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grigori77 · 2 months ago

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2024 in TV - My Top 10 Shows

10. TWILIGHT OF THE GODS (Netflix)

Yeah, I know, first entry here’s probably gonna be a controversial choice – how could I pick THIS over so many far more worthy properties? Honestly, I just REALLY LIKED THIS, and this is my FAVOURITES for 2024, it ain’t a purely CRITICAL list, and I’m a person who LIKES a bit of trash occasionally, which this DEFINITELY is. But it’s REALLY GORGEOUS trash, and it’s FUN, so live with it. Seriously, even before Rebel Moon Zack Snyder was already considered one of the most shamelessly adolescent and pure sound-and-fury filmmakers out there, but given the sort of material he usually makes animation is actually the PERFECT art form for him – this is a medium in which it often PAYS to exaggerate things, to deliver glossy overblown action and stripped back archetypal storytelling and character development. Snyder’s THIRD collaboration with Netflix, therefore, is the perfect encapsulation of his entire aesthetic, but also deserves to be considered amongst his VERY BEST WORK, almost as good as early highlights like Dawn of the Dead, 300 and Watchmen. Besides, a full-blooded, ultraviolent and just plain SEXY reimagination of classic Norse mythology is the perfect project for him to work on, and he delivers in fine style here, aided in no small part by co-creators Jay Oliva (Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Ark, Army of the Dead: Lost Vegas) and Eric Carrasco (Supergirl, Foundation), along with an extremely game vocal cast which includes Sylvia Hoeks (Blade Runner 2049, See), Stuart Marten (Rebel Moon, Miss Scarlett & the Duke), Rahul Kohli (iZombie and most of Mike Flanagan’s TV series’), Jamie Clayton (Sense8, Hellraiser) and heavyweights like Pilou Asbæk (Game of Thrones) and the mighty Peter Stormare, who bring the fascinating collection of jaded, indifferent gods and vengeful, rebellious vikings to vital life. Coupled with beautifully offbeat, highly stylised 2D animation (which carries strong hints of Cartoon Saloon throughout) and an intense and oppressive score from Hans Zimmer, this is a dark and seductive feast for the senses.

9. THE GENTLEMEN (Netflix)

Back in early 2020, Guy Ritchie was rightly lauded for his long-awaited return to London gangland-based cinema (a film which many considered to be a real return to form, even though I never thought he’d actually fallen off, and I know I wasn’t alone), and we were all enthusiastically onboard for a sequel, especially after this film’s much deserved critical AND commercial success. Then the Pandemic hit, and (for that and other, more unfathomable reasons) his career seemed to take something of a shocking (and entirely undeserved) nosedive … so the arrival of this spinoff series from Netflix in the New Year came as a much needed and very welcome surprise, and the final product definitely lived up to expectations without reservations. Theo James (the Divergent films) is our enjoyably complex “hero”, Eddie Horniman, a former soldier and the new Duke of Halstead who returns from a UN Peacekeeping mission to take over his late father’s estate only to find himself in a very tricky spot indeed when he discovers his inheritance comes with some very problematic strings attached because his father was keeping everything afloat by renting out his land as an expansive and lucrative cannabis factory for a particularly ruthless London drug firm headed by incarcerated kingpin Bobby Glass (Ray Winstone) and his Machiavellian daughter Susie (The Maze Runner and Skins’ Kaya Scodelario). Eddie’s attempts to find a way to wriggle out of this increasingly smothering obligation make for some enjoyably offbeat shenanigans, Ritchie’s eclectic sense of humour and deftly skilful balance of anarchic fun and casual violence making for a rewardingly edgy thrill ride. The cast is, as has become par for the course with this particular filmmaker, also uniformly on top form, with the ever-reliable James and Scodelario joined by the likes of Joely Richardson, Giancarlo Esposito, Freddie Fox and the welcome return of one of Ritchie’s original good luck charms, Vinnie Jones, although the show is consistently stolen by Daniel Ings (Lovesick, The Crown) as Eddie’s black sheep elder brother Freddie, who got passed over in the line of succession for being a truly spectacular fuck-up. In the end, not only does this pay great respect to the original film it (sort of) follows, but it’s another perfect example of what Ritchie does best, and I’m very much looking forward to the already greenlit second season.

8. STAR TREK: LOWER DECKS (season 5, Paramount+)

I was a bit late to the party for this, having only actually gotten round to checking out Solar Opposites creator and Rick & Morty writerMike McMahan’s animated comedy series early this year, but I fell in love with it FAST, and it’s now become one of my very favourite shows in the ENTIREStar Trekroster (putting it into DIRECT competition with Strange New Worlds, in fact). This was always a show that’s been made with clear love and respect for the source material, which is, of course, how all the best lampoons work, and the final season maintains that high quality to bring the whole saga to a fittingly grand close. Jack Quaid’s OTHER best creation (alongside The Boys’ Hughie), neurotic super-nerd Brad Boimler, and Space Force’s Tawny Newsome’s unrepentant rebel Becket Mariner remain the core focus of the main cast, but my heart will always belong first and foremost to the endlessly effervescent bright spark that is Orion junior science officer D’Vana Tendi, still voiced with endearing charm by Master of None’s Noël Wells, and it’s nice to see her friend (and occasional foil), Gabrielle Ruiz’ new Vulcan officer T’Lyn, finally get promoted from guest star to main cast, too. Once again, this is filled to bursting with goofy, anarchic and perfectly pitched comedic twists on classic tropes, conventions and lore from across the entire gamut of the various series AND movies, once again throwing more brilliant cameos from old favourites into the mix (right down to a truly inspired Brent Spiner appearance), but there’s no denying that this is also one of the most consistently well-written and thoroughly INSPIRED shows in the entire canon, often putting far more high profile and expensive series to shame with the embarrassing WEALTH of creative talent displayed by everyone involved. It genuinely feels like the end of an era, and given that I’ve only just discovered this it feels like it’s over WAY too soon ...

7. 3 BODY PROBLEM (Netflix)

All right, first off I have NOT read the original novel by Chinese author Liu Cixin, so I have NO frame of reference regarding how faithful adaptation this actually IS, so I can only go off my own personal gut reaction to the quality of the material itself … but I REALLY LIKED THIS a whole lot. Then again, there’s a genuinely fascinating premise at its core – a group of bright young academics find themselves at the centre of a disturbing and potentially cataclysmic intergalactic conspiracy after a strange immersive video game revolving around a fiendishly difficult astronomical physics problem turns out to pertain to a VERY REAL approaching alien invasion … Game of Thrones’ co-”creators” David Benioff and D.B. Weiss are clearly looking to achieve career-based some retribution after said series’ frustrating final season, and for now it looks like they’re succeeding, teaming up with co-showrunner Alexander Woo (best known for his work on True Blood and The Terror) to craft a rewardingly labyrinthine slowburn suspense thriller bursting with intriguing ideas and well-rounded, exquisitely crafted characters. Of course, it helps that they’ve assembled a truly exceptional cast to make things so much easier, with Jovan Adepo (Fences, Overlord), Eiza Gonzalez, breakout star Jess Hong and, in particular, Alex Sharp (The Trial of the Chicago 7, How To Talk To Girls At Parties) all standing out alongside GOT alumni John Bradley and Liam Cunningham and heavyweight veterans like Benedict Wong and Jonathan Pryce. This is definitely one of the most singularly inventive and challenging series that Netflix has put out in some time, a fascinatingly immersive intellectual thrill ride that poses some really intriguing BIG QUESTIONS but stubbornly refuses to provide any REAL answers until late in the game in the best tradition of well-executed “mystery box” television … meanwhile the Panama Canal sequence is destined to go down as one of the most spine-chilling and nightmarish set-pieces I have EVER seen on the small screen. That scene ALONE makes this worthy of a place one this list ...

6. DELICIOUS IN DUNGEON (AKA Dungeon Meshi) (Netflix)

My latest favourite anime series is a very strange beast, genuinely one of the weirdest shows I’ve EVER come across, but very much in that wonderfully committed way that only anime can really pull off. Essentially it’s a culinary show, where obsessive attention is paid to EVERY ASPECT of a recipe before we get some genuine food porn payoff shots of the finished cuisine before watching the characters indulge in the resulting taste sensations. But it’s also a perfect lampoon of classic high fantasy action adventure tropes, taking wickedly accurate potshots at the likes of Dungeons & Dragons and its ilk that can ONLY be performed by someone who actually knows and LOVES the material they’re poking fun at. Then again, this is an almost RELIGIOUSLY faithful adaptation of an immensely popular manga series from fiendishly talented writer/artist Ryoko Kui (Terrarium In Drawer) which is regarded as one of the most unique and inventive titles out there right now … this is nothing less than PERFECT, a frequently HILARIOUS delight as we follow a motley crew of misfit adventurers on a dungeon crawl as they try to rescue one of their number from a fate worse than death, all while being forced to cook and eat the bodies of the various monstrous creatures they encounter along with way due to scarce supplies. The characters are all wonderfully original creations, each with deeply fascinating backstories and enjoyably complex personalities, particular co-leads Laios Touden (Damien Haas in the English dub, best known for his work on Fire Emblem and Like a Dragon), a hyper-focused super-nerd human warrior with a deeply ingrained obsession with monsters, and Marcille Donato (live action One Piece’s Emily Rudd), a high-strung neurotic elf mage who’s pretty much the absolute DEFINITION of girl-fail, although it made me SO HAPPY when later episodes saw the long-awaited arrival of fan favourite (and mine) Izutsumi (Fire Emblem and Goddess of Victory’sLaura Stahl), the prickly, picky and endearingly abrasive cursed catgirl that so brilliantly defies and challenges so many of the medium’s established conventions regarding this particular character trope. The results are one of the most addictive and genuinely “moreish” anime series I’ve ever come across – just what you want from a show so intrinsically focused on FOOD ...

5. THE LEGEND OF VOX MACHINA (season 3, Amazon Prime)

Is it any wonder that, for the third year in a row, Amazon’s animated adaptation of Critical Role’s legendary (ahem) first Dungeons & Dragons campaign has made my list, and again scored SO HIGH? Really? Never mind that I’ve been a pretty rabid Critter myself ever since I first stumbled into the fandom during Campaign 2, this is a genuinely BRILLIANT piece of work in its own right, Matt Mercer and co continuing to pull off a pretty beautiful job of distilling hundreds of hours of in-depth live tabletop roleplay into another twelve 20-some minute episodes of compellingly dynamic television. So strap in for another exciting rollercoaster ride through the embattled high fantasy lands of Exandria as our much put-upon band of adventurers continue their seemingly hopeless battle to defeat the monstrous machinations of the evil dragon collective of the Chroma Conclave, taking in blossoming romance, crises in confidence, family drama and more than one major character death … once again this is a tour-de-force achievement for all involved, although the lion’s share of the praise once again MUST go to the hard-working animators at Titmouse for delivering everything they were asked for and SO MUCH MORE. This is about as good as fantasy television gets, effortlessly pulling off in less than 300 minutes what whole seasons of shows like The Wheel of Time and The Rings of Power are really starting to struggle with in a whole lot more time (not you, House of the Dragon, you’re doing just fine darling). The main story arc may be over for now, but the scene’s nonetheless been seamlessly set for the next (and most devastating) chapter of the saga moving into season 4 (if you know you know), and I for one cannot wait.

4. HAZBIN HOTEL (Amazon Prime)

God bless Vivienne Mededrano, she has one of the most exciting minds in television right now. Her anarchic, profane and wonderfully unique animated series Helluva Boss on YouTube has already been a balm to the soul (and the second, far more emotionally resonant season has proven to be a particular improvement on what was already SO GOOD), but her magnificent spinoff series for Amazon genuinely leaves it in the dust – this is solid 24 caret gold showrunning, she deserves all the awards she can get for this one. Taking the comedy musical concept of the already very impressive YouTube pilot and running with it, this spectacular refinement of a first season is a genuine MASTERPIECE, Medrano and co crafting an epic saga packed with expansive vision, powerful emotional resonance and a gleefully dark sense of humour. Erika Henningsen (the Mean Girls musical) is a blinding ray of sunshine as Lucifer’s effervescent daughter Charlie Morningstar, unshakeably chipper in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds in her mission to use her titular hotel to help cleanse the souls of her supposedly irredeemable patrons, while Stephanie Beatriz (Brooklyn Nine-Nine’s own Rosa Diaz) provides loving support as her far more cynical girlfriend Vaggie, and the cast is rounded out by a spectacular collection of top drawer vocal talent that includes serious Broadway talent like Alex Brightman (the School of Rock and Beetlejuice musicals), Christian Borle (Spamalot and the Legally Blonde musical), Jeremy Jordan (Supergirl() and Krystina Alabado (American Idiot and Mean Girls) alongside the silky tones of the legendary Keith David, but the show is roundly stolen by breakout star Blake Roman as the sassy and acerbic spidery pornstar Angel Dust. The musical numbers are truly legendary, easily the equal of anything we’ve seen in any of the big shows, the comedy never fails to hit and the animation is genuinely beautiful even when it’s at its weirdest, but the thing that this show has above anything else is true HEART, hitting us right in the feels as much as the funny bone. I am genuinely IN LOVE with this series, and I’m waiting with bated breath along with the rest of the fandom for the already greenlit next THREE SEASONS ...

