Ornament Review: 1932 - Flowers and Trees - Moments That Made Disney #3 - 2014 Disney Store Ornament

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Lovingly captures a lesser known Disney milestone

Cons: Tips forward when hung

The Bottom Line:

This historic short

In ornament for DisNerds

Great collectible

Colorful Addition to Your Ornament Collection

While most of Disney’s animated shorts are well known, his Silly Symphony shorts seem to have been forgotten by all but the biggest Disney fans.  This series of unrelated pieces from the 1920’s and 1930’s allowed for lots of experimentation that helped break ground in the then new field of animation.  And it was one of those shorts that became the first color animated short.  Naturally, the Disney Store picked that short as part of their Moments that Made Disney ornament series, and Flowers and Trees is a real winner.

The short itself is typical of much of the Silly Symphony series.  It features lots of music and little dialogue as we watch various plants interacting to the music.  It’s fun, but not especially memorable outside of its place in history.

And yet, I was thrilled to get this ornament.  Why?  It’s the DisNerd in me.  Since this short isn’t popular today, we rarely get any merchandise related to it.  Yet it forms a big milestone in Disney’s history.  So a limited edition series like this is perfect, right?

The ornament itself looks great as well.  It focuses on two trees.  One is kneeling with one of his branches/arms extended.   The second tree is looking at him with a small smile on her face.  Of course, that expression is buried under all her hair, I mean leaves.  This female tree also have a bird in her leaves and some butterflies sitting on her trunk.  It’s a cute moment in the short, and it’s just as cute here.  Finishing off the ornament, there is grass on the circular base, and there are flowers on the edges of the base.

But what really makes this ornament special is the same thing that makes the short special – the color.  It is rich in greens, browns, and yellows that really bring it to life.  I can’t help grinning as I look at it.  It’s that special.

Because of that circular base I mentioned, you could really make this part of a display year round.  It would fit in perfectly with any display of Disney memorabilia.

However, if you want to hang it, you’ll find a red ribbon coming out of a loop.  That’s right, it’s all ready to hang on your tree.  Unfortunately, it does tip backward when you hang it, but that’s the only flaw.  And actually, that makes it a little easier to see the female tree’s face, so it’s not necessarily a bad thing.

This ornament and the others in the series are slightly heavier than your typical ornament, so you’ll want to make sure that it is hanging from a sturdy branch.

Like the others in this series, the limited number of pieces sold out quickly, proving there are a lot of Disney fanatics like me out there happy to have something to represent this milestone in Disney animation.  If you missed it, I suggest you track down Flowers and Trees as quickly as possible.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Moments that Made Disney series.

Original Price: $19.95

TV Recap: Castle 7-14 - Resurrection

There are things to be thankful for when your ultimate Frisbee team loses 0-15.  In this case, it meant the game was over quickly and I was home in time to watch Castle.  Okay, so I was still a bit later getting started than I would have liked, but it worked out.

And what an episode!  Since I knew the premise, I wouldn’t say I was blown away or surprised too much (even by the cliffhanger), but it was still great.

So, shall we get to the first part of this year’s February two parter?

And the Winner Is....

Random.org has picked a winner in the Giveaway of License to Dill by Mary Ellen Hughes.  And that winner is...

Rebecca Prazak!

Congrats, Rebecca.  Check your e-mail so we can connect you with your prize.

Book Review: A Tine to Live, a Tine to Die by Edith Maxwell (Local Foods Mysteries #1)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Great characters, strong mystery

Cons: Pacing a little slow in the beginning

The Bottom Line:

Cam takes on murder

As we start farming series

Builds to great climax

Murder Grows on the Farm

I had just discovered Edith Maxwell and her Local Foods Mysteries last year when the second in the series was set to come out.  I accepted an ARC of the book and enjoyed it, fully going back to read the first.  While it took longer than I had planned to buy and read that first book, I did finally get a chance to read A Tine to Live, A Tine to Die, and it was nice to get caught up on Cam’s first case.

Cam Flaherty has made a huge change in her life.  After being laid off from her computer programming job, she’s agreed to take over the farm owned by her great-uncle.  She’s converting it to an organic farm and she’s even set up a farm share where people will buy in to her farm before the season begins for a share of the crops as they come in.  Thanks to people in her area committed to buying local foods, it’s looking like she might be able to pull the career change off.

And then Cam finds her one hired hand in the door to the hoop house with a pitchfork in his neck.  She’d actually just had to fire Mike Montgomery for wanting to introduce chemicals on her farm.  With the police looking at her and some of her new friends for the murder, Cam must figure out who killed Mike and why.

