#linda mcdowell

[draigviller]

[70ssmut4]

[innerduckgladiator]

Linda McDowell

[spockeyes-thirst]

Linda McDowell

[draigviller]

[70ssmut4]

[beautiesofbygoneeras]

Linda McDowell was born on June 18, 1951 in Iowa, USA. She was an actress, pornographic actress and classic men’s magazine model active from 1971 - 1984. She died of cancer on June 15, 2008 in Delhi, Iowa.

[king-of-the-birds]

PAUL'S BALL

a launch party for wings

He produced a handwritten invitation, leaving space to write in the invitee's name, as well as a number, which would be used for a raffle drawing toward the end of the evening. (The prize was a magnum of champagne; the disc jockey Jeff Dexter was the winner.) (..) The recommended dress was "glam."(..)

Some 800 musicians, reporters, friends of the band and music business honchos were invited.(..)

As always at such events, there was ample carping, which a reporter for Rolling Stone duly cataloged. After describing the Empire Ballroom as decidedly unhip, a leftover from the days when the Joe Loss Orchestra would play foxtrots, and young ladies shopped for husbands among the dancers, the writer noted that while the wine and cheese were free, everything at the bar was for sale.

(…)

Eyebrows were raised when, instead of a Wings performance, partygoers were treated to fox-trots, waltzes, quicksteps, and congas, played by McVay's band-along with what McVay remembered as arrangements of sixties and seventies hits, including a Beatles medley and some Beach Boys tunes. They were raised higher still when the heavily sequined and coiffed Frank and Peggy Spence Latin and Ballroom Formation Dancing Teams filed onto the floor to demonstrate their artistry.

"I'm beginning to think that Paul actually digs all this" one guest quipped to the Rolling Stone reporter, "that he actually likes dance bands, ballrooms, and buffet food. That's incredibly camp, you know, incredibly camp. Have you seen his suit? It's like a clown's costume, the jacket is about five sizes too big, and it's not even been finished."

(from the McCartney Legacy Vol. 1)

Paul: A press launch is always a good excuse to have a night out, so we invited friends and journalists, played the album, danced and had a few funny people come on to entertain. I wore an outrageous big check suit that I thought would be good. When I went to collect it from the tailor that morning he told me that it wasn’t finished. I said, ‘Maybe not, but it’s a look!’ So I went to the party with the cotton and the stitching showing, and everyone said, ‘Your suit’s not finished.’ I said, ‘Yeah, I know. Great, huh?’

(from Wingspan, 2002)

Some of the guests that attended were Jimmy Page, Elton John, Sandy Denny, Mary Hopkin, members of the Who, the Faces, Deep Purple, Ginger Baker, Henry McCullough, Gilbert O'Sullivan, Graham Bond, Sandie Shaw, the Greek synthesizer wizard Vangelis, the actors Malcolm McDowell, and Terence Stamp, some of the Monty Python troupe, Sir Joseph Lockwood, the head of EMI, Allan Clarke, of the Hollies, and (Benny) Gallagher and (Graham) Lyle.

After the party a fan encountered Paul:

He went skipping (yes it is true) down the road with Linda and just as he turned the corner to a side street, I took courage and called him back. He stopped and said “yeah” so I ran to catch him up and breathlessly asked him for his autograph. The funny part is my pen was at the bottom of this large bag of mine! He stood patiently watching me with arms folded as I rummaged elbow deep. I asked him if he had a pen as I just couldn’t find mine; he said no (which isn’t surprising as he had this crazy suit on that had no pockets).

(Kathy Turner – From Meet the Beatles for Real: Wings Party)

[cinemagooey]

Monkey Business

There's a new Planet of the Apes sequel in theaters now, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. It's the perfect time to go a little bananas over the OG film that made the industry go ape-sh%$ crazy, and peek at the franchise that made billions for Fox.

Charlton Heston all tangled up in Planet of the Apes (1968)

Twentieth Century Fox had a monkey on its back.

It was 1968 and the studio had taken a huge gamble by greenlighting a movie based on an obscure french novel called La Planèt Des Singes, when no other studio wanted to touch it.

The science fiction plot was way out there for one thing - monkeys evolving into super-intelligent rulers of the world? Humans devolving into mute beasts? Fuggetaboutit. Audiences wouldn't buy it. And the cost of making the futuristic film seemed rife with financial risk.

