Violent Cartoons Are The Best-est

Kerry and I checked out Tex Avery and Friends: Screwball Animation Classics at the Cinematheque – our local art-house movie theater – on Sunday. A part of their “Cabin Fever” promotion aimed at keeping kids busy during the winter with free films, I actually thought there would be more movie-buffs and animation geeks than l'il sprouts there. But I was really wrong; the place was crawling with 'em. I counted two other folks in the audience not affiliated with children of any kind. But the show was awesome. We saw vintage Disney, Looney Toons (Duck Dodgers vs. Marvin the Martian) and a handful of Avery staples, like King-Sized Canary, The Cat That Hated People (my fave) and Red Hot Riding Hood (more than an inspiration for Jim Carrey's antics in The Mask). A standout was a print of the 1933 original Popeye The Sailor Man with a cameo by Betty Boop. And most amazingly, those modern kids ate the stuff up. Old cartoons are great. They're somehow ultraviolent and harmless at the same time. I only wish they had shown some classic Tom & Jerry to sweeten the deal.

We were watching part of The Empire Strikes Back on TV Saturday night. Kerry thinks the Imperial March (Darth Vader's theme) sounds like "A Spoonful Of Sugar" from Mary Poppins. We also rented We Don't Live Here Anymore (an angry downer, all four thumbs down) and Say Anything..., to satisfy Kerry's John Cusack jones and my having never seen it before. It was fun.

And we also checked out the Cream Gallery's "Love 2005" exhibit on Friday during another blizzard. Chatted with buddy/former college-mate Mark Kruk (congratulations!), saw my man Allan Lorde (hey!) and scoped works by another college-mate and illustrator extraordinaire Stephen Boychuk (kickass!).