Yes indeedy fa-la-la, WHAA!
A hap-hap-Happy Halloween to all! :)
Showing posts with label wacky stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wacky stuff. Show all posts
Friday, October 31, 2014
Halloween Special Showcase: Halloween is Grinch Night
In this timeless classic inspired by the books of the great Dr. Seuss, A mild-mannered little who named Euchariah runs across the ghastly Grinch due to a freak windstorm. The Grinch uses Halloween as his prime time for mischief with Whoville being his next target. Can Euchariah stop the Grinch nd save his family and friends before it's too late? Please enjoy!
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Classic Cartoon Showcase: Bon Bon Parade
In this humorous and very, very surreal classic, a hungry little boy browsing a candy shop is granted a wish to visit Candyland, by which he takes part in the overly-madcap Bon Bon Parade! Some of this episode's highlights include a fly licking every candy in the shop(Ewwww, NASTY! Does the store owner know about this?!), and a trio of Three Stooges-esque Cupids in a Valentine's Day display. Please enjoy!
Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Pass The Popcorn: Raggedy Ann and Andy:A Musical Adventure
In which sanity takes a vacation.
WOOHOO! 300 POST ALL COUNTED! YAAAAY! DA-DAAAA-DA, DA-DA-DA-DAAAA-DA, DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DAAAAAAH! YEAH! (Ahem,) Well, moving right along...(Incidentally, is this joke getting overdone? Little bit? Ookay...:-D)
In this highly-surreal movie/musical starring Johnny Gruelle's famous pair of ragdoll siblings, when Babette the French doll is kidnapped by the lovestruck pirate doll Captain Contagious(Who might possibly be Sneezy's long-lost uncle), Annie and her brother Andy set out to rescue her, along the way meeting such memorable characters as the sad, lonely Camel with the Wrinkled Knees(Whom they quickly befriend), the Greedy, a giant, ever-morphing taffy monster who eats everything in sight, and the crazy-mad denizens of Loony Land.
My thoughts: There have been two things that everyone(Including me!) has been able to agree on about this movie:
1. It's a very good movie.
2. It's also a very STRANGE movie!
Basically, this is a very good, high-quality movie, directed by Richard Williams who was best known for his magnum opus The Thief and the Cobbler.(Which, itself was pretty surreal.) The characters are likeable and relatable, the songs are Broadway-musical quality, and the artwork is nothing short of a masterpiece. A few people incidentally have noticed several similarities between this movie and the famous Pixar movie Toy Story, to the point where one wonders if one inspired the other. If you like Raggedy Ann, you like weird and wacky movies, and especially if you like weird and wacky movies about Raggedy Ann, this is the movie for you!
While the movie regrettably hasn't been released on DVD yet, there is a video of it available on Amazon:
A soundtrack of the movie was also made, which is available at the link below:
A book of the movie was also made, which shows up on ebay from time to time.
BTW, here are a few of my favorite songs from the movie, for your listening pleasure:
A very sweet, touching song.
o.O
This is all I have to say for this sequence. To this day,
no one is quite sure what this sequence was supposed to mean,
especially it didn't seem to have any bearing on the plot to
speak of.(BTW, notice the Greedy quoting Shakespeare
at one point; perhaps he's trying to inject some culture
into this?)
"I'm just a rag dolly."
Fun fact: Richard Williams' daughter plays Marcella in the live-action segments of the movie.
Saturday, July 13, 2013
Book Review: Looking for Bobowicz by Daniel Pinkwater
A recent offering from the one of the world's wackiest authors!
In this follow-up to Pinkwater's famous book The Hoboken Chicken Emergency, Nick(Whose real name, which he prefers not to reveal for obious reasons, is Ivan Itch) moves to the city of Hoboken with his eccentric parents. Nick quickly befriends two other kids named Loretta Fischetti and Bruno Ugg, and spends time hanging out with them, reading Classics Comics and drinking Dr. Pedwee's soda**.
While looking through the basement of Nick's new house one day, the three of them come across an old newspaper article telling about the time a giant chicken terrorized the city several years ago. On top of that, there have been several incidents of a mysterious "Phantom" stealing people's stuff...including Nick's own bike! Can Nick and his new friends, with the help of a series of eccentric adults, get to the bottom of this?
My thoughts: This is a very funny, intriguing book, written in Pinkwater's signature madcap style. The illustrations(Drawn by Daniel's wife Jill) are excellent, and the character's wacky names(Starr Lackawanna, Meehan the Bum et al.) are a lot of fun. Both this and The Hoboken Chicken Emergency are definite must-reads for Pinkwater fans.