The original Planet of the Apes novel cover

But a VP at Twentieth Century Fox, Richard F. Zanuck (scion of the studio founder), was intrigued by the screenplay, co-written by The Twighlight Zone's own Rod Serling.

And the man who had taken the biggest gamble by gobbling up the rights to the novel, Arthur P. Jacobs, a former publicist to Marilyn Monroe and Gregory Peck, just wouldn't shut up about it, convincing Zanuck that this was going to be a gorilla of a hit. It helped that Charlton Heston, an A-lister star, had signed on to play the lead.

Charlton Heston a/k/a Moses

Despite initial fears that audiences would laugh at the ape costumes and shake their heads at the plot, Zanuck moved forward (after signing his mistress to play the crucial role of Nova, the female companion to Heston's Captain Taylor). In 1967 filming began in the high heat of the Arizona and Utah deserts.

Charlton Heston as Taylor and Linda Harrison as Nova, the primitive female who managed to keep her brows perfectly shaped and teeth pearly white - even during apocalyptic times!

Filming Planet of the Apes, 1967

The summer heat, which got upwards of 120 degrees, made life pretty unbearable for the cast members. Kim Hunter, the actress who played Zaria and had to endure several hours in heavy prosthetics, resorted to taking valium. Jeff Burton, who played the doomed astronaut Dodge, fainted from the heat. The unforgiving landscape was treacherous and some equipment had to be brought in by mule packs. But it paid off handsomely when audiences flocked to see this groundbreaking sci-fi movie.

The premise is ingenious: four astronauts blast off from Cape Canaveral to explore the universe for six months. When their spaceship crashes on a mysterious planet, the three surviving astronauts strike out to explore the surroundings, realizing that they've not only landed on a strange planet, but have arrived 2,000 years into the future. Captain Taylor, upon his first encounter with primitive, mute humans, states wryly: "If that's the best they've got around here, in six months we'll be running the planet."

Not so fast, Taylor. Turns out talking apes run this planet and have created a society not unlike mankind did back on earth - complete with a socieo-economic and racial class system, a religion that explains why apes are the superior being, and heated debates on faith vs. science that rile up the status quo.

Who runs the world? Apes

Government officials are left scratching their furry heads at Taylor, the only astronaut to survive an ape attack - they've never met a human who can talk and reason. What to do with this strange creature, who is scheduled to be gelded and lobotomized?

Two compassionate apes, Zaria (Kim Hunter) and Cornelius (Roddy McDowell) who believe that apes evolved from humans, come to Taylor's rescue and set into motion an epic ending that has gone down in the annals of film history as one of the best movie twists ever made.

Turns out Taylor was home all along

Planet of the Apes became a blockbuster hit and spawned an impressive franchise that includes 10 movies: Beneath the Planet of the Apes (1970), Escape From the Planet of the Apes (1971), Conquest of the Planet of the Apes (1972), Battle for the Planet of the Apes (1973) {boy they were really riding the gravy train for a few years, eh?} Planet of the Apes reboot (2001) , Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014), War for the Planet of the Apes (2017) and of course Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (2024). It also birthed a television series with a 14 episode run in 1974, and a Saturday morning animated series in 1975. And let's not forget the endless paraphernalia that can be found on ebay (70's metal lunchbox, anyone?).

Of course, there were action figures, too

Twentieth Century Fox made a killing and that monkey on it's back in 1968 turned out to be nothing to sweat about at all. On the contrary, Planet of the Apes became a cultural juggernaut, despite film critic Roger Ebert's cheeky 1968 review of the film, encouraging viewers to see it, even if they have to "condescend" to the movie:

"You have nothing to lower," he wrote, "but your brow."

[absedarian]

If you’re making your first rock album, it definitely helps if your little black phone book has the numbers of some legends in it, I guess. The fact that they all agreed to accompany Dolly on this journey speaks for itself.

