I took a nap when I got home, so just started my challenge viewing for the day. I watched the 'First Duel' episode of Yu-Gi-Oh, in which Joey has his first ever tournament duel

Aah, Bravo! A non-controversial Miyazaki film that everyone can love!

(TOTORO should be required viewing for this challenge for anyone who hasn't seen it. )

Last night, I decided to watch The Fisherman and the Goldfish. It was beautifully drawn, and a wonderful story, with a moral, even though it isn't specifically stated.

While it says that, it's source only refers to parents complaining about it at one school. Working at a school and having kids in school, it's just the regular old history books here. The problem is that while it's assigned reading at some places, they're still stuck with the basic awful history textbooks from Texas.

The preachy Lies My Teacher Told Me book goes over history and compares it with the most common history books in use and compares what they say history is compared to what this author says is accurate history. He does leave some details out to suit his needs as well as taking some things at face value when it suits his needs, such as letters between Columbus and the royalty funding his missions. He totally ignores the fact that some of what's written is playing up things to get funding.

I also call it preachy because I don't need to constantly hear throughout the book how dumb college and high school kids are compared to the author. It was in the introduction and it never freaking stops.

The worst of the worst were the live action Disney films. The animated films were something I could finish. The live action rarely ever made it to the end. Awful, just awful. I wasn't able to even finish the umbrella floating nanny lady movie until I got to my 30s.

Speaking of war and animated films, I highly recommend watching [b]When The Wind Blows{/b] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sdtpvoOXn2o

When the Wind Blows depicts a nuclear attack on the UK by the Soviet Union from the viewpoint of a retired couple, James and Hilda Bloggs. The Bloggs live in rural Sussex and are confused regarding the nature and seriousness of their situation, but nonetheless remain optimistic and supportive of each other throughout the crisis. This confusion is sometimes used to generate gentle comedy as well as darker elements.

If you're looking for a musical number in this one, I'm sad to report you'll be disappointed.

I've read other places that say A People's History of the United States is used in many school districts (and that the book goes too far in the "other direction"). In fact, earlier, when I posted that, I went to look for one of the books I thought I might've read it in; Lies My Teacher Told Me by James W. Loewen. The positive cover blurb by Howard Zinn told me that wasn't the book, so I put it back on the shelf.

For maximum impact (see what I did there), you've got to pair it up with Barefoot Gen (1983) or Grave of the Fireflies (1988) or just make it a triple feature. You can start it off with a bang by watching the short, The Big Snit (1985), first.

Grave of the Fireflies is very powerful and moving.

I just finished another episode of Yu-Gi-Oh!, in which Yugi dueled Mako.

I'm not, I love musicals! You all are heathens! *grins* Seriously, I love them, love Disney and anything like it.
I agree. Grave of the Fireflies is a very powerful movie. It's almost hard to get through at times.

But talking about changing history in movies and Disney, I'm watching Pocahontas II for one of the checklist items. The original is probably my least favorite of Disney's films and this sequel is awful. The songs are dreck (and this is coming from someone who loves musicals!), the animation subpar. Pocahontas' neck is about 3 times to long for a normal human. Half the cast is cartoony people, the other half sharp and more realistic, almost. It's just odd and poorly done.

And that's not going into the story they are trying to tell...totally made up, but yeah, they wanted to tell a certain story so they certainly did.

Seconded! It's a fantastic film, and I enjoyed revisiting it. Now I'm hungry for more Miyazaki. I may pull out Castle in the Sky tomorrow evening if time permits.

You're morphing into a stereotypical beach bully. Not content with pushing down the musical nerds, you feel compelled to kick sand in their faces by insulting Mary Poppins. Well, I cannot stand idly by while you besmirch the reputation of Julie Andrews. Have you no decency? No soul? Oh what folly lays in the blackened hearts of men. To you I say "Votes for Women"! I say "Feed the Birds"! History will side with me and mine, and ultimately you and yours will lose. You lose! GOOD DAY, SIR! (That last bit is from a musical.)

Not quite ready for bed, so I decided to start watching Glass Fleet, an anime series I purchased quite some time ago on the consensus that fans of Last Exile would enjoy it. I'm in the middle of the second episode and had to pause because the most spectacular thing has happened. Two of the characters just attended a party, and the scene can only be described as "John Woo directs Joel Schumacher's film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera".

I'll try to post some screen caps tomorrow.

I've never seen "Glass Fleet" and now you've got me intrigued!

