Jolly Thoughts on Recently Experienced Festive Media!

Happy Night Before the Night Before Christmas!  I know this holiday season is probably very different, but as if to make up for the whole... everything else, 2020 brought us a wealth of reasonably good to excellent new holiday movies and specials.  And I caught up on a few specials that are new to me.  And so, some (mostly) jolly thoughts:

"Mariah Carey's Magical Christmas" - Whatever you're imagining from a Mariah Carey Christmas Special, I can assure you this isn't going to have any shocking surprises. 
But I liked it!  The Peanuts animation in the middle is so cute and the songs are, of course, terrific.  I'm just surprised that this didn't happen back in the 90's.

"My Gift: A Christmas Special from Carrie Underwood" - Carrie sings a bunch of Christmas songs and, well, that's about it.  Singing kids, sparkles, and a general "We're trying to make the best of what we can control" feeling.  It's nice.

"A Holly Dolly Christmas" - Dolly Parton sings and tells stories and generally is awesome both here and in real life.  We respect a Queen.

"Jingle Jangle" - I love this so much!  The colorful steampunk aesthetic, the music, the magic; so far this is my favorite live-action Netflix Christmas movie.
It's also a movie where a guy creates a self-aware A.I. and immediately starts planning on making more to sell as toys for children.  For some reason, they don't really dwell on that part.

"Happiest Season" - I know there is a lot of Discourse over this one but I'm not going to go too crazy here.  It is a romantic comedy -a Christmas romantic comedy no less- and I enjoyed it!  If you know me at all, you know this is huge.

"It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie" - "Oh hey," I thought, "I haven't seen this Muppet holiday special!  I wonder why Freeform aired it only two times very early in the morning in between their mandated '700 Club' broadcasts?"
And then, dear readers, I watched it.
"Oh.  Oh no... 😰
"This is, at least the second-strangest movie I've ever seen where a supernatural being played by Woopie Goldberg helps a little guy get their life in order.  That club scene though, yiiiiikes..."

"Anna and the Apocalypse" - Like many zombie comedies, this is a lot of fun until it isn't.  It's also a holiday musical, and I kind of want to add some of the songs to my Weird Christmas Playlist.  Kind of.  Seems a little on the nose for this year.

"Hilda" - The brand new second season has an episode about the Yule Lads, so it counts.  Plus the whole series is basically Weird And/Or Obscure Nordic Folklore and is so beautiful and lovely and cozy!  I don't think we've had a good cozy animated series since "David the Gnome" back in the day.  It is, I believe the term is, Hygge as heck.
(But darn the cliffhanger ending... )

"Ziggy's Gift" - You can find this in the good old Thief Archive, which is appropriate because it is very obviously a Richard Williams joint.  It's nice; worth watching for the scene with the turkeys.

"Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special" - Maybe this is a bold proclamation but this is, I think, the best live-action Christmas special of my generation that does not contain Fraggles or John Legend.  Halfway through this rewatch I was ten times happier than I was when I started it.  (Not sure why Netflix is dropping it right before Christmas though.)

"Twelve-Hundred Ghosts" - You ever notice how many "Christmas Carol" parodies and straight adaptations there are?  It was almost inevitable that some mad genius would edit every one they could find into one coherent "megamix".  That genius is Heath Waterman and if you only have time for one Christmas movie off this list, make it this one.  On the one hand, it's genuinely moving.  On the other, it's hilarious (I'll never get over Mystical Buffalo Marley).  

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Art of the Day!  Happy Holidays everyone!

SCARY Links of CREEPY Interest

Welcome to what is effectively the Year Without a Halloween.  Stupid pandemic.  I'm determined to keep the spooky season alive even if I can't pass out candy or keep a running tally of what costumes I see most often, always a fun pop-culture barometer.  Here are some mostly Halloweeny (or not) links for you.