Here’s the track list with special guests - 30 tracks, almost 2 1/2 hours of music 🎵

Rockstar (special guest Richie Sambora)

World On Fire

Every Breath You Take (feat. Sting)

Open Arms (feat. Steve Perry)

Magic Man (feat. Ann Wilson with special guest Howard Leese)

Long As I Can See The Light (feat. John Fogerty)

Either Or (feat. Kid Rock)

I Want You Back (feat. Steven Tyler with special guest Warren Haynes)

What Has Rock And Roll Ever Done For You (feat. Stevie Nicks with special guest Waddy Wachtel)

Purple Rain

Baby, I Love Your Way (feat. Peter Frampton)

I Hate Myself For Loving You (feat. Joan Jett & The Blackhearts)

Night Moves (feat. Chris Stapleton)

Wrecking Ball (feat. Miley Cyrus)

(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction (feat. P!nk & Brandi Carlile)

Keep On Loving You (feat. Kevin Cronin)

Heart Of Glass (feat. Debbie Harry)

Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me (feat. Elton John)

Tried To Rock And Roll Me (feat. Melissa Etheridge)

Stairway To Heaven (feat. Lizzo & Sasha Flute)

We Are The Champions

Bygones (feat. Rob Halford with special guests Nikki Sixx & John 5)

My Blue Tears (feat. Simon Le Bon)

What’s Up? (feat. Linda Perry)

You’re No Good (feat. Emmylou Harris & Sheryl Crow)

Heartbreaker (feat. Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo)

Bittersweet (feat. Michael McDonald)

I Dreamed About Elvis (feat. Ronnie McDowell with special guest The Jordanaires)

Let It Be (feat. Paul McCartney & Ringo Starr with special guests Peter Frampton & Mick Fleetwood)

Free Bird (feat. Ronnie Van Zant with special guests Gary Rossington, Artimus Pyle and The Artimus Pyle Band)

[draigviller]

[70ssmut4]

[jules-has-notes]

collaboration spotlight — White Christmas puppet video by Mark McDowell

Professional singers tend to have many friends who are also professional singers, and occasionally involve them in the side projects they do for their own amusement. So when Mark McDowell decided to indulge one of his other passions in a video Christmas card, he rounded up some of his old pals and turned them into puppets.

Details:

title: I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

performers: Mark McDowell, Geoff Castellucci, Kathy Castellucci, & Michelle Mailhot

original performers: Bing Crosby as Jim Hardy and Marjorie Reynolds as Linda Mason in Holiday Inn (1942)

written by: Irving Berlin

arranged by: Mark McDowell

release date: 20 December 2016

My favorite bits:

puppet Kathy bopping to the beat

the contrast between Geoff and Mark's timbres as they hand the melody back and forth

Kathy's lovely, sweet tone

Michelle crooning away as her puppet's costume changes from cozy sweater to concert glam

that final deep ♫ "whiiite" ♫ briefly waking Mark from his dream

Trivia:

Geoff had previously recorded a version of this song with VoicePlay for their 2012 holiday album "Peppermint Winter", and it had become a staple in their seasonal setlists.

Michelle and the Castelluccis had known each other for many years. Michelle's a cappella group, Toxic Audio (aka Vox Audio), came up around the same time as 4:2:Five in the Orlando music scene, and Geoff had subbed as TA's bass on the road quite a bit in the mid-2000s.

Kathy and Mark had been in a few gig bands together over the years, including Soul Funktion, All Night Groove / Acoustik Groove, and Six Strings Attached.

[wutbju]

Mary Cauleen (Bawks, Howell) Galer, age 93, of Pickford, Michigan, died peacefully at MyMichigan Medical Center in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, on March 2, 2023. She was born at home in Pickford, Michigan, on April 5, 1929, to Robert Orville and Della Jane (McDowell) Bawks.

Mary was passionate about education throughout her life. After graduating from Pickford High School in 1947, she began her higher education studies at Bob Jones University, where she met and fell in love with fellow educator Sandy Howell. They were married in Pickford on June 9, 1951. She continued her education at Western Michigan University, earning a bachelor's degree in science. She continued studies at Ferris State University, Northern Michigan University, and Michigan State University. Mary began teaching at Parkerville School, a one room schoolhouse in Bruce Township, Michigan, and retired as Principal of Pickford Elementary School after an illustrious 41 year career.

After they both lost their first spouses, Mary and Willis Galer fell in love and eloped to Maui, Hawaii on September 20, 1995. They enjoyed 20 years of traveling and adventure together, often with her best friend Dorthea and her husband Ragan Callaway and Bill and Norma Raynard.

Mary's faith was an integral part of her life. She was a lifelong member of the United Methodist Church in Pickford. She volunteered as a Sunday School teacher and was the Choir and Cantatas Director for 27 years. Mary enjoyed the musical arts outside of church as well. She sang with music groups Vocal Majority and the Mary Wood Chorus, and she was an accomplished clarinetist and organist.

