Category: Medias

Is “reader’s digest” an epithet?
It was for a teenager studying the koine New Testament Greek.

Now I got a full time job and two kids.
When do I have time to read the full text?
In the original language?

I don’t have the energy or days to catch them all, in depth.
Give me those reader’s digests!
And as audiobooks, I can learn while doing the dishes!

Paul Starthern’s “in 90 minutes” are cheeky accounts of the philosophers’ lives followed with short sections of collected quotes from their work.
Most of them run closer to 75 minutes, even shorter at 1.5x speed.

The summaries produced by Pat Childs are a bit longer.
They skip the wry humor, instead quoting extensively from the subject and commentaries.
These are fancy productions with famous narrators with other voices for the quotes (using ethnic accents based on each author’s origins).

I’ve dived into the ancient philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Confucius, Lao Tzu, St. Augustine, and Thomas Aquinas.

The pairing of two summaries in quick succession has worked well.
I don’t know enough to catch bias, much less discern what’s missing.
It’s better to avoid relying upon only one source.
And the repetition is a feature, so I better remember the highlights.
The two complementary perspectives provide a succinct survey on a subject.
A good base for choosing what next.

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But I’m not sure about the next steps.
Maybe continuing with their surveys of modern philosophers and writers,
Or diving deeper into these classics,
Or wandering into other survey series or lectures from The Great Courses.

Time (and Grizzlypear) will tell…

This movie came out sixty years after the original as CGI was eclipsing hand animation.

This program was a bit shorter than the original, but equally enjoyable.

I could nitpick that the ensemble of celebrity presenters were distracting and the CGI whales in one piece were distracting.

But the music was fine and the stories were strong.
And the program ended on the two powerful pieces.

The retelling of Noah’s Ark is a pure storytelling flex.
The animators know that you know the story.
Beat for beat, in half a minute you know exactly how it will unfold.
Even so, they create a piece to tug at your soul, using Donald and Daisy Duck!

The final animation was display of raw power, with the forest spirit who survives an volcanic calamity to regenerate the mountain.

Hopefully, they’ll come out with another Fantasia — before 2060.

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It’s a close call, but I prefer the original with its pure hand animation.
I suspect it’s because of a nostalgic preference for the novelty of the old.

I seem to focus on everything around the characters.

Yet again, gorgeous art in high definition.
Graphical stylized backgrounds.
Intriguing raw linework.

And a clean concise story.

A modern movie would have added a half hour with two extra codas.
But this classic tells a clean concise caper love story.

Even though I dread the prospect of picking up after one hundred and one dalmatians.

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Shoutout to one of my favorite authors in childhood – screenwriter Bill Peet.

I was underwhelmed when I watched it a few years ago.
I wasn’t overwhelmed this time.
But I enjoyed it.

I still can’t shake my distaste of monarchical systems.
But I appreciated this story of growing up into responsibility.
And it resonates more with a growing boy in the house.

Plus, it’s gorgeous.

Especially this spectacular rendition of I Just Can’t Wait to be King.

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Chalk up another #win for Disney+ high def.
I might end up a fan of musicals soon enough!

If you’re a fan of mid-century aesthetics, this is a must-watch.
If you enjoy the occasional surreal animation, it’s got that too.
(Check out Blame it on the Samba).

I didn’t watch this as a kid.
Most likely better to skip this on a grainy VHS tape.
It was a treat to watch this on a big screen TV in high def.

Too bad my kids won’t enjoy this for the first time as adults.
I wonder what they will enjoy in thirty-five years.

Will their aesthetic pleasures follow mine?
Most likely the opposite.

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The quantity of cheap entertainment at our fingertips continues to boggle my mind. Even without Disney+ I’d still have the world of YouTube. But high def, guaranteed curation, and no ads are worth a small tax to the Mouse.

I listened to the BBC Radio presentation of this short story by Neil Gaiman.

I have an up and down opinion of his work.

I’m a huge fan of the Sandman series and have reread the series a few times and plan to reread them soon.

During college, I was also a fan of his novels, Neverwhere and American Gods. However, I reread them a couple years ago and realized that I don’t enjoy his prose.

I adore his inventive worldbuilding, but his writing came off stiff in the repeat. Gaiman is the first author where I’ve soured on their prose. I’ve ready plenty of bad authors, but none who I liked enough reread their books a two decades apart.

Fortunately, Chivalry doesn’t have this problem. It’s a cute short story, set in a lovely little world, and doesn’t overstay its brief welcome.

Even if I’ve soured on his novels, it’s hard to go wrong in 45 minutes. It’s a charming piece with an insightful introduction sharing nuggets on the difficulties of a professional author.

Well worth a listen.

This thing has great reviews, critically and popular.
I must be missing something.

Stiff dialog and a convoluted plot gummed up the spectacle.
I really wanted to like this movie, but I don’t get it.

Is it great for a Marvel Movie?
Maybe it’s being graded on a curve?

But wouldn’t be very Asian.
Even ABC.

Of course the music is great.
But it used to be accompanied by grainy VHS images on a small CRT.

Now, high definition streaming on the in-law’s 75″ TV.

The main characters are much as I remember.
But those backgrounds.
Now you can tell when the animators went for a sharp line.
Or meant to create texture.
Such detail!

Intoxicating!

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Fantasia fit perfectly with our recent obsession with music animation. I’m question our new dinner habits. But at least this is highbrow stuff.

Disney+ has a quirk where their volume plays much quieter than other streaming channels. So we finally hooked up the TV to the amplifier. Now we have high quality sound to go with the high def image.

Living the high life.

Delightful musical with psychedelic imagery.
The high def animation is a dream to watch on the big TV.

But the pacing was a little slow.
This seventy year old film doesn’t pander to my thrill-a-minute youtube cravings .
(Breaking into song don’t work like it used to).

But this is one of my favorite books and an excellent adaptation.
A fitting start for our new Disney+ subscription.

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I don’t know if it’s good to have such great TV experiences, but I’ll enjoy it while we continue to indulge.

I’ll happily watch it again if the kids ask for it, but their catalog is so large that I’d be surprised if we repeat anything soon.

And yes, we’ll be paying the Disney tax for a long, long time.