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All Summer in a Day | |
March 24th, 2020 | |
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When I was a child my dad recorded an eclectic collection of TV | |
movies for me onto a very low quality VHS. I'm fairly convinced he | |
had no idea what the stories were about but they probably said | |
they were for kids and that was good enough for him. For me, it | |
was a warm blanket of comfort. I adored every single thing on that | |
tape and watched them over and over. My sister, three years older | |
than me, couldn't stand any of them and would leave me alone. | |
Years later the VHS tape surfaced when I was in college. My friend | |
and roomate at the time looked at this odd assortment of titles | |
written on masking tape and asked about it. "Hold onto your butt!" | |
I probably yelled and looked all over creation for a VCR. | |
We sat there, two guys in their twenties, watching this mad | |
collection of cinematic excellence and I'll never forget his | |
reaction. | |
"This tape explains ALL of you." | |
So what was on it? Allow me to give you the highlights: | |
It opened with a powerhouse. One of the most beautiful and | |
heart-wrenching stories ever. Ray Bradbury's "All Summer in | |
a Day". | |
All Summer in a Day (Video) | |
All Summer in a Day (Short story) | |
If you've never seen or read the story, I can't tell you honestly | |
which to look at first. The short story is powerful, but the video | |
really nails the drama. The only downside, which I did not | |
remember from childhood, is the absolutely horrible score. | |
As an interesting side-note, I ended up ripping the video of my | |
VHS tape and creating a chapterized DVD from it. I made fake | |
artwork for the case and printed 5 copies. A friend working at the | |
Franklin Indiana Public Library tagged them and snuck them onto | |
the shelves there. If anyone is in the Franklin Indiana area, have | |
a look and see if you can find a copy! | |
**** SPOILERS **** | |
This story profoundly affected my own appreciation for sorrow and | |
tragedy. This was just strong enough for the child I was to feel | |
it deeply and empathise with Margot. I was in the closet with her | |
in darkness. It's hard to put into words what that did to me. | |
**** END SPOILERS **** | |
The next video on the tap was a TV adaptation of the 1977 | |
children's book by Daniel and Jill Pinkwater: The Hoboken Chicken | |
Emergency. The plot as described on Wikipedia: | |
The main character, Arthur, is asked to pick up a reserved | |
turkey for Thanksgiving dinner, but the market has lost the | |
reservation, and no store in the area has any turkeys or other | |
birds available for purchase. So Arthur finds and brings home | |
a 266-pound chicken named Henrietta. The family welcomes her | |
with open arms, but the neighbors are not so sure. Everyone in | |
town is horrified after Henrietta escapes. | |
As you can imagine, it's pure ridiculousness. The video format, | |
made in the early 80s, is really bad. The giant chicken costume, | |
the acting, all of it. | |
The Hoboken Chicken Emergency (Video) | |
Following that was a harrowing tale of kidnapping and escape. | |
That's right, I'm talking about that oh-so-famous TV movie, | |
Run Rebecca Run! Synopsis: | |
Simone Buchanan plays a young camera fanatic who is marooned | |
on a desert island. Here she is threatened by a refugee from | |
South America (Henri Szeps) who isn't keen on having his | |
whereabouts known. Hostility melts into friendship before the | |
rescue boats arrive. | |
That's kind of a lame way of putting it. The dude is a fugitive | |
and he decides to hold her captive so she can't give away his | |
location. She tries to escape, and there's a bird, and stuff. | |
I really wish I could explain it more, or link you to the actual | |
video, but this one doesn't seem to be online at present. The best | |
I can do is this trailer. | |
Run Rebecca Run (Trailer) | |
I guess I could point to this one for some of my outdoors-y stuff, | |
or maybe for my penchant for being a recluse and doing crimes. I | |
dunno. | |
And that brings us to the clean-up position on the tape. The #1 | |
biggest hit for me was The Boy Who Loved Trolls, with its all-star | |
cast including Sam Waterston and William H. Macy, and the dad from | |
Alf! This one is on Youtube in Parts and it's so worth your time: | |
The Boy Who Loved Trolls | |
When the parents go away the secret magic of the world is revealed | |
to a dreamy-eyed kid. He journeys on adventures, meets some crazy | |
cool characters (including a mermaid and a turtle!) and saves time | |
itself. My fastination with the fantasy genre definitely comes | |
from this thing, in all its flaws. | |
There were more things on the tape, but you get the idea. It was | |
really substantial to my emerging identity and I'm appreciative. | |
Do you have anything like that? Books, movies? A horrible drive | |
you took with the family every year that scarred you for life? |