WandaVision (some spoilers?)
So has anyone else watched WandaVision? Did anyone else absolutely love the premise? I did, holy crap. I thought it was such a unique, unusual plot and so very different from everything else Marvel has done.
Well, except for the end. I think I would have preferred it if it didn’t go back to “oh yeah, there’s the Marvel fight scenes” in the last episode and would have stayed “different” instead, but I guess they had to tie Wanda back into the rest of the MCU somehow, and that was probably the best way to do it.
Anyway, if you have Disney+ and you haven’t watched WandaVision yet, I highly recommend it. Super cool and weird and the homages to the sitcoms of different decades was really well done. Don’t forget to watch the “making of” episode, either. There are so many cool little details that the implemented to make each episode feel authentic to the sitcom/era they were trying to replicate.
Music and Cartoons
Holy crap, so this Twitter thread brought back so many childhood memories. Some of my favorite WB cartoons were the ones that involved musical sequences like this. I remember “What’s Opera, Doc?” was one of the best.
(That fat horse, oh my god)
I also loved “The Rabbit of Seville.”
“Carnival of the Animals” was good, too!
And I have some vague memory of some VHS tape we had where there was some concert thing and Claudio Abbado was a puppet…Peter and the Wolf, maybe? I can’t remember.
Edit: YES, THIS THING:
I think these really helped instill my love of music. I remember enjoying how the action paired with the changes in the tempo/mood/volume of the music and thinking how it was SO FREAKING COOL.
So Nate and I watched “An American Tail: Fievel Goes West” on Valentine’s Day…
And I haven’t been able to get the soundtrack out of my head ever since. It’s probably because the soundtrack was done by James Horner, who was one of the best orchestrator of film scores ever (he did Apollo 13 and Titanic which are both good movies made INFINITELY BETTER by their soundtracks).
So I had to buy the whole freaking soundtrack on iTunes ‘cause I needed it. I was listening to it while walking the other day and heard the “Cat Rumble” track.
Listen to it. Does it sound really familiar?
Why?
Perhaps you’ve seen the title sequence to “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids.”
Was this James Horner, too? Yup (1:43).
I already mentioned this one on here a while back (like a year and a half ago? I dunno, man, time makes no sense anymore), but I love how Horner used Aaron Copland’s “Hoedown” as a base for the “In Training” song.
Finally, I’d forgotten how much I liked the “Way Out West” scene:
I distinctly remember this as being one of the first movies I saw where I really connected with the music. I mean, I think I’ve always been attuned to the music in all movies/TV, but this was one where I was like holy crap the music is so freaking good and adds so much!
BobSponge PantsSquare
Hahaha, so apparently there’s a legit mockumentary series on SpongeBob SquarePants and it looks fantastic.
If you’ve got Amazon Prime, give it a watch (I don’t, unfortunately.)
I watched a LOT of SpongeBob when I was younger.
Triplet
Does anyone else remember this super artsy movie?
This odd little movie was something I first watched back in high school. In 10th grade, I had to get a few* EEGs done due to a weird blackout thing I had during English class one day. They were testing me for some sort of epilepsy or something and I had to be sleep deprived for it, which meant staying awake for 24 hours before the test.
Somebody (a neighbor? One of my mom’s friends? I don’t remember) knew that I had to do this, so they bought me a few movies to watch to help pass the time. One of them was Triplets.
I love the exaggerated style of the characters and how there’s very little dialogue. The music is fantastic, too. Give it a watch if you can find it!
*It should have just been one EEG, but Gritman is incompetent and they kept screwing it up. I had to get three of them total.
Kortal Mombat
This year has been a big ol’ bag of farts, yes?
Have a magician to make it at least a little bit better.
This guy really reminds me of my old friend Jacob from high school. Super cool dude. I wonder how he’s doing nowadays.
HEY YOU PEOPLE WHO WERE CHILDREN IN THE MID-NINETIES:
Do you remember those nights when you got to stay up late after your parents went to bed? Do you remember when Cartoon Network went off the air (prior to Adult Swim being a thing) and having to find something else on TV to entertain yourself with?