3. SHŌGUN (FX)

One of the first serious, grown-up TV series I ever remember getting into when I was a kid was the 1980 miniseries adaptation of James Clavell’s sprawling historical epic novel, which told the story of John Blackthorne, an English navigator in the early 17th Century who finds himself shipwrecked on the mysterious islands of Japan and becomes a pawn in the deadly battle of wills between squabbling political factions within the samurai nobility vying for control of the nation after the death of the emperor. I loved the old show so much that I read the book, loved it even more, and subsequently read it a bunch of times since, so I was REALLY EXCITED when I found out that FX were pulling out all the stops to give it a lavish new long-form treatment. And then, within the first ten minutes of the opening episode, I knew this was something TRULY SPECIAL … this is a VERY JAPANESE series, not just because of the setting and subject matter but also because, while the focus IS on a Western character, the vast majority of the cast is Japanese and ultimately very little of the dialogue is actually in English (subtitle haters beware, there’s A LOT of reading involved in truly enjoying this show). Then again, being a proper Japanophile I absolutely LOVED IT. Cosmo Jarvis (Lady Macbeth, Calm With Horses) does make for a suitably robust and eloquent leading man, giving Blackthorne just the right balance of fish-out-of-water exasperation and wily precociousness, but the true heart of this series lies with the double threat of Anna Sawai (Monarch: Legacy of Monsters) as glacial Christian interpreter Lady Mariko and living legend Hiroyuki Sanada, who effortlessly steals every scene he’s in with mesmerising subtlety as the powerful and ambitious Lord Yoshii Toranaga, who realises this intriguing young sailor is a potentially powerful tool in his plan to ascend to the titular position as supreme political master of all Japan. This is one of the most sumptuous and masterful historical epics I have EVER SEEN made for television, co-creators Rachel Kondo and her husband Justin Marks having seemingly come out of nowhere to create one of the greatest long-form series I’ve seen not only this past year but quite possibly for this decade so far! The dialogue is incredibly rich and endlessly quotable, the narrative immersive and rewardingly twisted, and the production and costume design, seamless effects work and action sequences are never anything less than FLAWLESS. It’s gone on to perform a CLEAN SWEEP at various primetime awards and RIGHTLY SO, this is a genuine MASTERPIECE, and FX definitely saw sense in taking what was originally intended to be a standalone miniseries and expand it into at least two more seasons moving forward. I can’t wait.

2. FALLOUT (Amazon Prime)

Now I’ll admit, not being a gamer I’ve mostly gotten to know the Fallout games through osmosis (mainly on here), but I definitely saw the potential in adapting it for television. The fact that it was Westworld co-creators Jonathan Nolan and Lisa Joy doing it just convinced me that it was guaranteed to be GOOD … and by the gods was I ever RIGHT in that estimation. This really has turned out to be Ella Purnell’s year (as well as Sweetpea she’s also returned to a particular star-making series we’ll talk about more later), the promising young Brit actress landing another well-deserved breakout lead turn as Lucy MacLean, a naïve young Vault Dweller forced to undertake a dangerous quest in the irradiated wasteland of post World War III California in order to rescue her abducted father Hank (Kyle McLachlan). Lucy’s massive culture clash as a literally sheltered youth raised in a nuclear bunker having to survive in a world where EVERYTHING is out to kill her in the worst ways imaginable makes for a suitably compelling central driving force for the series, while Aaron Moten (Disjointed) provides a similarly involving tangential narrative focus as Maximus, a squire for the militant Brotherhood of Steel who essentially STUMBLES into becoming a mech-armoured Knight as his own accidental hero’s quest brings him into Lucy’s orbit … the TRUE core of this series, however, is Walton Goggins as the Ghoul, an unapologetically amoral bounty hunter whose own dark past holds the key to the far greater overarching mystery at the heart of the whole story (not to mention that he consistently steals EVERY SINGLE SCENE that he’s in). Amazon have pulled out ALL THE STOPS to make this the very best viewing experience it can be, and every single penny of its impressive budget is right there on the screen, the worldbuilding really is some of the most impressive I’ve ever seen while the set-pieces are just as robust and enjoyably NASTY as you’d expect from an adaptation of such a subversively FUN video game. It’s also got a pretty jet black sense of humour, Nolan and Joy clearly appreciating the opportunity to do something a whole lot more irreverent after spending years on a property as serious as Westworld, although this does still pluck at the heartstrings with due skill when needed and definitely poses some VERY deep and pretty disturbing questions about war and capitalism and how often the two are inextricably tangled together. The end result is definitely the best live-action series we got in 2024 (sorry, Shogun), and I look forward to the second season.

1. ARCANE (season 2, Netflix)

Seriously, are any of you even surprised? I ADORED the first season of this series, despite the fact that I’m no more familiar with League of Legends than I am with Fallout I really have resonated with the property and I just LOVED what Riot and Fortiche put together in those simply PERFECT nine episodes, so I was so excited to see what they were going to do with what was intended to be the closer to this first story within their larger creative universe. Thankfully they have (essentially) pulled it off with similar skill, dropping another nine episode season that EASILY lives up to the example set by its predecessor while offering a suitably satisfactory payoff, as well as breaking ground for whatever they plan on when they move forward with new stories in promised follow-up Runeterra-based series. Sure, it’s not QUITE as perfect, there are parts of the narrative that feel a little truncated in places in the rush to reach a suitable climax, but what flaws there are ultimately prove insubstantial enough that they really don’t detract at all from our enjoyment of the work as a whole. It’s certainly hugely enjoyable getting to see everybody get their own well deserved rewards (or comeuppance), while also seeing some of our most beloved old faces (and some similarly brilliant new ones too) meet heartbreaking but nonetheless poetically powerful ends that are definitely given their due chance to have a real impact. Much like the first season it’s best to just go in good and cold, so spoilers are definitely best avoided … suffice to say this is JUST as gorgeous as what came before, Fortiche again producing a truly cinematic work of art that leaves anything else we’ve seen in animation this year choking in their dust, while the exquisite complimentary mixture of visuals and a magnificently opulent soundtrack once again provides suitable sensory joy throughout. In the end this is just as well-written, well-designed, well-performed, well-directed and just downright WELL-EXECUTED as the debut that won all the awards and much-deserved critical acclaim back in 2021, and it’s been a genuine privilege getting to see it all unfold. I’m just hoping they don’t leave us waiting ANOTHER three interminably long years for whatever they give us next ...

Honourable mentions:

Sweet Tooth (season 3, Netflix), Frieren: Beyond Journey’s End (Crunchyroll), Sweetpea (Sky Atlantic), The Penguin (Max), Invincible (season 2, Amazon Prime), The Edge of Sleep (Amazon Prime), The Brothers Sun (Netflix), Dead Boy Detectives (Netflix), Helluva Boss (season 2, YouTube), What We Do In the Shadows (season 6, FX)

#2024 in TV #the best TV series of 2024 #twilight of the gods #the gentlemen #the gentlemen netflix #star trek lower decks #3 body problem #delicious in dungeon #dungeon meshi #the legend of vox machina #hazbin hotel #shogun #shogun 2024 #shogun fx #fallout #fallout tv series #arcane #arcane season 2

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thewickedbohemian · 7 months ago

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Dream Animated Movie Musical Tournament Seed Round Group G

For information on this tournament as well as the seed poll for group A go here

Why I think these musicals should be animated movies (in my opinion)

Legally Blonde: (although it might still need some updating) it's aged slightly better than the original movie, has a similar sort of cartoon-y feel and Disney-Princess-y heroine to Hairspray and there's also things that could work better in an animated movie than a live-action movie-of-the-musical-of-the-movie (like you could suspend your disbelief better about the Greek chorus etc.) to avoid this facing Mean Girls's problem

Carrie: the story's been told on film so many dang times that a fresh take like what a movie of the musical could be could be a breath of fresh air especially if it were animated to further distance itself from the more famous movies (and just imagine how hard the visuals could go)

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee: (even though I heard some rumors of a movie years back, since nothing's happened since then it's still on here) although I don't know how to get around the audience participation to make any sort of movie of this show succeed doing it animated with kid characters looking like kids but still voiced by adults would be basically the only way for a movie of this show to give something major you couldn't get out of a proshot of it

Seussical: because animation is the only way a Seussical movie could be done (ideally if I had my druthers with an autistic unknown voicing JoJo as the coding's there) thank you shitty Mike Myers Cat In The Hat movie and overzealous Seuss estate

Annie: since it's been almost a decade since the last Annie movie (that being the controversial modernized one with a black Annie and Cameron Diaz playing foster-mom-from-hell!Hannigan) I feel like the time might be starting to come for when a remake could be justifiable especially because every time there's an Annie movie or something similar (like Annie Live) people always complain it leaves out some songs from the Broadway version so I want to fix that and animation (ideally in some style that homages the original comics without looking dated) would be a way for an Annie remake to do something different

Sweeney Todd: think of this hypothetical animated remake (ideally done by, like, Laika or something) as an opportunity to fix what Tim Burton broke

Fun Home: (another one on here I've heard rumors of a movie of but then bupkis about) it should be at least partially if not fully animated given its structure and the fact that it's about a freaking cartoonist

#dream animated movie musical tournament #tumblr poll #tumblr polls #tournament poll #polls #tumblr tournament #tumblr tournaments #musicals #movie musicals #legally blonde #legally blonde musical #carrie musical #the 25th annual putnam county spelling bee #seussical #annie musical #sweeney todd #fun home

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overfedvenison · 2 years ago

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Anime is kind of interesting as an art style because it’s sort of like... Okay, you know how there are those art practices that a lot of cultures traditionally have, which are like, totally divorced from a realistic depiction of reality and instead have a lot of art traditions and symbolism to their approach? It seems like anime art - the kind which is like a singular picture emblazoned on things especially, or the figures of characters - is one of those traditions, just one which has emerged from the modern era. Like, look at something like this:

And you’re like, “It’s Hatsune Mike petting a dog with an excited expression.” But take a step back and like... That’s not what a person looks like when they are excited. That’s also not what a person looks like, like at all. People don’t have that colour of hair, and the hair style itself is impossible. But we recognize it immediately as this innate iconography. We get the intent of a chibi is to be less serious than a more realistic form, we get that this expression is a commonly used one representing excitement or a happy surprise, and we get the long traditions from which would emerge this wild hairstyle in such a harsh and inhuman colour. There’s other stuff like this, too. Fursuits are similarly fascinating, as early on they basically just attempted to imitate Disney and Warner cartoons (Which have their own history, of course, but MOSTLY just stick to animation) but have since emerged into this entire, similar, modern-born art tradition based around costumes which are similarly divorced from a literal depiction of anything:

Like, I look at these things, and it’s easy to disregard them as being... Kinda frivolous and not ‘serious’ art. But I look at these things, the elaborate costuming and tradition which has emerged over - by now - several generations, and it’s like... Yeah, these things have developed a really rather sophisticated visual language, haven’t they? I feel like, in a few hundred years, art like this might be looked at as very innate and distinctive to a particular culture and time

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howsitduud · 10 days ago

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HUNDREDS OF BEAVERS REVIEW

I finally got around to watching Hundreds of Beavers, an indie movie that caused quite a stir last year. Everyone I saw, from my mutuals on Letterboxd to people on Youtube and IMDB and yes, even the accursed Rotten Tomatoes all gave this movie glowing reviews. It didn't really pique my interest until the Crab Man himself put this movie at #2 on his "Top 20 Movies of 2024" list, higher than he put Challengers, Anora, Wicked, Dune Part 2, and even my personal pick for the best movie of 2024, The Wild Robot. This movie was available to watch for free on Youtube, so I gave it a watch and yeah, it's good, but it didn't hit me as much as I expected to.