*  Boundless Realms - I don't think I've met a single foolish mortal, Disney Park geek or otherwise, who doesn't adore the Haunted Mansion.  Foxx, of the fantastic Passport to Dreams website, has just written a gorgeous book on the Mansion and it is a must-have. 

* Staying in the Disney Parks world, the always excellent Defunctland released a fantastic documentary about the original EPCOT plans.

* You're Wrong About is my new podcast obsession that goes over historical events, famous figures, and urban myths that, it turns out, we got all wrong.  It's fascinating, if not exactly light listening.  Get ready to scream in anger at various decibels at least once.

* If you need some cuteness after that, I suggest Kyra Kupetsky's creepy-cute "Chickn Nuggit" short-shorts.

* No stupid pandemic is going to stop the guys at Sludge Central from doing their annual Halloween special.

* I am so, so happy that people are starting to rediscover "Michael Jackson's Halloween", if only because it proves I didn't hallucinate all those years ago.  Have a podcast and a video essay.

*You want more Michael Jackson Halloween specials and putting "Thriller" on an infinite loop isn't enough?  Channel KRT just reminded the world of the truly insane "Ghosts" which is... a thing... that exists...

* "Into the Spiderverse" is that rare movie that gets better and better every time I watch it and the latest Film Critic Hulk documentary goes into a deep dive as to why. 

* Saturday morning and weekday morning cartoons are coming back thanks to MeTV, who will be airing blocks of classic theatrical cartoons starting in January.  Consider this your early DVR alert.

* For the first time in decades, the Peanuts holiday specials are not airing on broadcast TV, which is even more upsetting than it looks on the surface according to Emily VanDerWerff's report.

* Spectember is well in the past but I'd be remiss if I didn't share Alphynix's fantastic series of spec creatures and the history of Speculative Biology.

* "Eli Roth's History of Horror" is back for another season and I'd be very happy if we got to do this every year please and thank you.

* And if that wet your appetite for horror movie docs, I also love The Kill Count, which, while it is exactly what it sounds like, is also a surprisingly good kind of a Cliff Notes of gory horror for wimps.

* As far as horror movies of a different sort, Xiran did an excellent tweetmenary of the "Mulan" remake, effectively saving us all thirty dollars.

* The Halloween Jukebox is back!  Without a shuffle feature, sadly, but with 250 songs for your Halloween!

* Finally, Glen Keane has a new movie out and he sat down for an interview to talk about it, "Tangled", "Treasure Planet", and more.

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Art of the week!  A little Fairy Dragon.

Roger Rabbit is Our Easter Bunny - Let's Watch the 1992 WDW Easter Parade!

I think it's fair to say that the good folks at Retro WDW.com helped save a very very weird holiday weekend by sharing this particularly good seasonal weird vintage Disney Parks special.



Highlights include:

* - The commercials!  The ads for Sea World ("Make contact!!!"), Kissimmee St. Cloud, and "Adventures in Wonderland" especially slammed a nostalgia button I didn't know I had.
* - Roger Rabbit as a walk-around character!
* - Never mind him, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles as walk-around characters?!
* - Never mind them, the Sinclair family from "Dinosaurs" as walk-around characters?!?  I bet you can't guess what song they get to dance to!!! 😔
* - The Spring Break montage!  Possibly cut down from an entire Spring Break at Disney Parks television special I seem to remember and which in hindsight feels ill-conceived.
* - The fabulous finale and musical number!  I don't have enough gigantic frilly dresses in my life.
* - The "Fantasmic" preview.  All of it.  The whole thing.  This is worth watching the entire special for because it is bonkers.  And very definitely something made in the immediate wake of "Home Alone".  Trust me, you'll be able to tell.

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Art!

Random Colorful Dinosaurs

Spring Is Maaaaaaagic! Let's Watch The 1985 WDW Easter Parade!

