Anthony's Annotations

Wacky Races

2009-07-11T22:31:00.003-05:00

Thought I'd write up on this classic cartoon, given I've been ripping my DVD collection (and thus rewatched the episodes)...

"Wacky Races," if you don't recall, was a 1968 Hanna-Barbera cartoon that was modelled after a film from a few years earlier, "The Great Race" (set in the early days of road rally racing). In this case, "Wacky Races" featured 11 different wackily-designed racecars racing against each other in road rallies in different settings, all competing to become the "world's wackiest racer." Seventeen episodes were made, featuring two races each (the DVD collection features them as 34 seperate segments, however).

The racers included:
- Peter Perfect in the Turbo Terrific: A posh-sounding racer whose car (despite his name) constantly fell apart.
- Rufus Ruffcut and his beaver sidekick, Sawtooth, in the Buzzwagon: A lumberjack driving a wooden car with circular sawblades for wheels.
- Sgt. Blast and Pvt. Meekly, in the Army Surplus Special: A pair of US Army soldiers in a modified tank.
- The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb: Seven short gangsters (in the 30s gangster film fashion), whose leader was named Clyde (presumably a reference to the then-recent hit film "Bonnie and Clyde") who drove a 1920s/1930s-era car (whose engine sounded like it was on its last legs).
- Professor Pat Pending in the Convert-a-Car: A scientist who drove a car that could transform into anything he wished (a pogo stick, a jet pack, etc.).
- Penelope Pitstop in the Compact Pussycat: The sole female character in the series, a southern-accented young woman who drove a stereotypically feminine pink-colored car (with makeup and hair-themed gadgets built in).
- The Slag Brothers in the Bouldermobile: Two cavemen (no explanation why they were in the present, though one episode featured a caveman living in Carlsbad Caverns) who spoke mostly in grunts, driving a car shaped like a boulder. The two looked like "The Addams Family"'s Cousin It, and whose looks were the model for later creation Captain Caveman.
- The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe: two monsters (Big Gruesome and Little Gruesome) driving a haunted house-themed car (equipped with a fire-breathing dragon, summoned as "dragon power").
- The Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer: A German-accented World War I-styled flying ace "driving" a modified biplane.
- Luke and Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug: A hillbilly and his cowardly pet bear driving a car with an old water boiler for an engine.
- Dick Dastardly and his dog Muttley, in the Mean Machine: The show's resident villains.... Dick would spend every episode trying to cheat his way into winning the race, via the use of various traps reminiscent of the Coyote's in the "Road Runner" cartoons (probably since one of that series' writers wrote this show), but to no avail---Dick never won a single race. His dog, Muttley, usually would snicker at his owner every chance he got.

As seen above, the show lived up to its name, given such a lineup. While the show had just one season produced, it had some lasting life in syndicated reruns, plus had two spinoffs produced, "Dastardly and Muttley in Their Flying Machines" (Dick and Muttley in a World War I-ish setting, trying to stop a messenger pigeon via the use of various wacky airplanes) and "The Perils of Penelope Pitstop" (Penelope in silent-film-melodrama-esque adventures, trying to avoid being killed for her inheritance by the villainous Hooded Claw. The Ant Hill Mob were here as well, as Penelope's bumbling rescuers). Indeed, Dick and Muttley became Hanna-Barbera's main "master villains" in many of their 80s productions involving Yogi Bear and the other early H-B gang, appearing as the main villain in "Yogi's Treasure Hunt" and in "Wacky Races"-redux series "Fender Bender 500" (the less said about "Yo, Yogi", the better....).

"Wacky Races" debuted on CBS in 1968; its competition that season:
ABC: "The Adventures of Gulliver": A Hanna-Barbera animated series based on the classic Jonathan Swift novel. Lasted two seasons (one as reruns).

NBC: "Top Cat": Reruns of the early 60s Hanna-Barbera primetime takeoff of "Sgt. Bilko."

In 1969-70, "Races" got another round of reruns aired, in a later timeslot; its competition:
ABC: "American Bandstand": the long-running Dick Clark-hosted teen dance show.

NBC: "Underdog." Total Television's biggest hit show about the bumbling canine superhero.

Between 1968's hit shows such as "Wacky Races" and its biggest hit, "Archie", and 1969's way-bigger hit, "Scooby-Doo, Where Are You?", programming exec Fred Silverman found success careerwise, and was promoted into programming CBS' primetime schedule, where he greenlit such classics as "All in the Family" and "The Mary Tyler Moore Show."

1968 itself also was a turning point for Saturday mornings---the previous few seasons had mostly featured superhero and action series, presumably spurred by the hit live-action "Batman" series and the James Bond spy craze. However, parents' groups had become vocal about violence in children's TV programming by this time (with the violence of real-life events in 1968 possibly an influence), with the networks responding by ditching most of the previous action and superhero shows. The fact that "Wacky Races" and "Archie" (and "Scooby") were big hits also no doubt helped, and by 1970 the previous superhero/action shows were pretty much gone.

