Wildcard Wednesday || Digging Into Inside Out

Greetings everyone and thank you for stopping by for another edition of Wildcard Wednesday! I would like to apologize for not posting on my scheduled day last week. I was caught up with work (worked 11 straight days at one of my jobs and worked double at the Disney Store on some) so I really didn't have a lot of spare time. For today's topic I would like to talk about my recent viewing experience of Inside Out.

Since this is about Disney Pixar's recent release I would like to remind you all that the following content represent my own views/opinions and are in no way affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

20 years of film making and Disney Pixar has shown that they still have what it takes to create original and magical content for fans of all ages to enjoy. Pixar definitely made it up to their fans for skipping out on 2014 by giving us a mind-bending treat with Inside Out in 2015, their first of two for this year. (The Good Dinosaur coming in November)

Not watching the movie during opening weekend and listening to people's reactions helped me prepare for the experience I was going to jump into. For many Guests I talked to throughout my shifts working at the Disney Store, they raved about the roller coaster of emotions from laughing to crying, beginning to end. I was also really surprised how deep the story got as the movie progressed. 

I might dig into some parts of the story, but I'm going to try to keep the main parts of the story off the books for those of you who have not had the chance to watch it yet. There are a lot of things that you can absorb throughout Inside Out, as an adult I was able to enjoy more of the small tidbits that the animators added into the mix. Young kids may not understand some of the abstract concepts that revolve around how Disney Pixar constructed how the mind works, but they can still enjoy the dialogue and character interactions.

One very unique and subtle thing that was not included in Inside Out that most films do have is the concept of a villain. You might think this as odd without watching it, but the story really drives on Riley's emotions (Joy, Sadness, Anger, Fear, and Disgust) and their own differences to create conflicts that a typical villain would. Usually a villain would have a certain characteristic or knowledge that gives them an edge over the hero in order to defeat him/her. In the case for Inside Out, it is in Riley's emotions best interest to keep her happy and safe throughout her life. However, we begin to learn how tough it is when Joy and Sadness are no longer there and it is up to Anger, Fear, and Disgust to adjust to those changes. All without a villain.

I'm assuming viewers might have realized this as well, but I began to catch on that Sadness turned out to be the main character rather than Joy. What we want to believe throughout this film is that it is always important that Riley stayed happy, which is what Joy is mostly responsible for. 

**SPOILER ALERT**

Riley and her family undergo a huge change in their life by moving from Minnesota to San Francisco. From the beginning, Riley's emotions made it their goal to keep Riley happy throughout this transition. As things turn sour and eventually to Riley's emotional breakdown we understand that we all go through tough times in our lives. Sometimes we go to that unhappy place and you can't help yourself. You can't help, but cry. And you know what? That's okay. We can't always be happy all the time. Situations happen where you might need to shed a few tears. You might feel lost, scared, or angry. Crying is okay. Letting Sadness take over is okay. And that's what Joy realizes at the end of the film. She tried to convince us in the beginning that keeping Sadness away from everything else would make things better, but you can't ignore that emotion.

You don't have to watch the entire film to be familiar with what I'm going to talk about. All you need to do is watch one of the Inside Out Teaser where Riley and her parents are at the dinner table and her mom is asking how her first day of school was. You'll notice that when we zoom into the mom's head all of her emotions are women with brown hair and glasses just like the mom. And when we zoom into the dad's head all of his emotions are men with mustaches. However, for Riley's emotions...Joy and Sadness have blue hair, Disgust has green hair, and her emotions are mixed boy and girl. I'm not sure if Disney did this on purpose just so that Riley's emotions stand out compared to all the other characters, or if there is a underlying assumption that since Riley hasn't reached puberty she doesn't know her preferences yet...so as we grow older and mature our emotions start to change appearances based on our personality. I don't know. Maybe I'm just overthinking it. Maybe it's just a coincidence. What do you think?

