Just finished streaming Grave of the Fireflies on Hulu. Truly one of the most heartbreaking movies I've seen in quite awhile. Knowing from the very first sentence what becomes of the main characters makes the scenes that ought to be joyous bittersweet. It's not so much a story to follow as it is one to bear witness to. It's late and I'm tired but I feel like I ought to make myself stay up and watch something else just so that's not the last thing my brain has to process as I try to sleep.

I can honestly say that Grave of the Fireflies is the only movie that made me cry.

Am I correct in recalling that the Muppets qualify for this challenge? I've watched the first three episodes of Muppets Now. I've enjoyed the game show segments with Pepe. That dude cracks me up. The segments with the Swedish Chef and Dr. Honeydew & Beaker have had their moments. The rest of it has not really done much for me so far except make me miss old school Muppets.

I took a few days off and then went old school yesterday with the Looney Tunes Platinum Collection V1. Volumes 2 and 3 are in the wings... I grew up on these (and the unedited versions at that) so they are video comfort food.

Hmm, good point. I’ve been meaning to hit some classics on D+ and HBO Max.

Yes, under the puppetry category. The first Now episode was my first entry of the month.

I came close to tearing up a few times. It wasn't even when the inevitable happened, though. It was several times before then that ought to have been sweet moments had I not been told in the very first sentence how things were going to play out.

Cool. I streamed the first episode the day after it dropped but forgot all about it.

Speaking of sad animated movies, I was surprised how depressing Snoopy Come Home was... for a Peanuts movie. Also, fun fact; this was the first animated appearance of Woodstock. I could have sworn he was in the Halloween or Xmas special, but apparently not.

I guess my unofficial challenge for Animation and Horror Challenges are no duplicate entries for the checklist. Sometimes I need to move entries around but with some planning it works out.

I have a question about the checklist. For the item "Watch an anime movie or series" would any animated series count or does it have something that qualifies as Anime? I was going to watch The Maxx but then I realized it wouldn't be Anime and my OCD kicked in.

^ Entry prob needs to qualify as Anime or Anime style. The Maxx could be listed for Drama, Fantasy, or Mystery though.

I was trying to watch one First Time View Movie a day but I've already failed.

Such a good movie, such a sad one! This was my first Japanimation style film and it definitely got me into Studio Ghibli and other animated films from Japan. I've only watched it once, but it really sticks with you. A must see.

Already answered, but yep! They're puppets, so they count. I plan on watching Muppets Most Wanted, the sequel to the reboot. Have had it for a while, but haven't watched it yet.

That would take a lot of planning! I'm still doing okay on trying to watch something every day, but have missed another day. Oh well! I do find myself not watching as broad of a selection because my normal go to-the library- is taking too long to get even old items to the patrons to make it feasible for the challenge. Not that I don't agree with it, but it is hampering spur of the moment desires for a certain title! If anyone is planning on joining the Criterion Challenge, planning ahead is going to be a must!

Yep, has to qualify as Anime. At least, that's the intention of the category as far as I know!

Always time to start again!

Sorry, everyone, for how long it took to answer the questions! I swear I have the thread set to give me instant notifications, but I only saw the last one pop up! I've been staining our decks the last few days (one little one, one BIG one) and hopefully going to finish up today, so I have more energy to actually watch some new movies soon!

I finished watching the original run of The Jetsons on Blu-ray today. The last time I watched the series through was around ten years ago when I got the DVD set. I have a couple of observations. First, I'm not sure what George Jetson's job is; it seems to be whatever the episode requires. I remember him being a button operator, but he's only shown doing that a couple times. Second, Rosie the maid is only in a handful of episodes. I remember her being a larger part of the show. I'm wondering if my conceptions of the show came from watching the 80s episodes when I was a kid instead of the 60s series. Unfortunately, those episodes are behind the Boomerang paywall on Amazon.

Rosie the Robot is in 2 episodes of The Jetsons (the relaunched series doesn't count in my book as they're a completely different thing). I, too, always thought she was in more of them and I watched the series in first run and dozens of times on Saturday mornings in the 60s.

George is a "digital index operator" (aka button pusher).

Rosie is such a pop culture mainstay! It's crazy that she's only in two episodes. They're both good episodes (not that there are necessarily bad episodes). I especially enjoyed "Rosie's Boyfriend" which also focuses on Judy and Mac (and could totally be rebooted into a gritty "A.I. rises up with the help of Elroy" story). I read some of the episode plots for the relaunched series, and they were really familiar so I must have watched them in the late 80s and early 90s, and the movie from 1990 also got a lot of play in my house. I'm sure that I didn't realize that there was a difference between the 60s and 80s episodes when I was a kid, and they got all mashed together in my brain.

I wish I had noted every task Spacely gives poor George. He does his button pushing in the first episode as well as "Private Property" and "Uniblab". (The plot contrivance of "Private Property" is used in one of my favorite episodes of "Goof Troop".) Spacely uses George as an ideas man in at least one episode and gets him to do a bit of corporate espionage and negotiation a couple of times. He tests out and later fixes a prototype machine in "The Little Man". Spacely really exercises that "and other tasks" clause that is tacked onto so many of our work descriptions!

I watched After the Thin Man a few months ago and one of the actresses playing a club singer had a high-pitched voice that sounded familiar. Looking up Penny Singleton I saw her later voice credit as Jane Jetson.

Singleton starred as Blondie in a series of 28 films from 1938 to 1950. She's quite good in them and is not the "dumb blonde" portrayed in the comic strip. Dagwood is the dumb one in the films (played by Arthur Lake).

I really like that series. It needs a remaster treatment as all that's out there I know of are the edited for syndication versions.

I was just watching an episode of Inspector Gadget on Encore Family. It took place on a space station, and there was a computer on board named Harold. Not only that, but he also had the red light that HAL had. Shades of 2001.

If you get Netflix The Great Pretender is definitely worth checking out. Fourteen (two arcs) of the 23 episodes are available, the other nine probably won't be available until October, maybe. I only watched the first episode, but it was really good. This anime is kinda similar to Cowboy Bebop or Black Lagoon, just with out the sci-fi or ultra-violence.

I think one of the most important things a cartoon can do to make it long lasting is add in things like that for all ages. I know I watched Inspector Gadget during its first run and probably had no idea what that was referencing or that it WAS referencing something. But when you go back as an adult, it makes it so much more entertaining when you spot those hidden eggs.

Watching Toy Story again I noticed the carpeting in Sid's house.

Watched some of the new Netflix Where in the World Is Carmen Samdiego. They touch on geography and culture of the places they visit, but the emphasis is on the action and intrigue. As a fan of the original Rockapella theme song, I wasn’t surprised to hear a new theme, especially with the current trend for themes that last only a few seconds.

Also working through Harley Quinn on HBO. Pretty good, but I’m glad I didn’t pay for it separately. Mature language and violence, but pushes the humor as well.

^ I have HBO Max free from AT&T because I am on an unlimited data plan. I’ve browsed a lot, but haven’t watched much on it yet though. Plan to.