Flashbeagle Charlie Brown

Sui Peanuts, le creature nate dalla matita di Charles Schulz, si è già scritto molto ma c'è ancora spazio per il commento di Giancarlo Pauletto, critico d'arte ed estimatore di Charlie Brown e soci. In questo saggio brillante, caustico e venato di affetto, si risponde a queste e a molte altre domande: il vecchio Charlie, è sempre e solo Blah? Lucy sarà la prima Presidentessa degli Stati Uniti? Cos'è l'orribile Stomp? Chi ha scritto la toccata e fuga in Asia Minore? È vero che Linus soffia palloncini quadrati? Snoopy, è un miscredente? Woodstock pilota elicotteri? Sally è sorella o cugina di Charlie? Da dove sbuca Piperita Patty, chiedendo una salsiccia? Quanto pesa Secondo Conflitto Mondiale? Chi è Frittella? Con che macchina se ne va, la Ragazzina coi capelli rossi? Solo chi legge, saprà.

The first time you listen to this disc you will undoubtedly be transported directly back to your childhood. Charles Schulz's Peanuts characters will go toe-tapping and funky-dancing through your mind's eye. Play it a few more times, though (ignoring the dialogue snippets, if you can), and you will begin to truly revel in Guaraldi's wonderful, humorous, deep piano playing. You'll hear why he's such an influence on new age ivory tickler George Winston, but you'll also realize that Winston's holiday music never quite sparkles with the underlying passion, and humor, that twinkles in these grooves. Buy it for the nostalgia–keep it because it will remain one of the most enchanting albums in your holiday collection.

Discover a new philosophy and make it work for you.

Things get off to a bumpy start. First, Charlie fails to make anything profound out of the cloud formations above, just a "ducky" and a "horsy." (But that's always been one of his best qualities--he calls them as he sees them.) Then he has a disastrous kite experience, followed by further humiliation on the baseball field (with its dandelion-covered pitching mound). Just when it seems as if things couldn't get much worse--they don't. Charlie finds something he's good at. Lucy, Violet, and the rest of the Peanuts gang doubt that his spelling bee winning streak can possibly last, but Charlie proves them all wrong and makes it to the national championships in New York City. His best pal, Linus, and free-spirited pooch, Snoopy, arrive shortly afterwards and provide their support. Granted, this rare, full-length feature film ends just as it began, with one more small humiliation, but it's Charlie's achievement that leaves the bigger impression.