The book started out a little slowly with details about the farm and how it was operating sharing focus with the plot.  However, as the book progressed, the mystery took more and more prominence.  There were several viable suspects before everything came together in an exciting climax.

Likewise, the characters are great.  I identified with Cam just a little too much.  She’s an introvert, and I have introverted tendencies (although not nearly as bad as hers).  However, the rest of the series cast are wonderful characters who are beginning to draw her out of her shell.  That’s a thread I know continued in book two, and I look forward to seeing it continue in future books in the series.  Cam is also blunt, and it was refreshing to see a main character who goes about her questioning in the clumsy way I would if I were in her shoes.

In addition to Cam, there really are a great bunch of supporting characters I enjoyed getting to know better.  The suspects were just as strong as everyone else in the book, too.

Another issue I had with the book involved illegal immigration.  It comes into the plot as we learn more about Mike, the victim.  However, that part of the story is handled in a very stereotypical way.  I would have appreciated more nuance between anti-illegal immigration and anti-immigration.  And yes, there is a world of difference.

This is a cozy mystery that involves food, and that means there are two recipes in the back.  Both of them involve lots of fresh produce, and they actually do sound very tempting.  (I really should learn to eat more healthy food like this.)

While farming isn’t something I would normally set out to read about, I’m glad that I’ve started reading this series.  A Tine to Live, A Tine to Die is a solid debut, and I know the second book lives up to that promise.  I’m looking forward to reading Cam’s latest adventure when it comes out in just a few months.

NOTE: The series has been republished under Edith's pen name Maddie Day.

Be sure to read the rest of the Local Foods Mysteries in order.

Video Game Review: Mario Kart 8 for Wii U

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: More racing fun with Mario and his friends

Cons: Extra content for purchase, some information only on GamePad

The Bottom Line:

Creative courses

Matched with familiar game play

Fun for series fans

New Racing Season Opens with Mario Kart 8

Who says that sibling rivalry dies when you reach adulthood?  For Christmas, my brother and his family got a Wii U.  Guess who bought one before New Year’s.  That’s right, it would be me.  And this is despite not playing my Wii much at all during 2014.  I also had to buy the latest version of my favorite Wii game – Mario Kart 8.  Yes, it is just as awesome as I expected it to be.

If you’ve played any of the previous seven versions of this game, you know the basics.  You are racing against 11 other characters around fantastic courses trying to get first place in various cups.  Depending on where you place in each of the four races, you earn points that determine your overall place in the cup.

So what’s different this time around?  There are new courses, for starters.  About half of the courses are new or at least new variations on familiar themes.  Of these, my favorites in the Twisted Mansion (a haunted house), Toad Harbor, and Sunshine Airport.  Then there are 16 retro courses from the previous versions of the game.  Since this is only the third Mario Kart I’ve bought, there are plenty on here I don’t recognize, but I do enjoy playing the familiar Moo Moo Meadow and Grumble Volcano from the Wii, the last version I bought.  And a couple of the courses are one long race instead of going around the same course for three laps.  For those, we get check points.

If you are familiar with the Wii version, the controls will be familiar as well.  Once again, you can use your Wiimote and tilt it to control your car.  Or you can use your Nunchuck controller.  And yes, the game pad controller that comes with the Wii U can also be used as a controller with either tilt or thumb stick control.

There are a couple of changes to game play from the last version.  They have brought the use of coins back to the game.  They had used them in the very first Mario Kart, the one of the SNES.  (And yes, that’s the other one I have.)  Collecting coins will increase your speed.  It’s a small amount, but I can see the boost at times.  You start with somewhere between zero (1^st place) and 5 (12^th place) and can collect up to 10.  They are scattered around the maps.  Of course, you lose three each time you are hit by an object or drive off the edge of the map.  (And if you do drive off the edge, they actually put you back on course faster than before, too.)

In addition to being on the maps, coins might be hiding in the mystery boxes you can pick up along the way.  If that is your prize, you’ll find two coins.  Other new surprises are plants that will attack your fellow races and gobble up coins, a boomerang, and fire power.  Of course, there are plenty of the old standbys like Bullet Bill, red and green shells, and invincibility.

The final change to the game is the gravity defying part of the game.  Parts of the courses allow you to race up walls and even upside down.  There are clear indicators in the game when this is happening.  It really doesn’t change how your car operates, but it is fun to think about.  Oh, and if you crash into an opponent in this section of a course, you get a boost!  Obviously, this is more prevalent on the new courses, but they’ve switched up a few of the old courses to let you do this as well.

