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!

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:

The New and Improved Christmas Movie/Special Bingo!

Happy Night Before the Night Before Christmas everyone!  I have a very special present for you: an actually usable version of my old Christmas Movie/Special Bingo game!

 Click here to play right in your browser!  Happy Holidays to all!

25 Weird Days of Christmas Bonus Feature: Holiday Special BINGO!

UPDATE: Go use this instead.

The 25 Weird Days of Christmas Day 10: "The Christmas Tree Train"

Gahhhh, Buttons and Rusty again!?



I guess this makes for an interesting companion piece with yesterday's special; you've got trees and an owl and little animals lost in the city.  There are also humans who can't tell the difference whether they're holding a living animal or a toy one and the real live Santa Claus.  And we have the exact same plot as "The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't" except this time Christmas is almost ruined by two annoying animals who get lost.

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Art of the Day!
I can't stop drawing Winter Critters!

The 25 Weird Days of Christmas Day 8: "A Miser Brothers Christmas"

Does anyone seriously remember a time when the 1974 Rankin Bass special "The Year Without a Santa Claus" was obscure?  Trust me when I say it used to be.  Now it's practically a standard with a sequel and everything: 



* - Props to Cuppa Coffee studios for emulating the Rankin-Bass style reasonably well.
* - Except for Mrs. Claus' design in this special which is upsetting to me:


* - "The Year Jay Leno Became a Wind Elemental and Almost Ruined Christmas".
* - The reason this special exists is because the "Heatmiser" and "Snowmiser" songs were so damn catchy, and they do sing them here.  The other songs are... not good.
* - They need to deliver toys all over the world.  There's a hot weather guy and a cold weather guy.  They have two sleighs.  I can think of a solution to this problem and if you're better at geography then the writers of this special, you probably can too.
* - The Miser Brothers finally made the Nice List this year!  And all they had to do was save Christmas!

The 25 Weird Days of Christmas Day...7?: "I Want a Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown!"

OK, so it's really The 19 Weird Days of Christmas since I'm skipping weekends but who's counting?

In today's case, make that "The 19 Adorable Days of Christmas".  Because although "I Want a Dog for Christmas" is never going to stand with the truly timeless and beloved Peanuts specials like "It's the Great Pumpkin" or "A Charlie Brown Christmas" or "Flashbeagle", it is, more than any of the other forgotten Peanuts specials I've ever seen, just cuteness overload.

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Drawing of the Day!

Speaking of adorable:



(Robotic cough...)

The 25 Weird Days of Christmas Day 4: Disney's Christmas Fantasy on Ice!

WHERE HAS THIS SPECIAL BEEN ALL MY LIFE?!?



The teenager in me is hyperventilating right now, so here are adult-me's notes:

* - This is from 1992 and has the very a rare version of the Wonderful World of Disney opening.  Trigger Warning for the cereal scene in "Honey I Shrunk the Kids" (though note at least we are not alone).
* - Eisner on Rollerblades...
* - I believe I must recommend the outstanding "30 for 30" episode about Skategate, "The Price of Gold" (available on Netflix Instant), as it'd be hard to explain here.
* - That Dopey mask...
* - "Oh, here's a fun ride; a BENCH!"
* - I want to see fangirls fawning over *this* Jack Frost.
* -  Did you know that Olympic champion ice skaters are the guardians of portions of a magical snowflake and are essentially Ice-type Pokemon?  Well they are, apparently.
* - Roger Rabbit!
* - I can't believe Disney is using their special holiday event to shove their most popular recent movie down our throats you guys.
* - I am a sucker for figure skating and pretty much everything else in this special.

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Art of the Day:

Have a cute snowman!

The 25 Weird Days of Christmas Day 2: "The Magic of Christmas at Walt Disney World"

Some friends of mine are going to visit Walt Disney World during this holiday season and they asked me what unique things there are to do there.  I suppose I could show them my posts from my trip a few years ago -- or I could just show them this, which is from 1992 and probably still 100% accurate:



Seriously, if you're a Disney theme park history junkie like me, there's a lot to love in this special.  That special version of the Country Bears, man...

