This Christmas, we'll be pulling our crackers in the UK, and as I am also a big fan of cheese, I thought some Wallace and Gromit videos might be in order to get us ramped up for the season. I'd love to have these contraptions at hand. Even better would be a contraption that could bulldoze a path for me through the crowds on Oxford Street. Mama needs new boots.

(I hope that Nick Park appreciates that I changed the size of the columns on my website to accommodate his videos.)

The rain is coming down hard today and I'm about to dive back into Bolaño's 2666, "The Part About The Crimes." Thank goodness books don't actually come to life in your library, like in this Merrie Melodies cartoon (featuring all the caricatures that come with 1930s animation, you have been forewarned).

Have You Got Any Castles?

One day while living in Latvia, I decided to wear my hair up in two little buns on the sides of my head. I probably thought I looked like Bjork. I went to meet my friends in Filharmonijas Laukums, and was greeted to cheers of "Cheburashka! Cheburashka!" I raised my eyebrows. "Cheburashka is a little bear-like creature in a Russian cartoon," they told me, "who has two fuzzy balls on the side of its head." And, apparently, was born in an crate of oranges — just like me.

Cheburashka

Gena's Songs: The Birthday Song and The Blue Wagon

More stop-motion animation, by the same artist: Mitten

It's the first day of NaBloPoMo, and I'm curled up in my pajamas watching Saturday Morning Cartoons. And since it's the Day of the Dead...

Disney's Silly Symphony: The Skeleton Dance

Another interpretation by the same director for a different studio:

Skeleton Frolic

The Little Rascals Skeleton Dance

And my favorite, the spooky combo of Max Fleischer and Cab Calloway:

Saint James Infirmary Blues

(Last year's cartoons are here.)

It would be unfair to do a series on Saturday morning cartoons without including some from Tex Avery. The "Of Tomorrow" series was my favorite. (Because apparently women, Scotchmen, and mother-in-laws are hilarious.)

TV of Tomorrow

House of Tomorrow

Farm of Tomorrow

Car of Tomorrow

Suggested breakfast: The breakfast of tomorrow! Straight bacon.