Finally, in real life, the show seems like it must've been popular over in the UK, given every other link in Google about it points to a UK website (or a few Japanese ones---the show was a big hit in Japan a few years ago), with even news articlese about members of Parliament using the phrase "wacky races". Plus, there's the links below---the "Goodwind Festival of Speed" features real working replicas of the various "Wacky Races" cars:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jane_sanders/sets/72157605107455810/
http://carscoop.blogspot.com/2009/06/wacky-race-cartoon-cars-come-to-life-in.html

And, to top it all off, here's the opening (and part of an episode of) the actual cartoon itself--or one of the better (though still a bit poor looking) YouTube copies I could find, anyway. Enjoy:

Sorry, Leonardo: "Gone With the Wind" is still the top grossing flick of all time

2009-07-08T22:17:00.001-05:00

Mark Evanier posted this on his blog, a link to a list showing---adjusted for inflation/grossly inflating ticket prices--- what the *real* top-grossing films of all time are.

"Gone With the Wind" still reigns supreme ("Titanic" clocks in at #6), while "Star Wars" still claims runner-up (not "The Dark Knight", which is #27, two notches below "Grease" and one notch above Disney's "Jungle Book"). Of the top 10 films, only "Titanic" dates from the past 15 years.

This makes for a much more objective list of the "top films of all time", given that ticket prices have shot up so much in recent years that new films' claims of being "the top grossing film of <x, y, z>" ring hollow. It also shows a wider range of films as being top-ranked, not just a bunch of sequels and summer blockbusters. There's one animated entry in the top 10, "Snow White", in tenth place, though just below it at #11 is "101 Dalmations."

Trip to Washington DC followup: the photos

2009-06-30T00:37:00.001-05:00

As promised, here's photos of my trip to Washington, DC:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/mechanikat/sets/72157620718268280/

Enjoy!

Yet more racist Obama stereotypes

2009-06-28T19:49:00.001-05:00

This website features an article listing a whole spate of more examples of racist remarks/caricatures/etc. about Obama, some more brazenly so than the previous examples:

Alas, a blog » Blog Archive » It’s Funny Because They’re Black

Charming... and to think he's only been in office not even six whole months yet.

RIP Michael Jackson

2009-06-26T00:14:00.002-05:00

I'm sure you've all seen by now the stories about the sudden death of 80s pop icon Michael Jackson. While I'm sure much will be written about Jackson (both good---his music, impact on the music industry, etc.---and bad---his descent into weirdness and eccentricity in the 90s, etc.), I guess I can try going for a semi-unique take and focus on the more positive side of his life. In this case, writing about some of his various animated incarnations.

The first one would be the early 1970s Rankin-Bass-animated recursively-named "Jackson 5ive" animated series, which included young-Michael and his brothers:

This show debuted on ABC in 1971 and ran until 1973. It featured adventures of the singing group from Gary, Indiana as they got into hijinks similar to those the Monkees or Josie and the Pussycats might've gotten into. Like the 60s Beatles cartoon, this series featured the group's actual songs during the show, but didn't use the original Jacksons as voices. Animation voiceover veteran Paul Frees (Boris Badenov from "Rocky and Bullwinkle", various voices in Rankin-Bass holiday specials) did Berry Gordy's animated self, while a Donald Fullilove (who played Goldie Wilson in "Back to the Future") did young Michael's voice. Oddly enough, Diana Ross herself managed to do her own voice for the show...

In 1971, the Jackson Five cartoon ran against:
NBC: "The New Pink Panther Show". A staple of NBC through the 70s, this show featured the various theatrical Pink Panther shorts, along with other DePatie-Freleng shorts like "The Ant and the Aardvark."

CBS: "Help! It's the Hair Bear Bunch!". One-season Hanna-Barbera series about, erm, three bears (the leader of the group having a giant Afro) trying to pull scams in or break out of a zoo and avoiding the crank of a zookeeper, often while riding around on an invisible motorcycle. Yep, you read correctly.

In 1972, the show went up against:
CBS: "Sabrina the Teenage Witch." The Filmation animated stand-alone series starring Sabrina.

NBC: "The Jetsons." Reruns of the original 60s series.

Another major Michael Jackson animated incarnation that comes to mind is his Simpsons voicework in the 90s, including the episode where Homer meets "Michael Jackson" (at a mental institution). Jackson also wrote the songs "Do the Bartman" and "Happy Birthday, Lisa" for the series.

The 1988 Michael Jackson movie "Moonwalker" featured a segment animated by Will Vinton (the Claymation animator).

As I wrote in an earlier post, the Flintstones' 80s spinoff "The Flintstone Kids" made use of Michael Jackson, appearing there as Neolithic singer "Michael Jackstone." Michael later appears in normal Flintstones continuity as a statue in the 1993 TV-movie "Hollyrock-a-Bye Baby", where his sister "Janet Jackstone" is also mentioned.

