A Salute to All of America, but Mostly Mickey's Birthdayland? Let's Watch the 1988 WDW Independance Day Special!

It's February and you know what that means: I'm going to Walt Disney World this month!  And as is of course tradition, I am hyping myself up by watching weird vintage Disney Park television specials.

And because I also felt it was kind of weird keeping a Christmas post up top for so long, here's a... Fourth of July special?  Well, why not?



A special with this much stuff is right for any season.  Highlights include wrong-sounding Mickey announcing the whole entire new Magic Kingdom land built for his birthday, the very odd "Spirit of America" parade, a look at the then-new Norway pavilion, the Electric Light Parade complete with circus floats, a special preview of the Disney/MGM Studios, and the triumphant return of our lanky tap-dancing friend Tommy Tune in a patriotic musical finale that seems to go on forever. 

I hope that everyone in the coming year brings as much enthusiasm to their creative endeavors as Uncle Jessie does playing percussion here.

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Art of the Week!

I drew Pluto from memory and this happened:

In Which We Have a Truly Massive Garden Update, and Dunkin Donuts Goes America on Everyone's A**

I cannot guarantee that the first half of this post will make any sense to those of you readers outside the New England area. I am also going to suggest (mild spoiler) not reading this half during breakfast. But I think we can all agree that Paramount dropped the ball when they chose not to release the Captain America movie on Independence Day weekend, even though it doesn't seem to be hurting the film much.

Fortunately, their unusual promotional partner, Dunkin Donuts, did no such thing, releasing their tie-in specials just in time for July fourth. Now, I've recently been weaning myself off coffee and it's partially because my local Dunkie's has done something wimpy to their brews (in my day, we didn't need flavor shots!) I'd had my Obligatory Coffee Coolatta back at Comicon and would have been done for the summer season... until this ad, starring a dog with a punny name who wants to kill all humans, started running:



As you may know, if there's anything I can't pass up, it's campy patriotism. So I was pretty determined to get my hands on a Dunkin Donuts cup with Captain America's shield on it. But something far more spectacular awaited me inside.



A TRIPLE red white and blue Coolatta.



Now, it wasn't until I had the drink in front of me that I realized it isn't a physics-defying triple-blend of some kind. The three flavors (raspberry, vanilla, cherry) are each separated in their own little compartments. (In hindsight I have no idea how I thought the alternative was supposed to work.) The taste is basically straight-up sugar with some recognizable flavor and loads and loads of food coloring. Same goes for the matching donuts.

Which is to say, shortly after I hit the bottom of this thing, I may have thrown lots of red dye and patriotism up into the lake. That'd be a sincere thumbs-down on the triple-Coolatta then. At least the cup is cool.

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So what of the Gardens?



I apologize for the blurry picture, but I've been seeing the Oriole and his lady-friend quite often lately.

I also met a couple of cuties at a garden center:



These two fledglings were flopping around one of the center's greenhouses and being cute but cacophonic. I never got a good look at their parents, so if anyone has any idea what species they are, let me know in the comments (best guess is some kind of Icterid). Here's a better look:



And this might be my favorite photograph of a bird I've ever taken. It's a reminder of just how light they really are!



Over in the Victory Garden, we've got flowers everywhere! These are on the summer squash.



The peas are also in flower and they've grown quite tall. I think I spot a pod or two in there!



And lastly, I finally got to do this:



That leaf is fresh from the garden.  I just realized that this kind of thing is only okay to brag about because they are plants.

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Sketch of the Day!
I should do more of these...



Next week, oh-ho-ho, I have quite the book to review. Until then, enjoy this wonderful essay on the legacy of Harry Potter and this very funny Rifftrax montage:

Have a Trippy Independance Day...

A very special quick holiday post, because this was too amazing not to share:



I feel like I have just been shown everything ever all at once.

This is "200 / Bi Centennial" by psychedelic animator Vincent Collins. I only know about it thanks to somebody on Facebook. It's been darn near impossible to find any more information about it other than:

* - It was commissioned by the United States Information Agency in 1976 to commemorate the upcoming Bicentennial (of course).

* - Vincent is one of the last notable MySpace holdouts. He's quite a character and all of his films are incredible.

A few more Links of Interest for the road since this post was so short:

* - Want. Want so hard. (Yes, I am a sucker for Dunkin' Donuts and slushy fruity drinks.)

* - The Onion AV Club has been reviewing every episode of "The Adventures of Pete and Pete" for a while now, but this entry caught my fancy because of it's opening. It's really hard to find more than very basic information about television shows from that weird period right before the internet took off; "(all) we’ve got (are) a couple of scanned articles, a cassingle that came in a cereal box, and some orange VHS tapes". Keep this in mind for something I'll be writing hopefully next week.

* - ArtEvolved has the Carboniferous Gallery up! (Sad news though: I'm still working on my piece. Fortunately it can be added later.)

* - Speaking of outsized creatures, here's an awesome compilation of every Ray Harryhausen movie:



* - A segment from another obscure Chuck Jones' holiday special, "Yankee Doodle Cricket":



* - And while this is a bit old, it's still adorable:



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Art of the Day



No matter what your location, have a great and safe holiday!