In addition to the traditional races, you can also do timed trials and fight battles to pop your opponent’s balloons.  And you can race by yourself or with up to four people in the same room.

Plus they’ve brought back the ability to play against people all over the world thanks to the internet.  One or two people per machine can log in and race or battle to their hearts content.  One change here I really like is that at the start of each new race, you are given a choice from three randomly selected courses.  Everyone votes for one of those three and then the game randomly selects the course you actually race.  If those three really don’t appeal to you, you do have a fourth choice – random, which will randomly pick any course in the system not necessarily one of those three courses.  Overall, this cuts down significantly on those annoying people on line who always select the same course over and over again.

There are a couple of things I don’t like about this game.  First, the rankings and course map don’t appear in part of the TV screen but on the GamePad during the race.  Any time I glance down to see those things, I lose track of where I am on the TV screen.  Maybe I’ll get used to it as I go along.

I’m also not happy that they have developed some extra content that is for sale separately.  Oh, we get as many courses with this version as we did for the Wii, so they aren’t skimping on us, but after spending $60 for this game, it seems a shame that I have to pay extra for the final few characters and courses.  I’ve resisted – so far, but I have a feeling I will wind up buying them.

The game looks and sounds great.  The picture is crisp and the sounds effects are fun.  Both are definitely a step up from the last version, but what else would you expect from new video game system that uses an HDMI cable.  Of course, it’s all still highly stylized cartoon action, but for what it is, it looks great.

I’d been debating for a while about buying the new system, but I’m glad I did.  So far, I’ve been concentrating on Mario Kart 8, just because it’s always been a favorite franchise.  I’m sure I’ll be racing around these tracks for some time to come.

Book Review: Bartholomew and the Oobleck by Dr. Seuss

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Fun story showing the dangers of pride

Cons: For some, the use of magic

The Bottom Line:

Creating weather

Can lead to consequences

Fun story for us

What Is That Coming from the Sky?

Dr. Seuss rarely revisited characters.  I can only think of three times he did, the popular Cat in the Hat books, Horton the elephant, and Bartholomew Cubbins and King Derwin of Didd.  Bartholomew and the Oobleck was one of his early books and, as a result, his first sequel.

King Derwin is tired of the weather.  The same four things come down from the sky with no variety.  So he decides to have his magicians create something new – Oobleck.  However, when his page, Bartholomew Cubbins, observes it in the morning, he senses that something isn’t right.  Is the king’s new substance something to celebrate?  Or should Bartholomew be sounding the alarm?

This book was released still early in Dr. Seuss’s career.  As a result, it isn’t told in rhyme.  There are some passages that do rhyme, most noticeably the magician’s chanting, but for the most part it is told in prose.  Actually, I found myself wanting to read it in meter.  The pictures are pure Seuss, however.  They may be a tad more realistic than usual, but you’ll certainly recognize his style.

The story is fun as Bartholomew tries to get the word out about the danger of this new weather only to be met with obstacles at every turn.  The usual Seuss creativity is certainly in evidence here.

The moral of the story is also good.  There’s the lesson about being thankful for what you have and one about being truly humble.  Neither feel preachy but instead come from the story organically.

I know I’d read this one as a kid, but we didn’t read it often.  If the use of magic isn’t something you’ll want to introduce to your child, you’ll definitely want to steer clear of this one.

Other than that, it is worth tracking down this lesser know Seuss book.  Bartholomew and the Oobleck might be an early book from his career, but it is definitely fun.

February 7th's Weekly TV Thoughts

I watch way too many shows on Wednesday night.  And when you are out playing ultimate Frisbee on Wednesday night, that means your TV gets stretch over the next couple of nights.  Not that I would trade those priorities for the world.

Castle – A bit more serious than I was expecting, but a pretty good mystery incorporating about part of the PI business.  I’m enjoyed these episodes with Castle as a PI, and I wouldn’t mind if they continued for a little while.  You can read my full recap here.

The Flash – Any time Barry has a scene with his father, the show hits a home run.  And I like how he still loves his real father so much while still having such a close relationship with Joe.  Not knowing the comics, I don’t know what they are setting up with some of the other stories at the moment, but it will be fun to watch them unfold.

Agent Carter – I liked Peggy getting out and making the men take notice.  Yes, I do like strong female characters (as if you couldn’t tell by the books I read).  But now that her secret from the first couple of episodes has been revealed, how is she going to get out of that mess?

