Doesn't it drive you crazy how ER advertises every single episode as if everything hangs in the balance? How Heroes needs to put a catchphrase to every character arc (ex. Save the Cheerleader, Save the World / Are You On The List?)? Or how about when Lost promises you answers to the biggest mysteries, only to leave with…the kids are there to…watch.
Well once upon a time, we knew when something important was going to be on television that night. And we knew by five very important words…'A Very Special Episode.' Who could forget that very special episode of Different Strokes where Arnold and Dudley befriend the bicycle shop owner who plays cartoon pornography for them while trying to seduce or molest them? Or the Facts of Life where Natalie is almost raped on Halloween night?
Below are some of the classics in my opinion:
ALF -
Kate's alcoholic friend stays with the family for the night. When on a drinking binge at 2
a.m., she meets Alf and believes him to be the imaginary drinking buddy she sees when
drunk. Alf convinces her to go to a clinic. (1988)
Boy Meets World -
One of Cory's professors (Fred Savage) sexually harasses Topanga. Cory punches him and
is then threatened with expulsion. (1998)
Diff'rent Strokes –
When Arnold is offered drugs on the playground, Nancy Reagan comes and speaks to his
class about drugs and pushes her "Just Say No" campaign. (1983)
The Facts of Life -
o Blair is jealous of the attention her cousin Geri, who has cerebral palsy, receives from
her friends and family. (1980)
o Tootie is almost lured into child pornography by a sneaky photographer. (1981)
Family Ties -
o Elyse's brother Ned (Tom Hanks) has a severe drinking problem. (1984)
o Alex uses pep pills to get enough energy to keep up with his schoolwork. (1984)
Fraggle Rock -
o Mokey decides that eating Doozer constructions hurts their feelings, so she gets
Convincing John to help her get the Fraggles to stop. But when the Fraggles finally stop
eating the doozer constructions, it throws off the ecosystem of Fraggle Rock. (1983)
o In an attempt to make the Fraggles, Doozers and Gorgs put aside their differences and
live together in peace, The Trash Heap makes all the radishes in the Gorgs' garden
disappear, hoping to make them realize how much they have in common. (1983)
Full House -
o Jesse accuses D.J. of drinking beer at the school dance. (1990)
o D.J., feeling pressure by her peers to be thinner, starts to skip meals and exercises
vigorously, which backfires for her when she collapses. (1990)
Growing Pains -
o Carol's boyfriend Sandy (Matthew Perry) dies after a drunk driving accident. (1989)
o Mike receives preferential treatment from his boss (Dick Van Patten) because he
(unlike his coworkers) is white. (1988)
Happy Days -
o Fonzie's African-American friend, Sticks, joins Richie's band. When they perform at
Arnold's, no one else shows up due to racism against Sticks. (1975)
o Richie tries to convince Chachi not to join a gang. (1978)
o Joanie is nearly raped by one of her students. (1984)
MacGyver -
o MacGyver catches some poachers who are killing rhinos for their horns. At the end of the
episode Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver) gives a special message about the problem of
poaching and gives a phone number and address for more information about it. (1988)
Mad About You - Paul considers divorcing Jamie when she reveals she kissed another man. (1996)
Punky Brewster -
o Watching the Challenger disaster nearly crushes Punky's dreams of being an astronaut.
o Cherie's artist cousin cannot read, and it results in disaster when her little brother is
poisoned and she can't read the warning label. (1988)
Saved by the Bell -
o Jessie takes caffeine pills in order to keep up with school and her burgeoning singing
career. (1990)
o A teen star arrives at Bayside to shoot an anti-drug commercial, but it is later discovered
that he smokes pot himself. (1991)
Sesame Street
o Big Bird and the rest of the cast must deal with Mr. Hooper's death. (1983)
o Mr. Snuffleupagus is revealed to the adults as real and not simply imagined by Big Bird.
Silver Spoons -
o Ricky discovers that one of his friends is being physically abused by his father. (1985)
o Police officers catch Rick and his friends drinking. (1986)
Webster –
o Webster's carelessness with a chemistry set causes the apartment to burn down. (1984)
o Webster is afraid to reveal that a teacher is molesting one of his friends.