Today looks to be a good day to veg out in bed. We had planned on a day of yard work today, but that aint happenin. Mother Nature didn't agree.

I started my challenge viewing with an episode of MASK. I'd say Rax is my favorite character. Cool vehicle, and he reminds me of Jack Nicholson. I wonder if that comparison is what the writers wanted.

Now let me tell you what I think about The Sound of Music and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof...



It decided to go back up to the triple digits in my area. I'd skip yard work if I wasn't already working 10 hour days the next few weeks.

I've seen all 3 but wasn't sure about The Big Snit at first, so I had to look it up. Here it is for everyone http://www.nfb.ca/film/big_snit/

I think these challenges should have suggested collections of films to watch for people that are stuck. I think we have a good basis for a post-atomic bombing marathon going

I liked Lies My Teacher Told Me because it's informative at it's heart but the extra stuff he throws out there makes my eyes roll. I remember finishing the first chapter about Columbus and at the beginning of chapter 2, he quotes some idiot that said all settlers were white. We've all had that one person that just didn't get things in class but it's not fair to quote them as a representative of what the rest of the class is like. He just way too intense on how wrong books and people are at times before getting into the facts.

So I put the book down and switched to another history book that naturally started off with Columbus. I just put the book down and took a break from reading for the day. I wasn't about to go through that stuff again.

I've never read A People's History of the United States but I do recall a bunch of discussion years ago regarding if we needed to drop the bomb on Japan or not.

If you're into WWII pictures, I ran across an incredible collection here http://histomil.com/viewtopic.php?f=...918&hilit=wolf

I guess they have stuff from other wars but that thread is 593 pages and I'm still working my way through it.

I buy most of my books from thrift stores, and that was a random find I bought sometime within the last couple of years because it looked like a fun read. I remember mostly liking it, but there was something about it I didn't care much for (that I can't specifically recall at this time).
I haven't read it either (just read about it). I saw a copy in a Salvation Army store about six months ago and thought about buying it, but decided they wanted more for it than I was willing to give for a book I probably wouldn't like much.
I'm more into WWII fiction and contemporaneous propoganda than actual war stuff, but I'll check it out later when I get some time.

I can be as vigorous a defender of the musical as there is, but I have to say that the '60s were a time of horrible bloat for the genre. The Sound of Music feels fine at its length, but Mary Poppins DOES feel quite long at 2:20. And the last time I tried to get through Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at 2:20+... I have fond memories of the movie as a kid, but it's way overlong now.



I haven't seen When the Wind Blows in years, but I saw it way back when in theaters, and it was powerful. And back in the '80s, this really was something that felt like it could happen AT ANY TIME, especially in Europe. I think I originally saw it because I was a fan of Raymond Briggs' Father Christmas and Snowman books. Yeah, this was not the same as those.

I have each of the books mentioned so far in this discussion, plus other similar books and have never read them.

Highly recommended war novels about the Pacific War:
The Naked and the Dead by Norman Mailer
The Thin Red Line by James Jones

None of the movie versions of either of those novels comes anywhere close to the essence of the books.

Getting back to anime, there's a feature-length Japanese animated film called KAYOKO'S DIARY (1991) that's based on a memoir of growing up during the war years. I saw a subtitled print many years ago and have since acquired a VHS copy in Japanese with no subs. It's got a sequence depicting the firebombing of Tokyo and it's just harrowing, more horrific than anything in GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES.

I also have a film on VHS called RAIL OF THE STAR (1993), based on a Japanese actress's memoir of growing up in Korea during the war and then having to flee at war's end with hundreds of other Japanese to get to the south before the Russians can get them. Good film, but the Japanese treat the Koreans so terribly in it, that I had a hard time feeling sorry for them once the tide turned.

I'm pretty sure I have the first one (haven't read it ).

I know I have a copy of the album with Norman Mailer reading it (haven't listened to it ). Looks like this:



Not so sure if I have the second.

Silly, hyperbolic Internet rant aside, I'm with you. I love musicals - even "bad" ones - but some from the 60s are only for lethargic summer afternoons or skipping to the songs while doing housework. I'll also admit that I really, really love musicals - to the point that most of my iPod is crammed with cast recordings (pretty sure I have five versions of Sweeney Todd).

Due to this conversation, I checked my challenge list and realized that I've yet to watch a single musical this month (unless you count the music-centric anime Gravitation). I'm scandalized and must remedy this immediately!