The overall gimmick/style that this movie has is that it's a silent film that's basically a live-action cartoon, with slapstick and a ton of visual gags, all filmed on what's effectively a green screen set. Credit where credit is due, it's insanely impressive just how many visual effects were required for this movie to work on its low budget. It's especially apparent towards the second half of the movie, when Jean Kayak infiltrates the beaver dam and you see so many animations within the dam. One of the funniest parts of the movie is just the fact that all the animals in the movie are just people in very obvious mascot suits, and every time someone gets flinged around, they just throw the suits around like ragdolls.

Now for the million dollar question: is this movie funny? Yeah, I'd say so, but I never found myself laughing out loud at some of these gags. I'd smile and breath air out of my nose occasionally, and I'd think to myself, "that's a funny gag" every so often, but none of the gags in this movie really hit. With a movie like Anora or even some other silent comedies like City Lights, I found myself laughing a ton, and none of what the scenes in this movie hit me like that. I know, it's frustrating that my main criticism of this movie is "it isn't funny enough," but that's just how I feel. Comedy is subjective, and while a joke can be well-written or well-executed, if I don't gel with a movie's sense of humor, than I'm not gonna get much out of it.

To end on a more positive note, one of the best aspects of the movie and something I think is genuinely fantastic was that a lot of the gags in this movie served a purpose besides making you laugh. Early in the movie, Jean whistled and a bird started pecking him in the head. This became a running gag, but Jean later started dressing up snowmen to look like him so that the bird would peck at the snowmen, which was very useful for a lot of beaver traps he set up. There's plenty of other little details like that, and they flesh out this wacky world so well.

I give Mike Cheslik and Ryland Brickson Cole Tews all the credit in the world for creating a movie experience unlike any other and getting recognition by poeple in the wider film-loving community, to the point where this movie got featured in a film festival. I haven't seen their other movie, Lake Michigan Monster yet, so hopefully I'll get more out of that movie than I did out of this movie.

6/10, to the guy in the Youtube comments who counted how many beavers were in the movie, I only ask, are you ok?

#movies #media 2025 #movie review #hundreds of beavers

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fruit-future · 4 months ago

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WEEK 6 SCULPTING

This week we actually did something in Blender I had experience in! I've sculpted a couple of busts before on my ipad, never on Blender, but I found a lot of the mechanics passed over to sculpting in Blender. I'm not very experienced, but I felt far more confident in my skills than I did modelling. I started sculpting a human head in class, (but textured it later) then Mike suggested sculpting a monster to get a better feel of the sculpting tools. I decided to sculpt a character from a pervious project, my werewolf character, Norm. I thought his elongated face would be visually interesting and yet still easy enough to sculpt.

Outside of class, I wanted to challenge myself, so I attempted to sculpt and texture my character Odhran. I like how I structured his face and hair, but I think I've done a bit of a poor job elsewhere. I struggle with the more technical aspects like the topology of the model and UV unwrapping for textures.

CHARACTER DESIGN FOR HOMEWORK

I was so excited to find out what this weeks homework is, I already love Genndy Tartakovsky's work, so any excuse to work in his style is great for me. His style/character design work basically defined an era of animation in the late 90's to 2000's, shifting the popular design ethos from the more rounded, Hanna Barbera style to his more abstract and angular one. You can clearly see in animation like Kim Possible, Clone High and Danny Phantom the influence of his style. Tartakovsky's character design focuses strongly on the shape language of characters and the lines, especially the thick outlines the characters, like in Dexter's Lab, or complete lack of lines, like in Samurai Jack. I feel my own style is already quite similar to Tartakosky's, as I take a lot of inspiration from cartoons from that era, but that doesn't mean this task was particularly easy for me.

In Hotel Transilyania, characters are often based on two tropes or character concepts, the monster they're based on, then their character trope. Take the Wolfman for instance, his design both conveys that he's a werewolf, and a tired father.

I wanted to make my design clear and readable in this way, so I chose two concepts which I felt would be easily readable to the viewer - a fishman and mobster. I felt this could also be a fun play on words, "sleeping with the fishes" could have two meanings for this character. I also though "concrete shoes" would be an interesting, yet simple prop for this character, a bit of a playful dark element to his design, which Tartakovsky often uses in his own work.

I made 3 headshots of the same character to work off of, chose 2 and continued working from there. I like this character concept, but I feel it needs to be more eye-catching.

My initial design, developed off of the second of the three busts above. When I felt like I narrowed it down to a good enough design, I then made another drawing, more in Tartakovsky's style - with simple geometric shapes and bright saturated, blocky colours. Tartakovsky often simplifies his characters down into a few simple shapes to make their character clear. For instance, in Dexter's Lab, Dexter is made up of mostly square shapes with sharp edges, to show his serious and mean personality, while his sister and his foil, Dee Dee is made up of rounded, softer shapes to contrast Dexter and show her lighter personality. This is something I kept in mind when I designed this character - I wanted to give him blocky shapes to make him look large and intimidating, while also giving him skinny lanky legs, making him top-heavy and making him look unreliable and strange. I also rounded his shoulders to give him more of a hunched look. I didn't want him to look heroic, which is often associated with more blocky, square shape language, so throwing in more contrasting elements, like sloped shoulders and lanky legs, throws this perception off. This is the design I'll be basing my model off of.

#3d

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franki-lew-yo · 4 years ago

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I really hate 2d purists. No, not 2d animation. Not 2d animators.

2d purists.

The sad thing is it’s gotten to the point that I really cringe hearing any pro-2D sentiment at all. I hate the arguments I agree with because how often they're misused and weaponized by idiots.

Let me make my stance here clear - 2d is NOT appreciated and 3d is used for everything! The layman Karen-mom who doesn’t have an artistic bone in her body looks at stupidsmooth 3D Grubhub ads and assumes quality cause it “looks more real” (aka ‘rendered’). I know as much is true because I literally have a member of my family who told my sister and I that she thinks 3d is better (and also that she “tolerated THOSE movies for us kids”. Touching words. My sister was taking an animation course by the way). Combined that with the studios either using 2D for cheap stuff or finding good 2d animation too “costly”, I get it and I’m not even any animator. I'm just a worm an illustrator.

but holy HELL -

There’s a backlash from the artistic community that's it's own kind of insufferable and deserve to be addressed.

“(insert2Danimatedfilm) is better BECAUSE it's 2D!”

followed by: "Animation is a visual medium and the quality of the art affects how much the story means !!!!”

Yes. Totally. Animation is a visual medium and the look and style is important. Sadly, people use this excuse to really obnoxious ends, insisting that design being pretty is '' everything ''. When you treat a movie more as a special effects demo I get why you talk about the artistry at hand; but I’m sorry, visuals are not the only thing important and it’s why I’m also getting sick of the sameElsafacesyndrome rants too! There’s this attitude that's reads as "but it LOOKS better fromaproductionimage/teasertrailerwhichapparentlyisindicativeof all themovieactuallyis so it MUST BE better".

-“3D should only be used to make things look realistic!”

I think I know the logic this criticism is made in response to, and that’s the Sony + Illumination films which look just as good in 2D as they do in three dimensions. I know it feels like people are twisting this medium to try and make it like a classic cartoon when by all means people can and would love a classic cartoon being a classic cartoon. That I get- From the unsung 2D animator’s perspective, that’s more than valid !

But it’s a huuuuuuge slap in the face to 3d in saying it should only be used for "realistic animation" because

1: It’s not like realistic animation could age badly or look uncanny in the next few years. It's almost like technology is constantly improving, which I guess 2d animation never did and it was always the same technique and quality as every film that came after it.

2: The industry does treat 3d as a magic-moneymaker for this reason. Just listen to these people call the 2019 LION KING “live action” as if they’re embarrassed to call it animation. It IS animation! It would be impressive if you acknowledged that what it is, but like the CATS, you basically are treating it as just a neato tool to better your live action and not it's own artform - which it is!

3: By this “three-deeonly gud when real liek in da toystories” non-logic I guess 2d should ONLY be for flowyflowy SPACE JAM cartoons and maybe some Disney*. Just that though. You can’t do anything more with 2d. It’s never supposed to be realistic I guess. Good thing Richard Williams only did 'toons' and just toons that’s why we need 3d in the world I guess.

Wait no - that’s stupid.

"I HAVE to see the “Land Before Time 14″ when it comes out! I mean it’s a 2D animated film!"

Lost in the aether that is Youtube comment chains removed from kid's videos is a stream of this very VERY stupid argument supporting the buying of the 14th LAND BEFORE TIME film because it’s supporting 2D. My sister and I can be found on that chain arguing against this stupidity. All you have is my word, but trust me: it really did happen.

I’m sorry but...no.

Unless you have a friend or a family member who worked on these movies there’s no reason to see this and ESPECIALLY no reason to insist it’s a win for the 2D community if you buy up this crap - and I'm not judging if you do like it, but come on! LAND BEFORE TIME 14 isn't where your money should go if you really like this medium.

What’s so infuriating about this argument is you can tell it’s made by nonanimators. Real animators will tell you to support their movies cause they want some respect for their artform which is why there’s such a push from the PRINCESS AND THE FROGcrowd that you SEE and LOVE every 2d thing out there, regardless of how good it is because any recognition for it is k i n d o f what they're after!

Kiddy sequel schlock isn’t even in the same ballpark as KLAUS or WOLFWALKERS; these films DID have very limited theatrical runs (Klaus so it could be nominated; Wolfwalkers in places where theaters opened up after Covid) and should have been supported because they were labors of love made by people who love animation.

As other people have already pointed out, one of the reasons for the lack of interest in 2000sera2D animation is that the only films released alongside critical+financial 3D hits were cheaper 2D films that either coincided with daytime tv shows or should have been just direct-to-video. It’s not to say art couldn’t come out of these flicks, but dayum if it wasn’t abused as much as the texture software that era's CG used... Point being, should the world ever go back to normal: If you hear about an out-of-town showing an acclaimed 2D animated film, make time to trek out and see THAT!

Don’t give your money to see yet another made-for-tv movie on the big screen because all that tells the studio is: “yeah 2d IS cheap and only good for cheap stuff let’s just keep it cheap. Only 3d is important 8D 8D 8D !!!"

“I don’t understand how it works. So it sucks.”

This text is from an ANIMATOR btw.

“I don’t understand how it works” and “it’s just some computer rendering” is the exact same wave of logic the people who prefer cgi use.

The plebian Karen I mentioned earlier? She understands the basics of 2D animation as much as you did from one of those cruddy flash classes you took in middle-school. She 'understands' the basics cuz she watched how it was made on the DVD features or maybe back on the WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY. To her, the illusion is broken and she’s not impressed by 'just some drawings on paper'. You, an animator, know the process is more complicated and is intrigued by knowing how it’s made - not bored or disinterested -

Neither you nor Aunt Karen have really good cg-animation software at your house and unless you ARE a 3D animator you probably DON’T know all the ins-and-outs of how these movies are modeled, rendered, and animated.

Aunt Karen is bedazzled by them cause she doesn’t know how it works and the technical aspect makes her brain hurt so it might as well be magic and she can feel like a cool kid sharing Minion-memes. Aunt Karen is the nonartistic type who just wants to feel safe. You're not. You want to feel challenged.

I get it: you’re pissed off cause you’re in a field no one, including Aunt Karen, appreciates; told to work in cg which it's an artform you didn’t devote your life to and told to learn it cause THIS style sells! 3D is everywhere and is starting to look like 'garbage' even if you don’t animate 3D models yourself you just KNOW, I guess. Besides, you know all there is to know about 2d!! You know all there is to possibly know about this artform and have to fight this 'war' against "r e a l" animation! And I mean even when 3d software is there to use, it's not like you can actually make anything worth while in it, especially not anything that transcends the medium. Right Worthikids?

TL;DR: This argument is basically just " BWAAAAH I’M NOT GONNA USE IT I HAVE STANDARDS (a chip on my shoulder cuz art should be what I deem it to be) "

“PRINCESS AND THE FROG is-”

There’s a reason I can’t say I truly like PRINCESS AND THE FROG even though it's not even a bad movie! Like, stop reading this and watch PATF if you haven't it's good. It's my 'FROZEN', in that; I see a lot of potential in it I just think it needs some serious rewriting and that bugs me. Always have felt that way, tbh.

I dislike this movie because the response from the animation community seems to be it was perfect and the Academy was just Pixar-crazy with UP ((ftr, the Academy IS Pixar’s bitch and I personally advocate a sequel be made to WAKING SLEEPING BEAUTY about Mike Eisner’s sabotage of the 2D department at Disney which is still in place now!- but that’s a story for another day)). I’m sorry but UP was just a better story. So was CORALINE. So was FANTASTIC MR. FOX. Honest to god it feels like poor PATF is brought up as just a talking point and never for it's own worth as a labor of love - which it was! I'd like to honestly know: had PRINCESS AND THE FROG come out now and been cg if it would have even half the defenders for it because now it doesn't "look" like how a Disney movie "should" look...