Guessing there's probably more examples than this (and less-than-flattering ones from the late 90s and 2000s, reflecting Jackson's life since then), but these will do for starters.

Anthony's picks for DC Comics in September 2009

2009-06-23T20:25:00.002-05:00

And now, here once again is the next batch of comics coming out from DC for September 2009. Geez, how time flies... fall stuff being solicited already.

Plan to buy:
Nothing.

Might consider buying:
Nothing.

Yeah, I know... nothing really seemed interesting as a "must-buy" or "might-buy".

Comments:
Yet another new origin story for Superman is coming out, this one in a six-issue miniseries and presumably including elements of the last (failed) one ("Birthright") and the Silver Age elements brought back recently (a Superboy-in-all-but-name/costume for Clark, etc.).

In other Superman-related news, October sees a collection of Nightwing and Flamebird stories from the 70s "Superman Family" run coming out. Odd that they call it "Flamebird and Nightwing", when it was the other way around (Flamebird being the "Robin" to Nightwing's "Batman"). Wonder if it's to avoid confusion with Dick Grayson's use of the name...

Not sure what 'Batman: The Brave and the Bold" involves, but "Billy Batson and the Magic of Shazam" features a fight against what looks like Mr. Atom, Captain Marvel's atomic-powered robotic foe.

"Super Friends" features old Silver Age JLA villain "Headmaster Mind", a villain whose shtick was running a crime school for teaching criminals (hence the British-educational-system-termed name and pun "Headmaster Mind").

"Looney Tunes" this month seems to be reprints... wonder if this means cancellation is near for one of DC's longer-lasting modern humor titles (and literally *only* regular exposure for Looney Tunes in the US, no thanks to Boomerang/Cartoon Networks' inept management and the shoddy way Ted Turner's properties are merged with Time-Warner keeping them off the air).

The only "Showcase" volume this month is a volume two of old horror title "House of Secrets."

Trip to Washington DC, Saturday: End of a vacation, plus my thoughts on DC

2009-06-21T10:41:00.002-05:00

Saturday marked the end of my stay in Washington, DC. To kill time until my flight, I left my things in a locker in the hostel after checking out, and went back to Union Station to buy a "Looney Tunes" DVD box set I saw on sale there for very cheap (but forgot to buy). On the way back, I unexpectedly ran into A*, who was on her way back home as well. After having lunch and going to a bookstore, I got my things, headed to the airport, and headed home... on an airplane packed with dozens of teenagers (who apparently were on some sort of field trip). The rest of the evening was uneventful; I did laundry and unpacked.

To summarize this trip, other than the humid weather (and noting a rather large homeless population, sadly enough), I enjoyed my time spent in the nation's capital seeing the various museums/neighborhoods, and thought the people there were friendly. I'm also glad to have finally gotten to meet several of the people I've chatted with online. I'd visit DC again, but only during the non-summer months...

EDIT: Suppose this should've gotten added to yesterday's post, but here's Carl from FoolBlog remarking a bit on Saturday's Nats game and a bit on the game we saw Friday night, including my reaction to the Presidents' race's similarity to the Brewers' sausage race (not sure if I'd say I was "incensed" though, just bemused at the Nats' race imitating the Brewers' races). Though suppose Carl has a point about "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery"---given I'm the person who likes (and has written on here about) the Flintstones, a show that's "the Honeymooners in the Stone Age"...

Trip to Washington DC, Friday: Blogger Team-Up, or Beach Blanket Baseball

2009-06-20T08:18:00.001-05:00

Friday was my last full day here, and thus I started the day off by going out for breakfast to a nearby diner; I'd been eating the hostel's free breakfast up until then. Afterwards, I used the laptop for a bit, then went shopping at Union Station and downtown, with a brief stop to look around the National Postal Museum, a museum dedicated to the history of the United States Postal Service/mail delivery in general.

Later that evening, I went to the Washington Nationals vs. Toronto Blue Jays baseball game with another person from online, Carl (of FoolBlog fame and big baseball fan). Was nice to finally get to meet Carl (who came to the game in his old Expos jersey), along with an even-bigger-baseball-fan friend of his.

The free giveaway to the first 10,000 fans was a Miller Lite beach towel. I would've preferred a bobblehead doll, but this wasn't bad either. Nationals Park (which I'm surprised hasn't gotten a soulless "naming rights" corporate name yet) was also a pretty nice stadium.

As for the game, I'm sure Carl will have plenty to say about the game on his blog, but the game went into extra innings, with the Nats (as they're nicknamed) eventually winning, 2-1.

Apparently, the Nationals weren't shy about "appropriating" a few elements from the Milwaukee Brewers. The first instance was a stadium vender with a t-shirt on reading "Brew Crew", which is what the Brewers are nicknamed (and probably trademarked). The second instance was learning that during one of the inning breaks they hold a "Presidents' race", a quartet of racing costumed presidents (Teddy Roosevelt, Abe Lincoln, George Washington, and one other)... *very* reminiscent of the "racing sausages" at Miller Park. Though Carl said one or two other parks also have such "racing" gimmicks...

