tOy Veh Story!
I doubt that I'll be going to see Toy Story 3. For one thing, I am not a fan of Pixar animations. If anything they creep me out. I'd much rather watch old Betty Boop cartoons:
I heard from my friend Phil (formerly of Playaz Ball) this weekend. He was taking his children to see Toy Story 3. I had just been reading various reviews of the movie. So many cited this "beautiful full-circle ending for the toys," and "...a beautiful transition ending for Andy's childhood," and "...as long as we remember that our inner child isn't what we're told, but what we invent."
After listening to Phil's little adventure into Toy world, I wonder how much of his own inner child survived. Here it is in his own words:
This is neither here nor there, but I had to share this. We were taking our girls to see Toy Story 3 today. We had a coupon for a free TS3 movie ticket from a DVD we bought recently. All you had to do was log on and print your ticket with the code they give you.
We logged on to the Disney site, put in our code, and they gave us some "validation code" and they - I sh*t you not - ask you to hand write the validation code onto a ticket you print, then TAKE A PHOTO OF THAT - THEN....UPLOAD IT BACK TO THEIR WEBSITE before they would give you your "free ticket." I thought, "Am I being had? Is someone filming me right now?? Am I running this site?" (meaning the surreal creations on his blog.)
This morning, he sent me the directions and the sample photograph of what Disney provides: Create Your Proof Of Purchase ..that's all folks!
1. Place your 1 tickets next to each other on a table.
2. Check out our example proof on the right.
3. Clearly write your unique submission code 8132478 on each of the tickets
using a blue or black pen - as illustrated by our example right.
4. Use a digital camera to take one picture of all the 1 tickets. Try to make
sure that the tickets fill up as much as possible of the picture.
5. Save the picture to your computer (refer to the computer or camera manual
for how to do this).
6. Upload your proof of purchase photo.
Phil said, "I did go to the movie. I did not jump through their (hula) hoops." One reviewer said, "I raise my hand, and without shame, add my name to the list of adult males who shed more than a couple of tears at this movie." I'm guessing after his own ordeal, Phil may be shedding a few of his own over lost innocence. Define "free," eh Phil?
"All this for a ticket? What? You don't think I'm human?"
Labels: dc blogs, dcblogs live, DCist, disney, fleischer, frustration, max, modern life, Movies, online tickets, phil, technorati, the playaz ball, The Washington Post, toy story 3, wonkette
posted by Washington Cube at 7:29 AM
17 Comments:
Well said, Cube.
My wife and I were staring at the screen thinking "are they serious?"
I mean - I have to go get my camera, take a photo (that is hopefully to their specifications), plug in the camera, upload it to the computer, then go back in, upload it to disney....WTF?!
What really cracks me up is for the poor bastard who isn't adept at doing this (i.e., I love the instruction to "get your camera manual" --seriously???).
I knew Walt Disney was a racist mo-fo, but I didn't know he was a sadist too.
Phil:
Well. Think about your Mom. "The Google." (a classic..completely changed the way D.C. spoke.) Can you see her doing all of this?
Keep telling me what's going on in your world (and it's always surreal) and I'll keep posting about it.
I gather there's a Playaz Ball this year?
Ha Ha Ha! And Hooray for Professor Grampy! Cartoons from the olden days are the best. Although I was completely exhausted by the end of the second one.
Coupons often seem like they're more trouble than they're worth and that was an excellent example. Sheesh!
Yeah, my mom would be so determined to save $8.50 and get the free ticket, she would call me to take the half-hour or so to do all this and then drive it over to her house.
And yes, there will always be a Playaz Ball, blog or not. This year's is the second weekend in September.
Yeah, that free ticket would be tempting for me as well. I'd be taking pictures of whatever I had to just to get the free ticket. I'm lame like that. I think they make it so hard on people so that they can say, "Hey, we offered a deal, no one took us up on it."
But I come from a family who spends the day after black Friday filling out mail in rebate forms. In fact, yesterday, I got a check in the mail for a dollar and some change but with my dad's name on it. I can only imagine wtf they are up to now.
And yes, I'll spend the stamp to mail him his check for a dollar. Foolish, right? That's us.
Cyndy: I died seeing Professor Grampy. They used to show these cartoons on early Saturday mornings, but no more. Innocent, and yet, oh so not.
Phil and Velvet: I was raised the same way. My mother saying, "Here honey. You buy one, too, then we both save a dollar and can use different addresses...all of the rigamarole Velvet describes. "Make sure you fill out the form and don't let the saving go to waste." Dropping off rebate checks back and forth for a dollar that took eight months to receive, and as Velvet says, the manufacturer hoping to defeat you with the logistics of it all.