(It is suggested that Webster was to be "next.") (1984)
o Webster's Uncle Phillip (Ben Vereen) kidnaps him, believing that he should be the one to
raise the child. (1984)
Friday, February 23, 2007
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
A Good Beginning
Recently I picked up a magazine and was truly inspired. I hope that every time you hear someone say 'inspired' that it still affects you like the first time because too many people throw the word around. I'd say after 'love' the word 'inspired' is the most frequently overused and misunderstood word in the English language.
The magazine's name is GOOD and it has approached the idea of change, and brought it to the masses, in far in away the most elevating and creative manner that I have ever witnessed.
And so I have begun to take steps that I hope will lead me to take advantage of this inspiration and not simply lock it away like one might after watching Hoosiers or Glory. My first step is to try to highlight some great causes that many of you may have never heard of and while it seems odd not to simply do that here, I've decided its best to keep my interests separate. So please visit our new blog A Good Beginning frequently and see just how easily it is to change the world.
---
Quote of the Day
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." --- Aldous Huxley
The magazine's name is GOOD and it has approached the idea of change, and brought it to the masses, in far in away the most elevating and creative manner that I have ever witnessed.
And so I have begun to take steps that I hope will lead me to take advantage of this inspiration and not simply lock it away like one might after watching Hoosiers or Glory. My first step is to try to highlight some great causes that many of you may have never heard of and while it seems odd not to simply do that here, I've decided its best to keep my interests separate. So please visit our new blog A Good Beginning frequently and see just how easily it is to change the world.
---
Quote of the Day
"Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored." --- Aldous Huxley
Friday, February 9, 2007
Thursday, February 8, 2007
Q & A
Have you ever noticed how many questions young children ask? I find it amazing, especially in relation to how few questions adults seem to ask. Thinking back, I know when it was that I stopped asking questions. I was in third grade and my teacher told me there was 'no such thing as a stupid question.' Up until she said that I had no idea that it was even a possibility, but when she opened pandora's box, I realized two things. Adults aren't always right and yes, there are in fact stupid questions.
Recently I spent an afternoon with my nephews, who were very curious to a wide variety of subjects from 'Who will win the Super Bowl?' to 'Is Darth Vader really a bad guy?' Having survived their barrage of questions intact, even admirably, I am now prepared to answer the questions that have really bothered me since the 3rd grade.
To be or not to be?
This is a very subjective question, sort of like ‘Hot or Not?’ Personally, having experience suffering the slings and arrows of a lack of fortune due to some seriously bad jobs, I wouldn’t altogether rule out ‘Not to be.’ Sure perchance you may have a bad dream, but that’s just as likely if you eat bad shellfish or watch ‘Saw’ right before you go to bed. Now there’s no question that it is nobler ‘To Be,’ but nobility is highly overrated and as we can see through British royalty, often based on inbreeding. As I am a fan of neither, I will say ‘Not To Be’ and move on.
If the sky is the limit, then what is space, over the limit?
This one is tricky because it deals with science, which is not my specialty. It’s really not my fault. My 8th grade earth science teacher could never remember my name so he took to calling me Rainbow because he knew it started with an R. I damned that R. The kid who sat next to me was named Kevin and he got to be called Konga, which was a hell of lot less embarrassing, and a hell of lot more masculine. So you can see why my grades went downhill. As for the question, I feel there is probably one simple answer. The sky + 1. This always worked with that pesky infinity issue when arguing with my sister. Of course, that always opens up the door to the sky + 2, the sky + 3, etc. Should the debate over the sky become a pissing contest with someone I suggest avoiding the sky + infinity and jumping straight to the sky + the sky. For some reason, infinity + infinity always won for my sister despite my claims for infinity + infinity +1.
Does practice make perfect?
This is another one that has boggled my mind, mostly because I have been told repeatedly over time that nobody’s perfect, for instance when I played tennis and couldn’t slow down my second serve and during sex when I couldn’t slow down my first. In each case, practice did actually resolve the problem at hand, but in neither has it removed doubt from the equation, as I still do double fault at least once a match and still have a tendency to think about Kate Winslet’s nude Titantic scene at the wrong moment. So with that in mind, I don’t think that practice makes perfect and would tend to agree that nobody’s perfect. I do however marvel at Scarlett Johansson’s beauty and talent though and think that she may in fact be perfect by the time she’s 25, therefore negating this whole answer. Stay tuned.
What does it mean to be caught between a rock and a hard place?