Today, of course, I return to Milwaukee... so will be back online tonight (from the comfort of my own studio apartment).

Trip to Washington DC, Thursday: Senator Russ and the Supremes, or Come see about coffee

2009-06-19T08:15:00.002-05:00

On Thursday, I started off the day by meeting for coffee with another person from online, E*, who works in downtown DC. She sounded not like how I'd imagined----a bit of a New Yorker accent---but was a nice person all the same.

Afterwards, I set off for Capitol Hill to see the Supreme Court building. While I couldn't get into the courtrooms, I did get to see an (outdated) video about the importance of the Court, as well as get a copy of the Court's rulings for that day (something about inmates not guaranteed by the Constitution to have the right to DNA testing---another 5-4 narrowly-conservative ruling, natch).

I next went to my senator's office (Russ Feingold) for the prearranged tour of the Capitol building, which was interesting---various historical statues of famed and highly-regarded Americans like Martin Luther King, Abraham Lincoln, and George Washington. In contrast, there was also the new statue of Ronald Reagan (presumably per being conservatives' great hero and their ongoing attempt to make his name as ubiquitous/unquestioned-in-stature as JFK, FDR, Lincoln, etc. despite doing little if anything positive for the country---see Washington National, an airport already named after a president, now called "Reagan National"). I also got to sit in in the Senate gallery to see two Senators debate the merits of some Obama proposal for getting older and less fuel-efficient cars off the road.

After this, I had lunch in the Capitol's cafeteria, a lunch which included French fries, the fried-potatoes-formerly-known-in-that-cafeteria-as-"freedom fries." Was half-tempted to ask the staff about that name change, but decided against doing so.

Then there was a tour of the Library of Congress, which is lavishly decorated. Finally, I went on the hostel's tour of Georgetown, just to see what the neighborhood was like... it seemed a bit standoffish per the tour guide's description, the expense of the stuff there, and that it's a bit cut off from the city's mass transit system (supposedly on purpose per the tour guide, to keep the "rabble" away).

Today is my last full day here, so I'll be going shopping, followed by going to tonight's Nationals-Blue Jays baseball game with Carl from FoolBlog.

Trip to Washington DC, Wednesday: Washing-ton (of clothes), or All the news that's fit to blog

2009-06-17T19:04:00.001-05:00

Went to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (where the US prints paper currency). Unfortunately, most of today was spent dealing with rain; I probably should've packed a hat (or bought a Washington Nationals one sooner than I've planned). I did learn however that the US government only prints $2 bills once every 15 years or so, one reason there's so few of them these days. Indeed, the grade-schoolers I was on the tour with apparently had never seen or heard of a $2 bill before.

After seeing the Bureau, I next went to the "Newseum", a privately-run journalism museum... thus their "justification" in charging $20 for admission, which seems rather high considering they're competing against, well, free (at most of the nearby museums). Anyway, the Newseum's exhibits were mostly well done, with various old news clips, displays of major newspapers with historical headlines (World War II, Hank Aaron breaking Babe Ruth's home run record, the World Trade Center attacks, etc.).

After the Newseum, the next stop was the National Gallery of Art, where I looked at the various paintings ranging from the Renaissance to 19th and 20th century American artwork. Not much to say about here, though they had some nice artwork.

After all this, I came back to the hostel, where I did laundry and basically hung out on my laptop to this point (8 PM in the evening). Will be heading out to dinner next, but not sure to where. Tomorrow should be fairly busy, however (various things around Capitol Hill, meeting someone else from online for coffee, etc.), as well as Friday (shopping plus going to the Nationals-Blue Jays game). Saturday, of course, is when I return to Milwaukee (and cooler weather).

Trip to Washington DC, Tuesday: Obama's magnetism, or Ford's Theater (where quality acting is job one)

2009-06-16T23:20:00.001-05:00

This morning was spent going along with others from the hostel (including A*) for a tour of the Kennedy Center, which took a bit longer than I'd thought. Spent the early afternoon trying to get (without walking or paying for a cab/tour bus) from out by the Center to the Museum of the American Indian, with a break for lunch along the way; wound up taking a bus, and then the Metro. I eventually got to the Museum, and enjoyed the Native American/First Nations artwork and exhibits. Yes, I used the Canadianism "First Nations"---since Canadian tribes were also included in the exhibits.

Afterwards, I walked around the Mall and downtown area for a bit, eventually seeing Ford's Theater, then went back to one of the Smithsonian museums and bought a few souvenirs (an Obama t-shirt for myself, and an Obama magnet for my sister). Then went back to the hostel, figured out my itinerary for the rest of the week, and went back out for dinner (at a local Italian restaurant/bistro in Dupont Circle I now can't recall the exact name of). Then came back to here.

