Comments on: Without blinking once...

Without blinking once...

smoke — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:22:24 -0800

Artist and animator Cory Godbee has started Terrible Yellow Eyes, a blog tribute to Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak.

Entries include catching up with old friends, and a more psychological take. It's not all Godbee's show, however, he's invited some talented colleagues to contribute.

By: Artw

Artw — Mon, 18 May 2009 16:45:09 -0800

Weirdly the Maurice Sendak product that most comes into our lives is not Wild Things or anything like that but Little Bear, a series of books he illustrated, and the cartoon based on it. The books are alright I guess but the cartoon is horribly twee – afflicted by the bland syrupy quality that affects all modern stuff for young kids. I'm not entirely sure how we got to the situation where our kid demands this thing so often – I think it's one of the on-demand offerings our cable has and we randomly put it on one day when she was bored of Sesame Street. Every so often we'll notice some element in the art that resembles the Maurice Sendak that we remember, but not very often. Anyhow, that's life with kids for you.

By: GuyZero

GuyZero — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:03:55 -0800

The Little Bear books are quite nice. The TV show is indeed syrupy and bland. Too bad really.

By: adamrice

adamrice — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:04:22 -0800

Nice. Should find a way to work in a little of Ol' Yellow Eyes Is Back

By: ericb

ericb — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:24:01 -0800

Related -- recent FPP: Trailer for Where the Wild Things Are.

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Mon, 18 May 2009 17:28:09 -0800

Yeah, Artw, I hear you about the twee, bland, syrupy Little Bear... it's so awful. Kid's TV in the states (and everywhere, probably) is just so disappointingly bad, it's why we pulled the antenna years ago and only do DVDs with our 9-year-old. Speaking of which, the animated adaptations of Wild Things and others (with music and perfectnarration by Peter Schickele of PDQ Bach fame) are really good, you should definitely get ahold of those, if you don't have them already.

By: rivenwanderer

rivenwanderer — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:41:29 -0800

This link made my day! Thanks! I had so many Sendak-illustrated books as a kid, and I think that the sense of wonder and strangeness that threaded through them all was an excellent thing.

By: njbradburn

njbradburn — Mon, 18 May 2009 18:58:59 -0800

Makes me smile--thank you for the link! TV show is indeed syrupy and bland. It is bland. And traditional. And fairly conservative. But it is one of the handful of shows I'll let my 4 and 5yo sons watch. Father Bear in a three piece suit has got to be a positive role model. ;>

By: philip-random

philip-random — Mon, 18 May 2009 19:47:28 -0800

also well worth checking out, WE LOVE YOU SO, the official blog for the "Wild Things" film ... The film represents years of work from hundreds of different artists, writers, photographers, musicians, actors, and creators of all degrees. This place has been established to help shed some light on many of the small influences that have converged to make this massive project a reality.

By: Uppity Pigeon #2

Uppity Pigeon #2 — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:15:58 -0800

Weirdly the Maurice Sendak product that most comes into our lives is not Wild Things or anything like that but Little Bear, a series of books he illustrated, and the cartoon based on it. Oh god, I remember that Little Bear cartoon. It was so weird and unbearable. Everyone spoke in this horrible, saccharine, slightly-delayed way that made them into some sort of unholy uncanny valley elementals.

By: ActingTheGoat

ActingTheGoat — Mon, 18 May 2009 20:27:06 -0800

Quick! Let's dismiss him as a Hipster.

By: allkindsoftime

allkindsoftime — Tue, 19 May 2009 02:26:17 -0800

Cool stuff. I grew up loving Wild Things and I'm looking forward to the film. Fun side note: In the early 00's I took a job in NYC working with Macy's parent company, Federated Merchandising Group. Macy's is of course well known for their public events promotion, particularly the Independence Day fireworks show, the annual flower exhibition, and of course the most famous of them all - the Thanksgiving Day parade. They very smartly staff these events with "volunteer" employees who have regular day-jobs working for the company. My divisional boss, the nutjob who headed up merchandising for men's tailored clothing for all of Macy's and their (at the time) sister divisions, happened to be a well-tenured balloon pilot for the parade, and an avid recruiter of new pilots. Most of my coworkers in the fashion industry were either women or fabulously gay men, most of whom had little or no interest in taking responsibility for 60-some people holding down a massive inflated canvass toy. My response, when he asked me, however, if I was interested in guiding one through the frozen tundra of Manhattan: OH HELL YES. So this is how I first came to find myself walking backwards around the parking lot outside Giants' stadium on a cool October Saturday morning, with orange gloves on and a whistle, directing a bunch of store employees from NJ who were holding down one of the training balloons. And then the much-awaited day comes when they announce who is piloting which balloons - a secretive and very suspect process leads up to this in which the most senior employees flex their considerable muscle behind the scenes to influence their ability to get the newest and most coveted balloons. I, as a new rookie pilot peon, of course had no say and would be piloting whatever dregs fell from their table as they greedily picked their stallions of choice (yet still they are to this day "awarded" in an announcement as if the process is actually legitimate). And of course, I ended up with the balloon that I would have picked if I could have had my choice - the one no one else wanted - I was the pilot for the Where the Wild Things Are balloon, in my first Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. Suck it, Spiderman.

By: misha

misha — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:28:00 -0800

Loved your story, allkindsoftime. Where the Wild Things Are is one of my favorite books, and probably the only book I memorized so that I could narrate it to my kids over and over again, holding it out to them so that they could enjoy the fantastic illustrations. The night Max wore his wolf suit and made mischief of one kind and another, his mother called him, "WILD THING!"... Just a lovely, lovely book for kids.

By: yiftach

yiftach — Tue, 19 May 2009 09:14:52 -0800

What misha said. I have the double pleasure of owning and reading it to my kids in TWO languages (English and Hebrew). My toddler daughter knows both versions backwards and forwards, and loves delivering some of the choicest lines, like when Max yells "Stop!" - "Sheket!" ("Quiet!" in Hebrew). It's been a while... I think I know what I'm reading at bedtime tonight :-) Thanks!