Nostalgic Showcase Presents: Three Years of Research Fun!
Today, October 6th marks the third anniversary of this blog series, and where has the time gone? Over the past three years, I have researched and posted twenty-nine (this post…
Kanopy Round-Up
Did you know that you have access to thousands of movies, TV shows, documentaries, kids' read-alongs, and more with your WPPL library card? With no fees or commercials, Kanopy is…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: Richard Williams Animation
Every single animation student, perhaps around the globe, has to purchase a copy of Richard Williams' guidebook, The Animator's Survival Guide. Half full of handwritten notes and drawings, a quarter…
Nostalgia Showcase Presents: Nelvana
When I was a kid in the early 2000s, nothing was more exciting during a rainy day than indoor recess. Teachers came prepared to entertain their students for the following…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: Steven Spielberg’s Amblimation
I was maybe eleven or twelve when I stumbled across my grandmother's VHS copy of An American Tail: Fievel Goes West. I had certainly passed by the cover a hundred…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: Walter Lantz Productions
Of all the iconic catchphrases or quotes spoken from a cartoon, would you believe me when I said that a particular woodpecker's shrill laugh stands out the most in my…
Cat’s Picks! 80 Years Since the End of World War II
On this day, September 2, 1945, Japan officially surrendered to the Allied Powers, marking the end of World War II, one of the worst wars in the present history. Lasting…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: UPA and Terrytoons
If you attended my Mid-Century Cartoons program earlier this year, you might have noticed a theme- there's so much to discuss during that period of animation history! From the first…
Nostalgia Showcase Presents: Blue Sky Studios
If you're a longtime reader of the series, you know just how much I adore animation- the history of it, the studios that created my favorite cartoons and movies, even…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: New Line Cinema
I read all the time when I was a kid, from a young age. Obvious reading materials aside (books, comics, magazines), I read, in complete childhood boredom, the backs of…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: Will Vinton Studios
Long time fans of this series (or my sister-series, Cat's Picks), will know how much I dig underground and obscure media. There was just something in the air in the…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: Florida’s Failed Interactive Attractions
When I was nine years old, I borrowed nearly all of the Disney How-to-Draw books from my local library up in Michigan, tracing the many characters over and over on…
This Calls for a Makeover Montage!
Is there anything more satisfying or iconic than a good makeover montage? A staple of the classic teen movie or rom-com, watching "ugly duckling" characters transform with the playing of…
Cat’s Picks! Mental Health Representation in Media
The first time I saw Disney's Return to Oz (1985), I was expecting the same fantastical, magical, wonderful escapism from the MGM classic, or something akin to Warner Bros The…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: Celebrating the One-Year Anniversary!
As we reach the one year anniversary of this series in October 6th, I am faced with the intimidating question: "What next?" I'm excited to announce the in-person presentation of…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: Spümcø and Stretch Films
Ah, the dog days of summer- the hottest, longest days of the year when nothing seems to break the beating rays of the sun. Named after the days in which…
Nostalgia Showcase Presents: Tex Avery Screwball ‘Toons
Summer, sometime in the early 2000s. My parents and I meet up to our local Family Video to rent some movies. We'd snag a romantic-comedy movie for them, a couple…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: FILMATION
One of my fondest memories growing up involves my two older cousins and I, sitting around my parent's box television, trying to cool down from the humid Michigan summer heat.…
Cat’s Picks! Shark Week Edition
It's STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) Week at Westlake Porter Public Library! Coincidentally, it's also Shark Week, a whole week dedicated to some of the most misrepresented predators…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: DIC Entertainment
Ah, summer vacation. No school, no homework, the possibilities are endless for kids. And if you happened to be a kid of the 90s, summer was marked by sugary treats…
Cat’s Picks! Saturday Morning Cartoons
Nothing used to bring me such joy as a kid as waking up bright and early on Saturday morning, cereal bowl in hand and full control of the living room…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: Leon Schlesinger Productions
If you're an avid reader of Nostalgic Showcase Presents, you may have noticed a trend so far for this year- early Hollywood. That's no coincidence, I find this period in…
National Library Week: Libraries in the Movies
One of the many great things about Westlake Porter Library’s collection is its generous movie offerings. Let’s celebrate both National Library Week and WPPL’s movie collection with several entertaining movies…
Nostalgic Showcase Presents: Laugh-O-gram Studio
The early years of the American Animation Industry was filled to the brim with an overabundance of eager artists and entrepreneurs, and none were more enthusiastic than Kansas City tag-team…