WATCHER: "Are you hibernating for the winter, Chip? I miss you"
I know I've been absent a while, but this is normal---I get this way every December; I become very down on the world, life, and my art. It's easy for me to hate on my art---I've had a lot of practice hating on it, but my hate generally doesn't result in total inactivity.
December is among those few things that enables idleness, but ...I'm ok now---at least for the moment, thanks in part to a recent shopping trip.
Inspired by a statement I made in my re-view of 'Santa and the Three Bears', I went out to procure some wine and cheese. Though I couldn't find the brie I wanted, I managed some lamb chopper (sheep-milk cheese), as well as some avocado-oil crackers to melt the cheese on. To go with, I got some plum wine with actual plums at the bottom. Getting them out won't be easy, but it'll be so worth it! :9
Before we get to the review, let's look at the pencil.
The featured pencil is the 'Everest' from ...Everest. I guess this was Everest's flagship pencil (I really don't know).
All I can say is Everest was a Japanese manufacturer (and, no, I'm not sure what "E.F.P." is referring to).
I have three unsharpened copies of this pencil, each boasting a grade of '9H'. 9H is almost as hard as a pencil lead can get!
Some time ago, I had a chance to test a sharpened 9H pencil (a Dixon 'El Dorado'), and it was like drawing with a sewing needle. I honestly couldn't tell you whether the lead was making a line, or if it was just leaving grooves in the paper! D:
Suffice it to say, I like a hard lead, but anything past 4H is an inutility for me.
Anyway, let's get to the review! :3
Today we'll be looking at 'The Snow Woman': an episode of Saban's 'The Littl Bits'.
This episode was written by Jeff Winkless, who I'm sure could use some sleep ^^
Our story begins deep in Foothill Forest, after a terrific snowfall. we see the Littl' Bits (gnome-like denizens of the forest) shoveling snow from their pathways.
Ah, but Willibit (at least) can't be bothered with this chore for too long, as he has a playdate with his friend Lillabit.
Teenybit (Willibit's baby sister) scolds,
TENNYBIT: "Do your share of the shoveling, Willibit, or the snow woman might come and get you!"
WILLIBIT: "Well, she can find me over at Lillabit's if she wants me!"
Brat. :p
So, who or what is the snow woman?
Skipping ahead 'a bit' (teehee!), Elderbit explains,
ELDERBIT: "[The snow woman] appears after the first blizzard of the season has struck. ...The snow woman snatches up errant children ...to take them back to her castle on the other side of the mountain, where she makes them her prisoners!"
Willibit arrives at the playground whereat Lillabit and Snagglebit are playing. When the topic of the snow woman and her castle is brought forth, Lillabit describes a dream she had to the boys,
LILLABIT: "[Elderbit] said that the snow woman lives in a big castle. I wonder if that's the castle I see every now and then in my dream, Willi ...a beautiful, big castle where the icicles shimmer like sparkling spires. I'd love to see if the snow woman's castle looks anything at all like my castle. Oh, if only I could see to the other side of the mountain!"
Snagglebit (who has a crush on Lillabit) takes this as a challenge to impress Lillabit. Observing some kites flying overhead, Snagglebit forms an idea.
With playtime over, Snagglebit works through the night at home, building a giant kite that (hypothetically) Lillabit can ride, for to see over the mountain (because in childrens' anime, kids can do this sort of thing). ^^
On the following morning, Snagglebit and his friends present the kite to Lillabit, as a gift,
LILLABIT (reacting to the gift): "For me? What do you mean 'for me'?"
SNAGGLEBIT: "Well, you said you wanted to see what was over the mountain"
LILLABIT: "But what's the kite supposed to do?"
Why is Lillabit so obtuse in this episode---she's usually at least as sharp as the others.
Anyway, Lillabit hops aboard the kite ...and it actually works!
SNAGGLEBIT (to self): "If this doesn't make me her favorite instead of Willibit, nothing will!"
Snagglebit's thought is overheard by the powers that be, whose task it is to maintain the status quo among the characters they oversee. In this case, a gust of wind blows the kite away from Snagglebit. Snagglebit watches helplessly as Lillabit vanishes beyond the mountains.
Enter Willibit.
After learning what happened, Willibit races to the mountain to recover Lillabit. For whatever reason, Snagglebit doesn't accompany Willibit (it wasn't to alert the adults---someone else was assigned to that).
Of course, hiking up the mountain proved too great a challenge. Willibit faints upon the mountainside, but awakens on a bed inside a kitchen-bedroom (the type that's heated by the cooking fire).
A strange woman (who I presume to be a littl' bit) is there to greet him,
SNOWWOMAN: "Ah! Nice to see you're all right. You took a sensational fall down the side of that hill. Do you recall?"
For the sake of this review, I'll be referring to this character as 'the snow woman', albeit, I believe this character to be nothing more than a widow (?) who just happens to live on the side of the mountain opposite Foothill Forest.
Willibit doesn't remember his tumble, but before he can properly respond, Lillabit enters the room,
LILLABIT: "Hi there! I brought you some hot soup!"
