stamped a name on them. I can't see a Snow White lover buying a dress just to get the name "Snow White" on the tag.

-Kay