When you go on the new Test Track ride, you get to design your own car.  However, when you get off the ride, the run doesn’t stop.  There are many activities to pursue, including designing your own car commercial starring the car that you put together, in scenes of your choosing, with announcers of your choosing, and spotlighting features of your car.  Here are three commercials that I made.

Disclosure: I was invited to the New Fantasyland media event December 5th through 7th. Disney paid for my travel, our park tickets, room, and a few other items. I was able to take B along as my guest, but we paid for her own travel as well as an extra night in the resort. The opinions expressed above are my own.

Last Friday, at the end of my post, I tried to embed JibJab’s Year In Review video.  Sadly, something went wrong and the video didn’t embed.  Oddly, I didn’t notice it until just now (which, as I write this post, would be Wednesday night).  So instead of going back and fixing the old post, I’m going to just embed it here.

Just a fair warning.  The last time I watched this, my brain locked on the song and wouldn’t let go.  I was up half the night with the tune playing over and over.  (Then again, my brain tends to do that sort of thing from time to time so it might just be me.)

And now, baring another embed failure, here is the JibJab Year In Review:

We recently discovered something about NHL.  He has a talent for music.  He began playing drums and bells (which I always just call xylophone) last year.  This year, though, he’s really hit his stride.

A few month’s back, while at B’s grandmother’s, NHL picked up a an electronic keyboard and began playing a song.  He had never actually played this instrument before so his ability to play a song astounded us.  Then, I realized what he was doing.  He took a song that he had learned on bells and mentally remapped the notes to the keyboard.  We later asked him to duplicate this feat on B’s parents’ piano and he was able to easily.

I help him out with band practice many times a week and I’ve seen the same thing happen with many songs.  He’ll play very slowly, struggling to find the right notes to hit.  Suddenly, a light will go off in his head and he’ll play the entire song perfectly without looking at a single note.  His teacher is impressed with his skill and we’re so proud of him.

And now, a special performance of Shoo Fly by NHL:

The other day, I was walking to my car.  As I approached my vehicle, I heard a splat.  Then another.  I looked around.  It wasn’t raining.  Nothing seemed to be falling that I could see.  Yet, the splatting sounds continued.  Then, I looked up.

Above me was a flock of birds.  Actually, flock is too weak of a word.  There were several HUNDRED crows flying overhead.  They were following each other high in the sky and many of them had obviously decided that the spot I was standing on was a restroom.  I quickly opened my car door and dove inside.  My car had been hit twice, but, luckily, I escaped unharmed.

The next day, I brought my camera in to work to attempt to capture this crow swarm.  And capture it I did (though there seemed to be less crows this time).

Have you ever witnessed a swarm of birds like this?

Disclaimer: The image above, crow flying down, was obtained from OpenClipArt.org.

(I’ll post my own words about this issue tomorrow.  For now, see this video and infographic from http://americancensorship.org.)

Disclaimer: Both the video and infographic are from AmericanCensorship.org.