1914 | "DESTROY ALL FANBOYS!"

(thanks, Faux Toez!)

Yeah, it’s been that sort of day here, but I won’t be like Charlie above, trying to scam my way to a better outcome. I like my work like I like my imported cheese: hard exterior, soft inside and slightly aromatic. Wait. That made not a lot of sense. Oh, I’m just delirious from walking up too early and buying a dozen cans of imported tomatoes for 88 cents a piece. One had a tiny puncture in in that I only noticed after I got home, so that had to go back and be replaced, as there’s nothing worse than getting a nice case of food poisoning from something like that. hey, better safe than stupid, i say. Anyway, I’m in the middle of a quick proofreading thing and some other stuff (like some dough proofing at home while I’m out typing this post). Let me let YOU go watch that flick above and laugh yourself silly while I get back to doing more productive stuff. Um, it’s a short, so you won’t need to make any popcorn unless you already have and it’s a serving or three you can wolf down in about fourteen minutes.

Back in a bit…

So, for about a month or so on and off I’ve tried to sit through Sam Raimi’s Oz The Great and Powerful, but it’s just not happening. Although the movie is loud, packed full of visual effects and bright and colorful in spots when it’s not dark and moody, the effect on my eyes and brain has been like riding in a huge mall elevator packed with noisy kids and pissed off parents. It’s just not good. I like pieces of it and some of the characters, but I can’t put a finger on what the heck is bugging me so much. On a whim to see if I’m just Oz’ed out or something (and thanks to an alert in my YouTube subscriptions), I checked the All Public Domain site and watched the incomplete 1914 silent film Magic Cloak of Oz and had a much better time with that. Have a look:

Granted, THAT film clocks in at just over 40 minutes and seems to be missing a lot of stuff, but it’s pretty cool for what it is because it’s so old yet so full of creativity. Now, I happen to like most of Sam Raimi’s films quite a lot, but I just could not stay awake through or have my attention held by this one. In other words, my sense of wonder was not activated one bit. OK, the little porcelain doll was cute, but I didn’t sit down to see a cute doll get in and out of trouble by the painted skin of her porcelain teeth. Hmmmm. A friend who saw this and liked it said I just need to see it with someone poking me in the ribs every ten minutes, but he has a wife to do that and I just have a bunch of plants that don’t do well if I move them from their favorite spot. Eh, perhaps I’ll throw on some coffee and try again in a week or so. I have other stuff to do and this flick is more a low-priority item than something I need to tackle right away…