A brilliant flash, and then back to the grind - 5 July 2007

[silveradept]

Got my hair cut today, in anticipation of the concert tomorrow. Will do my best to put on my undertaker-looking suit and go see symphonic arrangements of video games. Funny that it took video games getting to the point of having and offering symphonic scores before this appeared, but then again, who would arrange chiptunes? Or rock out to them, other than, say, Swedish alternative rock bands? tomorrow, must once again take the razor to my face. Less than a week after shaving for the wedding, I’ll have to shave again. At some point, when it looks like an actual beard might be grown, I might take przxqgl‘s advice and Grow A Beard.

Anyway, much to be said and... you know, it’s a pretty infinite canvas here, only limited by your impatience at my inability to provide anything interesting. Anyway, onward to the links.

The following is mindscarring. Those who wish to keep their childhood memories intact will do well not to click on this link and find out Alvin and the Chipmunks is being made into a CGI movie. Trust me, you didn’t want to know this.

The following is useful information. Be advised not to do any business with a site called Miivi, as the website, Miivi.com is a trap placed to lure unsuspecting persons into uploading or downloading copyrighted material and then capture and forward their IP addresses to the relevant **AA. With content providers being bought by companies that do play by the **AA rules, and with others setting up traps, it’s a wonder that anybody can share anything these days, whether they own the copyright or no, without being in fear that someone will try to arrest them for it.

A new proposed bill in the United Kingdom aims to outlaw violent or “extreme” porn The local BDSM community is not happy, claiming that deranged minds will still do their thing, but that the new bill, should it become law, would basically criminalize them if they had videos of BDSM acts. There is, of course, the Slashdot thread associated with the extreme porn bill, noted for one of the tags placed there - “theregoes4chan”. Such a bill, should it become law, would probably also curtail the importation of a lot of hentai, and probably wipes out the tentacle porn division entirely. Feeling as I do about video games, I don’t think, somehow that banning the porn is going to stop the people who want to play with breathing and other significantly dangerous activities.

bradhicks put up a pair for the blogswarmy-thingy, the first being a matter of Blog Against Religious Rule, a condition separate from the overt religion-in-charge part. Religious Rule is much more subtle, in that being a member of the preferred religion gets you subtle bonuses, easier times with jobs, better business deals, and an easier time in a lot of things. Nothing official, but lots of benefits. It’s not necessarily a deliberate action, other than the reasoning that people of the same faith are supposed to be better human beings than those other guys. Afterwards, he then expresses his opinion on the First Amendment, noticing that the “wall” interpretation that a lot of people have or rail against, the one that’s attributed to several founders, is definitely not the one that’s been around for the longest, nor is it the one preferred by Scalia in Blog Against Government Establishment of Religion, or, I Like Lemon, Sherbert (and yes, that comma is deliberate). Both are good, worthwhile posts and help to explain a lot of things that might be at the periphery of your awareness.

In out own governmental state, Talkleft says to progressives, Give up on the impeachment idea. It's not going to happen, and it only hurts our cause. Which is a very pragmatic approach, and one that probably seeks to minimize wasted effort. Ideologically, it stings pretty badly that the supposed party of progressives is doing nothing of the sort. Keith Oblermann offers an alternative to the impeachment cries, albeit one that would have to be taken by the administration. Such a move might put them somewhere underneath the Nixon administration in terms of suckitude, but it’s probably the only way out without significant amounts of ignominy and worry that in 2009, Mr. Bush will decide not to pass the Presidency. That way out is for the President to resign his office. Mr. Olbermann, we salute you for calling for this resignation. We suspect, however, that it will not happen, as this occupant still does not admit to the reality that he has done wrong and continues to do wrong, even when, in a rare moment, he uses a power that is actually constitutionally his.

Ancient peoples were in the business of making realistic art. As such, there are statues and carvings of mammoths, things that we have not seen with our eyes for years. Although, one must wonder whether the anthropologists and archaeologists of the future don’t look at our art and wonder what the real things must have looked like.

