July 17, 2017

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Entertainment July 17, 2017

Disney's Immersive 'Star Wars' Hotel Sounds Like a Dream for Fans

Ever wanted to visit the world of Star Wars?

Fans attending Disney’s D23 expo over the weekend were eager to hear more about the Star Wars-themed attractions coming to Disneyland and Walt Disney World (which are now known to be called Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge). What came as a surprise was the news that Walt Disney World is also introducing a Star Wars-themed hotel and resort. And this isn’t just any kind of lodging, either. The resort will be an immersive experience, complete with narratives and costumes for guests so they truly feel like they’re inside a giant spaceship within the Star Wars Galaxy.

Bob Chapek, Chairman of Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, confirmed on Saturday:

It’s unlike anything that exists today. From the second you arrive, you will become a part of a Star Wars story! You’ll immediately become a citizen of the Galaxy and experience all that entails, including dressing up in the proper attire. Once you leave Earth, you will discover a starship alive with characters, stories, and adventures that unfold all around you. It is 100% immersive, and the story will touch every single minute of your day, and it will culminate in a unique journey for every person who visits.

The windows of your rooms at this resort will even look out upon a simulation of deep space passing by instead of the real world outside on Earth. That sounds like it could be disorienting, especially if you do go out, but maybe you won’t ever want to leave anyway. In addition to the cool rooms, the resort appears to have bars tended by droids and other fun amenities. It’s unclear, though, how such an immersive package will relate to guests staying at Walt Disney World with the intention of leaving the resort and visiting the theme parks, including the Galaxy’s Edge stuff at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.

While there is nothing like this, Chapek is correct, it does sound like something out of a sci-fi novel or movie or series — say, Westworld but with Star Wars characters and experiences rather than the Old West theme. There are also places that offer relatively minimal narrative experiences, such as the Overlook Film Festival’s interactive horror theatrics that go on while guests attend screenings and more. This Star Wars resort doesn’t promise to be a game in the way those ideas do, though surely role-players and cosplayers will feel right at home there.

Check out some concept art for the resort below and see larger images at the official Disney Parks Blog.

The NEW Star Wars resort hotel looks unbelievable! WOW. pic.twitter.com/dwHb3wMatG

— Star Wars Stuff (@starwarstuff) July 15, 2017

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Business July 17, 2017

Is Your Boss Too Controlling? Many Employees Clash With Micromanagers

Micromanagement can kill motivation, employee creativity and job satisfaction. It’s the biggest beef many workers have about their boss.

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Micromanagement is routinely the top complaint people have about their bosses, and in today’s good job market where workers have more options, that’s a bigger problem for employers.

People might have their own definition of when a manager crosses into being too controlling, but most people would probably agree that Marjon Bell’s former boss would fit.

On her first day on a marketing job at a Virginia Beach, Va., insurance company, Bell’s boss sent an email barring employees from bringing cell phones to the office. The email said that moms, especially, spent too much time on their phones checking up on their children.

That, Bell says, was just one of her boss’ many rules.

“If we left campus for lunch, [we had] to email her when we left and email her when we got back,” Bell says.

Predictably, few people took lunch.

The boss also monitored the instant messaging system, which displayed a green light when someone was logged in, and a yellow one after they had been idle.

“Usually you had like a 10-minute window before your light turned yellow, and then they changed it to only two minutes,” Bell says. “And I came back from the restroom, and my boss was standing at my cubicle wondering where I’d been.”

Bell says the micromanagement was systemic. Her employer offered a $500 monthly bonus that rewarded co-workers for micromanaging each other.

“If you came in five minutes late, if you left early, if you took a little bit longer at lunch, whoever reported you would get an accountability award,” she says.

It was unclear who Bell could trust, but she says morale was terrible. A disgruntled employee ransacked the toilets in the women’s bathroom, she says, “to stick it to the man.” Management posted a notice outlining “rules on bathroom use” on the stall doors in response.

Bell quit after six months.

“I did the absolute bare minimum to get my paycheck,” she says. “It did not make me want to help the company in any way.”

Steve Motenko, an executive coach in Seattle, hears stories like this all the time. Micromanagement can kill motivation, employee creativity and job satisfaction, and yet it remains the biggest beef workers have about their boss.

“That’s critically important, because it’s complaints about the boss that drive most people out of organizations,” he says.

That’s especially a problem when recruitment is a top concern for employers, many of whom Motenko says aren’t even aware of the micromanagers in their midst because departing employees often aren’t questioned about it in exit interviews.

Motenko says micromanagement can reflect several problems. A bad hire or a lack of training might force a manager to constantly intervene. A disorganized boss often creates havoc that makes teamwork impossible.

These are all understandable, if regrettable, outcomes of poor management, but may not mean the person is necessarily a habitual micromanager — and circumstances make close supervision necessary, he says.

Still, many leaders Motenko has counseled have an overactive command-and-control style of leadership that leaves little room for worker autonomy, and he argues that doesn’t fit most jobs today.

“We need employees who will do more than do what they’re told — employees who will think for themselves, who will be creative, and will try new approaches,” he says, “and all of that is squashed by micromanaging.”

