Mandy Moore..................
 

the closing ceremony this year left some mixed feelings didn't it....for me mostly hunger.......

I thought it was really funny that when they anounced that Mandy Moore was going to perform people just started pooring out and into epcot. I think this proved that FIRST is wrong about our taste in music. so i am thinking, did everyone leave because they were hungry or because they didn't want to listen to Mandy?or did you stay and watch? what were your thoughts?

I left because her music is very bad, i hate pop music and so does over 75% of the FIRST community (i belive). If they get a band next year i'd recommend a ska band like Five Iron Frenzy, 10 minutes down, Supertones, or Buck-o-Nine.

She was definately a step in getting FIRST to be recognized by the masses. Any positive publicity such as getting big name stars such as Mandy Moore is a good thing. As for the choice, she wasn't my first choice but, it was hysterical standing in the back of the stands and watching one giant crowd head towards the exit to Epcot and the other crowd rushing the stage to see Mandy Moore! Too funny!

As for me I was going to get into the team party and didn't want to wait till the concert was over since I paid my $30.00 to get into the party!

While this would have been nice, you also have to look at it from a monetary standpoint. Without getting into another argument over exactly how much money Disney does or doesn't make from us being there, the fact is that it is cheaper to get 1 artist in to do 4 songs than it is to get 4 artists to do 1 song each...

hrm yeah i dont think they could go with one of your christian bands you recomended, plenty of people would raise hell and leave just the same as this year.

Was she getting paid for the event? It wasn't clear to me. It would be very interesting to know as I think FIRST (and Disney) could spend their money in better ways (like those flame throwers from last year....) ;)

Matt

I believe disney completely owns the rights to and or mandy moore, but if they were to pay an artist, a punk or ska band would be the best way to go. Ska bands play concerts for dirt cheap, usually tickets are 10 or 15 bucks per person for no more than 500 people (split between the 2 or 3 bands that play). Big name pop stars play for thousands of people at 30 or 40 bucks a pop. Go with Catch 22 they rock hard!

It also becomes a question of approperianess (i know that spellings mess up).

Remember last year at the Nats, and they played a rap video when there were technical diffuculties?

Even couple cuss words would make the event PG-13, and we all know Disney is firmly in the G catagory...

Any FIRST bands, perhaps:D?

I think thats why Mandy was chosen to sing....it is somewhat a family event....families do attend with younger children...i mean, I think FIRST will continue to bring family orientated performers to sing or whatever at the end.....sorry to disappoint everyone....but it looks like Pop music is going to continue at FIRST....

I think FIRST needs to remember that it is OUR team party.

They should play what the people in the competition want to hear...We are the ones paying $5000 to get into the comp, we're the ones paying to come to Florida...The lost of what we pay goes on and on...

I can understand them wanting to make the competition appealing to the public, but realistically here this is OUR competition, not the publics'.

I dont know if all of you know this but when we were in orlando there was Grad night going on. And what it is is basically our team party for high school seniors who are graduating. And they have performances going on. Im pretty sure that Mandy Moore is one of thoes acts, so as opposed to playing at grad night she played for us. It was probably cheaper for Disney to have mandy play rather than one of thoes big laser light firework video whing that we all know and love.





Andrew

I only mentioned 2 christan bands, I am not a religous person but i still love these bands, you don't have to be all goddly to like christan ska, for some reason the christan bands just do it very well. Anyway there's always 10 minutes down who would do it for free as long as they got some transportation and passes to the parks.

Whats wrong with some Christian bands? Just because they dont sing about drugs, sex, or violence and do not use profanity does not mean they are no good. And i think their ideals are more in line with the ideals of FIRST than some bands that sing about questionable causes.

Whats wrong with some Christian bands? Just because they dont sing about drugs, sex, or violence and do not use profanity does not mean they are no good. And i think their ideals are more in line with the ideals of FIRST than some bands that sing about questionable causes.

P.S. Kane i agree, the Supertones rock. I have seen them in concert 5 times and each time they put on a great show.

maybe the hippos if you dont want to go the christian way, but still want a good band with out profanity sex violence and such.

I belive what she ment was that not everyone is christan and it would be disrespectful to promote a religon that not everyone is. the one thing i hate most are christans (extreamests, basically every religon applies to this but im just using christans because its part of the subject at hand) that think that everyone should convert to their religon because their right and im wrong. Not that these bands will do that but its just like the message that first is sending

Ok.. You can't go wrong with New Found Glory... they would definitely own the stage.. or throw a techno DJ up there.... say... DJ Illusion, DJ Keoki, Prodigy, DJ Summerjoy (philly local)... make the closing ceremony area into a big dance floor... that'd be super chill... Imagine Crystal Meth spinnin in that huge area with lasers and schtuff goin all around.. i think i'd breakdown and die... nothin beats some good techno...