Mary joined Delta Kappa Gamma International for Women Educators in 1960 and served as a chapter and state officer. She was awarded the Delta Kappa Gamma Woman of Distinction award in 1976. She was a member of the Pickford Grange and served in several positions including officer, flora, and chaplain. Mary was awarded the Woman of the Year award in 1983 by the Business and Professional Women organization. She was also a member of the Michigan Elementary and Middle School Principal's Association.

Mary was an animal lover and had seven beloved Boston Terrier companions throughout her life.

Mary is survived by her nephew, Charles (Jenni) Bawks of White Oak, Texas; niece, Aleta (Dan) Phelps of Euless, Texas; great nephews, Russell (Kristen) Bawks, Stephen (Jennifer) Phelps, Michael (Manuela) Phelps, and Timothy Phelps; and 6 great-great nieces and nephews; stepdaughter, Linda (David) Thompson of Pickford; stepson, Rod (Patsy) Galer of Pickford; grandchildren, Candace (Larry) Warner, Cheri (Scott) Skinner, Trisha (Zac) Jennings, Micah (Lisa) Galer, Nathan (Tiffany) Galer, and Emily Galer; 16 great grandchildren; and 4 great-great grandchildren. She is also survived by her sisters-in-law, Edith Howell Pfoutz and Lorraine Galer, and brother-in-law, Paul VanLuven.

Mary was preceded in death by her husbands, Robert Howell and Willis Galer; her parents, Robert Orville and Della; her brother, Alvin Bawks; and her great nephew, Matthew Bawks.

Services will be held Monday, April 10, 2023, at the Pickford Methodist Church. Visitation will be from 11:00 AM until 1:00 PM with the funeral service beginning at 1:00 PM. Burial will be in Oaklawn Chapel Gardens in Bruce Township, Michigan.

Galer Funeral Home & Cremation of Pickford, Michigan, is serving the family. Condolences may be left to the family at www.galerfuneralhomes.com.

[historyhermann]

“Phineas and Ferb”: An Animated Series All Can Enjoy

Candace tells her mom that her brothers are making a title sequence in the show's opening song

Phineas and Ferb tells the story of two stepbrothers who try to keep themselves occupied during their summer vacation, building elaborate inventions, while their sister tries to bust them and expose them to her mom, hoping to get recognition.

Reprinted from The Geekiary, my History Hermann WordPress blog on Feb. 15, 2023, and Wayback Machine. This was the fiftieth article I wrote for The Geekiary. This post was originally published on August 11, 2022.

Phineas and Ferb is an animated musical, comedy, and science fantasy series created by Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh. They are a long-time animation writing duo who worked together on The Simpsons and Rocko's Modern Life. With the show debuting in August 2007, the series ran for four seasons and over 120 episodes. The series finale aired on June 15, 2015.

As a warning, this recommendation discusses some spoilers for the four seasons of Phineas and Ferb.

Candace happily talks on the phone while her brother, Phineas, pushes an elephant in the background, and his pet platypus, Perry, walks behind him in the show's opening sequence

Phineas and Ferb centers around two stepbrothers, Phineas Flynn (Vincent Martella) and Ferb Fletcher (Thomas Brodie-Sangster). They live in the city of Danville and go on adventures during their summer vacation. Often their older teenage sister, Candace Flynn (Ashley Tisdale) attempts to bust them. She also tries to garner attention Jeremy Johnson (Mitchel Musso), a boy she likes.

If that isn't absurd enough, the animal companion of Phineas and Ferb is a platypus named Perry. While he acts like an animal who can't "do anything" when around his human family. In actuality, he is a secret agent who is a member of O.W.C.A. (Organization Without a Cool Acronym). He faces off against the devious, yet bumbling, Dr. Heinz Doofenshmitz (Dan Povenmire). Doof has a rival named Rodney (Joe Orrantia) and is a member of the group of villains named L.O.V.E.M.U.F.F.I.N..

These storylines are interlaced with running gags, surreal and situational comedy. This involves word jokes, pop culture parodies, metahumor, wordplay, blank stares, and breaking the fourth wall.

In many ways, the series has many similarities to Milo Murphy's Law, a sci-fi action adventure comedy set in the same universe as Phineas and Ferb. This carries over in its tones and characters. The second season of Milo Murphy's Law becomes a full-fledged crossover with some characters from Phineas and Ferb.

