4038. Princess Rapunzel

Princess Rapunzel is the heroine of the Disney's 50th animated film Tangled.[2] She is adapted from the original Rapunzel tale recorded by the Brothers Grimm. She is voiced by Mandy Moore and is the 10th princess in the Disney Princess franchise. Rapunzel is also Disney's first and so far only CGI Princess and the first official Disney Princess to appear in a PG-rated film. Biography Rapunzel's long hair, supposedly 70 feet long, has magical healing powers. If her hair was cut, it will automatically lose its power and turn to a chocolate brown, the hair color of her parents. She had been locked away in a tower her entire life. However, she still loves her overprotective "mother", Mother Gothel, who has devoted herself to Rapunzel's—or rather her hair's—protection. Rapunzel initially enjoys life in the tower, spending large portions of her days expressing herself creatively by painting the walls which line the tower. Later on, because of this creativity and curiosity, Rapunzel begins to question what else is out there, and has a hunch that there is something more inside of her. Characteristics Rapunzel is a spirited, clever, kind, ambidextrous, and playful young woman, though a bit naive, but not afraid to stand up for herself or others. Having spent all of her life in a tower with little else to do, she is very well read and talented in almost all areas such as music and baking, and even more advanced subjects like astronomy, having charted star patterns. But her greatest passion is art, turning the walls of her tower into a mural. While she longs to see the world beyond her window, she is very obedient to Mother Gothel, having major conflicting feelings after leaving her tower of excitement to finally see the world, and guilt for disobeying her mother's orders. Yet due to her experiences, she developes a strong sense of independence, refusing when Mother Gothel orders her to come home. She is quite daring, leaping from tall cliffs and swinging great lengths with her hair. She is completely immune to Flynn's so-called "charms", although this could be due to her naivety (she may genuinely not understand what he's trying to accomplish with them) and has little tolerance for his antics. She also seems to be very charismatic, able to get a group of hardened thugs to confess their dreams and convince Maximus, the captain of the guards horse, to postpone his pursuit of Flynn until the end of the festival. She has great determination to live out her dream of seeing the floating lanterns, ignoring all plots by Flynn to get her to return to her tower, but shows a little regret before actually fulfilling it, in fear of either it not living up to her expectations or losing the one thing she's yearned for all of her life. But with help from Flynn she realizes that once one dream is fulfilled, another one will take its place. Casting Broadway and Television star Kristin Chenoweth was originally called upon to voice Rapunzel before it was announced by John Lasseter, among other big news, that the cast would include singer and actress Mandy Moore as Rapunzel. As a child she is voiced by Delanay Rose Stein.

3914. PEZ Rubber Ducky

A rubber duck is a toy shaped like a stylised yellow-billed duck, and it is generally yellow with a flat base. It may be made of rubber or rubber-like material such as vinyl plastic. The yellow rubber duck has achieved an iconic status in Western pop culture and is often symbolically linked to bathing. Various novelty variations of the toy are produced. Its history is linked to the emergence of rubber manufacturing in the late 19th century. The earliest rubber ducks were made from harder rubber. Jim Henson popularized rubber ducks in 1970, performing the songs "Rubber Duckie" and "DUCKIE" as Ernie, a popular Muppet from Sesame Street. Ernie frequently spoke to his duck and carried it with him in other segments of the show. On a special occasion, Little Richard performed the song. Besides the ubiquitous yellow rubber duck with which most people are familiar, there have been numerous novelty variations on the basic theme, including character ducks representing professions, politicians, or licensed individual celebrities. There are also ducks that glow in the dark, change colour, have interior LED illumination, or include a wind-up engine that enables them to "swim". In 2001, The Sun, a British tabloid newspaper reported that Queen Elizabeth II has a rubber duck in her bathroom that wears an inflatable crown. The duck was spotted by a workman who was repainting her bathroom. The story prompted sales of rubber ducks in the United Kingdom to increase by 80% for a short period. Rubber ducks are collected by a small number of enthusiasts. The 2007 Guinness World Record for World's Largest Rubber Duck Collection stood at 2,583 different rubber ducks, and was awarded to Charlotte Lee.

 Pez (trademarked PEZ, in capitals) is the brand name of an Austrian candy and their mechanical pocket dispensers. The candy itself takes the shape of pressed, dry, straight-edged blocks (15 mm (5/8 inch) long, 8 mm wide and 5 mm high), with Pez dispensers holding 12 Pez pieces. The name Pez was derived from the letters at the start, the middle and the end of the German word for peppermint, Pfefferminz, the first Pez flavor. Pez was originally introduced in Austria, later exported, notably to the U.S., and eventually became available worldwide. The all-uppercase spelling of the logo echoes the trademark's style on the packaging and the dispensers themselves, with the logo drawn in perspective and giving the appearance that the letters are built out of 44 brick-like Pez candies (14 bricks in the P and 15 in each of the E and Z). Despite the widespread recognition of the Pez dispenser, the company considers itself to be primarily a candy company, and says over 3 billion candy bricks are consumed each year in the U.S. alone. Pez Dispensers are part of popular culture in many nations. Because of the large number of dispenser designs over the years, Pez dispensers are collected by enthusiasts.