Lastly, I mentioned earlier that the animators created some fun concepts on how our mind works and I just wanted to list some of the small tidbits they put into the movie:

• Special memories are also known as "core memories" and they make up our personality by the creation of "personality islands"
• Core memories can change. Just like how our personalities can slightly change as we grow older and more mature
• At the end of the day, our memories are stored into long-term memory. 
• "Forgettors" are in charge of throwing out memories that seem old and out-dated (they turn gray/black while they are stored in long-term memory)
• Our dreams are constructed by actors interpreting past memories. And sometimes those actors can be really bad

I hope my little review about Inside Out has convinced you to watch it if you haven't already or you're wanting to watch it again because it's such a good movie. My brother and I are thinking of taking my mom to watch it. I'm pretty sure she'll enjoy it. I might watch it for the 2nd time just to catch some of the traditional easter eggs Pixar likes to put into their films. I was so blown away the 1st time around I didn't really pay close attention to easter eggs. Anyway, that's all I have for you all for this week's edition of Wildcard Wednesday.

Catch ya next week!

Wildcard Wednesday || NCAA & NBA - No More 1-and-Done's

Greetings everyone and welcome to Blog #4 of Wildcard Wednesday on Notably Notable! I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day holiday and I would like to take a quick moment to thank those men and women who took the ultimate sacrifice for this great nation. It is in their honor that we live, breathe, and represent the United States of America by using our freedoms to change the world for the greater good.

I know that I've had been posting on a weekly basis recently, but that's kind of what happens when my schedule lines up nicely and I have some time on my hands between both of my jobs. Let's also add in the fact that there's so much to write about for Wildcard Wednesday, I'll probably never run out of topics.

Before I get to my main topic about the 1-and-Done controversy between the NBA and the NCAA, I would like to recap a couple of things that I did this past Memorial Day holiday:

Disneyland's Diamond Celebration

Roxanne and I were planning on attending the 24-hour Disney Day on the back end of the celebration. However, by the time I got off work at 2:30PM we already saw on Twitter that Disneyland reached full capacity and ended up letting people in around 2:30AM. Roxanne even had friends waiting for almost 5 hours just to get in at 2:30AM. That probably would've been us if we left San Diego around 3-3:30. Anyways...we ditched our Friday plans and ended up going to Disneyland on Sunday. We had a blast and enjoyed the new Paint the Night Parade as well as the Disneyland Forever fireworks show. We took our seats on Main Street around 4:30PM and waited the 4 hours, but it was totally worth it.

Mad Max: Fury Road

Some people don't like referring to Rotten Tomatoes for movie reviews because they can sometimes be a little bias. Trust me when I say this...I was on the edge of my seat more for this movie than I was for Avengers: Age of Ultron. Now, don't get me wrong, Age of Ultron was entertaining, but Mad Max: Fury Road took the action to a whole other level of intensity with "I don't even know what's going on, but OH MY GOD WATCH OUT!" kind of feelings. What more can I say.


NCAA-NBA 1-AND-DONE CONTROVERSY
A lot has come up the past couple of years when it comes to the NBA's draft eligibility and the rules set for up-and-coming NCAA players. Everyone has their own spin on it. I haven't read their opinions because I don't want to skew my own views. For those who aren't caught up in sports, basically the NBA set a rule in 2005 that set an age limit at 19 for players to be eligible to enter the NBA. There are some outliers for this situation, but that is the basic age limit. In addition to this, a player must be "one year out of high school". Hence, the the 1-and-done. The reason why the NBA created this rule was because there was an influx of players coming out of high school showing little to no experience that they can play on the professional level.

Here are some reason why I DO NOT LIKE 1-and-done's to enter the NBA draft:

• These players do not complete their education
• These players do not have experience playing on the professional level
• As players come in and out of college,  NCAA coaches are forced to change their system as different line-ups appear

You'll see these reasons appear throughout the rest of this blog when I show my proposal on how to change things up.

First, I would like to point out that the NCAA is money-making machine and is making billions of dollars off these college athletes through TV deals and merchandise from basketball, to football, to volleyball, to softball, and even to lacrosse. Yet, these players do not see a percent of that. Yes, they are most likely receiving an athletic scholarship, but it's only fair for the players to receive a lump sum of that money. How can we change that? Here's my proposal:

A player will decide if he/she wants to pursue their degree. If they do want to pursue their degree, they will receive their 4-year academic scholarship as normal. However, if a player decides to be a player full-time, then the school will be obligated to pay that player as if they were a staff member of the college/university. No taking classes, just focusing on playing that sport full-time for the school.

