Back from the Grave

This is kinda neat:
http://www.senntient.com/cgi-local/forumdisplay.cgi?action=topics&forum=Xtreme&number=13&DaysPrune=1000&LastLogin=

People who visit my blog, of the few that do, can tell you that I’m an avid fan of “Sonic the Hedgehog” games. Well, I’m more of a Tails fan actually, but the games don’t go under that title. Anyhow, it’s only natural that I should know about “Sonic X-Treme,” a Sonic Team project that crashed many, many years ago. It was meant for the Sega Saturn, it crashed for multiple reasons and it looks like the guy at the link above is pretty keen to rehash the project.

Game ideas that were innovative for it’s time, A possible lady friend for the blue dude…This game had a lot going and any Sonic fan would like get their hands on something like this. I can’t wait to see if there’s any progress.

Animation Blurb

So much has been covered since I last blogged on animation, so I’ll make some of these announcements rather brief.

Bob Iger seems really sincere about keeping the sanctity of 2D animation. He’s seen stuff from the new movie “Enchanted” – a half animated movie – and he loves it. Said something about it being great and all that. SCORE!

A sequel to “Chicken Little” has been scrapped. Somehow, this news sends positive tingles down my spine. I should be rejoicing.

“Doogal” formerly known as “The Magic Roundabout” in the UK, has been out for a few days now. CGI animated film, 2,318 theatres showing it, An all star cast of U.S. American dubbed voices…and it’s eating box office pavement. Even though these movies are supposed to automatically make box office gold, right? (Makes note to watch the movie anyway just to see how I like it.)

So after all that happy, happy news, here’s something that’s just weird:

"Who Framed Roger Rabbit" could be out of the picture in China, along with many other cartoon favorites.

China has announced a ban on TV shows and movies that blend animated elements with live-action actors, a move aimed at nurturing local animators and apparently curbing the use of foreign cartoons.

Hmm. Banning movies that have cartoon and live action elements? What’s the deal with that? And foreign cartoons? I guess China just got tired of the United States and Japan totally ruling the animation industry. When was the last time a huge hit animated movie came from China? Although nobody does kung fu cinema like they do. Heck, they created it.

Besides "Roger Rabbit," the 1988 feature film in which actor Bob Hoskins performed beside several animated characters, popular children's TV shows featuring human hosts and animated elements such as "Blue's Clues" from the United States and Britain's "Teletubbies" could be included in the ban. And "Space Jam," the 1996 film featuring basketball great Michael Jordan alongside Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd and Daffy Duck could also be shelved.

The government's main television and film regulator sent notice Feb. 15 to broadcasters and theaters that such films and shows could no longer be shown and that violators would be punished. It did not say what the penalties would be.

It also did not give examples of banned programs but described them as "so-called cartoons that mainly feature real people and only occasionally have computer-generated elements."

OK, this is just getting more and more weird. The Chinese TV networks will be penalized if they show live action animation hybrids. That alone is just harsh. Where do they go next with this? Are they gonna ban Star Wars too? Seriously, China, what’s all the hubbub about?

Communist authorities are eager to expand the country's animation industry and also are worried about the influence of foreign pop culture on Chinese children.

The cartoon ban is intended to "promote the development and prosperity of the cartoon industry in China," said the statement issued by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television.

They want to expand their own animation enterprises, so they’re going to ban foreign films and TV shows that are half animated and half live action. And if TV execs disagree, they will be PUNISHED. Boy, am I glad to be a U.S. American.

Vulgarity, thy name is Cartoon Network

Ready for a look at the exciting lineup from everyone’s favorite super-de-duper cartoon channel, Cartoon Network? For starters, we have “Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls.” I kid you not. Take a look at the listings:


















Is there a problem here? You bet. Let’s see, a PG-13 rated movie with absolutely no cartoon elements whatsoever being shown on a network for kids. I remember seeing this movie in middle school years ago in the theatre and thinking it was hysterical That’s because I was within the right age range and I did find the vulgar bathroom humor quite amusing. But how in the hell have we come to the point where such a film is allowed on children’s television? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this one out.

First off, I tuned into the show that was on right before the movie, a new show called “My Gym Partner’s Monkey.” It’s about a boy who attends a school where everyone else is an animal, including his best friend, a spider monkey. Today was a sneak preview showing and I decided to give it a chance. Wanna know why? Because the spider monkey seems to like showing off his butt to everyone. It’s the same stupid potty humor that they’ve been selling to audiences that are far too young. I mean seriously, whatever happened to the good old days when kids television was free of this stuff?