If you like PatF more than the currant Disney lineup because of it's culture, it's music, it's feminism, it's black representation? Awesome. Great. Those things should be appreciated and I never want that taken away from you. But if you seriously think PatF is better just for how it was animated and looks - I lowkey may hate you.

“ALL OF DISNEY’S LATEST MOVIES SHOULD HAVE BEEN 2D! THEY ALL LOOK AWFUL IN 3D!! ALL OF THEM!”

TANGLED, FROZEN, and MOANA? Yeah. Sure. But um, e x c u s e y o u- WRECK IT RALPH sooooo doesn’t work in 2d! It could have used different between the various worlds but it’s about hopping through different video games. I’m also of the opinion that ZOOTOPIA and BIG HERO 6 are fine the way they are. Their 3d is awesome.

The latest fairy tale Disney films are really big on their place alongside the 2D canon esp in marketing. They keep trying to mimic 2D to varying results though I don't think it works as well as the movie's I'd previously mentioned. Me personally, I would love a mix of 3D and 2D technology, like if the backgrounds in FROZEN still got to be 3D but the characters were handdrawn and shaded ala KLAUS ((sweet sigh)). But even then are they truly unwatchable just based on how they're animated to you?

MOANA would have been incredible in 2D but for the record - I don't think it feels out of place in it's style. It reminds me more of a Pixar movie with the heart of a Disney classic which is it's own just as good.

“2D is the oldest form of animation and it’s being replaced.”

Actually, if we’re talking animation in film, stop motion is the earliest form of animation. The stop motion animated THE ADVENTURES OF PRINCE ACHMED and TALE OF THE FOX predate Disney’s SNOW WHITE. And yes: stop-motion IS still a form of animation even if it’s a serious of pictures taken of real life things and not drawings, so don’t you dare come at me with the "but that's not animated"/"Technically it’s LIVE ACTION" crap or I’ll envoke the spirit of Sandman to get you at night.

“Every animated film would look better in 2D! Even PIXAR would look better in 2D!”

Again, Stop Motion.

No, I mean it.

Lemme ask: Would ISLE OF DOGS or FANTASTIC MR. FOX carry any of the same effect if they were generic 90s toons? I know NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS wouldn’t. Christ, don’t even get me started on Svankmajer!

Sometimes the problem is that a movie is envisioned with a specific artform in mind. Pixar started out with toys and bugs for a reason and that’s cuz they were always gonna be a 3d studio and they needed to first overcome the placisity of the models. Over the years they’ve gotten really good at effects and blending unrealistic proportions with real textures (and also not so much- ONWARD and THE GOOD DINOSAUR really needed some different character designs and yeah, I do think would have looked better with a 2d artstyle, but not the ones they had in their films. THE GOOD DINOSAUR needed more realistic-speculative looking dinos and ONWARD needed a grittier HEAVY METAL/BLACK CAULDRON appeal to its designs.) My point being that the problems with these movies aren’t even inherently the animation as much as it is a problem of style. As someone who runs a group speculating different styles and designs for movies and tv shows I’m all for envisioning a 2D ZOOTOPIA or Bluth-inspired FNAF. That’s amazing!

But that’s also the talk of fan artists and nerds and not the professional artists working on visualizing their stories!!

Since I ate, slept, and breathed NIGHTMARE in my youth I’ll use it as an example: All the concept art ever done for TNBC was on paper and 2D was used in the final film. However, even when Tim Burton was thinking of making it just a tv special it was always going to be stop-motion. NIGHTMARE’s puppet cast do work very well in two dimensions, believe me, but the film was made as a love letter to Rankin/Bass and the art form of stop-motion. Skipping to another Henry Selick-helmed project (haha), JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH was also always envisioned as a multimedia film to give it a truly dream-like atmosphere. If you know anything about Henry Selick you’ll know he’s 1) a perfectionist, and 2) loves mixed media and different types of animation and puppetry at once. That’s why he was the perfect pick to direct TNBC at the time, why JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH and CORALINE are so beautiful and why MOONGIRL, his only fully 3d film, doesn’t have the same appeal.

As for what films I couldn’t imagine NOT being 3D? Probably; 9, Padak, Next Gen, Soul, Finding Nemo, the Toy Story films, Wreck-it-Ralph (as previously mentioned), Wall.E, Waltz with Bashir, Robots, Inside Out, Arthur Christmas, The Painting, Happy Feet, Shrek, Enter the Spiderverse, Megamind… just naming a few here.

“I want a traditionally animated film [and by that I mean a 90s-Disney/Don Bluth looking movie] of ‘x'-popular live action/stage thing!”

Okay I’m cheating a bit but it’s my blog and so I’m gonna stick this one in because it’s related.

When I see musings about wanting live-action or CGI shiz to be in 2d again a lot of the time this argument actually boils down to " I want this to look like a 90s Didney movie ". Or, if it’s about animals - " I want it to look like a Don Bluth film! "

Like...there ARE other styles of animation out there...you know that right?

Frack, Disney themselves tried different styles throughout the 90s it’s just that the peak of the Disney renaissance films (LITTLE MERMAID, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, ALADDIN, THE LION KING) and the many imitators that followed tended to have the same look to them where only film/animation nerds kept watching into the era that was TARZAN, HERCULES, and ATLANTIS along with the kids. Aunt Karen wasn't singing Part of your World in the carride with you every day.

The Don Bluth argument is especially irritating because...what exact feeling do you WANT from a movie if it looked Bluthish? Each of the four ‘quintessential’ Bluth movies (NIMH, AMERICAN TAIL, LBT, and ALL DOGS) have such a different feel to them that’s complimented by that style; SECRET OF NIMH is a drama about wild animals trying to understand humans; LAND BEFORE TIME is even more squarely about an animal’s perspective as there’s literally no humans around; AMERICAN TAIL uses animals stowing away on the ship to tell a story about refugees; and ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN is ALL DOGS GO TO HEAVEN.

What the frack are you even asking for with that because I think there’s a certain flavor to the Bluth-styled oeuvre as well as the 90s Disney catalogue that would clash too much stylistically with some films.

Also come on! Like some Bluthian-style 2d would really fix THE SECRET LIFE OF PETS or SCOOB!, bite me.

I think this fixation solely on these two hand drawn styles and nothing else is based on nostalgia goggles, refusing to step outside the norm and discover different films and feelings than Disney and Bluth, and just preference. Goin back to NIGHTMARE there will always be a special place in my heart for Henry Selick’s stop motion, but I couldn’t imagine CHICKEN RUN or ANOMALISA in it's unique style.

Also I’m tired of every time there’s a "lets make an animatic to ‘x’ musical theater song" it’s reliably just Disneyesque or realistic. WHY envision an animated version of the show at all if it doesn’t have A STYLE to it??!?! I’m sorry but 90s-Disney does NOT fit CABARET!

“3D is so CHEAP now! Why can’t they just do 2D again?”

I think - on the cusp of the 2020s and the Grubhub hatedom, there ARE changing times ahead for 3d and 2d. The general public are starting to get tired of the same looking 3d films and wanting some 2d back, but they don’t have the best resources or opinions on animation to know what it is they want. Meanwhile, the animation community + industry is trying to figure out what to do and you have a lot of turmoil between the monopoly that is the industry, the high standards of the artists, and the mixed wants of the animation fanbase deciding what art needs to be.

It’s a tough business. And in the spirit of that tough business - maybe DON’T act like the means of a film’s production is solely your control, that you know best, and know definitively what the artists should have done....cuz you don't. Sorry my fellow criticalfanomanalysist-folks we DON'T and in an age of standom where fans and critics think it's okay to hackle indie animation studios about not getting their pitched cartoon out fast enough - we need to reserve these discussions to our circles and not treat them as gospel.

3d animation and 2d animation have to share this world. Stop acting like they’re either interchangeable in terms of budget, means of production, or artistry or that one has to be superior to the other.

The industry already says one art form is better (spoiler: it’s always live-action), we don’t need anymore of this purist garbage. Just stick to what you like while trying new things on the side. Be critical while also being compassionate. And remember:

youtube

#animation #animation on tumblr #2d animation #3d animation #traditional animation #hand drawn animation #Franki's Features

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shelleybby · 4 years ago

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ADULT ANIMATION I'VE WATCHED AND RECOMMEND: Just my opinions, with some commentary :P

The Boondocks -> Aaron McGruder (Black man) wrote this as a satirical dark comedy regarding his opinions, it's a very political show (based off his newspaper series) and I don't recommend watching it unless you're willing to genuinely ponder his points and how he chose to portray certain caricatures of people. Do not take everything at face value.

BoJack Horseman -> I haven't finished this show myself but have heard good things about the ending, it's not a political show but more an insider look at dark Hollywood secrets and the complexities of mental health/illness.

Bob's Burgers -> Truly a silly and goofy show. The art style puts people off but it's really funny and the characters are easy to fall in love with.

Archer -> Crude and dark, it surrounds a fictional spy agency. I fell off after season 7 or so, but it's an entertaining show that captures edgy humor rather well.

Daria -> An older show that has the main character deal with high school drama in the 90's. I think younger adults/older teens would really like it, but understand that Daria herself is a flawed character. She's funny and deadpan, yes, but that's not an excuse to be rude or dismissive of others.

Futurama -> Matt Groening makes The Simpsons in the ~future~

Regular Show -> It originally aired on Cartoon Network, but this is def perfect for young adults especially those just starting college and joining the work force and feeling disappointed in society.

Castlevania (2017) -> An animated adaptation of the video game series that was actually animated by the same team that made Fairly Odd Parents and Tuff Puppy surprisingly. There's a lot of religious and mythological lore they expose one too, with a lot of representation of cultures and some super genuine funny moments.

King Of The Hill -> Mike Judge's classic surrounding the Hill family. It's super entertaining because of how mundane it is, times have changed since then and it can be some culture shock since it takes place in Texas but still funny and meme-tastic.

Disenchantment -> Fantasy and medieval setting, they have Eric Andre as a character! It's actually where I got my "level 4 daemon" tag from. It's a very funny show with surprisingly dark themes that work really well.

Aggretsuko -> An anime! It's a Sanrio character having a mid-life crisis but she's into heavy metal karaoke. It's super Japanese too, lol.

Love Death & Robots -> Hit-or-miss anthology series with different art and plots every episode. There's one made by the same people from Into The Spiderverse!!!!

#ca canter #adult animation

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datsquillid · 4 years ago

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Quick Review: The Mitchells vs. the Machines

Studio: Sony Pictures Animation

Director: Mike Rianda

Overall Score: 9/10

Story 8/10

The story of this film was very entertaining and relatable. The characters were likeable and the dynamic between them was fun. The story contains many different things you’ve seen before, but put together in a new sort of way. I like the references to memes and the craziness of everything, although at times it was a bit too much. But overall, I thought the story was great.

Art Style 10/10

Amazing. Really liked the stylized 3D animation. The painterly textures and the simplification of the background made the film really cool to look at. The combination of 3D and 2D styles is something I always love to see, and this film had a ton of that. The colors were also really nice. I especially loved the blue and coral sherbert-y color palette that the robots had.

Animation 10/10

Also amazing. This film built on the technical achievements of Spiderverse by stylizing the 3D in various ways, but also added some new techniques as well. I loved how the 3D models looked like 2D cartoons at times with their wild expressions, and also how there was 2D animation overlayed in multiple places. One of my favorite things in the film was how the robots could come apart and pieces themselves back together. Very cool to look at.

Music 8/10

Suited the movie well, but nothing especially stood out to me.

Editing 10/10

Amazing. All the work done to make the 3D style look more 2D and organic was really well done.

Voice Acting 10/10

Very well done.

#film #cinema #review #movie #animation #sony pictures #sony #2danimation #3danimation #art #the mitchells vs the machines

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arnoldperlstein · 4 years ago

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what’s wrong with rides again?

this time around i’d like to talk about my issues with the reboot of the magic school bus, the magic school bus rides again!

don’t get me wrong, for the most part? there’s a lot i love about rides again: it really expands on characters like arnold, tim, janet, and ralphie, whose new characterizations are developed but still faithful to the original; likewise, i like fiona frizzle and jyoti as new additions to the class. many of the jokes land and the episodes tend to be pretty funny and inventive! (jokes in the 3 recent specials have been particularly great)

there are, though, rather noticeable flaws that especially bother me, someone who grew up with the original. now here we go, in order of importance!

