Little Golden Book Monday #50

Today's Little Golden Book is Walt Disney's The Rescuers Down Under. The book came out in 1980, the same year as this, the 29th animated Disney feature film was released to theaters.
I remember seeing this movie when it first came out, and I remember that I really liked it. I still do. So, it would seem that my taste in Disney animated films does not follow the norm. Some of my favorite Disney films include Atlantis The Lost Empire, Home on the Range and The Rescuers Down Under, all of which seem to be considered lesser films by most Disney fans.
But, come on, this one is just simply a fun movie, and it has some great voices, including; Bob Newhart as Bernard, Eva Gabor as Miss Bianca, and John Candy and Wilbur. What's not to like.

Here are some fun facts I found about the film on the IMDB.com web site:

* Disney's first animated sequel.

* This was the first 100% digital feature film ever made. The animation and backgrounds were done traditionally but all of the coloring, many effects and the final film printing was all done digitally. This was the first film produced with Disney's Academy Award Winning "CAPS" production system.

* The first Disney animated feature to use fully-rendered CG backgrounds (for the aerial shots of the UN building and the Sydney Opera House, and the globe for the relay sequence).

* Adam Ryen, the boy who voiced Cody also dubbed the same character in his native Norway.

* A third Rescuers movie was planned for 1996, but after the death of Eva Gabor, this and all future Rescuers movies were scrapped.

* The failure of this feature discouraged Disney from releasing later sequels theatrically.

* Originally meant as a straight-to-video production.

Little Golden Book Monday #49

In honor of Easter, today I present Fozzie's Fabulous Easter Parade from 1998. The story sees the Muppet game getting reading for the annual Most Beautiful Easter Egg Contest. Unfortunately, Fozzie's egg was nowhere to be found. Sounds like a pretty exciting story already, huh!? Turns out Camilla Chicken was sitting on Fozzie's egg, and it ends up hatching into a cute little chicken. Without an egg to enter in the contest, Fozzies decides to change the name of the contest to "Most Beautiful Easter Egg or Easter Chick Contest", and this year, the winner is Camilla and her very own egg-stremely egg-stra-special Eater parade of chicks.
O-yeah... and there are Easter eggs on the cover! Happy Easter.

Update to Yesterdays Post

After my post the other night, I was really keen check out a package of Corn Nuts. I am sure I have had them before in the past, but not in many, many years. So, last night on my way to see Ace Frehley in concert, we stopped at a 7-11 and I picked up a package of "original" Corn Nuts. After one bag, I was hooked.
On the way home from the show, we stopped at 7-11 again, and I picked up two more packages, which have both now been consumed. I tried to get my friends to try them on the way home, but both said that just the smell of them was enough for them. To me, the smell was quite intoxicating. To them, it was quite awful. At least I tried.
I finished the last package of Corn Nuts this morning while watching Woody Woodpecker cartoons with my 3 year old son Kaden. He gobbled them down as quickly as I would give them to him, so it looks like both of us are now hooked.
I also spent some time on the CornNuts.com web site, where I they have a great collection of their print ads. Click here to check out all 7 of the Corn Gone Wrong ads, along with a few others.

More Corn Gone Wrong

I bought a pile of used comic books today, and while flipping though them, I found a few more Corn Nuts ads from 2000. Back in March of last year, I posted a Corn Nuts ad, with the slogan "Corn Gone Wrong". Turns out, there was more than one ad with this campaign slogan.
Tonight, I present two more of the very funny Corn Gone Wrong ads.
The first is "Biker Corn" which is from Action Comics, issue #779.
The second one, "Fiery Corn" is from the back page of Superman, issue #168.
If you would like to check out the first one I posted, check out this link.
Now that I have found these two new Corn Nuts ads, I will be on the lookout for more whenever I am flipping though any comics from 2000. And I still stand by my thought that these Corn Gone Wrong characters would make for a great animated cartoon on Adult Swim!

Little Golden Book Monday #48

Today's Little Golden book is Colors Are Nice. The date inside is 1962, but because there is a UPC code on the back cover, I am going to guess that this copy was printed after that, seeing as I found this bit of info on UPC codes on Wikipedia.com
"The first item ever scanned in a retail establishment (Marsh's supermarket in Troy, Ohio) was at 8:01 a.m. on June 26, 1974, and was a 10-pack of Wrigley's Juicy Fruit chewing gum. The entire shopping cart also had barcoded items in it, but the gum was merely the first one picked up by the cashier. This item is currently on display on the Smithsonian Museum in Washington, D.C.."

Little Golden Book Monday #47

I have been on a real Peanuts kick lately. It started back around Halloween, when my son and I sat and watched "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" together for the first time. I have always loved the show, and it was great introducing my song to a cartoon classic from my childhood. And it was great when he started laughing when Charlie Brown said, "I got a rock". We liked the show so much that we downloaded the audio version of the show and added it to my iTunes collection so we can listen to it over and over. And just recently I purchased the "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" Making of a television classic book, which we have already read a couple of times. I have also been borrowing the Charlie Brown DVD's from our local library for the two of us to watch, and I have been borrowing the Fantagraphics cartoon strip books for those times when I have a few minuets to kill.
So, to go along with my current Shultz mania, I present the 1988 "Where's Woodstock?" book, not to be confused with "Where's Waldo".
In this story, Woodstock makes the Great migration and flies South for the winter. After saying he was going to fly South, we see Woodstock and his pals with backpacks, hiking off into the distance. Apparently the trip is much to far to fly for these little yellow birds. After sending Snoopy some postcards from his travels, Woodstock returns to his pal Snoopy. Snoopy is so happy, that he writes a poem on the spot, to celebrate Woodstock's return: "He's no impostor! He's no actor! Woodstock's back - Aboard a tractor!" Now, that's good stuff!

My Own Stretching (Bath)Room Portrait

About two months ago while my wife and I were visiting a thrift shop in Vancouver I came across the painting/poster shown here of a ballerina. I wasn't sure why, but I really liked it and after making my purchases, I went back and picked up this picture and asked how much it was. The woman behind the till told me it was 50 cents, so I dug out two quarters from my pocket and took my new treasure home with my other purchases.
When I got home, I once again wondered why exactly I liked this thing, and wondered why I had bought a picture that looked like it should be on a little girls bedroom wall.
Still, now knowing why I liked it, it ended up on a shelve in my bathroom so that you can see it as soon as you walk in.
Once my wife saw it there, she said, "I know why you like that so much, because it looks just like those stretching portraits in the Haunted Mansion that you love so much!" Once she said that, that was it. That is all I can think about when I look at this thing. All she needs is a bunch of snakes and creepy crawly bugs on the floor around her feet and you could hang this along with the other portraits in the stretching room of Disney's Haunted Mansion.
For those of you not familiar with the stretching portraits, here is a photo I found on the net of someone who has the 4 stretching portrait posters framed on their wall. The yellows lines show what you see at first - just the tops of the pictures are visible (A). Then as the room stretches, you start to see more of the pictures, as they reveal a much different final picture than what we see at first.