Well, there are a lot of counter-arguments you can bring up like "...sports aren't all year..." or "...it's dumb to possibly have some players playing as students and some playing as 'staff' members...". These are valid arguments, but the point that I'm trying to make with this proposal is to pay the players when they earn it.

Second, let's talk about the whole education aspect of players who go 1-and-done. Let's be real here, if you know that you're a good athlete and you have agents saying that you'll be an automatic 1st round draft pick, why wouldn't you go to the NBA as soon as possible? With this "one year out of high school", players are using this one year to play in college sports to take advantage of the media outlets to showcase their talents. You hear a lot of players saying that they're not thinking about entering the draft because they're focused on the college season you should already know in the back of their minds that they're thinking about shaking hands with Adam Silver when their name is announced on draft day. So, if they're only going to be playing for one year and they know that they're going to be leaving after one year...what do these players even study? Should they even take these classes seriously if they know they're going to make millions of dollars for the NBA? Wouldn't you think it's a complete waste of time for these professors to grade their papers and teach them about philosophy when all they're thinking about is life on the basketball court? Imagine you're John Smith and you're looking sign-up for classes and you are 1 spot short of getting into the class. What if that 1 spot is taken by a college basketball player who has the potential to be the #1 draft pick in next year's draft? Is that player really going to using that knowledge about American History to good use in the NBA? Probably not. But there was also Jane Adams who tried to apply for X University, however admissions already filled up the student body. One of those students is a college freshman who isn't even planning on attending 4-years of college to get his degree when Jane Adams wanted to get her Bachelor's in Biology. I know it took me a while to get to my point, but these are things that we don't really think about when it comes to these college athletes shortening their academic scholarships to pursue their dreams. Do I blame them? No, because that is what they've wanted to do since they were a little kid. But let's also remind these kids that there is life after basketball. Most players play 12-16 years before they hang it up. They retire before they're 40...now what?

What do people like to advise college students before they get their first big-time job? Get an internship. Get that entry-level experience. A college player may seem to dominate in the NCAA, but in the NBA players are faster, stronger, and smarter. Nothing the NCAA can match up with. It's very important to the NBA that they develop their players and prepare them for the professional level. That's why they have their own Development League and I believe utilizing this asset will be key to my next proposal.

• If a player wants to avoid attending college after high school with a desire to play in the NBA, they are required to complete 3 years in the NBA Development League before teams can reach out and sign them.
• If a player decides to cut it short after one year of playing college basketball with a desire to play in the NBA, they are required to complete 2 years in the NBA Development League before teams can reach out and sign them.
• If a player decides to cut it short after 2 years of playing college basketball with a desire to play in the NBA, they are required to complete 1 year in the NBA Development League before teams can reach out and sign them.
• If a player decides to cut it short after 3 years of playing college basketball with a desire to play in the NBA, they are allowed to sign with a team as an undrafted player.
• If a player completes their 4-year degree with a desire to play in the NBA, they are allowed to enter the NBA draft. 

What does this proposal work on? It focuses on education and a player to gain experience. I truly believe that a player coming out of college requires discipline and hard work in order to play in the NBA. I don't think it's fair for veteran players who have put in their time to lose their spot to a rookie just because a younger player has displayed excellent talent in college. These younger players need to earn their spot. This proposal should also help build on the NBA Development League not just for media attention but to also expand teams by creating more opportunities for players who want to grow and build on their fundamentals as professionals.

One main argument here is about injuries. If a player with major potential happens to injure themselves playing in a D-League game, then what does that to that player's chances to get into the NBA? Fair argument. Can't really say much there because injuries can happen at any moment. All I can say is that if a player really is that good...they'll work their way up. Just like how any normal working class human being. 