Lillabit explains that after the kite landed, she was discovered by this 'nice lady' who brought her to the castle, wherein the three are together,
SNOWWOMAN" "You're both perfectly safe here. Try to get some rest now and I'll come back and look in on you later"
I admit the snow woman comes across as a little creepy, in part a consequence of her voice actor reading her lines in a similar manner as a TtS program. :P
This aura of creepiness seems to affect Willibit's superstitions, as he believes this lady to be the snow woman of legend. Lillabit disagrees,
LILLABIT: "That's not the snow woman! She's been very kind and gentle; she really couldn't have been nicer, Willi. Why, she's treated me like her very own daughter!"
Willibit isn't buying it, as he fathoms the hospitality as some kind of trick. Even so, Lillabit remains dubious (albeit less certain than before), and the two spend the night in the castle (which, in truth, is just a cabin in the woods).
During the wee hours, Willibit awakens Lillabit in an attempt to prove this lady is the snow woman. Willibit does this by showing Lillabit that 'the snow woman' is cooking ...a fact that shouldn't prove anything, as Elderbit never said the snow woman eats children. :P Either way, this image certainly didn't help retain any beneficial doubt Lillabit may've retained for her host: https://sta.sh/0yo8h3znfnr D:
Willibit and Lillabit escape out the door, into the snow. They are, however, swiftly pursued by the snow woman on her sled ...which has an immense cooking pot of steaming contents riding with her.
Unable to outpace the sled, Willibit and Lillabit are stopped by the snow woman,
SNOWWOMAN: "And where do you think you're going?"
The kids voice their suspicions, which are met by this story by the snow woman,
SNOWWOMAN: "There is only one thing to fear---not me, but this treacherous mountain. I'll help you get home ...My only purpose has been to protect you from harm. Years ago, on this very mountain, my son vanished into an enormous snowdrift ...Every winter I return to this mountain, hoping to find my boy. I pray that he may still be alive!"
WILLIBIT: "You must have loved him. I think I understand how this whole legend began"
The snow woman gives the kids a package of food, and something warm to wear on their journey home. To facilitate things further, the snow woman pushes her sled down the hill. The sled crashes, and the spilled contents of its cooking pot reveals a clear path to the village.
The kids are astonished!
SNOWWOMAN: "I ask but two things of you: don't return, and tell no one that you ever saw me. Be well, my darlings!"
With tears in her eyes, the snow woman runs back to her cabin (never to be seen or heard of again in the series). :p
I want to say she since got a job at a Waffle House, but I can't be sure.
Willibit and Lillabit are soon met by a search party of adults from the village. The kids, of course, maintain the secret of the snow woman. though they did say they found her castle, just not the snow woman herself ...which, IMHO, could have the same effect as if they had said they'd seen her, but whatever---the story's over!
Anyway, as I alluded to earlier, I don't believe the lady to be the snow woman. Sure, she is (somewhat) creepy, and visits the mountain every winter ...but the legend of the snow woman would surely precede her (legends are typically formed over generations, rather than over a few years)---it's just coincidence.
Do I like this episode?
Yes. ^^
As a kid, I felt really bad for the snow woman; I wanted to bring her home to me (see, I'm creepy, too---we could relate!).
1.) You gotta wonder if those bitty names are permanent or whether they switch over time. When Elderbit dies, is the next oldest formally crowned the NEW Elderbit? 'The elder is dead, long liver the elder'? If you get tall do they have a measuring and declare you the new tallest? Fattest? Ugliest? Just how many traits are they gonna append? (Tell us Marten Scribblebit!)
2.) The Powers That Be, they've been animated before. Bunch of weasels, though possibly there was a ferret among them.
3.) Snagglebit is obviously the Inferior Jerk Love Interest, no wonder he didn't help with the rescue. THAT is why you're always #2, buddy, and you're not even a pencil.
4.) Lady, WHY protect your existence like that? You don't want any help finding your son? Or people to drop by? You just want to sit alone in your misery? This is why we never see her after that, she's too isolationist and it probably didn't end well for her. A lesson to us all.
1.) You gotta wonder if those bitty names are permanent or whether they switch over time. When Elder
There could've been a very nice lesson there on reaching out to people, rather than 'Let old, lonely ladies stay all by themselves.' Bellflower Bunnies did it better.
There could've been a very nice lesson there on reaching out to people, rather than 'Let old, lonely
When I was taking mechanical drawing in High School I use to ask my teacher, just for fun, if he had a 9H pencil I could use. "No" he said "But I've got a nail you can have" or "I've got a piece of cold steel you can have". I've no idea why you'd want something that hard to try and scratch an image on paper but if you do it's nice to know they're still around. As for the drawing it's truly remarkable that you were able to get the line to show up a all much less have something that a scanner would pick up. I'm quite impressed with both your ability to draw AND your scanner!
Lastly that story sounds an AWFULY lot like a version of Hans Christian Anderson's "The Snow Queen" The ORIGIONAL story NOT the Disney version. :D
When I was taking mechanical drawing in High School I use to ask my teacher, just for fun, if he had
Knife, Knife, Knife---you know I didn't use the featured pencil to draw this. lol
I suppose I should always specify (and will, hence). This card was drawn with my Zephyr, and delineated via a mid-century 'Par-Value' pencil (I'm guessing that was a discount store of some kind).
But, yeah, 9H is effectively useless to me. Grades like that are for specialized work.
Knife, Knife, Knife---you know I didn't use the featured pencil to draw this. lol I suppose I shoul