1. wanda

okay, i’ll get this out of the way: rides again wanda is not wanda. the original 90s wanda was a force to be reckoned with, a headstrong and active character who acted first and thought later - she was a great foil for a character like arnold who, in contrast, is so cautious and reserved. 90s wanda had an immense chaotic energy which reflected that of the original ms. frizzle and that of the show as a whole, really making everything exciting.

rides again wanda is... none of those things. she’s... kinda active? more in a stubborn way. she’s more defensive than offensive now and seems way more... soft than before? rides again wanda now loves animals and often acts as a morality pet in terms of them. now, if you’ve ever seen the original 90s cartoon, you know there’s one person who this sounds exactly like. pheobe.

by the start of rides again, pheobe had apparently went back to her old school, with jyoti taking up the 8th spot in the class. you wouldn’t think that pheobe’s role needed to be filled now that she was gone, and yet almost all of her traits were superimposed onto a character who originally had none of them. if they were going to pheeb-ify anyone, doing it to someone as iconically un-pheobe-like as wanda was a terrible idea!

not like they needed to pheeb-ify anyone - you already have cautious and shy characters like arnold, quiet and observant characters like tim, and voices of reason like da. i love pheobe, but her role didn’t need to be filled; people don’t work like that in real life.

and what sucks the most about this for me is that wanda was one of my favorite characters growing up! i loved her spunk and her attitude and her bravery going into anything! and i loved her catchphrase of “c’mon, you weaselly wimps”, which i may add i don’t remember her saying at all in rides again. it just sucks, man!!

2. lack of chaotic energy of the original/lack of memorability

one thing that characterized the original 90s cartoon was how... well, chaotic it was. there was something so energized and wacky about the whole thing, and you never knew what was going to happen next! the jokes were hilarious and the characters played off of each other perfectly, giving it an interesting, pseudo-sitcom vibe in the background.

the fact that it came out in the 90s at all, with its animation style and the technology at the time made these fantastical field trips all the more fascinating and mysterious - oftentimes, the frizz would push a simple button or pull a simple lever and the bus would turn into a fish or a bee or a rocket ship! this combined with the fact that the bus itself was rather old and rudimentary made it all seem more relatable and nostalgic.

unfortunately, rides again has none of this. the new art style, character designs, futuristic tech, and voice acting not only further suspends your disbelief with how starkly different they are from the original, but also completely get rid of that nostalgic 90s chaos that made the original so memorable.

and speaking of memorability, i can remember the premise of just about every 90s cartoon episode - they all have some wacky twist that makes it all the more bonkers and memorable: gets ready, set, dough? the baker thinks he’s delusional and that a moth baked a cake. in a pickle? court scene and the ‘mike robe gang’. shows and tells? arnold is forced to do improv and doesn’t suck at it somehow. holiday special? wanda turns the recycling plant into a pile of garbage. it’s all over the place yet somehow plausible, which makes it all the better to remember.

but rides again? the only jokes i remember are from episodes i’ve specifically seen over and over and over again, such as frizzle of the future, monster power, or making magic. give me episodes like pigs in the wind, in the swim, hides and seeks, the tales glaciers tell, the land before tim, ghost farm, i spy with my animal eyes, or send in the clouds and i won’t remember a single joke, funny line, or wacky moment. it makes it all seem bland in retrospect, unfortunately.

3. catchphrases!

there isn’t a ton to talk about here, but there is an annoying lack of characters using their catchphrases in rides again: sure, arn does occasionally say ‘i knew i should’ve stayed home today’, and da does say ‘according to my research’ (albeit differently than she did before - i’ll touch on this in a second), but most other characters don’t use their catchphrases much at all now.

tim doesn’t say “we’ve been frizzled” and keesha doesn’t say “let me get the facts” and ralphie doesn’t say “is it just me” and carlos doesn’t say “you’re gonna love this” and wanda doesn’t say “c’mon you weaselly wimps” etc. or heck, if they did, i just don’t remember, which is honestly telling enough.

you’d think this’d be a good thing, as people in real life don’t tend to have catchphrases, but it only makes the characters’ personalities more distinguished and memorable, having the unique things they say when excited or scared or whatever.

4. pheobe leaving :(

don’t get me wrong, jyoti is super cool, but i can still miss pheeb!

while i always resonated with arnold more, i’ve also found a connection with pheobe, such as with her love of animals (especially butterflies). she’s also just a really sweet, kind character who has a very strong moral backbone and a passion for doing the right thing. i find that a really nice personality for a character to have!

i also have my personal ship of pheobe and keesha (just watch the 90s episode gets ants in its pants, you’ll thank me later), and i find the two of them really cute! sucks that my pheobe privileges had to be revoked by rides again, though... why don’t we at least see what she’s doing, or get a mention other than just that ‘she returned to her old school’? why would she do that, anyway?

5. da’s accent

i don’t know how to describe dorothy ann’s accent in the original 90s cartoon? it’s like an american accent with slight bits of an english accent to it. a tad old-timey. either way it’s a very distinguishing trait of hers, besides her gravity-defying pigtails and love for the color violet.

unfortunately, there seemed to be no effort to carry this over to rides again in any capacity - heck, even if the voice actress couldn’t replicate her voice, they could at least pronounce the word research the same way da does: ‘reh-search’ rather than the more common ‘ree-search’. but alas, no. also da in a ponytail is not a good look, at least to me.

also, please return to the books. i don’t want to keep hearing the word ‘frizzpad’.

6. please don’t let them ruin this with a bad live action movie

note: it doesn’t have to be bad! it could be good! but the reputation of live action movies lately has been abysmal and i’m just worried how much they might butcher it...

and that’s all i can think of! despite all of this complaining i still do rather enjoy rides again. there’s just a lot of room to improve!!

#tmsb #the magic school bus #i need me some chaotic energy!!!!#one day i want to do a ytp of a rides again episode to inject it with some of that chaos i enjoyed in the original

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adultswim2021 · 4 years ago

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Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law #1: "Bannon Custody Battle" December 30, 2000 - 4:30AM | S01E01 Welcome to the first episode of Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law, the first show on Adult Swim’s roster that I rejected as a substandard product. It should’ve been the Brak Show. In the opening episode, Birdman takes a case from Dr. Benton Quest, better known as Jonny Quest’s father. Race Bannon is fighting for custody of the boy, arguing that he’s a much better, much more present father figure to Jonny. Harvey Birdman was first conceptualized with an episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast. In the episode “Pilot” we’re shown a supposed disastrous pilot episode of “Coast to Coast” where Birdman was originally attached as the star. Birdman, a depressive, out-of-work super hero, utterly botches the job as his inability to host a late-night show due to his deriving all his powers from the sun becomes more apparent. The character recurs a few more times, most notably in the episode “Sequel”, where Birdman guest-hosts the show. Still, to call this a proper Space Ghost spin-off requires carrying a big asterisk along with it. The character name “Harvey Birdman” was invented for Space Ghost, but besides both being based on the old 60s Birdman Hanna-Barbera show, they have little to do with one another. One would get almost nothing out of watching the original Space Ghost episodes before watching this (except for, you know, getting to see episodes of a much funnier show).

So in Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law you have one 60s Hanna-Barbera character as a lawyer taking court cases from various other Hanna-Barbera characters, usually of a similar vintage. In this particular episode we’re treated to a lot of jokes about the homoerotic subtext of Jonny Quest, specifically the relationship between Race Bannon and Benton Quest. The writers decide to tastefully side-step the seemingly pederast relationship between Race and Jonny. Watching the original Jonny Quest with the same attempt to subvert and recontextualize the relationships between the characters through a modern lens, a certain type of observer would probably note the amount of shirtless roughhousing Race does with Jonny. Speaking of watching Jonny Quest: I have to admit something: I never really watched Jonny Quest at all before writing this blog. I’ve had an interest in older shows and cartoons my entire life, but the entire genre of action cartoon didn’t appeal to me whatsoever when I was a kid. So last night I watched my first episode of Jonny Quest, in glorious 1080p on my new 4K television; a format it was never EVER intended to be viewed in. Jonny Quest is objectively junk. It’s fun, boyish, escapist entertainment, and there’s a lot of good irony in it, especially with it’s antiquated portrayal of other cultures from a bygone era when we were far less connected to the rest of the world. It has limited animation and simplistic design. The backgrounds look like they were painted on a post-it-note and most of the men are drawn to look like reskinned versions of Race Bannon. But there’s at least something a LITTLE charming about it. In fact, there was one moment of beautifully scripted action that absolutely won me over: Race and Jonny’s speed boat goes airborne briefly and crushes the bad guy’s boat from above as they speed towards one another. I nearly cheered when it happened. I knew The Venture Bros took liberally from Jonny Quest, but the coolest action sequences on that show seemed to be striving for the same exact visceral reaction I got from seeing Race crunch up some lizard men on a boat. Birdman is a similar deal: He was a cookie-cutter imitation of comic book heroes from the silver-age of comics (the obvious comparison here is DC’s Hawkman). I actually did watch a Birdman adventure late last night as I was falling asleep to follow up on Jonny Quest, but it felt less important. I can remember checking out the original Birdman on DVD not too long ago. Also, your typical Harvey Birdman usually focuses on jokes about shows other than Birdman. Still, it’s neat to see those characters in their original context, as well as that Hanna-Barbera stock-explosion animation we all know and love from Space Ghost blowing up Zorak on Coast-to-Coast. Also the episode I watched will be heavily referenced later, but not for this. I only watched the first episode of Jonny Quest taking a cue from my friend Kon who noted that most of the references in “Bannon Custody Battle” are directly from the first episode. The most specific (and funniest) scene in the whole show involves the Lizard Men, the main villains of that first installment. Other characters show up very briefly, and are all ones that appear in the opening sequence. Unless I find out differently (I’ll probably try to make my way through the rest of Quest in preparation for Venture Bros.), it really does seem like the writers just watched the first episode of Jonny Quest to write this show. Watching this episode of Harvey Birdman was like batting away an existential crisis. I remember vaguely at the time not being SUPER hot on this show, but I cut it a lot of slack and trusted that it would simply get funnier. I wanted to love all the shows on Adult Swim. Anyway, I went from being lukewarm on Birdman, to hating it. Reading my own earlier review of Birdman I blasted this episode for being homophobic. I used to have a very low tolerance for gay jokes, back when they were highly in fashion. But now that we live an era where there’s an arms race to find new ways to scold one another for perceived slights gay jokes can sometimes, NOT ALWAYS, be a little refreshing to hear. The fact that my stance on gay jokes can change as long as it’s in direct-opposition with the rest of the world is at least a little troubling. Does this mean I’m an inauthentic reactionary? Yes. Yes it does. There, I admitted it. Now, let me off the hook, please. I say that sorta jokingly. The gay jokes in this are mostly pretty lame, and come off like Mike Scully-era Simpsons gay jokes. The early scene at the beginning where Birdman eyes widen when he’s misunderstanding the nature of Dr. Quest’s and Race Bannon’s relationship really does come off as early 90′s homophobia. I remember it seemed out of place at the time. I’m sure it played just fine in the midwest, but the show didn’t really put it’s best foot forward with that. Speaking of lame jokes, this episode has a few that have nothing to do with insulting gay people. One of my least favorite bits involve the specific gag of undercutting a dramatic moment with characters fumbling around awkwardly in true-to-life fashion. Why, if a person tried to recreate a dramatic sting you’d see before a commercial break in real life, you’re right, it’d probably go awkwardly! But this 11 minute show has at least 3 explicit examples of this, and it’s only mildly amusing once:

Bannon dramatically walks out on Dr. Quest, after announcing his intention to take Jonny with him. He awkwardly comes back because he forgot his keys

Birdman dramatically argues with a rival prosecutor and summons his personal digital assistant, and then awkwardly fumbles with it

Birdman proves that the Race Bannon on the witness stand is actually a robot by unplugging him, but he accidentally pulls the wrong cord and has to spend a few seconds untangling and retracing the correct cord.