Seems to me that most rocks I’ve ever encountered were pretty damn hard, so are we to believe that we are caught between a hard and a harder place, or is this rock we speak of made of some kind of sponge? Now if we’re using one of those foam rocks that work as set pieces in Superman movies, then I really don’t think being caught between the 2 is that big a deal. Just toss aside the spongy one. Now if we’re talking about being caught between a rock and another rock that gets dicier. If one rock were smaller than the other, first try lifting the smaller one because depending upon the density of the molecules within the stone, the smaller one would tend to be the lighter one. If they are approximately the same size and weight, and you find yourself truly stuck, don’t panic, simply call 911 on your mobile phone if it is handy or call out for help using that phrase, “Help me please, I am caught between a rock and rock.” Do not call out, “Help me please, I am caught between a rock and a hard place” because many may misinterpret your connotation and see your dilemma as purely psychological, when in fact you are physically endangered.
Is ignorance bliss? I don’t know. And that doesn’t make me any happier, so you figure it out.
How many roads must a man walk down to know he is a man?
For me it was 206. I remember that day very well, I was about 15 and I came to the end of Maidstone Lane in Amagansett, NY on my way to the beach. Just at the intersection of Maidstone and Marine I thought to myself, wow, I feel different. I feel as if I could provide for a family, drink whisky straight, or go to war. Then I bought a rocket pop from the ice cream man and went boogie boarding. Now this is going to be different for everyone, for instance I didn’t walk that much as a kid because my mom didn’t trust me or NJ drivers or something. Also, if you grew up on a farm and walked to town you’d be hitting up some really long roads, which is quite unfair. I mean. are NYC kids men earlier simply because city blocks are shorter than country blocks? I think not. Still, the answer is that it’s different for every man. For reference though, if you haven’t become a man by the time you’ve walked 1000 roads, then you might want to see a doctor.
Is a picture worth a thousand words?
Also subjective because I don’t really get art so much. I enjoy it, but if you take me to a Jackson Pollack retrospective, I see lines and paint splatters, not the meaning of war against a lavender mist. And I’m a writer, so imagine how few words an accountant or a mute might have? I don’t doubt that a picture is worth a thousand words to some people, but keep in mind that 1 US dollar equals 1,532 Iraqi Dinars at the moment so everything is relative.
And finally:
Is money the root of all evil?
Very difficult to say. For instance, if it were, then I would like to think that churches wouldn’t ask for donations. I mean that’s just a conflict of interests right there. Still, ‘all evil’ is a really large concept; so to blame everything that goes wrong in the world on money seems a bit short sighted. Granted we go to wars over money, people get raped and murdered over money, and Donald Trump somehow seems to remain in the public eye because of money. For all of that, I’ll give you that money is problematic, but the ‘root of all evil’ I cannot accept so long as it’s the people doing the bad things. So until a dollar bill is charged with the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, I’ll go about blaming OJ and throwing some blame for evil on my ex-girlfriends.
Now you’d think being able to answer all these, I could sit here and resolve some of the serious problems our society faces, from poverty to war and plague. Of course that will have to wait because my wife just asked me to take the garbage out and we all know what my answer has to be.
Recently I spent an afternoon with my nephews, who were very curious to a wide variety of subjects from 'Who will win the Super Bowl?' to 'Is Darth Vader really a bad guy?' Having survived their barrage of questions intact, even admirably, I am now prepared to answer the questions that have really bothered me since the 3rd grade.
To be or not to be?
This is a very subjective question, sort of like ‘Hot or Not?’ Personally, having experience suffering the slings and arrows of a lack of fortune due to some seriously bad jobs, I wouldn’t altogether rule out ‘Not to be.’ Sure perchance you may have a bad dream, but that’s just as likely if you eat bad shellfish or watch ‘Saw’ right before you go to bed. Now there’s no question that it is nobler ‘To Be,’ but nobility is highly overrated and as we can see through British royalty, often based on inbreeding. As I am a fan of neither, I will say ‘Not To Be’ and move on.
If the sky is the limit, then what is space, over the limit?
