At John Scalzi’s Whatever, I just read

As part of a barrel-full of Winnie the Pooh anniversary events, Disney is working on a new animated series that will replace Christopher Robin with a 6-year-old girl.

"We got raised eyebrows even in-house at first, but the feeling
was these timeless characters really needed a breath of fresh air that
only the introduction of someone new could provide," says Nancy Kanter
of the Disney Channel.

"Christopher Robin is still out there in the woods, playing," she says.

Uh, no. You stupid corporate jerk. Timeless characters do not need "a breath of fresh air" BECAUSE THEY ARE TIMELESS! What the fuck is wrong with you people?

Look. I’m a huge Disney nerd. I practically grew up at Disneyland, and I’ve done two great movies for Disney that I’m very proud of. I know Disney is a big evil empire, but I still like my Disney stuff . . . but this is fucking ridiculous. This has nothing to do with "breathing new life" into anything; it’s entirely about squeezing a few more pennies out of a successful franchise, and exploiting the anniversary of a cherished work of literature.

I have an idea: if Disney is so serious about breathing fresh life into classic characters, why not let Mickey Mouse enter the Public Domain? Okay, how about Goofy? Donald Duck? Admit it: those characters are getting a little stale, and could really use a breath of fresh air that only derivative works can provide.

Okay, Annie pulls out into a huge lead with her latest entry at Jesus’ Favorite. The entire thing must be read (do not attempt to do so while eating, drinking, or in an enviroment where you are expected to be quiet. You have been warned) but here’s a clip:

Shane:  Don’t tell anyone, but I think Annie is the coolest person in the world.   

Wil:  I know.

Shane:  Really.  I wish I had half of her coolness.

Wil:  Tell me about it. She is so kicking our assess in the bet.

Shane: I KNOW! Thank God we’re in an airtight borg free red dawn
tasha basha zone, so no one can hear us, ‘cause I would DIE if she knew
how awesome I thought she was.

Wil:  I feel the same way.  I bet whatever she is doing RIGHT NOW is super awesome.

QUICK CUT TO:

ANNIE IN A SOUND STUDIO RECORDING NEW MUSIC WITH GREENDAY.

ANNIE HIGH-FIVES BILLIE JOE.

BACK TO NERD TENT.

Annie also linked to her sister’s blog, which is about a frequently updated as Jesus’ Favorite, but with 15.875% fewer thinly-veiled references to how awesome Shane and I really are, and how living in the shadow of our awesomeness is less awesome than the actual casting of the awesome shadow.

But it’s still pretty awesome:

CONFESSION

Blog, "Did you grow up in a wealthy suburb?

Steffie
"YES. BUT, I did not drive a BMW at age 16. I had my dad’s old caddy.
It was a 87′ Sedan…ok…and it died within the year of me owning it
because ANNIE drove it into the ground. ALWAYS getting the HAND ME
DOWNS."

Blog, "Did you go to Catholic School for 14 years of your life?"

Steffie, "YES, hence my hang up with Jesus’ Favorite."

Blog, "Were you Homecoming Queen for the all boys school next door?"

Steffie,
"YES. But only because my senior picture was half-way decent and I
correctly answered some stupid question about "CaddyShack" and knew
some stupid football answer about how many downs it takes to score a
touch down…(which is a trick question…right???)"

(That is how they judged the girls..nice huh? The feminist in me is REELING.)

Blog, "Did you wear LL Bean shoes and have Polo glasses?"

Steffie, "Sadly, yes… no excuses for that one."

There must have been something in the water up in a certain catholic school in  Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, because those Sertich girls are crazy with the funny.

We’re coming for you, Annie. We have a +3 cape of kicking your ass, and a scroll of Hawesome. You’d better make your save vs. nerds, or you’re totally going to lose a level.

I‘m leaving for Vegas Friday morning for the WPBT Winter Classic insanity-fest and poker tournament plus jokes, and I haven’t had time to play much poker this week to warm myself up for the trip.

So I was about to go play some sit-n-go tourneys at PokerStars, and I realized that I can make private tourneys of my own.

So I made a private tourney at starts at 5:30 Pacific time (that will be 2030 according to the lobby clock). If enough people show up, we’ll play it like a simple sit-n-go, otherwise, I’ll just find some regular SNGs to play.

I always have a good time playing at PokerStars, but I’d much rather play with people I "know," you know?

So if you have time and interest, go to the PokerStars lobby and look for WWdN: Wil’s Folly under tourneys -> private. The password is monkey, and the buy-in is $10 +1. It’s tournament number 16141481.

Once more, the details:

What: WWdN: Wil’s Folly
When: 2030 EST (1730 PST) today.
Password: monkey
Tourney number: 1614181