Okay, so maybe the Internet Movie Database can keep lots of up-to-date information better than the volunteers for The International Wizard of Oz Club, but that's not what I'm talking about here... it's the message boards!
The Moderators at the IWOC forums are just volunteers, but they do their job and keep everything under control. Posting there is almost comparable to living in Oz... it's pretty peaceful!
MEANWHILE over on the more violent side of the Internet, the message boards for every single movie are abuzz and the top threads (which change every 10 minutes) get updated every 10 seconds! And people there are mean! I tried posting over there, and at one point I made a joke, nothing personal to anyone, just about a character in a movie that's coming out, and some says, "you're a jerk."
No one has a sense of humor anymore, because, when I replied that it was just a joke, I was met with, "you have no life outside of this message board."
You know what? These people don't know me, they don't know about the 30+ teens I work with twice a week, they don't know about all the websites I've done (often uncredited) things for, and they don't know (or wouldn't care) that I'm in-between jobs! People these days are so quick to judge! Like when I did go around looking for jobs, I stopped in at a hotel that had a sign saying "Help Wanted" out front. I went in, asked about it, and the receptionist looked me over and says, "No." (And if you're hiring, and in the 417 area, I'm available!)
So, I've stopped posting at the IMDB boards.
It's times like this when I wish Oz was real and that I lived there!
ON A SEMI-RELATED and less rant-like (sorry) topic, I recently posted a "Re-Imagining of Oz" idea on the IWOC boards. Upon reading it, that fellow who posts as "pumpkinhead" noted how violent it was, and that he couldn't believe I wrote it. Just another, but more enjoyable, example of how much people don't know me...
AND ON THE IWOC VIDEO: the music I've decided on is "The Return To Oz Ragtime March." (You know, they music that plays during the triumphant parade scene in Disney's Return to Oz.) Now to find clips.
And yep, because of the above, I do feel nicer towards the Club now...
Friday, April 20, 2007
Saturday, April 14, 2007
Give Me Your Input! Please!
As some of the Oz community knows, 2007 marks the 50th anniversary of The International Wizard of Oz Club. Remembering my video I put together last year for L. Frank Baum's 150th birthday, I thought maybe another video, dedicated to the Club, may be a good idea...
SO... does anyone have any suggestions for what Oz/Oz-related song to use? If you name it, I probably have it, and if I don't, I can probably hunt it down.
Also, which video clips should I use? Here's a list of my Oz/Baum DVDs (some home-made, that will answer some questions) to let you know what I have to choose from...
SO... does anyone have any suggestions for what Oz/Oz-related song to use? If you name it, I probably have it, and if I don't, I can probably hunt it down.
Also, which video clips should I use? Here's a list of my Oz/Baum DVDs (some home-made, that will answer some questions) to let you know what I have to choose from...
- The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910)
- The Oz Film Manufacturing Company's movies (1914)
- The Wizard of Oz (1925)
- The Wizard of Oz (1933)
- The Wizard of Oz (1939)
- The Rainbow Road to Oz preview (1956)
- The Shirley Temple Show: The Land of Oz
- Six episodes from "Tales of the Wizard of Oz"
- Return to Oz (1964)
- The Wonderful Land of Oz (1969)
- Journey Back to Oz
- The Turkish Wizard of Oz
- The Wiz (1978)
- Dorothy in the Land of Oz (1980)
- The Wizard of Oz (Anime, seems to be 1990's)
- CTC The Marvelous Land of Oz (1981)
- The Wizard of Oz (Lorne Green & Aileen Quinn, 1982)
- The Tramps & the Wizard of Oroz (1984, Brazil)
- Return to Oz (1985)
- The Life & Adventures of Santa Claus (1985)
- Cinar's Oz Movie Series (1987)
- Dorothy Meets Ozma of Oz (1987)
- The Wizard of Oz (Goodtimes Animated, 1990)
- The Dreamer of Oz (Bootleg)
- DIC's "Wizard of Oz" Series, most of it (1991)
- The Wizard of the Emerald City (1994)
- The Wonderful Galaxy of Oz (1995)
- The Oz Kids Series (1996-97)
- Adventures in the Emerald City: The Silver Shoes (1999, Animated, Russian)
- Adventures in the Emerald City: Princess Ozma (2000, Animated, Russian)
- Lion of Oz (2000)
- Lost in Oz (Unaired Pilot, 2002)
- Clips from Wicked (2003)
- The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005)
- The Patchwork Girl of Oz (2005, 3D animation)
So, with these 34 titles (and that has several series counted as 1 title each), we should be able to make something... and let's not forget the 3D animation software I use...
