a good new year

My Christmas and new year were full of family visits, day trips, hiking, and relaxing. I hope your holidays were equally lovely.

Holiday Travels

I was lucky enough this year to celebrate two Thanksgivings with my extended family. I started my travels in Indiana and ended up in Maryland, watching autumn turn into winter along the way.

buggy parking in Amish country, Indiana

Amish country driving

hat selection in an Amish dry goods store

in a Michigan pie restaurant

homemade fortune cookies in progress!

baking pies at Grandma's house

rolling out pie crust on my grandma's pastry cloth

at the Christmas tree farm

my aunt and uncle taking home their tree

my grandma's front door

Thanksgiving Mixtape Revisited

(Illustration from the completely delightful book "The Hedgehog Feast,"
painted by Edith Holden some time between 1911 and 1920)

Last year I shared a mixtape of songs that get me in the Thanksgiving mood. This year I've edited and expanded the mix, and added a handy dandy playlist. Whether you celebrate Thanksgiving, harvest, or the joys of autumn turning into winter, I hope you enjoy it.

Spooky Shorts for Halloween

To help get in the mood for the haunting season, here are some of my favorite spooky shorts. Enjoy!

First, Tim Burton's brilliant stop-motion film Vincent (1982), made while he was an animator with Disney, and his original (and in my opinion superior) live-action version of Frankenweenie from 1984:




Next, the musical puppet short Graveyard Jamboree with Mysterious Mose (1999) by the wildly talented Screen Novelties:




This Oscar nominated short, The Sandman (1991) by Paul Berry, an animator for Cosgrove Hall and later The Nightmare Before Christmas and James and the Giant Peach, was based on a tale by E.T.A. Hoffman:




The nightmarish short The Cat With Hands (2001) by Robert Morgan (for those interested, there's also an earlier animated pilot version):




Lastly, The Listening Dead (2006) by Phil Mucci. Check out the "making-of" video to see more on the scale model and puppet shots:



Happy haunting!

Jim Henson Shorts

Jim Henson would have turned 77 last week. On what would have been his birthday, the Henson Company released "Drums West," a recently discovered short animated film made by Jim in 1961. I love the brief footage at the end of Jim at his paper-covered work table in the midst of making the film. Here are more of my favorite Jim Henson film experiments:

"Time Piece"

Made in 1964-65, Jim wrote, directed and starred in this surreal 9 minute short which was nominated for an Academy Award.

"Idea Man"

An experimental short from 1966, animated and narrated by Jim Henson.

Test footage for The Dark Crystal:
Early tests for the Podling puppets.


Tests for a rock puppet made by Cheryl Henson in 1979.


Testing early Gelfling puppets, Mystics and other forest creatures at Jim Henson's home in New York, 1978.

Finally, one of my favorite shorts from Sesame Street, produced in 1970 by Jim Henson and directed by Frank Oz, who also built the amazing contraption:
Another version with an alternate ending is here.

West of the Moon

West of the Moon, a truly lovely short film by Brent Bonacorso, based on the book El Monstruo de Colores No Tiene Boca by Roger Omar, an illustrated collection of interviews with hundreds of children about their dreams. You may read more about Omar's project here.

West of the Moon from Brent Bonacorso. Watching in full screen is recommended!

The Enchanted Forest

I had strange dreams last night and woke up thinking of the (now derelict) Enchanted Forest amusement park near Baltimore, Maryland. The Enchanted Forest was an independent fairy tale themed park which opened in the 50s, around the same time as Disneyland. By the 80s it was a picturesque mashup of nursery rhymes, fairy tales, and stories of Robin Hood and the Arabian Nights. I spent many childhood summers in Maryland and visited the park several times with my grandparents and assorted aunts, uncles and cousins. I was young enough that everything seemed completely magical, and not at all awkward or handmade.


Here's a narrated video about the Enchanted Forest:



and some vintage home movies taken in the park:



The inimitable John Waters also shot part of Cry-Baby there around 1990:



Some of the buildings and attractions have been moved to a nearby farm and restored, and the rest of the park has sadly fallen into ruin.