Rabbits vs. Rodents
Posted at 6:00 AM on November 5, 2009
by Dale Connelly
(26 Comments)
Every day when I get home from work I have to check the basement for bodies.
Autumn is move-in time for the mice. They are persistent and creative, and they love peanut butter a little too much for their own good. I hate setting traps for them but the alternative is even worse, so I am constantly on the look out for signs of mouse settlements and development projects underway.
Maybe that's why it caught my eye that The Walt Disney Corporation is going to build a theme park in China. The deal to create Shanghai Disneyland was 20 years in the making. It represents Disney's unquenchable determination to sell countless numbers of plush Goofy figures and sparkly princess dresses in the world's biggest marketplace.
At the same time, Disney is busy updating Mickey Mouse. A video game called "Epic Mickey" is scheduled for release about a year from now. It will feature the iconic rodent having an adventure in what is described as "a world of paint and thinner", finding his way through a dangerous land populated by little-used or completely discarded Disney characters.
The evil overlord of this virtual kingdom is said to be Oswald the Lucky Rabbit.
Oswald was Walt Disney's pre-Mickey creation whose ownership rights Disney lost to Universal Studios in 1928. Here's the part that I find so appealing - The Disney Company finally re-gained control of Oswald in 2006 when ESPN (owned by Disney) traded human sportscaster Al Michaels to NBC (owned by Universal).
Traded for a cartoon rabbit. That has to be a very special feeling.
At the time, some people thought the trade was sentimental - trying to bring poor Oswald home. But now we find out it was all so the rabbit could play the heavy to the mouse's hero in a video game. Good thing. Otherwise Mickey would be left trying to defeat Al Michaels.
And all these billions of dollars are shifting around because back in 1928, Disney lost Oswald the Rabbit to Universal and was forced to start his cartoon enterprise over from scratch by putting pants on a mouse. Sometimes your second try is better than your first.
What worked out better for you the second time around?
Comments (26)
not for everyone, but second marriage is waaaaay better. second career was better also.
i'm happy that the FIRST Radio Heartland is a sure winner.
Good Morning, All
out milking early now, so catch ya on the flip side.and thanks for the throat singing yesterday, Dale and Mike!!
Barb - I've been wondering- did Majority score last week or whenever that was you were pimping for him?
Dale - you're either there live, or you have incredible weather telepathy.
Don't tell Lora this, but I was a much better parent when her younger sister arrived.
G'Morning RH -
Often (and happening more and more often) a second reading is better than the first. Such as, I was reading the blog, and thought I had seen that Mickey was going to have an adventure in the world of paint thinner. My mind said "WHAT??!!?" and upon reading it a second time, I'm still not sure if they're saying that Mickey will be thinner (slimmer) or in danger of being thinned out. I had to Google "Epic Mickey" to figger it out - sounds kinda cool.
Anyway, as I am writing all this, Dale plays Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, so it may be right about the paint thinner...
The only thing clear right now is the sky and I'm looking at a beautiful moon.
I guess it was good that Disney lost Oswald and had to come up with Mickey. It will be interesting to see if Oswald works now that Disney has Oswald back.
I have a big collection of stuff saved for reuse including old lumber and various old hardware. Some times I am amazed at what I can make out of this old stuff such as things for vines to grow on in the garden. However, some of these things made with left overs are not that attractive and maybe most of those saved scrapes should really be discarded.
I think Dale and Mike have really done a good job of giving the Morning Show a second chance by creating Radio Heartland. Of course there are things about the Morning Show that I miss, but the there are also some good new things that are part of Radio Heartland.
Dale, your choice of songs this first hour is a great match to the blog!
Is Oswald a white rabbit?
I vote for Jim as most innovative Heartlander with scrap lumber.
know what you mean about the mice, sometimes we get 4 overnite until it gets really cold and then they must just stay in their nests to wait to bother us til spring
second marriage much better , calmer; second career (retirement) is the best
my first dog was still the ideal tho, have had 7 since and have loved them all but Timer was the best
Hmm for todays theme, the Bunny Hop Maybe?
Greetings! My mind is drawing a total blank right now ... all I can think of is how recycling things is great to do. Also, I had some great vintage clothes when I was in college. I remember a couple exquisite dresses that I had and I wore them fairly frequently, too. Sorry for being so lame today ...