I am heading down to Walt Disney World very soon!  Goodness I can't wait to experience the whole Rise of the Resistance Boarding Group insanity for myself!  Ha ha ha (please keep my family and I in your thoughts and prayers) ha ha!  😨

So as is tradition, let's travel back to the long-long ago and watch a weird vintage Disney Parks special.  Now this particular special is mostly here due to unabashed nostalgia.  I haven't seen this in ages and can't believe how much I remembered from it; it's almost certainly my first encounter with most of these songs and artists.  I'm not going to say it's outright good, you don't even see much as far as vintage Walt Disney World goes.  But among the wonderful things you do see and hear are Doug Henning!  A very young Bobby Brown!  Upsettingly wrong-sounding Goofy!  The star of the brand new Disney movie "Baby"!?!



Stick around after the parade for a couple local news shows and a pledge drive!  Ah, YouTube.

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Art of the Day!

The coming spring season is a time for animals to get flashy, so here is an extremely speculative Triceratops couple:

Belated Easter Insanity - Let's Watch "Peter and the Magic Egg"!

Right, stuff is happening in real life, so this post almost didn't happen at all and I apologize for its obviously being spur-of-the-moment and damn-my-OCD-for-making-me-feel-weird-not-having-a-post-every-week-ish.  I will hopefully be able to sit down and write some nice long posts soon.

But never mind all that now.  I know Easter has come and gone, but it's never too late to watch an insane holiday special that -remarkably- it does not appear Rankin/Bass was responsible for.  No, "Peter and the Magic Egg" was most likely an attempt to put personalities and voices to the cute little mascot creatures on a particular brand of egg dye and make them into beloved holiday characters (it worked for Rudolph).  And the writers of this special decided to do this in the most absurd story they could possibly have come up with:


So, what did we learn here:

* - Amish people talk like Yoda.

* - A plastic surgeon can turn you into a cyborg.

* - By the way, an Amish cyborg.  Umm...?

* - Put clothing on an animal and they'll suddenly be able to speak.

* - Evidently a self-respecting sheep will voluntarily answer to the name "Lollychop".

And a spoilery one:

* - Man, words cannot express how p*ssed I was as a child when the egg finally hatches and you find out what's inside. I was expecting a phoenix or a magical wish-dragon or something equally awesome to save Peter and I got... that.

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Sketch of the Day!

I wonder what other Eevees we'll see in this new "Pokemon" game?

Never Mind Sandy, here's "The Halloween Tree"!

The good news is that my neighborhood didn't get hit too hard by the hurricane yesterday.  The bad news is that it looks like New York City and the New Jersey shore took the worst of what Sandy had to offer.  I hope everyone there is safe and staying warm and dry.

It's time to get back in the holiday spirit, so here's a rarity.  It's the 1993 animated film based off Ray Bradbury's spooky novel The Halloween Tree.  It isn't the best quality, but even so the music and Bradbury's narration will get you in the mood for Halloween.  The film is remarkably faithful to the source material (one of the only major changes is switching the gender of a major character and personally I have no problem with that).  It's best enjoyed with something pumpkin spice flavored to drink and a small just taking three at a time leaving enough for the kids I promise selection of candy. 



Next post, we finally, finally reconnect with that old friend I promised.  Have a wonderful Halloween, everyone!

Let's Give "Nickelodeon's Thanksgiving Fest" More Love!

Last year, on America's Annual Ritualistic Gorging on Hideously Human-Altered Theropods Day, I attempted to Live-Blog the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and... it didn't go over that well, so I ain't doin' it again. Ever. Maybe.

But I also shared this very strange and almost-totally-forgotten Holiday special appropriate for today: "Nickelodeon's Thanksgiving Fest/Extravaganza!" I think it needs it's own post, don't you?



If my foggy memory is correct, this was aired in 1989 and ran several times during Thanksgiving Day (making it seem like it went on for hours and hours). This special seems a little rushed in parts, especially in the beginning of "Thanksgiving Dream", but it showcases a nice variety of animation directors who made those wonderful Mtv networks bumpers.

