disney presidents

Celebrating its 20th birthday Friday is Disney's Hollywood Studios, the third theme park created at Walt Disney World, that tourism behemoth that rates among Chicagoans' top year-round destinations.Here's the rub: Walt Disney Imagineering was preparing all its wondrous filmmaking and Hollywood ideas in planning a new pavilion for Future World in Epcot. But there proved to be too much to contain in just one pavilion.

Disney also is renowned for a meticulous attention to detail that gives its architecture its famous authenticity -- such as the Hall of Presidents in the Magic Kingdom, a to-scale replica of Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and the Temple of Heaven in the China pavilion in Epcot, a half-size replica of the Beijing original. Likewise, the buildings that line the Studios' Hollywood Boulevard and Sunset Boulevard are replicas of Hollywood buildings constructed in the 1920s and 1930s. Walt Disney Imagineering used the original 1927 blueprints from Grauman's Chinese Theater in Hollywood to construct the exact replica in the Studios, with a façade built to full scale. And the Carthay Circle Theater building on Sunset Boulevard is an exact replica of the original Carthay Circle Theater in Beverly Hills, where " Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" premiered in 1937.

fargo marathon

FARGO - Chris Erichsen, just one year removed from St. John's University (Minn.) and a second place finish in the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships, may be finding the 13.1-mile distance to his liking.The Minneapolis resident won the half marathon division of the Fargo Marathon on Saturday, crossing the line in an unofficial time of 1:06:50. It was just his second race at that distance.

FARGO, N.D. (AP) Thousands of runners are taking to the streets of Fargo, for what might be a record Fargo Marathon. Marathon executive director Mark Knutson says this year's field is the largest and best, in terms of elite runners. This year's route was changed because of Red River flooding. The course for the last four years has meandered near the Red River in Fargo and neighboring Moorhead, Minn. This year the route will be reduced to a 13.1-mile two-loop course.

The men's field for the 26.2-mile race Saturday includes at least three Kenyans one who posted a 2-hour, 12-minute time in 1999. The Fargo Marathon men's record is 2:30:34. The women's field includes a Canadian who posted a 2-hour, 40-minute time last year. The Fargo Marathon women's record is 2 hours, 50 minutes.

free realms

You no doubt heard the reports earlier this week about 3D Realms shutting down, but late yesterday the studio made it official with a goodbye post on its website. It consisted only of a photo of the team and a brief message: " Thanks for being fans and for all your support."

And that's that. It's the end of 3D Realms and the end of an era. Longtime gamers are no doubt far familiar with the studio's great history, starting as Apogee in 1987, a developer of such titles as Duke Nukem and Rise of the Triad and then the publisher of games like Commander Keen and Wolfenstein 3D for id Software and other developers. We'll have to wait and see. As of right now, though, 3D Realms is gone -- and so is Duke Nukem Forever.