Ms D - Majority is gentle but persistent. i took the Girl home tuesday, leaving T smoking a pretend cigarette and relaxing in the hay. but now there are two more Girls here for him to tempt into kid-bearing.
mice and voles took apart a chenille bedspread, one fringe at a time, before we lived out here. i noticed the fringe was disappearing but didn't know where it was going. then i opened a drawer downstairs and there was a whole big nest built out of chenille fringe and also a pile of bird seed. such industrious little critters. now that we live out here, the cats pretty much take care of any intruders. good luck, Dale. i know Kay has problems with mice, but at least you don't have lizards as she does!
Hey another suggestion Tom Waits version of High Ho
I dont believe that last song was a Disney song, but Toys R Us stole it. Maybe it was a Broadway song
Dale, it was Peter and the Lost Boys who sang "I Won't Grow Up" in Peter Pan.
Happy Thursday!
...wow...Al Michaels traded for an (at the time) out-of-date, obsolete, nearly completely forgotten cartoon character. Not even a draft pick. ...wow... That's got to be like being traded for Ted Williams' frozen head. Or a CEO being replaced by a stapler (although, in some cases, I can see the logic of that).
So, Oswald is now being made out to be some kind of Fu Manchu style e-ville nemesis for The Mick. Hm. One would have thought that the mercurial (AKA "crazy") Donald Duck would have made a more interesting foil. For some odd reason, I can picture James Bond's first movie as "Dr. Duck" and Donald with metal/robot hands in a Mao Tse Tung jacket saying in his trademark accent, "The successful criminal brain is always superior. It has to be. " Hey! And Ludwig Von Drake could be "Q." Oh, this is disturbingly taking shape in my brain very quickly.
I'm sorry, what was the question?
My second attempts in theater ultimately seem more successful over time than the first. I started, like a lot of folks, in community theater (as a kid) - but quickly figured out that my acting abilities are pretty much limited to portraying animals and crazy people. So I switched over to the back stage side. I do much better designing and playing with tools and paint. It's a more comfortable place for me, and I have a wider repertoire of options since all I have to do is be sure I design within the budget and may capabilities and those of whatever crew I may have.
Happy Thursday all!
TGiTHat -- that's amazing stuff ... how do you come up with those ideas?! I've got Swiss cheese for brains this morning and sore muscles from serious karate training last night. I'm ramping up now for Advanced Brown Belt graduation in March.
This talk of things hopefully getting better the second time reminds me of a song by Donovan about a not so good time - Season of the Witch.
Stepehen Jay Gould 25 years ago wrote a wonderful essay about how Mickey Mouse evolved over the years into a more child-like creature and how we are programed to repsond to the traits of human babies, including in animals.
I have to join Barb and Shelly about the 2nd marriage! Have to think some more about what else.
Any of you with meeces want a cat? I know of a really nice orange one that got left behind when someone moved. (!)
I don't believe that "I Won't Grow Up" was in the Disney movie. I think it was just in the Broadway play and the T.V. version of it that played in the 60's.
We are currently in the process of eliminating squirrels from our ceiling/roof/attic for the second time. The first company we used didn't seal the entry points very well. These people promise to be different. They also promise to set them loose in a nice woods somewhere. The guy actually crossed his heart when he said he wouldn't kill them. I have to believe a guy who crosses his heart, don't I? It has been much quieter up there the last two days and he has taken 2 squirrels to a nicer home away from the hustle and bustle of South Minneapolis.
Good Morning all! - Dale, what about "Baby Mine" from Dumbo? It seems as though Walt lost his original creation, his baby, to Universal Studios, and had to make do with the second -in-line for a long time.
It is a beautiful sunny day here in Zim. Was up at 5am, walking to the car, and noticed that even the old dead leaves bunched up in the driveway were sparkling with frost. A little sparkle can change a lot of things for the better. Hope all the RHers have a sparkling day today.
The Internet Movie Database, that knows everything about movies, does not list "I Won't Grow Up" in the movie soundtrack.
Oswald in the original cartoons looks very much like Mickey with long ears, black and white where Mickey was black and white.
Thanks Dale for digging (get it?) through the library to find that. That has to be the freakiest version of that song I have ever heard.
Darcy, I sympathize about the squirrels. Charlie the Cat (may he rest in peace) was able to get one or two each season, but we're missing him this fall -- I'm being watchful for meece in the basement too.
Something else better the 2nd time around was my second stint in a bonafide bookstore job, at Birchbark Books (owned by writer Louise Erdrich), near Lake of the Isles in S. Mpls. I was asst. bookkeeper; it was a lot of fun.
I'm still creating my career for 2nd half of life...
Dale, I'll request an old movie theme, The Second Time Around, for all us having a good time in second marriages... It's sung by someone like Doris Day or Sandra Dee, if you have it.
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