Cat R. Waul plots
Cat R. Waul has a delicious little mouse fall into his palm but knows he shouldn’t eat it, both displaying and explaining cognitive dissonance, which is a psychological term describing the uncomfortable tension that may result from having two conflicting thoughts at the same time, or from engaging in behavior that conflicts with one’s beliefs.
In simple terms, it can be the filtering of information that conflicts with what one already believes, in an effort to ignore that information and reinforce one’s beliefs. In detailed terms, it is the perception of incompatibility between two cognitions, where “cognition” is defined as any element of knowledge, including attitude, emotion, belief, or behavior. The theory of cognitive dissonance states that contradicting cognitions serve as a driving force that compels the mind to acquire or invent new thoughts or beliefs, or to modify existing beliefs, so as to reduce the amount of dissonance (conflict) between cognitions. Experiments have attempted to quantify this hypothetical drive. Some of these have examined how beliefs often change to match behavior when beliefs and behavior are in conflict.
The Nightmare Before Christmas: What’s this?
Jack, the ruler of Halloween land, stumbles upon the gateway to Christmas town and looooves what he see’s. How can you NOT get excited along with him when watching this? The monsters are all missing and the nightmares cant be found and in there place there seems to be good feeling all around! mmm. Still gets me goin.
Earthworm Jim 2 review
I could never beat this one, so the last level and ending was new to me when I saw it here.
Mickey Mouse as The Brave Little Tailor (1938)
Brave Little Tailor (1938) is a one-reel animated cartoon short subject in the Mickey Mouse series, produced in Technicolor by Walt Disney Productions, and released to theatres on September 29, 1938 by RKO Radio Pictures. It was produced by Walt Disney, directed by Bill Roberts, with principal animation by Fred Moore and Bill Tytla. It was nominated for the 1938 Academy Award for Best Short Subject: Cartoons, losing to Disney’s own Ferdinand the Bull. In 1994 it was voted #26 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation field.
The story is based upon the Grimm fairy tale “The Valiant Little Tailor”, and revolves around a medieval European village, which is being constantly terrorized by an evil giant. The king and his princess (Minnie Mouse) have been seeking a warrior to kill the giant, but no one is brave enough to step up to the job. In the village, a young peasant tailor (Mickey Mouse) kills seven flies at once while at his work, and accidentally interjects several other peasants’ discussion of the problems with the giant to brag loudly about his accomplishment:
Peasant (to his friends): Say, did you ever kill a giant?
Mickey (interjecting unwittingly): I killed seven (flies) with one blow!
Gossip that Mickey has killed seven giants with one blow quickly spreads around the kingdom. The king summons Mickey, and asks if he really “killed seven at one blow”. Mickey goes into an elaborate re-telling of how he killed the seven (flies, not giants as the king believes), which impresses the king enough to appoint Mickey “Royal High Killer of the Giant”. Upon learning the misunderstanding, all of Mickey’s confidence disappears and he attempts to stammer his way out of the assignment. The king offers Mickey both vast riches and the hand of Princess Minnie if he can kill (or at least subdue) the giant. Smitten with the princess, Mickey proclaims that he’ll “cut [the giant] down to my size]”, and sets off for the giant’s lair.
After only a few minutes, however, he is ready to turn back and give up, but the townspeople and Minnie are counting on him. “Gosh,” Mickey sighs to himself, wondering what to do. “I dunno how to catch a giant.”
Just then, the giant appears, forcing Mickey to scramble for a place to hide. The giant sits down to eat a cart of pumpkins(as if they were grapes), then a drink of water (using a water well as if it were a thermos) and a smoke (rolling a cigarette from a haystack Mickey was hiding in and lighting it with an oven). Mickey is caught in the giant’s cigarette, and gives his hiding place away by accidentally sneezing. The angry giant attempts to squash the tailor, who quickly produces sewing thread and a needle and bounds the giant’s limbs. With needle and thread, Mickey swings about the giant, sewing him up and causing him to fall and knock himself out. The giant subdued, Mickey returns home and is hailed as a hero. An amusement park is built on the site of the battle (powered with wind power from the snoring giant). The short ends with the king and a newly married Mickey and Minnie enjoying a ride on the carousel.
Note: This was the second to last Mickey Mouse cartoon to feature his original design; he’d be given smaller eyes with pupils, for his next films (The Pointer and Fantasia) by animator Fred Moore.
Fivel Goes West. Tiger becomes a dog
Tiger trains to become a dog so he can fight the Cactus Cat Gang. The “i’ve got it” moment excited me as Tiger hears his echo and gains the confidence and resolve to take his training seriously. I also love it for its overly serious take on the absurd (see the disappointed child line in Nightmare Before Christmas).
Batman Forever. Edward becomes The Riddler
I watched this many times back in the day. The only thing I always thought was over the top though was Two Face’s “bad side” meal. Chard heart of black boar? A side of raw donkey meat? Sterno ingrain alcohol straight up baby?… wtf? No one eats that. I don’t care how psychotic.
Fivel Goes West. The Girl You Left Behind
Tanya performs on stage in the Cat Saloon (located below the human saloon) while Chula chases Fivel.