This one is tricky because it deals with science, which is not my specialty. It’s really not my fault. My 8th grade earth science teacher could never remember my name so he took to calling me Rainbow because he knew it started with an R. I damned that R. The kid who sat next to me was named Kevin and he got to be called Konga, which was a hell of lot less embarrassing, and a hell of lot more masculine. So you can see why my grades went downhill. As for the question, I feel there is probably one simple answer. The sky + 1. This always worked with that pesky infinity issue when arguing with my sister. Of course, that always opens up the door to the sky + 2, the sky + 3, etc. Should the debate over the sky become a pissing contest with someone I suggest avoiding the sky + infinity and jumping straight to the sky + the sky. For some reason, infinity + infinity always won for my sister despite my claims for infinity + infinity +1.
Does practice make perfect?
This is another one that has boggled my mind, mostly because I have been told repeatedly over time that nobody’s perfect, for instance when I played tennis and couldn’t slow down my second serve and during sex when I couldn’t slow down my first. In each case, practice did actually resolve the problem at hand, but in neither has it removed doubt from the equation, as I still do double fault at least once a match and still have a tendency to think about Kate Winslet’s nude Titantic scene at the wrong moment. So with that in mind, I don’t think that practice makes perfect and would tend to agree that nobody’s perfect. I do however marvel at Scarlett Johansson’s beauty and talent though and think that she may in fact be perfect by the time she’s 25, therefore negating this whole answer. Stay tuned.
What does it mean to be caught between a rock and a hard place?
Seems to me that most rocks I’ve ever encountered were pretty damn hard, so are we to believe that we are caught between a hard and a harder place, or is this rock we speak of made of some kind of sponge? Now if we’re using one of those foam rocks that work as set pieces in Superman movies, then I really don’t think being caught between the 2 is that big a deal. Just toss aside the spongy one. Now if we’re talking about being caught between a rock and another rock that gets dicier. If one rock were smaller than the other, first try lifting the smaller one because depending upon the density of the molecules within the stone, the smaller one would tend to be the lighter one. If they are approximately the same size and weight, and you find yourself truly stuck, don’t panic, simply call 911 on your mobile phone if it is handy or call out for help using that phrase, “Help me please, I am caught between a rock and rock.” Do not call out, “Help me please, I am caught between a rock and a hard place” because many may misinterpret your connotation and see your dilemma as purely psychological, when in fact you are physically endangered.
Is ignorance bliss? I don’t know. And that doesn’t make me any happier, so you figure it out.
How many roads must a man walk down to know he is a man?
For me it was 206. I remember that day very well, I was about 15 and I came to the end of Maidstone Lane in Amagansett, NY on my way to the beach. Just at the intersection of Maidstone and Marine I thought to myself, wow, I feel different. I feel as if I could provide for a family, drink whisky straight, or go to war. Then I bought a rocket pop from the ice cream man and went boogie boarding. Now this is going to be different for everyone, for instance I didn’t walk that much as a kid because my mom didn’t trust me or NJ drivers or something. Also, if you grew up on a farm and walked to town you’d be hitting up some really long roads, which is quite unfair. I mean. are NYC kids men earlier simply because city blocks are shorter than country blocks? I think not. Still, the answer is that it’s different for every man. For reference though, if you haven’t become a man by the time you’ve walked 1000 roads, then you might want to see a doctor.
Is a picture worth a thousand words?
Also subjective because I don’t really get art so much. I enjoy it, but if you take me to a Jackson Pollack retrospective, I see lines and paint splatters, not the meaning of war against a lavender mist. And I’m a writer, so imagine how few words an accountant or a mute might have? I don’t doubt that a picture is worth a thousand words to some people, but keep in mind that 1 US dollar equals 1,532 Iraqi Dinars at the moment so everything is relative.
And finally:
Is money the root of all evil?
Very difficult to say. For instance, if it were, then I would like to think that churches wouldn’t ask for donations. I mean that’s just a conflict of interests right there. Still, ‘all evil’ is a really large concept; so to blame everything that goes wrong in the world on money seems a bit short sighted. Granted we go to wars over money, people get raped and murdered over money, and Donald Trump somehow seems to remain in the public eye because of money. For all of that, I’ll give you that money is problematic, but the ‘root of all evil’ I cannot accept so long as it’s the people doing the bad things. So until a dollar bill is charged with the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson, I’ll go about blaming OJ and throwing some blame for evil on my ex-girlfriends.
Now you’d think being able to answer all these, I could sit here and resolve some of the serious problems our society faces, from poverty to war and plague. Of course that will have to wait because my wife just asked me to take the garbage out and we all know what my answer has to be.
