The Casual Reporter: September 2008

Tuesday, September 23, 2008

CPR Training Using Live Actors

The stunts performed in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (La Legende de Buffalo Bill), Disney Village, Disneyland Paris France are dangerous enough that regulations require a set number cast members be trained to perform CPR. In fact all teams at Disneyland Paris are required to have CPR-certified employees on duty, so I guess accounting has its risks as well. I thought it might be of interest to The Casual Reporter readers to view a video of the CPR training process here at the Wild West Show using live actors, taught by a German company. Here it is:

Monday, September 22, 2008

The Pinkie Chronicles: Not the Chicken...!

The Cattle Trail scene unfolded as usual up to the chicken shooting scene. Beli shot the first chicken and Pete grabbed it. The next line is usually, "That's too small, we need another chicken" but Brice said instead, "Pete's got a chicken, I want one too" so Beli shot another. Instead of calling for a third chicken, which leads to the musicians entering, Brice said, "Well, we each got our chickens. Let's eat! Come on, boys!"

Continuing further at this point would have meant jumping the scene forward several minutes and not allowing the musicians to enter, so the team was stuck for a few seconds, the guys making their way for the cooking pot.

Then Pinkie stepped in, shouting loud enough I could hear him off stage through the other microphones "I want a cheeckin too! I'm hungry!"

So Beli shot the large, roasted chicken to the ground. Pinkie leaped on it, a fun and innocent choice had it not been Pinkie, and Brice on the microphone.

Brice said, "Not here, Pinkie! This is Disneyland!"

And the scene continued..

Lights Out at Wild West Show

The lighting person at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (La Legende de Buffalo Bill), Disney Village, Disneyland Paris France, had his hands full during both of tonight's shows. The show has around 200 lighting set-ups programmed into its automated, computer-controlled lighting console, which has never failed in almost 17 years. Tonight, however, it failed, making the lighting person have to work with a higher level of awareness and expertise than is normally the case. Wait, that's an understatement. The console's failure struck panic and fear into the hearts of the stage manager and technical team, almost resulting in the show's closure. OK, maybe that's a slight overstatement, but only slight. The show went on, but tonights lights were manipulated entirely by hand and memory judgement of the technical team, making for a much less dynamic-looking show. One difference I noted in particular was while exiting downstage into total darkness. Neither I nor my horse could even see where the exit door was, so rather than gallop offstage we walked, sensing our way forward.

Joke of the Month: Chinese Sick Day


Joke of the Month: Chinese Sick Day

Hung Chow calls into work and says, 'Hey, I no come work today, I really sick. I got headache, stomach ache and legs hurt. I no come work.'

The boss says, ' I really need you today. When I feel like this, I go to my wife and tell her to give me sex. That makes everything better and I go to work. You try that.'

Two hours later Hung Chow calls again. 'I do what you say and I feel great. I be at work soon...You got nice house.
(Image source: http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/44233000/jpg/_44233807_chinese_worker416ap.jpg)

Sunday, September 7, 2008

UCLA vs Tennessee Game Ending Revealed

I recorded the UCLA vs Tennessee football game a few days ago and finally gave it to the Cowboys to watch, only to discover that although I added an extra 30 minutes to the scheduled time to allow for unforseeable time delays such as overtime, and indeed there was an overtime, the game stopped abruptly with about 1:30 left - the best part of a very close and exciting game. Although I can't produce all of the final moments, ESPN has a video that highlights the last few seconds and the video below is a solid review of the most exciting UCLA moments, including the final seconds of the game.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Join Wild West Show NFL Fantasy Football League


Thursday is the first day of NFL (American Football) season play. A few of us who work at Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show (La Legende de Buffalo Bill), Disney Village, Disneyland Paris Resort, have started a fantasy football league. Each person invited to join the league creates a team name on Foxsports.com (my team is The 7th Cavalry) then, starting Thursday, each team drafts NFL players to make up the team roster. Over the course of the NFL season Foxsports.com automatically keeps track of certain statistics of your team, such as touchdowns, yards rushing and passing, interceptions, etc. and calculates which team is statistically superior. You can trade players and replace one or two injured ones (I'm not sure the exact rules). At the end of the season, one team triumphs.


It's a fun way to watch the NFL because nearly every game has significance to your fantasy team, regardless which NFL team is playing. Send me your email address if you want to join the league and I'll send it to our commissioner who can then send you an invitation to join, until the league is full. There's still plenty of space and it costs nothing, so if sounds fun, give me a holler! But best to do it quickly so you can get a good draft position.