Who Will Win?
The Academy Awards are almost upon us, but what I find frustrating for us anal retentive types is that most of the online predictions only cover the major award categories. I want my Live Action Short and Sound Mixing predictions, dammit! Comprehensive lists are out there if you look hard enough; this guy’s are as good as any, I suppose. Have you entered Kris’s Oscar contest yet? A Twilight sparkly sock monkey playset (infinitely more adorable than Robert Pattinson) can be yours with the right guesses.
Christopher and I are having our own little Oscar party Sunday night. We all should know that the only awards that ever truly mattered can be seen below:
The Geekiest Book on Earth
Chris Strodder’s book The Disneyland Encyclopedia: The Unofficial, Unauthorized, and Unprecedented History of Every Land, Attraction, Restaurant, Shop, and Event in the Original Magic Kingdom (whew) was a holiday gift from my spouse that I just finished reading — cover to cover. What Strodder has done here is compile every attraction, restaurant, and shop that has ever existed within Anaheim Disneyland’s perimeter berm (even the berm itself gets an entry!). Also included are profiles of notable people involved in the park’s history and tantalizing glimpses at lands and attractions that were planned, but never built. This book contained a lot of fascinating info that even a Disneyland History geek like me didn’t know. Stoddard’s writing style is enthusiastic and well-informed, full of delicious factoids — and blessedly different from the upbeat blathering that characterizes most Disney fansites. Just read his little bio of Walt Disney himself to get a feel of the even-handed but fun tone present throughout this book. Want to know more about Aunt Jemima’s Pancake House, the Main Street Electrical Parade, Princess Fantasy Faire, the Monsanto Hall of Chemistry, or even the expertly themed restrooms? It’s all in here.
Funny postscript — one of the first things I checked in this book was the Wizard of Bras shop (did you know one could shop for ladies’ unmentionables on Main Street?). Sure enough, it’s listed in here. I mistakenly thought the shop itself was called Wizard of Bras, but that was actually the name of a display that was housed inside the more humbly monikered Intimate Apparel store which only operated during the first two years of Disneyland’s existence. You learn something new every day.
Miracles from Molecules
Posting our Wednesday video on Thursday (the mind is the first thing to go, doncha know), we have a short film from ClassicThemeParks.com on one of Disneyland’s best-ever attractions — Monsanto’s Adventure Thru Inner Space. This was the ride where, riding in a capsule-shaped buggy, one got shrunk down to explore the molecular structure of a common snowflake. The thrills began in the ride’s queue, with a giant microscope and that super-cool rainbow hued snowflake on the wall (seen at 2:07 in the video). Sadly, the guest shrinkage ceased in 1986 and things were never quite the same in Tomorrowland. Star Tours swallowed up the same space in the park, not a good substitute in my opinion. Pee Wee Herman replacing Paul Frees? Phhhtt.
Deliver de Letter
A set of Vintage Christmas Seals got added to the Scrubbles flickr photostream this morning. I vaguely remember our family getting these from the Red Cross American Lung Association every year in the ’70s and ’80s — are they still making them?
Update — they are still being made.
A Funky Space Reincarnation
A viral video cleverer than most: the Star Trek opening credits reimagined in the style of the Space: 1999 opening credits. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Best. Theme. Ever. (via TV Squad and Lileks)
Scarf It Up
Earlier this year, I made a deal with crafty Kris of web-goddess fame: in exchange for designing a spiffy new weblog banner for her, she got to use her superfly knitting skillz to make me a striped multicolored scarf. The banner was finished last Spring, but it’s only tonight that the scarf has arrived from Kris’ homestead in Australia. Neat! I always wanted a scarf, and this one’s a beauty. Here’s a picture of me rockin’ it with my usual nighttime t-shirt and pajama bottom ensemble:
Think About Your Safety in the Morn-ning
If you ever wanted to see something with Mother Goose characters using Streamline Moderne transportation, Once Upon a Time might be the cartoon for you. We caught this strange yet charming short on a budget DVD set called 150 Cartoon Classics. It was commissioned as a driving safety awareness campaign by Metropolitan Life Insurance in 1936, long before the company had Snoopy as their spokesdog.
The Virile Vampire
Spotted this on The Lady Bunny’s Facebook. Hilarious!
Brooke Shields, She’s A Beautiful Doll
The Brooke Shields doll commercial from circa 1981, spotted yesterday on Jonno’s Twitter feed. Sure beats that weird eyelash-growing medicine she’s hawking these days.
The Mall — of the FUTURE!
At a local Goodwill recently, I bought this strange little book for kids that was originally published in England. Titled Department Store, it’s a career guide from 1979. I liked browsing through it to see what swanky department stores looked like in the ’70s, British ones at that (shades of Are You Being Served?). The book also contains some hilariously awful illustrations, some of which are the latest additions to my Kiddie Korner flickr set.
My favorite section was this speculative illustration on what the department store of the future may look like. They certainly got the shopping from home part right; other ideas appear interesting enough in concept, but never caught on (click the illustration to see a larger view).
Home Movie Time
Amateur filmmaker Sid Laverents has died at age 100. Although I’ve never heard of Laverents before, his story is one of those heartwarming examples of someone whose hobby eventually defined their life. For Multiple SIDosis, Laverents spent four years filming multiple versions of himself performing a sprightly “Nola.” It’s a charming little film that ranks among the few amateur works included in the Library Of Congress film preservation collection. What slays me about the obit was that he didn’t start doing this until after he turned fifty years old!
