5 ms·

A Visit to Disney’s Magic Kingdom

88 points by bryang 13y ago

salgernon 13y ago
Another take on the same idea: http://spotmaps.jit.su http://spotmaps.jit.su
- bryang 13y ago
  That's awesome! Thanks for sharing
alanctgardner2 13y ago
Stephen Wolfram is definitely an amazing guy, but I find his writing so obnoxious. He's like Steve Jobs, but promoting himself, basically. It's really cool what he's done, but there's no discussion of the state of the art, or similar projects. Everything is being done for the first time ever, and it can only be done using Mathematica.
- meatsock 13y ago
  to me this appears to have been written by Theodore Gray, did I read the same thing you did?
  - bryang 13y ago
    Definitely written by Mr. Gray. That being said, Stephen Wolfram is surely at least a little pompous...
    - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
      Completely unrelated to the post here. Also, that a Mathematica co-founder would promote Mathematica is hardly surprising. You guys are also being unfair: this is a good post with lots of useful content.
  - alanctgardner2 13y ago
    You're entirely right, I was mistaken about the author. It sounds similar to a Stephen Wolfram post though; these guys really, really love Mathematica (understandably), and every post goes to great lengths to explain how they've done something incredibly novel which was only possible because Mathematica is fast and versatile, etc. The end result was really impressive, and I know they got there using Mathematica (in some cases), but I was more interested in the techniques and the approach they took than the particular language they used. All of the puffery and going out of the way to talk about how terse the code was seems excessive.
    - thufry 13y ago
      The blog post is at Wolfram Research's web site. Of course it is going to promote Mathematica, which is actually great software, too. When you look at a photo essay on Canon or Nikon's website, it promotes the features of their (very good) cameras as well as showcasing excellent photography. Don't dismiss the valuable content that these corporate-sponsored posts give you just because they have an agenda.
- seanmcdirmid 13y ago
  Can you point out some of Steve Jobs' writing that is heavily self promotional like Wolfram's?
  - alanctgardner2 13y ago
    I wasn't saying Steve Jobs was self-promotional like Wolfram, but a lot of Apple reveals involved 'incredible, never-before-seen' sorts of language. Language like "as far as I know we're the first people to ever do this" seems like the kind of thing Steve would say about a product; these guys are just applying it to a project they worked on. If I'm honest, I'm probably just very cynical about any sort of salesmanship.
    - bryang 13y ago
      If only they did this for Pixar films and then you could've said that Steve actually had a hand in this...... ;)
    - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
      Probably. People act like apple was the first company to perfect their marketing and message, maybe they were, but it's completely acceptable to me that a company would want to optimize how they present their products. Most of us are just jealous of how successful they've become, which is also not unexpected. Wolfram, however, could work on sounding a bit more humble in selling himself.
      - Chris2048 13y ago
        > Most of us are just jealous of how successful they've become says who?
- batgaijin 13y ago
  Well I mean he did invent cellular automata.
delinka 13y ago
I'm amazed at the price for that iOS app. Are there such fans that would drop that kind of money for what tends to feel like a disposable purchase?
- pauldino 13y ago
  It's a bit pricy compared to your standard $.99 iOS app, but next to a $9.99 ebook it seems pretty reasonable considering the quantity and quality of content and the unique interactive elements. Like other Touch Press releases I think of this as a sort of coffee table book for your iPad.
  - bryang 13y ago
    Definitely a good comparison.... And it will be an odd thing though when you have a coffee table with an ipad instead of books... I think that's where Surface will come in handy.
- thufry 13y ago
  Clicked the link expecting a $10-20 price. Saw the screenshot, glanced up to the 4.5 star reviews, and bought it. Probably 15 seconds from landing to purchase. I have bought $10-30 apps in the past (mostly for music production) and have been happy with all of them except one, which I returned for a refund.
bjterry 13y ago
It is a meme that movies have all settled on using a blue/teal and orange color palette nowadays, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. There is one prominent movie in the middle which is almost entirely orange and blue, which I believe to be Aladdin[1], but other than that and a couple around it, the color palettes seem pretty similar, although much darker, more saturated and perhaps somewhat choppier. This could be because they are animated films and thus don't need to create contrast with human skin tones, which are somewhere on the orangeish spectrum (according to TVTropes discussion of this phenomenon)[2]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Animation_Studios_films https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Animation_... 2: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OrangeBlueContrast http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OrangeBlueContras...
- bryang 13y ago
  Interesting points you bring up.... I've never consciously noticed a general color palette trend but it is interesting to look at this sample and see how Disney has many similarities across film periods. I'm definitely keeping an eye open for Blue/Teal/Orange now
  - sgustard 13y ago
    Examples: http://theabyssgazes.blogspot.com/2010/03/teal-and-orange-hollywood-please-stop.html http://theabyssgazes.blogspot.com/2010/03/teal-and-orange-ho...
- hammock 13y ago
  The orange and blue thing really applies to live action film which gets color graded in post production. Not so much animated movies.
  - GauntletWizard 13y ago
    It also applies to videogames, which while not live, attempt to be 'realistic'.
mikegagnon 13y ago
This work does a great job espousing the Visual Information-Seeking Mantra: "Overview first, zoom and filter, then details-on-demand," a cornerstone of effective visualization . http://www.infovis-wiki.net/index.php/Visual_Information-Seeking_Mantra http://www.infovis-wiki.net/index.php/Visual_Information-See...
mukundmr 13y ago
Looks like a great purchase for my kid. It is unique and educational.