Phineas and Ferb was often promoted by Disney during its long run. There were live-action talk shows, two crossover episodes, and two television films. The first film, Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Across the 2nd Dimension aired in 2011.

The second Phineas and Ferb the Movie: Candace Against the Universe aired in 2020. The latter film is the most recent animation of the franchise's characters, apart from Chibi Tiny Tales. However, revival series for The Proud Family, and for Moana and The Princess and the Frog film characters, may mean Disney might revive Phineas and Ferb.

Many of the show's characters shown at the end of the Season 2 episode "Rollercoaster: The Musical!"

The series is unique because it has a blended family. It is more common in pop culture now than when the series aired. Apart from Phineas, Ferb, and Candace, their mom, Linda Flynn-Fletcher (Caroline Rhea), and their dad Lawrence Fletcher (Richard O'Brien) are recurring characters. Occasionally Linda's parents, Clyde (Barry Bostwick) and Betty Jo (Rhea), and Lawrence's parents, Reginald (Malcolm McDowell) and Winifred (Jane Carr) appear.

This family focus is reflected in many songs and musical numbers throughout the series. There's even a fictional rock band named Love Händel. This is not unique. Disney characters in Elena of Avalor, Kim Possible, Rapunzel's Tangled Adventure, and The Ghost and Molly McGee sing about how families are wholesome and without fault.

Kim Possible, a Disney series, has similarities, dialogue that caters to adult viewers, and visual jokes. However, Phineas and Ferb is different. It lacks in racial diversity among the cast. There are many White characters, such as a bully named Buford van Stomm (Bobby Gaylor), Carl the Intern (Tyler Alexander Mann), the hippyish friend of Candace, Jenny Brown (Stoner), and Doofenshirtz's ex-wife, Charlene (Allison Janey).

Characters who are people of color are the minority. They include two characters of Jewish Mexican descent: Isabella Garcia-Shapiro (Alyson Stoner), and Vivian Garcia-Shapiro (Eileen Galindo). Also, Baljeet Tjinder (Maulik Pancholy) is of Indian descent and Stacy Hirano (Kelly Hu) and is of Japanese descent.

Some fans of the show from South Asia, and Baljeet, criticized the series for problematic, and stereotypical character traits. In an interview in May 2021, Dan Povenmire asked people to not use the character's name as an insult. He said that these criticisms of Baljeet, and the show, were valid. Povenmire stated that during the show, they leaned into cultural differences of Baljeet, and characters from other cultures, which "may have not aged well". He also argued that Baljeet became a "more well-rounded character" through the course of the show.

At the same time, there are many non-human characters. Apart from Perry, there's Isabella's pet chihuahua, Pinky, and many O.W.C.A agents. Both of which have voice effects by Dee Bradley Baker. There's also a robot created by Doofenshmirtz, Norm (John Viener). Pinky, like Perry, faces a villain, Prof. Esmeralda Poofenplotz (Amanda Plummer). She has a boss named Admiral Wanda Acronym (Jane Leeves).

Candace and Vanessa talk in the end of the episode "Night of the Living Pharmacists", the last time they appear together in the series proper

In April 2021, Dan Povenmire, co-creator of Milo Murphy’s Law and Phineas and Ferb, announced in a Tik Tok comment in that Perry the Platypus was asexual. This led to discourse on Twitter on the topic. Some praised him as a “king” and an “icon”, made the show more interesting to watch, and a win for asexuals. Others said that making the only animal character in the series is not something you get “brownie points” for and bemoaned the lack of asexual representation.

That representation after-the-fact, was better than gay vibes or subtext that fans can take from the series. Just as various fans support the slash ship between Cavendish and Dakota in Milo Murphy's Law, Dakavendish, according to the Shipping Wiki fandom listing, some fans of Phineas and Ferb ship Buford and Baljeet (Bujeet), the two Doofensmirtz (Doofcest), Ferb and Bauljeet (Ferbjeet), Phineas and Dipper (Phindip), Candace and Stacy (Candacy), or Phineas, Ferb, and Isabella (Phinerbella).