Arrow – A third amazing episode in a row.  This show has really been firing on all cylinders since it came back this year.  The scenes with Malcom were good, and I’m very interested to see how they will play out that story.  However that final scene between Oliver and Felicity?  Amazing!

Melissa & Joey – I have a feeling they were trying to go with a real time theme, but it didn’t really work for me.  On the other hand, the references to 24 were very funny.  But they were pretty much the only thing that clued me in to what they were going for.

Baby Daddy – So seriously, does it make me a bad person that I am actively rooting for Danny at this point?  I know I haven’t been watching the show for that long, but at least right now the writers are definitely making it seem like they were meant to be together.

Fresh Off the Boat – I really wasn’t planning to watch this, but then I heard some rave reviews so I thought I’d give it a shot.  It was okay.  I liked the second episode more than the pilot (which is often the case), so I’ll probably give the two episodes on Tuesday a try, but it wasn’t as funny as I had hoped it would be.

Suits – I hope that last scene was really Louis coming around.  I am so ready for him to be on the same page with everyone else and stop being just a jerk all the time.  Oh, and I also very over the Mike and his secret thing.  I know, I know, that’s the premise of the show.  Yet they at least need to drop it for a few episodes and figure out a way to make it all go away.

Big Bang Theory – Pretty funny episode.  The guy’s portion hit a little too close to home with some stuff I’ve been going through this week, but the stuff with the ladies was priceless, especially how they were reacting to Amy’s fan fiction.

Girl Meets World – It’s interesting, I’m watching the first season of Boy Meets World right now (for the first time) and watching how Farkle is being treated vs. how his father was treated is very different.  I like this much better.  Farkle is weird, but he’s also a true friend (something Minkus never was) and the other characters do recognize that.  Oh, and Mya trying to do announcements?  Killed me laughing both times.  I could watching a half hour of that and laugh the entire time.

Book Review: Great Smokies by Sandy Dengler (Jack Prester #4)

Stars: 4 out of 5

Pros: Strong characters and a good mystery…

Cons: …that gets a little sidetracked occasionally along the way.

The Bottom Line:

Poison at potluck

But victim just first target

Fourth fun mystery

It’s a Prestigious Job…To Die For?

I really do need to make more trips to the eastern part of the United States.  There’s so much history and beauty I’ve missed.  Until I have the time and money for that to happen, I’ll stick with armchair travel, and one of those fun ways to travel in with Sandy Dengler’s Jack Prester series.  Great Smokies is the fourth murder he’s had to solve in a national park, and it’s another good book.

Jack is an investigator at large for the National Park Service, brought in when there is a high profile case.  He and his partner Ev Brandt seem to find themselves in plenty of danger as they try to learn what is happening.  And as we go along for the ride, we get to vicariously visit some beautiful locations and learn a little about what being a ranger in each location is really like.

For those who work in the National Parks, Great Smokey Mountains is considered one of the premier parks, so the superintendent of that park is one of the best jobs in the system.  Colleen Abcoff has had the job for the last two years – that is until she keels over dead at a potluck.  Since it looks suspicious, Jack and Ev are called in to investigate.

They’ve barely arrived when the temporary superintendent, Diane Walling, is shot in a drive by shooting.  Both women were hard to work for and had made lots of enemies.  They had also been supporting a proposal that would have drastically changed the park.  Is they why they were killed or was it someone they’d made mad over a personal issue?  Or does someone want their job enough to kill to get it?

There has been a strong story arc for Ev in this series, and it continues here.  She’s become a very different character since the first book, and the transformation has been a joy to watch.  Jack has grown, too, although it isn’t as drastic.  Still, both are wonderful characters that I love spending time visiting.

They pretty much make up the recurring cast.  (Well, human at least.  There is Jack’s dog Maxx.)  However, the suspects we meet in this book are strong and well developed as well.  It makes it much harder to guess the killer that way, so I’m always happy when that happens.

The plot gets a little sidetracked, however.  Along the way, we meet some characters who do play a part in the mystery, but Jack gets involved in their lives.  Another couple of sub-plots seem to slow things down rather than helping the overall book.  Still, everything does come together for a logical if fast conclusion, and it never gets stalled for very long.

Since Jack is a Christian, there is quite a bit of talk about prayer in this book.  I actually really welcomed this reminder about the importance of prayer and some of the thoughts about how it works.  Despite what I just said about the plot’s pacing, I don’t feel this aspect slows things down in the slightest.  Now, if I can just incorporate prayer into my daily life again….