The Palm Tree Garden has for us, what is probably an appropriate reminder for all religions. When they say Nietzsche was not a Gnostic (and neither is Hillary Clinton), they’re reminding us that trying to make a religion suit one’s personal philosophy is an exercise in annoyance and aggravation to those who make their philosophies and lifestyles fit the religion they chose. In these cases, along with many others where the application of good sense will solve a lot of problems, the customer is not always right. And there we have it.

Anyway, I think I’m going to go to bed soon. Reminders are set regarding the concert, so unless the power goes out on me, I should be reminded at the appropriate point when I’m supposed to be going to the symphony. Should be a lot of fun.

Comments

Mietzsche?

[nebris.livejournal.com]

LOL

~M~

..I know..I'm a putz..lol

Re: Mietzsche?

[silveradept]

S'okay. I would have noticed it myself eventually and complained that I don't proofread myself anymore, which is a bad habit.

Re: Mietzsche?

[greyweirdo.livejournal.com]

Also, on that point, who is Alan and why should we care about his chipmunks being all CGI and stuff? Is this any relation to the Alvin and the Chipmunks movie?

Re: Mietzsche?

[silveradept]

You know, I'm glad I have smartasses like you catching my mistakes. Without you, I'd just look like an idiot to the rest of the world. Guess I'm going to have to hire an editor or something just to make sure that my entries are properly formatted, spelled, spaced, and named.

Re: Mietzsche?

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

Even funnier, I didn't know it didn't say "alvin" until I read weirdo's comment, then I scrolled back up.

Re: Mietzsche?

[greyweirdo.livejournal.com]

You know, what ever little thing I can do to help I do.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

Those chipmunks look kind of scary. I also wasn't aware that there even was a new generation of kids who'd like the whole singing chipmunk thing.

[silveradept]

You think it's for the children?

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

you mean, it's for adults?

*shakes head*

[silveradept]

Who else would it be for? This generation's children have never seen Alvin and the Chipmunks, unless their parents made them watch it, or they discovered it on some classic cartoons network. Why would they even know who those punks are, much less want to see a movie about them? This movie is squarely aimed at those people who want to keep reliving their childhood through remakes. It's a movie squarely aimed at adults, and adults who can't move on and admit their time in the media spotlight has passed.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

wow, you sound a little bitter there.

But you're right. Disney Channel or whatever might show the chipmunk christmas special or something around the holidays, but I'm sure that this generation of kids have never seen the half hour saturday morning cartoon show the way I (we?) did when I (we?) was/were younger. The chipmunks probable peaked in the mid-80's with those full-length feature cartoons.

It also was interesting to read in that article that the Chipmunks originated in the 50s...and it goes back to that conversation you were having with droewyn (I think it was?) about how my/our generation didn't get to have our own things growing up because it was largely about re-introducing baby boomer things.

OTOH, you can look at it in the same light that re-introducing Transformers, Strawberry Shortcake, Care Bears, etc. to "this generation" of kids - My/Our generation is doing the exact same thing that our parents did by trying to get these kids to like the stuff we liked.

I think childhood toys and trends seem to go on a 20 or so year cycle. One group of kids likes it and then about 20 years later it gets re-introduced. Really, I'm waiting for Rainbow Bright, Pound Pupplies, and Wrinkle dolls to come back.

(I use My/Our because I think technically you and I are in different generations. I believe I'm on the tail end of Generation X, and you're at the beginning of Y/Next)

[silveradept]

Chipmunks were still around, if I recall, in that Don't Do Drugs Cartoon All-Stars thing, so they were still popular enough for me. I do recall watching some Chipmunks. But not too far out of that, and by the time the 90s appeared, Chipmunks were gone.