However, one ship stands out: the one between Candace and Vanessa Doofenshmirtz (Olivia Olson). Called "Candessa" by fans, it has a small following on social media platforms and even has a subreddit dedicated to it. Unfortunately, the show's canon somewhat invalidates the ship as it shows Vanessa and Ferb together in a future episode, making Ferbnessa canon. The show's writing and scenes make the Phinabella ship between Phineas and Isabella, and Canderemy ship between Candace and Jeremy canon. Even so, there is no heterosexual explanation for how Candace and Vanessa act around one another.

On the other hand, as Alex Henderson pointed out in his review criticizing heteronormivity in Spy x Family, a story can "have queer themes even if it doesn’t have queer representation" and have queer readings even if there isn't any direct acknowledgement of "any queer issues within its narrative or any of its narrative framings." This is the case for Phineas and Ferb, with heteronormivity and gender norms communicated through the dress, clothing colors, mannerisms, and actions of characters. For one, Marsh has said that there are LGBTQ characters in the series, but did not give any names.

Furthermore, Swampy hoped that the son "Rebels Let's Go" would be a "LGBT anthem", while the voice actor of Phineas, Vincent Martella, said that neither Phineas, nor Ferb, are TERFs. Additionally, at the beginning of the episode "Act Your Age", Povenmire and Swampy said that Perry would not have a girlfriend, hinting at possible asexuality.

Some of the voice actors are part of the LGBTQ community. Stoner came out in March 2016, saying she was "attracted to men, women, and people who identify in other ways". She later said that she wanted to remain fluid at how she described her sexual orientation. Stoner voiced a lesbian character in The Loud House named Sam Sharp. In addition, Baljeet's voice actor, Pancholy, came out as gay in 2013.

Queer fans of Phineas and Ferb have headcanoned Doofenshmirtz, Candace, and Vanessa as bisexual, Roger Doofensmirtz (Doof's brother) as gay, Ferb and Phineas as non-binary, and Stacey as trans. Others found canon support for Bujeet. This makes sense, as does seeming acknowledgement that Perry is trans male, even if headcanons don't make sense. After all, Martella came out strongly in support of the LGBTQ community, to give one example.

Some fans may headcanon Candace as trans since she has a deep voice when she is near parsnips. She also sings about changing her name to "Larry" in the song "Come Home Perry".

The show has been very influential. Olson's voice role in the series is one of the reasons that Pendleton Ward, the Adventure Time creator, had her voice Marceline in Adventure Time. In fact, I'm almost certain I learned about Phineas and Ferb, when Pamela Adlon, who voiced a character in the aforementioned series, sang the theme song of the series. She sang it along with other characters of Better Things.

Phineas and Ferb has similarities to animated series about super spies and covert organizations. While Inside Job had a hilarious episode which parodied spy thrillers, the French and Canadian action comedy series, Totally Spies! had the most similarities. In that series, Alexandra "Alex", Clover, and "Sam" Samantha are teenagers who fight evildoers on the side. They work for the World Organization of Human Protection (WOOHP). Their boss, Jerry, is like Major Monogram (Jeff "Swampy" Marsh) in Phineas and Ferb.

However, since it took 15 years before Disney accepted the series, and it aired on Disney, it is unlikely that Totally Spies! influenced Phineas and Ferb. Additionally, some have called Doof the most "human villain" on TV. This makes him different from villains or malcontents within Totally Spies!, which will return for another season next year.

The series also featured many well-known voices. For example, Ming-Na Wen, Corey Burton, Cloris Leachman, Meera Syal, and Kari Wahlgren voice characters in the series. There are also a plethora of guest stars such as Phil LaMarr, Keith Ferguson, Kevin Michael Richardson, John DiMaggio, George Takei, and Stan Lee.

Povenmire and Swampy have used the series to springboard into their own projects. Povenmire is leading the soon-to-premiere action-comedy-superhero series, Hamster & Gretel. In an interview with him, and his daughter, Meli, who is voicing the show's protagonist, Gretel, he said he has ADHD. It was implied that Gretel has ADHD as well. The series will also feature Stoner as Lauren / The Destructress.

Swampy is an executive producer and director of S.A.L.E.M.: The Secret Archive of Legends, Enchantments, and Monsters, an indie animated series by Samantha "Sam" Sawyer about a non-binary cryptid named Salem. He is a founder of the company Surfer Jack Productions.

It remains to be seen if Povenmire and Swampy will work together in a future series. They seem to be going off in their own directions, rather than collaborating together as they did on Phineas and Ferb and Milo Murphy's Law.