Trip to Washington, DC, Monday: Day at the Museum---Bottle (of water) at the Smithsonian

2009-06-15T20:02:00.001-05:00

Today's vacation day was largely spent at the various museums of the Smithsonian. Specifically, I went to: the Museum of Natural History, the Air and Space Museum, and the Museum of American History. All three were highly popular attractions and thus quite crowded.

At the Air and Space Museum, I was impressed by the air side of things (despite a stronger interest in space travel), which included displays about women and African-Americans in early aviation. The space side of things, however, was in need of updating, some items moreso than others (such as the video display of Willard Scott dating from the 70s or 80s about then-current weather satellites that I assume have been surpassed/replaced by newer models by now), though the planets displays do reflect Pluto's "demoted to the minors" new dwarf-planet status.

At the American History museum, I learned plenty about Washington, DC-area Black history, with one exhibit about a Black-owned photography studio and another about Howard University's various contributions. The American History museum also included actors re-enacting for crowds various moments in US history, and also had on display the original flag Francis Scott Key was inspired by to write "The Star-Spangled Banner." The museum also had on display a stuffed Kermit the Frog model, and Archie's chair from "All in the Family." The Obamas also had plenty of representation, including in the exhibits about the civil rights struggle over the nation's history.

At the Natural History museum, there wasn't as much of note, besides some nice dinosaur fossil skeletons and the famous Hope diamond on display.

Tonight, I'm thinking about going to the movies...

Trip to Washington DC, Sunday: A. Sees DC, or the Subway to Hell

2009-06-14T20:48:00.001-05:00

First full day spent in DC. At least today was slightly less humid/hot than yesterday.

Met A*, a person from an online forum I frequent, who also is vacationing here in DC for the week. Met her for lunch at an Italian restaurant in Dupont Circle called Sette Osteria, where I had a nice tasting pizza. Following this, A* went with me to the National Archives, where we got to see (after a *very* long wait) original copies of the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution. The subway ride there was packed (I barely squeezed in...).

Afterwards, we walked through DC's gay pride festival, which was going on this weekend. A lot of political-oriented groups were there campaigning for LGBT rights in DC, Virginia and Maryland, which I suppose is appropriate for DC.

After coming back (on a packed-to-the-brim subway), I freshened up and went out to dinner down the street at a local bar-and-grill, Capital City Brewery. I then came back, and so far, I'm spending the rest of the evening on my laptop, given I'm not sure how else to spend my evenings. The days are easy---lots of museums---but I'm not sure what there is to do in DC in the evenings, aside from maybe going to a bar or finding a movie theater.

Trip to Washington DC: Saturday

2009-06-14T08:59:00.001-05:00

I've left for this year's vacation, to our nation's capital: Washington, DC. Long as I have a laptop with me, may as well sum up my trip day-by-day (or some frequency close to such)...

Saturday:
Left for DC. The airport and plane ride there was uneventful and somewhat cramped---airline was AirTran. The only incident was the guy behind me in the airport security thinking my laptop was his... apparently we both had black-colored Dell laptops that were refurbished (though his was clearly an older 14" model, versus my 15" model).

Having a laptop proved useful in finding my way to the hostel I'm staying at (which offers free wifi) via Google Maps. The room I'm in is a four-person room, which would've been more comfortable last night if someone hadn't insisted on keeping the window open, despite the air conditioning being on and how warm it was.

Speaking of the weather, I was struck by how humid it was here in DC. Granted, summer back in the midwest feels this way, also; maybe it's just how cool it's been back in Milwaukee lately.

The people here in DC seem pretty friendly, though several people kept asking me if I was from Canada---per the Toronto t-shirt I was wearing.

The one attraction I specifically went to yesterday was the Lincoln Memorial (passing by George Washington University along the way). Very impressive seeing the statue of Honest Abe in person. No signs of the usual media cliches of the Memorial's depictions.

Took the hostel tour of Adams-Morgan neighborhood as well. Also ate at a local restaurant near the hostel, "Five Guys"---a burger place that was in the news a few weeks ago, since Obama had eaten there. Can see why Obama went there---while the fries tasted a bit peanut-oil-ish, the burgers were great.

RIP analog broadcasting

2009-06-12T00:03:00.005-05:00

June 12th has finally arrived---the date that, after various delays, converter-box coupon programs, etc., the analog system of broadcasting that's been in use in the United States since TV's earliest days will finally be discontinued for full-strength stations. Yep, truly the end of an era, and all that.

Of course, I'd assume readers of this blog (the ones living in the US and who own TV sets) are all set for the switch, as is myself (via me having cable---my TV set is a five-year-old 20" CRT set with mono-sound, bought at Wal-mart for $100 shortly after I moved to Milwaukee). Though here in Milwaukee, the CBS affiliate is taking the interesting route of simulcasting its channel on a low-power analog station it owns for those who won't/haven't made the analog-to-digital switch; wonder how many other stations plan on doing such, since low-power analog stations don't have to sign off today (or at any definite future point currently).