If so, I’m sure you remember this:
This immediately brought me back to Saturday nights at my dad’s old condo. It was infomercials, Early Edition, or Baywatch once my dad went to bed.
Kid Stuff
So I don’t know why this is, but every once and a while I think about a show I used to watch when I was a kid (six or seven years old? We lived in Troy at the time, so somewhere around that age) in which a bunch of kids get permission from a TV station to do their own news show type-thingy.
In my several years of searching for this show, I have never been able to find any clips of it – mainly because I didn’t remember what it was called and the only two things I have a distinct memory of the intro (at least parts of it) and one clip where there were kids dressed in snazzy sequin coats singing “Rockin’ Robin.”
But I finally, finally had some success with my searches today!
The show was called Kidsongs, and here is the intro:
God, this made me want to go into TV and/or radio hosting so badly. I’m sure my mom remembers that summer where I was doing the fake radio station stuff AND the summer(s) where I had the camcorder. My poor mom.
Edit: holy crap, it’s the “Rockin’ Robin” thing:
Those jackets are snazzy as all hell.
Web Comic!
Hey nerds. So I randomly stumbled across this web comic, and while it appears to be a spinoff of another comic that I am unfamiliar with, I still found it super intriguing and couldn’t stop reading it. So I wanted to promote it here!
A very clean, expressive art style and an interesting set of characters. It makes me want to check out the author’s (bioatomic’s) other stuff.
Woo!
Favorite Movies
Heyo, buttbandits.
So remember back in February sometime when I did my “Top 5 Books” blog post? Let’s do movies today.
‘Cause I’m trying to avoid all the work I’m going to need to do to move my three classes online for the rest of the semester.
From fifth to first:
#5: Toy Story
This movie came out around the time I was in first grade and I loved it so very much. As in, “let’s-force-the-whole-first-grade-class-to-pick-characters-and-then-make-our-own-version-of-it,-‘cause-I-was-mini-Stephen-Spielberg-and-no-one-was-going-to-stop-me” level of love. It still holds a very special place in my heart. Also, Tom Hanks.
#4: Armageddon
Armageddon kind of terrified me when I first saw it as a kid (specifically when the Independence shuttle bit it in the debris, that was horrifying to me as a little). But I love it now. It’s just such an American film, yeah? Awesome music. Bruce Willis. Manly drilling…in space. I love it.
#3: Mystery Men
I had my appendix removed in 2000 (literally as I was supposed to be attending my 6th grade graduation). I couldn’t do much for a few weeks after that, so there were two movies I watched incessantly while I had to stay home: The Music Man and Mystery Men. Mystery Men is kind of a nostalgia trip for me because it just brings me back to that time of my life. It’s funny and weird and has a lot of very quotable lines in it (“you threw a spoon at the guy, Jeff!” “Yeah, what was up with that?”).
#2: Apollo 13
I’ve loved this movie ever since the first time I saw it. It’s a very beautifully-put together movie with AWESOME music. Seriously. The music is probably what pushes this over the top for me. My favorite is “The Launch.” Also, Tom Hanks.
#1: Sunshine
(I have a thing for space disaster movies, can you tell?) Not a lot of people know about Sunshine, which is a shame because it’s freaking fantastic. You look at the DVD cover or you read a brief synopsis of it and you’re like, “oh, so it’s Armageddon but with the sun instead of an asteroid?” Nope, not even close. It’s so different from Armageddon, and I think that’s why I like it. Oh, right, and THE MUSIC OMFG. Here’s one of my favorite scenes with one of my favorite parts of the soundtrack.
It’s so beautiful. And yeah, the whole movie is about that level of intensity.
More Sunshine
If I haven’t yet convinced you that Sunshine is a beautiful, heart-wrenching, mind-wrenching movie, give this a watch and see if it does it for you.
