I'm starting a new column here in the blog called "Fakin' the Funk". Whenever I run across something that's a bad representation of the original, be it tangible or intangible, It'll go here.We're gonna start this show off right-- Here's a fake-ass Disneyland in China, which has long been the "knock-off" capital of the world anyway.
From The Standard we learn that Beijing's state-owned Shijingshan Amusement Park boasts the slogan "Disneyland is too far" and "features a replica of Cinderella's Castle, with staff dressed like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and other Disney characters." Here's a quote from a 31-year-old housewife and mother at the park that nicely sums up the situation:
"I don't understand why that is such a big problem. Shouldn't others be able to use those characters besides [Disney]?" she asks.
Japan Probe offers us this gem:
Some have claimed that the park is illegally copying Disney’s Minnie Mouse. However, the park’s operators have insisted that the character ... is not a mouse. It is a cat with very large ears!Japan Probe also links to several video clips of Japaneses news broadcasts on the topic.
All images originally appeared on Japan Probe.
UPDATE: Japan Probe finds fake zebras at the fake Disneyland, and more Chinese amusement parks ripping off just about everybody. And the AP reports that Shijingshan might be trying to clean up its act.
We'll see. If they can fake the Apple iPhone and get away with it, then why not everything else...
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This is an experiment of sorts to try to tie together my online identity and my offline personality. I've made plenty of business oriented sites, but I have never actually put together one for myself personally... With the advent of social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace along with blog sites like Blogger and Twitter, I find that I have cut a wide swath here in the internet, in terms of being actively online, but there isn't one place to really tie that information together. So this will be an attempt at doing so.