Moscow Ballet's Great Russian Nutcracker

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Get ready for the March 27, release of DreamWorks Animation HOME into theaters Nationwide. Directed by Tim Johnson, HOME consists of an amazingly fun voice cast including Jim Parsons, Rihanna, Steve Martin, and Jennifer Lopez in a new adventure that finds a mischievous alien making friends with a little girl here on Earth. To celebrate the release, I’ve teamed-up with DreamWorks and 20th Century Fox to give all of you, my readers, a chance to win a HOME Prize Pack, right here on My Sparkling Life!
When Oh, a lovable misfit from another planet, lands on Earth and finds himself on the run from his own people, he forms an unlikely friendship with an adventurous girl named Tip who is on a quest of her own. Through a series of comic adventures with Tip, Oh comes to understand that being different and making mistakes is all part of being human, and together they discover the true meaning of the word HOME.
Be Sure To Check Out The Official Websites – #DreamWorksHOME
Follow DreamWorks Animation on Twitter | Facebook
Visit the Official Website
Get to know The Boov’s at Meet the Boov!
Celebrate the intergalactic arrival of DreamWorks Animation’s HOME at Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores! Visit Jo-Ann Fabric and Craft Stores on March 28 from 2-3pm for the HOME Oh puppet Make It – Take It Event. To find an event in your area, visit the Jo-Ann Fabric site.
One (1) Lucky Reader of My Sparkling Life will receive:
$25 Visa to see the film in theaters
HOME ear buds
Ready for your chance to win?
One lucky My Sparkling Life Reader is going to win the HOME Prize Pack listed above ! This giveaway is open to residents of the US who are 18+ until 11:59 PM EST April 07, 2015.
What do you find interesting about HOME?
The Fine Print: Entering this giveaway means that you accept both my rules & disclosure. I will notify winner via e-mail and they will have 48 hours to reply before I am forced to redraw winners. No purchase necessary. Void where prohibited. Each household is only eligible to win this prize pack via blog reviews and giveaways. Only one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification. Many will enter, few will win! Please allow 8-12 weeks for delivery of prizing. My Sparkling Life is not responsible for any lost or misdirected packages. Prizing provided and shipped by 20th Century Fox Home and DreamWorks Animation. In the rare occasion that a prize does not arrive (which has happened), please notify me and I will try to contact the sponsor.

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While in LA last week for the Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales we also celebrated the 75th anniversary of Disney’s Bambi! As part of this celebration we were able to sit down and interview the voices behind young Bambi ( Donald “Donnie” Dunagan ) & young Thumper ( Peter Behn ) moderated by Disney Archivist Becky Cline!!
While Disney’s Bambi was based on the book Bambi, A Life in the Woods by author Felix Salten, it was altered slightly from the book version. The original novel, written for an adult audience, was considered too “grim” and “somber” for the young audience Disney was targeting, and with the work required to adapt the novel, Disney put production on hold while it worked on several other works. Bambi was originally supposed to come out after Snow White (and be the second animated film released) but came out 5 yrs later due to this process. Disney was also forced to slash 12 minutes from the film before final animation, to save costs on production.
The filming studio moved, WW2 happened, and there was even a strike during the process of filming!
Nowadays when a movie releases there are many interviews in both tv & print, but the film scene was quite different 75 years ago when Donnie Dunagan and Peter Behn recorded the voices of Bambi & Thumper. In fact, Donnie & Peter didn’t even meet untill about 10 years ago! Even Donnie’s wife didn’t know he was the voice of Bambi until she discovered a box of his mementos buried in the attic!
Peter’s father was a screenwriter, starting in the 20’s silent film era, & children’s book author. He met Walt sometime in the 30’s which helped Peter launch his career. Peter originally auditioned for the part of Bambi in Disney’s classic film but was told had the wrong voice for the part.
“My voice was right for the rabbit”
Peter never auditioned for Thumper, after his audition for Bambi they knew he had the right voice for Thumper.
When Peter grew up he built houses & worked in real estate.
Q: Did you see the Bambi after you filmed?
A: “No not for some time.”
Q: What was it like to work with Disney himself?
A: “I did meet him but not on a regular basis. But I remember the Disney zoo where they had little deer so animators could watch the anatomy and movement of the deer to draw.”
Q: What was it like to work on a big Disney film as a child?
A: “I remember going into the sound booth with a voice director to read my lines. I would mimic him. The thing I remember most is the recording equipment was in the booth with us and was fascinated. It was so mechanical.”