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
Returning to Oz - 19th episode
Last night I discovered that the 19th episode of Aaron Pacentine's "Returning to Oz" has been released onto the Internet. Aaron usually sends an e-mail and posts this at the International Wizard of Oz Club's message board, but none this time.
In this episode, Aaron, Aaron Schultz, Jason Cottle and Travis Black talk about the Oz books, a few movies, a bit of how they'd like to see a new film version of Oz, the Annotated Wizard of Oz by Micheal Patrick Hearn (though they couldn't remember his name), and noting that, based on the press kits, Disney's Return to Oz seems to have been more honestly advertised in the United Kingdom than in the United States. (Here in the U.S., it was advertised as a fun family fantasy film.) Also, Aaron Pacentine interviews Joshua Dudley, who wrote the book Lost in Oz. Aside from talking about the books and comics, Joshua also talks about his Oz collection.
Once again, the episode can be dowloaded at http://www.videosforfamily.com/returntoozshow.htm.
In another week or so, episode 21 (the 20th episode was released early) will be released. This will be the episode where I will appear. I hope many of you silent blog readers will listen to this and the other episodes. I'm looking forward to it myself, not because I'm on it (though I do want to hear how I sound so I can improve in later episodes), but because there will also be a large portion I'm not on.
And if anyone's wondering, yes, I did agree to review the episodes.
In this episode, Aaron, Aaron Schultz, Jason Cottle and Travis Black talk about the Oz books, a few movies, a bit of how they'd like to see a new film version of Oz, the Annotated Wizard of Oz by Micheal Patrick Hearn (though they couldn't remember his name), and noting that, based on the press kits, Disney's Return to Oz seems to have been more honestly advertised in the United Kingdom than in the United States. (Here in the U.S., it was advertised as a fun family fantasy film.) Also, Aaron Pacentine interviews Joshua Dudley, who wrote the book Lost in Oz. Aside from talking about the books and comics, Joshua also talks about his Oz collection.
Once again, the episode can be dowloaded at http://www.videosforfamily.com/returntoozshow.htm.
In another week or so, episode 21 (the 20th episode was released early) will be released. This will be the episode where I will appear. I hope many of you silent blog readers will listen to this and the other episodes. I'm looking forward to it myself, not because I'm on it (though I do want to hear how I sound so I can improve in later episodes), but because there will also be a large portion I'm not on.
And if anyone's wondering, yes, I did agree to review the episodes.
Tuesday, April 10, 2007
Oz Drawings
Today I scanned in some of my latest Oz doodlings...
Dorothy...
Toto... (I think I draw him very well!)
And the Tin Woodman keeping it up gangsta on the West Side! (This took LOTS of studying my own hand...)
Do you like these pictures? Want to see more?
Dorothy...
Toto... (I think I draw him very well!)
And the Tin Woodman keeping it up gangsta on the West Side! (This took LOTS of studying my own hand...)
Do you like these pictures? Want to see more?
Thursday, April 05, 2007
My Oz April Fool's Joke
In the early wee hours of April 1st, 2007, I made a post on the International Wizard of Oz Club's message board in "Oz Announcements."
I was using a fake, unregistered screen name "DreamWorks." The topic was "Oz Screenplay Optioned." (Click on the name to see the thread, because it's not going to be reproduced here!)
The post was a collaborative effort between myself and Sam Antony Milazzo, an Oz fan who lives in Maroubra, Australia.
I sent Sam an e-mail with it, and he sent me an e-mail with his editing and additions. I edited it together seamlessly.
The only true parts of our post were about how we wanted to write and adapt the Oz stories as movies. As of yet, we have not edited together a script, so of course, it has not been optioned by DreamWorks.
In fact, in my original version, it was not DreamWorks, but 20th Century Fox. Sam had the better idea of bringing in Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks. I edited my original ending (saying that the company who had optioned the script was considering it as a franchise in the footsteps of "Narnia," "Lord of the Rings," and "Harry Potter") to say it would follow up the Shrek series, with the (so far unproven) idea that the forthcoming "Shrek the Third" may be the last film in that series. So, I guess that may have been a double-whammy joke, along with contacting Willard Carroll, Tom Hanks vs. Robin Williams, and asking Eric Shanower and William Stout for their participation in the way of conceptual artwork. (Eric has said probably not, but Stout may be up for it.)
The joke was minimally recieved. I think the fellow who posts as "MB" got that it was a joke, as he said the film's release date would be 4/1/09. "Lalalei" said they hoped it was a joke. Eric Gjovaag, on the other hand, may or may not have gotten that it was a joke, as he said he would not believe an Oz film was in the works until he saw some official production photos, and that a script option doesn't guarantee the movie will be made.