It really is a wonderful movie (with the most beautiful score).
In This Blog: Claudia Shamelessly Plugs Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theater
Heyo.
So I’m like 99% sure I’ve mentioned this on here before, but I’ve been listening to a lot of Cape Cod Radio Mystery Theater episodes on my early morning walks the past few weeks, which has renewed my obsession with them. Thus, you get to hear about them on the blog!
I first came across CCRMT from my dad. He had a bunch of episodes on cassette tape and, for whatever reason, decided to give them to me back in high school.
I’m not a mystery-type person, but I decided to give them a listen and fell in love with them. The cassette tapes have long since been sold on eBay because I found digital copies of the shows (which, of course, I prefer, due to having an iPod and whatnot) and I still listen to them on occasion.
I don’t listen to music when I walk in the warmer months, but as it gets colder, I like to have my on-ear headphones on to act as earmuffs. And if I have headphones on, I will obviously listen to music on my walks. I crank the volume just loud enough so that I can hear (most of) my songs over the traffic while still being able to hear everything else well enough to avoid being in danger.
However, when I’m doing my early walks at 4 AM, it is dead quiet outside. There is very little traffic, no bikes, no pedestrians (at least during the first hour and a half or so), no birds/animals. This is actually the perfect environment in which to listen to CCRMT, because it’s quiet enough outside that even at a moderate volume level I can hear all the dialogue of the episodes (something that is harder to do when there is the background noise of traffic).
So it’s been CCRMT for the past few weeks in the morning, which has been awesome. It had been a while since I’ve listened to any of the episodes all the way through, and being able to do so reminded me of just how good they all are.
If you’re at all into mysteries or radio theater or anything like that, I’d suggest you give CCRMT a listen. Here’s their site.
Here are my top five episodes for anyone who cares:
- Mr. Hugo’s Night to Remember (the voice acting is really good in this one)
- The Junebug Mystery (a more historical mystery)
- Danger at Seven Mile Bend (a lot of detailed, intricate descriptions of the process of taking a tow barge up river, plus a pretty intricate story)
- The Curse of the Whale’s Tooth (this is probably the most “classic” mystery on my list, haha)
- The Hypnotist (this one is actually pretty creepy)
Woo!
Oh, Ferngully…
Heyo.
So I was browsing Tumblr, as I commonly do, and I came across a post someone made about the “Toxic Love” song from Ferngully. “Toxic Love” is the villain’s song, and the villain, Hexxus, happens to be voiced by Tim Curry. The poster was basically saying how they used to be scared by the song when they were a kid but absolutely loved it now ‘cause it’s Tim Curry being Mr. Sexy Voice for like 2.5 minutes.
Then I had to look it up on YouTube and oh my god, the comments.
Everyone: choking on pollution
Y’all: H A R D E R D A D D Y
Us as kids: Oh no it’s the bad guy!
Us now: [Sexual Tension Intensifies]
Never thought I’d see a cartoon where Tim Curry orgasms on-screen over the thought of destroying a rainforest, but here we are.
We know the real reason he was locked in a tree and this song proves it.
I may be an environmentalist, but if this is what pollution actually looked like, lemme just say I wouldn’t be drinking out of a metal straw.
Every 90’s child’s sexual awaking
thank you all for making me feel less weird about this XD
I can’t stop freaking laughing, oh my god.
(I always liked this scene when I was a kid, too, hahaha).
Movie Throwback: Team America
So for whatever the hell reason, YouTube recommended a clip from the movie “Team America” for me today and I was having flashbacks to when this movie was prime ‘Murica satire back in like 2005/2006. I watched it with my friends quite a few times because we all thought it was great.
Anyway, I’d completely forgotten about this movie, but now that I’ve seen a few clips, I remember how wild it was. The puppets, oh my god.
It’s amazing how some things have changed since then and how some things have not changed at all.
Talespin!