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Art of the Day

I'm smitten.

The 25 Weird Days of Christmas Day 1: "The Adventures Of Candy Claus"

Happy Holidays, everyone!  This year, encouraged by my Inktober success at actually posting something, however brief, every day, I'm going to try and do an Advent Calendar of weird and/or forgotten Christmas specials.  Will I find 25 specials weird enough to make the cut?  Will I give myself the "you don't have to post on weekends" clause?  Will this Christmas marathon break for "Star Wars"?  (In order: I hope so, probably, and possibly.)

Most of the specials I have lined up are entirely new to me, but I could swear I've already seen our first entry at least once as a child.  It's "The Adventures of Candy Claus", it's directed by noted weird animator Yoram Gross, and it looks like this:



Candy Claus appeared in an ad for a 900 number, in which she's identified as "the Christmas Seal Child".  None of that matters as far as the special goes.  Instead, Candy is one of two dolls made by a family who just realized it isn't really fair that Santa never gets a present on Christmas.  (The special at least operates in a world where nobody questions whether Santa exists, which is honestly refreshing.)  Candy comes to life thanks to the power of love and she becomes Santa and Mrs. Claus' daughter because sure, why not.  Later, this young new character for the young persons to relate to gets her own sleigh pulled by baby reindeer, a robot buddy, and access to a time machine.  Really.

The other doll, meanwhile, is stolen and raised by Oh No, a wicked... nasty old man that's also a wind ghost...  This doll comes to life but only *partially*.  He is barely able to move and talk because Oh No doesn't love him.  Oh No gives the poor thing the name Hey You, treats him like crap, and makes him compare his wretched life to Candy's and reflect on the existential horror of his existence and hate himself.  If you're at all paying attention, you may have noticed that this is one hell of a subplot to a children's Christmas special.

With that in mind, as terrible as the songs are (and of course these hideous earworms are why I remember this special), they're nothing compared to that ending.  Merry Christmas, kids!😥

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Art of the Day!

Hey, if it's winter, Boston Yeti should be reappearing soon!

Draw Dinovember Day 21 and "Jim Henson's Turkey Hollow"

Three out of four hawks like being in this painting.



We'll round out our look at Thanksgiving specials with the very freshly premiered Lifetime Original Movie "Jim Henson's Turkey Hollow". Here's the trailer:



Based (in the sense that the setting is called Turkey Hollow and involves Creature Shop creatures and literally no other way at all) upon Henson's recently rediscovered "Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow" story, this sure is a Lifetime movie in which Creature Shop creatures show up, with all that implies.  As usual, my transcribed notes, for your amusement:

* - "Why am I even here?" - Ludacris
* - There have been a lot of insufferable kids in the specials we've seen this week but *daaaaaamn*...  I want to see both of these brats get messily eviscerated by turkeys or monsters or both.
* - I would like a Ghillie Suit for Christmas, though.  Oh, the fun I'd have...
* - "Hey, kids!  We know what the Internet is!" - Whoever wrote this
* - It takes 40 minutes for the monsters to show up and... I don't know if it's worth it.
* - Hey, take a photo of the monsters, you stupid kids!  The walking barfed-up hairballs are right in freaking front of you!
* - Take pictures of the Uncanny Valley pumpkins while you're at it!
* - Oh, FML, is this turning into a "science vs. just believing" thing?
* -The stupid kids find a "Pikmin 2" tunnel that might lead to a Magical Land, and not only do they not take a picture of it, they don't show any interest in it at all.  I really hate these insufferable idiot kids.
* - Take a photo of the villain-guy's illegal turkey operation (Jiminy Cricket, look at what I just wrote; this f-ing movie) you stupid, stupid..... Oh, hey, they're actually taking pictures now.  Huh.
* - And then their one phone that the stupid kids brought with them in the ancient, sprawling, monster-infested forest overnight is stolen by the bad guys and stomped upon.
* - The bad guys have locked the kids in their illegal turkey pen overnight, it's now the next morning, and JUST NOW they remember the sister is allergic to feathers.  (Screams and screams...)
* - Take a photo of the monsters roughing up the bad guys, you stupid kids!
* - "Auntie, you discovered a new species?  Why did you keep them a secret?  You could have been rich and famous!" - stupid kids

