Archive for July, 2009
As most people of a certain generation would agree, they just don’t make movies like they used to. In the case of animated features, this is true in a literal sense. Major film studios like Pixar and DreamWorks create most of their animation with computers – only the brainstorming sketches are hand-drawn. These practices stand in sharp contrast to Disney Animation Studios, which pioneered hand-drawn animation techniques.
Disney figurines serve to remind us of the simpler times, when each new picture was an event. Beginning with the opening frames of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and continuing through the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s, nearly every feature Disney released became an instant classic. Carefully crafted figurines make excellent collector’s items, and they transport us back to a golden age of cinema.
About a year ago, my elderly mother moved in with my husband and me. The kids had all gone off to college, and we didn’t mind accommodating mom in her advanced years. From the moment she arrived, mom developed a fascination with the birds that would feed at our backyard pond. She grew attached to a pair of mallard ducks, and once in a while she even spotted a wood duck. But by far her favorite bird was the heron, which had a habit of flying in to pick off a few rainbow trout.
For mom’s 85th birthday, I put a little extra thought into a gift. Knowing how much she loved watching the heron swoop in from above and wade delicately through the water, a heron-related present seemed fitting. After a short online search, I discovered a decorative bird figurine with an incredibly lifelike shape. Her eyes lit up upon receiving this gift, and I felt a tremendous sense of satisfaction as well.