1995!?!? Ahhhhh that was so long agoooooo
And while I'm on little existential crises about time, this is my 40th movie for Making and Movies!! WHAT!? Amazing! Hooray for me!
When I was thinking about seeing this the first time, I would have sworn I was in high school and made my boyfriend see it with me multiple times but that must have been Toy Story 2. Huh. Time is an illusion.
Whenever it was that I first saw this, I liked it a lot more than I do now. Woody was my favorite but... Woody is kind of a jerk? Not kind of. He's a jerk. His journey and his jealousy are 1000% understandable but yikes. He doesn't handle it well. And as Ben said, "It's really hard to listen to Tom Hanks be a jerk." I don't find Buzz all that likable either, he's just not actively dick-ish but I wish we could have seen more of his interactions with the other toys outside of the lens of Woody. What kind of style advice was he giving the Troll Doll? What kind of style does Buzz even have?
My life needs more sharks in hats.
Minor disappointment in the story/writing aside (oh god... am I subconsciously hating on it because I was confronted with terminal disappointment Joss Whedon having written it this time around? Ooh... gonna have to ponder that.) I was overwhelmed with fondness for the detail in the design. The Shining carpet in Sid's house. The construction of the Frankenstein toys. The growing collection of scuffs on Buzz's white plastic. The quality of the drawings around Andy's room. The gopher on that on arcade cabinet (truly, all of Pizza Planet was a gift). And so many more. Lovelovelove it. (But why can't the toys blink properly? I noticed it immediately and it really distracted me.)
This movie is a really wonderful meditation on how we fall short when we feel threatened and how we can stand tall once more. I also think it's reassuring (and bittersweet and heartbreaking and...) to think of our toys loving us as much as we loved them. Maybe the real message is about the magic of imbuing relationships (with people and objects) with love and that being enough. Maybe I'm projecting because of the headspace I'm currently in. Who knows.
Lino print & marker. 8x10"
"The Mystic Portal Awaits"
Takeaways:
-I don't remember the last piece that I had so much trial and error on and yet finished on a Wednesday! I'm really pleased with the results and I'm proud of myself for refining the work. I've been disappointed in the finer details/craftsmanship of recent pieces. My go to negative self talk is that I'm being lazy and I am confident with this one that I was not at all lazy.
-The tessellation isn't as complex as I'd set out to do initially but it turned out well. It's definitely something I'd be open to experimenting with more in the future.
-I messed around with mixing inks for the print and wish I could have gotten a little more consistent with the green. More things to learn, I guess!
-I forgot to mirror the image when I was cutting the lino so the Pizza Planet logo (what little you see of it) is on the wrong side. :(
-I'll be selling prints of this one soon! Watch my Instagram (@shannonheibler) for more info coming soon!
Get your passport ready, next week we're getting on a bus to Cartagena! (Romancing the Stone is the movie. We are stoked in this house. How do we wait until Sunday??)
Have a great week! Make some time for play!