Many of us remember movies from our childhood, their effect on us then and now. Sure, I saw all the Disney releases of my generation, but I was raised by a single mother and old movies shown on late night TV were my babysitters.

In truth, there are scores of mice in Farmer Al's cartoons (as in other Terrytoons), but they are not mighty. The mightiness is reserved for the more or less human character at their center, not mighty as a character -- he is an oft-besieged man -- but mighty as a star.

The harsh reality is that every year countless films disintegrate because the chemical base of the film corrodes over time. Once the camera negative, internegative and last print of a film are gone, the film is gone forever.

The absence of color, CGI, 3-D, explosions, swearing and convincing special effects may be a bit jarring at first, but in time you may also appreciate the old masterpieces alongside contemporary ones.

For the last four days, I've been down for the count while a horrible stomach virus swept through our household. But I'm slowly emerging from the death throes of this thing. And as I do so, I realize that I learned a few things from this most recent brush with mortality.