The world is a funny place. There's a story in today's New York Times about the proliferation of mashup videos on YouTube of Soulja Boy's song "Crank That." One of the specific examples that the reporter cites is a version composed of clips from Disney animated films. The reporter begs the question if the mashup is protected by parody (and therefore is not subject to a potential lawsuit from Disney), and goes on to mention Disney's fierce history of suing for copyright infringement.
So why bring this up? Because it's funny in two ways. First, it would be funny to be in a courtroom where a judge or jury is made to watch a mashup video of Tigger and Bambi singing hiphop, and second, Michael Eisner, that old Disney attack dog, is now at the helm of Topps, a company that proudly markets at least two different products based entirely on parody (the mainstay Wacky Packages and the newcomer 'Hollywood Zombies'). I wonder if the Topps board room will still display boxes of Wacky Packages on the credenza.
Yes, the fix is in: the Topps board approved the sale to Eisner, Tornante, and Madison Dearborn, and it's my guess that the Mothership came back around to him after they got a glimpse of what life with Upper Deck would be like (sometimes money isn't the only deciding factor). So what can/should we expect from the new, privatized Topps? I'm holding out for three things to happen:
1. Packs of cards going down in price
2. Public tours of the Topps factory
3. The Wonderful World of Topps: a themepark in Lower Manhattan featuring such rides as Refractor Mountain and Mr. Mantle's Wild Ride.
LOL ! I love your take on the Disneyfied Topps ! You may not be too far from the truth. Much will change when 'The Mouse' takes over. I wonder if Topps executives will avoid riding helicopters for a while (a la Frank Wells untimely death).
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