Wednesday, February 7, 2007
Try Harder
Not Everyone Deserves A Ribbon
(This one's for the Next Generation Especially)
1) 5th place is the 4th loser, not the yellow ribbon. Try harder
2) Honorable mention is just a way to point out that someone took pity on your not placing in a competition. Try harder.
3) Hate to break it to you, but it is about who wins and loses, not how you play the game. If you lost, Try harder.
4) The saying that 'Everyone is a Winner' is false. That's like saying everyone is popular or Everyone eats the Cole Slaw that's given on the side. If someone says that to you, you did not win. Try harder.
Everyone says that this generation has it too hard and that its getting too much homework, stressing kids out too early in life, and forcing pressures on kids at an age that is way too young. And I don't dispute this. But it is not the kids that are failing us, its us that have already failed them. There are two ways to fix this. One is to set the bar higher for every success and make them strive for their sake and theirs alone. The other is to realize that when we give kids more homework, we teach them more about the worst parts of life, and bury them in a history fraught with our failures and our restrictions. We may say that those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it, but truly what we mean when we say that is to do as we say, not as we did. And any with half a brain cell knows how well that argument has worked in getting our children not to repeat or experimentations with drugs, sex, and alcohol. The answer to how to get the next generation to surpass our own is not going to be found in books, regardless of how much better another country's students may test on calculus. The answer will be found in your own home, on your time, when you take a child and spend time with them. I've seen it in action and I tell you it works.
Who am I to say this? I'll say that I am a child who came home everyday after school and did my homework immediately, so as to have my own time at night. I read what was asked and I memorized the equations I needed. I got the grades I needed to proceed to the next level and made the connections I needed to get the next job. By 'our' societies measure I should be considered a success.
I am not. I am not because I have only conquered the ability to get the job done. And getting the job done and changing the world are two completely different things. So if you want the next generation to simply get the job done, keep doing what we've done. But if you want the next generation to transcend, to disprove, and to re-imagine then don't teach them to simply get the job done. Teach them to do that. Show them what life is and what it could be. And then try harder.
(This one's for the Next Generation Especially)
1) 5th place is the 4th loser, not the yellow ribbon. Try harder
2) Honorable mention is just a way to point out that someone took pity on your not placing in a competition. Try harder.
3) Hate to break it to you, but it is about who wins and loses, not how you play the game. If you lost, Try harder.
4) The saying that 'Everyone is a Winner' is false. That's like saying everyone is popular or Everyone eats the Cole Slaw that's given on the side. If someone says that to you, you did not win. Try harder.
Everyone says that this generation has it too hard and that its getting too much homework, stressing kids out too early in life, and forcing pressures on kids at an age that is way too young. And I don't dispute this. But it is not the kids that are failing us, its us that have already failed them. There are two ways to fix this. One is to set the bar higher for every success and make them strive for their sake and theirs alone. The other is to realize that when we give kids more homework, we teach them more about the worst parts of life, and bury them in a history fraught with our failures and our restrictions. We may say that those who don't learn history are doomed to repeat it, but truly what we mean when we say that is to do as we say, not as we did. And any with half a brain cell knows how well that argument has worked in getting our children not to repeat or experimentations with drugs, sex, and alcohol. The answer to how to get the next generation to surpass our own is not going to be found in books, regardless of how much better another country's students may test on calculus. The answer will be found in your own home, on your time, when you take a child and spend time with them. I've seen it in action and I tell you it works.
Who am I to say this? I'll say that I am a child who came home everyday after school and did my homework immediately, so as to have my own time at night. I read what was asked and I memorized the equations I needed. I got the grades I needed to proceed to the next level and made the connections I needed to get the next job. By 'our' societies measure I should be considered a success.
I am not. I am not because I have only conquered the ability to get the job done. And getting the job done and changing the world are two completely different things. So if you want the next generation to simply get the job done, keep doing what we've done. But if you want the next generation to transcend, to disprove, and to re-imagine then don't teach them to simply get the job done. Teach them to do that. Show them what life is and what it could be. And then try harder.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Dear WB
In the last 4 Days the following has occurred:
Joss Wheadon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, X-Men comics) left WONDER WOMAN over creative differences stemming from the studios vision of Wonder Woman. Obviously the man who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer couldn't create a believable female heroine.