Rude Nagging Person: Excuse me, but I think that you’re a hypocrite. You say that you liked potty humor when you were a kid, but now you’re denying other kids that privilege…
Me: Excuse mee, but I find your interruptions rather rude…
Rude Nagging Person: I don’t care. I wanna know why you’re being such a hypocrite.
Me: Ok, first off, I lied it when I was 12. This stuff is being sold to seven year olds. And I would also like to point out that I was rather inspired to do some rude behavior when I was little by this sort of thing. So naturally, upon reflection, I would say it’s not a good thing…
Rude Nagging Person: But you also like censorship, right? So what if they’ve censored the movie and made it appropriate? You think…
Me: No they can’t have censored that movie enough. And it’s still vulgar.
Rude Nagging Person: See, now you’re interrupting me. You’re still a hypocrite.
Me: Maybe if you didn’t interrupt me so much first, I wouldn’t have to. AND as a final note…
Rude Nagging Person: But you think it’s OK to show violence in kids shows! Why are you so offended by potty humor? It’s ridiculous!
Me: As long as there’s not too much violence, yes, I agree to having violence in cartoons, just so long as there’s a lesson to be learned. Now before you interrupt me again, (Rude Person tries to cut in) I WOULD LIKE to add one final note. Don’t forget that the potty humor is not the only problem I have with showing this movie on that network. It’s also non-animated, but that’s minor in comparison.
Rude Person: Oh, you think that’s such a big problem?
Me: I said minor, not big. Still, I want to go to the Cartoon Network for cartoons because that’s what’s in the network title. If I want “Ace Ventura,” I’ll go to some other channel.
Rude Person: (frustrated) Well…Ugh!
Me: You can’t argue against logic, so don’t try.

Now where was I? Oh yeah. How do we get to this point? It starts when networks start showing stuff like “Ren and Stimpy” on kids networks and the preceding generations start to agree that this sort of entertainment is suitable for younger audiences. So, it took a long time for PG-13 rated humor to get onto a kids network, but we’ve finally gotten there. Even if it’s poorly censored.

Rude Person: I still think you’re a hypocrite.
Me: Keep telling yourself that. It might come true one day.

Kill De White People

If you’re still reeling over my last post about a dumb white guy, here’s one about a dumb black guy. Continuing along the theme of race relations, I just got this e-mail from my uncle this morning He included a disclaimer because as we all know, sending out e-mails without disclaimers will prevent people from attacking you and calling you a bigot or something worse. Or it won’t. Here’s what he said though:

I see where this whacko is coming and I’m sure he doesn’t speak for all blacks. Evidently there are some kooks out there.

Ok, let’s see the video already:
http://www.geocities.com/jaimetud2/MMMhater02.wmv

Transcript:
Angry Text: How is this not a hate crime?
Kamau Kambon, some black dude on C-SPAN:…But there’s only one ni**a on the planet. And the ni**a that’s on the planet is the one that is destroying the water, the one that’s polluting the air, the one that is exploiting people and resources. And the only ni**a on the planet is the white man and the white woman. And our people are not ni**as, we are “imitation ni**as.”
Angry Text: This man should be in jail for these comments.
Black Dude: And the one idea is howwe are going to exterminate white people, because that, in my estimation, is the only conclusion I have come to. We have to exterminate of of the face of the planet to solve this problem. (small applause and cut dissolve.) That we need to sole this problem because they are going to kill us. And I will leave on that, so we have to just set up our own system and stop playing and get very serious and not be diverted from coming up to the solution of the problem and the problem on the planet is white people. (small applause)
Angry Text: Still think blacks like you? Think before you support.

What a racist dope. Imagine what would happen if, in this day and age, a white man went on TV and said that. Can you imagine the outcry? I mean sure, maybe this guy shouldn’t be thrown in jail, but he ought to be ashamed. How can you say this? We must exterminate the white people? He can’t really mean that, but damn. That’s the thanks we get for all we’ve done for the black community. “Let’s exterminate the white people. They created a system that gave us jobs, gave us houses, gave us food, gave us even more than we need. Screw’em, let’s get rid of them.” And why? Because the very presence of a white person pollutes the air and brings destruction and chaos.

Me with my hand up: But sir, I’m white and I’m not emanating evil.
Kamau: I don’t care, you support a system that pollutes. Black people never do that.
Me: They don’t?
Kamau: Of course not. Why, look at all the black people in our government. They’re not really black people, they’re just Oreos. They’re all Uncle Toms who got up on the system of the white man, therefore they’re all evil.
Me: Oh, I see. Wow, it all makes sense now. White = Evil. You’re right, I should take myself out of the gene pool to better the human race in the name of the Black Nazi party. (Commits shikoku among cheering lunatic black people.)