I have a feeling that several people saw it, but also checked out the link at the end, and after reading that page, chose to remain silent.
One person who was not fooled was Aaron Pacentine. I let him know over the phone during my interview (we weren't recording) that it was a hoax so he would not ask questions. He thought it was hilarious, but hopes that the screenplay will be optioned and given the green light.
A couple days later, I posted under my usual screen name and admitted that it was a joke.
It was fun to come up with, though.
I was using a fake, unregistered screen name "DreamWorks." The topic was "Oz Screenplay Optioned." (Click on the name to see the thread, because it's not going to be reproduced here!)
The post was a collaborative effort between myself and Sam Antony Milazzo, an Oz fan who lives in Maroubra, Australia.
I sent Sam an e-mail with it, and he sent me an e-mail with his editing and additions. I edited it together seamlessly.
The only true parts of our post were about how we wanted to write and adapt the Oz stories as movies. As of yet, we have not edited together a script, so of course, it has not been optioned by DreamWorks.
In fact, in my original version, it was not DreamWorks, but 20th Century Fox. Sam had the better idea of bringing in Steven Spielberg and DreamWorks. I edited my original ending (saying that the company who had optioned the script was considering it as a franchise in the footsteps of "Narnia," "Lord of the Rings," and "Harry Potter") to say it would follow up the Shrek series, with the (so far unproven) idea that the forthcoming "Shrek the Third" may be the last film in that series. So, I guess that may have been a double-whammy joke, along with contacting Willard Carroll, Tom Hanks vs. Robin Williams, and asking Eric Shanower and William Stout for their participation in the way of conceptual artwork. (Eric has said probably not, but Stout may be up for it.)
The joke was minimally recieved. I think the fellow who posts as "MB" got that it was a joke, as he said the film's release date would be 4/1/09. "Lalalei" said they hoped it was a joke. Eric Gjovaag, on the other hand, may or may not have gotten that it was a joke, as he said he would not believe an Oz film was in the works until he saw some official production photos, and that a script option doesn't guarantee the movie will be made.
I have a feeling that several people saw it, but also checked out the link at the end, and after reading that page, chose to remain silent.
One person who was not fooled was Aaron Pacentine. I let him know over the phone during my interview (we weren't recording) that it was a hoax so he would not ask questions. He thought it was hilarious, but hopes that the screenplay will be optioned and given the green light.
A couple days later, I posted under my usual screen name and admitted that it was a joke.
It was fun to come up with, though.
Monday, April 02, 2007
April 1st
Yesterday was April Fool's Day. How many jokes did I play? 1. Number played on me? 0.
Eric Gjovaag pulled another April Fools joke. Last year, he wrote up a story about the discovery of L. Frank Baum's King Rinkitink, the original version of Rinkitink in Oz, which sadly seems to no longer exsist.
I, however, had a very special interview yesterday: I'll be appearing on Aaron Pacentine's "Returning to Oz" (see previous blog entry) on the 21st episode. Aaron tells me it will be a couple of weeks before the show is up.
Among the topics we talked about were my own Oz website, the two most popular Oz movies of all time (1939 and Return), and some foreign Oz films.
Aaron and I also hope to have me appear in future episodes.
All in all, the interview was fun.
Eric Gjovaag pulled another April Fools joke. Last year, he wrote up a story about the discovery of L. Frank Baum's King Rinkitink, the original version of Rinkitink in Oz, which sadly seems to no longer exsist.
I, however, had a very special interview yesterday: I'll be appearing on Aaron Pacentine's "Returning to Oz" (see previous blog entry) on the 21st episode. Aaron tells me it will be a couple of weeks before the show is up.
Among the topics we talked about were my own Oz website, the two most popular Oz movies of all time (1939 and Return), and some foreign Oz films.
Aaron and I also hope to have me appear in future episodes.
All in all, the interview was fun.
Saturday, March 31, 2007
Thoughts & Opinions on the 1st Anniversary of RETURNING TO OZ
Today, I arranged all six files for Aaron Pacentine's 20th "Returning to Oz" radio show into an auto-playlist and listened to them all while browsing the Internet.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with "Returning to Oz," it began a year ago (in fact the 20th episode was to celebrate the 1-year anniversary) with Aaron Pacentine of www.videosforfamily.com and Celia Foster, who ran an extensive website dedicated to Disney's "Return to Oz." (Sadly, the website is no longer available, but another website has appeared that has taken it's place, more on that later.) The episodes were available to download from the Videos For Family website in .mp3 files. This gave downloaders the ease to use the files to either listen to on their computers, burn them to audio or MP3 CDs, or send them to their iPods or other MP3 Player.