Studies show lack of autonomy at work elevates stress hormones and can have other negative health effects, potentially even hastening mortality.

It certainly took its toll for Chicago resident Abby Koch 15 years ago, when she worked for a jewelry store owner.

“She would literally say things like, ‘well, I’m not a micromanager…’ as she was standing behind me, literally looking over my shoulder,” she says.

The owner’s constant critiques eroded Koch’s self-esteem and that of her coworker.

“The other employee ended up having to take medication just to be able to go to work and not be crippled by anxiety,” Koch says.

She lasted 18 months in that job.

“I ended up getting divorced, and I always thought my … I don’t know … lack of standing up for myself in that situation may have caused my husband to lose some respect for me,” she says.

Since then, she says she’s always prized and chosen jobs that give her autonomy.

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Sports July 17, 2017

NBA In July? League Scores Bright Spot In Summer Ratings

Lonzo Ball of the Los Angeles Lakers stands on the court during a 2017 Summer League game against the Brooklyn Nets in Las Vegas.

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Monday night in Las Vegas, thousands are expected to turn out for an NBA Championship game between the Los Angeles Lakers and Portland Trailblazers. Hundreds of thousands more, at least, are expected to tune in to ESPN for live coverage.

Wait, you say, it’s the middle of July — a time for baseball, beach and barbecue. But men’s pro basketball? Normally way off sports fans’ radar screens this time of year.

But there’s been nothing normal about NBA Summer League 2017.

Monday’s Lakers vs. Blazers Summer League championship will be missing L.A. star guard Lonzo Ball. He’s out with a mild strain in his calf. Still the game will provide the exclamation point to an event the NBA, local organizers and ESPN programmers say has been a raging success.

“Our ESPN and ESPN 2 [summer league] ratings are up 50 percent over last year’s” says Ashley O’Connor, the sports network’s senior manager for NBA programming and acquisitions.

Those ratings have included a July 7 Lakers game against the Los Angeles Clippersthat drew 879,000 viewers and an L.A. game against Boston a day later that attracted 1.1 million.

Yes, Las Vegas is a “Lakers town” because of the proximity of L.A. But what really drew all those eyes, and the Summer League’s first ever sellout, in advance of the Boston game, was Lonzo Ball.

The second pick in this year’s NBA draft is considered a potential once-in-a-generation player. And if you don’t believe the basketball experts and pundits, Lonzo’s dad, LaVar, is there to trumpet his son’s abilities. Indeed, if the loquacious LaVar were a fish, he would definitely be of the largemouth variety. He even explained that his son switched up his shoe brand during the games out of spite — he wasn’t able to score a deal with any of the major shoe companies.

For the win

LaVar Ball showed up at Summer League in Las Vegas for a few days and that helped drive the hype. His son Lonzo’s absence Monday is bound to dampen enthusiasm for the final game. But the Summer League has been a success beyond the Balls.

“I really understand now why people are drawn to it,” says Mark Anderson, with the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Anderson is a veteran sports reporter but this has been the first time he’s covered the Summer League nearly full time.

“For kids it’s $20; $30 for adults,” he says. “And that’s for the whole day. You have your choice of 8 games [in the summer league’s early stages] at two different arenas. So it’s an affordable, fun event where you can see some of the stars of tomorrow.”

Players such as Ball, De’Aaron Fox, Jayson Tatum, Dennis Smith Jr. were part of a particularly deep and talented NBA draft in late June. And Las Vegas Summer League has given fans a chance to see these players in their first professional games.

Still, despite the handful of future possible stars, Summer League, in reality, is a mecca for hoops vagabonds.

“Half these guys aren’t going to get on the floor [during a regular season NBA game] and the other half are going to be in Belgium,” says Portland Trailblazers General Manager Neil Olshey. In an ESPN interview during a Summer League game Sunday, Olshey provided a reality check to temper Summer League hyperbole. What hyperbole? How about San Antonio’s Bryn Forbes was the Summer League Steph Curry.

A lot of the top players in June’s draft, says Olshey, “went four months without playing basketball. They got coddled by their agents doing beauty contest workouts [for different teams], they travelled a little bit, they didn’t lift [weights], they don’t have the nutrition, they were in and out of airports. They practice three days [before Summer League] and then we expect these guys to come out and be in peak condition. It’s not going to happen!”

While Summer League play was inconsistent and sloppy, especially in the early part, some teams have gelled over the 11-day Las Vegas event. Tonight’s finalists for example, L.A. and Portland, were low seeded teams when the Summer League tournament started, based on their early Summer League play. But both have discovered a chemistry and are playing well heading into the championship game.

For ESPN, this year’s Summer League success validates the network’s decision to make a year-round commitment to the NBA. You can go back to last summer, when Kevin Durant signed with the Golden State Warriors and all the talk and coverage that generated. Then the regular season, the playoffs, which ended in June. After that the draft, and now the Summer League.

But after Monday night, things will go quiet for a bit. If people truly crave basketball, there’s still great WNBA action during the summer and into early fall. For those NBA-only fans though, it’ll finally be time for some baseball, beach and barbecue. Until September, when NBA training camps open and the circuit starts all over again.

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