88 points by bryang 13y ago

salgernon 13y ago

Another take on the same idea: http://spotmaps.jit.su http://spotmaps.jit.su

bryang 13y ago
That's awesome! Thanks for sharing

alanctgardner2 13y ago

Stephen Wolfram is definitely an amazing guy, but I find his writing so obnoxious. He's like Steve Jobs, but promoting himself, basically. It's really cool what he's done, but there's no discussion of the state of the art, or similar projects. Everything is being done for the first time ever, and it can only be done using Mathematica.

meatsock 13y ago
to me this appears to have been written by Theodore Gray, did I read the same thing you did?
- bryang 13y ago
  Definitely written by Mr. Gray. That being said, Stephen Wolfram is surely at least a little pompous...
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    Completely unrelated to the post here. Also, that a Mathematica co-founder would promote Mathematica is hardly surprising. You guys are also being unfair: this is a good post with lots of useful content.
- alanctgardner2 13y ago
  You're entirely right, I was mistaken about the author. It sounds similar to a Stephen Wolfram post though; these guys really, really love Mathematica (understandably), and every post goes to great lengths to explain how they've done something incredibly novel which was only possible because Mathematica is fast and versatile, etc. The end result was really impressive, and I know they got there using Mathematica (in some cases), but I was more interested in the techniques and the approach they took than the particular language they used. All of the puffery and going out of the way to talk about how terse the code was seems excessive.
  - thufry 13y ago
    The blog post is at Wolfram Research's web site. Of course it is going to promote Mathematica, which is actually great software, too. When you look at a photo essay on Canon or Nikon's website, it promotes the features of their (very good) cameras as well as showcasing excellent photography. Don't dismiss the valuable content that these corporate-sponsored posts give you just because they have an agenda.
seanmcdirmid 13y ago
Can you point out some of Steve Jobs' writing that is heavily self promotional like Wolfram's?
- alanctgardner2 13y ago
  I wasn't saying Steve Jobs was self-promotional like Wolfram, but a lot of Apple reveals involved 'incredible, never-before-seen' sorts of language. Language like "as far as I know we're the first people to ever do this" seems like the kind of thing Steve would say about a product; these guys are just applying it to a project they worked on. If I'm honest, I'm probably just very cynical about any sort of salesmanship.
  - bryang 13y ago
    If only they did this for Pixar films and then you could've said that Steve actually had a hand in this...... ;)
  - seanmcdirmid 13y ago
    Probably. People act like apple was the first company to perfect their marketing and message, maybe they were, but it's completely acceptable to me that a company would want to optimize how they present their products. Most of us are just jealous of how successful they've become, which is also not unexpected. Wolfram, however, could work on sounding a bit more humble in selling himself.
    - Chris2048 13y ago
      > Most of us are just jealous of how successful they've become says who?
batgaijin 13y ago
Well I mean he did invent cellular automata.

delinka 13y ago

I'm amazed at the price for that iOS app. Are there such fans that would drop that kind of money for what tends to feel like a disposable purchase?

pauldino 13y ago
It's a bit pricy compared to your standard $.99 iOS app, but next to a $9.99 ebook it seems pretty reasonable considering the quantity and quality of content and the unique interactive elements. Like other Touch Press releases I think of this as a sort of coffee table book for your iPad.
- bryang 13y ago
  Definitely a good comparison.... And it will be an odd thing though when you have a coffee table with an ipad instead of books... I think that's where Surface will come in handy.
thufry 13y ago
Clicked the link expecting a $10-20 price. Saw the screenshot, glanced up to the 4.5 star reviews, and bought it. Probably 15 seconds from landing to purchase. I have bought $10-30 apps in the past (mostly for music production) and have been happy with all of them except one, which I returned for a refund.

bjterry 13y ago

It is a meme that movies have all settled on using a blue/teal and orange color palette nowadays, but that doesn't seem to be the case here. There is one prominent movie in the middle which is almost entirely orange and blue, which I believe to be Aladdin[1], but other than that and a couple around it, the color palettes seem pretty similar, although much darker, more saturated and perhaps somewhat choppier. This could be because they are animated films and thus don't need to create contrast with human skin tones, which are somewhere on the orangeish spectrum (according to TVTropes discussion of this phenomenon)[2]. 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Animation_Studios_films https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Walt_Disney_Animation_... 2: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OrangeBlueContrast http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OrangeBlueContras...

bryang 13y ago
Interesting points you bring up.... I've never consciously noticed a general color palette trend but it is interesting to look at this sample and see how Disney has many similarities across film periods. I'm definitely keeping an eye open for Blue/Teal/Orange now
- sgustard 13y ago
  Examples: http://theabyssgazes.blogspot.com/2010/03/teal-and-orange-hollywood-please-stop.html http://theabyssgazes.blogspot.com/2010/03/teal-and-orange-ho...
hammock 13y ago
The orange and blue thing really applies to live action film which gets color graded in post production. Not so much animated movies.
- GauntletWizard 13y ago
  It also applies to videogames, which while not live, attempt to be 'realistic'.

mikegagnon 13y ago

This work does a great job espousing the Visual Information-Seeking Mantra: "Overview first, zoom and filter, then details-on-demand," a cornerstone of effective visualization . http://www.infovis-wiki.net/index.php/Visual_Information-Seeking_Mantra http://www.infovis-wiki.net/index.php/Visual_Information-See...

mukundmr 13y ago

Looks like a great purchase for my kid. It is unique and educational.