UP!

UP!

I apologize for my lack of posts, but hopefully I can make it up by writing an awesome review of Pixar's latest animated film simply titled, "Up".

The wonderful film follows Carl Fredricksen, an old bitter man who goes on an unlikely adventure in his home to fulfill a promise made to the love of his life. Complications ensue once Russell, a Wilderness Explorer, accidentally finds his way into Carl's home and heart. Carl and Russell's adventure in the flying house begins to go down south once they get entangled in some dangerous encounters. I don't want to spoil it for you all, but this journey is one that you won't forget!

As usual, the Disney/Pixar movie tugs at your heartstrings and totally brought tears to my eyes. Aimed at both children and adults, "Up" is another prized film that I hope will bring home another Oscar for Best Animated Film. With the underlying message that we are all to create our own adventures with the ones we love, it is something that I hope to incorporate into my personal life. With such amazing reviews by both critics and fans, you know that your $9.00 will be well spent.


Little known facts about my voyage to see this movie:

Went to two movie theaters before only to be rejected by the SOLD OUT sign.

Hoped to see it in 3D, but The Bridge wanted to charge us a whopping $15.75! They got me messed up cuz I was not gonna pay 16 bucks for an hour and a half movie!

Finally went to Marina Del Rey to see it in a smaller, much cheaper movie theater called United Artists. They were very hospitable and gave me a student discount.

The Pixar short, Partly Cloudy was one of the best I have seen.

Oh yeah, I cried about five times.

I started the clapping at the closing credits and everyone followed suit. It was PERFECT!

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Donald Duck, Hero of the Proletariat

Donald Duck, Hero of the Proletariat

Every once in a while I read something that is just bizarre. This is the case with an article in today's Wall Street Journal, in which writer Susan Bernofsky documents the huge popularity of Donald Duck in Germany.

The article comes with the unsurprising, as German parents apparently met comic books with the same hostility as parents in the United States:

The initial response to the Donald Duck comics in Germany was mixed. German kids loved them; German parents worried that this “trash literature” would interfere with children’s development. Of the 300,000 copies of the magazine Micky Maus printed in 1951, only 135,000 sold. But just six years later, the monthly journal had been replaced by a weekly, which by the late 1960s was appearing in an edition of 450,000 copies.

However, the article also documents the bizarre:

Not only young kids were reading it. Micky Maus became popular entertainment among a newly politicized generation who saw the comics as illustrations of the classic Marxist class struggle. A nationally distributed newsletter put out by left-leaning high school students in 1969 described Dagobert (Scrooge) as the “prototype of the monocapitalist,” Donald as a member of the proletariat, and Tick, Trick and Track as “socialist youth” well on their way to becoming “proper Communists.” Even Frankfurt School philosopher Max Horkheimer admitted to enjoying reading Donald Duck comics before bed.

Donald Duck as hero of the proletariat? I suppose that makes sense. After all, Scrooge McDuck is certainly the ultimate example of bourgeois decadence:

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