Fitness Monday w/ YouTube Channel Update

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen! We know what you are all thinking right now, we are psychics after all, and yes we will be announcing our newest theme soon. As we have said before, we always aim to launch our new theme on the first Monday of the month. Today, being November 7th 2011, is the first Monday of November, and you should be expecting a new theme by now right? Well you see there are always exceptions to these rules that we set forth for ourselves, and today is one of them.

Chris outdid himself once again, and released a beautiful Lion King animation. If you haven't seen it then skip ahead  to the end of this post to watch it. Animations tend to take a while, and Chris really takes his time to make sure that everything is perfect so that you all enjoy it. Because of all this time and stress we have decided to push the announcement of the new theme until tomorrow, but don't worry the wait will definitely be worth it.

As for ourselves we are doing great. As of today I have been dieting and working out for a month and a half now, which means this puts Chris at two month and a week. Yes he is three weeks ahead of me. I wish I could just stop his time and move along three weeks just so I could be up to par with his workout routines. On this Monday we are confident enough to share with all of you where we are in our weight loss goals. As of today Chris weighs in at 185.2 lbs, and I weigh in at 223.4 lbs, I have a long way to go. We share this information to all of you so that one, we could connect on a personal level with all of you, and two, as motivation for anyone out there that is interested in losing weight.

Hope you guys understand all that is going on, and we also hope that you are patient enough to wait until tomorrow to see our brand new theme. If you get a chance to talk to Chris, please let him know what you thought of his insanely well made animation, I'm sure that he will appreciate it. And with that, you have just been ChrisCrossed!

Oh I almost forgot. It seems that this time around Skyward Sword defeated Sonic Generations. Which means this has turned into a tie. Chris and I will both think about this for the remaining of the month. All your votes will be taken into consideration, but at the end of the day we will be the ones to make the tough decision. We hope that you enjoy what ever our last theme of 2011 ends up being. Alright NOW you have just been ChrisCrossed!

"Cole World: The Sideline Story" by J. Cole

"Young Simba's been a lion from the start."

It has been a little over a month since I purchased J. Cole's debut album, "Cole World: The Sideline Story", and I have to say that it's probably one of the best investments that I have ever made in my life. All the tracks on this CD are classic. So classic that I have had the album on loop and repeat since September 27th when it was released. It is definitively top five in my list of favorite rap albums, but that list will be saved for a later date, if you're interested of course.

Now you may be asking yourself how any of this is related to The Lion King. How could a rap album be related to a children's movie at all? Well that is why you have me here to explain all of this to you.

Jermaine Lamarr Cole, better known simply as J. Cole, was the first rapper to be signed to Jay Z's label, Roc Nation. But before being signed to Roc Nation, J. Cole had released a trilogy of mix tapes showcasing his lyrical and production talent. (The Lion King, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride, and The Lion King 1 1/2 can be considered Disney's trilogy that showcases their golden age of animation) Those three mix tapes are titled "The Come Up", "The Warm Up", and "Friday Night Lights", that latter of which won BET's "Best Mix Tape" award in 2011. Well enough about J. Cole himself, if you're interested you could always download those mix tapes for free and dive into music you have never experienced before, let's move on to the "Simba Trilogy".

In two of his three mix tapes he included songs with "Simba" in their title. First with "Simba" off of "The Come Up", followed by "Grown Simba" off of "The Warm Up". "Return of Simba" was a single track that he released to his fans via Twitter and his personal site. You could see that the trilogy of songs progressed just as Simba himself progressed in The Lion King. I could go on breaking down and analyzing the songs for you, but then this post would become more music orientated, which is not what I was going for. Instead I'm just going to show snippets from each song so you could see the "Lion King" references that J. Cole made.

"Simba"
"Word on the streets is I'm the prince..., check the splenda
And I can't wait to be the king..., young Simba!"


"Grown Simba"
"Hold up now don't get it twisted, I ain't hating, do your thing
I was like a young Simba: couldn't wait to be the king"

"Return of Simba"
(The Intro of the song is a direct sample of when Mufasa gives the "everything the light touches" speech to Simba on top of Pride Rock)

"One day, Simba, the sun will set on my time here, and will rise with you as the new king."


"(Woo!) That boy Simba crazy
Hotter than Ike Turner temper, you December, maybe"



And there you have it! Hope that you enjoyed this read, even though you may not be a fan at all of rap and hip-hop music. If you're interested in winning a free copy of "Cole World: The Sideline Story" then just leave a comment on this blog and spread the link to all your friends! I have an extra copy in my closet that is still sealed that I planned on giving away once I had things to say about the artist, and I feel like now is the right time. Cole World, you have just been ChrisCrossed!