Little Golden Book Monday #46

Tonight's Little Golden Book is Walt Disney's The Sword in the Stone. This copy is a second printing from 1973, which was 10 years after the movies 1963 theatrical release.
I have always loved the look of this movie, and one reason may be that Bill Peet worked on it. Bill Peet has always been a favorite writer / artist of mine since my early childhood, reading books such as Capybobby and Farewell to Shady Glade. To this day, my favorite classic Disney animated film is Sleeping Beauty, another film Bill worked on.
This particular copy, has a strange thing going on with its cover... it's peeling. There is a shiny plastic coating on the cover which is peeling up in some areas and missing in others (If you look really carefully at the photo of the cover, you can see what I am talking about). This is the first time I have seen this on a Little Golden book, so not sure if this is a common occurrence on older books or not.
What I have seen on many newer Little Golden Books is the Gold spine sticker/tape starting to come unglued and in some cases, falling off the book.
I would love to find a place to purchase LGB bags/sleeves such as the ones I keep my comic books and records in. If anyone knows of such a thing, please let me know.

56 ways to "Improve" the NHL All Star Game

On January 27th, 2008, the NHL held the 56th Annual All Star Game (and Skills Competition). As a big hockey fan, I can't help but be bombarded with NHL All Star news and coverage each year. But year after year, I become less and less interested. At this point, I had stopped watching the All Star game, and pretty much just watch the All Star Skills Competition, and this year, even that didn't seem interesting enough for me to tune in.
I did however happen to be flipping channels during the last 20 minutes of the Skills Competition, and I happened to catch the new breakaway format they adopted this season. Instead of just a shootout contest, they added a new twist, by having a panel of 4 judges who saw and watched each players attempted goal, and then gave them a score of 1 - 10, giving points for scoring, as well as flash. Players were trying all sorts of wacky stuff including spinning with the puck, dropping to their knees and sliding in on goal, and flipping the puck up in the air and trying to bat it out of the air like a baseball. It all make for a fun and exciting event.
After catching just the end of this event, I really wanted to see the complete 2 hour Skills Competition, and after checking my online TV guide I found that it was not being repeated... drat!
Luckily, both the All Star Game and Skills Competition both showed up on iTunes recently, so I promptly purchased the Skills Comp and sat in front of my computer watching it from beginning to end. Great stuff!
That said, I still didn't watch the All Star Game.
It looks like I am not the only one who didn't tune into the All Star Game. Here is what The Hockey News had to say in their January 22, 08 issue, about the All Star Game, along with a list of 56 ways to save the All Star Game:

Let’s bring back some luster to the one and only contest that’s supposed to feature the best of the NHL

We came up with 56 solutions to fix the NHL’s marquee-game-that-really-doesn’t-mean-at-all.

And since the NHL All-Star Game (the 56th edition of which is in Atlanta on Jan.27) is meant as a fun weekend for the fans, players and sponsors - oh, the sponsors - alike, we tried to inject a little playfulness into the proceedings. Some suggestions are serious - like, let’s kill the conference versus conference format for ... any other format - while some are brainchilds that might have you thinking we played the game without a helmet for too many years. No matter. The hope is the NHL will embrace the event as a chance to showcase not only its great players, but its great personalities as well. And if we can improve the actual on-ice product in the meantime, well, it’s about time.

1. Change the format. How about introducing Age Rage, with the enthusiastic under-30 guys going up against the crotchety over-30 crowd.

2. Or, stars from the 15 northern-most teams versus stars from the 15 southern-most teams. Let’s get geographical on their ices …

3. Or, the left-handed shot all-stars versus the right-handed shot all-stars.

4. Or, the visor-wearing all-stars versus the all-stars who, for some reason, doesn’t wear visors.

5. Or, the offensive all-stars versus the defensive specialist all-stars.

6. Or … well, you get the point. Change. The. Format.

7. Mic up every player and broadcast the best clips during breaks in the action. To take it a step further, have stretches – while the game is being played – where the only audio is on-ice chatter.

8. Have all the players stay in the same hotel. On the same floor. With a 24-hour reality TV crew on hand.

9. Have AC/DC and Nickelback perform. They’re the only two bands that hockey players listen to. Might as well give them what they want.

10. Instead of a 60-minute game, hold mini-tournaments in which players are grouped based on their junior teams. Oshawa vs. Kladno, Kamloops vs. Boston College, Red Army vs. Modo, etc.

11. More commercials featuring players as fun individuals (remember the NHL’s prank ad last year – “Ovechkin!”) instead of boring automatons.

12. Invite top junior and college players to the skills competition (John Tavares vs. Marty Turco in a shootout drill, followed by Alex Ovechkin vs. Simeon Varlamov).

13. New kills competition: Bodychecking. Imagine Dion Phaneuf vs. Shea Weber in the final, skating full force into a tackling dummy – whoever makes it fly the furthest, wins. Seriously … fans would go nuts.

14. Shootout contest with judges (Denis Savard, Wayne Gretzky, Mike Myers) and mediocre-goalies-turned-VIPs in net (Darren Pang, Garth Snow, Glenn Healy).

15. Fix the ballot nomination process (there was no Patrick Kane or Sergei Gonchar on the ticket this season, despite the fact the list was finalized in early November).

16. Give the players real incentive to win: the MVP gets a car and is exempt from all media requests.

17. Make the skills competition more like the old Showdown in the 1970s – player vs. player instead of conference vs. conference. Crown an overall winner and give him a car, too.

18. A shootout championship, featuring the regular season leaders in shootout goals vs. the goalies who have the best shootout stats.

19. Bigger nets!

20. Small nets!

21. Play 4-on-4 – if not for the entire game, at least the last five minutes of each period.

22. Assign each period a point value. For example, winning the first period is worth one point, the second two points and the third three points. That keeps the game interesting should the score be lopsided entering the third.

23. As a nod to defense – the grossly under-appreciated all-star trait that is grossly over-appreciated in regular season games – award bonus points for blocked shots and takeaways/intercepted passes. Accumulated a pre-determined total and you get a penalty shot as a reward.