OK... I'm confused... Cat on a Hot Tin Roof isn't a musical nor does Julie Andrews appear in the film. Otherwise I agree.

While I *do* overall like Mary Poppins, even as a kid I didn't like the musical interludes as most took you out of the "action" in spite of mostly being about something that just happened. You know the drill... the music starts and the film stops. And it *is* overly long but I blame the unneeded musical sequences for that. The much touted sequence with Dick Van Dyke and Julie Andrews dancing with cartoon characters always looked bad to me - you can see the mattes bleeding through! I was always amazed such a important sequence with such poor production made it into a "big" Disney film. Even with my complaints about this one it's still my 100% favorite non-animated Disney film, and I *do* like many of the songs even though they take you out of the film.

Just for grins and giggles, here's my short list of Musicals (in no particular order) I'll watch without someone else asking:

The Sound of Music
My Fair Lady
Fiddler on the Roof
Paint Your Wagon
A Hard Day's Night
The Rocky Horror Picture Show

You'll notice there are no animated films on that list. There are a couple of Disney efforts I should probably add but, in spite of them having several musical interludes each, I don't truly consider them to be musicals. Even then I have to be in the right frame of mind for viewings. Those are:

Peter Pan
Snow White
Cinderella
The Jungle Book
Alice in Wonderland

It's possible Pinocchio would make the above group but I've not seen that one in 40+ years and my memory of it is somewhat sketchy. I *do* own a copy but just haven't made time for a viewing.

Most of the rest of the features produced under the supervision of Walt Disney are OK and I'll watch most without argument if one of the grandkids selects one but they are not on my "must watch" lists. I can count on one hand the post Walt Disney supervised animations from The Mouse Factory I'll willingly watch.

I've also never cared for Fantasia. I like the music but not the animation tied to it (OK... the "Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment is OK but I can do without the rest) - But I don't like music videos either which explains my dislike for Fantasia. As a kid I always changed the channel if a "Merrie Melody" type cartoon came on (you know the ones... all singing/dancing animations). Like "live" musicals, I've come to appreciate the effort and work involved in the production of these films but just don't care for them.

I have never seen Singing in the Rain, the musical that tops the AFI's "25 Greatest Musicals of All Time" list. I purchased a copy of that one a couple of days ago at BL - now I hope I can keep the images from A Clockwork Orange out of my head when the title song is performed!

After playing some Yu-Gi-Oh!, on my PS3, I was in the mood to watch some on Netflix. I just finished a good episode, where Kaiba is revealed to not be such a bad guy as first thought. I wonder if Mokuba was added to give Seto a sympathetic side

After FANTASIA, Disney made other animated musical compilations in the 1940s:
SALUDOS AMIGOS
THE THREE CABALLEROS
MAKE MINE MUSIC
FUN AND FANCY FREE
MELODY TIME

Of these, the one I liked the best is MAKE MINE MUSIC, because it had the best segments, including these: "Casey at the Bat," "The Whale Who Wanted to Sing at the Met," "Peter and the Wolf," "Johnny Fedora and Alice Bluebonnet," and my favorite, "All the Cats Join In," with musical accompaniment by Benny Goodman and his orchestra.

I was planning to dig out my copies of these and watch them for the challenge, but I just haven't had the time.

I'm doing more reading but with ebooks. We Die Alone: A WWII Epic Of Escape And Endurance is supposed to be good. Ever hear of it?

That would have been a crazy film experience to watch in a theater.

I never got emotional about war in the '80s. It just was what it was, to me. I still remember when the Berlin Wall came down. It inconveniently came down on a Sunday and it was all over TV, so I didn't get to watch Life Goes On, thanks to the timing of things.

I thought someone sang a song at one point. Call it musical-lite.

No one sings in CAT ON A HOT TIN ROOF, although Burl Ives is one of the stars. If only he'd have sung, it might have given the film some entertainment value.

I'll keep you posted. The first two episodes were very entertaining, though the shifts from battling CGI spaceships to traditionally animated characters is a bit jarring at first. Actually, it reminded me of the aesthetic of Samurai 7, another Gonzo series. However, everything is so over-the-top: rose borders, flocks of CGI doves, fireworks in space, grandiose costumes.

Paul Newman gets shirtless. That's all the entertainment I need! The film has enjoyed a resurgence of love from the LGBT community. (Well, from film aficionados within the LGBT community anyway.)