THE LION KING and the Fast Food Memories of the Past

If you were a kid or even alive during the 90's, how awesome was it to get a new Disney toy in your Kids Meals at various fast food joints? Yes, we understand that you can still pay for a Mighty Kids Meal at McDonalds, or a even a Big Kid's Meal at Burger King and still get a small toy. But no longer will you find Mickey Mouse or Goofy next to your greasy french fry bag. During 2005 when Disney had a new shift in management, the company felt that branding their characters and new feature film releases with something that is deemed "un-healthy" for kids wasn't something they wanted to continue doing. So they cut their deal with McDonalds, and other various fast food establishments and we are left with Disney-less Happy Meal Toys.

This move was something that I remember upset a lot of people. Not only for kids, but for toy collector's as well. I remember when Disney would have a newly released animated film; you always knew McDonalds would have an awesome toy set for the movie. Whether it was a small or big set, you had to collect them all. Take for instance THE LION KING, when it was released in 1994. Something rare about the early Disney releases in the 90's was that they offered toys at both Burger King and McDonalds. (Later in the decade, it switch to just McDonalds) But take a at what they had to offer.

These toys ranged from puppets, figurines, and even a series collectors cups!  Fast food places had toys for when THE LION KING was released in 94', when it was re-released in winter of 94' and when it came out on VHS and LaserDisc.  There even was a toy line offer for the Timon and Pumbaa cartoon series! 

When the first sequel to THE LION KING came out in Fall/Winter of 1998, THE LION KING II: SIMBA'S PRIDE, McDonalds offered a small plushie collection to commemorate the films release.  Then a few years later, during THE LION KING's re-release in theaters and IMAX in 2003, McDonald's offered plastic/talking finger puppets from the animated classic.

Something that we noticed for THE first time was that Disney popped up at Subway this year. While it's still a food chain, it's a much healthier choice for the company to brand their IP with. So for the first time in almost 5 years, you can finally see Disney at your local Subways when you buy a sub. While the offer here is only collector bags, they are still cool to have/collect.

So you may never be able to open a fast food bag with an awesome Simba toy looking up at you, but we can remember a day when Disney and McDonalds stood tall hand in hand and created magic. Magic in the form of awesome memories as a kid; begging the heck out of his/or her parents to take them to McDonalds or Burger King to get the latest toys. “Have It Your Way”

If you haven’t yet, check out our NEWEST video where we play a very odd LION KING flash game!

The Sounds of The Lion King II: Simba's Pride

Thanks for coming back for our second installment in our "The Sounds of" series of blog posts. This time around comes one of our favorite Disney sequels of all time, The Lion King II: Simba's Pride. Though it isn't as good as the first one, The Lion King II still has a special place in all of our hearts. There is no denying that this film had some classic music, that even if you hated the film with all your heart, you couldn't come out hating the music as well.


There was never an official soundtrack that coincided with the release of the actual film, but there was an audio CD that contained all the songs from the movie, as well as other songs written by Lebo M., that released on September 8, 1998. Here is the list of the songs that appeared on that CD, "Return to Pride Rock: Songs Inspired by Disney's The Lion King II: Simba's Pride"

The Lion King II's VHS Cover

1. "He Lives in You"
2. "We Are One"
3. "Upendi"
4. "One of Us"
5. "My Lullaby"
6. "Love Will Find a Way"
7. "We Are One"
8. "She Believes in You"
9. "Song for the Children"
10. "I Want to See the Moon"
11. "The Lion Sleeps Tonight"
12. "Love Will Find a Way" (End Title)








Once again that is one heck of a list of songs. They aren't better than The Lion King's songs that is for sure, but that's not to say that they aren't close. Personally my favorite would have to be "Love Will Find a Way", so as you can see I am a real sucker for those love songs. I would have to ask Chris on what his favorite song, if he even has any. I have heard him sing songs from this film a lot though, secretly we all know that he is a huge fan of The Lion King II. What are your favorite songs? Leave a comment down below, we would love to hear from you.

Simba and Kiara

Hope that you enjoyed this blog post, and we're happy that we are once again back on track. Please take a couple seconds to vote in our poll as we will be using that information for all our future work. Also check out our YouTube channel if you haven't already, there is always fun and new content that you can find on there. Have a beautiful week, and you have just been ChrisCrossed!

Got Questions?

