(Photo by Andre Benz on Unsplash)
Hooray for Christmas in July!
Here in the southern hemisphere it’s super duper cold making it the perfect time to rug up in silly sweaters that you wouldn’t dream of wearing at actual heat-filled Christmas, drink and eat yummy things and put up a tree which gives some of your favourite ornaments one less month or so stuck in their boxes.
And it adds colour and festive merriment to a bleak period of the year when it’s always dark early, getting out of bed is never a good idea EVER, and you just want to snuggle under the doona (duvet) and read a book or stream something fun.
The fact that I mark Christmas in July absolutely affirms that I am not a purist of any kind when it comes to the season and honestly in a world full of all kinds of horror stories and nightmares, surely letting loose with a little extra Christmas, which we need this very minute with fruit cake and stocking filling, can’t ever be a bad thing and may just be the most sensible and festively uplifting thing we do all year!
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Scooby-Doo is an American media franchise based on an animated television series launched in 1969 and continued through several derivative media. Writers Joe Ruby and Ken Spears created the original series, Scooby-Doo, Where Are You!, for Hanna-Barbera Productions. This Saturday-morning cartoon series featured teenagers Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Shaggy Rogers, and their talking Great Dane named Scooby-Doo, who solve mysteries involving supposedly supernatural creatures through a series of antics and missteps. (courtesy Wikipedia)
I am old enough that I watched Scooby-Doo, Where Are You! on TV reruns, along with my brother and two sisters as we snuggled under blankets on the couch during winter school holidays, sugar-filled cereal in our hands and Scooby and the gang solving mysteries in funny, cosily predictable fashion. He made the school holidays even better than they were otherwise were – no bullies for two weeks; BLISS – and he also saved following the sudden death of my dad in 2016 when a hospital visit to read to him while he recuperated became a near-instantaneous mourning of his passing. I would’ve crashed and burned even more than I did without Scooby (in this case, Be Cool, Scooby-Doo! which was offbeat but I adore it still) and I will be forever grateful to this food-obsessed, hilariously scaredy cat Great Dane who didn’t just get the bad guys and gals but also made me laugh when I needed it the most.
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Chip and Dale (also spelled Chip ‘n’ Dale) are a cartoon duo of anthropomorphic chipmunks created in 1943 by The Walt Disney Company … Of the two, Chip is portrayed as being safe, focused, and having a mind for logical scheming. Dale, by contrast, is more laid-back, dim-witted, and impulsive, and has a very strong sense of humor. Originally the two had a very similar appearance, but as a way to tell them apart, some differences were introduced: Chip has a small black nose and two centered protruding teeth, whereas Dale has a large dark red nose and a prominent gap between his buckteeth. Chip is also depicted as having smooth hair on top of his head while Dale’s tends to be ruffled. (courtesy Wikipedia)
Oh the goofy chaos of these two! You could argue they’re naughty and mischievous, and yeah, they are but that was much of the fun when I was a kid. I loved that they infuriated Donald Duck and rebelled against the established order and made Mickey Mouse aware he’d accidentally cut down their home. One is stupid, one is not, but together they are a joy to watch and a ton of fun to be around and when you’re a kid, and to be honest when you’re an adult too, that’s what you want. Someone who makes a mess and challenges things, especially when you’re a pastor’s kid who has to always behave or you get in trouble, and living vicariously through two comedically misbehaving chipmunks is just the release you need.