When Nate and I were on our walk last weekend, we somehow got on the topic of shows we used to watch when we were kids and I mentioned that Talespin was one of my absolute favorites. My dad had eight or so VHS tapes that each had two or three episodes on them and they were awesome.
Anyway, talking about Talespin made it so that the theme song lodged itself nicely in my brain for approximately a week.
Cool times.
I’d also forgotten how fantastic Don Karnage was. He was always my favorite.
Simp
This is a very interesting analysis of how and why The Simpsons, which actually died somewhere around season 9 or 10, is still so relevant to us through the way we’ve memed the hell out of it.
(Steamed Hams discussion starts at 8:06.)
Seriously, if you enjoy the way the internet seems to just latch on to certain things and make them into Things™, you’ll like this.
HmmmMMMMMmmm
Hahaha, I found this movie terrifying as a kid as well.
Edit: aaaaaand of course they’re making a sequel this year. Nothing is safe. Humans are terrible.
Roomba Rambo
Hahahaha, oh my god.
This Roomba is like my internal dialogue.
“I’m a Roomba! FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK”
Hoof
Go see Endgame, it’s good.
You probably won’t have to walk 16 miles through the snow to go see it like Nate and I did (‘cause, you know, it’s freaking May, why shouldn’t it be snowing?), but go see it anyway.
Tomato Hatred Level: 10/10
I love this guy’s energy and I can relate to his hatred of tomatoes.
Nate, you might not want to watch this one. Lots of tomato violence.
Edit: just realized I blogged about another video of this guy’s last year. It’s good to see that he’s learned nothing about psi, haha.
Ugh.
Disney (and Pixar), why?
The Toy Story trilogy was fine as it was. We got our character arcs. We got closure. We got the furnace scene, which, in my opinion, was the most heart-wrenching thing I’ve ever seen in a “kid’s” movie (and some kid’s movies are goddamn terrifying).
I get that your whole thing is just making as much money as possible off of nostalgia, which is unfortunately something that is happening more and more now that entertainment makers are realizing that millennials love nostalgic shit, but Toy Story?
My beloved Toy Story, which was finished with a nice little bow already and did not need to be torn open and sewn together into a sloppy fourth movie?
I am disappoint.
Got Milk?
So I was 99% sure I blogged about this commercial not too long ago when I’d learned that Nate had never seen it before, but a search of my posted blogs and my [insert embarrassingly large number here] blogs I still need to post shows no signs of it. Also, I saw a dude nomming the hell out of a peanut butter sandwich in the hall today, which reminded me of this in the first place, so here we go.
Y’all remember this commercial?
I remember my friends and I shouting muffled “Aaron Burr”’s at each other on the playground ‘cause the internet wasn’t really a thing yet and we needed some sort of entertainment source to mimic.
Lirty Dies
So as you all know (if you read my blog and/or if you live in Calgary), this month has been hella cold. This means that I have been consistently wearing my on-ear headphones while walking to help keep my ears warm.*
And of course, if there are headphones, there is music. I like to put my entire music library on shuffle so that I can hear all sorts of types of music as I gun around on the trial.
My shuffle has been giving me a lot of Capitol Steps lately. If you don’t know who they are, they’re a political satire group that takes popular songs and re-writes the lyrics to be about something political/scandalous.
I found them through my dad; I think he knew one of the members and got some of their CDs from that person. We (my mom and dad and I) got to see them live in Spokane back when I was in high school, so that was awesome.
At the end of their shows, they have a guy perform a “Lirty Dies” routine, which is a bunch of spoonerisms focused on one or two major scandals from the year.
Anyway, I’ve gotten a few of these “Lirty Dies” come up on shuffle in the past few days, which reminded me of how funny they are.
Here are two of my favorites, “Falicornia” (from 2004) and “Gush and Bore” (from 2001).
Here’s a newer one, too!
This is a different guy than the guy who used to do them, but he’s still pretty good!
Anyway, if you ever get a chance to see them live (they usually perform in and around D.C., but they did come to Spokane at least once), go see them!
*It works, trust me
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