The first thirteen episodes focused mainly on the production of Disney's "Return to Oz," before the announcement that the series would now contain conversations about Oz in general. (Although the next two episodes did have "Return to Oz" themes.) Aaron continued the show, and presently hosts it with Aaron Schultz of www.waltdisneysreturntooz.com, the afore mentioned "Return to Oz" website.
The twentieth episode is a delight. It features music, which does not detract from the conversations at all, and skits, the best of which is a phone call to Mr. Pacentine from none other than Judy Garland, the Dorothy of 1939. ("The reports of my death were greatly exaggerated." - Mark Twain) Of course, it is a highly skilled imitator, but when you just listen, you could be easily fooled by one of the greatest bits of "humbuggery" since Forgotten Silver or a man behind the curtain...
If you haven't yet heard this, go to http://www.videosforfamily.com/returntoozshow.htm, and start "Returning to Oz."
For those of you who are unfamiliar with "Returning to Oz," it began a year ago (in fact the 20th episode was to celebrate the 1-year anniversary) with Aaron Pacentine of www.videosforfamily.com and Celia Foster, who ran an extensive website dedicated to Disney's "Return to Oz." (Sadly, the website is no longer available, but another website has appeared that has taken it's place, more on that later.) The episodes were available to download from the Videos For Family website in .mp3 files. This gave downloaders the ease to use the files to either listen to on their computers, burn them to audio or MP3 CDs, or send them to their iPods or other MP3 Player.
The first thirteen episodes focused mainly on the production of Disney's "Return to Oz," before the announcement that the series would now contain conversations about Oz in general. (Although the next two episodes did have "Return to Oz" themes.) Aaron continued the show, and presently hosts it with Aaron Schultz of www.waltdisneysreturntooz.com, the afore mentioned "Return to Oz" website.
The twentieth episode is a delight. It features music, which does not detract from the conversations at all, and skits, the best of which is a phone call to Mr. Pacentine from none other than Judy Garland, the Dorothy of 1939. ("The reports of my death were greatly exaggerated." - Mark Twain) Of course, it is a highly skilled imitator, but when you just listen, you could be easily fooled by one of the greatest bits of "humbuggery" since Forgotten Silver or a man behind the curtain...
If you haven't yet heard this, go to http://www.videosforfamily.com/returntoozshow.htm, and start "Returning to Oz."
Friday, March 30, 2007
My blog appears in "Daily Ozmopolitan"
In Blair Frodelius' The Daily Ozmopolitan, there is currently a link to one of my recent blog entries: the one about the Oz Kids series. Right now it's the second entry in "Oz Film & TV."
That my blog entry was linked to was not a bad thing, in fact none of it was bad. The only thing I'm a little embarrassed at is the paragraph that was quoted:
When I first heard of this series, I rolled my eyes. It sounded as if (excuse me) whoever came up with it was on some kind of drug. I'm delighted to report I was mistaken. Willard Carroll indeed had true inspiration to bring the Oz series up-to-date here.
Oh well, maybe it'll get more people interested in the Oz Kids series. (Maybe we should petition Paramount for a DVD collection release.)
That my blog entry was linked to was not a bad thing, in fact none of it was bad. The only thing I'm a little embarrassed at is the paragraph that was quoted:
When I first heard of this series, I rolled my eyes. It sounded as if (excuse me) whoever came up with it was on some kind of drug. I'm delighted to report I was mistaken. Willard Carroll indeed had true inspiration to bring the Oz series up-to-date here.
Oh well, maybe it'll get more people interested in the Oz Kids series. (Maybe we should petition Paramount for a DVD collection release.)
A Few Thoughts
Well, it's been exactly one week since McDonalds began to sell "Wizard of Oz"/Madame Alexander toys in their Happy Meals.
Here's the score:
Everyone else: 1 or 2 to 4 sets
Me: 0
Why? Well, the biggest reason of all is that I'm currently out of a job, and thus need to save what money I do have.
Next reason, McDonalds, in my book, is EVIL! From having to wait 10 minutes for a Double Cheeseburger to being sent outside just for meeting some of my friends inside (+ we had Hardee's food) to unsucessfully trying to help my dad collect a complete set of the "Chronicles of Narnia" toys they sold in December '05, McDonalds and I have a history of not agreeing with each other. (Oh, and did I mention their burgers are really part soy, though advertised as 100% beef?)