Despite the lack of diversity in cast and lack of openly LGBTQ characters in Phineas and Ferb, something which recent Disney series like The Ghost and Molly McGee, Amphibia, and The Owl House, it still stands out as a strong series. I would unequivocally recommend the series.

Currently, Phineas and Ferb is streaming on Disney+ and Prime Video, with the first season available for free on YouTube.

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[3d-bear]

Normally I don’t want to throw my hat into The Discourse but I have many very skilled friends who work in digital VFX and I just want to say a couple of things.  First off I want to say that the “digital effects artists aren’t unionized so it is cheaper and that is why it is used” is... not correct. Unions are wonderful and there needs be one, and there are people working on it. I am also sure it is a reasoning in part as to why CGI is now the standard for VFX, but that is not the only sole reason everyone here seems to think it is.  Practical effects and in-camera tricks are cool but there are many many drawbacks that make them hard to justify it over VFX. 1.  Practical effects are often extremely dangerous. 

In the previous post @prismatic-bell mentioned how Margaret Hamilton was badly burnt due to the smoke effect. This level of injury is extremely common for practical effects. There are many cases when attempts at real effects harms or even kills actors, stunt actors, and film crew.

Some famous instances: 

The Twilight Zone Movie: Vic Morrow and two child actors where killed when special effects explosions went off too close to the helicopter and caused it to crash, killing  all of them.  The Dark Knight:  Conway Wickliffe, a film technician, was killed in collision filming a batmobile action scene.  

A Clockwork Orange: Malcolm McDowell suffered a scratched cornea while filming the scene where his eyes were kept open. ‘

The Exorcist: Linda Blair, a child at the time, suffered spinal fractures due to a malfunction of mechanical effect that lead to life-long chronic pain. 

Dune (1984): Actor Jürgen Prochnow suffered 2nd and 3rd degree burns on his face due to a malfunctioning smoke effect.  I honestly could go on, there are many many examples in which practical effects and real-life stunt work has seriously injured or killed someone.  

Regardless of how you feel about any of other my other points, I hope this alone is enough to make you understand why in general CGI is better for production.  There is no real fire, no blanks, no accidently gunfire, not massive mechanical malfunctions. not extreme temperatures, perfectly controlled environments, no animals going haywire, no potential for car crashes. Injury is still possible if stunt work is still done with real people in front of a greenscreen, but risk has been significantly reduced. 

I, personally, am fine with some rubbery looking effects if it means not putting someone’s life at risk. 

It is not worth it to endanger someone's life solely for our entertainment. 

I think that is reason enough. But I will go into some other stuff. 

2. Filming on location is often like... extremely ecologically damaging. 

You ever wonder what happens to on-location movie sets when everything is done? The answer is usually... they just leave them there. 

Famously  Robert Altman’s 1980 live action adaptation of Popeye built an entire village set in Malta that is still there to this day. This happens a lot. Some other famous examples are The Planet Of Tatooine From Star Wars and The Shire from the Lord of the Rings films. These are actually a best-case scenario since at least they became tourists destinations.  However, they were still untouched or unused land that was taken over to film a movie, or a series of movies, and for no other reason and never removed because it would cost too much. There are many others that are just left to rot.  This one is gonna have to be a “just trust me” kind of thing but I hear from my friends who work in film of the insane things they have seen; burning of fields, cutting down trees to make clearing, tearing of up fields with heavy equipment. Stuff gets pretty rough.

That is not even getting into the practical logistics having to account for weather in tight filming schedules, having to block off areas or streets are actually used by real people who live there, having a limited time to film on location. Filming on an in-door set that is expanded with VFX or filmed in green screen can be frustrating for actors, but it also means we don’t have to damage our environment even more so a cool building façade can exist to be used for its function for a few months before being left to rot.  3. Practical Effects are a massive pain the butt.  

This is coming purely from the production side, but practical effects are a massive headache to get working with a thin margin between success and failure.  

Practical effects require months and months and months planning and fabricating and engineering and to make work. Mechanical devices have to prototyped and tested and built, often breaking because they are immensely complicated and need a lot of time to get fixed. Models have to be fabricated and painted, and often are destroyed for the shot so you only get one chance to use them. Puppets and animatronics are nightmare all on their own. 