24. Go back to the old-style meshing on the nets so the twine actually budges when a goal is scored.

25. Have a celebrity or hockey legend do the PA announcing on goal calls.

26. Dispense with the conference jerseys and go with throwback sweaters. The home team wears a throwback from the host city – this year, you could bring back the old Atlanta Flames look – while the visitors’ shirt is chosen online by the fans. (Our first vote would be for the California Golden Seals).

27. Forget the two-referee system – try the no-referee system. Rarely is there a penalty and it’s not like Jason Spezza is gonna go after Henrik Zetterberg. (Or is he …?)

28. Play the game on international ice. Give those all-stars room to move.

29. The winning conference gets home-ice advantage in the Stanley Cup final.

30. Copy the Young Stars Game. No faceoffs.

31. Two words: More cheerleaders!

32. Two more words: No cheerleaders!

33. Play music during the action.

34. Every penalty, anywhere on the ice, results in a penalty shot.

35. Bring back the glowing puck.

36. Just kidding.

37. After giving up a goal, you get to steal a player from the other team.

38. No bluelines.

39. No icing the puck on penalty kills

40. Like billiards, street basketball or Owen Nolan, if you don’t call your shot, it doesn’t count.

41. Play the game in Europe. Or a non-NHL North American city.

42. Secure sponsors to put up a financial bounty that’s big enough to impress even today’s multi-millionaires. Winning side takes all.

43. Forget trying to cut back on goals; go for broke. Eliminate goalies and make it like novice hockey where each skater takes a two-minute turn standing in the crease.

44. Maximize exposure by making the game a 15-minute contest during halftime at the Super Bowl. Invite Janet Jackson to preside over the ceremonial faceoff. But not Jastin Timberlake. Let’s keep the malfunctions to a minimum.

45. The Sean Avery Exemption: Each conference elects two agitators to liven up the game. The catch, though, is the shift disturbers actually represent the conference they don’t play in, so the guys who see them so often during the regular season – and have a good healthy hate on for them – get a chance to get in an all-star whack.

46. Scrap the Young Guns game; instead, make Kevin Lowe and Brian Burke team captains and have them select the remaining 28 GMs for a good, hate-filled game of 4-on-4. Just keep the shifts short.

47. Play it outdoors.

48. Play it after the season is over.

49. Play it in the pre-season. Fans are hungry for hockey after three long summer months … and anything that spices up the exhibition schedule is welcome.

50. Play it like they did back in the day: an all-star team vs. the previous season’s Stanley Cup champion.

51. Bring back the goalie helmet cam.

52. Have a shootout – everybody shoots – before the game and spot the winning team a 1-0 lead.

53. Borrow an idea from major junior’s Top Prospects Game and put celebrity coaches behind the bench. How about Stephen Harper and George W. Bush – what else are they doing? – on one team and Denis Leary and Pamela Anderson on the other. (Wonder who the fan favorite will be?)

54. Let’s see how talented these “all-stars” really are; intermission should be a talent show, where the players bust out the coolest moves they’ve got that are completely unrelated to hockey. Sure, they can blast slapshots 100 miles an hour, but can any of them juggle … skates?

55. Mandatory trash-talking. Who wouldn’t want to see Ilya Kovalchuk and Jarome Ignla fact-to-face, boxing weight-in style, at a pre-game press conference trading taunts and goal-scorers’ smirks?

56. Ah, what the heck, let’s see what happens if they throw two pucks on the ice instead of the usual boring, old one. Or, maybe one puck in the first period, two in the second and three in the third. Could make for some cool hat tricks …

Little Golden Book Monday #45

Today's Little Golden Book comes from my Son Kaden's collection. He may not even be three years old yet, but already he has a sizable book collection and has many favorites, including this Little Golden Book about Fire Engines.
The book is originally from 1950, and the illustrations are absolutely wonderful. Both myself and my wife had had to read this book many times again and again, as Kaden just can't get enough of the brave fire fighters.
As far as Kaden is concerned, the book has firemen, firetrucks and a firedog... what more do you need in a book?

Little Golden Book Monday #44

Tonights Little Golden Book is Winnie-the-Pooh and Tigger, a story by A. A. Milne.
I was never a big fan of Winnie-the-Pooh as a child and now that Pooh has moved into the Country Bear digs at Disneyland, sending the bears packing, I have to saw that I am even less of a fan - if not somewhat annoyed at the chubby, tubby little bear.
I do like the artwork in the book, and the cover illustration has a nice retro feel to it. I much prefer the retro Pooh look to the more updated look of more recent years.
I just can't get other the fact that Winnie and his friends have forever removed the Country Bear Jamboree from Critter Country in California. I know that I can still partake of the Country Bear fun in Florida, but knowing that Winnie has taken over in California's Critter Country, means I will probably never head into the part of the park again.
I guess Disney thought that Winnie-the-Pooh and his pals would drawn in more customers than the tired old Country Bear musical revue show. But, I will stick to listening to my 16:47 minute "Country Bear Vacation Hoedown", and won't be listening to any Pooh on my iPod anytime soon.
At least having Winnie in the park is good for one thing. The, "Hey kid, you have Pooh on your shirt, hat, shoes etc", joke never gets old!

Jericho Returns to Television

Tonight, Jericho returns to television. Pretty exciting, since the show was canceled at the end of last season. This brings up something that has bothered me about TV for some time now. Networks bring out a ton of new shows each season, and decide the fate of those shows in a season or less. Sometimes, just as I find a new show I like, I find out it is being canceled. A few shows I can think of from recent seasons that fit into this category are Invasion and Jericho. Both are shows that are very episodic and you really get sucked in, following the story, and looking forward to seeing how things are going to progress each episode.
With Invasion, they never really told you what was happening to everyone in the town, but you kept tuning in each week to see if they would give you just a little bit more information. When the first season ended, that was it. Show canceled. We will never find out what was really going on?
With Jericho, they ended last season with a huge cliffhanger and then... canceled. Too bad. We would never find out what was going to happen, or how the story would end.
But, in the rare case of Jericho, apparently, enough people made a stink about the cancellation, that CBC actually revived the show for a few more episodes to actually complete the story.
Things look good for Jericho, as with the writers strike, there was been a real void of new shows on TV recently, and this may help Jericho to get viewers who may not have watched it last season, to tune in tonight.
I know what I will be doing tonight at 10 pm! And hopefully you will do the same, so that numbers will be high enough that CBS will bring the show back for another season - then maybe we can do this all over again when they cancel that season!