Granted, I expect some confusion over the next few days, though imagine less confusion than there would've been if they'd left the switch date back in February (despite the complaints from the Slashdot libertarian-peanut-gallery types). That, and I do think the whole switch could've been pulled off/planned/sold to the public much better. I wonder if timing our switch with our Canadian neighbors might've been worthwhile (as it stands, Canada switches to all-digital in 2011, two years from now---should make for an interesting over-the-air situation along the US-Canadian border for the next few years...). Then again, Mexico doesn't plan to shut off analog for another 10+ years or so...

There'll be plenty of special one-time signoffs in honor of the analog shutdown by some stations. Plenty of them no doubt will be posted to YouTube.

Finally, for those who want to keep analog going, there's always this option:

Mother Goose and Grimm, 2/20/09, (c) Mike Peters

AT&T dropping Usenet

2009-06-10T07:27:00.001-05:00

According to what I've read online (no email from AT&T on the subject), AT&T (my ISP) is dropping Usenet service as of July 15th. While Usenet's popularity has dropped in recent years, imagine it couldn't be costing that much to keep the text-only, non-binaries groups going. Suspect it's probably just another money-grubbing tactic by ISPs (a la not offering personal web page space for users anymore) or the assumption that the Internet = the Web. Granted, if AT&T didn't have any regrets (or shame) about turning over phone record info to the Bush administration for its own corporate gain, I suppose dropping Usenet (or anything else) shouldn't surprise me.

Meanwhile, guess I'll be needing another Usenet provider. While I've used Giganews before, not sure reading rec.arts.comics.* and rec.arts.tv is worth paying even $3 a month for. Someone online suggested this site, Motzarella, which is free. Might be worth looking into...

New Apple stuff: lower-priced basic iPhone, laptop revamp

2009-06-08T22:56:00.001-05:00

Apple announced some new changes to their lineup of laptops (apparently their main focus nowadays, judging from my trips to the Apple Store and their desktop line of late):

Apple revamps entire MacBook lineup, lowers prices - Ars Technica

Among other things included now are a non-user-replaceable laptop battery for anything higher than the $999 basic white MacBook model. I assume replacing the battery will require a trip to an Apple Store (and paying them to do it/buying a new battery from Apple instead of a third party). While longer-lasting battery life is cited as a benefit of this decision, I'm not sure if this was the best thing to adapt from the MacBook Air (or the iPod).

Meanwhile, the iPhone line gets an upgrade tech-wise, with video-recording abilities added and the old model being dropped in price to $99. Still expensive with the cost of the AT&T plan factored in, versus just buying a regular cell phone and an iPod Touch (or the iPod Touch with Skype).

General Motors running on fumes, plus other tidbits

2009-06-02T00:32:00.001-05:00

Not posted anything in awhile, so here's a few items:

General Motors filed for bankruptcy. Here's hoping for the best for GM---plus the relatives I have working for them...

Conan O'Brien makes debut on 'The Tonight Show'. Saw the first episode tonight... nice that they made use of the 60s NBC "following program is brought to you in living color" bumper before the start of the program. Can't say I'll miss Leno---always thought Conan was funnier. Then again, since NBC thinks they can program Leno five nights a week in primetime (and that their primetime lineup can consist mainly of "Law and Order", "Deal or No Deal"/reality shows and Leno), I guess I *won't* miss Leno...

Nevada gets domestic partnerships. A nice baby step, though rather tame compared to Iowa these days... or the fact that any straight couple can get the "privilege" of being married by some Elvis impersonator in Vegas, but not gay couples...

The Indy 500, Flintstones-style

2009-05-23T13:39:00.003-05:00

Memorial Day weekend again.... and time for Sunday's annual running of the Indianapolis 500, one of the world's most famous automobile races.

As such, cartoons often have their own takes/parodies of said event, including the Flintstones having done so. The best take was the original series' episode where Fred enters a car (with an actual engine) into the "Indianrockolis" 500. A few spinoffs however didn't bother showing the gang driving to the neolithic version of the Circle City (no doubt located in "the Hoosier Slate"), but instead presented Bedrock as having its own auto races. As an example, here's the cartoon posted below, one of the "Dino and the Cavemouse" segments from the early 80s "Flintstone Comedy Show" anthology series.

In this one, seems their racing cars reverted back to being foot-powered (versus being gasoline-powered as in the original series' Indy 500 episode/some of the other spinoffs' racing episodes, though the series often varies on whether their cars in general are foot-powered or gas-powered, given the occasional appearance of elephant-gas-"pump" gas stations. I assume their cars are like mopeds, thus making them *both* foot- and gas-powered...), and Wilma apparently didn't mind Fred entering an auto race unlike in the "Indianrockolis 500" episode. Perhaps Wilma helping Captain Caveman fight dangerous supervillains in Cavey's own "Flintstone Comedy Show" segment didn't give her much of a leg to stand on...

Also of note is Fred's car being named "the Flintstone Flyer"---probably a deliberate reference to the very first episode of the original series (the name Fred gives to the homemade helicopter Barney built).

