A long, long time ago, I posted a YouTube video of a Disney special from my childhood that I had only the vaguest of vague memories of. This special was meant to commemorate Mickey Mouse's 60'th birthday (I wonder exactly what they counted as his birthday; probably -and inaccurately- the "Steamboat Willy" premier.) I posted the link, but I didn't ever find the time to watch the whole thing. Well, some time before I headed to Disney World, I decided to watch a few old Disney specials to get myself primed for the Disney Magic (TM, patents on Childhood Wonder and Whimsical Nostalgia pending). "Mickey's 60'th" was among them.
Ho-lee Swiss Cheese.
Here's the special, for those who missed it the first time:
OK. Some thoughts:
1) Have you ever seen such cheap, off-model animation used on Mickey and his pals? You'd think, for his birthday and everything, that Disney wouldn't have skimped on the budget.
2) Poor Roger Rabbit. Once the breakout star and worthy of co-starring in Mickey's birthday special, now they act like he never existed. (His niche has basically been overtaken by Stitch.)
3) Who in the world is that dude in the mirror and what has he done with Yen-Sid?
4) I had completely forgotten that "Family Ties" had a Cousin Oliver/Scrappy-Doo equivalent.
5) Nice little tribute to the very cool "Mouse Mania" short.
6) The "Cheers" scene is surreal.
7) Part Nine has no audio. Then again, it's a great opportunity to mentally dub in "The Happy Workers" from the "Toys" soundtrack.
8) I love how nobody believes that the anthropomorphic cartoon mouse who introduces himself as Mickey Mouse IS Mickey Mouse. I know that's part of the spell, but how many anthropomorphic cartoon mice can there be running around?
9) DONALD SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST TO SEE MICKEY!!! WHOEVER DECIDED OTHERWISE MUST PAY!
10) Another kind soul has uploaded "Totally Minnie". My afternoon is now booked.
(Not much to say about that special except that it is probably the 80's-est thing you will ever see and that Minne singing with Elton John is adorable.)
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This is a nifty website that was brought to my attention recently by the "On Animation" blog. "WIP" is a gallery of short Flash slideshows that show the progress of various illustrators' artwork. It's very cool to watch.
Also of note is this well-written Fanboy.com post about the recent Nick Simmons cluster... um... fudge.
Also also of note is this wonderful "test drive' of several different brands of pencils (sort of in the same style as my old Moleskine review).
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Feederwatch Thursday
Rock Pigeon 2
Downy Woodpecker 2
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Tufted Titmouse 2
White-breasted Nuthatch 1
Northern Cardinal 2
House Sparrow 15
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With all the speculation over the fifth generation of "Pokemon", allow me to share a few predictions:
