Is a Disney-brand Muslim headscarf on the way?

Imane Boudlal has a problem: She is a member of two of the world’s largest religions — Islam and Disney. This became an issue in her life when, several months prior to Ramadan, the Disney World employee asked if she could wear a headscarf in observation of the month-long religious celebration. This was kicked up the chain of command and Disney corporate came back two months later and told her

told she could wear a head scarf, but it had to be designed by Disneyland’s costume department to comply with the Disney look, Qazi said. She was fitted for a Disney-supplied head scarf but was not given a date when the garment would be finished and was told she couldn’t wear her own hijab in the interim.

On Sunday – five days after Ramadan began, Ms. Boudlal showed up to work wearing her own hajib which was notably devoid of anything Mouse-ish. Ms. Boudlal’s job requires her to deal with the public and so her supervisors reportedly gave her the option of removing the hajib, going home or working in a behind the scenes position for the month.

As much as it pains me to do this, I have to side with Disney on this one. They are nothing if not consistent when it comes to employees wearing symbols of competing religions. My resident expert, Mrs. CollateralDamage, confirms that Mousers can’t wear crosses, yarmulkes, saffron robes, or pins saying “Scientology? YES!” on the job (or at least when their job involves working with the public). Above right: Disney’s standard way of depicting Arabic women.

Say it with me folks: “Thou shalt have no Mouse before me for I am a jealous Mouse.”

Still, I love the idea of Disney-designed religious clothing.

That said, allow me to make a few other points about Islamic issues in the news lately.

• Dear France (and Canada): IT’S A FREAKING VEIL!!!! GET OVER IT!!!
• It’s not a mosque and it’s not at Ground Zero. GET OVER IT!!! What about the strip clubs – which are also two blocks and can’t be seen from GZ?

Wow. I defended Disney and slammed France in the same post. Clearly I am getting the flu that Mrs. CD & CDjr. already have.

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Great look at what Disney should have done instead of buying Marvel

Geoff Carter is an excellent and smart writer who, among other things, produces the Disney-centered blog YourSouvenirGuide (but don’t hold that against him). In the post Ten things Disney could have done to geek up without buying Marvel he explains both why Disney buying Spidey was a bad idea and how they could have leveraged the properties they already own.

To my mind, the purchase of Marvel is one of the few missteps the Mouse has made under Bob Iger’s reign. Disney isn’t getting a hell of a lot for its money. The theme park rights to the characters will continue to be held by Universal. And the movie properties .. will remain the properties of Sony, Fox and Paramount for the forseeable future. …. Four billion dollars spent to wait out contracts and to see if Avi Arad and Jerry Bruckeheimer will duke it out in Thunderdome.

My favorite suggestion:

9. The Disney Princesses: Teach them kung-fu and arm them with wrist-holstered blades and pistols.

Works for me.

Mouserine courtesy of KidKalig

Headline: Egypt cleric says Mickey Mouse is not agent of Satan

While Mrs. Collateral Damage, who has all the details on the story, doubtless agrees with the learned cleric, I do believe it is an issue on which reasonable people may disagree. And still remain married.

Best quote from the story:

Sheikh Mohamed al-Munajid, a cleric who often appears on Saudi television and who is also a former Saudi diplomat in the United States, said last week that mice were “agents of Satan” and should be killed. “Sharia (Islamic law) calls for the extermination of all mice. That includes the rodents as well as ‘the famous cartoon mouse’,” he said. He blamed Mickey Mouse for causing people to become soft on mice.

Hugo Chavez is a pawn of the Disney corporation!

Any questions?

Pixar brings plague of pet rats to Paris

First it was dalmations, now it’s rodents. When Disney’s remake of 101 Dalmations came out it caused such a frenzy for dalmation pups that local animal shelters saw a marked increase in the number of spotted pups being turned in. Now Pixar, owned by the Mouse, has done it again. Thomas Huxley reports in his wonderful blog Upcoming Pixar that:

Gerald Moreau who runs a group which promotes rats as pets has said that hits to his website have risen 40% since the release of Ratatouille in France.

Sadly it is far easier to dispose of a rat one doesn’t want…

Mr. Huxley goes on to ask if anyone not in France has been bitten by the rat (pet) bug.

I must say, Non, but only because Big Brother SSG Collateral Damage had one when we were kids. I was quite fond of John Rat (actual name) but I’m holding out for a different pet … a b-lld-g or two.

BTW, here’s a link to my review of Ratatouille.

1200-year-old Mickey Mouse discovered; Disney claims copyright

The world’s most hidden Mickey has been found in Uppåkra in southern Sweden. Archaeologists there found an iron age version of Walt’s favorite rodent. The 1200-year-old item is believed to have been a woman’s brooch. Why am I not surprised that Mrs. Collateral Damage has Swedish blood in her? I am looking forward to the discovery of prehistoric Hello Kitty.