Another thing about Birdman is that there is usually a lack of strong jokes. The show usually includes a layer of comedy where there are simply characters who simply have odd, scattered speech patterns or odd ticks. The rival lawyer in this slurs his speech in a particular way: cut to the jury looking confused. That’s the joke. The Judge grumbles in an ornery fashion and generally acts like he doesn’t wanna be there. He says stuff that sounds like bad improv. That’s the joke. The show will only ocassionally come up with jokes to justify these character traits. It’s just silliness that doesn’t usually go anywhere. But, I do kinda like some things about this episode. It was animated by J.J. Sedelmaier, known for early digital animation seen in the crude era of Beavis and Butt-head and SNL’s TV Funhouse. They really do have their own style of comic timing, and there are some gags in this where the animation works in their favor. There are some jokes where the drawings really sell the comedy. I’m not sure if I liked this animation better or worse, but it does match the oddly-stilted Jonny Quest animation better than the episodes that came after this would have. Oh, one of the funniest bits not on the show was when I popped in the DVD I forgot that the menu music is Wesley Willis’ “Birdman Kicked My Ass”. If I were in high school when the DVD came out I would have loved it just for that reason. Same could be said “Jonny Quest Thinks We’re Sell-Outs” by Less Than Jake. I was an easily impressed kid.

#adult swim #harvey birdman attorney at law #adultswim2021

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neriad13 · 4 years ago

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Favorite Media of 2020!

There was a large swathe of this year during which I was unable to concentrate on reading (as there probably was for a lot of other typically-frequent readers), so, as a result, I ended up listening to way more podcasts and watching way more TV shows. Not a bad thing, but boy did I read way less books than usual.

However, for the first time in a while, the amount of fiction I read was about equal with the amount of nonfiction I read. Last year’s reading resolution was to read more fiction, so...success??

I did read a lot of phenomenal fiction when I had the energy to do so this year.

Books - Fiction

The Martian - Andy Weir

This book is the hardest of the hard sci fi I think I’ve ever read. Every single aspect of it is minutely researched and calculated. The author literally wrote equations to write this book. The science is insanely impressive and yet...it never loses its sense of humor or humanity in the mix. In fact, they’re the thing that drives the entire story.

Warlock Holmes - G. S. Denning

Way early in the year I was strolling down the fantasy aisle at the library, when this cover caught my eye. I took one look at it, went “oh, this looks silly” and...proceeded to devour the entire series in a matter of weeks.

It is very silly. Especially when it’s pointing out something that was silly in the original. There’s something so satisfying about Watson immediately answering Holmes with the correct number of steps in their flat when he’s trying to make his point about how most people don’t pay attention to things like that.

World War Z - Max Brooks

Every single scenario in here could easily support an entire book. A park ranger whose job it is to contain the yearly zombie spring thaw? HECK YES. I’d read tens of thousands of words about that. A Chinese admiral who defaults, steals the government’s premier submarine, loads it up with the families of his underlings and takes to the sea for years to live in the maritime economy that has sprung up in a world where everyone is trying to escape the shore? That could be an entire movie on its own.

Every chapter was more creative than the last and as a huge worldbuilding fan, this book was so, so fun.

An Unkindness of Ghosts - Rivers Solomon

In which a queer, neurodivergent protagonist solves a mystery on a spaceship which is a microcosm of antebellum era politics! This had a beautiful, mysterious, wonder-inducing writing style and it was a joy to peer into the wildly differing minds of every single character.

Books - Nonfiction

Underland - Robert MacFarlane

In every chapter, the author visits a different hole. Basically.

It’s an exploration of caves, catacombs, mines, nuclear waste facilities and the hidden underbelly of every forest. It was fascinating. And fundamentally changed how I look at time.

Rejected Princesses - Jason Porath

After years of having enjoyed the web entries, I finally got my hands on the first book and was not disappointed.

There are the more entertaining entries, of course and the art is as charming as always, but what struck me the most were the more difficult stories. The deeper you go into this book, the more horrific it gets. The author does not hold back on the indignities suffered by the historical figures he writes about. It’s terrible...but also very, very illuminating.

The Gift of Fear - Gavin De Becker

This book - while maintaining all the essential information in it - could be pared down to one sentence in a sea of blank pages and that sentence would be: trust your instincts. End of story.

But in a world where instincts are either customarily suppressed or going haywire, it’s not quite that easy, which is why I’m glad there is more to the book.

I picked it up thinking “ha ha, betcha can’t help a person with anxiety who fears all the time already” and...what it actually ended up doing was giving me the tools to differentiate between real fear and unfounded fear. And did help with the anxiety quite a bit.

Fanfiction

Watch Over Me - cakeisatruth

A Bioshock fic from the point of view of a little sister who is learning how to trust and be an ordinary child again. Dark and sweet. An excellent combo.

All That is Visible - Ultima_Thule

An exploration of a minor character in a well researched historical context? That’s my jam! How did they know?? A Tron fic about what it’s like to be a female programmer in the 70s.

Graphic Novels

The Adventure Zone - McElroys + Carey Pietsch

Yesssssssss! It was a running-to-the-library type event whenever my library got a new volume in. The jokes are so good, the art is so lively and the ways in which they added the details that the podcast couldn’t necessarily get across is *mwah*

Trail of Blood - Shuuzou Oshimi

Hoooooooly shit, the art style of this one!! It’s beautifully detailed and expressive, sure, but the real draw for me was how it changes with the emotional state of the main character. There’s this sequence in which he’s consumed with anxiety at school and all of his classmates become blurry and unfocused, until they can’t be recognized as humans at all, that particularly sticks with me.

It’s a horror story about a kid who witnesses his loving mother push his cousin off a cliff for seemingly no reason and is then obligated by her to keep the secret, which is eating him from the inside out. It’s so good, guys, please read it.

Level Up - Gene Lien Yang/Thien Pham

A story about a kid who is haunted by his late father’s desire for him to become a gastroenterologist. It’s funny and touching and the ending gave me what I can only describe as a feeling of exhilaration. Y’know that feeling when something unexpected but not out of left field, perfectly in tune with the narrative arc and gut bustingly funny happens, all in the same panel? That one.

Film

Searching

This is a fairly standard thriller about a dad trying to find out what happened to his missing daughter. It’s also found footage...but not in the usual way, which was what made it so compelling to me. It’s told through the dad’s phone calls, google searches, social media interactions, news footage, security cameras and webcams. It was such a cool way to tell a story.

Train to Busan

There’s a lot that’s already been said about this movie and I don’t think there’s much more I can meaningfully add to that. Suffice to say that ya gotta take care of each other if you’re going to survive a zombie apocalypse!!

TV Series

My Brother’s Husband

As close to a perfect adaptation as a person can get (barring the entire conversation in English which was...oof). I was so happy when they took it a step further and showed Kana and Yaichi actually getting to meet Mike’s family.

Zumbo’s Just Desserts

I watched a lot of baking shows this year. Like...a lot. They were my much-needed comfort viewing for the year and this one was my favorite, even over The Great British Baking Show (which I LOVE). Why? Because the pastry chef for whom it’s named makes such bizarre and wonderful desserts and fosters an environment in which the competitors do the same. I’ve never seen anything like a lot of the desserts that make an appearance on this show. Every single episode was an awesome surprise and so help me, this show had better get a third season.

She-ra and the Princesses of Power

There’s also a lot that’s been said about this one, so I won’t say much more. Suffice to say: DAMN. That’s how you do an 80s toy tie-in cartoon remake.

Infinity Train

This show’s premise is probably the most unique I’ve seen in recent years. Its balance of comedy, horror and existential dread is also *mwah* I also love how much it trusts the viewer to figure things out on their own.

Primal

A late entry sliding in before the year ends! I finally got to watch the second half of the first season last weekend and it was EXCELLENT. The pacing, the brutal fight scenes, the adorable dinosaur antics, the animation, the quiet moments - *mwah-mwah-mwah-mwah-mwah*

The most emotional moment for me was the part in which the protagonists watch, with sorrow, as the rabid dinosaur who’s been trying to kill them all night dies an excruciating death.

Also it sets up a fascinating new plotline right before ending in a cliffhanger!! Another one for the ‘had better get a next season’ list.

Games

Night in the Woods

This is one that’s been on my to play list for a few years and I was so glad I finally got my hands on it. It’s like...The Millennial Experience (TM), the game. I felt so seen, playing it. The character writing was fantastic.

Prey

I don’t know why I put off finishing this for so long. I guess I wasn’t in the right alien killing headspace for a while?? Anyway, the setting is gorgeous, the alien biology is weird and cool, the ethics are delightfully murky and the interconnectedness of the station was really cool, especially in the OH SHIT moments at the end.

Podcasts

The Adventure Zone

I tried to narrow this down to one favorite arc, but found that I couldn’t do it. I love Balance for its comedy and creative energy. I love Amnesty for its drama and acting. I am loving Graduation for the depth of its world and the way in which the real story behind everything that’s happened is slowly unfurling. It’s a good podcast all around.

The Magnus Archives

Who obsessively listened to every single season while playing Minecraft in about a month? Surely not me, nooooo. Of course not.

There’s also been a lot said on this one, so I’ll keep it brief. I’ve seen things in here that I haven’t really seen elsewhere in horror. My particular favorites were the creepy psychiatric hospital in which the horror comes not from the patients, but from the denial of the doctor to believe them about their mental illnesses and every single thing related to the Anthropocene. The one with the Amazonian village made out of trash - CHILLS.

#tma #taz #prey 2017 #night in the woods #infinity train #warlock holmes #she-ra #zumbo's just desserts #a thought

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monkey-network · 5 years ago

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My Issues with Butch Hartman

Call this the sequel to my post on Mr. Enter. But honestly compared to Enter, Butch Hartman has made himself look far worse in so little time. Not only with how he uses his influence, but he basically showed his true colors not long after he left Nickelodeon. With Enter, the worst you can say about him is his opinions on media and his politics. With Hartman, there is a surprisingly lot more under his belt that made the hate towards him .

To preface this, while I’m gonna shit on this dude, I’m not shaming anyone who still likes his past content. With that said, bibbity Boppity boopity. Let’s look at the fucking scoopity.

The Telltale Oaxis

This really takes the cake as the scummiest thing Butch has done. Words and opinions can be one thing, but using your platform to basically trick some people out of their money for a project you abandoned for the most part grinds me gears a lot more. As bad as his marketing strategy was, at least Enter provided effort in his indiegogo project beforehand for god’s sake. Oaxis is one of the most pitiable crowdfunded projects I’ve seen.

It’s nearly two years since Butch got Oaxis funded and what have gotten beyond pure dead silence. Nearly two years and little to no significant updates for Oaxis’s Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, his Youtube, or the site’s official account. No wait, that last part’s kind of a lie. They had monthly updates on the official site up until September 2019. Could’ve posted this on their social medias but you take what you can get.

The major takeaway from the updates, in all fairness, was that the kickstarter wasn’t enough and they still need to raise more funds for the service. The “capital-building” stage he calls it where he’s looking for more investors in addition to getting actual programs onto the service. That and Oaxis is a big vision for Butch and his wife in spite of not only giving up the monthly updates and basically secluding any mention of Oaxis from any place else. That’s basically it and I legit feel sorry for everyone that couldn’t get their refund back.

This isn’t HBO Max or Disney+ where you just expect them to have something together after their initial announcement because they’re already media conglomerates, this is an independent project. One that people, your fans included Butch, put over 200K thinking you would at least give people something. But beyond a “sizzle reel” that said nothing aside from Oaxis going to be a thing, you have presented jack after two years. I don’t expect the ins and outs of every business meeting with executives, but staying silent about everything except for monthly newsletters that offer very little encouraging progress and hasn’t updated since September of last year is not a good sign. And I’m especially hard on this topic, Butch, because this is the biggest point where it is seriously hard to trust you. It’s not criticizing your ego when after having too many cracks in your story, you really haven’t put your money where your mouth is.

I don’t wanna presume the guy’s given up on it, hoping everybody would forget it after a while, but he’s really put the effort in to make Oaxis feel like a afterthought. I’m not an expert in business, but even I can believe that after his non-apology for not being upfront with his initial intentions, that he’d try to provide updates on the project to not come off as the scam artist people have accused him as. Even with his Youtube channel that I’ll get to later, I don’t think it’s hard consistently posting about your so called vision if you have that much faith in its success. You’ve already gotten thousands of bucks initially with the crowdfund, people deserve more than your pitiful wishful platitudes and I unfortunately can’t believe you’ll have anything after a few years. It’s not that everyone forgot about it, but you mostly took the money and ran. If Butch pops up with something if he sees this somehow, I’ll eat that crow, but I sincerely doubt it after this long. Like at least post something on the Twitter, I get depressed just looking at it; that account is the textbook definition of famine.

The Childhood Reposter

I’ve brought up Butch’s youtube channel a couple times, and it’s when every time I look at it, it’s a little sad. When it comes to major creators, I typically think that after finishing their projects they’d move to newer things. People like Lauren Faust, Mike Judge, CH Greenblatt are all continuing to make new works under differing studios while new creators are getting the spotlight. Butch though? I mean, he has a new cartoon that I swear you’ve never heard about but other than that, the dude looks like he has little to say for himself nowadays beyond the 2 shows he’s famous for, Fairly Odd Parents and Danny Phantom. I would’ve added TUFF Puppy and Bunsen is a Beast but I can see that those two aren’t his major players seeing as how they’re rarely ever mentioned on the channel.