Q: What do you hope for Bambi’s Legacy?
A: “One of my strongest feelings about the movie is that Disney was so ahead of his time. I think the movie was so far ahead of it’s time to protect the environment. We have to do everything we can to keep the environment from getting worse. I think as time goes on that aspect of the movie will resonate and become more important.”
”We were dirt poor. And I mean, certified dirt poor in the South. And my mother would take me down to the corner about two blocks away where a wonderful man danced on the corner on Saturday. I’m standing there at 3 ½, four years old, people were there laughing about this wonderful man dancing on the corner for nickels and pennies. And I started imitating him. Then they decided to put me in a talent contest and I won the darn thing which was a miracle. I danced to ‘A Tisket a Tasket’ with a paper bag and a stick for a cane.” In the audience was a wonderful man who was a bona fide genuine talent scout in those days. About two weeks later we’re in Los Angeles.”
Donnie started filming Bambi when he was just 5 years old but his acting career began at the age of 3.
He was in 7 movies before the age of 5 1/2 yrs old.
When Donnie grew up he joined the Marine Corps.
Q: What was it like acting so much as a child?
A: “I was a little boy – sometimes I just wanted to be home riding my bike and playing with my puppy.”
Q: Did you see Bambi after you filmed?
A: “I saw it with Peter in theaters at the premiere.”
Q: What was it like seeing Walt Disney?
A: “When I first saw Mr. Disney I thought he’d get a broom and help clean up….he participated in things. Disney was successful bc he had such great leadership and participated in what was going on.”
Q: What did you do after Bambi?
A: ” I went into the US Marine Corps. when I got older. In 1977 I was a battalion commander. I saw that Disney was going to re-release Bambi and I was horrified that my base would find out. I could imagine all of my soldiers saying that their battalion commander was Bambi!”
Q: What do you hope for Bambi’s Legacy?
A: “If I live to be 1000 years old I couldn’t say it better than Peter did. The environmental profile is spoken to children in school now, and they pick up on that right away. I get one of these by children a month from all over the world.”
Photo by: Louise Manning Bishop from MOM START
During this day of celebration we were also able to chat with Paul Felix, a Disney animator who worked on Bambi and was inspired by the original Disney Animator Tyrus Wong.
Q: How has animation changed over the years?
A: “Animation starts with hand drawing, that hasn’t changed much. Things need to be much richer now. The drawings from Bambi to Moana are all the same principles.”
Q: How did you become interested in art?
A: “I drew a lot as a child & always thought my older brother was the artist in the family.”
Q: What are some of the projects you’ve worked on here at Disney?
A: “Mulan, Bolt, Big Hero 6, Inner Workings”
Q: What was your favorite film to work on?
A: Lilo & Stitch. It is more about heart and storytelling than the effects although Big Hero 6 was the first time we could technologically add things to the film & use light.
“Designing Bambi is deceptively tricky! I’m known for designing environments instead of characters. I looked at some of Mark Davis’ drawing of deer for research. My first drawings Bambi looked more like a fox. But everyone has their own unique take.”
Q: Why do you think Bambi is such a popular film?
A: “Bambi is a cycle of life. It shares the beauty, mystery, & reality of the world. It’s zen. What’s more primal than the connection with a mother? Films are an extension of us.”
Make a Portfolio. (life drawing is a good talent)
Don’t limit yourself to just drawing. Try colors.
Learn a sense of art history (eras, mediums, etc)
Bambi, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, joins the Collection on Digital HD and Disney Movies Anywhere on May 23, and on Blu-ray, DVD and On-Demand on June 6. The Collection release includes a variety of new bonus material, including recordings of Walt Disney discussing the challenges and triumphs during the production of Bambi; deleted scenes and characters; stories and effects that Bambi had on the studio, other films and artists; and much much more! Additionally, the Digital HD release includes an exclusive, heartfelt feature on the incredible artist, Tyus Wong, who inspired the film’s soft watercolor backgrounds and beautiful palette.
Brand New:
The Bambi Effect – “Bambi” was full of innovations for its time. Let’s take a look at how those past innovations affected future Disney animated titles all the way up to today
Studio Stories: “Bambi” – Recordings of Walt Disney. Listen in on intimate moments where he discussed the challenges, pitfalls and triumphs during the production of “Bambi.”
Deleted Scene: Bambi’s Ice And Snow – Bambi coaxes Thumper and his brothers and sister to come play on the ice during the first snow.