Little Golden Book Monday #43

Today's Little Golden Book is Oscar's Book by Jeffrey Moss with pictures by Michael Gross. Great name for an artist of an Oscar the Grouch book, don't you think! And I love the artwork in this book. Oscar is so rough looking and grouchy, that he looks like some sort of a monster out of a Godzilla movie.
I saw something recently in a magazine (don't remember which one), but they had a small photo of Big Bird on the cover and inside there was a couple of paragraphs talking about the recent DVD release of Sesame Street: Old School. They went on to warn parents that the DVD might not be suitable for children as in the early episodes of Sesame Street, which this DVD focuses on, the Muppets were pretty rough around the edges, and not as cutsie as they are today. That really made me chuckle! Today's youngsters are certainly missing out on the good stuff.

Hardy Boys Mystery Casse-Tête

Ok, one of my many guilty pleasures is the 70's TV show the Hardy Boys. In the late 70's as a ten year old, I had two favorite, 'not to be missed' television programs. One was the super cool sci-fi show Battle Star Galactica. What wasn't to like about a show with Cylon robots, flying space ships and a robotic dog! The other show I never missed was the Hardy Boys. I was a huge Shaun Cassidy fan (more about that another time) and thought it was really cool that these two brothers were crime solving detectives.
I was thrilled when they released seasons 1 & 2 of the Hardy Boys TV show on DVD recently. My son and I have been enjoying sitting in front of the TV with our bowl of popcorn, watching the old episodes.
Recently I found this 1978, 121 piece APC Hardy Boys Mystery Casse-Tête (or for those of us English speaking Canadians, Jigsaw Puzzle) on one of my Saturday thrift store outings. I hope that when I solve this mystery, I don't find out there are a few missing pieces!

The Black Hole: A Pop Up Book

Here is a really nice copy of Walt Disney Studio's The Black Hole, A Pop-Up Book I found recently. The book is from 1979, and the cover price was $4.95. It is in really great shape considering that most kids pop up books are trashed within a day or two of the kid reading and playing with it. I know this from experience, as my 2 year old son has most of the flaps etc torn off in a matter of minutes! This copy has only one scene with a ripped part, and even then, all the pieces are there, and with a little tape, I was able to reconstruct the Black Hole on the last page of the book, good as new.
Here you can see the cover of the book, along with the first two pages of the book, which feature a great pop up of the U.S.S. Cygnus, the huge mystery ship which is hovering on the edge of a giant Black Hole at the beginning of the movie.

Little Golden Book Monday #42

What's that? Timmy's in trouble... Timmy's fallen down the well. That's OK, because today's Little Golden Book is Lassie Shows the Way (The Authorized Edition), 1956.
Although Lassie may be able to warn the towns people about poor Timmy, he wasn't able to help me figure out who-dun-it, as just as the Sheriff shows up in the story, at the shabby farmyard where Timmy and his father, along with Lassie, who is about to point a paw the perpetrator, I find that the last page in my book is missing. Drat!

Disney Pocket Novels

I found a treasure trove of Disney pocket novels at the local thrift shop the other day. And all were a bargain at under 50 cents each.

First up we have The Hundred And One Dalmations, and Miaa Bianca, which was the original story by Margery Sharp, which was the basis for the Walt Disney animated film The Rescuers.

Next we have Tron, complete with a fabulous full-color photo insert, and Dr. Syn: Alias The Scarecrow, which is a Walt Disney feature film which I have never seen before. Hopefully this is something that Disney will release on DVD (or whatever format they are using at the time), as I would love the opprotunity to see it.

Next is The Shaggy D.A., and Gus, both of which are based on 70's live action Disney films. Both films that were great when I was 10 years old, but that I never need to see again.

And last we have Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo and Snowball Express. I have never seen Snowball Express so can't say much about that film, but Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo, much like the other Herbie movies was a favorite of mine as a child. One of the first movies I ever remember seeing was Herbie Rides Again, and I laughed so hard I almost peed myself. I'm sure as my son gets a little older, we will have to own all the Herbie films - all that is except for the most recent one, Herbie Fully Loaded. I'll take a pass on that one!

Disneyland Subs Don't Find Atlantis

Today while surfing some of my favorite Disney blogs, I saw some photos of the newly reopened Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage. Part of me was happy that that large lagoon in the middle of Disneyland was now filled with working subs once again, after laying dormant since 1998. But, another part of me was angry at what we didn't get. The Voyage to the Lost Continent of Atlantis was something that Disney was planning around the time they were finishing up work on the film Atlantis The Lost Empire (2001). The plan was to reinvigorate the stale Subs by retheming them to the Atlantis movie. But, as the movie hit theaters and movie goers didn't flock to the box office to see the film, Disney scraped the idea, and the subs stayed in drydock for another 7 years.
Being a big fan of the Atlantis film, I was very excited when I heard the news that Disney was planning to retheme the Subs with an Atlantis storyline. I was extremely disappointed when I found out they were scrapping the idea and the Subs would remain silent.

Check out this article from Jim Hill Media regarding the movie and proposed attractions:

"Jim Hill looks back at Disney Feature Animation's Summer 2001 release -- a project that started out with plenty of promise ... only to have WDFA executives second-guess this film's chance at greatness away.

During the summer of 2001, most Tinsel Town insiders felt that Walt Disney Pictures had a pretty decent shot at success with its animated action-adventure film, "Atlantis: The Lost Empire." But "A:TLE" turned out to be a real disappointment, grossing only $84 million (which hardly came close to cover its production costs, never mind the tens of millions more that Disney poured into the marketing of the movie).

So what went wrong with "Atlantis: The Lost Empire?" Well, to hear Disney Studio insiders tell it, "A:TLE" really was a project with plenty of promise. At least when the production initially started out. But then "Atlantis" lost its one real chance at box office success as the project's film-makers -- under the guidance of WDFA's allegedly Creative VPs -- kept second-guessed themselves. Fixing and futzing with their film until "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" had become a pale shadow of what it once was.

Back when work first began on "A:TLE," this movie truly had some balls. "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" started out with a prologue that showed a crew of blood-thirsty Vikings meeting a grisly fate in the North Atlantic. Their longboat obliterated by some immense mysterious creature with tentacles. (This sequence was to have been the audience's initial introduction to the Leviathan, the massive mechanical creature that guarded the one remaining gateway to Atlantis.)