I rather like the shorts by Joe Ahlbum more than the longer stories. Kevin Altieri's "Thanksgiving Nightmare" is kinda fun, but gives me a nasty "Capitol Critters" flashback, and Joe Pearson's aforementioned "Dream" is just... strange. It feels too much like one of those "sappy" episodes of "Animaniacs", like "A Gift of Gold". Highlights are the narrator acting like it is an unimaginable horror that the story takes place in a pre-Atari world (really) and a bad guy who inadvertently made Oogie Boogie and Clayface my crack pairing.

I hope we all have a lovely Thanksgiving and a wonderful holiday season. And since it is something of a tradition around here:

Three Weirder Easter Bunny Appearances

Happy Annual Day the Internet is Useless Day!

Back, way back, on Thanksgiving day, we saw our first teaser trailer for "Hop", which is currently in theaters, which makes me wonder if the phrase "from the creators of (popular previous movie)" even means anything anymore, and which stars an Easter Bunny who sh*ts jellybeans.

Perhaps it's the fact that Easter is the most important and significant Christian holiday on the calendar that it took so long for us to get a movie where the Easter Bunny poops onscreen. Leave it to Tim Hill, the guy who introduced coprophagy-based humor to "Alvin and the Chipmunks", to finally cross that line. (Yes, rabbits do eat their own poop in real life, but that's not the point.)

So when I say "Weirder Easter Bunny Appearances", I'm taking scatological humor off the table. You can't get weirder than that, so I'm ignoring it outright. I haven't seen "Hop", but I predict that the poop jokes are the most unusual thing in it; this is the kind of awful children's film where one can confidently predict the plot by learning what songs are on the soundtrack. (As an aside, it is time to retire "Song 2".)

So, weirder pieces of animation that involve the Easter Bunny (besides the really, really obvious one). By a fantastic stroke of luck, many of the specials I wanted to talk about are featured in this old Disney Channel promo:



By an unfantastic stroke of unluck, I wasn't able to find the full specials on Youtube, nor was I able to find any video clips at all. But I think I found enough. First up is "A Family Circus Easter". I'm skipping ahead to the good part and the one thing you may remember from this special: Scatman Crother's awesome Easter Bunny song. You'll have to crank it up since the sound quality is awful:



If you remember back to Halloween, I shared the rarely-seen Will Vinton Halloween special "starring" Wiltshire Pig. The remarkably unpleasant character returned in an Easter special which is only available on DVD, packaged with the famous "Claymation Christmas Celebration". But here's an unusual find: John Ashlee Pratt winning an Emmy for his work on this special!



And then, there's "Easter Fever". Made by our wonderfully strange friends up at Nelvana and released in 1980, it may be the weirdest holiday special I've ever seen. Maybe... too strange. I lasted about halfway through, how about you?



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Art of the Day!

Ah, how I love when this happens.

Thanksgiving! Also, I Attempt to Live-Blog the 2010 Macy's Parade

Which probably is a logistical nightmare that will not work. We'll see.

Heck, I may not even be awake in real life yet. I did have the foresight to set the DVR and my alarm, so we shall see what happens.

I recommend reading all the parade recaps at X-Entertainment (conveniently collected in this blog post), this Onion AV Club post from a few years back (very good but why the "Foster's Home" hate?), and this recent follow-up. And this terrific Homestarrunner.com cartoon (what the heck happened to those guys anyway?) They deftly summarize why I cannot get enough of this stupid parade every year. It is deeply strange, shamelessly commercial, and at times you almost feel ashamed for everyone involved. However, it also acts as a very odd yet accurate pop-culture barometer, and that is what makes it fascinating.

