THIS UKULELE KILLS ZOMBIES

I’ve never been a PayPal user. No reason why – I just never found myself in a situation where I needed a PayPal account to buy something online.

Until I came across this.

"Crimson Tide Speech" (Watch on YouTube)

So I bought and downloaded it, yes.

Recommended for yr Halloween listening pleasure. Or year-round if you like some ukulele with yr rockabilly.

Ukuleles are the new accordions,

This is dF

THE MOUSE AND THE MASK

ITEM [via Mostly Forbidden Zone]: On January 7th, 1942, one month after Pearl Harbor, the Sun Rubber Company introduced the Mickey Mouse Gas Mask for children.



According to the Gas Mask Lexicon:

The mask was designed so children would carry it and wear it as part of a game. This would reduce the fear associated with wearing a gas mask and hopefully, improve their wear time and, hence, survivability....

Ultimately, the Office of Civil Defense bought the M2 Noncombatant Gas Mask for small children to protect them from chemical agents. In tests, with proper coaching and good salesmanship by the leader, young children could be induced to wear the gas mask for extended periods....

The Mickey Mouse Gas Mask was produced as part of the war production program. The Sun Rubber Company produced approximately 1,000 Mickey Mouse gas masks and earned an Army-Navy ‘E’ for excellence in wartime production in 1944. Overall, production of the Noncombatant Gas Masks (and in fact, all gas masks) was one of the most successful production programs of the war. In fact, production had to be curtailed early due to the vast quantity produced.

Which makes me think how surreal you could make a conventional ground offensive by making an adult military version of this mask.

Imagine being on the front line and seeing a pack of giant armed Mickey Mice coming for you.



It’s a gas gas gas,

This is dF

TRICK OR TREAT 09: I AM THE LIZARD KING. I CAN DO ANYTHING

TRICK

"BABYMETAL - ギミチョコ！！- Gimme chocolate!! - Live Music Video" (Watch on YouTube)

( TREAT! )

Run run run,

This is dF

WHERE THE WILD THINGS AIN’T

I haven’t seen the film version of Where The Wild Things Are (as it’s not out in Hong Kong yet), and I haven’t decided yet if I’ll go. I love the source material and Spike Jonze, but like a lot of people, I have my doubts about stretching a book that takes first-graders under ten minutes to read to a feature-length film.

But I like this Newsweek interview with Maurice Sendak, Spike Jonze and script co-writer Dave Eggers. Specifically, I like this part which has been buzzing about the blogscape:

What do you say to parents who think the Wild Things film may be too scary?
Sendak: I would tell them to go to hell. That's a question I will not tolerate.

Because kids can handle it?
Sendak: If they can't handle it, go home. Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like. But it's not a question that can be answered.

Which, for my money, needs to be said a lot more often in an age where old Sesame Street episodes are considered too hardcore for today’s kids.

Meanwhile, Andrew Romano at Newsweek has a good column on why it doesn’t matter if WTWTA is too scary for kids – and that even if it is, that’s still a good thing.

See also: a good piece from Michael Chabon on the death of the Wilderness of Childhood, and the impact on both children’s imaginations and literature itself.

Come out and play,

This is dF