Spirited Laugher of the Day:
OK, y'all (or likely a few of you) may have a recollection of Lee MacDonald. He was the publisher/owner of the truly quality publication Tales From the Laughing Place years ago. A fanzine that sorta died soon after D23 began publishing a much lower quality BRAND advocating product.
Leemac and I used to butt heads frequently on anotherdisneyplace.com's discussion boards because his views were so politicized and he always was on the side of anyone who had power at the moment. He also had strong dislike of top popular creatives such as John Lasseter and Tony Baxter. He worked as a contractor for Disney in a limited number-crunching role that he turned into a huge gadfly opportunity. In other words, he was great at sounding like he knew what he was talking on any Disney topic about because he'd take some gossip, mix in a healthy dose of industry jargon and top off with the agenda of the people he was most closely working for/with.
I only bring him up because he's been doing quite a bit of yacking (as my Spirited grandfather was fond of saying) about yours truly and the news I have broken and/or spread here on MAGIC regarding Disney's developments overseas. In other words, he -- like so many out there in the fan community and with Disney and UNI -- just can't quit me. I suppose I should be flattered.
What I find astounding is that Lee has apparently -- while putting down former Shanghai Disney GM and President of the Walt Disney Holding Company of Shanghai Mike Crawford in his typical uppity UK way -- said that not only was the Four Seasons position not created expressly for Crawford (it was) but that he himself was asked to interview for the job and declined because he lacked the requisite 'skill set.'
Yes, it's preposterous.
I'm often accused of having a large ego (amongst other large things) and being a narcissist, but I almost couldn't stop laughing when I heard of something so utterly over the top. Perhaps, he's looking for me to head back to LP.com and add some traffic and excitement to a dead site (or that could be my ego talking). But, really, making crap like that up just shows how some of the former 'mighty' voices of the Early Disney Internet Fan Community have struggled to find relevance in this decade. FWIW, my old pal Georgie K did try and get me to come and work at Disney multiple times. But he never offered me his old position as EPCOT VP, nor did I refuse said imaginary offer because my skill set wasn't a good fit. And Michael Eisner never offered me a position with Disney at all, but he did offer me some amazing Chinese food from a place in Westwood once.
The job offer Leemac is crowing about is about as real as his office at Disney's Asia Pacific HQ in Hong Kong. Yeah, it doesn't exist either.
As we have a troll in our midst yet again, I thought it was fitting to talk a bit about people who truly know what they are talking about ... and those who simply sound like authorities (for slow people that might be someone like a Jim Hill). You take a take a grain of truth amidst a desert of sand and concoct a rational sounding narrative around it.
That's not me. That's not folks here like
@Lee and
@whylightbulb and
@articos and
@marni1971 and
@ParentsOf4 and multiple others I am failing to list.
Now, I need to return a phone call from Bill Davis. Maybe he'll make me head of UNI's new water park so I can take over the entire resort in 2020.