Seriously, this is sad. This is what they call a historical backlash. We’ve spent decades trying to build towards equality and break down the walls between the races to make up for hundreds of years of slavery and this is the thanks we get. Just when things were getting good too. I shudder to think that one day, people like this in the black community might actually get into a powerful position and we’ll see history repeated and reversed. Dear god.

Maybe this Kamau person watched this old SNL skit one too many times:
http://glumbert.com/media/killwhitepeople.html

English 214: Intro to Ebonics

Warning: This post contains references towards racist language and a link to a video loaded with them, even though they are not used in a degrading manner…(most of the time.) If this offends you, please vacate the premises. Other than that, sit back and shut up while I’m talking.

This past Friday, there was a video posted at Ebaum’s World that I just had to blog on because it says so much about the culture we live in. Apparently, a teacher at a school got in trouble for using the N-word in a questionable manner. I thought it was a silly story to begin with, but it’s also blogworthy. So let’s blog. Here’s the link to the video:

http://media.ebaumsworld.com/wmv/nword.wmv

As you watch this video, turn back to the blog to read what I have to say about certain parts as I rip this one:

Interviewer: What did he say to you?
Student: Sit down, nigga.

Ok, that sounds pretty darn harsh. But what does the teacher have to say?

Announcer:The teacher told him to sit down, and he said that Keishon (interviewee) used the N-word first.
Teacher: …And I was just kinda stunned a second. “Well, then get awayfrom the door, ni**a.” And I repeated the same insult because that’s sorta what I’ve been trained to do.

Unbelievable. So this guy’s contending that the kid used the word first, therefore he’s obliged to do so. See, this is breaking one of the rules of authority. If you’re a parental figure, babysitter, schoolteacher, whatever, you should always try and set the example. Do not stoop to the levels of your apprentice in this manner. And yes, if you think I’m inferring that using the N-word makes you low-life no matter what race you are, you’ve guessed correctly. Plus, I’ve just found out that if you stop the video on this idiot at the right frame, he looks like a drunk moron. No surprise.

He’s been trained to repeat the same insult. This ain’t school training, that’s for sure.

Announcer: Dawson (the teacher) says students used the slang version of the N-word at Valley High School all the time. He says N-I-*-*-E-R is a racial slur, but says that students use N-I-*-*-A As often as they’d say “Dude” or “Hey man.” And Dawson says as much as he does not like the word, he still used the slang version to feel more comfortable with black students.

And here we see the teacher holding up flashcards saying that “ni**er” and “ni**a” are “2 completely different words!” I’m amazed that with this much language, they even allow this story to go on the news without being censored. Yunno, it’s just funny to see how this guy defends himself so energetically for using a racial slur that he didn’t even intend to use in an offensive manner, but STILL shouldn’t have used in the first place. I hope this guy enjoys his suspension.

So after the teacher uses the word several times in a row to emphasize his point (making me giggle hysterically at how dumb this guy is saying this to a black, female reporter,) the interview continues:

Interviewer: What kind of example are you setting for your students if you use a word that you don’t want them to use?
Teacher: Upon reflection, it’s not good.

Duh. So is suspension good enough? Let’s ask Keishon, the young black student.

Student:…Apologizing isn’t going to change the fact that it happened and he’s not been punished.
Interviewee: And punishment in your mind is…?
Student: Not having his job anymore.

Really? Over using a stupid word once? The teacher screws up once with this guy and that’s all he needs to get fired. I’ll go easy on this kid. He’s a freshman in high school, he needs to learn a little more. But I think a ten day suspension and retraining (which is what Dawson got) would be enough punishment for the teacher. Unless the kid was maybe aware of the last time Dawson was suspended.

Reporter: But this is not the first time Paul Dawson has been suspended from Jefferson County Public Schools. Coming up at 5:30, we’ll tell you what happened before, we’ll tell you about his plan to appeal the suspension and why the district says he should keep his job.

It’s not the first time, but the district still says he should keep his job. I would love to see the next block of the news just to see what the district had to say, but I think all this proves a point. I can’t take sides on this issue because it’s either side with the teacher who thinks he’s too good for a ten day suspension over using the N-word or the student who thinks he should lose his job over this one incident. In my opinion, I think the teacher should serve out his suspension, keep his job, try a different approach that doesn’t use racial slurs and stop being an idiot. But still, I wonder myself. Why is it OK for a black person to use the N-word but not a white person. Not that I think it’s OK for either race to use the word, but do you see white people going around saying “What’s up, crackah?” I don’t think so.