Yeah, like all those many and varied super-rich and famous biologists out there!  Household names living in solid gold mansions, the lot of them!  You know, like... I'll think of one, just give me a minute...
* - "Well, I kept them a secret because I wanted to keep some *Magic* in the world!" - Auntie

Auntie, if somebody runs over or shoots one of your monster friends because you never let anybody know that the forest really does have a unique species in it that the locals should be familiar with and whose forest home should be protected, I want you to know that it's going to be your fault.  Specifically your fault because of your "screw science; magic and mystery for life" bull.
(Damn, I just came up with a more interesting plot.  When does NaNoWriMo start?  Oh.  Well, maybe next year.)
* - Oh, and these Musical Monsters of Turkey Hollow sing exactly one song in this 90-odd minutes of, to borrow a phrase, "Hashtag Boring".  And it's right before the end credits.

So overall, from these Thanksgiving specials, I have learned that Thanksgiving is super weird and often involves annoying furry creatures and insufferable stupid children.  Also something about Pilgrims, Indians, Turkeys, and food, I guess.  Seriously, though, I hope your holiday was and is awesome.  Will we be exploring weird Christmas specials next month?  We shall see...

Draw Dinovember Day 20 and "The Thanksgiving That Almost Wasn't (But Then Was)"

I hope people find Woodpeckers as cute as I do.
...
I hope everyone on my holiday gift list likes birds...



This is the least-bad of the Thanksgiving specials I watched this week, so it gets to be posted about on the big day itself.  It's still not very good.



* - This opening sequence.  Ahaha,*damn*.  Kids, memorize these lyrics and sing them to your family for hours of fun.
* - That one little dance those folks were doing is... something.
* - Yup, this sure is a Hanna-Barbera cartoon about Thanksgiving.
* - The Native Americans make out a *little* bit better in this special than in the others we've watched so far, but, eh, don't get your hopes up.
* - We learn that the first Thanksgiving was almost cancelled because of two annoying kids.
* - The squirrel has to save the two annoying kids from being chased around by a wolf.  Why didn't he stop the two annoying kids from chasing the wolf pups around in the beginning?  After all, that's what started this whole mess.
* - What the hell sound was that bat making?
* - What the hell sound was *everything* making?

Seriously, though, I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving.  I am thankful for all of you.  I mean that.

Draw Dinovember Day 19 and "The Great Turkey Caper"

More cute birds!



It is time for us to deal with Buttons and Rusty.  I narrowly avoided having to tackle their Halloween episode earlier, but theirs is one of the only Thanksgiving specials available on YouTube, so here we are.



* - You'd be forgiven if you assumed most of this special was based on the obvious conflict inherent in "Hey, let's invite our turkey friends to Thanksgiving!"  It's not.  It's a lot less interesting, but then, turns out most plots for Thanksgiving specials would be.
* - Holy Mary Mother of God, the first Thanksgiving dream Buttons and Rusty have...
* - Specifically, I can't even with Kitu and his family.  (Screams internally.)
* - But I do need to call out this line of dialogue: "Look!  People with feathers!!!"  (Screams internally forever.)
* - So here's your actual, non-that-awkward-moment-when-you-invite-turkeys-to-Thanksgiving plot: it looks like the wild turkeys of P*ckerwood Clusterf*ck Chucklewood Park are being captured by poachers.  But then the poachers say they are really from the "Wildlife Conservation Society".  And they're taking the turkeys away from their home to another place with more food.  

Wildlife Conservation Society feels pretty Sus...