Well, Wise and Trousdale seemed pretty passionate about their idea. And given that Walt Disney Studios actually used to make live action films like this (EX: "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea," "Swiss Family Robinson," "In Search of the Castaways," "The Island at the Top of The World"), Don thought that he might be able to sell the Mouse House brass on making a movie like this.

Just as Ray Harryhausen used to load up his stop motion epics with lots of bizarre creatures, "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" was originally supposed to have had a lot of monsters. Lots and lots of monsters.

I mean, if Kirk and Gary had just stuck to their guns, "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" would have had the crew of the Ulysses -- once they survived their deadly encounter with the Leviathan -- battling squid bats, lava whales as well as bugs the size of school buses as they made their way deep down into the bowels of the Earth. (Those of JHM readers who'd like to get some sense of what these sequences would have been like would be wise to go pick up a copy of the 2-disc collector's edition of the "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" DVD. Here, hidden among the disc's extras, you'll find deleted storyboard versions of these various scenes. Which should give you some idea how truly exciting "A:TLE" COULD HAVE been -- had these sequences been left in the movie.) In short, this film would have been just the sort of production that Ray Harryhausen could have been proud of.

But then ... well ... Wise, Trousdale and Hahn began getting all of these inane notes from WDFA's cadre of allegedly-Creative Executives. Plus the movie's monsters -- what with all of their numerous legs, wings and antennae -- were proving to be pretty darned difficult to animate. Expensive too. And -- given that Kirk, Gary and Don were coming under continuing pressure from above to streamline "A:TLE"'s production as well as keep costs down -- the easiest thing to cut back back then was the squid bat attack, the crew's deadly encounter with the lava whale sequence as well as the bug hunt (Kida's original introductory sequence, which was to have shown the Atlantaen princess -- to the audience, anyway -- as this truly awesome warrior).

The only problem was ... once these three sequences were cut, Wise and Trousdale's animated adventure film -- supposedly crafted in the style of Ray Harryhausen -- was now decidedly light on adventure and monsters.

Which is a real shame. Because -- its flaws aside -- there's a lot to like about "Atlantis: The Lost Empire." From the film's distinct design to its wonderfully loopy supporting characters. I mean, how can you dislike a picture that features Gaetan Moliere, perhaps the weirdest individual to ever appear in a Disney animated film?

Yes, I know. A lot of you animation fans were very disappointed with "Atlantis: The Lost Empire." That -- in spite of the promise of its premise -- the picture basically failed to deliver the goods.

I say ... if Wise and Trousdale had actually been allowed to produce the picture that they had originally pitched to Don Hahn -- a film in the Ray Harryhausen tradition -- this story might have ended very differently. "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" might have actually found the success at the box office that it deserved.

Which would have meant that WDI would have been able to go forward with construction of those "Atlantis"-themed attractions that the Imagineers had been planning for Disneyland and Walt Disney World.

Which would have meant that -- this summer -- WDW visitors would have been able to scream their way through "Fire Mountain," Disney World's first transforming coaster (which was to have been built -- inside of a giant volcano-shaped show building -- out behind Adventureland's "Pirates of the Caribbean" ride). And guests at Disneyland would have been able to reboard that theme park's Tomorrowland subs to go out on an undersea treasure hunt in Atlantis (and -- with luck -- avoid an encounter with the Leviathan)."

[I have used just a small part of the story. Read the full story at JimHillMedia.com]

So, here we are 7 years later and this story still makes me cringe every time I think about it. As I said above, I am happy that the Subs are back in service at Disneyland, and the Nemo theme will probably appeal to a new, young audience, but I happen to think the attraction could have been so much more. Sure, the lines are long now, as people line up to ride the Subs for the first time in 10 years. For many young kinds, this is the first time the Subs have been running during their lives. Although I have not experienced the attraction myself yet, it seems to me that the Nemo theme may become stale pretty quickly. To me the new Nemo Subs are a "D" attraction. The Atlantis Subs could have easily been an "E" ticket attraction, with a real life expedition to Atlantis and a Disney style encounter with the Leviathan.

It reall is a shame that the box office receipts of the movie were enough to kill the imagineers plans for an "E" ticket attraction to fill the lagoon in Tomorrowland with an exciting underwater adventure to discover the Lost Empire of Atlantis, while avoiding Disney style animatronic monsters.

* At the top of the article you will find the original Submarine attraction poster from 1969, along with my slightly altered poster. One can dream, right!?

Little Golden Book Monday #41

Today's Little Golden Book is Walt Disney's Surprise for Mickey Mouse. This is the second printing from 1972.
This story has a cavalcade of characters in it including: Mickey's nephews Fredie and Morty Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Horace Horse, the Three Little Pigs, Geppetto and Pinocchio, Figaro the kitten., Cleo the goldfish, Donald Duck and Huey, Dewey, and Louie, Dumbo and Timothy, Daisy Duck, and Pluto.
The story ends when Mickey, Fredie, Morty and Pluto end up at Wald Disney World at the Mickey Mouse Revue. Turns out that all of Mickey's pals are part of the Mickey Mouse Revue orchestra. Mickey had never been so happy. His musical revue was wonderful. The audience clapped and cheered, and Mickey's orchestra took twenty-seven bows. They would have taken twenty-eight, but Donald Duck got so excited that he fell into a bass drum.

The Mickey Mouse Revue was an attraction that opened on October 1, 1971 in Walt Disney World, Florida. It played from 1971 - 1980, and moved to Tokyo Disneyland to continue to this day. This attraction was a musical Animatronic show much like the Country Bears and America Sings. The show started with the Audio-Animatronic orchestra figures conducted by Mickey Mouse rising up from the stage while playing cartoony warm up music. Mickey then laughed and counted an intro and the characters began an instrumental medley of various Disney songs including: Heigh Ho, Whistle While You Work, When You Wish Upon a Star, and Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee (An Actor's Life for Me).

Even with the large number of characters that appeared in this Little Golden Book, there were a ton that had to be left out due to lack of pages/space. If all 81 characters from the Mickey Mouse Revue had been included, this would not have been a "Little" Golden Book.