More on Oswald

A few days ago, I blogged on Disney buying back Oswald, the Lucky Rabbit. Well, I guess I’m not the only one who picked up on the story. It looks like International Animated Film Society (AKA ASIFA, Dunno why) has posted this humorous interview on their site:

The great news for me this week is that Oswald the Not-So-Lucky Rabbit has been released after 78 years of imprisonment. Mister Lucky-Rabbit, a first cousin of the world famous Mickey Mouse, was reached by this reporter today at his temporary burrow under the Disney Magic Hat Building.

LL: Mister Lucky-Rabbit, do you mind if I call you Oswald?

OL-R: No, not at all. That is my name.

LL: It must be very strange to be free after all these years? What was captivity like?

OL-R: It was not good Larry. For the last 50 years they had me locked in a dark, airless, vault. I was being guarded by out of work Universal Monsters. The Invisible Man was the worst. He has a real inferiority complex. Thinks he`s always being overlooked. Talk about your Geneva Convention violations.

Give the whole thing a read. Pretty amusing. Also, we have a look at the animation blog known as “Jim Hill Media” and what they have to say on the matter:

Yep. This story is true. You can read about all the particulars here.

But what I find fascinating is what isn't turning up in any of the official press accounts about the Al Michaels / Oswald the Lucky Rabbit trade. To be specific, how Bob Iger initially got interested in reacquiring this character. More importantly, what Bob plans to do with Oswald now that Disney's got him back.

That’s what I’d like to know. Why DID Iger buy Oswald back?

The story that I've heard from a number of Disney insiders is that it was actually an article that ran on Jerry Beck & Amid Amidi's excellent Cartoon Brew website back in January of 2005 that reportedly put Oswald the Lucky Rabbit on Iger's radar. You see, Jerry & Amid had just done a story about how Oswald merchandise was (for some inexplicable reason) suddenly selling like hotcakes in Japan. And Bob -- while doing his standard every morning routine of trolling-around-the-Internet-while-strolling-on-his-treadmill -- allegedly just filed this factoid away.

Japan, huh? Doesn’t surprise me. “Felix the Cat” is so much more popular in Japan than in the U.S., they made bubble gum and trading cards for him. They even made a “Baby Felix” cartoon not too long ago just to repackage the franchise and make them cuter. Wonder how well that went. Considering the popularity of that character, it doesn’t surprise me that another inkblot animation child would be popular in Japan as well. But there’s more to the story:

Later that same morning, once he actually got into work, Iger supposedly began making inquiries about Oswald. As he tried to find out A) Who now really held the rights to this classic Disney cartoon character and B) what the licensing rights to the lucky rabbit might actually be worth in today's marketplace. Bob's staffers eventually got back to their boss with all the necessary info (I.E. That Universal still held the rights to Oswald. More importantly, that there was some seriously unrealized marketing potential in this classic Disney cartoon character). And then Iger just tucked that info away in his pocket ... and waited.

Could Iger be having a nostalgia attack as well as realizing that the company might see some fortune? Only time will tell.

Rabbit Ears Iger

So Bob Iger’s been CEO of Disney for some time now, so he’s bought out Pixar (even though I was pretty sure of Pixar staying away from them)…what else is new? How about trading a sport announcer for a rabbit?

A 61-year-old sportscaster for a 79-year-old animated rabbit?

Such are the deals being made these days in Hollywood as new Walt Disney Co. Chief Executive Robert Iger indicated that his company would be extending another olive branch within the entertainment community.

This time, Iger is trading "Monday Night Football" sportscaster Al Michaels to NBC Universal for Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, a cartoon character that was the predecessor to Mickey Mouse.

It doesn't stop there, though, as Disney's ESPN gets the rights to broadcast Ryder Cup golf, extended Olympics highlights and various cross-promotion deals.

Michaels told ESPN last month that he wanted to move over to NBC with colleague John Madden to do that network's Sunday-night football broadcasts. Michaels also pointed out several key behind-the-scenes crew members were making the jump with Madden.

"It was more a case of me being very comfortable if I could stay with my group," Michaels said in a news conference Thursday. "It couldn't have gotten any better than it was the last four years."

