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Dear Disney – Something New?

Composite of aminated Mother Gothel and actress Kathryn Hahn
| JJS Images

Dearest Disney Corporation,

I’m thrilled to think of Kathryn Hahn as Mother Gothel in a live remake of Tangled. Her humor, her singing voice, her look should bring a fun dimension (literally) to the character originally voiced by Broadway should-be-a legend Donna Murphy. I only have one question.

Why?

Why continue making live-action versions of the animated films?

Why make a frame-by-frame imitation of a film we already loved?

Composite of aminated Mother Gothel and actress Kathryn Hahn

Which witch is which? Composite by JJS using images from kathrynhahn.org

Broadway screen-to-stage adaptations have generally learned by now that they need to add something significant, “get through to something new” (to borrow from Sunday in the Park with George – kudos if you read that in Mandy Patinkin’s voice).

Prime example: The Lion King added the amazing, authentically South African songs of Lebo M on top of stellar puppetry visuals by Julie Taymor. But when it reverted to just film content? The kids we went with got restless, bored, even fell asleep.

The Razzies list came out yesterday, highlighting the live-action remake of Snow White, “whose artificial dwarfs couldn’t escape the Razzie for a couple of trophies. It cost a fortune and lost a fortune, perhaps cursed by Walt himself for having ignored his dying wish for it never to be remade.” (From the Razz News press release)

What Instead?

Want to add value to Disney+ and spend less money on a viral classic? Tweak the model from a full-length faithful mimic to a shorter, episodic series that brings joy and a viral hit.

The model is “Dora the Explorer and the Destiny Medallion,” made by College Humor (now “Droppout”). You have a live lookalike (Ariel Winter from “Modern Family”), the animal characters truly human (Swiper in a white suit with mask) or truly animal (who knew Boots was so sharp with a gun) and B.A.C.K.P.A.C.K. a digital assistant (“Run away with meeee”).

No CGI characters, a ton of imagination, a lot of snark. Okay, it’s not truly for the animated show’s same audience with comedy violence, black humor and a swear word (one that kids usually know but don’t tell their parents they know). But they’re fun, they’re short (around 3 minutes each for the 3-part series) and they’re fun.

The Disney live action versions? Not so much.

So, Disney, before jumping back in Maximus’s saddle, how about taking a frying-pan swipe at something just a bit different?

Under Construction – In Many Ways

| JJS Images

Thank you for your patience as my site catches up. I began this portfolio & blog nine years ago and a lot has changed, both in WordPress and in my own career.

I’ve liked showing the fun, creative side of me. I highlighted my creative bursts, the lessons learned from quirky projects. But I should add examples of my daily professional work — B2B communications, project aids, and formatted web content designed to make others shine.

I would rather do the work than talk about it.

Website wireframe

I’d be exhausted if all my work consisted of creative bursts. I like the collaboration of making someone else look good. I like formatting what someone else wrote, finding the rhythm in their words, and making it shine. I like working within a brand’s parameters — tailoring the design and language to bring out the best in someone else’s story.

That’s why, as of November 2025, this site is a work in progress as I pull together a representative sample of the value I bring to organizations I believe in. Thanks for joining me on the journey.

9/11 Pivot: Finding a Way Forward

rose
| JJS Images
rose

Birthday Rose at the 9/11 Memorial – JJS photo 2023

Most people remember September 11, 2001 through the constant barrage of television images, but for me and my colleagues at public radio, it was a day where gears shifted from ‘business as usual’ to the epitome of ‘essential service’ in a heartbeat.

It was the day I learned exactly what my professional adrenaline looks like.

Our radio clock was set to turn on at 7 a.m. PT.  We expected to hear the standard top-of-the-hour newscast, but instead, we heard host Bob Edwards’ voice falter.

He said the unthinkable: he could not fully describe what he was seeing, but one of the Twin Towers in New York City had just collapsed.

Our sleepy heads jerked awake. We stared at each other for a moment, then rushed to the living room TV. The screen didn’t show New York, though; it showed smoke rising from a low, dense building I quickly recognized as the Pentagon. The Pentagon, too?

I jumped into some clothes and hopped in the car, stopping just long enough to pick up a dozen donuts—a small treat for a staff facing what promised to be a grueling day. I arrived at the station just after 7:30 a.m. to the news that the second tower had fallen.

The world was desperate for information. In times of crisis, National Public Radio is a global anchor—trusted for clear-headed, centrist reporting. But that morning, the sheer volume of global traffic did the impossible: NPR’s digital system crashed.

That system fed dozens and dozens of web-based news modules that put national news automatically on local station websites. A year earlier, I had worked as an NPR temporary project specialist, helping stations across the country integrate those same modules.

That project meant I had an NPR email, and it was still active. While the public-facing servers were buckling under the weight of a watching world, I could log into internal communications for real-time updates. I began manually typing the updates into the KPBX website.

Another plane crash in Pennsylvania, likely related. The FAA orders all flights grounded. Suspected hijackers identified.

For hours, I was the manual link between the national feed and our visual internet audience—people at work who didn’t have a TV or a radio but they had internet and felt transfixed by this tragically historic day.

Around 11 a.m., our program director cut away from the news speculation to regularly scheduled classical music—a necessary, somber grace note for a nation in mourning. I didn’t find the time to cry until later that day, sitting in the middle of a Mass at Gonzaga’s St. Aloysius Church.

By the time NPR’s external systems were back online, the narrative had shifted from the “what” to the “who.” I was able to pivot again, this time promoting stories of the Airway Heights community coming together to comfort stranded passengers.

Looking back, that day was a masterclass in why communications professionals do what we do. When the systems fail and the adrenaline kicks in, the job isn’t about the tools or technology—it’s about the people needing a sense of clarity. It’s about doing everything possible to provide that ‘essential service.’  

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King Putin

| JJS Images

From Charlie Chaplin to Spike Jones to Mel Brooks, artists and activists have ridiculed dictators. It’s hard to laugh seeing Russian bombs hit any target they please, including hospitals and schools, but if you can do nothing physically to help the people of Ukraine survive this war they didn’t ask for, you can try to see the absurdity in the aggressor.

This Broadway Diva enjoys Hamilton. King George III is a petty spurned lover of sorts. Very dangerous, yes, the kind of abusive lover many women have desperately tried to get away from. Couldn’t help but see similarities between Putin and George, especially with the line “I will kill your friends and family to remind you of my love.” Add that line to a composite of the Hamilton character and one of Putin’s many portraits, and we get this meme.

Maybe people feel it’s too soon to laugh like this. Maybe it will only be funny if Zelensky and the people of Ukraine pull a Washington and completely push back the Russian army. Meanwhile, my thoughts are with the defenders, the refugees, the people trapped in war zones, with all who are trying to help them, and the Russians trying to protest the lies of Putin.

UPDATE: Reviewing this portfolio and blog three years later, how is it possible that this situation is worse than ever?