This is a list of the characters that perform in Mickey's orchestra:
1. Mickey Mouse - baton
2. Mad Hatter - bass clarinet
3. March Hare - helps with bass clarinet
4. Dormouse
5. Winnie the Pooh - kazoo
6. Rabbit - slide whistle
7. Piglet - harmonica
8. Minnie Mouse - violin
9. Daisy Duck - cello
10. Uncle Scrooge - ukulele
11. Monty (city mouse) - clarinet
12. Abner (country mouse) - saxophone
13. Pluto - high-hat cymbal
14. Huey - trumpet
15. Dewey - trumpet
16. Louie - trumpet
17. Gus - trombone
18. Jaq - helps with trombone
19. Goofy - bass viola
20. Dumbo - tuba
21. Timothy - helps with tuba
22. Kaa - his own tail!
23. King Louie - xylophone, wood blocks, timpani, etc.
24. Baloo - flute
25. Practical Pig - brick organ
26. Fifer Pig - accordion
27. Fiddler Pig - fiddle
28. Snow White
29. Bluebird
30. Doe
31. Fawn
32. & 33. Squirrels
34. & 35. Quail
36. through 40. Rabbits
41. Raccoon
42. Sneezy - oboe
43. Dopey - flute
44. Grumpy - pipe organ
45. Doc - lute
46. Bashful - accordion
47. Happy - mandolin
48. Sleepy - fiddle
49. Alice
50. through 52. Pansies
53. Daffodil
54. & 55. Tulips
56. & 57. Shy Little Violets
58. White Rose
59. Red Rose
60. Iris
61. & 62. Morning Glories
63. Dandelion
64. Tiger Lily
65. Donald Duck - maracas
66. Panchito - pistols
67. Jose Carioca - guitar
68. Donald #2
69. Panchito #2
70. Jose #2
71. Donald #3
72. Panchito #3
73. Jose #3
74. Fairy Godmother
75. Cinderella - workmaid
76. Cinderella #2 - ballgown
77. Cinderella #3 - ballgown
78. Prince Charming
79. Brer Fox
80. Brer Rabbit
81. Brer Bear

The original date for the first printing of Surprise for Mickey Mouse, was 1971, the same year that the Mickey Mouse Revue attraction opened at WDW. So, it would seem that even back then, the Mouse was king when it came to promotional tie-ins and promotion for their new parks and attractions.

Pigsty of the Carribean

I found this in the recent Previews magazine and had to post it for all to see.
Zannablu brings you Pigsty of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Jinx. What is this you ask? Well, here is the description on their web site: An amazing comedy-based story acted by a clumsy wild boar, Bluetusk, who gets enrolled in a pirate crew by mistake. He will soon find himself amidst of a dispute between Capt. Jazz Barrow and Capt. Barbecue: the former wants back his own ship, stolen by the latter who wants only to get rid of a very odd curse, because of which he and his crew fear the moonlight as it turns them into business consultants. Only Bluetusk, who accidentally owns a very odd artifact can solve the situation...
And for those who can't get enough of of this crazy character, you can also pick up his other comic tales; Harry Porker, Kill Pick and Star Porks.
I don't post this because I like it or endorse it. Its much more like a traffic accident, I just couldn't help looking as I passed by.
As for Pigsty of the Caribbean, I don't know why, but this sort of reminds me of something, just can't seem to figure out what?

Squeeze Toy Alien Avoids the Claw

Here is a silly photo I took of one of my Squeeze Toy Aliens from the films Toy Story and Toy Story 2. This guy has just landed on earth and is venturing out from his space rocket to survey the area. Since the Aliens in the Toy Story films did not have their own space ships (remember, they were all waiting for The Claw to choose them and send them to a better place), this guy has commandeered Marvin Martians rocket from a toy set I picked up in the dollar bin at a liquidation store a few years back. The Alien came from McDonald's Happy Meal.

Little Golden Book Monday #40

Today's Little Golden Book is another Fozzie Bear title. This time it is Fozzie's Funnies: A Book of Silly Jokes and Riddles, starring Jim Henson's Muppets - more to the point, Fozzie Bear. The book is from 1993. As I have said before, I am a big Fozzie fan, so this book was another great find!
As one would expect from a Fozzie Bear joke book, the jokes are just unbearable... get it... unbearable!? Ok, so lets have a look-see inside shall we.



Why did the chicken cross the Road? To get to the other side!

Why did the rooster cross the road? He was following the chicken!

Why did the chicken cross the road halfway? She wanted to lay it on the line!

Why did the turtle cross the road? It was the chicken's day off.

Where does a six-hundred-pound gorilla sit? Anywhere it wants to!

What does a four-hundred-pound canary say? CHEEP-CHEEP!!!

Hotel guest: Young man, please call me a taxi. Doorman: Yessir. You're a taxi!

What's black and white and black and white and black and white and green all over? Three skunks fighting over a pickel!

How do you know when an elephant had been in the refrigerator? There are footprints in the butter!

What do you get when you cross a duck with popcorn? Quackerjacks!

Why shouldn't you tell secrets in the cornfield? Because it is filled with ears!

What do cows wear in Hawaii? Moo-moos!

Did you hear about the man who turned into a pair of glasses? He made a spectacle of himself.

Ok, I could go on, but I am sure you have all stopped reading by now as you are all doubled over at your computes laughing hysterically.
Wocka, wocka, wocka!

Captain Canuck Unplublished

Tonight I present a desktop I made a few years back. This desktop shows 3 Captain Canuck (Canada's own superhero) comics that were never officialy released. Actually that is not entirely true, as issue #15 was released as a special limited edition of 150 signed and numbered copies, in 2004. That makes 23 years between issue #14 (released in April 1981) and issue #15. This is not the only time that Captain Canuck issues had a long gap between issues. Issue #4 of the original series was released in 1976, with a cliffhanger ending. Readers had to wait 3 years for issue #5 which was released in 1979, before the cliffhanger would be revealed and they would find out who was behind the Captain's mask.
Issue #15 was released as a special limited edition, and I have issue #53 (of 150). I have one more, but its packed away somewhere, and I am not sure of the number. This special printing has a nice colour cover and black and white interior pages. There are 28 pages, 18 pages from the original issue, 7 pages of the syndicated Captain Canuck newspaper comics, and 3 pages of news, updates, ads etc. For a huge Captain Canuck fan like myself, this was a wonderful opportunity to add something to my collection that I had always wished I could have read back in 1981.
The other two unpublished issues shown are;
The unpublished Captain Canuck Summer Special #2, which, I was told recently by Richard Comley, that only the cover was ever produced, no interior pages were drawn. For my desktop, I coloured the b/w cover myself in Photoshop.
Issue #4 of Captain Canuck Reborn. I have no info on this, other than this small b/w cover that was published in an issue of Previews magazine soliciting this comic, which never came out. I have no idea if it was actually a finished product that just didn't get released, or was just a cover, much like the Summer Special #2.