Wow, I thought most people would be rather upset about being replaced by a cartoon rabbit, but this guy’s pretty cool. I guess if nothing much changes, you might as well still feel at home anyway. For those of you who don’t know who Oswald is, here’s a brief summary from the same article further down:

The rabbit was a creation of company founder Walt Disney's in 1927, and the source of 26 cartoons that he produced for Universal Studios. Disney discovered, however, that Universal wanted ownership of Oswald, so he set out to create a new character. That gave birth to Mickey Mouse.

Disney did not spell out what it planned to do with Oswald -- whether the character will be revived and marketed in some fashion.

But the deal does suggest that Iger's early tenure will be marked by détente. After taking over from the mercurial Michael Eisner last year, Iger has mended fences with dissident shareholders Roy Disney and Stanley Gold, and patched up relations with animation partner Pixar enough to forge a merger pact between the two companies.

Reporters were able to get more information from Oswald in an interview: “I’ve spent over 60 years in retirement, but things get kinda boring when you’re a cartoon that doesn’t get any older. So when I asked Universal for a job a few years ago, they said I wasn’t in style. They were too busy working on that crazy woodpecker. So yeah, the Disney folks pretty much bought me on a deal about bringing back the magic. Trouble is, my new contract said something about a CGI makeover. Oh well, that’s showbiz.”

Bushwacking to the Max

Alright, it’s way overdue time for me to do something political again, and since I’ve already waited long enough to blog on this, I think I’ll just get it over with. A few weeks ago, I saw this poster up on my school campus:
























Oh, wow. They could have used this as toilet paper, but they decided to take some perfectly good trees and make this instead. The sad thing about this is that most of this can be debunked really easily. But first let’s take a closer look:
















(Click the pic for a bigger one)

Alright, first of all, of course millions are outraged. As long as there are millions of Democrats, there will be millions opposing Republicans. And how in the heck is the Bush administration remaking society in a fascist way? Are they talking about Iraq or the United States? Furthermore, you still can’t convince me that this war is unjust. Unless you can deny that we’ve made progress in stopping Al-Qaeda’s plans, you can’t say that the war is unjust…Unless you’re the loony type who automatically thinks that everything Bush says is a lie just because he said it. And criminal? Whoa, I’d like to hear them explain that.

Actors, artists, writers and musicians are stepping forward indeed. I’m sure that Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon or someone that’s similar were attending this event. Well if Sean Penn’s angry, then we should be too, right? Don’t think so. So what else do they do? They bring pots and pans to bang and try to drown out the Bush speech. People actually did this! They banged on pots and pans as loud as they could like Kindergarteners! They’re fellow Democrats ought to be embarrassed by this. I mean, it embarrasses me to know that some of my fellow Republicans are racists. How do they feel about some of their kind being hooligans? Honestly, you wanna bet there was a huge mess and a few fights breaking out here with these events? Geez.

No is my Final Answer

Funny. I didn’t think I’d be able to get back onto my computer for the rest of the day. My mouse and keyboard just stopped working out of the blue and I installed another keyboard we had laying around the house. Now it works fine, so I guess I’ll be blogging today on something that needs to be said.

I’m going to make a public announcement: I can no longer work with Erik. I am saying this for a number of reasons, most of which I probably won’t even get to in this post. Simply put, however, Erik and I are too different. Over the years, I planned to do many things with him, future movies and music and whatnot. But everything we’ve planned on since Amber started seems to have fallen apart. Our interests have gone in different directions and we’ve become two different people. He wants to do certain kinds of movies, I want to do other kinds of movies. He wants to do a certain kind of music, I want to do other kinds. And when our ideas collide, mine are referred to as “crap,” “lame-ass” or something of that nature. Right off the bat, I can’t work with someone who insults me.

Now, since I first told Erik that I didn’t want to work with him, it’s been a few months. Since then, he’s decided to try and speak with me more over AIM, something which he avoided doing with me before if he didn’t want to. He could just leave the messenger on and not respond to my messages if he didn’t want to, now he’s trying to ask me all about how things are going and butter me up. I must have told him three or four times now that I don’t want to work with and each time he’s tried like I didn’t say no last time. He’s even told me that he’s ready to cooperate. I told him before that the lyrics he was coming up with were too dirty and he’s told me he’ll clean it up. Trouble is, he’s said that before and not done it. Now he’s pretending to be a different person just to get to work with me again. Once again, I can’t work with him because I can’t tell if he’s lying to me.

Erik, if you read this, it’s over. Try to understand that I don’t want to work with you anymore and cope with it. I know we’ve planned on doing a lot of stuff, but it’s not working out on my end. It’s really hurting me to write this because I don’t like risking hurting people’s feelings, but I have to. It’s off and that’s all.