Disney recently announced the closure of The Great Movie Ride at Disney's Hollywood Studios (formerly Disney-MGM Studios). While there had been rumors going around that the ride was going to be changed, the news of a complete closure and replacement was kind of a surprise to me, seeing that they added a new witch animatronic in the Wizard of Oz scene and just did a refurb of the attraction a year and a half ago.





The Great Movie Ride has always been one of my favorite rides at Disney, and I will be sad to see it go. I also wish I had taken some pictures of it when I was there back in December. I'm not sure why I didn't. It really was "A spectacular journey into the movies!"


In recent years, some people have called the attraction "outdated" and "boring" and that it "needs newer movies". While I think that some of the animatronics could have used some updates, the people that say that the movies need to be updated are completely missing the point of the ride. The Great Movie Ride's whole theme is a showcase for classic films made during Hollywood's prime. These movies all helped bring filmmaking to what it is today, and the ride does a great job of bringing these films to life.


For fans of the attraction, Martin of Martin's Videos Online posted an excellent tribute video that I will embed below. The video not only goes through the history of the attraction, but also takes you into the ride with multiple angles and crystal clear audio:

Betty Maciorowski

May 28, 1930 - June 3, 2017

Rest in peace, Gram. You will be missed.




Gram and my nephew Lucas, playing checkers. Photo credit: Leanne Dalziel (my sister)

Someone was getting rid of what I thought was a small, color TV set. It was manufactured in 1982. Turns out it's actually a black and white set. I'll use it on my desk for now until I can find a similar-sized one in color. I've never heard of the brand before (It's a Centurion).




The Alfred Hitchcock Hour

Let me start off by saying Happy April! I can't believe it's already spring, not that I'm complaining .

Tonight I tried one of the worst TV dinners I've ever eaten: The Hungry Man "Mexican-style Fiesta". The best way I can describe the taste of it, is ground-up, regurgitated stuff.The enchiladas or whatever they were, tasted the same as the rice in the same section, which had kind of a sour taste and nothing else. The texture was pretty mushy and slimy. The refried beans had a similar texture and didn't have much flavor. I barely ate either of them. As for the dessert, I didn't even bother. My appetite was ruined, and the coconut pudding sound or even look good (though I don't like coconut stuff, anyway).

My local Bi-Lo had a "buy one, get one free" sale on Hungry Man dinners; specifically these dinners and the Country Fried Chicken ones. I got one of each, since I hadn't tasted either. Boy, I sure hope the Country Fried Chicken dinners taste better than this last one did. I knew there had to be a reason they were on sale...

When I first got back to New Jersey, I turned on the lights in my bedroom, brought my stuff in and left the room for a little while. When I came back, I was hit with this nasty dead, rotting fish smell. It wasn't the first time I had smelled it, but it was extra strong this time. According to my dad, it had started when I first left for GA back in late December of 2015. It was a very confusing smell, because it seemed to come and go without warning.

We first thought that maybe a mouse had gotten in the house and died in the wall or ceiling near my bedroom, but we couldn't find any evidence of that, other than the rotting smell that seemed to go away for long lengths of time and then return. It was maddening...

Finally, we realized that the smell seemed to appear only after the lights had been turned on for a length of time. We narrowed it down to an old uncovered pull-chain light fixture. I took my screwdriver and removed the fixture and...

Nothing. I expected to find something dead behind it, but there was nothing there. However, before I put the fixture back up, I noticed that there was a little ring holding part of the fixture together, and it had yellowed. Sure enough, it was that ring that smelled! Why there was a plastic ring on a porcelain light fixture, I have no idea. My only guess is that someone had broken the original porcelain ring that was supposed to be there and replaced it with a plastic one, that was now disintegrating.

So, if anyone has the smell of rotting fish when they turn on a light they haven't used in a while, it may just be the light fixture itself. I still have to replace my fixture, since the plastic ring seems to have glued itself in place.