With that in mind, here is a (coffee!) Drinking Game I invented last year. Excellent examples of all these instances can be seen in the above-mentioned X-E articles. Take a sip...
* - Every awkward and/or off-model character float or costume.
* - Every time the hosts mispronounce someone's name.
* - Every time the hosts misidentify someone.
* - Every weird juxtaposition between the performers on a float and the theme of the float. (On that note, this year Kanye West is the equivalent of a "free space" in Bingo.)
* - Drink deeply when you notice how much bigger and more elaborate the Barney and Barbie floats are compared to the Sesame Street float.
* - Here's the big one. Take a shot every time it is blatantly obvious that the hosts only have a small notecard explaining (or not) who the fictional character, band, or other entity now visible in the parade is. (In other words, for you Tropers, Cowboy Beebop At His Computer = You Taking A Drink. The "Snoop Doggie-Dogg" incident still wins.)

What odd things shall we see this year?

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JUST in case this is a total failure, I have for you a very strange and almost-totally-forgotten Holiday special appropriate for today: Nick's Thanksgiving Extravaganza!



If my foggy memory is correct, this was aired in 1989 and ran several times during Thanksgiving Day (making it seem like it went on for hours and hours). This special seems a little rushed in parts (especially the beginning of "Thanksgiving Dream"), but it showcases a nice variety of animation directors who made those wonderful Mtv networks bumpers. I rather like the shorts by Joe Ahlbum more than the longer stories. Kevin Altieri's "Thanksgiving Nightmare" is kinda fun, but gives me a nasty "Capitol Critters" flashback, and Joe Pearson's aforementioned "Dream" is just... strange. It feels too much like one of those "sappy" episodes of "Animaniacs", like "A Gift of Gold". Highlights are the narrator acting like it is an unimaginable horror that the story takes place in a pre-Atari world (really) and a bad guy who inadvertently made Oogie Boogie and Clayface my crack pairing. The special was uploaded by Youtube user Bbahalt, and her(?) Channel is making me gleefully rub my hands for Christmas...

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Macy's Parade Live-Blog!

9:10 - I'm awake! I didn't forget! I was in the kitchen getting breakfast and they cut the ribbon and I put too much sugar in my coffee cause I got surprised and... nobody's actually reading this live, are they?
(Ahem) Good morning and Happy Thanksgiving everyone! So there's a squirrel who is stubbornly trying to attack my (squirrel-proof) feeder, and in Parade action, we have learned that for some people "Cotton Eye Joe" will never stop being funny.

9:17 - OK, the people who made that creepy rocket-baby photo commercial have *never* paid attention to the lyrics in "Brand New Rollerskates" have they? (At least they are more subtle than, say, "Ride My Pony".)
Also, DO NOT LEAVE BABY UNATTENDED IN THING THAT CAN ROLL AWAY GOD DAMMIT!!! (I almost died when I got to watch a family take a picture of their baby -in a carriage- on the f***ing edge of a T platform *as the train was approaching*. )

9:20 - There are lots and lots of "F*** it, let's just write a musical around our favorite band's popular songs" musicals out there, so this was only a matter of time. But... Green Day has one of these musicals now. I am old.
Also, the title of the song is "Good Riddance". Take a sip.

9:26 - So according to Coca-Cola, Santa Claus is... God. Also, we all live in the Tommy Westphall Universe.

9:29 - Could something like "Rent" even survive if it had debuted in this "Let's just write a musical around popular songs"/"Let's just turn a move into a musical" Broadway environment?

9:40 - "PLEASE watch 'Outsourced'! And we PROMISE that 'The Cape' is different from all those shows by Glen Larson in the 80's!"

9:45 - Yeah... "Elf: The Musical"... yeah...

9:50 - Jeez, American Girl dolls still exist? Except it looks like now, instead of having to pick from three girls from three different historical periods (later to be joined by at least two more "ethnic" dolls: an escaped slave and a pre-Columbian Native American. Yeah...), you get to create your own modern girl.

9:55 - Ooh, the Rockettes! That means the actual parade part of the Parade is about to start!
Ad thanks to a quirk of Spellcheck, I JUST got the Rockettes/Rockets pun.

10:00 - So there is a new Peanuts special coming soon? Also, horribly off-model Peanuts costumes! (Characters with heads bigger than their bodies tend not to translate well at all.)