Anyway, enjoy the short:

Also thrown in as a bonus: the actual "Indy 500" race itself, also from YouTube (the actual episode I linked to back on Memorial Day 2007 no longer working---per AOL's "In2TV" now being defunct):

R.I.P. Wayne Allwine

2009-05-20T21:22:00.001-05:00

The voice of Mickey Mouse for the past three decades, Wayne Allwine, has died:
Voice of Mickey Mouse dies in L.A. at 62

While I still have yet to get around to seeing "The Prince and the Pauper", I did enjoy "Mickey's Christmas Carol", and thought the Mickey segments of "Mickey Mouseworks" and "House of Mouse" were pretty funny (especially given how they've managed in recent years to make Mickey little more than a corporate logo or---per "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse"---a babysitter for preschoolers).

Interestingly, Allwine's wife, voice artist Russi Taylor, is the voice of Minnie Mouse.

Wonder who Disney will get to replace Allwine as Mickey's voice, or how long it'll take...

Anthony's picks for DC Comics for August 2009

2009-05-19T21:20:00.001-05:00

Yep, time for another round of "see what Anthony thinks is good from DC" for August 2009.

What I'll be buying:
Nothing.

What I might buy:
- The Flash Chronicles, vol. 1 TPB, on sale Sept. 23, $15
- Icon: A Hero's Welcome TPB, on sale Sept. 30, $20

Comments:
Wednesday Comics, the faux-Sunday comics section DC is offering, will feature this month Supergirl (with Streaky and Krypto), the Metal Men (in a story written by Dan DiDio), and the Flash, among others.

DC's reviving "Adventure Comics," one of its oldest and longest-running comics. Published between the mid-1930s and the early 1980s, it spent most of its run as being a Superboy- and/or Legion of Super-Heroes-starring title; the revival seems to keep with that. Apparently DC's managed to bring back the post-Crisis Superboy (Kon-El/Conner Kent, a clone of Superman) from trademark lawsuit limbo and given him this book to star in. I don't suppose there's a chance of the classic Superboy making a comeback somehow, as well (as Superman's childhood super-career)---seeing how the modern public would treat Kon given their memories of Kal-Superboy from years ago might've been interesting...

The Milestone Comics characters from the 90s---Icon (the title I read the most of), Hardware, and the best-known of all, Static---are finally making a comeback. However, they seem to be getting integrated into the main DC Universe somehow, rather than (from what I can tell) being left to live in their own universe (as seen in the 90s "Worlds Collide" crossover put out just before "Zero Hour"). The cover resembles the generic-looking "DC vs. Marvel" cover, though wished they'd gone with a parody of "Crisis on Earth-1"'s cover (with the JLA summoning up the "legendary heroes of Milestone" or somesuch). Oh, well... at least they're reprinting the first eight issues of Icon's comic in a new trade paperback. By the way, DC might want to fix the grammar error in "World's Collide" (sic) before printing that cover.

This month's Showcase Presents volume is: Warlord, the 80s series about the inside-the-Earth world of Skartaris.

This month's "Billy Batson and the Power of Shazam" features Mr. Atom, the atomic-powered robot foe of Captain Marvel. Meanwhile, "Brave and the Bold" features Bats fighting what looks on the cover like the Ultra-Humanite, but is actually a Yeti.

Apparently "Kids Next Door" makes the cut for "action", as they're included as a backup story in "Cartoon Network Action Pack" this month.

Nice cover for "Scooby Doo".

Xfce and Ubuntu

2009-05-17T23:35:00.001-05:00

After giving it some thought, I decided yesterday to give Xfce a try, installing the Xubuntu 8.10 desktop items onto my Ubuntu installation. Unfortunately, while it was quite snappy, I ended up still preferring Gnome over Xfce. Don't know how improved Xubuntu 9.04 is usability or appearance-wise---besides learning it has the ability to, erm, drag and drop multiple icons at once by lassoing them, like, um, virtually every other operating system I've ever used dating back at least *15 years* (in Macs' case). Seems like something major to not include for the sake of being "lightweight" (given my old Performa 636 running System 7.5 and 8 MB of RAM had it 14 years ago...).

Anthony intrepidly downgrades Ubuntu to Intrepid

2009-05-15T00:16:00.001-05:00

For the past several weeks, I've been using the newest version of Ubuntu, 9.04/"Jaunty Jackalope." Unfortunately, due to several major problems---namely, my laptop shutting down due to overheating when converting video files (something that didn't happen on the previous version of Ubuntu), the Intel graphics chipset drivers basically being broken (thus no Compiz), and a few other bugs (weird crackling with some audio---mainly when Pidgin beeps while I'm playing music/videos)---I decided instead of waiting to see if/when they'll be fixed to just downgrade back to 8.10/"Intrepid Ibex." Given there was little worth upgrading to Jaunty for feature-wise, I don't think I'll be missing much.