If it’s not some watchmojo level meme video, almost every other video is about either two of those shows in some varied fashion. I get that he “created your childhood” and made credulous bank from Nickelodeon, but it’s like Danny Phantom is all that stands between him and having an audience. That and drawing anime characters in his style which is... y’know, I’ll leave that to you. It’s like he retired and yet goes on about the good old days like a fluctuating ego. He’s still making a cartoon but to him that’s hardly a factor compared to his known successes.

Personally, I wouldn’t want to just be known as the guy who made two of your countless beloved cartoons. Not that that’s all he talks about, but it’s the insistence of his legacy that unfortunately gives me Bojack Horseman vibes. He no doubt has a good thing going but I believe that this isn’t gonna last. Just saying, dude has 850K subscribers and unless it’s a real hook like with the recent Danny Phantom/Jake Long death battle, he’s hardly getting a good fraction of views anymore. There’s only so many times you can milk Danny Phantom as your masterpiece before everyone moves on.

The Holy Boast

I wanna make this short because I’m not a huge talker of religion, but I stand to say that you should NOT, under any circumstance, believe BPD, PTSD, autism, fucking heart & kidney failure can be “cured” or “healed” through sermons of prayer. This here? This is genuinely something else.

https://www.healingjourneys.today/

For clarity, this was a gospel conference hosted by Butch and his wife and yes, they openly proclaim that BPD, austism, and heart disease can be cured through prayer of holy worship.

Now, I’m gonna give a full disclosure right here because this most certainly biases my point here, like I’m gonna own this. But my grandpa was a religious man that suffer from health problems. He notably prayed to carry on, yes, but at the same time he sought medical help. Even he told me that prayers wasn’t gonna keep the pacemaker going, he went to the doctors and actually did more than read the bible to improve himself. He unfortunately passed, but he was in his 70s and I honestly couldn’t believe, as hard as I try, that he was gonna live forever. My grandpa would’ve no doubt died far earlier if he followed this conference’s logic.

My point is that this is personally unsettling. I seriously cannot believe this is how autism and religion works and it blows my mind that him and his wife thought this conference was a suitable idea. I’m not bashing them as christians, but thinking mental disorders and bodily diseases can be done away with motivational seminars because that’s basically what they are is a legit slap to the face. And the seedling idea that they’ve done this before blows my mind.

The Financial Flaker

This is very recent and everything is generally explained in the 12 minute video but long story short: Butch hired an artist and never paid them for their work. The artist in question, Kuro, describes what happened between him and Butch in this video and provides receipts. Can’t really add anything to this myself beyond this just builds to the idea that Butch cannot be trusted as a professional business maker. I believe he still has people working for him but from this video, it tells me that Hartman will gladly use those lower than him in favorable pursuits and will gladly throw ignorance when he wants to because his cartoon veteran status presents that shield from thinking he can do no wrong, which can mean throttling his hires. Let’s end this.

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The Conclusion

When I get down to it, Butch is almost a Machiavellian character in a way. It’s amazing how much the trust people have had with Hartman have evaporated in less than a couple years. It’s amazing how much his ego has truly shown after he stopped being a namestay in Nickelodeon. Haven’t even mentioned the times he arrogantly deflected criticism because he was a namestay at Nick and how a couple who’ve worked with are well aware of his ego. I can’t help but believe that even after everything, he claims ignorance to his fall from grace and keeps going. Even when more and more are knowing his true self, he’s mostly just doing what he’s been doing for the past few years.

It’s respectable in a way, but shows that the world will move on without him. Again, if you like Danny Phantom and Fairly OddParents, I won’t judge you for it nor say you should be ashamed. This isn’t about cancelling Butch, or get him to stop spreading whatever wacky things he believes in. It’s my personal take of how this man whom I once respected because of what he made before has lost every bit of that from me. It really feels like he grew up with that “I Created Your Childhood” mentality being a 4 time showrunner for almost a couple decades. And when he finally left Nickelodeon, I guess the chance to be that stand out self-made success got to his head and he finally showed his true colors. I now find it hard to believe Butch cares about the little guy that were his fans as much as he rides off his success and others who tolerate him. As such, like JK Rowling, more are seeing this side of him and leaving him behind. Meanwhile Butch is gonna chug on until he just loses steam. It’s kinda like Icarus where the guy will make every effort to fly to the sun. But sooner or later, he’s gonna fall, and in the end I doubt anyone’s gonna care to see it. I know he won’t.

#butch hartman #nickelodeon #animation #long post #sorry for the rant n bant

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purplesurveys · 4 years ago

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1051

Are you between the ages of 30 & 40? I still have to get through nearly another decade to get to that decade.

What was your favorite Saturday morning cartoon growing up? My favorites were The Wild Thornberrys and Little Bill, both on Nickelodeon. My sister and I also enjoyed this wacky show called The Upside Down Show but it wasn’t a cartoon.

What was your favorite toy as a child? I liked any toy that had a lot of buttons or features within it - dollhouses, kitchen sets, cash registers, toy phones, anything that could make me test how much it could do.

In High School did you wear acid washed jeans? No. It’s not a style I would be drawn to, then and now.

How much was a gallon of gasoline when you first started driving? I don’t know; I never paid much attention to gas prices, honestly.

What was your first car? It’s a 2014 (or 2015?) Mitsubishi Mirage I’m still using today, though it was my dad who paid for it and he’s the one who takes it out for oil changes and stuff.

Who taught you how to drive? My dad taught me a few times around the neighborhood, but he also enrolled me for like three classes in a driving school so that I got to learn how to drive in a highway.

What was your high school mascot? Both of my schools didn’t have any. My university does have a nickname for our varsity teams, but we’re simply just ‘Maroons’ and not an animal like what I usually see.

Did you go to your Senior Prom? We had a junior prom, nothing for senior year. I was invited to go to the senior ball in another school by Mike, though. That feels like ages ago; everything is so different now.

What did you do after graduation? After my high school graduation I went straight to college like most kids here. After graduating college, I immediately started looking for jobs; I landed an internship after a month and got absorbed into the company two months after.

What was your first job? I’m currently working as an associate at a public relations agency. This is my first job and for now, I’m content in staying in this career. This is where I set out to be when I was in college and I don’t feel the need to change paths any time soon.

What did you want to be when you grew up? I wanted to be an astronaut more than anything else, but I remember also wanting to be a firefighter or a vet.

Any posters on your bedroom walls growing up? I had a handful of wrestling posters that my mom was never a fan of. It was never her business since it’s my room, but she always made it the case.

Do you remember the first time you drank a beer? It may have been at Marielle’s debut, five Julys ago. She served beer at the afterparty of her 18th birthday party, and I think I had taken my first sip then.

Did you ever try cigarettes? Yeah, I started this year actually. I’m about to reach my first anniversary of trying my first cigarette :/ I don’t have a lot of them though and I haven’t smoked since like February or March, I think.

How did you spend your summers growing up? At home. My parents were always busy with work, so I had no choice but to myself occupied at home. Luckily I had siblings and cousins, so we were always playing with each other. My summers were never productive until I was in college, when I started making the effort to go out more.

If you could change anything from your teenage years, would you? Ahh idk man I wish I wouldn’t have spent as much time by the computer as I did, and maybe hang out with friends or something instead. < Yeah this hits the bullseye pretty much. I was a very introverted teenager. Not to mention the internet and social media started to blow up during my tween/early teenage years, so I was hooked to my laptop and kept people away as a result. I didn’t start feeling like a teenager until I was 16, when I gained friends and got invited to more stuff.

Do you remember your first time? Yeah, it was during one of my 18th birthday celebrations and she was around.

Ever look back and wish some things were still the same? I do it a lot these days. I do try to stop, because I don’t know what I can gain out of doing so anymore, and because there’s always the danger of being left behind from looking back too much; but most days I can’t help it.

After high school - straight to college or straight to work? University, because you kinda need that credential where I live. It’s unfair, but it’s our reality.

How much did you make per hour at your first job? We don’t really calculate that here...I’ll try to do math for y’all lmao aka Google it, which says I make $2.34 an hour. Wow when you put it that way, it really does not sound high :/ I’m honestly okay with my pay though. I live with my parents so I contribute to the bills and stuff now, but even then there’s more than enough left for me. Favorite home-cooked meal growing up? My grandma’s kare-kare. It was/is always reserved for special occasions; and out of all her grandchildren I was also the one who got attached to the dish especially as I got older, so eventually kare-kare also became the family’s ‘Robyn is coming over so we better prepare this’ dish. I think I’m her only grandchild that she has an allotted dish for, so that makes me feel special :)

Favorite place to eat out growing up? The local Burger King, back when it had a play place for kids.

Did your parents live in a different country before you were born?: No, they have always lived in the Philippines. My mom has always wanted to migrate but my dad shoots it down every time.

Do you have a preferred coffee brand?: When it comes to coffee, no. I wanna try out everything. But when it comes to coffee shop ambience, Starbucks all the way.

Have you ever dated someone who was terrible with money?: No. I remember Gab as always being very cautious, responsible, and conscious about money. Her parents sustained her debit card and I’m pretty sure they always gave her a little bit extra, but she never took more than her weekly allowance from the ATM.

If so, how did it affect the relationship?: Money was never an issue, mostly because the money we received during the course of our relationship wasn’t even ours lol; we both received set allowances from our parents. If one of us was running out of cash, we never hesitated to cover for each other first, and we never pressured one another to pay back immediately.

How often do you paint your nails?: Never.

Do you know anyone who's related to a current or former world leader?: Yeah, I went to high school with a relative of Duterte. She’s super secretive about it, which is pretty understandable. I’m friends with/went to classes with people who are grandchildren of senators and other politicians as well.

Do you do your own taxes, or do you hire a professional?: ...I have no idea how to do that...I always just assumed it’s already taken care of when a part of my salary is deducted lol. I may have to ask my parents about this, whoops.

What is something you don't have any natural talent for?: Anything to do with music. Reading it, playing it, singing, writing songs, etc. Also art and anything to do with creativity.

Did you watch this year's Eurovision?: Ah, my favorite time of the year to mute all my overseas mutuals on Twitter at one point lmao. No, I never caugtht up with it.

Have there been any periods in your life that could be described as being chaotic?: Senior year was a big chaotic war zone. The death of my grandpa and my first breakup coincided with all the crucial college entrance exams. Speaking of college, it was also a period of a lot of heavy decision-making due to me having to make choices of what course I wanted to take in every school I applied to. I barely cried during those few months and it still shocks me to this day how I did it. That was the most I’ve been on autopilot.

What is something you frequently forget?: Where I place my car keys and/or glasses last.

If I looked in your fridge right now, what would I find?: Bread, eggs, a bunch of condiments, butter cheese, vegetables, leftovers, and the grazing box I received from my workplace yesterday. I’m sure there’s more, but I haven’t really stopped and stared at our fridge for a while now.

How do you feel about your body?: I used to feel fairly confident about it; like it was never an issue with me. But truthfully, after being dumped, I’ve started to feel insecure over everything about me.

Who is someone you would like to get to know better?: My teammates at work, Bea and Ysa. They both seem like cool and funny people both in and out of work, and I’d love to get to hang out with them.

If you had to move to a new city, where would you move?: Idk, just somewhere with a lot of opportunities to try new things and meet new people.

Have you ever traveled on a double-decker train?: Nope. I’ve never been on anything double-decker, if I remember correctly.

What's your opinion on assisted suicide?: [trigger warning] I’ve looked into it, but it’s a dead end where I live. That’s all I’ll say, as I don’t want to give others ideas.

At what point do you consider a relationship to be 'long-term?': Fuck if I know anymore. We reached six years and it was a point where I was comfortable and didn’t feel the need to doubt anymore; everything turned out to be a lie in the end. I don’t know anymore. I don’t think about these things anymore.

What jobs did your parents have when you were growing up?: My dad has always been a chef, so he went through all the ranks throughout my childhood until he finally got an executive position when I was in high school. I remember my mom being a receptionist.

Do they still have these jobs? Or different jobs? Or have they retired?: My dad is still in that career path but he doesn’t cook in the kitchen anymore, or at least as much as he used to. He does all the menu planning, evaluating, etc. My mom has shifted to becoming an executive secretary, but she’s still in the hotel industry.

