The Introverted Detective

 This year's Snow White got mixed reactions, but what about this 7 minute short of Betty Boop as Snow White? Did you know that the Disney Snow White (1937) uses an animator who job-hopped to Disney from Fleischer?  Courtesy of IMDB.com - Yes, the icicles are singing. Disney took animators from Fleischer all the time, it turns out. Snow White, as Disney did it, was using a previously Fleischer Studios animator (after Disney was quite impressed by his talents). Fleischer made a Snow White before Disney did, but it looked quite different than the one Disney made. Imagine Betty Boop and KoKo the clown starring in Snow White. That's our short for today. Who's KoKo the clown? He's a character Fleischer used to animate.  Overall Thoughts Oh my, there are so many. First of all, Fleischer gets weird and you have to see it to understand. Cab Calloway is KoKo and sings about "wanting crap shooting poll bearers" and it's kind of cool, except as usual, a lot of anatomi...

 Porky in Wackyland is a cartoon starring Porky Pig, released in 1938 by Warner Brothers. Porky is looking for a do-do bird and ends up in Wackyland. Let's get into it.  Courtesy of alchetron.com Porky in Wackyland starts off with a typical WB opening, goes into a newspaper picture of Porky with a headline announcing his intentions to get a rare do-do bird, and then shows him flying there. I see some sort of Lindbergh resemblance in this. From there it becomes a little ominous when he lands in "darkest africa" and reads a sign for Wackyland that says "it can happen here" (with an added deep voice to repeat the phrase). From here, I'll just give you the link to the archive:  Watch the original in black and white here. Anyway, it's an odd one. It's taking inspiration from Alice in Wonderland. It's the most nonsensical thing ever. It may also scare your kids. You even see a cat-dog reference that looks kind of like the Cat-Dog show many years later ...

 I'm diving into classics lately. Let's talk about a cult classic-classic novel -Pride and Prejudice. Let's get into it.  Courtesy of ar.inspiredpencil.com Characters: Mr. Bingly - Rich new neighbor, attractive, well-liked Mr. Darcy - introverted "prideful" friend of Mr. Bingly, not well liked, an exhausted introvert who doesn't have the energy to put on a facade of having energy while traveling but seems much nicer at his own home (shocker!) Lizzie Bennet - daughter of the Bennet family, our main character  Jane Bennet - the eldest Bennet daughter, sees good in everyone Lydia Bennet - youngest and tallest Bennet daughter, runs off with an idiot Mary Bennet - third daughter of the Bennet family, kind of bad at music Catherine Bennet - daughter of the Bennet family, "kitty" to friends and family There are a lot more characters, but these are the focused ones.  Plot: We start with a new man coming into the neighborhood and a ball happening. To put it s...

 I need to finish Pride and Prejudice. I'm fully aware that I need to finish this book before I start reading another book. In that spirit, I am translating my videogame time for one week into reading time the next week.  The Video Game Challenge is basically tracking your time spent gaming for one week. I then translate one hour into a number of pages, or read for that amount of time, the next week. I have a set goal of hours or pages for the week after I tracked my gaming. This might push me to finish Pride and Prejudice, or at least get me past a good chunk of it.  As for the number of pages per hour of gaming, I've decided on 20 pages per hour. Knowing my habits, especially after-work gaming, it'll add up to a good amount of pages by the end of the week. I also spend a lot of time playing Moonstone Island and gaming on the weekends. This challenge was inspired by Haley Pham ( Haley Pham - YouTube ) reading pages based on her notifications (of which I have few). Gaming...

 How To ADHD by Jessica McCabe is a nonfiction about working with your ADHD brain and not against it. It is the guidebook the author wished she'd had earlier in life, so she wrote it herself. Let's review it.  Courtesy of Amazon.ca Hello Brains! This is the most encouraging self-help book I have ever read. I related to it more than I expected to. She wrote it ADHD friendly and you can go straight to the information you need. In fact, she gives you permission to do so early in the book while explaining how it was organized.  Nonfiction isn't always easy to read. It is purely interest based, meaning that if you have no interest or understanding of the topic you'll get bored. This one is built so you can go exactly to what interests you. Need help with one thing? Find the section easily and you have all the tools in one chapter, with page references to direct you to anything else that can help you understand the topic.  This was easy to read. I read a big chunk in one g...

 What do Wuthering Heights and Alice In Wonderland have in common? They are both considered classic books, even when they are so different in tone and genre. Let's look at what makes something a classic.  My observations on what makes something a classic are one, that popularity at the time of publishing doesn't seem to matter (for example, the Bronte sisters didn't do so well in their own time period) and two, that what does matter is whether a book stands the test of time. Other than that, I have no idea what makes a classic count as a classic. Let's dive into this together. A coworker asked me what a classic is and I'm genuinely curious.  What Is A Classic? Apparently, Reddit threads don't find this question easily answered. It looks like I'm not the only one asking what the classic book standard is.  One source proves one of my observations right. It is defined as a novel that stands the test of time and is beloved years after its release. It has to have...

 I picked up Wuthering Heights at a little library, then got the Kobo ebook because the act of turning pages started pulling them out (and I wasn't turning that hard). Let's talk about another Bronte sister classic. If you like ghost stories, drama, and toxic romance, this is a book you'll love. It's a gothic novel.  It starts with a man, a tenant, arriving at Wuthering Heights. He is barely welcomed. It's kind of sinister. Heathcliff is extremely reserved and cold. Our own main character has some issues. Mr. Lockwood is the only guest in a long time and they are in a remote place. The dogs don't even know how to handle a guest in the house, though Lockwood did make faces at them, so he may have deserved the retaliation. The guest isn't really wanted, you can clearly see. There are so few servants, and they are not friendly. His second visit has him putting his whole foot in his mouth, assuming a young woman to be Heathcliff's wife - when she is definite...