A Viking Funeral for Olaf Glad and Big

I've mentioned that I hang out at Eschaton a lot. Well, it is my sad duty to report that one of our regulars is gone.

Paul Hylborn, who went under the name Olaf Glad and Big, passed away a few days ago. Though I only knew him online, he was a nice guy and an insightful commenter, and he will be missed. Farewell, friend.

Today's a good day to tell someone you love how glad you are they're around. Actually, every day is a good day for that, but today's a good day to start.

ETA: I wasn't fishing for praise, guys, but many thanks. I love all of you too, and I'm so glad you're here.

ETA2: Thanks to patoadam for the link to the e. e. cummings poem from which Olaf got his handle.

Helping A Friend Of A Friend

In keeping with the last post, bayushisan informs us of a friend of his, a photographer in Canada, who is trying to help a family from India that has just moved into her building. They have very little and the wife is nine months pregnant. They don't know many people, and are culture-shocked. If you can help, that would be most excellent. Go here for more info.

Oddball Kids' Movies

Only a few miles away from me, on Huron Street in Ypsi, is a reasonably new Kroger. I wanted to see if it was as nice as the one on Maple Road, where I have been shopping for a number of years. (The one on Carpenter, technically closest to my new address, and the one up on North Campus are big and clean and have maybe 60% of the stuff at the Maple Road one. The ones at Georgetown and on South Industrial... the less said, the better.)

Not bad. The produce section is huge, and very well organized. The butcher shop and deli seem decent. No Chippery or Boston Market. Very good pharmacy and magazine sections, much larger than any other Kroger in town. One cheapie DVD rack.

And on that rack was a movie I've been meaning to get for years: The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T.

Live-action musical adventure, starring Tommy ("Timmy and Lassie") Rettig as Bart, a kid who dreams of a tyrannical piano teacher, Dr. Terwilliker (Hans Conried in fine form), determined to prove his "Happy Fingers" method is the ultimate way to learn piano. Bizarre, goofy flick -- one of those that you have to show people to prove it exists.

Did I mention that the story, screenplay, and lyrics are by Dr. Seuss?

What are some of your favorite non-standard kids' films? Things like The Phantom Tollbooth would count here -- most of us in fandom know about it, but it's not a "recognized classic" like Mary Poppins or Chitty Chitty Bang Bang or The Wizard of Oz. Oh, and, just to make it more interesting, try to keep away from fully-animated films. As an example, Mary Poppins is only partially animated.

ETA: Oh, let fly on the animateds. Heck, my freakin' example, The Phantom Tollbooth, is about 90% animated.

ETA2: As long as I'm thinking of it, the animated Snow Queen -- the one shown in the U.S. with the live-action intro by Art Linkletter.