MINE ALL MINE

Up (4 Disc Combo Pack with Digital Copy and DVD) [Blu-ray] (2009)

Starring: Edward Asner, Jordan Nagai Director: Bob Peterson, Pete Docter Rating: PG (Parental Guidance Suggested) Format: Blu-ray

// // 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (174 customer reviews) //

 

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List Price: $45.99 Price: $19.99 & eligible for free shipping with Amazon Prime //

Okay, so, it belongs to Mike too — after all, he’s the one who bought it (thank you sweetie) –  but it’s still MINE ALL MINE.

I *LOVED* this movie when we saw it in the theaters.  I thought it was a super-sweet tale about courage, romantic devotion, and life-worth-living.  I can’t wait to watch it at home, where I’ll have a full box of Kleenex and therefore Mike and L won’t have to scavenge their pockets for popcorn napkins to stem the deluge.

Of course, I got home too late last night to watch it.  And tonight is choir rehearsal.  And tomorrow I’m going to meet a friend for dinner and then there’s Gun Nuts.  *whimper*  MINE!!!!!

UPDATE:  Jay G also got the UP DVD.  I agree with him that it’s a seriously heavy movie for little kids, especially if they haven’t been introduced to the whole “death” concept yet.

Was Disney anti-Semitic?

Sure, it SEEMS like a completely random question, but here’s what spurred it:

(Be warned that the first three videos I tried had been yanked down by Fox, so I don’t know how long that one will stay valid.  In a nutshell — Stewie and Brian end up in a Disney universe where everything is perfect and wonderful . . . until they beat the crap out of Mort Goldman for being a Jew.)

I thought that perhaps Walt Disney was, like Wagner, known for being an anti-Semite and everyone knew it but me.  However, from what I can see, it’s one of those persisting rumors without a lot of basis in truth.

Mind you, a lot of Hollywood studios that were Disney’s prime competition were run by Jews at the time; it can be hard to tell the difference between anti-Semitism and professional rivalry.  But as a point of fact it was his membership in The Motion Picture Alliance for the Preservation of American Ideals that earned him the reputation of an anti-Semite.

And that seems odd to me.  According to Our Lady of Wikipedia, other members included Ayn Rand, Ronald Reagan and John Wayne; I don’t hear much talk of their anti-Semitism.

Although perhaps that too is one of those things that everyone knows but me.

P.S.  Go here for a response to that Family Guy clip from a guy who worked at Disney; he didn’t think Walt was anti-Semitic.

P.P.S.  I used to love-love-love Family Guy.  As they’ve gotten more anti-military and partisan, it’s been harder to watch.  (“The US Military – all the brown people you can rape” . . . f*** you, Seth Farland.  And you really think electing Gore in 2000 would lead to flying cars and health care that kept anyone from dying?  SRSLY?)  I persist because FG has moments of brilliance in its comedy.  That, and I need to watch things that irritate me like that at least some of the time; it’s the same reason that makes me drop by HuffPo on occasion.  Good to see what other people think, rather than just reading people I agree with all the time.

P.P.S.  During my search for today’s post I ran across this page.  Good god I love the people at Cracked — I was actually laughing so loud I scared the cat.  Money quote — “Lesson Learned: The late 1800s were a great time to be African-American and possibly on acid.”  (With a close runner-up in the Fantasia section.)

Nope, not my fault. Try again.

Did you know that you helped kill Michael Jackson?  No, really:

While we can separate other popular figures’ popular coda from the actual personality, with Michael Jackson we couldn’t separate the superstar from the man. To us he has always been the child prodigy, the talented teen, the global superstar and the freakshow – never just a human being. To many JFK was a great leader, an inspiration but his womaniser ways are just his humanistic flaws – he was just human after all. Why wasn’t (isn’t) the same formula applied to Michael Jackson?

Make no mistake, we all killed Michael Jackson. Everyone who consumes popular culture dealt a blow to which I believe was a very fragile human being. The pressures of having to perform at such an early age, the overbearing pressures of success, the indecent accusations and ultimately being rejected from the institution that once praised him – one way or another we all played a part.

I for one wish the man and his family nothing but peace, but the kingdom in which he once ruled will find it difficult to do the same.

Me, I’m fairly sure that Michael Jackson killed Michael Jackson, heartily enabled by sycophantic doctors and hangers-on who encouraged him to medicate himself to death. I haven’t heard that anyone tied him down and forced drugs into his system — that was his own doing.

Michael Jackson was a sad, sick person who was once a great musician.  He was also fifty years old.  Some people have horrible pressure-laden abusive childhoods and grow into responsible adults.  Some do not.  You can pity the latter, search for root causes and all that, shake your head at what the child had to go through as you please.

But I’ll be damned if I’m going to accept my officially-allotted piece of the blame here.

A public figure . . . trying to sell his music and garner publicity to become a more wealthy, popular public figure . . . managed to sell me some of his music (the Thriller album — great music!) . . . oh, and I used to watch his music videos . . . and therefore I helped kill him?!?

Sorry buddy, I’ve got enough of a guilt-complex already, I’m not tacking on the responsibility for various random celebrities.  Better luck next time.

Leave Robin Hood alone!

Ed Morrissey and Ace are having themselves a little discussion about whether Robin Hood was 1) left-wing; 2) right-wing; 3) capitalist; 4) socialist; 5) evil; 6) pragmatic, etc.

To which I say — LEAVE ROBIN HOOD ALONE!

With all due respect to The Altar of Ayn Rand, I think she got this one wrong. Her character Ragnar Danneskjold opines that we must rid the world of the memory of this “hero” who stole from the productive rich and gave to the undeserving poor.  But even he admits that Robin Hood’s ”rich” were rich through taxation and exploitation, not production.

Come now, haven’t you all seen the Disney Robin Hood? (“Oodle-lally, oddle-lally, golly what a day!”) We could make that movie the Official Evil Conservative Showcase Movie, it’s got everything!

Powerful state/government figures being corrupted with power? Check!

Those with powers of taxation using them mercilessly to deprive the public of their hard-earned wealth? Check!

Showing that the poorest are hit hardest by greedy government? Check!

Hell, we’ve even got Second Amendment rights — the right of the people to resist tyranny with bows, arrows and swords! Check-checkity-check-check-check!!

If you read the book, it gets even better. The Earl of Locksley, like so many others, was a target of king because his estate was rich; as a result, he was unjustly deprived of his land and station. He refuses to go gently into the good night, instead retiring to Sherwood Forest to live as an outcast and an outlaw. But when he steals from “the rich,” he does not target barons and lords who rule their people well, nor millers, nor tradesmen. He targets what Randians would term “moochers” — sheriffs, monks, abbots, folks who suck money from the helpless but productive people they rule.

What, exactly, is not to like about this?

Hmph.  Ed and Ace must be fox-haters or something.

Full disclosure: I went through a period, some twenty years ago, in which I watched Robin Hood at least once a week. To this day, you can put the movie on mute and I can supply each line, voice by voice, verse by verse. I do a mean Prince John.

and P.S.  Yes, Ed, we can agree that Kevin Costner was the worst Robin Hood EVAH.  In other news, the sky is blue, puppies are cute, and chocolate is delicious.