Grr.

We’ve been fighting with a hard drive. It failed and took all of my comic and art files with it. Harknell fixed it. We got the files back.

Stupid and Insane Defenders Against Chaos will be back on track tonight.

As you know, there are some cultural differences between the different areas in England…

Thanks, Terry!

I’m going to go off on a bit of a ranty tangent here about Stitch and other Disney properties that I just don’t totally get.

I finally saw Lilo and Stitch. Ok. This film was disturbing. Lilo is clearly a very sick little girl. It’s not cute or awesome in any way. I don’t get how watching her sociopathic behavior is supposed to be fun. I felt really, REALLY bad for her older sister who is trying her best to not have her taken away by the social worker. Lilo herself was actually very one dimensional when she wasn’t being just plain upsetting to watch or mean. My understanding of psychology made me feel terrible for Lilo, but the one dimensional nature of how she was shown in the beginning of the film made it hard for me not to plain dislike the little shit.

I thought a lot of the scenes were very well done. I really liked the art and how they set up some of the scenes and recurring jokes. I just couldn’t get past how disturbing the whole premise is. Of course the ending was cute and all. It was well done, but..yeah. Couldn’t get past the mentally sick little girl who needed to be committed to a home for seriously disturbed kids. Yikes. I ALMOST wanted to exclaim on top of a mountain that this film could have been called “Asshole and Little Bitch” because it’s basically Lilo and Stitch pranking or hurting unsuspecting nice people.

My empathy for the little girl (even though she was kind of a sociopath through most of the film) prevents me from scaling any mountains right now, but I am left with mixed feelings. I just kind of don’t like this film very much even though it was very well done from an animation perspective. The intention of the film was to be fun but it was the same as watching an insane person do something amusing. It’s great until you think about what you are actually seeing.

Speaking of Stitch – he is ALL OVER THE PLACE in Orlando.

I don’t really get why Disney needs to keep rebranding attractions with Stitch. He is in nearly every parade, every gift shop, and every place they can possibly cram his blue, furry ass into. The big thing they have done is to rebrand Alien Encounter and replacing it with Stitch’s Great Escape. Stitch’s Great Escape is probably one of the worst Disney Attraction in the history of man. No one likes this attraction. NO ONE. I hate it because it’s stupid and underwhelming. Conservative families hate it because of the rude burp humor on the ride. (Stitch burps in your face and they shoot chili dog smell at you.) I’ve read countless reviews of this ride and it’s hard to find a positive review for it. There is rarely a wait for this ride because it has almost no redeeming factor. After you have been on it once there is absolutely no reason to go back on.

However, Disney doesn’t seem to get the picture. They keep throwing Stitch at us over and over again. They did a stage show called Stitch’s Supersonic Celebration. It was so ass-rippingly bad that they discontinued it after only 6 weeks. It seems they have not learned from these two attractions. I’ve heard he will be on more attractions in the near future. ARGH. NO. GOD. NO.

This is just as crazy to me as to why they are making Monsters 2 and Cars 2 (plus a whole Cars Land at California Adventure in Anaheim, CA) and no Incredibles 2. CARS has half a freaking park. FREAKING CARS. However, great films like The Incredibles and Ratatouille have almost nothing. The Haunted Mansion in Disney World is one of the most popular attractions of all time and it has almost no merchandise in the entire park! It is just inexplicable.

I’m sure it has to do with merchandise testing very well with children, but Argh. ARGH. ARGH. I’m a Disney Parks mega fan but I can’t imagine wanting to go to FREAKING CARS LAND. Walt himself knew it was important to market to all ages, but that appears to get lost sometimes these days. There are a lot of properties that I would buy merchandise for, but it seems that whoever is running Disney now just doesn’t understand that adults without children have money, too. They have some kick ass parks, but sometimes it seems they miss some obvious sales opportunities.

Yes, I am referring to the Haunted Mansion baseball cap that I’ve been trying to find for Harknell for over 4 years now. I don’t think it exists. I’ll bet I could find Stitch toilet paper, but no simple Haunted Mansion hat.

I did see a Stitch riding the Haunted Mansion pin, and I wanted to gouge my eyes out with it.