Tomorrow is Thursday! And you may be asking yourself why we're so excited for such a random day of the week, but that is one of the only days that we can actually film! We still have so many things that we want to do, and some things that you, the fans, get to be a part of. You may have noticed that our theme didn't change for October, and you may have also guessed by now that we are doing a second Lion King themed month. This is due to the amazing sales that The Lion King brought in at the box office, the release of the first ever BluRay of The Lion King, and finally our goal to defeat a long time foe, The Lion King for the SNES. Hope you guys are excited as us for this continuation of The Lion King theme!

Now this is where you come in. Since we are going to be beginning a "new" month so to speak, we are going to be doing another ChrisCrossMail. There have been some comments on our recent videos asking us when we were going to do another Q&A session, also known as our ChrisCrossMails. It's obvious that the people writing those comments aren't reading up on our blog, following us on Twitter, or liking our Facebook page. But let's not harass them please. If you have any questions that you would like to ask us, just leave them as a comment on this post. If we got a lot, we may just answer them all, but keep them PG as always.

Hope you guys liked this little update filling you in on where we are right now with ChrisCrossMedia. And if you guys (that means you gals too) haven't watched our newest video here it is below.

Once again, if you have any questions for us that you would like to see answered in our newest ChrisCrossMail, that will be out later this month, then please just leave your questions on here and they may just be answered. Until next time, you have just been ChrisCrossed!

THE LION KING BLURAY RELEASED!

Today THE LION KING was released on BluRay, BluRay 3D, and DVD in North America! The Lion King is Disney’s 32nd classically animated movie, and is widely considered one of the greatest animated masterpieces of our time. Not only was The Lion King critically acclaimed, it also was (and still is) a blockbuster hit, and was close to breaking a billion dollars at the world wide box-office.

The basic plot for The Lion King, as provided on the back of the BluRay, is an extraordinary coming-of-age adventure as Simba, a lion cub who cannot wait to be king, searches for his destiny in the great “Circle of Life”.





In North America, on September 16, 2011, The Lion King was re-released in theaters in a special edition converted 3D. This was released for a limited two week run in theaters, but due to the great success at the box office, it was extended for an extra week.



 Today, it came to our attention that The Lion King 3D will also be given a short re-release in the UK starting THIS Friday, October 7th! If you have yet to see The Lion King or are hesitant to see it in theaters because you do not enjoy 3D films, we highly recommend you check out our review on the movie and its 3D conversion.



With that said, of course today the movie was released on BluRay in Glorious HD! It is PACKED with New Special features such as 4 Never-Before-Seen Deleted Scenes, Never-Before-Seen Bloopers, a Deleted Song, The Morning Report: Extended Scene (released on the 2003 DVD print), a documentary Pride of The Lion King and The Lion King: A Memoir, Disney Sing Along Mode, and so much more!

This BluRay package is full of bonuses and special features to keep the fan in you entertained for hours! Depending on where you buy your copy, various stores are offering free things with your BluRay purchase. The Disney Store is offering FREE Lithographs, while Toys R Us is offering a free GIANT 3D poster! With that said, Thanks Again Guys and You Have JUST Been ChrisCrossed!

Make sure to check out our NEWEST Video: Let’s Play THE LION KING Ep: 3 ELEPHANT GRAVEYARD!

 

The Lion King Month

"The king...has returned." Good afternoon everyone! If you haven't heard by now we are going to be doing a Lion King themed month for this September. There are so many things that we could do for this theme, and the ideas that are flowing are just mind boggling. You can be expecting many of our "ChrisCross" videos of the past including Lookbacks, ChrisCrossMails, Movies in under 90 seconds, Movie Reviews, and more! That's not to say that we won't be trying new things, and revisit some older ideas as well.

This month has started a little later than usual, but that's ok. We'd like to start off this month by explaining when exactly all our other months from now on will begin. This Lion King month was planned to begin this Monday, which would have been the first Monday of September, but was held back due to Chris' huge amount of work that went into his latest animation for ChrisCrossMedia. (Link down below) Hope that clears up most of the confusion you may have had. To sum it up, all our ChrisCrossMedia months will begin on the first Monday of that month, so it doesn't necessarily mean that it will be the 1st of the month.

There isn't much more that can be said without spoiling all our goodies for this month. Hope you all are excited as much as we are for this month. We really do have many great videos that we would love to share with you all, so please stay tuned on here, Facebook, Twitter, and especially YouTube. Leave your comments on here with any video ideas that you'd like to see us tackle. Thanks once again, and you have just been ChrisCrossed!

If you'd like to see the animation that Chris did here is the link.