Bambi Fawn Facts – Think you know everything there is to know about Bambi and his forest companions? Well, it’s time to discover some fun real-life facts about the creatures that live in the forest he calls home.
Oswald the Lucky Rabbit: “Africa Before Dark” – Oswald Short
Celebrating Tyrus Wong (Digital Exclusive) – A Heartfelt look at the man who played a key role in the success of “Bambi.” Much like Mary Blair and Eyvind Earle, Tyrus Wong had a unique signature style all to his own. The Soft Water-colored backgrounds and beautiful palettes in “Bambi” were inspired by Tyrus’ concept art paintings.
Classic:
Deleted Scenes – Two Leaves, Bambi Stuck on a Reed, Winter Grass, Twitterpated
The Making of Bambi: A Prince is Born
Trick of the Trade (Excerpt)
Inside The Disney Archives
The Old Mill: Animated Short
Original Theatrical Trailer
The Golden Age
*Digital Bonus Offerings May Very by Retailer
Bambi will be released on Digital HD 5/23 and Blu-ray & DVD 6/6.
Follow Facebook | Disney Animation #Bambi
DISNEY MOVIE REWARDS BONUS: If you have Disney Movie Rewards and purchase Bambi you have the option to buy this special tank top featuring the Paul Felix art inspired by BAMBI here! Ends July 31!

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My kids love to build things, my oldest is even thinking about becoming an arcitect. This is why I love just how much building toys have grown and advanced over the years. K’nex is one of those leaders in construction toys that my boys enjoy playing. Through a partnership with K’nex we were sent the Wild Whiplash Coaster for the boys to try out. This coaster has two builds, the main build comes in the book and there are instructions for looking up the alternative build online.
Get ready for the ride of your life with the Wild Whiplash Roller Coaster Building Set from K’NEX! Standing at over 2 ½ feet high, this creepy carnival themed coaster includes a motorized chain-lift that propels the coaster car through 14 feet of twisting, turning track! Set also features special graphic panels and stickers and comes with easy-to-follow, step-by-step building instructions. Instructions for 2nd coaster can be downloaded from knex.com! Perfect for builders 9+.
We completed both builds…each only took about 2 hours (my 11-year-old building them). They are not complicated and are pretty easy to follow. When we ran the coaster the first build ran much better then the second build did…the chain seemed to snag on a bar, but with team work they figured out how to fix the problem.
K’nex Wild Whiplash Coaster – Build 1
K’nex Wild Whiplash Coaster – Build 2
K’nex is so much more than a toy…it’s a way for children to use their cognitive skills to construct a toy and to learn how to work as a team, which you can guess with 4 strong headed boys it doesn’t happen much in this house.
You can purchase your own Wild Whiplash Coaster at Walmart
Disclosure of Material Connection: I received one or more of the products or services mentioned above for free in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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Today, Tuesday, September 15th, Disney Interactive launched Frozen Free Fall: Snowball Fight for PlayStation, Xbox and Steam, marking the first time that a first free-to-play match-3 game is available on these platforms.
With the launch of Frozen Free Fall: Snowball Fight, Disney Interactive is bringing the fun of one of Disney¹s most popular mobile titles, Frozen Free Fall, to the living room with 195 FREE levels. This new title for console and PC delivers the fun match-3 style puzzles fans love plus an exciting multi-player mode that¹s perfect for competitions with family and friends.
Frozen Free Fall has been downloaded more than 100 million times, and combined players have spent more than 62 billion minutes playing the game, which is more than all the time fans have spent watching Frozen in theatres.
By re-imagining the title for new platforms, Disney Interactive is brining the gameplay fans love to a whole new audience. Disney Interactive is committed to creating new experiences for family gamers and will continue to explore new distribution methods and monetization models.
The only free-to-play match-3 style game available on console, Frozen Free Fall: Snowball Fight lets players match colorful ice crystals and unleash power-ups to progress through challenging levels and unlock new characters including Marshmallow and more! Multi-player mode also lets fans compete with friends and family to see who is the ultimate Snowball Fight champion.
Frozen Free Fall: Snowball Fight is available for digital download on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox 360, and Steam.

