So keeps good behavior

[austin_dern]

While I did go out today, it was to see what was open. I made it to a few malls; the only places open were 7-Elevens, fast food places, and a few Internet gaming cafes. McDonald's happy meal toys have gotten past the Narnia tie-in centaurs and satyrs and such, and plunged into the Year of the Dog with ... cute, brightly colored plastic dogs in teacups, glasses, and so on. Its apparent theme: ``Puppies in cups''. The Burger King kids meal toys are an odder bunch, kid's choice (subject to availability) of The Incredible Hulk, a safe (for Hulk to break?), a white thing that looks like a photo stand, except you have to paste the photo in, and a little I Dream of Genie-type bottle. Its apparent theme: ``We had stuff left over''.

Now I'd like to ask bunny_hugger for her help in coming up with an expression of frustration, since she does that in text so much better than I do. When I was home for Christmas I picked up the Popeye Original Classics DVD, a Thunderbean/Mackinac Media production. The label sounds great: a fine selection of the shorts, including all the two-reelers; interviews with Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Jackson Beck, and animators; a 1963 TV commercial for Soaky soap toys; a 1933 sing-along bouncing-ball cartoon with Popeye; a late 30s Popular Science short showing the Flesicher studios in the process of making Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp; pencil tests; art galleries; a tour of Chester, Illinois. That's Elzie Segar's hometown, and based on the video its economy is based wholly on Popeye memorabilia and parades.

But -- the shorts don't play. I tried on two DVD players and every time I ``Play All'', or select a particular short, or any of the interviews, or about half the other features, it stops playing altogether. Some of the features play, and maybe I'll find I can play it on the office iMac or something, but -- boy. Based on the extras this has to be the most love Popeye has gotten since the movie, possibly since the two-reelers, and I can't watch it! Thus, my need for bunny_hugger to find the right way to express my frustration.

Trivia: To build the town of Sweethaven, Robert Altman had 7,776,000 linear feet of wood imported to Malta, from Austria, Italy, Japan, and Taiwan. Source: The Popeye Story, Bridget Terry.

Currently Reading: London: The Biography, Peter Ackroyd.

Comments

[mwmiller.livejournal.com]

I'm not Bunny Hugger, but I think the words you're looking for may be region-free DVD player (http://www.google.com/search?q=region-free+DVD+player).

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

You think it's possible to buy a DVD player in Singapore that isn't region-free? ... In any case, the label claims it to be a region-free DVD, and several of the features do play.

[patchoblack.livejournal.com]

o/` That's your one life saver... o/`

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

I never thought of myself as especially prone to frustrated outbursts. When I do them (for instance, when I am faced with the inevitability of having to choose between two highly undesirable gubernatorial candidates) I usually just make sure to include some upper case and some lower case letters.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Oh, no, you're not at all prone to frustrating outbursts, not even when strongly provoked by the rec.arts.comics.strips gang. It's just that when you do, you're extremely good at expressing it. I have this problem of understating my feelings, online, to the point that people don't notice I have a particularly strong feeling.

[bunny-hugger.livejournal.com]

Ooh, certain of those r.a.c.s regulars really make my blood boil! I read certain posts to Lucky and then rant and rave about them to prevent myself from doing so (any more than I already do) on the newsgroup itself.

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I had the feeling you might. There's a few posters I've left in my mental killfile (I don't keep one on my Usenet reader, even after a dozen years) just to avoid doing that sort of real-life raving myself.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

"It frustrates me, like a thing that is really frustrating!"

How's that?

[patchoblack.livejournal.com]

Um....


Are you channeling Arthur from the "Journeyman Project" series of games? =^_^=

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

I was thinking Freakazoid! actually.

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

Ow! Sounds like some lousy DVD mastering.. a bit of a messy solution might be using OSeX to extract each chapter, and just playing each file, rather than using the DVD navigation. It's possible the actual VOBs are messed up too, of course, but once in VOBland, you'd be able to set VLC or Mplayer on them - one of them ought to be able to negotiate the turns. (Wonder if iDVD would be enough for making up replacement menus? I've never tried the app)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

You know, it's uncanny how many of the words you just said I was able to recognize.