From the Author:2022/Of movies, marathons, milestones, and a bit more
Originally published on: 2022-01-18, 07:24
Updated: 2022-07-29, 21:53
Shortcut: FTA:20220118
Joalanovaubrat, tauwtés! (Before it's too late.)
About half a week after Miraheze's server upgrade, getting back to business—starting with a progress report on this year's edition of the New Year's movie marathon.
So far, we've covered 16 titles—although we got off to a really rough start this January 1. Long story short: Fell asleep during movie #1, had to restart after waking up; what we initially had in mind for movie #3 is on ad-supported Tubi, and we can't do ads within marathoned movies; and for the next two, our Netflix temporarily went AWOL at the time. (In #4's case, it took me almost half an hour to locate a decent, playable copy.) In playing order, along with timestamps and notes:
| Time (EST) | # | Title | Year | Previews | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Prws. | Feat. | |||||
| Leg 1 (January 1) | ||||||
| 6:08 a.m | 6:30 a.m. | 1 | Ghostbusters II | 1989 |
|
|
| 8:21 | 8:28 | 2 | Pokémon Detective Pikachu | 2019 |
| |
| 10:12 | 10:21 | 3 | All Dogs Go to Heaven | 1989 |
|
This segment's previews promised a lead-in to 2000's Tom Sawyer (the one with the cats). Nowhere at our dependable sources (save for Tubi), so Plan B from the MGM archives—the adventures of Charlie and Itchy—had to do. Our original choice is relegated to the itinerary of our first "night flight" of the year after marathon duties are a wrap. |
| 12:06 p.m. | 12:32 p.m. | 4 | Animal Crackers | 2017 |
|
Chinese-released, Mandarin-subtitled cut. Absent Netflix at the time, it was a struggle to even get the U.S. version going. One offshore source kept sticking away, meaning I had to make do with the other one—which I've come to depend on since then. |
| 2:09 | 2:17 | 5 | The Mitchells vs. the Machines | 2021 |
|
Trinkets:
|
| Leg 2a (January 10) "Nothing but Net" | ||||||
| 9:31 p.m. | 9:43 p.m. | 6 | Space Jam: A New Legacy | 2021 |
| |
| 11:41 | 11:47 | 7 | Hoop Dreams | 1994 |
|
Not only among the greatest documentaries ever made—but also one of the greatest sports movies ever made. This had been on my must-see list since our later years in the Brass. |
| 2:43 | 2:49 | 8 | Hoosiers | 1986 |
| |
| Leg 2b (January 11) | ||||||
| 9:31 p.m. | 9:36 p.m. | 9 | Cinderella | 2021 |
|
Planned for theatres via Sony Pictures; sold to Amazon. |
| 11:30 | 11:36 | 10 | The Princess Bride | 1987 |
|
As seen on Hulu; followed on autoplay by... |
| — | 1:15 | 11 | The Sandlot | 1993 | ||
| 3:00 | 3:08 | 12 | Fairy Tail: Phoenix Princess | 2012 |
|
|
| Leg 3a (January 12) "The Measure of a Man: Remembering Sidney Poitier (1927-2022)" | ||||||
| — | 11:08 | 13 | To Sir, with Love | 1967 | — |
|
| — | 12:57 | 14 | In the Heat of the Night | 1967 | Oscar winner for Best Picture; its 1988-95 TV show followup graced WGN's morning schedule for ages. (Saw the latter in theme-tune form back home in Dominica, but never the original film itself.) | |
| — | 2:50 | 15 | Guess Who's Coming to Dinner | 1967 | Three career-defining movies—all in the same year. Even this contributor finds it hard to believe. | |
| — | 4:46 | 16 | Fast Forward | 1985 |
| |
Stay tuned for Leg 3b—a showcase of Canadian animation—later tonight. By Wednesday or Thursday, taking a rest after Leg 4 + another dose of Shimajiro. Speaking of the latter...