Well, if you've made it this far through the blog you either jumped right to the last paragraph 'cause you were bored from the meat of the content or my proposals might have interested you in the slightest. Either way I'm glad you're sitting there reading NotablyNotable.com and I hope you're enjoying reading all of our content. That's pretty much all I want to say about this topic. My problems with it and my some-what solutions to said problems. Please leave a comment in the section below your thoughts on how we can change this 1-and-done process.

Thanks for stopping by!

Wildcard Wednesday || Baymax to the Bare Minimum

Welcome everyone and thank you for stopping by for Blog #3 of Wildcard Wednesday. Since last week's blog was extensive and contained multiple topics, I figured I would go complete opposite and be quick and straight to the point. Today's topic: Big Hero 6 with a little Frozen rant.

Please note that as a Cast Member: All content represent my views/opinions and are in no way affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

I was on Twitter yesterday and I saw @Forbes tweet the following:

"Disney sold $1 billion in Frozen-licensed merchandise last year (link)"

Which isn't very surprising because Frozen was released November 2013 and started building momentum during the beginning of 2014. What does surprise me is that Walt Disney CEO Bob Iger has mentioned that Frozen is considered to be one of Disney's top 5 properties...after less than 2 years.

With the spotlight all over Frozen, Big Hero 6 quietly became one of Disney's biggest box-office hits. Oh, it also won an Oscar for Best Animated Feature, but who cares about that when Cinderella was featuring an all-new Frozen short right? I don't recall Paperman or Feast getting merchandise, but Disney was quick to design merchandise for Frozen Fever. I've seen more merchandise for Frozen Fever than Big Hero 6. That's just sad.

Who had the chance to meet Baymax and Hiro Hamada? Not many. If I knew that Disney was only going to keep their meet n' greet for less than 3 months, then I would've stayed in that 2-hour line on that December day. How many of you got to meet Anna and Elsa? Probably a good amount of you because Disney has had a special Frozen Fun extravaganza in Disney's California Adventure since January  7, 2015. There was so much marketing for this, it pretty much eliminated any signs of Big Hero 6. Let me remind you that BH6 was released the first week of November. After 2 months, Baymax and Hiro were pulled from Tomorrowland and Arendelle took over DCA.

I remember how disappointed I was as a guest when I visited Animation Academy and they only offered to draw Olaf. Their headline being "Do you want to draw a snowman?" No, I wanted to draw BAYMAX! Frozen was 14 months ago. Big Hero 6 was 3 months ago.

In my honest opinion, I would've preferred a re-creation of San Fransokyo instead of Arendelle. Don't get me wrong, what Disney did in a short span of time to design the snow play area and the meet n' greet spots for Anna, Elsa, and Olaf is impressive. It makes ZERO sense for Arendelle to have a club/dance scene with alcohol. That's not magical at all. I have some other opinions on the Frozen Fun extravaganza, but I don't want to drag this post along. I'm glad Frozen Fun will be over after May 21st. Sorry, not sorry. 

Disney has milked out as much as they could from their Frozen franchise and unfortunately Big Hero 6 will always live under the shadows. Why? There are a couple of reasons:

1. Disney underestimated the amount of praise and popularity Big Hero 6 was going to receive.
2. Disney had a lot on its production plate for 2015: Cinderella in March, Age of Ultron and Tomorrowland in May, Inside Out in June, Ant-Man in July, The Good Dinosaur in November, and Star Wars in December.

Look at that line-up. No wonder Disney wasn't able to market and produce merchandise for Big Hero 6. They have 2 Pixar productions, their flagship Marvel film, and the beginning of another Star Wars trilogy to budget for in 2015. On the bright side, a recent report has claimed that Stan Lee confirmed a Big Hero 7 sequel. (link) I'm really hoping that this is true because the Marvel and Disney Animation Studio team deserve it. 

Until then, Baymax will be waiting in his docking station charging awaiting for the call to suit up.

