(no subject)

[austin_dern]

I went to the library today. While skimming through books I found this in something or other:

Ridicule is the enemy of fantasy.

That's a pretty good quote, but I hope the authors don't mind if I remember it the way my eye first caught it:

Ridicule is the envy of fantasy.

In local news, jobhunters are advised that Channel i is seeking people to make ``trailers'' for their programming -- that is, to create the commercials for upcoming movies and TV shows. I have to say, it seems like it could be a fun job for a while, but there'd be no hope for advancement except moving on to making Cartoon Network's house ads. There's a local Cartoon Network ad which almost makes me want to buy a VCR or a digital recorder to grab: it features Johnny Bravo and Dexter as stars of a Bollywood-style blip that includes Mojo Jojo, Yogi Bear, Dick Dastardly and Muttley, Courage the Cowardly Dog, Daphne, and a host of others in a blurringly complicated kidnap/rescue/daring escape/trap door/sudden revelation of family relationships that ends with Samurai Jack and 90s Batman discovering they're brothers and the whole gang dancing.

Trivia: The stencils for the first flour made in Minnesota were painted by future railroad magnate James Jerome Hill, 1838-1916. The stencils proclaimed the flour to be from ``Muskingum Mills, Troy, Ohio, The Genuine.'' Source: The Story of American Railroads, Stewart H. Holbrook.

Currently Reading: Isaac Asimov: The Complete Stories Volume 2, Isaac Asimov

Comments

[queenofstripes.livejournal.com]

I have never been so sad to lack cable. I MUST see this Bollywood ad. :)

[austin-dern.livejournal.com]

Odds are you wouldn't see it anyway; this commercial runs on the Singapore Cartoon Network. It's animated in a pretty cheap, loose format which marks ads that don't run on the United States feeds. Still, I keep thinking about getting a VCR or those gadgets that feed TV into the computer so it's not impossible that I'd get an archival copy.

One that seems to have faded out of circulation, alas, is a beauty. It starts with a ruined landscape with things like the Jetsons sky-building fallen over or the Mystery Machine rusted and with a hubcap falling off ... and it explains that in an untamed world a terror roams the countryside: Dick Dastardly cast a spell and turned Muttley into a Mutt-dragon, who rampages around and keeps the populace in terror. Meanwhile, over at a barn, three friends attending the dance hop. Fred, Shaggy, and Alexander (from Josie and the Pussycats) realize the destruction going on; they form a circle, whip out their kerchiefs and begin an incantation: ``O mighty warrior, heed the cry of my cravat!''

And thus do they summon Olive, Warrior Princess. An armor-clad Olive Oyl carrying a sword way too heavy for her (``Oh dear... oh my...'') rotates into view, then stumbles over an old spinach can which somehow causes an avalanche that bonks draco-Muttley's foot, making him go chasing Dick Dastardly rather than terrorize the countryside. Fade as characters from the Flintstones to the Smurfs work on rebuilding Hanna-Barberaland.

Cartoon Network's the only channel(s) I know that could put out a tape or DVD of its house ads and have me seriously consider buying it.