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Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in the 27th issue of the comic book Detective Comics on March 30, 1939. In the DC Universe continuity, Batman is the alias of Bruce Wayne, a wealthy American playboy, philanthropist, and industrialist who resides in Gotham City. Batman’s origin story features him swearing vengeance against criminals after witnessing the murder of his parents Thomas and Martha as a child, a vendetta tempered with the ideal of justice. He trains himself physically and intellectually, crafts a bat-inspired persona, and monitors the Gotham streets at night. Kane, Finger, and other creators accompanied Batman with supporting characters, including his sidekicks Robin and Batgirl; allies Alfred Pennyworth, James Gordon, and Catwoman; and foes such as the Penguin, the Riddler, Two-Face, and his archenemy, the Joker. (courtesy Wikipedia)
I know, I know, the real Batman is very dark and brooding and overwhelmed by corrosive grief but my first encounter with the Caped Crusader was watching ’70s reruns of the Batman show from the 1960s which was camp and theatrical as hell, full of comic strip “POW”s and “KABOOM”s and populated by Vaudevillians baddies who you knew would never win but who came close enough each time to make watching Batman best such a thrill! As an adult, it sometimes all feels a little too silly but then my inner seven-year-old lets loose and we’re back hooting with laughter and glad that someone let Batman have some fun … just the once, at least!
ROGER RABBIT AND JESSICA RABBIT
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Roger Rabbit is an animated anthropomorphic rabbit. The character first appeared in author Gary K. Wolf’s 1981 novel, Who Censored Roger Rabbit? In the book, Roger is second banana in a popular comic strip, “Baby Herman”. Roger hires private detective Eddie Valiant to investigate why his employers, the DeGreasy Brothers, have reneged on their promise to give Roger his own strip. When Roger is found murdered in his home, Valiant sets out to look for the killer, with the help of Roger’s “doppel” (in the book, comic characters can construct physical copies of themselves using their minds that last for only a few days) … The book and character were later re-envisioned in Disney’s hit 1988 live-action/animated film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. (courtesy Wikipedia)
The 1988 film is my only exposure to Roger and Jessica and the rest of the residents of Toontown but what a joyously chaotic and heartfelt bit of exposure it was and remains. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is a masterpiece of a film, fusing live action and animation near seamlessly and telling a story that is batsh*t crazy but so intensely full of emotion that you feel every last real moment of human and animated emotion. Watching it is like taking in a morality play with technicolour anarchy and having a happy ending to boot where justice is served and friendships and found family are cemented makes it, and the eponymous character, one of the highlights of this or any other life.
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Yosemite Sam (/joʊˈsɛmɪti/ yoh-SEM-ih-tee)is a cartoon character in the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies series of short films produced by Warner Bros. His name is taken from Yosemite National Park from California. He is an adversary of Bugs Bunny.He is commonly depicted as a mean-spirited and extremely aggressive, gunslinging outlaw or cowboy with a hair-trigger temper and an intense hatred of rabbits, Bugs in particular. In cartoons with non-Western themes, he uses various aliases, including “Chilkoot Sam” (named for the Chilkoot Trail; Sam pronounces it “Chilli-koot”) and “Square-deal Sam” in 14 Carrot Rabbit, “Riff Raff Sam” in Sahara Hare, “Sam Schultz” in Big House Bunny, “Seagoin’ Sam” in Buccaneer Bunny, “Shanghai Sam” in Mutiny on the Bunny, “Von Schamm the Hessian” in Bunker Hill Bunny, “Baron Sam von Schpamm” in Dumb Patrol, and many others. During the golden age of American animation, Yosemite Sam appeared as antagonist in 33 animated shorts made between 1945 and 1964. (courtesy Wikipedia)
Again with the reruns but oh what reruns they were! Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies were everywhere on TV – and now on a massive yellow cube-shaped boxset on my shelf – and they amused me no end with all the characters so anarchically silly and full-on that watching a short felt like going twelve rounds in a comically-charged boxing ring. They were intense nuggets of pure hilarity and savagely intelligent slapstick that made my day and when those days were often punctuated by bullies getting the better of me, watching the “bullies” of Looney Tunes get their just desserts courtesy of my hero Bugs Bunny, was the absolute shot in the arm morale boost I needed! I love them still because though the obvious bullies have gone, the less obvious ones remain and having a break from them is always just what the self care doctor ordered.