10:02 - On the other hand, those old big-head pilgrim things have got to scare children.

10:05 - I take it Arlo isn't going to get to sing the later verses of this song (as with "Born in the USA", it was a protest song misconstrued as a fist-pumping patriotic anthem). Also, the sight of a giant turkey serving a Thanksgiving feast as on that float is... unsettling.

10:08 - I still don't know what to think of the new "Muppet" movie.

10:11 - D'aww, Sesame Street. And they didn't say anything in the spiel, but is Wimpy Kid the first literary character balloon?

10:13 - It strikes me as very odd that the whole selling point of the X-Box KINECT is, "Aren't Wii-motes soooooooo hard to figure out?"

10:16 - RE: "Hop!" I... I don't even know.
Actually, I do: they're asking us to get excited about an Easter movie on Thanksgiving. I've lately had the existentially horrific perception that time is speeding up as I grow older, and this isn't helping.

10:18 - I hope people are aware that The Roots predate Jimmy Fallon's show by a good... however long it's been since my freshman year in college.
By the way, anyone who hates on "Do They Know it's Christmas" can go right to hell. (I have seen a surprising amount of dissent for it in the past few years. Jeez, it's a charity single, who'd complain about something so well-meaning? [The recent remake of "We are the World" is up for mockery, however. I'll take Bob Dylan over Autotuning any damn day.])

10:22 - This is what the group of humans behind "Mannheim Steamroller" looks like. Huh.

10:24 - A McDonald's commercial where a mother lies to her adorable daughter about where her food comes from. THIS IS WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE THINGS!!!
On a happier note, the Chickadees are loving something in the bird feeder. Can't quite tell what though. I have experimented with Safflower this year, so...

10:26 - So... you announcers never watched "Despicable Me".
Also, the minions on the Statue of Liberty float. Take a sip.

10:29 - I know they want to remind us that the Disney Dream ship is setting sail soon, but wouldn't you love to have seen an "Epic Mickey"-style balloon?

10:30 - I have nothing at all to add to the pizza-twirling team.

10:34 - Pink and lime green = timeless.

10:40 - Oh God oh God! (No, I hadn't seen the "Yogi Bear" trailer yet. Yes, the dead-eyed characters are doubly horrifying in motion.)


10:47 - Kylie Minogue on a float made of creepy giant pull-toy ducks = Take a sip.

10:50 - Munchkins with bits of sausage inside. Dunkin' Donuts, what happened to you?

10:54 - That Shrek balloon is bound to frighten children. That grimacing face!
Also, the "Imagination!" song from "Fantasmic" in the Disney parks is "a patriotic march" according to the announcers.

10:57 - You know what, Takashe Murukami woke up in the morning, put that costume on, looked in the mirror, and liked what he saw. So, preemptively, shut up.

10:58 - You know what I just said about the Shrek balloon? Yeah. That goes double for whatever the heck that blue-haired thing is on the Princess Academy float.
Ah, the five minute long Barbie retrospective commercial is back! I can use the ladie's room and get more coffee.

11:07 - OK, I hope I didn't miss anything interesting. Here is yet another band I have never heard of. And they are singing the least convincing song about being a hard-partying rock star since that excremental Nickelback song.

11:09 - Listening to the announcers tackle the pronunciation of Reshiram and Zeckrom = Sublime. Bonus: "Po-kee-mans".

11:15 - A-a-a-a-n-d begin the "Turn Off The Dark" jokes!

11:17 - And so, Kanye rides on the Big Apple float. I was secretly hoping it really would be the Barbie float.

11:22 - The Horton balloon looks... odd to me. And what I sad about big-headed characters definitely applies to Dora. She looks like the infamously terrifying Rainbow Brite costume.

11:29 - This Dance Troupe: "Well, we have a great medly of holiday classics and a dance routine all set. Now, you want us to wear WHAT?!?"

11:30 - The Build-A-Bear float unleashes a hurricane of bear puns from the announcers. Oh, God, I feel like I'm stuck in a Xanth novel!
Also, ADD is a fun thing to sing about.