You can do everything you can and on filming day... it goes wrong. For whatever reason they shot was done but was ruined. Maybe one of the mechanisms fails but the models still get destroyed. Maybe there were pyrotechnical issues that burned the silicon on an animatronic and you have to fix the animatronic AND figure out why the pyrotechnics failed. What ever the problem, this extremely expensive complicated shot is either going to have to have more time and money invested in it to keep it or just tossed -- either way it sucks for everyone. 

Maybe it all went great! But the shot sucks, it just didn’t translate well in motion or it just had to be cut. Sucks! 

In CGI you can edit and change things into infinity until the desired result is achieved. (this is kind of a major issue though) Lets say if you did a chasing scene with cars in-camera. You had your film day but you realize you need a shot of a car going left instead of right to fix a continuity issue. You could just mirror the frames but.. huh, the text is now backwards on the signs in it. Now either the signs need to be fixed or there needs to be a reshoot. An expensive solution for a small but very noticeable problem.  If the scene is CGI the continuity issue is found early since CGI is just sophisticated animation and they saw it in previs. Even if it wasn’t caught early editing the animations of the cars and re-rendering is still much faster and easier than doing a complicated re-shot.  You can see why as a filmmaker CGI is so appealing.  4. CGI is still very expensive. 

I am not going to spend too long on this one because there isn’t much to say. Even if CGI VFX studios are not union (yet) they are still teams of specialists with a high degree of skill and are still paid quite well. The issues effecting non-union VFX workers is mostly issues of working hours, residuals, and credits. Often it is MORE expensive to do CGI since studios want stuff done now ASAP and pay higher rates for expedited results, often requesting many many redos and re-renders that adds up to quite a lot.  Even when shot specifically for VFX they often light improperly for the greenscreen, or the camera is super wobbly and ruins the plate. This is stuff that can be fixed but at great expensive.  Yes, this is even with current VFX studios constantly underbidding each other and going out of of business because they didn’t turn a profit. Stuff is just pricy!

You can look at the ballooning budgets of recent Hollywood films. It is almost all CGI that takes up the budget. 

5. Practical effects are still used all the time, they just look bad and have to be fixed. 

Remember the hypothetical example of the car scene I mentioned earlier? Now that scene would have been fixed by hiring a CGI VFX studio just remove or reverse the text on the signs.  This also have to be a “you just gotta believe me” thing but this happens a lot, many people in Hollywood do want to be Principled and use in-camera effects or awesome on-location sets.  The thing is as I said earlier -- practical effects require a lot of planning and are very prone to failure. Sometimes it all worked but it just looks bad or cheap. 

There is, was, and always will be lots of really bad practical effects. This is mostly a taste thing -- but most of the really cool practical stuff we think of as proof of its superiority is survivorship bias. It is the best of the best given the most resources. Yeah that stuff looks awesome... but most practical effects are pretty bad or mid.  This is also true for CGI i want to stress. CGI is just much much easier to edit (and overedit). 6. There is a lot of really good CGI -- some you might not even realize is CGI.

 The 2006 film Children of Men achieved many of its stunning contentious shots using CGI to stich together and meld cuts seamlessly. 

Most modern commercials have the car itself being 100% CGI in tracking shots 

The 2007 film Zodiac uses CGI extensively in order to recreate a 1970′s San Francisco. 

I also want to make to stress that I think using CGI for stylistic purposes such as to create the hyper-real saturated candy-coated visuals of 2008′s Speed Race or openly artificial world where “real” becomes an irrelevant concept in Blade Runner 2049 is a very valid and awesome. 

There are if course many examples -- but I encourage you to google your favorite show or movie with “CGI breakdown” and you will be shocked exactly how much is CGI. 

all of this to say: 

If you read this long ass post the thing I want to stress is that CGI isn’t used because it is “cheap-non union work” but because it is safer, easier, and much more convenient than practical effects. 

This isn’t to diss practical effects or to diss unions or downplay the union issue. I think they are awesome and I think practical effects and CGI can co-exists. But if all CGI VFX studios unionized tomorrow it would still be used way more than practical effects. Also, hey, I want to say something that is pretty personal.  Please don’t reduce the awesome work that my friends, and the many high skilled and talented artists,  that DO deserve to be treated much better to just scabs trying to destroy practical effects. I think that sucks and isn’t very nice.  Thank you for reading this post if you took the time too. :) Just wanted to get this off my chest. Sorry if there are errors I am dyslexic and tired!! 

Marvel movies have completely eliminated the concept of practical effects from the movie-watching public’s consciousness