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).

[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.

[xolo.livejournal.com]

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

How's that?

[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)