Wildcard Wednesday Introduction

Greetings everyone and welcome to the Wildcard Wednesday edition of Notably Notable. I think a little introduction of myself will help set an outline for what Wildcard Wednesday's are going to be about. My name is Jayme Ross Eva and I am a 24-year old Filipino-American from San Diego, CA. I  graduated from the University of San Diego (...and no I didn't spell UCSD wrong...they're different universities) with a BS/BA in Mechanical Engineering in May 2012 with aspirations to become a Walt Disney Imagineer. Shortly after graduation I participated in the Fall 2012 Disney College Program from June 2012 to January 2013 as a Store Operations Host.  Now I am currently a full-time Maintenance Mechanic at AQUATICA San Diego (SeaWorld's Water Park) and I have been been a Disney Store Cast Member since August 2013. On my free-time I am an assistant coach for NFL Flag San Diego where I occasionally submit game highlights.

As you can see, I have a little bit of a Disney background and that is actually going to be one of the few topics I will be talking about on Wildcard Wednesdays. Since I didn't state it before, I will state it now and probably every time I post something Disney related:

Please note that as a Cast Member: All content represent my views/opinions and are in no way affiliated with the Walt Disney Company.

There is always news surrounding the world of Disney so I will spread my opinions on some trending stories that are Disney-related. I might even share some Cast Member experiences and "confessions".

Next on my list of things that I would like to talk about on Wildcard Wednesdays is going to be about sports. I know "sports" can be very vague, but that is kind of the reason why we have it under Wildcard Wednesdays. I follow XTRA Sports 1360 here in San Diego and about 90% of the time I'm watching ESPN or some other sports-related activity. Why? To me, watching sports is like how other people watching their favorite reality show. However, in my opinion, sports is one true reality show. It's the one thing that you can watch that is unscripted and the emotions are real (besides all that flopping that goes on). There may be some that would like to argue that games are fixed and there's a conspiracy for every controversial call, but that's a topic for another day. There are so many things we can talk about sports, but I will specifically focus on the major sports: football, basketball, and baseball. Sorry Soccer (futbol) fans. I played soccer for 8 years when I was in grade school, but I just don't follow it. I would also like to add that I follow the San Diego Chargers, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the San Diego Padres. A good amount of sports recap will feature those 3 teams, but I will also cover other trending/controversial topics that are surrounding the world of sports.

The last topic that will be covered on Wildcard Wednesdays will be "Entertainment". Yes, another vague topic, but what I had in mind was that I would be covering newly released movies and reviewing some TV shows that I'm currently watching right now. The movie lineup for Summer 2015 looks pretty exciting with Avengers: Age of Ultron leading it off. I normally don't watch movies opening weekend just to avoid the huge crows, but hopefully I can put up an afterthoughts post on Avengers 2 in the next couple of weeks. Like many other people I don't like waiting week-to-week for shows. I'm more of a binge-watcher; however the only 2 shows that I keep up with weekly are the Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.

And there you have it. A little introduction of Wildcard Wednesdays. I hope you are looking forward to it as much as I am. Now, this past weekend was a huge weekend for Wildcard Wednesdays, Mayweather vs. Pacquiao, NBA Playoffs, NFL Draft, NHL Playoffs, Kentucky Derby, and MLB. My focus for Blog #2 will be on the Chargers 2015 draft selections.

Catch ya later!

It's Finally Happening!

Welcome to Notably Notable!

First, we would like to thank you for somehow stumbling upon our little area of the internet. Feel free to explore and possibly stick around :)

We are a group of five friends who love a lot of different things. We don’t want to get into too much detail; you’ll get the chance to hear from everyone this week (although the tags might give you guys a few hints--told you we're all over the place). Just know that we’re here to share our passions with you, and we hope you enjoy!

We are also aware there’s a Twitter handle and Instagram username that already exists for NotablyNotable. Unfortunately, we did not know about it / failed to check if this name already existed. We only researched if the domain was available. 

Just to clear the air, we are not affiliated with the aforementioned social media outlets. Each author has their own individual social media outlets that they will share if they wish :) 

Monica will kick off Introductory Week, so swing on by tomorrow for Motivational Monday!

Thanks again <3

The Notably Notable Team

Monica, Sharmaine, Jayme, Rox, and Fury