Links of Interest - Disney Cruise Recovery Edition!

Well, I just got back from my family's very first Disney Cruise Line experience.  It'll take a while to sort through everything and get the trip report accomplished.  So until then, have a good old Links of Interest post!

* - First off, new "Hobbit" trailer!  New "Hobbit" trailer!  New "Hobbit" trailer!!!

* - Oh dear lord, this XKCD strip...  Don't miss the zoomable version.

* - My Year of Flops takes on the biggest flop of the year and attempts to parse the thinking behind the truly insane "Oogieloves' Big Balloon Adventure".

* - Speaking of insane ideas for movies, Warner Bros. (*sigh*) is going to make yet another attempt (*sigh*) at a Looney Tunes movie (*sigh*...  Believe me, I'd like to be optimistic for this. But after years of "Space Jam", "Baby Looney Tunes", "Loonatics Unleashed", "Back in Action", those recent weird Flash and CGI cartoons, and other, worse things, I'm pretty much conditioned to anticipate any officially sanctioned new thing involving these characters with dread.)

* - If you happen to be at Walt Disney World on the week of October 1, don't miss the special events being held to celebrate Epcot's 30'th anniversary.

* - Passport to Dreams Old and New shares the strange history of the segment of WDW's Magic Kingdom now known as Storybook Circus, observations on it's current incarnation, as well as where the look of Toontown in "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" might have come from.

* - Holy crap, "Saving Mr. Banks" is actually happening!  With Tom Hanks as Walt Disney, yet!

* - Geek Dad reviews the "Chuck Jones' Mouse Chronicles" DVD collection.

* - TetZoo informs us that iguanas may have a far more complicated social life than you'd think.  (Yes, I squeed at the fraternal behaviors.)

* - Emily Willoughby met a Green Heron and pondered the implications of heron necks.

* - Comics Alliance brought attention to concept artist Ashley Stoddard, who in turn came up with an alternate version of "Willow" that would have been fascinating.

* - Tor.com shared another inspirational seasonal art gallery, this one, naturally, themed to autumn (some NSFW images).

* - I'm starting to put together my four-part(!?!) Disney Cruise trip report.  Here's the beginning of a much more cynical (but hilarious) take on one of the newer boats by TeevTee at Parkeology.

* - I finally got to see "Brave" recently.  I was going to write a full review but Lili Loofbourow's essay, "Just Another Princess Movie" expresses my feelings more eloquently than I ever could (my review would have just been, "Y'all are high!  'Brave' is great!" over and over.)  It is by far the most intelligent reaction to the film I've seen.  (Spoilers galore!)

* - Tim Brayton of Antagony and Ecstasy has just launched into his own Disney sequel marathon.  Given his hilarious take on "Belle's Magical World" (oh my God, the whole bit about Crane the writing paper), we are in for a hell of a ride.  I wish him Godspeed, and good luck!

* - If you're a "Brave Little Toaster" fan, you're going to want to see the film's director Jerry Rees' extensive website, filled with memorabilia and information.   Rees also recently hosted an open Q+A with fans.  (LOL at the people who thought Toaster was male...)

* -  And finally, The Rotoscopers/Animation Addicts posted their incredible interview with Don Bluth, in which he talks about his work on "Sleeping Beauty", his surprising new career as a teacher and theater director, and gets downright philosophical about art.  Definitely a must-listen!

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Sketch of the day!

In Which we finally discuss the CGI Coyote in the Room

That is to say, I'm finally going to say something about "The Looney Tunes Show" and the new Wile E. Coyote shorts. Here's information about both series, via the wonderful /Film:

"Last time Warner Bros. tried to reinvent the classic Looney Tunes stable of characters, the result was a disaster. The 'Loonatics Unleashed' featured absurd 'extreme' versions of the characters that were booed off television within two years.

"Now WB is trying again with a new cartoon series and a set of 3D shorts that will play in theaters. Why would you even think about having confidence in this new approach? Because the studio is going back to the basics... Three new Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote shorts have been approved and three more are in development. The 3D shorts will debut in front of 'Cats and Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore' at the end of July. (Great. So now we have to go see that.)

"Then the new 'The Looney Tunes Show', a 26-episode half-hour series, will appear on Cartoon Network this fall. There Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck will be 'odd-couple roommates in a contemporary cul-de-sac' with neighbors Yosemite Sam, Tweety Bird, Sylvester, Marvin the Martian and Porky Pig."

This is pretty much all we know for now.  Eh....... Could be worse. Not digging the "Bugs Bunny living in a suburban house" thing (that should have stayed in the comic books), but it could be worse.
Speaking of worse, that Fully-Rendered 3D CGI Wile E. Coyote.  Ugh.  It reminds me of this wonderful essay (with a follow-up here) written by Will Finn addressing the fact that not every computer animated character has to be almost-realistic. 

You can't really say that CGI!Wile E. isn't photo-realistic like, say, the characters in "Avatar" are. He is still recognizably based on the wonderfully expressive Chuck Jones character design we all fell in love with. Yet, for some dang reason, every damn strand of canine fur and scale of skin on his cold nose has to be fully rendered in ludicrous detail. Why? Just... why?

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Sketch of the Day! My Crack Pairing! Let me show you it!



Speaking of Crack Pairings, I kinda wish I was a projectionist right now. Because if I was, I would swap out the last reel of "Sex and the City 2" for the last reel of "Splice". I'd be fired on the spot for doing this, but I would regret nothing! Nothing!

Happy Easter.

I spent most of yesterday out in the garden. This was the first time I worked extensively on it this season. I mulched, moved some boundaries around, cleaned, discovered that I have a healthy population of earthworms out there, and I even spread some seeds around just to see what they do. I'm still wonderfully exhausted and my hands are hurting bad now.
The one thing I did not do was take any before-and-after pictures. Wah.