Grid Report 10.31.11

Another week has passed on the Grid, and the world is still out there getting on their Tron without Disney. Yes, Disney hasn't done much with their 'franchise' in awhile, and as we await Tron Uprising, with pretty much nothing to go on, and the possible news of a Tron 3, Halloween has come and Tron has infected people everywhere, still a popular costume for the festivities, and thousands of people right now are out there wearing a Tron outfit of one kind or another. The thing is, it isn't just "Tron Fandom" it is something weirder than that, it's become a 'thing,' a meme for all time, whether it is really related to the two films or not. Everything that glows is now "Tron," and the "Tron Party" or Tronification of a house, garage, bar, restaurant or club is the same as a 'Haunted House.' It has become a social theme, where young and old, Tron fans and non-Tron fans alike can participate and get crazy. It isn't so much about Sam Flynn and videogames as it is about blacklights and glow stripes, and their mood-altering effects.

I saw a page on the net this week about a school having a Tron-themed 'spirit week.' The thing is, there's so many fun things to try to mimic in Tron, it's a sure-thing, and it's something everybody is familiar with now, where as before, what would you have called it? A glow-party? A 'Rave'? People would have said that either these are bizarre things for total druggies and weirdos to do that they are to be avoided by 'normal' people at all costs. Now, it's like having a 'vampire night', or a zombie-walk, it has found it's place in Halloween, and because of its appeal, will probably survive longer than the "MASH Bash" or the Avatar bonfire.

This week Tokyoflash released its Kisai Seven Tron inspired LED watch, the latest 'Tronified' design-product to hit the Grid. Although I haven't figured out exactly how this watch tells you what time it is, it would seem a lot of people are already enamored with it. If only had a pop-up holographic display. Oh well.

Salacious Sound posted a 'viral promo flyer' for a Daft Punk 2012 'Tron' Tour, but I could find no specific confirmation of this either on Daft Punk's site, or anywhere else. That would be a crazy concert with everybody dressed in Tron Costumes, and glow-in-the-dark makeup and glowsticks. I keep telling you, a "Tron Musical" would be an interesting gig to produce, and eventually, I will turn out to be way ahead of everybody on this. Somebody will eventually do it. It has to be done with electronic music, Daft Punk would be great, but a fresh remix of the original Wendy Carlos soundtrack would best. The set pieces themselves would be amazing to behold...somebody will figure out just how to put such a show on. It's coming ladies and gentlemen, as sure as "Spiderman" or "Star Wars the Musical" was, it's simply a matter of who catches on to this idea first.

Dupont has a rather expensive looking exhibition, the Tron Designs Corian, to cross promote their latest plastics and the movie Tron Legacy. It is quite an exhibit, take a look at their official site which has an extensive gallery and videos. The Tron style-meme is still infecting everyone and everything, and while Dupont's is a Disney exclusive, and the Tokyoflash watch is also another non-Disney brand attempting to capitalize on the Tron-meme, every week comes another design, whether it's from Disney, some unknown company, or simply a fan out there with some design skills.

N.C. Winters, the artist who created the famous Bill Murray Caddyshack portrait called "Wisdom of the Llama" has begun a new project, entitled "Low Rez" and it is a painting of none-other than our very own Yori. We'll be watching closely for the final result of this latest in Yori fine arts.

The world was also reminded this week that Yori is Lacey Underall from Caddyshack. (Well, we knew that) The folks who bring you those wacky stop-motion animated shorts from Adult Swim gave us Nerd Tron, where the nerd character goes to the Grid and meets Yori. Robot Chicken's latest Tron skit is actually pretty funny, and as often they return to the scene of the crime, with further adventures in these invented scenes, I would bet that sooner or later, yet another character will visit Tron world, I'm betting that Cindy Morgan would probably be more than willing to do the real voice of Lacey Underall on that show, er I mean "Yori."