My Experience With.... Alice in Wonderland (Part 1). It's not what you think!

It's September now, and I feel like doing a series. Since most of us are either going back to school or back in school, how about something related to literature?

Some of you may recognize this title screen, and to help you with what sound is supposed to go with this barely nostalgic classic, here you go:

You may recall the first time I'd seen this classic story in theatrical form (if you've read my first year's blog posts), but this version is the absolute first time I've ever encountered this tale.

Looking back on it now, it looks like someone's final project they barely got a B- on, but back then, it really seemed to capture the essence of Alice in Wonderland that was palatable for my 3-year-old self. My mom was not the biggest fan of Disney interpretations of classic stories (you'll find out how I encountered that later!), plus I think this might've been just a good thrifty deal at some obscure video store. You really can't underestimate a good deal!

The story starts off with Alice studying Calculus.

Okay, she's not even a teenager.

We really need to beef up our education, America.

She seems bored with Calculus after studying it. I don't know why, Calculus is really fun. But, I guess even I would get sick of it after several hours. In Alice's case, she's so bored that chasing a rabbit seems to be sweet relief for her. As per the popular story, the rabbit has a waistcoat, and a pocket watch, and is late for some appointment. Instead of singing it, he simply goes into a mini panic attack. Alice marvels at this sight and continues her pursuit when he takes off. She falls slowly down a slightly trippy hole, attempts to drink some marmalade, and inevitably falls on her bum.

Alice then walks down a hall of doors, all of which are locked, except one tiny door, which reveals a beautiful garden -- Alice's obsession for a good part of the movie -- and a weird little filler scene involving a race of different woodland creatures, including a snail who somehow wins.

This is not in any other version

I've encountered, and I thought for

sure it was canon for YEARS.

Come to think of it, that was slightly

trippy. In fact, the whole thing was trippy.

Alice wants to go through the door really badly, and eventually comes across the drink me / eat me goodies (back then even I knew that was crazy) that materialize out of nowhere. She shrinks too small to get the key, grows too big to fit through the door (she should've conserved some of the stuff, just in case she needed evidence or experimentation), and cries a literal ocean. The white rabbit comes in and freaks out at Giant Alice, and takes off, leaving his gloves... which somehow end up shrinking Alice.

Why use words when gifs exist?

She swims, along with a field mouse, ashore (again, how)? And they meet up with a dodo and a duck, and they all have a race.

I was going to keep going and explain this, but it's getting harder and harder to understand as I write. You will definitely need to watch this though. That's right. I'm not recommending that you don't watch it.

Like many other movies of my youth, certain scenes and lines hold dear memories to my and my mother. Another reason I liked this movie so much was that it was the perfect essence of a cinematic translation of Lewis Carroll's literary work. It may not necessarily be as wacky or dynamic, or even as saturated in color, like Disney's version (THE CARTOON), but I think that's what makes this so special. Children's media in the 80s had a certain charm about it. It could've been the residuals of the 60s and 70s, but it seemed like everything had a wonderful dreamlike daze about it. This version of Alice in Wonderland is no exception. Its atmosphere does its best to mimic the most realistic of nonsense dreams, and I think Carroll would've been flattered by it.

Now that you've read about the original play and the 1988 VHS, you can get ready to read next week's report of the books I've read!

Me? I'm gonna go ahead and find that tape.

I know I have it somewhere. It's one of my

Mom's best purchases, and I'm sure as heck

not letting it go anytime soon!

Plugging time! YouTube Page.

Enjoy the cartoons below!

Happy Labor Day!

Tell me about your #LaborDabor2017!

(***BONUS POST***) My Experience With... The Solar Eclipse!

Because you're all such great readers (seriously, I was looking over the stats, you guys are awesome!), and because a phenomenal event happened on Monday, I decided to write this short blog post as a bonus. Ready, go!

I first learned about solar eclipses the way I'm sure everyone else in my generation did: Kindergarden class. I, along with my fellow wide-eyed small humans in my classroom, listened intently as Mrs. Johnson told us about how every several years, the moon can actually come out in the daytime and cover the sun! This sounded awesome, and the pictures and books she probably brought deepened our interest even more! The day getting dark in the daytime??? For a Kindergardener: Mind explosion!

