GRIZZLY PEAR

written snapshots

Category: Notes

  • Fantasia 2000

    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.

    ䷗䷲

    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.

  • Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis, 1952

    I read this as a hard line Calvinist reformed Baptist.
    It was too squishy to be memorable.
    Decades later, I’m a squishy atheist open to all the wisdom traditions.

    I now see why this book is a classic.
    It presents a most charming version of this religion.

    His all-or-nothing argument for the divinity of Jesus was unconvincing.
    But otherwise, the book was illuminating.
    His use of analogies is masterful.
    He clearly explains esoteric concepts of the Christian cosmology in simple terms.

    The original essays were BBC Radio lectures given during World War Two.
    In publication, he preserved the informal manner of the broadcasts, and listening to it as an audiobook brought it back to life.

    It was wonderful to listen to C. S. Lewis craft the English language at his highest levels.
    Highly recommended, even though I have no interest in becoming a Christian.

    ䷃䷺

    With an active war abroad and political tensions at home, the world and nation is no longer a coherent hegemony.
    This book feels more at home in the 20’s than than in the 90’s.

    It wasn’t enough to make me curious about practicing Christianity.
    But enough to consider re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia, which I did not enjoy as a child.
    I wonder what I might find as an adult and a father, knowing the author is a veteran of World War One.

  • Korean ASMR Restaurant Videos

    The algorithm fed us a collection of Youtube channels that film restaurants as they create their signature dishes.

    Thumbs Up
    Applehead Boy
    Delight

    No narration.
    Just the work.

    Dessert
    American
    Appetizers
    Korean
    Entrees
    Chinese

    I imagine the employees normally play music in the background.
    But these videos are peaceful.
    However, the idea of making the same thing every day is mind numbing.
    It’s gotta get old pretty quick.

    But anything is interesting in a tightly packaged 15 minute visit.
    Fun to watch while eating dinner.
    Thinking of all the unhealthy things we could be eating instead.

    ䷜䷮

    a jug of wine and a bowl of rice
    earthen vessels
    simply handed in through the window

    ䷸䷺

    In a dream
    I visited a restaurant next in the basement of a shopping mall.

    It was closed.
    The door was taped up.

    The property manager left a note.

    This venue will remain closed
    until the Owners remove item 14
    from the menu and website.
    By orders of SNHD.

    What was item 14?!?!

  • 101 Dalmatians, Geronimi, Luske, Reitherman, 1961

    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.

    ䷅䷃

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

  • The Lion King, Allers and Minkoff, 1994

    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.

    ䷵䷧

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

  • Walt Disney’s Melody Time, 1948

    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.

    ䷽

    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.

  • Chivalry, Neil Gaiman, BBC Radio, 2019

    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.

  • When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi, 2016

    How can a first (and last) time author write so beautifully?

    A lifetime of thinking.
    About life and death.

    And doing.
    Masters in English Lit.
    Then becoming a Doctor, Neurosurgeon.

    The book is a powerful, emotional memoir.
    A reminder that our days are not guaranteed.
    Easy living won’t last forever.

    And the dying.
    What brutally high cost for living.

    ䷩䷂

    This weekend, Jonathan Tjarks, a 34 year-old basketball reporter, passed away from cancer after writing this beautiful, haunting essay in March.
    And Risk Parity Radio posted an episode about dying.

    The media gods clearly want me to examine mortality, which has never been a big concern before.
    Let’s see where this goes.

  • Shang Chi, Destin Daniel Cretton, 2021

    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.

  • Fantasia, Stokowski, 1940

    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!

    ䷈䷼

    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.