Rather disappointed that there were this many problems with Jaunty; the past version or two of Ubuntu usually worked without this many issues. While I'll wait to see if the issues are fixed over Jaunty's lifespan, I suspect I'll probably be better off waiting to see what 9.10 this October has to offer instead, or if not that, next April's long-term-support release.

The new "Star Trek" film: "Crisis on Infinite Kirks", or "Retcon retcon who's got the retcon?"

2009-05-09T21:12:00.000-05:00

This afternoon, I went to the movies to see the newest "Star Trek" film, entitled simply "Star Trek." Directed by a J.J. Adams (according to Wikipedia, the guy who created or co-created "Alias" and "Lost" and worked on "Mission: Impossible III"), the film intends to reboot the Trek franchise to breathe new life into it, presumably by making it more "accessible" to non-hardcore fans.

(SPOILERS)

Guess that's enough space.

While it had entertaining aspects, I came away being reminded of why I usually dislike reboots in the first place----particularly for their "burn your bridges behind you" aspects. It seems that Paramount took a page from the famed comic book reboot known as "Crisis on Infinite Earths", the series that, like this film, used a "Back to the Future"-ish time-travel plot to retroactively alter the past of its entire universe, leading to a subsequent revamping of Superman that tossed out every pre-1986 comic about him published (said Superman reboot was one I never liked, preferring the old "pre-Crisis" Superman). "Trek"'s plot involves a time-traveling rogue Romulan mining vessel captain (named "Nero" of all names), who goes on a rampage through the past and heavily altering things-as-we-know-them, including among others killing off Kirk's father and blowing up the planet Vulcan. While I *knew* this film was likely to retcon stuff left and right (and suspected some familiar-to-Trek-fans planet would retroactively buy the farm), eliminating Vulcan still felt odd to me---sort of like getting rid of Batman's Batcave and Wayne Manor a week after he started being Batman (yes, the 70s stories mostly got rid of both, but they were reinstated by decade's end).

As noted above, the film spends plenty of time noting it's a reboot of sorts---the original Spock, Leonard Nimoy, plays a minor role in the film as showing up in the past to meet young Kirk and young Spock. There's also a scene where a few characters note "an alternate reality" being created by Nero's meddling with the past, which seems to just point out the plot-device, mediocre nature of the film's villain (just as the Anti-Monitor in "Crisis on Infinite Earths" was a plot-device, mediocre villain). Still, given the science-fiction nature of Star Trek (like the comics above), I wonder why they didn't just write an adventure about young Kirk and company meeting (sans the time-travel elements), declare it set in a parallel universe, and just ignore the original material outright (a la "The Flash of Two Worlds" and DC's Silver Age "Earth-One" universe, which left the original Golden Age stories alone but just relegated them to the alternate "Earth-Two"), versus the "Crisis"/Superman-revamp bridge-burning approach?

On a positive note, I did enjoy young Uhura's portrayal in the film---it's nice to see them give her a sizeable role. Also enjoyed Bones' character and Scotty (plus Scotty's little alien friend).

Like "Enterprise", it looks like the film tried to figure out how to make Kirk's time look "futuristic" without making it completely overshadow the now-dated 60's look of the original series. Various female characters are seen wearing the original show's miniskirt uniforms, and several land vehicles are seen with wheels on them (instead of being hovercars, though a hoverbike appears). Unfortunately, the film also features, out-of-place enough (given Trek showing the future as a less money-grubbing one than now), product placement---at a bar, Uhura sees the menu has "Budweiser" beer, and in the by-then-antique 20th century car Kirk makes off with, we see a Nokia touch-screen device installed. I suppose one could argue that it might be part of Trek-folk's odd fascination with present-day-era culture, but considering they view our time as basically like the Flintstones', I always was amused at their interest. We may as well be driving foot-powered cars as far as Spock, Picard, Odo, etc. are concerned---speaking of which, I wonder what Kirk's car was running on since I assume fossil fuels like gasoline are extinct/banned/obsolete in Trek's future...

Overall, I guess the film achieved its job of rebooting the Trek franchise for 2009. I suppose there'll be more such "post-Crisis Trek" films in the future (or even maybe a TV series based on such), but for me, I think I'll stick with the reruns of TOS (along with TNG and DS9), just as I'd rather re-read my old Silver and Bronze Age comics than buy DC Comics' current grim-and-gritty, mega-crossover-happy dreck...

For another take (from someone less vested in "Trek"), here's Roger Ebert's review of the Star Trek film.

More gay marriage, this time in Maine

2009-05-07T07:00:00.001-05:00

The next state to sign into law same-sex marriage is Maine, the home of, um... Bangor, I suppose:

Gay marriage law signed in Maine, advances in N.H. - Local News Updates - The Boston Globe

Of course, the law doesn't go into effect right away, and the conservatives there are already planning to mount an effort to try to kill it (via trying to put it up to a public vote). Though would think the fact that gay marriage is legal and not the end of the world in their Canadian neighbor of New Brunswick would help persuade Mainers (what residents of Maine are apparently called) to not kill it...