Each chapter title in the book is from a previous published book or poem, and there are some pretty famous ones here.  That line is then incorporated into the first paragraph of the chapter as well, which makes for some fun reading.  It’s a gimmick, but one I enjoyed just as much now as when I originally read it.  And yes, that does mean the book starts off with the line you’d expect, but it really does work.

While the ebook edition is only a couple of years old, I reread the paperback version from 20 years ago.  While there are occasional references and plot points that seem out of date, the overall book holds together quite well.  Just remember the time frame when you read it and you’ll be fine.

So until I get to visit Great Smokies in person, I enjoyed this virtual tour of the park.  With plenty of fun and mystery to be had, this book makes a great vacation any time.

NOTE: This book was originally published as The Quick and the Dead.

If you want to watch the characters grow and progress, check out the Jack Prester Mysteries in order.

This review is part of this week's Friday's Forgotten Books, this week hosted over at Davy Crockett's Almanack.

February 6th's Book Beginnings and Friday 56

It's Friday, and I can't wait for this week to be over.  (I seem to say that most weeks, don't I?)  Anyway, here's this week's Book Beginnings and Friday 56.

I'm back to cozies this week with A Tine to Live, A Tine to Die by Edith Maxwell.

This is the first book in a series, and I actually read the second one last spring because the author offered me an ARC.  It's actually interesting seeing how some of the relationships from that book develop in this one.  Yet some parts of it are still fuzzy enough and I can't quite remember how that second book ends.  I may have to read the last couple of chapters of book two to remember where story arcs are before book 3 comes out.

But that's beside the point of today's post.  Let's start where the book starts:

Cam hung the pitchfork on the back wall of her antique barn with a tired hand.

And from page 56:

A twig snapped behind her.  Her heart sped up to warp speed.  She whirled.

My goal is to finish the book today.  I'm far enough along that it shouldn't be too much of an issue.

Movie Review: Mr. Peabody & Sherman

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Fun historical stops and puns

Cons: The surrounding story is too forced

The Bottom Line:

New comers might like

But those who know history

Will like shorts better

“This is No Time for Puns!  Even Good Ones.”

I thought it was trouble when they announced the movie.  How do you take a four to five minute segment and turned it into a full-fledged movie?  It just wouldn’t work, right?  Still, I heard some good things about Mr. Peabody & Sherman and decided a rental would be a great way to find out what the movie was all about.  It worked better than I thought it would, but not rushing out to see it was wise on my part.

For those who don’t know the original source material, “Peabody’s Improbable History” was a segment on the old Rocky and Bullwinkle show from the 1960’s.  But you don’t need to know much about it because the movie starts off introducing us to Mr. Peabody (voiced by Ty Burrell), the world’s smartest dog who adopts Sherman (Max Charles) as a baby.  This leads to his greatest invention, the WABAC machine, which he and Sherman use to experience history.  Of course, history doesn’t always start out the way we all know, and at times Peabody has to nudge it in the right direction.

But our story really picks up on Sherman’s first day of school.  He runs afoul of Penny Peterson (Ariel Winter), and winds up biting her.  With the authorities now thinking that Mr. Peabody isn’t fit to raise a boy, everything the two love might fall apart.  So Peabody invites the girl and her family over for dinner.  However, Penny isn’t willing to stop goading Sherman until he finally reveals the truth about the WABAC machine.  Soon, Penny, Sherman, and Mr. Peabody are racing through time trying to get home safely.  Can they do it?

The plot works to give us several fun historical stops over the course of the movie including ancient Egypt and Greece as well as a visit to Leonardo da Vinci.  As always, I enjoyed these, especially since they still managed to work in Peabody’s groan inducing puns.

Now, I get they need to figure out a way to stitch these segments together.  However, I’m not sure this particular story was the way to go.  It felt too forced and heavy handed to me.  Plus the attempts to develop Peabody and Sherman as characters felt too contrived.  Maybe it’s because I’m used to them being fairly flat over the course of all those segments from the show.  It’s not that they are bad characters, but they are more straight men for the antics of the wacky historical figures.  To see them treated as more serious characters just felt wrong.

The computer animation is highly stylized, but it’s fun.  This isn’t the realistic animation you will see other places, but it never gets in the way of the story.

The voice cast is great at bring their characters to life.  I have to give special praise to the leads who did a wonderful job capturing the voices of their characters from the TV show.  After the first minute, I felt like I was listening to the original actors.

I think those who aren’t familiar with the originals would really enjoy Mr. Peabody & Sherman.  Those who are used to the shorts will probably feel like I do – the movie works, but these characters were better in smaller doses.