Personally i think what they have done in the past is awsome. For thoes of you who forgot or just dont know, they weoul have some crazy lazers and dancers and fireworks. And on the big screen they would play a video compilation of the competition and they play music and have a real cool animation of the "magic kingdom" It was awsome and i missed it this year, it was by far an awsome way to finish the year off. I rember the goosebumps it gave me.



Andrew

Good Idea
 

I actually felt bad leaving the Einstein area for the Park when Mandy Moore was on stage, because I thought it was great that they got a "big name" to perform, but I can't stand her music! I TOTALLY missed the "Compilation Video" from the past years! Every year I love that video because you get to look for your team! and this year I thought we might actually be in it!!! I wanted the GRAND fireworks show they usually have, I did see the fireworks show they had in EPCOT later in the evening, and I'll post a picture of the sign that they burnt in the Picture Gallery, but still, it wasn't as grand as last year, and I missed the DANCING!! I'm not a Dancer, but in past years there was ACTUAL DJ's and Dance areas, this year not so much:( But I think that FIRST is moving in a good direction, promoting through big names like Will Smith and Mandy Moore, personally when Will Smith spoke I was laughing my butt off because he was like "I need more engineers because I need to see my kids more!" and I thought that was great!
Oh my team figured out one great thing that make the NATS that MUCH MORE exciting and enjoyable... winning! If only we had figured that out TWO years AGO! hehe

But back to the subject, I think that Mandy Moore was a step in the right direction, and I do appreciate FIRST's (or Disney's) effort, unfortunatly she didn't appeal to me, and as others have said, The people who build bots, aren't your usual "Teeney-Boppers" and she wasn't the best choice for the audience.
GREAT COMPETITION! I CAN"T WAIT FOR NEXT YEAR!! WOO HOO!:D

I do not listen to Mandy Moore, yet i still respect her deeply. She has a wonderful voice, and i respect the things she sings about, and i thought "A Walk to Remember" was a wonderful movie. Any other time i would have been privileged to watch her perform, but i was one of the people who got up as soon as she came on stage. I was hungry, i was tired, my head was throbbing from the speakers already, i had been sitting in those bleachers 5 stinkin hours....i simply could not sit there any longer. My sincerest apologies to Mandy...i hope she doesn't think too poorly of us now.

I have nothing against Christian bands (I live in the buckle of the Bible belt for goodness sake) I just know from working in a performing arts theater you have to be very careful about these issues when having public events, you wouldn't think it would matter, but when one person gets mad and then their friends get mad and then they cry foul, and it all goes downhill...

asher
as PC as possible

A Step in the Right Direction
 

I think having a named artist, whether you all like her or not, is a step in the right direction for FIRST. However the format of the closing program could have been improved to make it shorter and flow better. Here's my 2 cents on it

1. award the Autodesk winners (and whatever others were ready then) on Saturday morning right after the scholarships. It would give those teams a real adrenaline boost for the day and shorten the evening program when everybody is already cooked from the day in the heat.

2. I felt the actual awarding of the Chairman's Award was embarassingly short. They never even listed the regional candidates up for the award (unless you count that 2 second fly through their team logos in their Hall of Fame video) and the brief description of all of the great stuff Buzz has done for FIRST over the years was far from adequate. I got the impression that they were rushing through it- probably to be on time for Mandy Moore. For what FIRST calls the "highest honor" I think it could have been handled better. My opinion.

3. I never did figure out what the second "surprise" was inside Epcot. I went in to the "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" ride and by the time I came out the whole place was leaving. Somebody clue me in here.

If they really wanted to surprise us they should have staged Mandy Moore inside the park and had the teams "discover her" when they got to the venue there. That way the program could have been shortened, the hungry would be fed and the crowds could be pleased.

4. As for their choice of music, as an old fart, if FIRST turned the party into a headbangers ball I would protest. Thats my opinion there.

5. At one point we were asked to designate 2 students to go up and accept awards for the team. Then EVERY team went up in total for EVERY award. The recognition is nice but it was very time consuming. I don't know why they allowed that to happen. For the medals yes, for the judged awards no way!

Hey- it was fun nonetheless. I hope all had a good time.

WC :cool:

I just hope FIRST people read this so they know what we all like and what we don't... maybe next years finals will be incredible thx to us... :D

What I understood to be the big surprise was the fireworks show that was at the end. We watched it and it was cool, but it was a little short. As for the rides, we went to go to Honey I shrunk the audience but, they said it closed at 10 and...it was only 9:59!!!!!!!

Oh well, we moved on with our "HEEEEEEEY" chant around epcot.

It was just great!

:D

I think they should give all of te teams a list of possible performers and them have a huge team vote. 1 vote per team. couple hundred votes in all. better than having all of the students voting (20,000+)