Years passed, and school and life eventually pushed away the awe and wonder of the moon blocking out the sun. Maybe in my freshman year of college, I witnessed a part of a lunar eclipse.... until I got too sleepy and had to go to class the next day. I dunno, something.

Fast forward until about two months ago. A friend of mine was feeling a little bummed that he might not be able to witness the solar eclipse that was going to happen. I was stunned! I didn't even know there was going to be a solar eclipse happening! Then every newspaper, website, and news channel was talking about it... and wouldn't shut up. (Nice change from the constant barrage of White House talk, I gotta say.) I grew more and more excited, except I learned maybe a week before the event that I needed special glasses. So I partially gave up on the thought of spending upwards of $2 (I'M THRIFTY, OKAY??!!!) for some special glasses that I'd only use once.

Thankfully, my job was prepared, and had enough one-use solar glasses for every employee to use. I grabbed some (even for my Mom!), and kept them in a safe place.

Finally... it came. I didn't know how everyone in my office would handle the scenario. Thankfully, they were pretty much all as crazy as I was, so I ended up officially shutting down the office.

I was informed afterward that it would

actually probably be in another 50 years,

but I think my point was made, anyway.

Here's me outside with the glasses on:

And here's the crowd:

There was even a woman out there with a nifty little cereal box contraption for seeing a (very tiny) very cool way of looking at the eclipse!

I don't have the actual photo, so here's an example:

WHAT AN ANTICLIMACTIC MOMENT. You know those pictures I took outdoors... that was almost a full "eclipse." It did get darker, and the temperature dropped, but it looked like someone just slid the saturation down to about 75%. Still, I feel like I enjoyed myself.

What do you guys think? Did you see the eclipse? How dark did it get? Did you see the cool new video I put on my YouTube Page? lol. Peace!

What's your favorite natural phenomenon?

My Experience With... Supermarket Sweep

Okay, wait a minute. First, have you read these? If not, do so now.

• My Experience With... Doc
• My Experience With... Sue Thomas, F.B.Eye.

We good? Good. Continue.

#BringSupermarketSweepBack

Finally, we've come to the fun, less drama-filled portion of the Pax series (and also the last of the Pax series), my once-favorite game show ever, Supermarket Sweep!

I probably started watching this with my parents just on a fluke, and then got hooked! I don't know about you, but you really couldn't get any closer to perfection than this. Heck, even Buzzfeed has sung its praises, and I didn't know that anybody knew what it was!

The show itself started back in the 60s, but I watched its last revival in the '00s, when David Ruprecht (pictured above) was the host.

I had to -- yet again -- do some research on this... mainly because

it's been so doggone long since I've watched this show!!!

You start off with some clips of previous contestants before getting introduced to all the contestants -- 3 pairs -- , then before David Ruprecht comes out and gives a massive air high five.

Sorry, guys, no gif was available on the internet.

UNTIL NOW!!!

The contestants play through a series of games and quizzes to score points. These were typically very easy in difficulty. Maybe it's because you typically find these things in the supermarket. I dunno. My personal favorite game was Round Robin, a lightning round in which you had to fill in blanks or unscramble product names to answer the questions correctly. At the end of the first part of the show, people went out and went "grocery shopping."

I got to the point where I was really good at solving these puzzles. I even wanted to go onto this show with my Dad, once I got old enough, so I studied as many grocery store products as I could. I think they may have had a "kids' week," but I somehow missed it. I also strategized how to shop in the shopping portion. By the way, 1) get the ham. 2) get the oil. 3) if you get more than five of each item, they will not penalize you for the extra items. 4) just grab any of the bonus things 5) save the candy/coffee for last. They take up SO MUCH TIME!!!

The person with the highest grocery bill went to the final round... WHICH WAS SO STINKING HARD!!!! You have 3 clues to get to the $5000 prize, and it was glorious each time someone found it (which was somewhat rare).

This was the game show to end all game shows, in my opinion. Great host, great vibes, fun games, and just challenging enough while still being very relatable to everyday life. Move over, Jeopardy!, you've officially taken 2nd place.

I'll tell you one thing, if someone ever needed to bring this show back, just saying, I'd totally be available to host!

Just give me at least two weeks, first.

I do have a full-time job.

Plugging time! YouTube Page

What're your  top 3 favorite game shows?