3735. Mickey Mouse PEZ Dispenser

Disney had Ub Iwerks secretly begin animating a new cartoon while still under contract with Universal. The cartoon was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks was the main animator for the short, and reportedly spent six weeks working on it. In fact, Iwerks was the main animator for every Disney short released in 1928 and 1929. Hugh Harman and Rudolf Ising also assisted Disney during those years. They had already signed their contracts with Charles Mintz, but he was still in the process of forming his new studio and so for the time being they were still employed by Disney. This short would be the last they animated under this somewhat awkward situation.[11] Mickey was first seen in a test screening of the cartoon short Plane Crazy, on May 15, 1928, but it failed to impress the audience and to add insult to injury, Walt could not find a distributor. Though understandably disappointed, Walt went on to produce a second Mickey short: "The Gallopin' Gaucho" which was also not released for lack of a distributor. Steamboat Willie was first released on November 18, 1928 in New York. It was co-directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. Iwerks again served as the head animator, assisted by Johnny Cannon, Les Clark, Wilfred Jackson and Dick Lundy. This short was intended as a parody of Buster Keaton's Steamboat Bill Jr., first released on May 12 of the same year. Although it was the third Mickey cartoon produced, it was the first to find a distributor, and thus is considered by The Disney Company as Mickey's debut. Willie featured changes to Mickey's appearance (in particular, simplifying his eyes to large dots) that established his look for later cartoons and in numerous Walt Disney films. The cartoon was not the first cartoon to feature a soundtrack connected to the action. Fleischer Studios, headed by brothers Dave and Max Fleischer, had already released a number of sound cartoons using the DeForest system in the mid-1920s. However, these cartoons did not keep the sound synchronized throughout the film. For Willie, Disney had the sound recorded with a click track that kept the musicians on the beat. This precise timing is apparent during the "Turkey in the Straw" sequence, when Mickey's actions exactly match the accompanying instruments. Animation historians have long debated who had served as the composer for the film's original music. This role has been variously attributed to Wilfred Jackson, Carl Stalling and Bert Lewis, but identification remains uncertain. Walt Disney himself was voice actor for both Mickey and Minnie, and would remain the source of Mickey's voice through 1946 for theatrical cartoons. Jimmy MacDonald took over the role in 1946, but Walt provided Mickey's voice again from 1955 to 1959 for The Mickey Mouse Club television series on ABC. The script had Mickey serving aboard Steamboat Willie under Captain Pete. At first he is seen piloting the steamboat while whistling. Then Pete arrives to take over piloting and angrily throws him out of the boat's bridge. They soon have to stop for cargo to be transferred on board. Almost as soon as they leave, Minnie arrives. She was apparently supposed to be their only passenger but was late to board. Mickey manages to pick her up from the river shore. Minnie accidentally drops her sheet music for the popular folk song "Turkey in the Straw". A goat which was among the animals transported on the steamboat proceeds to eat the sheet music. Consequently Mickey and Minnie use its tail to turn it into a phonograph which is playing the tune. Through the rest of the short, Mickey uses various other animals as musical instruments. Captain Pete is eventually disturbed by all this noise and places Mickey back to work. Mickey is reduced to peeling potatoes for the rest of the trip. A parrot attempts to make fun of him but is then thrown to the river by Mickey. This served as the final scene of this short. Audiences at the time of Steamboat Willie's release were reportedly impressed by the use of sound for comedic purposes. Sound films or "talkies" were still considered innovative. The first feature-length movie with dialogue sequences, The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson, was released on October 6, 1927. Within a year of its success, most United States movie theaters had installed sound film equipment. Walt Disney apparently intended to take advantage of this new trend and, arguably, managed to succeed. Most other cartoon studios were still producing silent products and so were unable to effectively act as competition to Disney. As a result Mickey would soon become the most prominent animated character of the time. Walt Disney soon worked on adding sound to both Plane Crazy and The Gallopin' Gaucho (which had originally been silent releases) and their new release added to Mickey's success and popularity. A fourth Mickey short, The Barn Dance, was also put into production; however, Mickey does not actually speak until The Karnival Kid in 1929 when his first spoken words were "Hot dogs, Hot dogs!" After Steamboat Willie was released, Mickey became a close competitor to Felix the Cat, and his popularity would grow as he was continuously featured in sound cartoons. By 1929, Felix would lose popularity among theater audiences, and Pat Sullivan decided to produce all future Felix cartoons in sound as a result. Unfortunately, audiences did not respond well to Felix's transition to sound and by 1930, Felix had faded from the screen.

3194. SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants is an energetic and optimistic sea sponge (although his appearance more closely resembles a kitchen sponge) who lives in a pineapple under the sea with his pet snail, Gary, who meows like a cat. Although Gary only actually speaks in a few episodes, (mainly in "Sleepy Time" in SpongeBob's dream world, where Gary is portrayed as a librarian with an English accent) the characters have shown an ability to understand him. Pez (trademarked PEZ, in capitals) is the brand name of an Austrian candy and their mechanical pocket dispensers. The candy itself takes the shape of pressed, dry, straight-edged blocks (15 mm (5/8 inch) long, 8 mm wide and 5 mm high), with Pez dispensers holding 12 Pez pieces. The name Pez was derived from the letters at the start, the middle and the end of the German word for peppermint, Pfefferminz, the first Pez flavor.[1] Pez was originally introduced in Austria, later exported, notably to the U.S., and eventually became available worldwide. The all-uppercase spelling of the logo echoes the trademark's style on the packaging and the dispensers themselves, with the logo drawn in perspective and giving the appearance that the letters are built out of 44 brick-like Pez candies (14 bricks in the P and 15 in each of the E and Z). Despite the widespread recognition of the Pez dispenser, the company considers itself to be primarily a candy company, and says over 3 billion candy bricks are consumed each year in the U.S. alone.[1] Pez Dispensers are part of popular culture in many nations. Because of the large number of dispenser designs over the years, Pez dispensers are collected by enthusiasts.