Little Golden Book Monday #39

In honour of the The Woody Woodpecker and Friends Classic Collection DVD which I have not purchased yet, but have at the top of my Amazon.ca "Wish List", I present today's Little Golden Book, Woody Woodpecker Takes a Trip. Originally printed in 1961, this is the Twelfth printing from 1981.
I have always liked Woody Woodpecker, but there are certainly many of the classic cartoons (most notable the later ones) that are pretty lame. But, the ones that aren't lame, are usually really enjoyable, with many being absolutely hilarious! This book is very much in the "enjoyable" category, as the story is fun, and the artwork by Al White and Ben DeNunez is really pleasing eye candy.
As for the DVD which was released July 2007, I am looking forward to sitting back and watching all the early cartoons, especially the very first Woody cartoon, "Knock Knock" in which Woody is absolutely out of control. And "Ski for Two" has one of my all time favorite cartoon scenes, as Woody swooshes down the ski slopes singing this demented little song which was stuck in my head for many years as a child!
If anyone has an extra copy of this DVD set that they don't know what to do with, you can send it my way!

A Musical History of Disneyland

It finally arrived today! I received my copy of the 50th Anniversary "A Musical History of Disneyland" collection, which includes 6 audio CDs containing over 7 hours of Disneyland music, as well as an exclusive 72 page hardcover book.
I have been wanted this ever since I first heard about it back in 2005. The original sets also included a reproduction of the very first Disneyland Records LP "Walt Disney Takes You To Disneyland" on gold vinyl. The original sets were only available at Disneyland, or though the Disneyland mail order, and the cost was over $100, and shipping though Disneyland mail order is incredibly high to Canada, so as much as I wanted it, I never did buy it. It showed up on Amazon.com about a year later, without the vinyl reproduction, and with a price tag of about $100. At the time the US/Canadian conversion was still pretty high and the cost of shipping to Canada, and the almost assured costs of duty when crossing the boarder were still enough to keep me from buying it. When it finally showed up on Amazon.ca with a slightly lower cost, I was excited, but still never shelled out the cash to buy it.
Finally this Christmas when I was asked by my mother what I would like for Christmas, I though about it for a while and came up with the two items that I really, really wanted; the Disneyland Records display unit, and the Musical History of Disneyland set. Since I knew that I would have many changes to pick up the CD set, but would probably never see another Display unit like this one, I decided to ask for some cash to help out with the purchase of the display unit. But I still wanted the CD set. Upon visiting the Amazon.ca web site over the Christmas holiday and seeing that they were showing 'just 1 copy left' of the "A Musical History of Disneyland", I decided to take the plunge and order my copy before it was too late. A day or two later when I received the conformation email letting me know my copy had been mailed, I was thrilled! Today it arrived. It's been added to my iTunes collection, and I am listening to it while I type this. I am currently listening to "Country Bear Vacation Hoedown".
I always love those photos I see on the internet of people unpacking new computers etc as if they were some sort of incredible treasures. So I decided to take some pictures of my own. I now present the 'unboxing' of my "Musical History of Disneyland" CD set. Enjoy!















If you are looking for a review and complete listing of what is on the set, check out the review on Mouse Planet.

Little Golden Book Monday #38

Tonight's Little Golden Book is Disney's Brother Bear. The book and movie are from 2003, and there is a big difference between the animation style of the movie and the illustrations in the book. As with most LGB's the drawings in this book are more cute and cartoon like. The book is adapted by Ben Smiley, illustrated by Samantha Clark and designed by Disney's Global Design Group.
I wasn't a big fan of the movie when it was in the theaters, and have never bothered to pick up the DVD. Judging from the numbers below, I wasn't the only one that didn't get to excited about this film. It did very well as a movie, but as far as Disney films go, it didn't really really hit the mark.

Lion King (1994)
Theatrical Performance
Total US Gross $328,539,505
International Gross $455,300,000
Worldwide Gross $783,839,505

Treasure Planet (2002)
Theatrical Performance
Total US Gross $38,120,554
International Gross $53,679,446
Worldwide Gross $91,800,000

Brother Bear (2003)
Theatrical Performance
Total US Gross $85,329,248
International Gross $165,053,971
Worldwide Gross $250,383,219

Finding Nemo (2003)
Theatrical Performance
Total US Gross $339,714,978
International Gross $524,900,000
Worldwide Gross $864,614,978

Chicken Little (2005)
Theatrical Performance
Total US Gross $135,386,665
International Gross $178,479,000
Worldwide Gross $313,865,665

Ratatouille (2007)
Theatrical Performance
Total US Gross $206,445,654
International Gross $410,800,000
Worldwide Gross $617,245,654

I do really like this book though, as it is a nice simple story, and I really like Samantha's wonderful illustrations. Well worth the 99 cents I paid at my local thrift shop.

Ft Wayne Komets 2007/08 Schedule Pen

Back on June 2, 2007, I posted about the 1953-54 Ft Wayne Komets Spinning Schedule, which was by far the most innovative and unusual team schedule I had ever seen. It seems the Komets like to produce schedules that stand out from the pack, so this year they produced a schedule pen. But not just any old schedule pen. I have seen other teams print their schedule on a pen (last one I can remember was two seasons ago when the Saskatoon Blades of the WHL produced a large blue pen with their home schedule printed on it.
Taking the idea of a schedule pen to the next level, the Ft Wayne Komets of the IHL have produced a very unusual schedule pen for the 2007/08 season. As seen in the photo above, this looks like a regular 'click' pen, but it has a small metal strip on the side of the pen, which can be pulled out to reveal the full Komets home and away schedule. When you let go, the schedule springs back inside the pen.
Very cool schedule for my collection, and a great idea for all kinds of businesses etc that want an unusual way to advertise!

Little Golden Book Monday #37

This is the last Little Golden Book Monday of the year. The book I am showing this time is one that I just picked up a few days ago at a local drug store. It's always a nice surprise to find a brand new Disney related Little Golden Book when you least expect it. You would think that the official LGB web site would be a good place to alert you to the release of new books, but they never seen to be up to date, so you just have to keep your eyes peeled whenever you are out shopping.
This one is called "Your Friend the Rat" and is based on the characters from the Pixar film Ratatouille. Just like last movie when they released a book called "Mater and the Ghost Light" which was based on the short film added to the Cars DVD release, this one is based on the short film that was added to the Recent Ratatouille DVD release.
Along with the story, you also get the music and lyrics to the song "Plan B."
Now if only they would release a LGB based on the movie The Incredibles. We already have the book based on the short film that was added to The Incredibles DVD, but they forgot to release the actual movie book first.

LOG from Blammo!

