Things to do on my next two days off...

1) Exploit my friends and beg for money so I can go to Japan next year then remember not to thank anyone afterwards. A few months after that I can do it again for Disneyland Paris. My friends should be paying for my vacations anyways, that's all they are good for.

2) Keep calling Apple and nag them for discounts on their products because I'm a Disney podcast e-lebrity and then get comments about it written about me on my Apple account.

3) Sell someone else's broadcast/video of some random Disney show on a DVD... maybe one of those testing sessions of World of Color that's on YouTube. I'm sure the creator won't notice and I could make a killing.

4) Throw a hissy fit and leave some group that I'm a part of because I can't have my way... then tell everyone that they kicked me out.

5) Give a fellow Disney podcaster the wrong audio settings to sabotage their audio, fail to mention that I'm in town as well, and then run out to my car to be the first one on the block with a new recording of a brand new ride.

Some of you might be curious on where this is coming from.  Well, there is a podcaster that does Window to the Magic.  It's a fairly popular (if not boring) podcast in the Disney community done by a guy named Paul Barrie.  Paul is not someone that I would call very trustworthy or very respectable, but his fans seem to love him.

Currently, he's been asking for donations... for his vacations to Disney.  He's dropped from weekly shows to two shows a week and now he's saying that if his fans don't donate to him then he might stop making the shows entirely... which needless to say has caused a small panic among the Window Lickers (my little pet name for his fans).  He says it costs too much to produce and host his shows... when we all know it isn't.

While I do admire that he has come out and said that the donations will be used to offset the costs of his vacations to Disney; park tickets, hotel, airfare, and other associated travel costs... I feel that there is something not right about the whole thing.  I feel that he's exploiting his fans to help pay for his... VACATIONS.  Not for hosting or for bandwidth or for his equipment... but for his vacations to Disney.  That doesn't sit well with me.  Vacations are a luxury.

Bottom line is, that's what it is.  He's holding his hand out to his fans, that for some odd reason love him, to help pay for his vacations to Disneyland... not to mention a few years ago he did that so he and his son can go to Walt Disney World for the first time.  That doesn't sit well with me and reminds me how televangelists exploit the faithful or that asshole Kevin Trudeau exploits the stupid.  It reeks something awful and the sad thing is, his loyal fans are falling for it.  One Window Licker I saw is donating $5 a month to help pay for Paul to go on vacation.

It's sad when someone takes something that is magical and brings people together like Disney and then exploits it for their own greed.  It angers me as a long time Disney fan and it should anger you too.