I'm surprised Velvet surfaced on my blog today, her getting so close to her wedding day. Only Phil could bring her out of the woodwork.
I'm glad, Phil, that Playaz Ball is on. I was sure you would cite economics (lack thereof) or time constraints or pressing family needs to bring it to a halt this year. It's not easy in this day and age to get a group of friends together. What I will miss are the photographic treats that would follow in your blog--some Playaz zonked face down in a full pool, or in a pile of cosmic dust that would have put Tony Scarface to shame.
Trust me, Cube - no catastrophe or impoverishment would stop Playaz Ball from going on.
And let me be clear: while this is totally out of character for me to admit, I am all for rebates, saving $1 etc. But I become incensed when a rebate form comes back and says "you didn't dot this i, so no rebate until you fill out the form correctly" or those class-action lawsuits where I "won" a settlement of 10 free cell phone minutes from a carrier I am no longer with. I was simply so dumbfounded by this I refused to play their game.
It makes one feel safer in the world, knowing nothing with stop "The Playaz."
I hear ya, Phil. Where it's "never that simple." Not only do you need the receipt, but you need to circle the amount spent, then you need to cut out some bar coded "proof of purchase" off the box and fill out a form that came with the purchase, stating where it was purchased, and why. The insanity of it all.
When I worked on Capitol Hill, and I had underground privilege parking, they had a bumper sticker on your car, showing what building you were in, the space number...all of that. They were also color coded.
After 9/11 all of that changed and they became more security conscious in terms of what was "revealed" on your car bumper.
One of my cars was totalled. The rule was "you have to turn the sticker in to get a new one issued." Normally that meant scrapping the sticker off with a razor blade. I asked the body shop to cut the bumper into a big hunk, sticker intact, and waltzed into the garage offices with that in tow. I think those hillbillies didn't stop laughing for a week...and they hung the bumper on their wall. I know. Performed by a true Playazette.
Ha ha! I'm here! I got back from the vaca and started checking in with my e-friends!
Yeah...Phil's always good for a chuckle, Velvet. I told him to come back and visit anytime.
Oh, and X has this brilliant story about when we bought appliances at Lowe's and there was a rebate equal to the delivery fee that you got in the form of a debit card.
I mailed everything in for him / us, and then when I was cleaning out my desk at work in one of my furies of hating that place, I called him and asked if he got the rebate card. He said no. I called the place all pissed off and New York like, accusing them of holding our rebate card hostage, and they said, "Ma'am, the card was mailed to you, it was used at Giant for $5.00, then it expired."
WTF!!!!
I called X and he suddenly remembers getting the card, using it once, and trying to use it again but not being able to - he tried to use it as a debit card, wouldn't work. Tried to use it as a credit card, and they wouldn't take it because the wrote the wrong name on the card they sent him, so he didn't have the ID to show that it was his card.
He was miserable. But he ditched that card in his garage, and I see it every time I go over there. It really burns me that $65 went to waste!
Oh! the name they printed on the card? James Brooks.
When the Simpsons ended one night, the first name in the closing credits is James Brooks. X screams at the TV, "Give me my fucking Lowe's card!!!"
Do you see the interest Phil generates. I want him blogging again. He says "no." I saw Phil over at Suicide Blonde's blog. She hasn't made it back over here yet. I was glad she was writing again.
You are your father's daughter, Velvet. My mother was really big on "filling it in and returning it." I learned at her knee.
I haven't seen the Toy Story 3 yet, but I know I will with a 10 and a 5 year old. I don't know about the rebate, though.
Those orphans are creeping me out, with their weird toes and toe-forward walking. Who the hell gave them their first set of broke-ass toys? Is Santa just a sick bastard, or what?
-- grince
What about the clown in the Betty Boop clip?
Practically any cartoon made prior to 1940 has a very creepy vibe to them.
I just haven't been feeling the movie love this year. (And with wifi streaming Netflix to my TV, why bother?) I'm considering going to see "Inception" this weekend (if only to hunker down in a place with the A/C cranked to its highest setting and to take advantage of AMC's "we're only charging a buck for drinks and popcorn - which is pretty much what it's worth" promotion on Sunday.)
One of my sisters called last night and said she completely lost the thread of the "Inception" plot about 30 minutes in, but at least she didn't fall asleep (high praise from her.)
Here's to Betty Boop!
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