Number three: if I got them, what would I do with them? I, for some reason, don't collect just for the sake of collecting, or because it's a rare item. (If it's an affordable rare item, then I might...) I've collected the Books of Wonder editions of Baum's books, as these are the most collectible editions in print, and I have a rather large collection of Oz DVDs and VHS tapes, but I actually read my books and watch my movies (every now and then). If I did get a whole set, I'd probably wind up giving them to my youngest sister and brothers.
And four, I'm not a huge fan of the MGM movie's portrayal of the characters. As mentioned before, I do like the MGM movie, but it's not the ULTIMATE OZ for me. And then mixing them with the Madame Alexander dolls works only for Dorothy and perhaps that munchkin, but on the others, it's a little unsettling.
So, with 1. no cash, 2. loathing of McDonald's, 3. no use for them, and 4. not even liking how they look, is it any wonder I'm not worried about not getting them?
(Although Laura Gjovaag's vivid and hilarious accounts of rounding up two sets in her blog have given me a chuckle.)
And while stalking a wild job, I've been keeping my eyes on the mailbox for a DVD of the 1974 stop-frame animation version of Alexander Volkov's Волшебнык Изумрудного Города (I love using those Cyrillic letters!), and Peter and the Magic Egg/Dorothy in the Land of Oz on DVD.
Here's the score:
Everyone else: 1 or 2 to 4 sets
Me: 0
Why? Well, the biggest reason of all is that I'm currently out of a job, and thus need to save what money I do have.
Next reason, McDonalds, in my book, is EVIL! From having to wait 10 minutes for a Double Cheeseburger to being sent outside just for meeting some of my friends inside (+ we had Hardee's food) to unsucessfully trying to help my dad collect a complete set of the "Chronicles of Narnia" toys they sold in December '05, McDonalds and I have a history of not agreeing with each other. (Oh, and did I mention their burgers are really part soy, though advertised as 100% beef?)
Number three: if I got them, what would I do with them? I, for some reason, don't collect just for the sake of collecting, or because it's a rare item. (If it's an affordable rare item, then I might...) I've collected the Books of Wonder editions of Baum's books, as these are the most collectible editions in print, and I have a rather large collection of Oz DVDs and VHS tapes, but I actually read my books and watch my movies (every now and then). If I did get a whole set, I'd probably wind up giving them to my youngest sister and brothers.
And four, I'm not a huge fan of the MGM movie's portrayal of the characters. As mentioned before, I do like the MGM movie, but it's not the ULTIMATE OZ for me. And then mixing them with the Madame Alexander dolls works only for Dorothy and perhaps that munchkin, but on the others, it's a little unsettling.
So, with 1. no cash, 2. loathing of McDonald's, 3. no use for them, and 4. not even liking how they look, is it any wonder I'm not worried about not getting them?
(Although Laura Gjovaag's vivid and hilarious accounts of rounding up two sets in her blog have given me a chuckle.)
And while stalking a wild job, I've been keeping my eyes on the mailbox for a DVD of the 1974 stop-frame animation version of Alexander Volkov's Волшебнык Изумрудного Города (I love using those Cyrillic letters!), and Peter and the Magic Egg/Dorothy in the Land of Oz on DVD.
Monday, March 26, 2007
Российские Приключения Элли
Привет, каждый! Я нашел кое-что очень интересным: Вы можете перевести русский язык на английском и русском языке на английском языке на языке с этим местом: http://translation2.paralink.com/lowres.asp
Вы можете прочитать быстро через быстро через книги о Волшебной Стране от Александра Волкова в Интернете на этом месте: http://volkov.anuta.org/
Достаточно интересно прочитать приключения Элли и Тотошка, когда Вы настолько знакомы с Dorothy и Toto. Изменения в истории и дополнениях поражают Вас.
And above, you could probably only understand two words, minus what's in the links. Well, copy the above paragraphs to your clipboard, click on the first link, paste in the translation box, select "Russian to English," and translate! You'll get the idea!
EDIT: Due to the comment, I've found another translating site, and have re-written the above entry, as well as changing the link to the old translator to the new one.
Вы можете прочитать быстро через быстро через книги о Волшебной Стране от Александра Волкова в Интернете на этом месте: http://volkov.anuta.org/
Достаточно интересно прочитать приключения Элли и Тотошка, когда Вы настолько знакомы с Dorothy и Toto. Изменения в истории и дополнениях поражают Вас.
And above, you could probably only understand two words, minus what's in the links. Well, copy the above paragraphs to your clipboard, click on the first link, paste in the translation box, select "Russian to English," and translate! You'll get the idea!
EDIT: Due to the comment, I've found another translating site, and have re-written the above entry, as well as changing the link to the old translator to the new one.
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