Puzzle Me This
Recommended reading: J.J. Abrams on the Magic of Mystery, the cover story from the May issue of Wired. Actually, this entire Wired issue, guest edited by Abrams and designed with flair by House Industries, truly is the bee’s knees. The theme is puzzles and puzzling, calling to mind those great old Games magazines I remember poring through in the ’80s. One of the them is a true mindbender — how many TV network logos can you identify?
I got 16 of 25 logos correct. Some of these look completely foreign, cropped and rotated beyond recognition.
Weekly Mishmash I: April 26-May 2
Note: due to having a lot of free time this past week, Weekly Mishmash will be split in two this time. Part II will arrive tomorrow.
Beautiful Ohio (2006). With certain movies, you have to ask yourself whether you want to invest the next 90-120 minutes in the characters onscreen. As this dreary indie unspooled, the answer for me was a decisive “no.” In this case, however, I stuck it out to the end because it was Christopher’s viewing choice and I couldn’t do something more constructive — like watching paint dry. This ’70s period piece revolves around a family of narcissists. The mom’s a perfectionist and a shrew, the dad is prone to incoherent rambling, one son is a flake and the other is a flake and a math genius. Oh, and there’s a hot chick secretly sleeping in the family basement. This was Chad Lowe’s first film as director. Although he wrangles a few decent performances from the cast, he really should pick scripts that haven’t already been done a million times before.
Escort Girl (1940). This biskly paced ‘B’ was an interesting find off Turner Classic Movie’s TCM Underground schedule, and not nearly as bad as it looks. The film follows the exploits of an escort service run by a gin-soaked, middle-aged broad (silent star Betty Compson). Compson is petrified that her visiting daughter will find out her tawdry means of living. Further complicating things, the daughter’s fiancée is a federal agent investigating escort services. D’Oh! TCM’s print was so full of skips that watching it was a genuinely odd experience. This sequence with a disrobing hoochie coochie dancer must have been hot stuff for 1940:
The King of Kings (1927). Cecil B. DeMille’s epic telling of the Christ story got the deluxe Criterion treatment a few years back. Regardless of one’s religious beliefs, you have to admit that this is top-notch filmmaking for 1927 with gorgeous photography (including two segments shot in two-strip Technicolor) and dazzling special effects. The nice multiple exposure work utilized in the moving scene where Mary Magdalene gets spiritually cleansed in Jesus’ presence, for example, furthers its power all the more. Even bathed in a constant ethereal glow, H.B Warner is obviously too old to play Jesus. The 2-1/2 hour roadshow edition we saw succumbed to ponderousness all too often. Still, it was a grandly entertaining example of silent cinema at its most ostentatious.
Kororinpa: Marble Saga (Wii). This week, while I was sick as a dog (doing much better now, thank you), I spent a lot of recuperation time with this addictive game. This one is similar to its predecessor, Kororinpa: Marble Mania, in that the aim is to simply guide a ball through a series of increasingly difficult obstacle courses. Where Marble Mania was so simple I could solve it in a week, however, Marble Saga ups the ante with several more puzzles in many more creatively themed lands. Right now I’m getting to the “Hard” levels, which is frustrating. I miss my guard rails!
Disney, Disney and More Disney
A few months after launch, the Disney company’s hoity toity club D23 has been getting mixed to bad reviews from the fans. Granted, charging seventy-five bucks a year for a glossy, shallow magazine and the honor of buying overpriced tchotckes online was a foolish move in this economic climate. I also detest how they’re casting too wide a net on this thing, attempting to rope in both classic Disney fans and the Hannah Montana/High School Musical tweens. Three words, Disney: ain’t gonna happen. Pity, because the website is actually pretty cool for what it’s worth. Nicely researched articles such as this profile of the late voice actress Robie Lester are luckily free to non-members. Disney is a huge corporate entity with no capability whatsoever of being self-critical, so I don’t expect much of D23 — but what they have so far is a pleasant little diversion.
More Disney goodness: Eight Great Moments of Design at Walt Disney World, a long but worthwhile entry from the astute blogger behind Passport to Dreams, Old and New. I actually missed most of these on my trip last year, so it gives me something to look forward to should I ever get back.
Coincidentally, James Lileks has been filing a Walt Disney World trip report — so far he’s got day one at Animal Kingdom and day two at Epcot, with more to come. I like his perspective on things, and the fact that he keeps comparing the place with what Unofficial Guide readers say is hilarious (I was doing the same thing on my visit a year ago).
Vinyl Toy? Yes, Sir.
Earlier this week, I went to my fave local indie record store. At the check out register, they had a tempting display of boxed Simpsons figurines made by Kid Robot. Of course, I had to get one; this isn’t the first time I’ve been captivated by collector vinyl toys. Like the Kubrick series, these Simpsons figurines are “blind boxed” and have all the series’ characters pictured on the packaging, alongside your odds of getting them. This particular series has 24 different characters, including three mystery characters (Googling reveals them to be Devil Flanders, Snake and Krusty’s monkey assistant). Most common are the Simpson family not counting Maggie; least common are Funzo and the Channel Ocho Bee. There was a lot of anticipation when I opened my box and found… Smithers! Although these Kid Robot toys aren’t as well-made as the Kubricks or the Todd McFarlane figurines, they are pretty cool with adorable, baby-like proportions. I love how mini Smithers has his own little Malibu Stacy doll. A doll holding a doll … how wonderfully meta.
P.S. A new Two Bunnies & A Duck has been unleashed today.
