James and the Giant Peach

Though aunts everywhere may protest, there really is nothing worse than waking up in a cold little room every day to get out of bed and wait on your "benevolent" caretakers hand and foot. Your imagination may have cause to run a little bit wild. You may sing songs to spiders and make potato chip bag hot air balloons. You may feel a bit daffy. Well that's nothing compared to how you'll feel when a little bit of loose magic grows a giant peach in your backyard. A peach you could have hardly imagined, but that everyone can see - even your aunts!

Loads of books and movies spend heaps of time metephorizing and similizing the relationship between childhood injustice and a colorful imagination. But only one such take can claim such a vindicating finish for children (and adults like me) everywhere. Let's string up those aunts!

Whether you distinctly recollect the book, or you're just looking for a vividly colorful fantasy romp, James and the Giant Peach is quite a pleasant way to spend an evening.

"Bring it home, Randy."

Joe said that, and then Brandon shot bubble tea out of his nose. Not really - but if Rhoald Dahl wrote this, then yes, really. Randy Newman wrote the music for this musical. I picked this movie out a bit guiltily, thinking I had probably seen it and forgotten it. I do that a lot. Hence the blog. Otherwise I might just bring the same movie over every few months. (I could do that anyway) Back to point - this movie is a musical. I do not remember one stitch of singing in the preview. I think they did that on purpose. If I could pick anyone to write songs to accompany a movie based on a book by Rhoald Dahl I would pick Prince, Cyndi Lauper and Weird Al Yankovic before I picked Randy Newman. So needless to say I was a tad embarrassed and a bit exasperated as the musical numbers popped up again and again and again. And again. But did I mention how cool the animation was? It was cool. Fourteen years old, and that sh*t was still poppin'.

As aforementioned, I brought bubble tea! Bubble tea is a fast-advancing craze invented to entice Korean children into spending their allowance on colorful and sugary drinks every day on their way home from school. Bada-bing! It's not just for Asian kids anymore! So have fun making your own, though I would suggest you try a professional cup before you make your own.