David Goyer (co-writer of Batman Begins & Dark Knight, Blade, etc etc) was forced off of THE FLASH because WB felt that his script was too serious and not kid friendly enough. The then immediately turned the film over to Shawn Levy (The Pink Panther, Cheaper By the Dozen).
Joel Schumacher (The Batman Catastophies) announced that he is attempting to convince the WB to allow him and his bat nipple fetish to take a shot at Neil Gaiman's epic SANDMAN.
and so:
Dear Warner Brothers,
As a longtime comic book fan I watched for many years as Hollywood managed to mangle interpretations of characters so dear to me. The worst part was that one simple fact that seemed so obvious to a young man seemed to completely overwhelm the adult mind. That fact? That comic book creations and cartoons are completely separate entities.
In modern print media, a cartoon is a piece of art, usually humorous in intent. This usage dates from 1843 when Punch magazine applied the term to satirical drawings in its pages, particularly sketches by John Leech. These cartoons were born as illustrated visions meant to satirize everyday life, be it in the form of political cartoons, or the 'funnies' that celebrated family life in Family Circus or even military life in Beetle Bailey.
As we moved from print to media, cartoons took on a new life; that of animation. Still, as we can see clearly from the Warner Brothers canon (and for that matter from Disney or Hanna Barbara), cartoon animation lived an breathed that same satirical humor as its means of life. It was also around this time though that comic book heroes (Superheroes) began to come to life.
Recent times have lead many of us to better understand how our modern day heroes were born (World War II, escaping persecution, etc) so I will move past what we, the educated, already know. But before completely detouring that area, I will discuss one major thing.
These heroes that we 'worship' do not exist on the same plane as Bugs Bunny, regardless of how many Space Jams you give us to blur the lines. They do not deserve to share the same stage anymore that Hercules, Zeus, or for that matter, Jesus.
Comic Book heroes, while drawn and born from similar minds, are modern day mythological and even religious figures. They should not simply warrant, but demand the same respect. Each of these creations teach the same lessons mythology has bred across the generations, so again, while you can certainly allow the Coyote to fall off a 100 foot cliff 100 times, should a fallible figure like Bruce Wayne do so (without his batarang, of course) we, the readers, know that the consequences are more than a cloud of dust.
So I urge you to reconsider each and every move that you make as if the character was not a cartoon, but a myth. Recent times have lead you to turn over your most valuable franchise to brilliant young minds like Christoper Nolan and Bryan Singer. Not too long ago you also witnessed the uproar that a Jack Black Green Lantern movie caused and were wise enough to backtrack. These were the moves that gave us, your audiences, confidence that our heroes were in capable hands. Please remember what you did then and return to that frame of mind.
What it really comes own to is this. Given the opportunity to discuss the miracle of Christ or display the most incredible journey of our time in The Odyssey, would you turn over those films to people like Shawn Levy or would you look to visionaries like Nolan, Singer, Raimi, or Jackson.
Speaking for your audience, don't think us naive to the business and the bottom line. Just don't also think of us as so naive as to buy tickets to movies that ignore our wishes.
Sincerely,
Those of Us Who Get It
Joss Wheadon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, X-Men comics) left WONDER WOMAN over creative differences stemming from the studios vision of Wonder Woman. Obviously the man who created Buffy the Vampire Slayer couldn't create a believable female heroine.
David Goyer (co-writer of Batman Begins & Dark Knight, Blade, etc etc) was forced off of THE FLASH because WB felt that his script was too serious and not kid friendly enough. The then immediately turned the film over to Shawn Levy (The Pink Panther, Cheaper By the Dozen).
Joel Schumacher (The Batman Catastophies) announced that he is attempting to convince the WB to allow him and his bat nipple fetish to take a shot at Neil Gaiman's epic SANDMAN.
and so:
Dear Warner Brothers,
As a longtime comic book fan I watched for many years as Hollywood managed to mangle interpretations of characters so dear to me. The worst part was that one simple fact that seemed so obvious to a young man seemed to completely overwhelm the adult mind. That fact? That comic book creations and cartoons are completely separate entities.
In modern print media, a cartoon is a piece of art, usually humorous in intent. This usage dates from 1843 when Punch magazine applied the term to satirical drawings in its pages, particularly sketches by John Leech. These cartoons were born as illustrated visions meant to satirize everyday life, be it in the form of political cartoons, or the 'funnies' that celebrated family life in Family Circus or even military life in Beetle Bailey.