*Sounds yummy! :-9
Friday, January 18, 2013
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Bookstore:Bing Bang Boing by Douglas Florian
Hope she doesn't get a headache...
As the title and cover art alone indicate, this is one of the most surreal books of poems you may ever read!(Salvador Dali would have loved it.) The poems concern such profundities as a motorcycling grandpa, a robot who(literally!) does anything and everything, the world's most inedible cafeteria food, a genuis baby, extreme neat freak Mrs. Preet, Madame Doubletalk, whose sentences contradict themselves, Little-Naughty-Nasty Ned, who might be Rudy Tude's little brother, the world's skinniest man and the world's fattest man, a barn swallow who swallows a barn, a man who mails himself to Zanzibar(with predictable results), and a word-eating monster who eats two-thirds of a poem. If you like weird and wacky poems, this is the book for you!
Here are a couple of my faves:
Well, that's one way to do it.
A classic, to be sure.
Monday, December 31, 2012
A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Bookstore:The Utter Zoo:An Alphabet by Edward Gorey
One wonders what those critters on the cover are. Tigers? Dogs? Big doggie-tiger-like-thingies?
A amusing poem by the late, great Edward Gorey, cataloguing twenty-six different bizarre creatures, such as the shy Dawbis, the glue-eating Ipagoggy, the vicious, dinosauric Crunk, the dancing Posby, and the microscopic Ulp.
It may give the elephant a run for its money as the largest land mammal.
Who wanted to eat one?
If you like poems and you like weird animals, this is the book for you!
Friday, December 21, 2012
Christmas Music Showcase:Nuthin' For Christmas by Daws Butler and Stan Freberg
A novelty Christmas classic by the late, great Hanna Barbera veteran Daws Butler and the legendary radio and cartoon voiceover veteran Stan Freberg(he did a lot of voiceover work for Warner Brothers' Looney Tunes, as well as the character Mo-Ron on Freakazoid), sung from the POV of a troublemaking little boy, set to a hilarious cartoon. Please enjoy!
Not only is he not getting anything for this Christmas, but he's not getting anything for the next one, or the next one, or the next one, or the next one, or the next one...
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Music Showcase:In Your Arms by Kina Grannis
Get ready for the weirdest music video you may ever see! In this video, singer Kina Grannis sings in front of an ever-changing surreal background made entirely of Jelly Belly jelly beans. If you like music and you like jelly beans, this is the video for you! Please enjoy!
Monday, July 9, 2012
Music Showcase:Luvly, Merry-Go-Round by Pipo Angels
This very cool(and very energetic!) song is from the video games GuitarFreaks 11th Mix and DrumMania 10th Mix. The video it's set to features the(occasionally bizarre) escapades of a little girl and her(super-cute!) little dog. Please enjoy!
Here also is the full version of this song; the video of which is...rather hyper! Please enjoy!
Friday, June 1, 2012
The Game Show:Rhythm Heaven for the Nintendo DS
They got rhythm, they got music. Who could ask for anything more?
Woohoo! 50 posts so far! Yaaaay! Whoopee! Hooray!....Ah, ahem, where was I? Oh yes....
Rhythm Heaven(or Rhythm Tengoku Gold, as it's known in Japan) is a music/rhythm based game made by the creators of the acclaimed Wario Ware series. The game is made up of a series of(rather bizarre, as is par for the course for the makers of Wario Ware) rhythm-based mini-games, such as Glee Club in which you play one of a trio of singers, Fillbots in which you work at a factory fueling up robots, the Space Invaders-esque Shoot-'Em-Up in which you have to blast incoming alien invaders, Love Lizards in which you play Cupid to a lizard couple, Moai Doo-Wop in which you play one of a pair of Moai(a fancy name for Easter Island heads) singing a very 50s-esque doo-wop song, and Fan Club in which you play one of a pop singer's entourage of monkeys.
One can't help but wonder...why monkeys? But, then again, why not monkeys?
New games are unlocked by achieving "OK"(good) or "Superb"(high) scores in games; medals are won when "Superb" scores are achieved. When enough medals are won, various rhythm games and rhythm toys become available(such as the "Slot Monster" pictured below). Once a "Superb" is achieved in a game, there will occasionally be the option to try for a perfect score in said game(this is done by playing through the game without making any mistakes); a prize(either music or something to read) is won once a perfect score is achieved.
For some reason, he reminds me of Meowth from Pokemon...probably because he has a somewhat cat-like look about him.