- Time for another character declension table, this time devoted to Nikki the kitten. (Original Japanese name: Nyakki Momoyama, whose first name is based on the JP word for "meow", and whose family name translates to "Peach Hill"—also an allusion to those felines' fur colour and evening-scene palette.)
| Case (Tuisèle) |
Singular only | |
|---|---|---|
| Forms | ||
| Absolutive (abs) | Subject | Nikki Nekeda |
| Topic | Nikki Nekedeuna | |
| Ergative (erg) | Nikki Nekedieba | |
| Appositive (app) | Nikki Nekederija | |
| Dative (dat) | Nikki Nekedada | |
| Partitive (part) | Nikki Nekeduneta | |
| Vocative (voc) | Familiar | Nikki Nekedta |
| Formal | Nikki Nekedusta | |
| Stems | ||
| Relational | ||
| Locative (loc) | Nikki Nekeduamad- | |
| Genitive (gen) | Inalienable | Nikki Nekeduaz- |
| Alienable | Nikki Nekeduarz- | |
| Proprietive (prop) | Inalienable | Nikki Nekeduamzol- |
| Alienable | Nikki Nekeduamten- | |
| Associative | ||
| Instrumental/Vialis (instr/via) | Nikki Nekeduambemek- | |
| Utilitive (util) | Nikki Nekeduamaurd- | |
| Comitative (com) | Nikki Nekeduamaseb- | |
| Conjunctive (cnj) | Nikki Nekeduamauvek- | |
| Spatial | ||
| Originative (ogn) | Nikki Nekeduamesil- | |
| Terminative (term) | Temporal | Nikki Nekeduamuskem- |
| Spatial | Nikki Nekeduamäffuind- | |
| Lative (lat) | Nikki Nekeduamaup- | |
| Allative (all) | Nikki Nekeduamäuvv- | |
| Inessive (ine) | Nikki Nekeduamint- | |
| Illative (ill) | Nikki Nekeduamïnvv- | |
| Exessive (exe) | Nikki Nekeduamtug- | |
| Elative (ela) | Nikki Nekeduamtüvv- | |
| Adessive (ade) | Nikki Nekeduamiāk- | |
| Apudessive (apud) | Nikki Nekeduamproxim- | |
| Altessive (alt) | Nikki Nekeduamault- | |
| Subessive (sube) | Nikki Nekeduamulem- | |
| Chronological | ||
| Precursive (pcv) | Nikki Nekeduamprev- | |
| Postcursive (pos) | Nikki Nekeduamaprev- | |
| Quantitative | ||
| Abessive (abe) | Nikki Nekeduamond- | |
| Qualitative | ||
| Propositive (pro) | Nikki Nekeduamaubog- | |
| Oppositive (opp/anti) | Nikki Nekeduamopoam- | |
| Contrastive (crs) | Nikki Nekeduampotal- | |
| Essive (ess) | Nikki Nekeduamnand- | |
| Translative (trsl) | Nikki Nekeduamiz- | |
| Semblative/Formal (sembl/form) | Nikki Nekeduamoid- | |
| Similative (simil) | Nikki Nekeduamausik- | |
| Identical (idt) | Nikki Nekeduamaibem- | |
| Comparative/Equative (cmpr/equ) | Nikki Nekeduamkuem- | |
| Referential (ref) | Nikki Nekeduamprin- | |
| Note: Not all case endings may apply to this root. As such, some or most forms shown above may be hypothetical. | ||
- Along with this companion tweet, relayed on Reddit back in late October as a test run for Shimajiro-related material on r/furry.
English version of original tweet (with assistance from GTranslate), for those in the West:
"Those new to Shimajiro [in that franchise's original Japan] respectively tend to render the names of Flappy/Torippi [the parrot] and Nikki [the cat] in katakana as 'トリッピー' and 'ニャッキー', when they're officially '空野とりっぴい' [Sorano Torippi] and '桃山にゃっきい' [Momoyama Nyakki], so please don't get them wrong."
