Maximum Go in the Resulting Hogshead

Thursday, August 11, 2005

Favorite cartoon movies?

I was having a conversation last night about three of my favorite cartoon movies from back when I was a kid. Here they are: The Last Unicorn, The Secret of NIMH and Watership Down. Oh, there were lots of others of course. But even with all of the great cartoon movies I loved as a kid, these three are without question the top three on my list.

Have you seen them? The person who I was talking to last night, a mother of two, has not seen a single one of them and neither have her kids. That kinda made me sad. I have seen quite a few of the cartoon movies that are coming out today -- including Disney's recent import, Howl's Moving Castle, which I saw last month. I have to say I'm not impressed. The cartoon movies today are just not as memorable as the classics I remember. They were brilliantly done, and wonderfully dark. The new movies are just flash.

Unfortunately -- though I actually think this counts in their favor -- the cartoon movies I love were made before all of the new fancy animation techniques came around. They're old-school. And they're incredible. So why don't they get watched?

Maybe they just don't hold people's attention anymore. Do they seem dated? I don't know. It's also always possible that I am just getting old and starting to think that the stuff I was exposed to was so much better than what is out today. It just seems to me there once was more art involved. And I also believe that movies like these helped me to develop an aesthetic when I was younger. They weren't the end of that development, thank God, but I think I might be a different writer were it not for them. What will the poets of tomorrow start with?

What were your favorite cartoon movies? Anyone want to tell me?

Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Hmm. Something for you New York Poets.

I'm not sure exactly what my brother Pee Dee is doing at this event, but I guess those of you who live in New York can go check it out this weekend and see. Let me know if you figure it out. Pee Dee, if you didn't know, is an illustrator who graduated a couple of years ago from the New York School of Visual Arts. Since then he's designed toys for Spongebob, clothes for Sesame Street, and he's currently illustrating for the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon.

Anyway, here's the ad:

Tuesday, August 09, 2005

And I'll say it again,

I want a lemur.

Monday, August 08, 2005

Coincidence

It was strange to read today that Peter Jennings has died of lung cancer. Strange and sad. I never met Jennings but just this last Thursday I received a call from my mother telling me that my grandfather has a tumor in his lung and has lost 20 pounds. Because of his age, they're probably not going to treat it. I was already halfway drunk when I got the call, and I went all the way after that. I even wound up on the wrong train back from DC. I almost ended up in Shady Grove instead of Takoma Park.

I didn't realize that Jennings was a smoker, but apparently he smoked for most of his life. My grandfather wasn't much of a smoker. He doesn't smoke at all now, and when he did smoke it was only infrequently. He did once confess to me that he really loves the smell of tobacco. He did have asbestos exposure when he was younger and worked for the power company. But who knows. He's 88. He's already had all kinds of heart surgery, special diets, etc.

I wish I were back in San Diego. I once wrote a poem about my grandfather's tattoo that I would like to post here but I don't think I have it in DC. I'd also like to be able to just hop in the car and drive over to Phoenix for a visit. There will be a chance for that once I am done here.

I will check at home tonight and see if I have that poem on my laptop. If so, I'll put it up.

: Name: Matthew Shindell; Location: San Diego, California, United States

Matthew Shindell used to live and write in Phoenix, Arizona. He now lives and writes in La Jolla, California.

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The Poetry Postcard Project:

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Go to the Poetry Postcard Project website to see the project and find out how to participate.

Where are my poems?

Read a PDF of my chapbook, Were something to happen it would be both funny and interesting. Copies of this limited edition chapbook are no longer available.

American Letters and Commentary Issue 17 - "Hoo Ta Ta, Hoo Ta"

American Poetry Review July/August 2004 - "It sounds like a saxophone tugging across a field"

Black Warrior Review v30n2 - "Sidekick"

FENCE v6n2 - "Drinking with the Ventriloquist's Dummy" & "Parable of the Boy inside the Deer"

Hayden's Ferry Review #25 - "The Willow"

Hayden's Ferry Review #35 - "The Monkey's Skull: Where Do Good Newsmen Come From?" & "Made Easy"

Jubilat 7 - "But Emerson Says, 'The body is a metre. The eye appreciates finer differences than art can expose."

The Melic Review - "In Short, a Pleasant Day :: The Man Arrives, Hooray!" "The Same Words :: Order of Harpoons," & "A Birdâ€™s Head Rolls Into Two Baskets :: Walkie-Talkie"

No Tell Motel - "Order of Harpoons :: Digitalia :: Dobre Vecher" 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Read my discussion of the poem here.

Northwest Review - "Clink" & "Bear-Caught"

Octopus 4 - "About the Author," "Four Star General" &
"The Day :: Born :: The Red Door"

Pleiades 24:2 - "Speech of Artificio, a Character in My New Play" & "Inc."

Tarpaulin Sky v2n2&3 -
"Two Jokes About Bears"

Unpleasant Event Schedule - "He Called Her Forest (or was it Forest?)" & "The Brain Full of Bourbon (concerning the doctor and the simulation of Switzerland)"

Favorite cartoon movies?

Hmm. Something for you New York Poets.

And I'll say it again,

Coincidence

About Me