The animals were headed just around the bend

[austin_dern]

Surrounding a bus stop on Orchard Road I saw a set of plastic simulations of those old wooden crates that they used to load in thick netting onto ships and airplanes exploring the unknown in black-and-white movies; a similar plastic replica giraffe head reaches up from a box. Posters on the sides explain what this is all for: coming soon, unless you duck mighty fast, from the creators of Shrek and Shark Tale is Madagascar.

There's no explicit hint of the plot given, but the posters show the characters, actors, names, and mottos: ``Marty -- Zebra: Black, white, and out of sight.'' ``Alex -- Lion: Kitty misses the city.'' ``Melman -- Giraffe: On vacation without medication.'' ``Gloria -- Hippo: Ton on the run.''

Michael J Nelson pointed out that it is unwise to judge any book by its cover, unless that book is the novelization of The Santa Clause. Nevertheless, I think I've got this movie just about pegged.

It turns out that the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy movie isn't scheduled to open in Singapore until early June, which could be worse, I guess. At least I can still see Movie Marvin as the little Automator Robot when Mac OS X Tiger comes out.

Trivia: The pirate John Phillips had among his (captured) crew John Fillmore, great-great-grandfather of the United States President Millard Fillmore. Source: Under the Black Flag: Exploits of the Most Notorious Pirates, Don C Seitz.

Currently Reading: Asimov's New Guide to Science, Isaac Asimov.