Her reaction here—worthy of a fill-in-the-blank meme—says it all.
- And over in the Bulwark: After the obligatory holiday/exam break, WildBrain Caribbean's syndication of Shimajiro Paradise (né Hakken Taiken Daisuki!) resumed yesterday afternoon with stories #11 and #12. Paradise, which will run until mid-March (en route to the Hesoka and WOW! eras), airs on Stride (ZHSR-DT 21.1) weekdays at 3:30 AST; check local listings in other islands.
- Not to mention the last time WOW! hit a milestone...
- And that 2022 is the Year of the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac—in another East-meets-West mascot crossover:
- Anyone remember Ramurin, too?
Speaking of these two, original seiyuu Saori Sugimoto passed away last October and was replaced last month by Masami Suzuki, starting with the aforementioned WOW! #499. (Suzuki once filled in for Sugimoto during 2017–18.)
Speaking of kodomomuke popular in Rogatia: This fit-for-the-original-decade fan tribute to Maple Town—can't go wrong with rainbow-haired mice—has been on the backlog for all of one year now. Thankfully, now that this feature supports tweets...
As an extra special bonus: One I wouldn't mind seeing "kmo55n" of Pawoo tackling soon—as an SFW pinup. (Because little kids should only be seen and not touched!)
As for the front page of the Internet, reprinting my top-scoring Reddit comment here—a reply to "BrightFallsDJ's" question "What's a film you feel was horribly mis-marketed?"
A discussion of this sort wouldn't be complete without mentioning the ad campaign for Bridge to Terebithia (2007). Previews and commercials pushed it as the next Lord of the Rings Jr., i.e. Narnia (which Disney and Walden Media previously collaborated on). The real movie—and source material—are more coming-of-age than anything.
Under which "DragonTonguePunch" replied:
What's also surprising is that it was directed by Rugrats co-creator Gabor Csupo.
And I replied back:
Even better: One of Klasky-Csupo's earliest projects was a 1990 HBO Storybook Musical based on Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day—another title that Disney themselves would later handle in the mid-2010s (albeit through a different director).
P.S. Thanks for the conversation on what is now my highest scoring RDT comment to date (as well as this thread's very own tops overall). Looks like I gave the right answer in the right thread—but I never expected it to take off as much as it suddenly did!
At press time, ~1190 upvotes. (Even after almost nine years as a Redditor, I myself am lucky if any post of mine surpasses 30—or 10 if a comment.)
Also sighted at r/movies lately: The King's Daughter, from the series director of Even Stevens on Disney Channel, is finally seeing the light of day this Friday (through Gravitas Ventures in the U.S.) after several distributor changes and eight years on the shelf. With former Bond Pierce Brosnan in the lead, you'd think they'd might have released it much earlier; such is the way of life in the indie trade. Which reminds me...
- Zion, a Rogatian-produced movie shot in West Africa and Ethiopia—way back in 2012—officially leaked on the Internet Archive (through Hycam Entertainment) at the exact minute this originally went to press. No previews, no ads, no press kits, no red-carpets, no announcement tweets—not a single shred of publicity. Given the Bulwark's last locally made theatrical release, Barnaby Rabbit, occurred in July 2015...
- More or less a prelude of what's to come as home-grown Rogatian feature media moves to a brand-new, DRM-free, all-open-source-all-the-time distribution model—with absolutely no help from YouTube. In that regard, the promotional focus this season is on DV9's Paradise Theatre, an adaptation of the 1981 Styx album. (DV9—a play on the Croatian word davnine, "of long ago"—is an animation outlet based in Auldenno, Shropshire.) Premiered in Chicago, Styx's home city, in September 2018; spent three years in legal limbo (thanks to Rogatia's new copyright terms—40 years after creation—and the fact that it was considered a U.S. published work); rights finally cleared with the original band's blessings last August; scheduled for an Oscar-weekend worldwide launch (March 25) on IA, Wikimedia Commons, Pluto TV, and Troadal. Several other long-unreleased projects, among them DV9's stop-motion Mindspell and TJE's hand-drawn Bellflowers to the Rescue! (Les Passiflore : À la rescousse!), are slated to follow in the months ahead.