Here is some footage of the old Alien Encounter attraction. It got replaced with Stitch before I ever got to ride it. Much of the ride is in darkness so that they can scare you with the alien breathing down your back or touching you.

It was Summer 1994 in Pittsburgh, PA. This new shop called Starbucks had come into town.

Today people of all ages drink energy drinks and coffee, but back then caffeine (aside from Coke or Pepsi) was mostly an adult thing. I never drank coffee, so I didn’t pay Starbucks any mind until I heard from a friend that this thing called a “Frappuccino” was really great.

Starbucks just so happened to be located on my way to school. I tried my first Frappuccino and was hooked. It was my gateway drug into coffee and Starbucks simultaneously.

I tried every combination of Frappuccino on the menu with double, triple, or quadruple espresso shots. Then I moved to the rest of the menu and the pastries. The pastries were like homemade pastries back then and had less calories than today. This was my favorite place.

Over the years, the pastries became less fresh and homemade. The calories went up. The drinks became more limited. (Mocha Valencia, anyone? Oh wait…) The prices got higher and higher. Dunkin Donuts now sells hot espresso for half the price.

The two things that kept me glued to Starbucks in spite of their rising prices and changing quality was:

1. A ubiquitous monopoly – You can always find a Starbucks and for awhile they were the o nly espresso people you could find at all.

2. Great customer service – If something goes wrong they always gave me a free drink coupon. I’m confident that I’ll walk out happy.

3. Frappuccinos – I love them. No one else does a frozen coffee quite like it and allows me to add espresso until I’m ready to jump out of my skull.

Times are changing.

I can now get an espresso at Dunkin’ Donuts or even (gasp) McDonalds. Starbucks isn’t the only player anymore. They still have great customer service.

Starbucks changed the Frappuccino formula today. They claim that sales have been slow for the Frappuccino. Now we have the “however you want it” Frappuccino.

I got to try one. Here is what I thought:

Pros:

- New Blenders: They have new blenders. The ice is blended more finely so that you no longer have the problem where the ice separates from the coffee drink. I was able to drink it all without have a lot of ice crystals left over.

- Better Ingredients: No more High Fructose Corn Syrup and other crap. Yay!

- Customization: You can now customize them. This means that even vegans can drink them now.

Cons:

- Customization: You can now customize them. No that’s not a misprint. Its a positive and a negatve. The drinks are so customizeable that even I – a seasoned complicated drink orderer – was downright confused as to how it worked and what I could get. I still am. It’s annoying.

It’s also more taxing on the baristas because they now have a lot of different ingredients instead of mix. There is a lot of room for human error.

- Taste: The taste is different. I ordered a simple “tall Frappuccino with an extra shot of espresso”. (Before it was a “double tall frappuccino.” Now it’s called an “Espresso Frappuccino”. Whatever.)

I received not a Frappuccino but a slushie that was sweeter and less coffee-tasting than the old version. It didn’t taste bad while I was drinking it, but it wasn’t awesome or more amazing than the other random places that sell coffee slushies. I did love the finer blended ice. After I finished it I was left with a bizarre metallic, fiery aftertaste. It is almost like my tongue is burning with offmake Frappuccino taste. Normally the aftertaste would be that of Espresso.

I thought that the new Frappuccino was not as bad as some people are claiming, but it’s no longer a Frappuccino. It is a sweet slushie with a metallic aftertaste.

My simple Espresso Frappuccino cost just over $4.00. I read online that you can order “extra coffee” and other things to make it taste more like the old style, but that increases the price even higher.

Starbucks neglected to change the one thing necessary to get people like me to buy 2 Fraps a day again: Price.

Back in the day I could get a Frap for under $3. Now my drinks cost $4 and $5 and we are in a recession. (Drinks larger than a Tall can be over $5 now.) I budgeted out a Frap here and there, but the new formula just isn’t that awesome. I love the idea of healthier ingredients, but I don’t love the new formula

I’ll probably order it again just to make sure my barista didn’t make a mistake, but it’s mostly reaching for a dream of 1994. Eventually I’ll probably just stop.

What did you think of the New Frap? Which one did you order?

If this is your image, LMK and I’ll credit you.