McFarland, USA came out this weekend with a bang and surpasses our expectations in the box office! But with as inspiring as the movie is the cast behind it is just as inspiring. While I was in LA a few weeks ago I got to sit down with Kevin Costner, Director Niki Caro, the real inspiration behind the movie & the 7 young men who brought the inspiration to life on the big screen. Those 7 young men Carlos Pratts, Hector Duran, Sergio Avelar, Johnny Ortiz, Rafael Martinez, Michael Aguero & Rodrigo Ramirez, were so fun to listen to. They talked about many things, but I think the thing that touch me the most was the brotherhood and the bonds that you could clearly see formed just like a real cross-country team does. Staring across Kevin Costner isn’t an easy task but these boys clearly held their own in this inspiring movie.
Your first question might be a little like ours…what was it like working with Kevin Costner? The boys had some great answers…
It was a great experience, he’s a great legend, such a humble guy. – Group
He was more stories that a library, I swear. – Michael Aguero
While a few of the boys only had very little time to spend with their inspiration, Romero, Sergio & Michael are all from McFarland and grew up with the real inspiration as their coaches, councilors and teachers. While two of them (Michael & Sergio) are actually runners for McFarland and another (Romero) is a champion Soccer player for McFarland..when it came down to it they only had one month to “train” for their roles, however, they did do more running while filming then you see in the movie.
While the other boys had never acted before Carlos & Johnny have acted in other roles..Carlos states that making a movie is different from TV in that TV moves so much faster so you must have faith in the script, where a movie you get to take your time and have more confidence in what you are doing.
Carlos Pratts Taking Direction from Director Niki Caro | Photo: Disney
Q: What’s the most influential real life lesson that you took from this movie?
For me personally, throughout my high school and pretty much my whole life, I’ve been the chubby one, and in this movie, I see it a lot. They picked on me, but despite all this, it was a joke. Me and him get along, all of us get along. Yeah, they could tell me that I’m fat, but to be honest, in real life, it really did hurt me, and to see him triumph the way he did, it’s really a triumph for me also, because it proved everybody wrong. A big man could do it, but it showed me also that I could do it too. – Rodrigo Ramirez
I think one of the biggest things I’ve learned throughout this film, which I already knew, but it just reinforces it even more is the idea of equality and not judging a book by its cover. As you see in the film, Kevin Costner comes into this small town, small town, and he kind of judges the book by its cover. Once you get deeper into what’s really and all the values that are there, you see that everybody’s equal. Everybody had their own opinions. The only thing that separates us is the color of our skin, so we should try to treat each other equally. – Hector Duran
Even after the filming they all keep in touch and it’s more like a brotherhood now with “Hector as the little brother”. The chemistry that you see on-screen is the way it is in real life…
We love each other as brothers and we, we never lost that connection. When they said cut, it was still there.
What’s next for these boys? There “doors are open” to whatever life brings their way.
I hope, if you haven’t already, you go check out these amazing young men in McFarland, USA. It really is the little movie that could, far surpassing everyone’s expectations!
Follow McFARLAND, USA on Facebook
Follow Disney Pictures on Twitter
Follow the Boys on Twitter:
Ramiro Rodriguez @Ramiroo_17
Sergio Avelar @sjravelar
Rafael Martinez @koolaidrafa
Johnny Ortiz @MrJohnnyOrtiz
Hector Duran @hector_duran11
Carlos Pratts @carlospratts

The force was strong in LA last night for the Star Wars The Force Awakens World Premiere. Many Fans showed their support by dressing in Cos-Play anxiously waiting to catch a glimpse of the cast. In case you missed the red carpet which aired live on StarWars.com last night, here are a few red carpet looks from the big stars we love.
Lucasfilm and visionary director J.J. Abrams join forces to take you back again to a galaxy far, far away as Star Wars returns to the big screen with Star Wars: The Force Awakens.
The fans were fierce, and you could just feel the excitement coming through the screen as I watched Star Wars The Force Awakens World Premiere Red Carpet from home.
The film stars Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Adam Driver, Daisy Ridley, John Boyega, Oscar Isaac, Lupita Nyong’o, Andy Serkis, Domhnall Gleeson, Anthony Daniels, Peter Mayhew and Max Von Sydow. Kathleen Kennedy, J.J. Abrams and Bryan Burk are producing with Tommy Harper and Jason McGatlin serving as executive producers. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan & J.J. Abrams and Michael Arndt.
How I would have loved to have been in this room! But I have to wait a few more days, just like the rest of the world.
Follow STAR WARS on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube
Visit the official STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS website
STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS arrives in theaters everywhere This FRIDAY, December 18th!
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