As we moved from print to media, cartoons took on a new life; that of animation. Still, as we can see clearly from the Warner Brothers canon (and for that matter from Disney or Hanna Barbara), cartoon animation lived an breathed that same satirical humor as its means of life. It was also around this time though that comic book heroes (Superheroes) began to come to life.
Recent times have lead many of us to better understand how our modern day heroes were born (World War II, escaping persecution, etc) so I will move past what we, the educated, already know. But before completely detouring that area, I will discuss one major thing.
These heroes that we 'worship' do not exist on the same plane as Bugs Bunny, regardless of how many Space Jams you give us to blur the lines. They do not deserve to share the same stage anymore that Hercules, Zeus, or for that matter, Jesus.
Comic Book heroes, while drawn and born from similar minds, are modern day mythological and even religious figures. They should not simply warrant, but demand the same respect. Each of these creations teach the same lessons mythology has bred across the generations, so again, while you can certainly allow the Coyote to fall off a 100 foot cliff 100 times, should a fallible figure like Bruce Wayne do so (without his batarang, of course) we, the readers, know that the consequences are more than a cloud of dust.
So I urge you to reconsider each and every move that you make as if the character was not a cartoon, but a myth. Recent times have lead you to turn over your most valuable franchise to brilliant young minds like Christoper Nolan and Bryan Singer. Not too long ago you also witnessed the uproar that a Jack Black Green Lantern movie caused and were wise enough to backtrack. These were the moves that gave us, your audiences, confidence that our heroes were in capable hands. Please remember what you did then and return to that frame of mind.
What it really comes own to is this. Given the opportunity to discuss the miracle of Christ or display the most incredible journey of our time in The Odyssey, would you turn over those films to people like Shawn Levy or would you look to visionaries like Nolan, Singer, Raimi, or Jackson.
Speaking for your audience, don't think us naive to the business and the bottom line. Just don't also think of us as so naive as to buy tickets to movies that ignore our wishes.
Sincerely,
Those of Us Who Get It
Friday, February 2, 2007
The Youth of America
Police in cities across the USA are linking the recent jump in the nation's violent-crime rate to an increasing number of juveniles involved in armed robberies, assaults and other incidents.
Ordinarily one looks directly at the social influences upon these children to find a place to blame. But with incidents like these, we have to look beyond the home, and realize that it is not simply violent movies and video games that impress upon the younger generation.
Personally I feel that violent sections of culture get an unfair amount of blame placed upon it. Who amongst us really looks at the main character of Grand Theft Auto and wants to live that life? Who watches a horror film like The Hills Have Eyes and decides that a life of serial killing sounds appealing?
No, we need to look at cultural icons that are more appealing, trusting, and friendly with the children of the world. And to this effect I believe that it is time that we examine just how much we can trust one of our most enduring childhood characters: The Hamburgler.
Though he positions himself as a modern day Robin Hood who steals burgers from the rich to give to the poor, The Hamburgler is nothing more than a false prophet who endangers our youth not only by endorsing robbery, as well as poor eating habits.
The Hamburgler refused to respond to these allegations, going so far as to mock this writer but not simply offering a ‘No Comment,’ but instead simply saying ‘Robble, robble, robble’ over and over again during the interview.
With McDonald’s advertisements bookending every Saturday morning cartoon it is no wonder that our society finds itself in the sorry state it is today.
So while others may point towards easy targets like Quentin Taratino movies and first person shooter games, I simply ask that we all take a step back and realize what icons are brought before our children first, and just how are we prepared to deal with them.
---
To read more about the harrowing statistics, click below:
Police tie jump in crime to Juveniles
Ordinarily one looks directly at the social influences upon these children to find a place to blame. But with incidents like these, we have to look beyond the home, and realize that it is not simply violent movies and video games that impress upon the younger generation.
Personally I feel that violent sections of culture get an unfair amount of blame placed upon it. Who amongst us really looks at the main character of Grand Theft Auto and wants to live that life? Who watches a horror film like The Hills Have Eyes and decides that a life of serial killing sounds appealing?
No, we need to look at cultural icons that are more appealing, trusting, and friendly with the children of the world. And to this effect I believe that it is time that we examine just how much we can trust one of our most enduring childhood characters: The Hamburgler.
Though he positions himself as a modern day Robin Hood who steals burgers from the rich to give to the poor, The Hamburgler is nothing more than a false prophet who endangers our youth not only by endorsing robbery, as well as poor eating habits.
