Walt Disney Buys Lucasfilm.

The following is a press release made today by The Walt Disney Company on their website:

Burbank, CA and San Francisco, CA, October 30, 2012 – Continuing its strategy of delivering exceptional creative content to audiences around the world, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has agreed to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. in a stock and cash transaction. Lucasfilm is 100% owned by Lucasfilm Chairman and Founder, George Lucas.

Under the terms of the agreement and based on the closing price of Disney stock on October 26, 2012, the transaction value is $4.05 billion, with Disney paying approximately half of the consideration in cash and issuing approximately 40 million shares at closing. The final consideration will be subject to customary post-closing balance sheet adjustments.

"Lucasfilm reflects the extraordinary passion, vision, and storytelling of its founder, George Lucas," said Robert A. Iger, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of The Walt Disney Company. "This transaction combines a world-class portfolio of content including Star Wars, one of the greatest family entertainment franchises of all time, with Disney's unique and unparalleled creativity across multiple platforms, businesses, and markets to generate sustained growth and drive significant long-term value."

"For the past 35 years, one of my greatest pleasures has been to see Star Wars passed from one generation to the next," said George Lucas, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Lucasfilm. "It's now time for me to pass Star Wars on to a new generation of filmmakers. I've always believed that Star Wars could live beyond me, and I thought it was important to set up the transition during my lifetime. I'm confident that with Lucasfilm under the leadership of Kathleen Kennedy, and having a new home within the Disney organization, Star Wars will certainly live on and flourish for many generations to come. Disney's reach and experience give Lucasfilm the opportunity to blaze new trails in film, television, interactive media, theme parks, live entertainment, and consumer products."

[...]

Kathleen Kennedy, current Co-Chairman of Lucasfilm, will become President of Lucasfilm, reporting to Walt Disney Studios Chairman Alan Horn. Additionally she will serve as the brand manager for Star Wars, working directly with Disney's global lines of business to build, further integrate, and maximize the value of this global franchise. Ms. Kennedy will serve as executive producer on new Star Wars feature films, with George Lucas serving as creative consultant. Star Wars Episode 7 is targeted for release in 2015, with more feature films expected to continue the Star Wars saga and grow the franchise well into the future.

The acquisition combines two highly compatible family entertainment brands, and strengthens the long-standing beneficial relationship between them that already includes successful integration of Star Wars content into Disney theme parks in Anaheim, Orlando, Paris and Tokyo.

[...]

Read the release in its entirety here.

Robert A. Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Co., goes on to say, "... we're planning to release Star Wars Episode 7 – the first feature film under the "Disney-Lucasfilm" brand. That will be followed by Episodes 8 and 9 – and our long term plan is to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years."I'm really not sure how I feel about this. The "prequel trilogy" changed almost the entire story, from brilliant action fantasy in space ("The Force ... is an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us, penetrates us, and binds the galaxy together"), to forced almost-unbearably-dramatic science fiction ("Midi-chlorians are a microscopic lifeform that reside within all living cells..."); and even Lucas' countless edits over the years changed the story dramatically (Han changed from total bad-ass, to bad-ass when threatened; a characteristic that made his transformation at the end of the trilogy far less significant). But who knows, maybe the new management are the fanboys who grew up on the original trilogy, and they'll restore some of the magic that was lost.

Basically, I am terrexcitehorrithrillified about this whole thing. 

The Carpenter, Babel, and Carry Me Back.

This year, what are most likely my three favourite folk bands each released a new album, two of which have been added to my favourite albums of all time.


Carry Me Back
by Old Crow Medicine Show

Carry Me Back is Old Crow's fourth full length album, and their first in four years, since the release of Tennessee Pusher.

I was introduced to their music with O.C.M.S. only a few years ago, and the raw, unrefined bluegrass energy and excitement, and the pride in their own heritage and the heritage of our nation made me fall in love. The love continued with the palpable passion of Big Iron World, and they became one of my favourite artists in any genre. Sadly, when I bought Tennessee Pusher, I was disappointed that the energy seemed to have dissipated; the music was played with skill, and the songs were well composed, but the passion was missing, and with some refinement the exuberance faded – that's not to say that the music became melancholy; their first albums were brilliantly balanced between joy and sorrow.
Carry Me Back has the most refined sound of all of their releases, and yet, the palpable passion, the obvious joy and enjoyment of their craft, the intimacy, and the raw bluegrass are as present as at the first. Carry Me Back is a wonderful example of the perfect melding of old-fashion art, and modern process.
I want to learn the banjo.


Babel
by Mumford & Sons

Babel is a good record, but it's not great.

Sigh No More was an extremely powerful record in so many ways: the music was raw and untamed, imaginative, vibrant; the lyrics were beautifully written, and hard hitting and relatable; it was perfectly constructed, each song having its own flavour, yet being cohesive and united – it was an instant classic, received by a massive audience, many of whom didn't know they had any like for folk music.

So what happened?

I know, most of you are about to close this page and grumble about some stupid hipster who only likes obscure music at the expense of quality – but hear me out.
Sigh No More was untamed and passionate, but Babel feels restrained. The lyrics are still beautiful, still relatable, and the music is still played skillfully, but there's something missing; it feels like they were trying to duplicate the success of their first album – something they could easily have done, had they only filled a disc with incoherent noise – which they did, simply because of the fan-base built with Sigh No More. The title-track, "Babel," is a powerful introduction, and the lead single, "I Will Wait" was a good choice as such, and "Lovers Eyes" begins with beautiful, subdued harmony, but fades into almost the same chord progression as the first half of the album.
All that being said, "Lover of the Light," "Hopeless Wanderer," "Broken Crown," and "Not With Haste" are brilliant tracks, demonstrating the same passion and imagination shown in their first album, and their rendition of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Boxer" is a captivating cover (the not near as much so as the original).
I'm sure that I will gradually fall in love with this album, as I have with others, but my first impressions are that it is restrained music attempting to convey unrestrained joy and sorrow.
Please don't hate me.


The Carpenter
By The Avett Brothers

The Avett Brothers' I and Love and You was a huge hit, but it was not an instant classic for me, as Emotionalism, Mignonette, and the Gleam EP & Second Gleam were; in fact, it took me more than two years for me to fall in love with it. There were select tracks that I actually disliked for a long time ("Kick Drum Heart,""Tin Man," "Slight Figure of Speech," and "It Goes On and On"). But The Carpenter... now that's an entirely different story.

There is not a song, not a verse, not a lyric, not a note on this record I do not love. They have managed to perfectly combine the magic of Emotionalism with the mainstream refinement of I and Love and You without sacrificing any of the passion of their earlier music. "The Once and Future Carpenter" is a perfect opener, and "Live and Die" follows it perfectly. "Through My Prayers" literally makes my eyes well-up with tears (but that's because I have a personal connection with the lyrics). I honestly do not think The Avett Brothers have written a better, more cohesive, or more beautiful album.
The Carpenter is absolute perfection.
Forgive my gushing fanboy nature.