11:45 - I know the Macy's floats and balloons are going to go down to Universal Studios Florida but... why?

11:48 - Aww, it's good to see the Smurfs back in the parade.

11:51 - Ooh, the Snow Queen float is pwetty.

11:57 - SANTAAAA!!!
By the way, why the heck aren't they just singing "I Still Believe in Santa Claus"?
And is it me or did they slip something funny in Santa's coffee?

12:00 - Welp, this was fun, and probably would have been even more fun if I wasn't such a terrible typist. I'm off to enjoy delicious orange goo and T. rex-sized drumsticks. Everyone have a happy Thanksgiving and I'll post again on Tuesday!

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Oh, hey, guess what?

Feederwatch Thursday!

Rock Pigeon 1
Downy Woodpecker 1
Black-capped Chickadee 2
Northern Cardinal 2
House Sparrow 25

Speaking of birds, here's a nifty Dinosaur Tracking post about things to pause and think about before you fight over who gets to crack apart the wishbone.

Back Injury Theater: Obscure Halloween Specials!

Gosh, Halloween blindsided me this year. You may say that it jumped out and went "Boo!" So if this post seems a little rushed, there's your reason/my excuse.

FARK recently shared this amazing footage that was apparently cut from a Martha Stewart special from about ten years ago (though the episode itself has been rebroadcast). There's no swearing, no nudity, nothing offensive, but the segment is a P.R. nightmare anyway. I can tell why Martha might have cut it and let's see if you can too:



My (Master's Degree in Education with a focus on Children's Media and many undergraduate studies in child psychology) educated guess as to why this was cut: Martha Stewart has no freakin' idea how to interact with children. I can't even imagine that Martha's world, with it's scented candles and scrapbooks and gauzy curtains, is one into which small children are ever allowed. Look at how she practically demands that they drink her "blood". The poor kids look desperate to run away! Hell, so would I!

Speaking of little innocent characters who stumble into a crazy older person's house on their hunt for Halloween candy and are desperate to leave, a fair number of people my age will recall being scared out of their minds by "Garfield's Halloween Adventure" (sometimes known as "Garfield's Halloween Special" or "Garfield in Disguise" and available as part of a very nice DVD gift set - although in slightly truncated form according to the comments). It's odd that this special has kind of faded away over the years, even though it used to be aired after "It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown" every year.

It is... less puzzling as to why Will Vinton's "Claymation Comedy of Horrors" has not seen the light of day (outside of being a special feature on the "Claymation Christmas Celebration" DVD) after it's very first and only airing back in 1991:



OK, even I have to admit that this is a little too strange for the wee ones (any child that makes it through the opening credits is either insane... or awesome). But it also contains almost everything that was amazing about Will Vinton. Look for the terrific gelatinous blob character, the crazy scene that sets the plot in motion and resembles "The Great Cognito", and the best-ever cover of "Climb Every Mountain".

Now, around the same time "Comedy of Horrors" debuted and disappeared, so too did "Tales from the Far Side". One of only two animated adaptations of "The Far Side", it was briefly available on video, but only through a mail-in offer that came with one year's Off the Wall Calendar (there are no words for how much I miss those calendars).
I haven't shown "The Far Side" enough love around here, even though it's a pretty obvious influence on me. So here's one of the very few clips from the special available on the YouTube (bonus: it'll tide us over for the "Walking Dead" premier this weekend):



A year ago, Geocities imploded. It took many features from my old websites with it, including a review/transcript of the very, very strange short film "Michael Jackson's Ghosts". That film has been rediscovered by The Onion AV Club, and believe me, it's still something to see.

Finally, another clip that was deleted from a Halloween episode. Vincent Price and the Muppet monsters singing a sweet James Taylor song about the power of friendship = WIN.





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Art of the day! Old, but still funny:




Speaking of birds, don't forget to save those pumpkin seeds!