- Speaking of Rogatian animation: Something called Insular—following the lives of four anthropomorphic families in the Bulwark during the pandemic—is also launching online-only this May (with Season 1, "Onset") on the same aforementioned venues. (Funded by the Stride network as part of a once-ambitious push into original content—but don't expect it on their terrestrial schedules anytime soon.)
- More or less a prelude of what's to come as home-grown Rogatian feature media moves to a brand-new, DRM-free, all-open-source-all-the-time distribution model—with absolutely no help from YouTube. In that regard, the promotional focus this season is on DV9's Paradise Theatre, an adaptation of the 1981 Styx album. (DV9—a play on the Croatian word davnine, "of long ago"—is an animation outlet based in Auldenno, Shropshire.) Premiered in Chicago, Styx's home city, in September 2018; spent three years in legal limbo (thanks to Rogatia's new copyright terms—40 years after creation—and the fact that it was considered a U.S. published work); rights finally cleared with the original band's blessings last August; scheduled for an Oscar-weekend worldwide launch (March 25) on IA, Wikimedia Commons, Pluto TV, and Troadal. Several other long-unreleased projects, among them DV9's stop-motion Mindspell and TJE's hand-drawn Bellflowers to the Rescue! (Les Passiflore : À la rescousse!), are slated to follow in the months ahead.
Last but not least, no one noticed my late answer to "Djungelskog_thefrog's" AskReddit posit, "What is something popular you refuse to participate in?"
NFTs (non-fungible tokens)--and anything (owned by) Facebook. (Both for reasons that have been well-explained and well-documented elsewhere; I occasionally took potshots at the latter during my Google+ tenure.)
Honorable mention to YouTube in this late reply, at least on the user-account level; only got on there to deal with my GPlay Music transfer a couple of years ago--but that's about it; this contributor's profile and Google calling card are intentionally left unmaintained. From the comment removals on kid-appropriate videos (COPPA) and official music audio uploads, to the recent public dislike-count removal (even YT co-founder Jawed is not happy about this), to the occasional takedowns (I speak from experience—especially as an animé fan),[1] there's a multitude of reasons Miraheze and IAInternet Archive are more promising alternatives by the day...[2]
On a related note: Copyright of original works. (I've long left mine CC0—and Kopimi—so you can help in the fight.)
- ^ If you're a Top 10/20/50/whatever media company, why don't you just listen to your fans, upload what they want, and call it a day? Either that, or YT should've never developed Content ID in the first place anyhow...
- ^ My relationship with YT is a double-edged sword; the other side is what powers my "nightflighting" outside my New Year's movie marathons of late. (The latter's trailer rolls and after-leg/after-show bonuses, as well.)
As I wind things down here:
- The sooner this goes to press, the sooner I hit the Unspooled Scratchpad.
- Ushering in our next extension—Display Title—this Friday morning (for the sake of our Morpheme tables).
- Will begin to handle the red links in our previous FTAs soon enough.
- Gearing up for an art trade by month's end.
- Not to mention this writeup will be our last to forgo the Forms—which reminds me: The RFM dictionary entries are long overdue for theirs, something I'll rectify once Wave 1 of the imports from Referata wraps up. (Once either the "A" roots are all covered, or the morpheme tally hits 2,250, or both.)
- And not without the important reminder of my forthcoming vaccination.
Until then, take care, stay connected, keep exploring, benparl, see you in the bestsellers, we'll meet you back home...and watch your tails.
Onward and upward...
(3492)
Drafted on JustNotepad.com
Characters (c) Benesse Corporation/Shimajiro; English version licensed by WildBrain.
Tigger (c) Disney Enterprises, Inc./Estate of A. A. Milne.
Maple Town and Lady Lady!! (c) Toei Animation Co. Ltd.
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