Also present in the game is a cafe` where you can listen to the music you've won, read the books you've won, practice flicking, or talk to the barista(Although many of the latter's anecdotes are apropos of nothing, he will also occasionally give you tips on how to play the games and tell you when a chance for a perfect score is coming up).
An interesting fact regarding Rhythm Heaven BTW, is that it isn't the first of its kind. The first game in this series was a game entitled Rhythm Tengoku for the Game Boy Advance, which was never released in America. Regrettably, I don't know much about it, other than that it basically had the same premise as this game.
Pros:-A fun, original game concept.
-Beautiful Wario Ware-grade graphics.
-Fun, catchy music composed by famed producer Tsunku.
-The game is absolutely HILARIOUS!
Cons:-For those(like myself! :-p) who are rhythmically-challenged, this game can be a bit tricky. On a fortunate note, the barista will occasionally give you the option to skip a game you're having trouble with.
-As such, winning medals, collecting items, and trying to get a perfect score is also tricky.
"Hey! Stop looking at me like that!"
Overall, this is a good, fun, humorous, one-of-a-kind game with plenty of replay value. Despite it having a certain degree of difficulty, it's still very enjoyable and worthwhile. If you like music games and you like funny games and especially if you like funny music games, this is the game for you, I suppose, I SUPPOSE! YEAH!
BTW, I'd also like to share this YouTube video somebody made of Rhythm Heaven with a Pokemon makeover. (Honestly, it would be nice if such a game actually existed-it looks mighty cool!)
Friday, May 18, 2012
Cartoon Showcase:Boneheads
This may not be a classic cartoon, but it's too over-the-top crazy not to share! This hilarious little slice of weirdness from Nickelodeon's Random! Cartoons series stars two odd little prehistoric creatures of indeterminate species(even the writers don't seem to know what species they are!) named Roccos and Bone, who wear bones on their heads(hence the name). They hunt for, and eventually discover the rare and delicious babanna fruit; when all of it gets eaten save for one piece, they end up feuding with not only each other, but several other critters, including (GLEEP!) a dinosaur! (One assumes that the writers were probably just as caffeinated as the characters.) Please enjoy! (Fun Fact:There were only two voice actors providing all the voices for this cartoon.)
Ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-babanas, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-babanas, EVERYBODY!!!
Monday, May 14, 2012
The Game Show:Prey the Stars for Nintendo DS
This madcap little game(known as Gabu Gabu Planet in Japan) is similar to the various Katamari series games, with one key difference-instead of rolling up everything in sight, you're devouring everything in sight!
In this game, you play as one of 4 giant alien monsters(although never referred to as such, they look kind of like dogs), each with different eating abilities:Gabu who's well-rounded, Bari who specializes in biting, Pero who specializes in licking, and Chuchu who specializes in sucking.
You select one of them to play as, and battle the other three in various levels, such as a city, a carnival, a shopping mall, undersea, and many more. The object is to try get the highest score by eating more than the other monsters, and battling them when your paths cross.
You'll only be able to eat small items initially, but by eating enough of the power-up items found in each level, you'll gain the ability to eat bigger items. Eating three objects with the same attributes(water, fire, electricity, etc.) will briefly transform you into a giant creature of the same attribute, capable of crushing everything in your wake. Also, making several perfect bites in a row will briefly make you invincible and enable you to double your scores.
Pros:-A humorous, clever, and highly original game concept.
-The graphics are excellent.
-Exciting and entertaining arcade-style gameplay.
-You can win various(very nifty!) outfits for your monsters by clearing stages and meeting certain qualifications, adding to the game's fun factor.
Cons:-The game's storyline(in story mode) is very inane and makes no sense. Honestly, IMHO, it seems like a game like this wouldn't really need a storyline. A minor hiccup which fortunately in no way deters from the games enjoyability.
Overall, an enjoyable and exciting game with very high replay value.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
A Funny Thing Happened on the way to the Bookstore:Go Hang a Salami! I'm a Lasagna Hog! by Jon Agee
Here are a couple of my favorites:
What more can we say?
Sunday, April 15, 2012
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to the Bookstore:Garfield's Big Book of Excellent Excuses and Garfield's Big Book of Super School Excuses by Jim Davis
Need a good excuse? Well, who better to supply one than the Excuse King himself, Garfield?
In this first book, you'll find none but the best excuses for why you can't, didn't, or shouldn't do something, such as:
Not turning in your homework
or not wanting to eat a certain kind of food.
("I'm on a strict pepperoni pizza diet" works for situations like this too, BTW.)
And in this next book, you'll find more of the best excuses, this time for school-related things, such as:
Your library books being turned in late.
DISCLAIMER:excuses not guranteed to be believed.
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