The re-introduction part was the point I was making - this movie is for people who feel nostalgic about their childhood and want to see it reintroduced with today's technology and effects. I don't think it's worked yet. Which will mean horrible things for Rainbow Brite when she reappears. I think the Pound Puppies were safely not popular enough to warrant a remaking.

I still don't know if my generation even really had a name. There's GenX, and the Millienials, and those of us in between are kind of a bunch of Lost Boys, I think.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

aww, you need Peter Pan :D

I looked it up on wiki, and there's a whole slew of possibilities. Go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_X and look at the chart on the right of the page. I tried to c/p it, but it didn't work.

I have no idea what the don't do drugs thing was...possibly something I may have been "too old" for.

Aww, the poor Pound Puppies and Pound Purries. I thought they were cute. And you're right, I do fear for Rainbow Brite coming back, as they'd do something just as stupid to her as they did to Strawberry Shortcake.

It's no that i don't feel nostalgic for my childhood, but if I really feel nostalgic, I'll dig out old VHS tapes or something like that. There's no need to waste money on a full length feature film to revive something like that.

also, as a random note on Strawberry Shortcake: she's scary. I found one of the little figurines a few months back from when I was 3 or so and it STILL SMELLS LIKE STRAWBERRIES.

[silveradept]

I think the non-definition of the generation's start and end are kind of the point - since we have no thing that Defines Us, we're kind of stuck between the GenX'ers to the north and the Color-Coded-Alert Kids to the south.

You might have been too old for Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue, considering, but it was an annoyance to me, because it pre-empted my afternoon watching. I remember enough of it now, though, to be able to make fun of it really well later, especially when snippets of it get played at Anime Hell.

Well, with VHS dying, re-releases to DVD may often inspire other people to say "Hey! People loved the original so much, let's give them a remake that's totally hip and wise to this generation and get them hooked!" Which generally flops/bites the big one. See Buzz Bunny for first, last, and only necessary example.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

Buzz Bunny? Do I even want to nkow what that was?

Also, yeah. If i was 10...I wasn't really watching cartoons anymore. I was watching stuff like MMC and Degrassi.

Re-releaseing on DVD is one thing, but movies? aww, c'mon.

[silveradept]

Buzz Bunny, now called Ace Bunny. Is, not was. It's an update of Looney Tunes to a futuristic scenario.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

I think I'm glad I never had to witness that....and hopefully never will.

[uncle-pervy.livejournal.com]

I think I remember Buzz Bunny...isn't he that parody one that's pretty much all black, looks like he drank a few too many Jolts & Bawls, then was trying to kill those two kids in front of their school lockers?

As for old cartoons, my dad would make us watch old school Warner Brothers cartoons with Bugs, Porky, Daffy & the like (Rocky & Bullwinkle por ejemplo). The one that I really enjoyed was when he made us watch the original "George of the Jungle" cartoons from the 60's. As much as I liked George, I enjoyed the other short cartoons that aired with him, "Tom Slick" and "Super Chicken." I can still remember his battle cry:

Bawk-a bawk-a bawk-a bawk-a bawk-a BAWK-A BAWK-A BAWK-A BAWK-A bawk-a bawk-a bawk-a bawk-a BAWK-A BAWK-A BAWK-A bawwwwwwk!

[silveradept]

Yeah, that's the "Buzzed" Bunny parody, of which, after the name change to Ace Bunny, brought about another one.

I had plenty of old-school exposure - Warner Brothers stuff, and with Rocky and Bullwinkle on DVD, we've been catching up on that part. (Along with Dudley Do-Right and such.)

George good cartoon. Super Chicken much better.

[annaonthemoon.livejournal.com]

UNDERDOG! don't forget underdog! and Mighty Mouse! :D

[uncle-pervy.livejournal.com]

I read the wiki (since I don't get the CW or even know which channel it is for my area) and afterwards felt like I was just stomped on my twig & berries by some Sadistic Mistress wearing Fuck-Me Pumps.

That's just wrong...oh my God, that I think is more evil than Cthultu.