Happy Birthday, Uncle John...

And on a lighter note...

John Alan Lasseter was born on this date in 1957. If you don't know who he is... you... really... are... on... the... wrong... blog. Really.

Lasseter, head of Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering, Head of development for Toon Disney Studios, advisor to Disney Consumer Products and wine maker, wasn't in town today. Believe it, or not. Can you imagine how busy this guy is with all these titles? It's a wonder he has time to tie his shoes. Well, let me just say, from everyone here at Blue Sky Disney, happy birthday Uncle John. Or Mr. Lasseter, which ever you want your highness. Hehe. Yes, say it if you want. I'm a lemming. But if you do, you'll realize that you don't have a sense of humor and you need one.

One of the great things about Lasseter is his passion and belief in a project. He also has the ability to inspire those around him to do better than what they expected or even believed they could do. And another sign of his authenticity came at the D23 Expo. When everyone came out, from Iger, Rasulo and even Cook, there was a giant teleprompter set up that had their exact script. All of their words were just calculated and prepared beforehand. Not John. If you would have looked at the monitor during his keynote you would have seen this:

Talk about Tinkerbell film.

Talk about new Winnie the Pooh film.

Talk about Princess and the Frog.

ect.

See? He just put bullet points up to remind him about stuff so that he wouldn't forget anything. His entire speech was ad-libbed and from his heart. What he said, he believed. That is something that is very hard to come by in life, and even harder in Hollywood. That's something of true value there folks.

Have fun blowing out those candles, sir...