Do you own any winter sports equipment?: I don’t. There’s no reason for me to have any.

Do you have a cell contract plan, or are you on a pre-paid plan?: Prepaid.

Would your parents be okay with you dating someone of another race? I can definitely see my mom reacting, but I know she knows I won’t let her get away with saying anything mildly offensive. My dad would just go on with his life and will care more about the fact that I’m seeing someone, lol.

Do you like when friends stop by unexpectedly? No. Schedule it ahead and let me know. I’m not always mentally okay and them showing up as a surprise might just make me more stressed than grateful.

Where are the following people and what are they doing: mom, dad, sibling(s), best friend, significant other, ex, and last person you kissed? My entire family is under the same roof in their bedrooms, either sleeping or having just woken up. Angela is in Parañaque, probably at a cousin’s place; no significant other; I have no idea where my ex, and also the last person I kissed, is. She doesn’t really have anything to do with me anymore.

How strong are your feelings for the last person you kissed? They’re there. I’d still take a bullet for them if it comes down to it, the usual shit. Let’s move on.

What was the last thing someone else bought for you? My workplace gave me a grazing box as the company Christmas gift.

If your parents looked in your purse/book bag would they find anything you don’t want them to see? What about your bedroom? Do you have anything hidden in there? My vape pens. I came home from Starbucks last weekend and my mom thought my breath smelled like cigarettes and she almost got super pissed until I was able to convince her the only thing I put in my mouth was coffee, so I know my 22 year old, employed, self-earning ass would for sure still get in trouble if I was discovered to be vaping.

How close are you to the last person you hung out with? Can you be your complete self around them? It was the first time I met them and they are also my bosses, so I can’t exactly be my complete self around them yet. I had to act super reserved and to essentially make a good impression first before I start whipping out my jokes or whatever.

If you decided to call your ex right now, do you think he/she would answer? How would the conversation go? No, she’d reject it and tell me to text instead. If she was feeling snappy she would also tell me I’m no longer in the place to contact her that way. Sigh. Who is she anymore and why is she so different from the person I was with?

Are you attracted to the last person you exchanged numbers with? No.

Is music a daily part of your life? It’s not. Videos, more like.

Yellow nail polish: yes or no? Bright or neon yellow is a no, but I suppose more muted shades like mustard yellow can work for me.

What do you think of country music? Eh, not a fan. I would skip it in a second, and I never think about it.

Have you ever ended a relationship but wish you could’ve kept it a little longer? I’ve never ended a relationship.

Did you go to your high school’s graduation? Yes...that’s not an event I would’ve wanted to miss out on lol. That was a nice day. My grandparents came to watch me, and we had dinner at a revolving restaurant after.

If you could live the last three months over again, is there anything you’d change? Everything went to shit exactly three months ago, so this hits home very hard for me. Yes, I would change a lot of things for life not to have gone the way it has.

Who was the last person to message you on Facebook? What would you do if that person told you they have feelings for you? My mom. I would be creeped out and tell my dad immediately.

How did you feel when you woke up today? Melancholic.

Who was the first person you talked to today? What did you talk about? I haven’t talked to anyone yet today. I was thinking of replying to Aliyah’s comment on my Facebook post, but in the end I didn’t think a response was necessary.

When you apply your make-up, do you do it in a specific order? I don’t wear makeup.

Did you do anything sexual last night? No.

Do you think the last person you Facebook messaged is a virgin? She has three children, me included.

Did any of your friends lose their virginity before they were 16? If so, did you feel pressured to do the same? I don’t think my friends did, but I probably know other people who did. My baby asexual ass definitely didn’t feel the pressure. I was even scared shitless for my first kiss when it came time for it and I had kept putting it off that night.

Has someone of the opposite sex made you smile today? No.

Does it matter to you if your significant other smokes? With my previous relationship, it did in the beginning; eventually I just stopped caring.

Who was the last person you had a deep conversation with? I think it may have been Andrew.

Do you like where you are in life right now? No. I don’t know if a new year would make it better, or if it would help give me a healthier mindset. I just have to wait and see.

Do you hate it when there is a fly around you? Very much.

Is your mom overbearing? She can be.

Is there snow where you live? Never.

#survey #surveys

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ducktracy · 5 years ago

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111. buddy the gee man (1935)

release date: august 24th, 1935

series: looney tunes

director: jack king

starring: billy bletcher (jail warden, prisoners, machine gun mike), jackie morrow (buddy)

23 cartoons. 5 dogs. 3 designs. 3 girlfriend designs. 3 years. 2 voice actors. buddy’s legacy comes to a close with buddy the gee man, and what an unmemorable ride it’s been. i don’t hate him as much as i thought i would have, but i don’t nearly like him as much as i would have liked to. some cartoons he’s more insufferable than others (though jackie morrow is cute and does a good voice performance for him, i find something about the voice very unfitting and annoying. maybe i just hate hearing buddy say stuff like “blow your nosey” or speaking in rhyme.) buddy bids us farewell as he works as an undercover detective, investigating happenings at the local sing song prison.

a shot of a door labeled department of justice. a man possesses a letter, which we see is addressed to buddy — “federal agent buddy, 000 1/2 cornbread ave., kansas city, MO” (we know where he lives, boys, let’s get ‘im!). the man deposits the letter into the mail chute, and sure enough buddy opens it up. he’s being sent to conduct a “secret investigation” on the warden at the local sing song prison, investigating the warden’s treatment towards the prisoners. buddy inconspicuously dons the perfect disguise—a mustache. genius! no one will ever know!

buddy dons his trademark captain’s hat as he prepares to embark on his journey. he pulls out a horseshoe in his pocket (which has a nail through one of the pegs, already a lucky sign) and tosses it for luck. luck is promising as the horseshoe shatters a mirror behind him. didn’t your mother ever tell you not to throw horseshoes in the house? flummoxed, buddy scratches his head and shrugs.

what’s an adventure without a faithful dog companion? buddy enlists in his dog gee-man (i’m just going to call him his dog LOL) for help, who’s conveniently donning a sherlock hat and pipe. buddy whispers in his ear, the dog perking up instantly.

a crowd congregates in town as a sea of voices clash against each other. buddy and his dog use a matryoshka of people lined together as stairs to hop straight into the crowd (reused from buddy the gob). elsewhere, a pig asks a hurried frog “what’s all the excitement?” the frog answers “they’re taking machine gun mike to sing song prison!” the voice acting is so bad it’s good. mel’s absence is sorely missed. 2 more years!

we then get a shot of machine gun mike, who’s getting hauled away by the police. aggravated by the attention, he yells at the crowd in an attempt to scare them off. buddy and his dog hitch a ride on the back of the police car, the car exploding a plume of exhaust on a man peeking out from a manhole.

at the prison, a guard is asleep in his lookout tower. he snaps awake once a motorcade of motorcycles escort the convict. buddy and his dog make it safely into the jail.

buddy’s dog sniffs the ground while buddy creeps around, the dynamic duo halting at a door. the door is emblazoned “OTTO B. KINDER — WARDEN”. curious, buddy pokes his head inside the office. the warden paces around his office, scowling. seems his name is prophetic.

some nice music making merriment as a gaggle of prisoners sing “lulu’s back in town” in harmony, because why not? the jail warden is infuriated, slamming his fist down on his desk. instead he sends a tray of papers flying onto his head. he then marches over to the prisoners, shouting at them to be quiet. a lovely billy bletcher bellow. seeing as the prison is literally called sing song prison... 🤔🤔🤔🤔. buddy and his faithful companion observe, buddy scribbling down some notes.

elsewhere, one of the prisoners gossips with machine gun mike, holding out a letter and sneering “get a load of this.” a love letter. machine gun mike grunts “not bad.” a prison guard marches towards the cells, carrying a harpoon gun. at the tip of the harpoon point is a letter, which he gingerly bestowed upon machine gun mike. mike snatches it up. it reads:

“in omitting top name, send that person ten cents (10¢) as a charity donation—is this worth a dime?”

the other jailbird laughs, while mike crumples the letter up and throws it to the ground. overhearing the obnoxious laugh of the prisoner, the warden stalks back to the cells and orders the prisoner to be quiet—billy bletcher shutting up billy bletcher. buddy dutifully jots down more notes. the warden hates singing AND laughing.

in the courtyard, a prisoner slacks off and dinkily taps a rock he’s supposed to be breaking. the warden chews him out, handing him a bigger mallet and demanding he get to work. dutifully, the prisoner swings the mallet behind his head, anticipating a great swing. the mallet smacks the warden in the head and his head sinks into his jacket, a lovely visual as his head pops out of his stomach area, yelling “what’s the idea?” buddy and his pal take more notes, gee-man writing the notes with his tail instead.

machine gun mike plans a not so subtle escape. he stuffs his ball and chain into a cannon, hoping the fire of the cannon will propel him out of the prison. he anticipates the ride... nothing. instead, the CANNON flies backwards. the warden busts mike and snarls “get to work!”

satisfied with his observations, buddy heads to the typewriter to transcribe his report. it reads:

24 pennsylvania ave.

washington, d.c.

dear chief:

inspection completed. recommend change in warden. have some new ideas how prison should be run.

buddy.

time marches on, and a newspaper headline zooms into view, declaring buddy as the new warden of the jail. “BUDDY MADE WARDEN! local boy makes good”

sure enough, buddy greets a receptive crowd of prisoners, asking “is everybody happy?” in the style of ted lewis. the prisoners cheer in unison. quite a turnaround in atmosphere! a shot of the happy go lucky jail—including a few prisoners whacking the old warden on the head with some mallets. corny as that is, i can’t help but love it. buddy even serves ICE CREAM to the prisoners. i suppose that’s what happens when you put a boy in charge of a prison unit, a very funny concept.

the happy prisoners sing while carrying their ice cream, one prisoner receives a shoe shine as buddy offers him a cigar. elsewhere, a man carrying a letter inquired for machine gun mike. he asks two happy prisoners—the sound of a machine gun answers the postman’s question as the prisoners answer “machine gun mike.”

a great, incongruous setup as the machine gun sound is actually revealed to be a jackhammer. machine gun mike blows a cloud of cigar smoke in the face of the hapless mailman, snatching his letter. the letter pardons machine gun mike from his parole, signed by hans cuff. i love my puns, but they definitely feel a bit TOO coy. there are many more clever puns in the looney tunes universe. funnily enough, mike lights the letter with his cigar and continues with his jackhammering.

one last shot of the sleeping jail guard in the lookout tower. he awakens as a crowd barrels through the gates. they all want a slice of buddy’s prison heaven. free ice cream, cigars, shoe shines... who wouldn’t want to be there? buddy pops up over the gate and displays a sign that says “NO VACANCIES”. we iris out one last time on our hero, who takes off his hat and waves it to the crowd.

another “second watch saved my opinion” short. first time i watched this, i found it incoherent and difficult to understand. i think i was so distracted thinking about how this was buddy’s last appearance that i didn’t focus much on the details. it wasn’t bad, though! i think there are definitely worse shorts buddy could have ended his career on. the prisoners were very entertaining and had much more personality than buddy did—the warden and machine gun mike were especially entertaining. nothing too funny, and the puns felt a bit overboard at times, but the animation was decent—i did like the gag of the warden popping his head out of his shirt buttons to yell at one of the prisoners. an above average cartoon that may be worth a watch, just for how absurdly silly it is.

and now, onto buddy. what to say about him? he was definitely as mediocre as i had expected, maybe even moreso. i think jack king had the best repertoire of buddy cartoons. it was interesting to see how buddy progressed, especially thinking of how far we’ve come since buddy’s day out and buddy’s beer garden. i liked buddy’s final design the best—at first i had really liked tom palmer’s design in buddy’s day out, but i think his final design is more suitable, especially for the adventurer persona he adopted later on. jack carr’s voice for buddy fit him better than jackie morrow’s. nothing against jackie, who was a literal child while voicing him. i love that! but i think jack carr’s voice was a good balance between youthful adult and child, like his appearance. buddy definitely came off as more of a child in his last handful of shorts, and was thusly more annoying. i never particularly liked buddy, and sometimes he annoyed me much more than other times, but... his cartoons all blend together. i can’t really discern a particular favorite, and the fact that he only has 23 cartoons amazes me. it felt like 230! however, if anything, he’s intriguing for historical purposes. i can say i’ve seen every buddy cartoon so you don’t have to! beans will take over for his 11 cartoons of fame, tex avery will come into play, and our favorite stuttering porcine will climb up the rungs and really make a splash as 1936 goes on.

that’s all, buddy!

link!

#lt #buddy the gee man #reviews #long post

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