The Hamburgler refused to respond to these allegations, going so far as to mock this writer but not simply offering a ‘No Comment,’ but instead simply saying ‘Robble, robble, robble’ over and over again during the interview.
With McDonald’s advertisements bookending every Saturday morning cartoon it is no wonder that our society finds itself in the sorry state it is today.
So while others may point towards easy targets like Quentin Taratino movies and first person shooter games, I simply ask that we all take a step back and realize what icons are brought before our children first, and just how are we prepared to deal with them.
---
To read more about the harrowing statistics, click below:
Police tie jump in crime to Juveniles
Thursday, February 1, 2007
Gambling
I sometimes feel like my life is just one big gambling trip. Of course, I'm not very lucky, so that's not necessarily a good thing. For instance, allow me to extrapolate using a previous Roulette experience as my evidence.
"Oh look, that wheel has gone black 8 times in a row. I'm going to bet red."
Black
"Oh look, that wheel has gone black 9 times in a row. I'm going to bet red."
Black
"Oh look, that wheel has gone black 10 times in a row. I'm going to bet red."
Black
"Oh look, that wheel has gone black 11 times in a row. I'm going to bet red."
Black
"Oh look, that wheel has gone black 12 times in a row. I'm going to bet red."
Black
"Oh look, that wheel has gone black 13 times in a row. I'm going to bet red."
Black
"Ok, that wheel has gone black 14 times in a row. I'm going to bet black this time."
Red
"Oh look, I'm broke."
---
Here are some interesting gambling quotes I happened upon:
The eternal poker pessimist, like compulsive gambler wants to lose. Losing makes him happy, confirming as it does a wide range of his most deeply held beliefs: that life is a bum rap, that his true qualities will never be appreciated by a cruelly misguided world, that he is generally undervalued and misunderstood. He will go on cheerfully defying the odds under the endearing delusion that there is more to him than meets the eye.
Anthony Holden / Big Deal /1990
————————————————
Winners tell funny stories, and losers yell: Deal, dealer, deal!
Poker saying
———————————–
Losers exaggerate. That’s because they are not trying to convey what really happened so much as how bad they feel.
—————————-
What do you do, when you are pushing your luck beyond its limits? You must behave like a good philosopher and ask what axiom you are acting under. If the axiom which you are acting under is not designed to make you money, you may find out that your real objective at the end of the game is something else . You may be trying to prove yourself beloved of God. U must then ask yourself if - financially and emotionally- you can afford the potential rejection.
D. Mamet Things i have learned Playing poker on the hill (1986)
"Oh look, that wheel has gone black 8 times in a row. I'm going to bet red."
Black
"Oh look, that wheel has gone black 9 times in a row. I'm going to bet red."
Black
"Oh look, that wheel has gone black 10 times in a row. I'm going to bet red."
Black
"Oh look, that wheel has gone black 11 times in a row. I'm going to bet red."
Black
"Oh look, that wheel has gone black 12 times in a row. I'm going to bet red."
Black
"Oh look, that wheel has gone black 13 times in a row. I'm going to bet red."
Black
"Ok, that wheel has gone black 14 times in a row. I'm going to bet black this time."
Red
"Oh look, I'm broke."
---
Here are some interesting gambling quotes I happened upon:
The eternal poker pessimist, like compulsive gambler wants to lose. Losing makes him happy, confirming as it does a wide range of his most deeply held beliefs: that life is a bum rap, that his true qualities will never be appreciated by a cruelly misguided world, that he is generally undervalued and misunderstood. He will go on cheerfully defying the odds under the endearing delusion that there is more to him than meets the eye.
Anthony Holden / Big Deal /1990
————————————————
Winners tell funny stories, and losers yell: Deal, dealer, deal!
Poker saying
———————————–
Losers exaggerate. That’s because they are not trying to convey what really happened so much as how bad they feel.
—————————-
What do you do, when you are pushing your luck beyond its limits? You must behave like a good philosopher and ask what axiom you are acting under. If the axiom which you are acting under is not designed to make you money, you may find out that your real objective at the end of the game is something else . You may be trying to prove yourself beloved of God. U must then ask yourself if - financially and emotionally- you can afford the potential rejection.
D. Mamet Things i have learned Playing poker on the hill (1986)
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