26 December 2009

Lighting

Luxo Jr. first came on the scene as the title character in a 1986 Pixar short. The short, which would go on the receive an Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, would be the first stop of an illustrious career that would soon turn the lamp into Pixar’s mascot.Today, Luxo Jr. entertains audiences at Disney’s Hollywood Studios. Found in Pixar Place, the lamp regularly comes out from its workspace to perform dance steps to various styles of music. In the evening, Luxo Jr. still dances, but he is also accompanied by a light show. Perhaps one of the more intriguing aspects of Luxo Jr.’s placement is that fact that he is located above the Lighting Department’s door. When the area first opened in May of 2008, a lamp cord could be seen spelling out the word ‘Luxo’ above the word ‘Lighting,’ with the Luxo Ball being wrapped up in the cord with the word ‘Jr’ printed on it. This was clearly alluding to the dancing Luxo Jr. that would debut in 2009. However, with the lawsuit filed against Pixar by the Luxo lamp company, a lawsuit which has reached an “amicable settlement,” the name was removed from the sign.Whatever the case of the name, or the rights to present the name, the bouncing, dancing lamp is forever linked to Pixar and has a special place in many of our hearts. Oh, and in case you’re wondering what type of bulb Luxo Jr. uses, according the the bulb currently seen in the dancing lamp at Disney’s Hollywood Studios, it is a Pixar Animation Studios 1986 40 watt bulb.

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