Looking for Weird - Toonstalgia

Toonstalgia: An Odd Cartoon Binge

On the Hunt for Weird to Watch

I'm already having one of those weeks. I have a list of problems and projects demanding my attention. I decided to procrastinate and work on a post about binge watching some cartoons. So I am doing something, I'm just not dealing with my problematic somethings. Anyway, cartoons here I come.

"Lullaby Land": Fail

I started with the cartoon short "Lullaby Land" and the song was so painfully annoying I shut it off within a few seconds. Skip it unless you're really bored and you're a completest who wants to watch every cartoon ever.

"Ziggy's Christmas"

I learned about "Ziggy's Christmas" on the "TV Crimes" Podcast with Mikey Neuman and Wil Wheaton. My hopes were high because I like bad, weird, insane stuff. The opening song of this cartoon is bad (but not as repugnant to me as "Lullaby Land"). I decided to power through to see what surreal mania the cartoon could offer.

Ziggy is a mess of a human being (Is he human?). The cartoon isn't that bad given what it is (a low budget Christmas special). The cartoon special is really bad for the part of my brain that demands answers to pointless questions like "Who keeps their snow boots in their dresser?" (Ziggy does but does anyone else keep snow boots in the dresser?).

"A Family Circus Christmas"

I also learned about this cartoon from "TV Crimes". The music continues the streak of terrible offenses to my ears. These kids are annoying but I made it through. The problem "A Family Circus Christmas" and "Ziggy's Christmas" share is they are hastily assembled animated specials with key images mined from the comic strips to please the fans. They're not actually good. I can accept the twisted logic of their universes but I cannot enjoy the poor quality. Not the poor animation quality but the poor scripting, the poor music, and the lack of joy.

8-Bit Cinema - The Big Lebowski

I still haven't seen the film. Although I've seen enough commentaries on the movie that sometimes I feel like I have. A cartoon adaptation and a movie are completely different experiences. Even as someone who has never seen "The Big Lebowski", I enjoyed the cartoon.

I generally like cartoons better than movies because a short cartoon is a contained glance into a large universe. It's the same reason I like comics better than graphic novels. Even if the episode or issue is part of an ongoing story, I like the capsule of art and ideas and the overall aesthetic of condensed storytelling.

Looney Tunes: Marvin the Martian

I finished my binge with a few Marvin the Martians. The architecture of Marvin the Martian's world stands out (possibly caused potent nightmares when I was younger about a surreal mall where I would fall to my death). The architecture is so unique. Marvin's cartoons give a window into a larger world that I would love to understand better. W