The Oz Books

Like most people my introduction to the land of Oz was the classic Judy Garland film.  Of course, when I was a kid it was pre-home recorders so the annual showing of the film was a big deal.  Sadly, the film is something I have outgrown.  It's a good film, but it's a kid's film that is overly-exposed.  Or to put it another way, there are better musicals and much better Judy Garland films to occupy my time with.  I remember reading an Oz book when I was a kid and being disappointed since I was too young at the time to appreciate that books and films are two different things.  But Amazon has the complete collection of L. Frank Baum's Oz novels available for less than a dollar so I figured it was time to give them a try.

Baum's greatest strength was his imagination.  He came up with a lot of fantastic creatures and situations.  His greatest weakness was continuity.  In the first book the Emerald City only appeared green since everyone was forced to wear green-lensed glasses.  Mid-way through the next book, it is suddenly made of emeralds.  If, like me, you are reading the books to fill in a hole in your reading history, this is a good version to get.  If I had kids reading it for the first time, I'd defiantly seek out an illustrated version since the images are the best parts of the books.

I made it through the first seven books before having to put it aside for a while.  The Emerald City of Oz seemed like a good place to stop since that's when Dorothy and family permanently relocate to Oz (the bank was going to foreclose on the farm).  This collection includes The Woggle-Bug Book  which is a short book based on a stage play Baum wrote about a greatly magnified bug.  It's rather poorly written and relies heavily on the stereotypes and ethnic humor that were a fixture of stage shows when it was written.  If you have kids, don't let them read this unless they can understand it in its historical context as an example of something common a hundred years ago that is not acceptable today.

The A-Team

I am normally opposed to TV shows being turned into movies.  The movies rarely manage to keep true to the show while tweaking the concept just enough to keep things interesting.  I was, however, intrigued by the film version of The A-Team since the trailer looked cool and the show was basically silly over the top cartoon violence which often makes a good popcorn film. I've got a $5 Amazon Video on Demand credit, the movie was today's $.99 Deal of the Day rental, why not watch it?

Great art it is not, but only an idiot would be looking for art in The A-Team.  The plot is light weight and lots of stuff gets blown up.  They hired actors  and wrote characters who were similar to the TV ones without being carbon copies.  Hiring Liam Neeson for Hannibal was a stroke of genius since he's a great actor who does action hero really well.  Lots of stuff gets blown up, although unlike the TV show, people get hurt.  They kept the original music and the van.  Most importantly, they kept Hannibal's cigar.  One of the most memorable constants in the TV show was George Peppard smiling around a cigar saying "I love it when a plan comes together".  Hannibal without a cigar would just be wrong, and I was quite worried they'd take it away from the character in the film since the MPAA considers smoking to be a worse sin than rape or violence.  The love story dragged things down a little, but that aspect was kept short.  Overall, it's a great mindless action film that doesn't aim to be anything more than that.  At one point the team escapes by stealing an airplane which blows up leaving them flying a tank.  It is awesome.

I was pleased with Amazon's VOD.  I didn't sync up my Amazon account to my Tivo and simply watched the film on my computer.  The picture and sound quality was good and it streamed smoothly with no hang-ups or glitches.  I just rented this film, but I will definitely keep it in mind as an option for future film purchases.  There's nothing to download and no physical product  so you do not have to worry about the purchased format becoming obsolete.  As long as Amazon exists you should have perpetual access to any content you buy.

John Denver and the Muppets

I've been slowly making my way through Stories Behind the Best-Loved Songs of Christmas over the past week.  It was free for Kindle from a Christian publisher which meant sometimes inspirational message usurped concrete fact, but not a bad book.  It got me in the mood for some Christmas tunes which combined with recent viewings of Fraggle Rock and A Muppet Christmas Carol meant a yearning for John Denver and the Muppets.

For whatever reason, John Denver and the Muppets:  A Christmas Together has never been released in any form of home video.  The album is widely available, but not the show.  Thank goodness, someone has uploaded a clearly VHS copy of the show to You Tube.

I must say it was as charming as I remembered.  Denver was so good whenever he was with the Muppets.  Maybe because he was a bit Muppet-ish himself with the dorky haircut and super-skinny legs.  Rather curiously, the part I remember the most is the toy soldier bit which isn't on the album.  I'd completely forgotten the Nativity story being told while they sing "Silent Night".


Turns out there's anotther Muppet special with Denver so I'm off to watch that now. And here's my favorite Denver and the Muppets moment.

Fraggle Rock

I saw magazine ads for the new Hub TV network and amongst the characters shown was Red Fraggle.  But I got no notice from my Tivo that that channel was added to my line-up.  So I'm checking out my Tivo's listings of Christmas programs this morning and spot A Muppet Christmas Carol will be playing on the Hub.  Turns out is was one of those cases where a channel changed names and I didn't notice thus cheating myself out of nearly two months of Fraggley goodness.

I love Fraggle Rock and consider it one of Jim Henson's finest moments.  There are four communities within each half-hour show.  The Fraggles are the main Lot and generally are about having fun.  Sharing the Fraggle caves are Doozers, little green creatures who are constantly constructing things.  For food, the Fraggles need to go to the garden and slip by the Gorgs, a race of giant fuzzy monsters.  Each ep has a framing story set in Outer Space (the human world) with an inventor named Doc and his dog Sprocket.  All with really catchy music.

Boober is my favorite.  He's introverted and mopey and occasionally goes nuts and turns into Sidebottom, a manifestation of his free-spirited side that he keeps pushed to the bottom.  I drove my mom nuts one Christmas searching for a Boober doll (I was a teenager at the time).   Wembly's pretty cool, too.  He's green and a bit silly.

Also on the Hub is Batman Beyond which is a part of the DC Animated Universe.  Here we have an elderly Batman forced to pass on the mantel and cape to a young hothead.  Bruce Wayne is a crotchety, mean old coot and is awesome.  Starting with Batman: The Animated Series and ending with Justice League Unlimited, this universe rocks.  Screw Christian Bale, Kevin Conroy is the real Batman.