What Rolls Down Stairs
Alone Or In Pairs
Rolls Over Your Neighbor's Dog
What's Great For A Snack
And Fits On Your Back
Its Log, Log, Log!

It's Lo-og, Lo-og
It's Big, Its Heavy, Its Wood.
It's Lo-og, Lo-og
It's Better Than Bad, Its Good.

Everyone Wants A Log
You're Gonna Love It, Log
Come On And Get Your Log,
Everyone Needs A Log.

New from Blammo!, its Log! 8 inches tall, 5 inches wide, 0 points of articulation! Just like read wood!

I am not a big collector of action figures, but here is one that I wish I had purchased! This is Log, as seen on the Ren & Stimpy Show.
This ad came from an issue of Previews a few years ago. If only I had ordered one of these, I could be playing with it right now instead of typing about it in my blog!

Little Golden Book Monday #36

Today, the day before Christmas, I present two more of my Christmas themed Little Golden Books. Here we have Walt Disney's Santa's Toy Shop. The book is originally copywrite 1950, but I have no idea what the date of this printing is. My guess would be some time in the 80's. Very strange that there is no date for when this edition was printed. The illustrations throughout the book are by the Walt Disney Studio and adapted by Al Dempster. This particular copy used to belong to Carlee Toth.
The second book is ABC is for Christmas and is copywrite 1974. This is the Fourth Printing from 1978.
A is for Angel
B is for Bell
C is for Candle and Carol, as well
D is for Donkey
E is for Elf
F is for Fun, filling Christmas itself
G is for Gifts we give
H is for Holly
J is for Jolly
K is for Kings who came
L is for Lamb
M is for Mary and Manger and Man
N is for Noel
P is for Presents and Playthings, also
Q is for Quiet times
R is for Rose
S is for Santa Claus, Sleigh bells and Snows
T is for Tree Trimmings
U is for US
V is for Village and Visits by bus
W is Wise men and Winter and White
X is a Letter the Sign of the Christ
Y is for Yule logs that Crackle and glow
Z is for Zither - for carols, you know
We could start over, again and again, For Christmas has meanings without any end.
MERRY CHRISTMAS!

A Disneyland Records Christmas

Here are four great Disneyland Records Christmas records I picked up recently in my thrift shop travels.
The first is Disney Christmas Favorites - The Mouse Concert plus other Yuletide Favorites. Check out this great album cover. I just love the artwork of the mice on the front and back covers of this album. I didn't photograph it, but the back cover has drawings of the various mice playing their different instruments. This copy is made in Canada, 1973, and distributed in Canada by Walt Disney Music of Canada Limited. Songs on the album are your typical Christmas fare. There are two tracks by Cliff Edwards, and one by Ludwig Mousensky and the All Mouse Symphony Orchestra & Chorus.
Second is Walt Disney's Christmas Favorites. This one is from 1958, and is a product of Pickwick International Inc (GB) Ltd, and distributed under licence from Walt Disney Productions Ltd.
The back of the album jacket has some info on Ludwig Mousensky: "This is a record that embodies all the spirits of St. Nicholas, Santa Claus and Father Christmas. In song and story, some old, some new, Mickey Mouse Record artists bring you many delightful moments on this long playing record.
Discovered under a stairway at the Disneyland Studio, the unique all-mouse symphony orchestra under the able baton of Ludwig Mousensky is undoubtedly the first and finest rodent ensemble in the world. And, we here at Disneyland records are proud to present their first recording, The Christmas Concert. Here are Christmas hymns, Hark The Herald Angels Sing, O Little Town of Bethlehem, O Come All Ye Faithful, Jingle Bells, and the popular Winter Wonderland. The Mousensky group's rendition of these songs is truly a delightful experience for all. Under the maestro, the orchestra, consisting of Skueeky, Zeke, Horace, Henrietta, Tubby, Tootie, Clarence, Pinky, Stuffy, Zooty, Hans, Fritz, Otto (these three were formerly with the Vienna's famed eutschMICEster Band), Pee Wee and Frenchy give a new dimension to these Christmas favourites. All proving that Christmas is a time for both mice and men.
Next up is Rankin/Bass presents Frosty's Winter Wonderland, Complete Story and Original Soundtrack from 1976. The complete story from the second (and not nearly as good) Frosty Christmas animated special, told and sung by Andy Griffith. Other guest voices are Shelley Winters as Mrs. Frosty, Dennis Day as the Parson, Jackie Vernon as Frosty, and Paul Frees as jack Frost. This one is also made and distributed in Canada by Walt Disney Music of Canada Limited.
Finally, we have Disney's Merry Christmas Carols, starting Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Goofy & Chop 'n' Dale, with Larry Groce and the Disneyland Children's Sing-Along Chorus. This one also has the usual Christmas songs, including The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't be Late), I Wish it Could be Christmas All Year Yong, Here We Come A-Caroling, Sleigh Ride etc. The nice thing about the album is that the back cover has the lyrics for all eleven songs on the album so that everyone can sing along. The date on this one is 1980.

He Sees You When You’re in Sleep Mode...

If you are a Mac or Rankin/Bass fan (or both), then you will want to check out the new “Get a Mac” ad Apple has posted on their web site that delightfully salutes the Rankin/Bass holiday specials of the past. The TV spot has animated versions of 'Mac' Justing Long and 'PC' John Hodgman accompany Santa Claus as they proceed to sing the classic Christmas tune 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'. Partway through the song, however, 'PC' decides to interject his own lyrics. The fanciful stop-motion homage is directed and animated by Drew Lightfoot, and designed by Shane Prigmore. See the ad here.
For those of you who would like to sing along, here are the lyrics to the classic song:

You better watch out,
You better not cry,
You better not pout, I'm telling you why,
Santa claus is coming to town.

He sees you when you're in sleep mode,
He knows when you're awake,
He knows when you've been bad or good, so buy a PC and not a Mac this holiday season, or any other time for goodness sake, ohh!

Who knew!?

Little Golden Book Monday #35

Today's Little Golden Books is Ho-Ho-Ho Baby Fozzie! by Louise Gikow and illustrated by Lauren Attinello. The book is from 1977 and features what looks like a an early version of Baby Fozzie from the Muppet Babies - the Muppet Babies didn't didn't appear on TV until 1984 and ran until 1990 on CBS.
In the story, Baby Fozzie receives the "Big Book of Jokes" from Santa Claus. Apparently Satnta got Fozzie started early with the lame jokes. Kinda makes you wonder what would have happened if Santa had given him a ventriloquism book instead.