Draw Dinovember Day 18 - And It's Thanksgiving Specials Week!

You may have noticed that Thanksgiving specials aren't really a thing as much as Christmas specials, Halloween specials, or even Easter specials are.  It's hard to say specifically why that is, but it feels like making a good Thanksgiving special is hard.  I mean, it says something when even the first Thanksgiving-themed episode of "The Simpsons" was a bummer that I almost never saw in reruns.  Maybe watching what few Thanksgiving specials I can find on YouTube will help explain some of this.

To start, let's watch "The Mouse On the Mayflower"!



On second thought, let's not.  Because I just watched it for the first time in ages and it's the *specific* kind of awful holiday special that could ruin the holiday in question.

But if you do decide to watch it, here are things to look for:
* - I really should not have watched this special in the immediate wake of watching this.
* - That opening song...
* - Scratch that.  ALL the songs...
* - The only reason I know this 1968 Rankin-Bass oddity exists is because of the one time my aunt confused it's box at the video store for that of "An American Tail".  See if you can guess where "Mouse on the Mayflower" lost us.
* - I also had "Mouse on the Mayflower" confused with "Night Before Christmas" for years.   It doesn't have the distinctive Paul Coker Jr. character designs of the latter special, but the mice look similar enough.
* - If you watched "American Tail" as a kid and thought, "They really are not paying enough attention to the humans on this boat," boy have I ever got a movie for you.
* - If you watched "American Tail" or "Night Before Christmas" or anything really as a kid and thought, "This needs more staggeringly clueless and offensive depictions of Native Americans," boy have I EVER got a movie for you.
* - This romantic subplot...
* - They just won't stop *singing*!
* - Even ignoring the talking animals, this account of the first Thanksgiving doesn't strike me as very accurate.  (This will, needless to say, be true for all the specials we watch this year.  Because when you are spending the amount of time you have to in order to make an animated short, it is way hard to carve out a few hours in pre-production to do the research you guys.  Even for more recent specials.  Especially for more recent specials.)

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Draw Paint Dinovember!  I like owls...

Inktober Day 31 - "The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile"

Oh goodness, this is the cutest thing ever:



So today's fanart is just a Jones-y pumpkin wearing the same expression I had during this entire show:


Happy Halloween everyone!

Inktober Day 30 - "Witch's Night Out"

So here's the thing.  I found this amazing special I only vaguely remember from my childhood on Youtube a few days ago and *just as suddenly*, it was taken down.  It's worth searching for, because it is so weird and funky in the best ways.  Halloween specials should be funky.  This fanart is accurate, trust me:

Inktober Day 29 - "The Last Halloween"

OK I'm not even sure how to introduce this one.

Did you know "Savage" Steve directed a Halloween special?  But it was really a long commercial for Mars candies, so it couldn't be as insane as "Better Off Dead", so it's... not interesting.

~*~OR~*~ 

Were you a child in the 90's with vague memories of a commercial for Mars candy with really dodgy CGI?  Did you know that was a spin-off from a Halloween special from the year before?

In either case, it's called "The Halloween That Almost Wasn't, But Then Was" "The Last Halloween" and it looks like this.  Drink for every 90's kid movie trope:



Man, those are some character designs...

Inktober Day 28 - "The Great Bear Scare"

Right, so this wasn't a Berenstain Bears special. Which, for some reason, I figured it would be. 

It's something far weirder, cheaper, and overall less good starring a character created for a weird Christmas special.  You can watch it here and boy I hope you like tweening.  Here's some Not-A-Fan Art:

Inktober Day 27 - Sludgey!

Today's Inktober is brought to you by catching up on the Sexy Armpit's Halloween Specials and the Purple Stuff Podcast.  Of course I had to draw this little fellow after he started singing Cathy Dennis...

Inktober Day 26 - "Over the Garden Wall"

If you missed "Over the Garden Wall" last year, you'll get to catch it again all this week.  There's been a lot of great fanart for the series over the past year and here's my entry: