#funny goofy wacky sound effects

[sanjisblackasswife]

fucking Luffy in G5 would be goofy as hell cuz every thrust he does it a wacky sound effect, and then he’s laughing while his dick is inside you, and then once you both cum he deflates like a balloon on top of you.

it’d be a funny fuck.

[gaykarstaagforever]

The 1999 Mystery Men movie is now free on YouTube, I guess because Universal finally realized that if no one paid to see it when it came out and so no one remembers it, no one is going to pay $3 to rent it.

Which is a shame (for the people who made the movie, who gives a shit about Universal), because it's good. Based loosely on the Flaming Carrot / Mysterymen indie comics of the 1980s (I'm only familiar Cerberus the Aardvark, which the same company published around the same time), it is meta superhero parody in the style of Gunn's Suicide Squad / Peacemaker, just 20 years before any mainstream American audience would give a crap.

This is a universe where there is one real superhero, who is so effective that crime is basically non-existent, so that the sole superhero himself is getting bored. When he comes up with a scheme to give himself something to do, it goes badly, unleashing a notorious supervillain on Champion City. When the Mystery Men, obnoxious wannabe heroes with virtually no powers, try to help, they typically fail, but so badly this time that now they are the city's only hope. Will they put petty grievances aside and learn to work together before Cassanova Frankenstein destroys the entire city?

Well, of course they will. It's a superhero movie. The point is watching fun wacky characters bounce off each-other for 2 hours, and this certainly delivers on that. The cast is a who's-who of 1999 charisma, with notable turns by Geoffrey Rush as the scene-chewing, disco-themed Frankenstein, Wes Studi doing Batman if Batman was doing Yoda, and Tom Waits as a benevolent mad scientist with a grandma fetish. Paul Reubens doing a lisp and Kel Mitchell in blonde Sisqo hair are especially fun as a team within a team, farting and getting naked on their path to victory.

Ben Stiller is the lead, playing a typical Ben Stiller-is-the-lead character, the kind of well-intentioned but self-absorbed incompetent that is charming when Ben Stiller plays him in movies, but everyone would despise in real life. And if you are a person who also isn't a fan of him doing this in movies, you'll also not like it, here. I like Ben Stiller doing this, but Roy here really is a useless pain in the ass until the very end.

There are lots of Gunn-type sitcom jokes about superhero tropes and general goofiness, and similar tonal shifts between slapstick comedy and people being slowly melted. Fans of The Boys will enjoy Greg Kinnear as a G-rated Homelander, complete with product placement on his costume.

It is about 20 minutes too long at 2 hours, and has way too many annoying closeup 90s fight scenes with mediocre choreography. More scenes of just the cast improving should have replaced a lot of this, because this is what the movie is really about. And there is some amazing 1998 CG that is used well, but man. It looks like what it is, certainly.

Props on someone greenlighting a superhero parody movie in a world where the only things to make fun of were the Schumacher Batman movies (Blade, the first "real" Marvel movie, came out the same year as Mystery Men). But it is obvious that only hardcore comic book nerds were going to connect with this, and there were not enough of them, outside of the big mainline "event" comic speculator market of the 90s, to make up for a $68 million budget.

This was made specifically for a movie-going public that has fallen in love with good superhero movies, then gotten sick of them, and appreciates someone making fun of them in a smart way. That is a thing we barely have now, in 2024. Mystery Men the big budget movie really is a thing that was just 20+ years ahead of its time. Watching it feels like watching an episode of Peacemaker that is intentionally aping the style and production design of Batman Forever. I suppose it is worth seeing, just for that.

Also the 90s Hollywood cameos. Dane Cook shows up, unfortunately. No, he isn't funny. He is a "superhero" who burns people with a waffle iron. I realize that may sound funny, but believe me, it isn't when Dane Cook does it.

See for yourself. That scene is in the original Smashmouth video for "All Star". Because that song being from the Mystery Men soundtrack before Shrek is literally all most people know about this movie.

And that's not fair to it. Go watch it.

[mgc02]

CIRCUS FAMILY CHAPTER 1

Sitcom AU

Circus Family is filmed in front of a live studio audience

“Welcome one and all to the house of the Circus Family!” A Strange creature with teeth and eyes for face and human body wearing a ringleader outfit flies into the air. A wire holding him up is clearly visible. “My name is Caine! I’M THE RINGLEADER AND THE HEAD OF THE FAMILY HERE AT THIS AMAZING HOUSE OF WONDERS! And here is my sidekick Bubble!” He pulls off his hat and out of it pops a round inflatable puppet. “Oh, I can’t wait to see the fam and what crazy shenanigans they are up to.” Bubble says with excitement. “Well let’s not wait any longer” Caine replies “Theme song time!”

Music cues in

Flashes of characters being goofy and laughing together begin

“I’ll be there for youuuuuu-”

“-WAIT! That’s not the right. Whoopsie! Wrong show…” Caine exclaims in embarrassment scratching his head/gums. A laugh Track plays at the goofy mishap

New music cues in with a 90s sitcom rock theme

Gangle and Zooble and Kinger too

Ragatha, Jax and there's Kaufmo, woo-hoo

Day after, day after

Day after, day after day we fly

Past the moon and the sun and we don't know why

Suddenly as they are introducing an assortment of wacky characters a young jester looking girl timidly opens the door, seemingly lost and confused. She bumps into a tall purple rabbit that looks like a guy in a mask and stilts in some sort of costume. He falls over landing on all the others causing a bunch of crash sound effects and roar of laughter from the invisible audience.

The Rabbit looks annoyed “Caine! Is this a new main character?” Caine lights up with excitement. “My my a new member of the family. Looks like today's episode is going to be called…”

A title appears out of nowhere

“Fuller house…”

The rabbit interjects “that’s taken”

“um… I mean… er… Jester Round The Family Tree!”

“Cliché” the rabbit remarks with a snicker

“Okay, Jax! Why don’t you come up with a better name on the spot next time? I’m sure you’ll be much better at it than me!” He sounds cheerful but his words indicate sarcasm, though it’s kinda hard to tell. “Huh. Maybe I will smart guy.” Jax responds. Loud laughter coming from seemingly everywhere yet nowhere shakes the building. “that wasn’t even that funny” Jax says calling out the too easily amused audience.

The newcomer was becoming frightened and confused by her new surroundings. “what’s… going on? I turned on some old TV and fell asleep and I woke up in front of this house. How did I get here? Who are you people?” A girl in a yarn wig and a long dress with fake stitches seemingly holding her together attempted to comfort her. “It’s gonna be okay. Just relax” The new girl simply screamed profanity but to her surprise it was dubbed to a different word “ WHAT THE YUCK IS GOING ON!?!” Her face froze in shock and then gave look of confusion. “Now. Now. We don’t use that foul language in my house! This is family friendly show after all” the audience laughs again.

The fearful jester spins in all directions. “Where’s that coming from?!? who’s doing that?!!?” Without anyone answering the questions she tries to get her head straight and calm down a bit. “So… how do I go home?”

Everyone becomes uncomfortable and silent until Jax speaks up. “There is no way home. You’re stuck inside a TV show” he says with very little sympathy. “What?” She responds. And that’s when a strange marionette of parts and shapes, attached to strings hanging in the air suddenly speaks. “Come on Jax. Don’t be mean.” they move up and down by the strings as they speak, parts jiggling a bit. “But he’s right. This is your new home now.”

The jester is very afraid and uncomfortable. “I know what will make you feel better… a tour of the house!” Caine decides. He lowers down on the wire as a cranking sound is heard and grabs the newcomer by the hand to drag her around just above the ground. “Here we have the kitchen! This is where you may create delicious foods as well as delicious memories.” He moves to the backyard. “here’s the yard! There’s an outdoor pool, it’s always sunny, and if you want to engage in a hobby there’s even a garden.” He drags her back through the kitchen to the living room where she first entered and up the stairs. They were now in a long hallway with lots of doors.

“this is the hallway and these are your rooms.” She notices he seems to not be continuing. “Is that it?” she asks nervously. “Well it’s not exactly a mansion but there is an attic…. We don’t go in the attic…” he got very serious for second and a bit ominous. “But, I’m sure you won’t have any reason to go up there anyway!” He beams back into his cheerful charismatic tone. He brings her back down to the living room where no one has moved. A tiny woman with a red dress and red ribbon and white costume makeup on her face resembling an opera mask cries staring down at her broken glasses on the floor. “they broke my glasses again!”. She stands next to a man in a king outfit with a fake mustache playing chess by himself on the couch. He's wrapped up in a blanket partially over his head. He moves a chess piece before abruptly swiping everything off the board. “ugh! I lost again” The laugh Track went off.

“Now to other business, like your name” Caine said pointing to the newbie. “Ughhhhh…. Wait a minute I can’t remember my name!” The audience the gasps. It was the first time they’d done something other than laugh. “No one can remember their names when they come here but we can come up with a new one for you!” suddenly the jester notices she is behind a podium seemingly on a game show. Caine is in a fancy new getup. “Alright everyone it’s time to play…” the audience finishes the sentence “WHATS MY NAME!” the title appears in bright lights. The audience applauds and cheers. “Alright contestant! Spin the wheel!” A colorful wheel with question marks on each piece stands before her. Cautiously she gives it a spin. It spins around and around until… it lands on a blue piece. That’s when the question marks turns into letters formulating the name Pomni.

“What do you think of the name Pomni?” Pomni scratches her head. ”I guess…” she replies unsure. “Great! You know what? I think now's a good time for a life lesson!” Caine announces. Pomni suddenly realizes she’s back in the living room with everyone. “Today’s life lesson will be learned… as the new kids in school! Today you will all be going to school and learning first hand what’s like to be the newbie like Pomni and Pomni will learn that she’s not alone like she thinks” Caine winks. “Wait what?” Pomni questions after that remark. “Caine now get your bags and your notebooks and your number 2 pencils cause class is in session!” the walls around them fall like cardboard and new walls rise with new furniture growing out of the ground to create a classroom. “Have a wonderful experience!” He shouts with pride before being lifted by the wire with the cranking sound going off. Slowly he rises but disappears out of sight.

Pomni’s eye twitches as she tries to process what just happened. “What was all that?” She asks. “Oh just one of Caine’s life lessons. There just something to give us a taste of real life to keep us from…. Ugh… going insane.” The woman dressed like a doll explains. “I’m Ragatha by the way. I guess we need to go experience the first day school?” the strange Marionette scoffs. “Ugh… why school? This is yucking stupid. I’m outta here” but before they could leave a large beefy child comes over with a trash can and shoves them in, carrying them away. “Ha ha!” He laughs as he runs away. “Oh no! Zooble got bullied on their first day” Ragatha gasps with concern. “Oh too bad so sad” Jax yawns not surprised when the audience found that particularly hilarious. “sheep” he coughs under his breath earning another roar of giggles and laughter.

“I just realized Kaufmo hasn’t met Pomni yet. He wasn’t here today… that’s strange. We better go check up on him. Hey Kinger! You wanna visit Kaufmo!” Kinger is no longer on a couch but in a dunce box cowering in the corner. “Not particularly. Last time I saw kaufmo he looked kind of off. He talked about going into the attic.” Pomni had wondered about the attic. “But wait! Maybe that means the attic has some way out” Pomni argues. Pomni didn’t like the way everyone stared at her like she was crazy. “Or maybe you’re as crazy as he is!” suddenly a little boy appears with a basketball and bounces it on Jax’s head. “Ha ha!” he points before running away. “alright I’d had enough of these little brats! Let’s send Gangle and Kinger to go play hero and rescue Zooble while you, me, and Pomni go check on Kaufmo” So the team was now split. Pomni was coping the best she could while wondering about the attic. Kinger and Gangle, an interesting duo, were off to stand up to some bullies, and the rest of them were navigating the halls of lockers trying to find their way back to the rooms.

“Oh my! Questions need to be answered. Will they be able to find Kaufmo? Will Kinger and Gangle be able to rescue Zooble? Will Pomni learn a valuable life lesson? Will Jax come up with a better episode name next time? Find out next time right here on Circus Family!!!” Caine salutes you goodbye for now.

[i-consume-content]

THE AMAZING DIGITAL CIRCUS: PILOT

A Promising Premise with a Playful Plot

SPOILERS AHEAD

I’ll be upfront: I don’t like clowns. I’m not afraid of them, but something about them makes me… uncomfortable. Overly joyous, bright and flashy, and more effective at drawing in a crowd of those goblins we call “children” than a box of Capri-Sun. The Amazing Digital Circus (which will henceforth be referred to in this article as TADC) plays with the vibes I get from clowns perfectly, goblin children and all.

Quick plot synopsis! We find ourselves inside the titular Amazing Digital Circus, a virtual world in which a wacky cast of characters have been trapped for an unknown amount of time. The story follows Pomni, the newcomer, as she tries to escape the circus and get back to the real world without losing her mind. After meeting the other suckers trapped in this world (and then running away from one of them), Pomni finds an exit door free-standing in the middle of the tent. After running through a Backrooms-like facility, her efforts turn out to be all for naught, since the ringmaster Caine hasn’t even finished building the exit. Whoopsies! Yeah, a bunch of other stuff happens, but the B-plot isn’t really as interesting as Pomni’s journey.

I’m going to start the actual review part of this article with the art and animation. The love and care put into making the characters feel alive is not to be overlooked, and it’s clear that the team behind TADC took care in making sure the animation was the best it could be. The characters are expressive in the way they walk, run, and use their hands. Each design is unique and fun, with none of them being standout great and none lagging behind. My personal favorite design is Caine, who is as wonderfully ridiculous as the circus he runs. An honorable mention to Gangle, whose ribbon body leads to some genuinely funny goofs and gaffs in the show. I think the only character design I have problems with is Zooble, a mishmash of multicolored parts of many styles. It’s a neat idea in concept, and Gooseworx’s previous works prove abstract designs can be pulled off well, but Zooble is way too cluttered for my tastes.

Something I really enjoy about TADC is how well it pulls off sound. Music production and voice acting are my hobbies and sound work is my job, so it's always nice to see a show or movie pull off sound well. Goofy character movements are often accentuated by bouncy and cartoony sound effects, and the overall mixing and mastering of the episode is high-quality. At no point did it feel like any character was too loud or too quiet, too bland or too overeffected. I like the subtle changes in reverb as the camera switches to a new point of view, a thing that in hindsight seems obvious but many people may miss when making a show like this. I must also commend the voice actors and voice directors for their amazing work bringing these characters to life and giving them personality. As soon as I heard Caine in the promotional material, I realized it was a complete no-brainer to bring on Alex Rochon to use the Spamton voice from his Deltarune dubs. I also must point out Michael Kovach's work as Jax, being just obnoxious enough to make you want to hate him but not enough to stop you from absolutely loving him. The music is also fantastic, as one comes to expect from the talented hands of Gooseworx. It should come as no surprise that my favorite track from the pilot is Your New Home, and I seem to be far from the only one with that opinion.

Unfortunately, it's not all sunshine and rainbows with TADC. I do have one major gripe with the show, and that's the writing. The story is intriguing and entertaining, but a lot of dialogue near the beginning of the episode falls flat for me. It's a good script assisted by great VAs, but it really does feel like some of the dialogue is trying to cram in lots of information in a shorter time frame, to the point where some of it feels stilted and drags on. However, I suppose I can understand why this is the case. A pilot is a way for a show to tell the audience what it's doing, what it's about, and why you should watch. Thus, it's reasonable to put more information into a pilot than feels necessary, so that you don't need to take as long to get someone hooked.

All in all, TADC is a lovely show that I highly recommend checking out if you haven't already, and I wish the best of luck to GLITCH, Gooseworx, and the rest of the team in funding a full season of this show.

FINAL RATING:

A Breaking Point out of 10

- Rock

[lookherecomethewormies]

my wacky animal crossing band AU headcanon hehe haha huhu

okay real talk i’ve had this little fake band thing in my head for years and I wanna get it out

so this is inspired by a line where isabelle da dog mentions having a band. they play fast wacky post-hardcore jazzpunk together.

the lineup is:

cherry - guitar, occasional vocal

tabby - bass, main vocalist

isabelle - percussion, other main vocalist

idk what their band name is. i prob would've named them something stupid like "Yeastie Girlz" or some shit if that name wasn't already taken.

isabelle and cherry know each other from youth when they did juvie kid shit back in the day lol. they stayed hooked up with each other when they went through their own young adult periods, and then went back to living in the same town when they moved to the poppin island village of Mycelium. they met tabby on that island and she joined up with their band because of simpatico vibes.

releases are usually albums with a shitload of small tracks with maybe one or two kinda long ones, and then sometimes an EP with a small number of really long tracks. cherry throws a lot of effects on her guitar so her playing ends up sounding like a bunch of loud chirping and wobbly metal scraping and wee woo wee woo. tabby plays her bass lines fast, has a boppy funky sound to playing, is not afraid to put on an effect pedal though usually to make her bass to sound like a wall of grotty rhythmic drones. isabelle can’t really go free jazz freakish on percussion bc their songs are ultimately too structured to allow that, but she tries! she can also do blastbeats. really fucking technical, building all those PWPs must’ve made her jacked

they're all pretty serious about their love of jazz. alright here's more info about them individually

isabelle - she grew up in the country and still has that farm kid twang to her voice. crazy childhood but filing taxes really ended up affecting her deeply and now she's by far the most well-adjusted member of the group if you define "well-adjusted" in a certain way. got a very impressive engineering degree in college, and as a reward she now works a lousy government job for a pittance + 500 bells that she WILL spend impulsively on something stupid. cherry sometimes jokes around about how she's a sellout for that but it aint serious, she understands the common worker's struggle. and, yknow, isabelle sincerely cares about doing the best for her town in the system she's stuck in so like, cmon dont be harsh on her. her public face is pretty mild-mannered, sometimes shes kinda matter-of-fact about things, but overall she nails that peppy energy everyone loves to receive from people in service when she's not flubbing stuff too much. in her personal life -- well, she doesn't have THAT many friends out there -- but with the ones she does have, she likes to be a little goofball, especially when linking zany energies with tabby. she has like a 4 year old's sense of humor but if anyone can sell peepee poopoo humor its her dumb ass. sings lead vocals on about half of their songs, her voice is loud, bright, and honestly pretty goofy because of that Country Gurl accent she has, but fits well with the generally nonserious and kinda everything-happening-at-once vibe of their music. what're her fits like, btw? an absolutely delightfully meticulous (she comes up with 90% of her wardrobe on the fly) combination of christian girl autumn, normcore, sillywave, raymondpunk, bio-wibbletech, and just a dash of edgy looking band merch or novelty t-shirts to really complete the look.

cherry - the thoughful, philosophical engine of the group even though she hardly writes any lyrics and mostly sits in the back making funny neenee noodleynoo noises with her guitar but trust me here. grew up in the same rural town as isabelle, and ended up moving back in a town where izzy now works! (its only like 75% a coincidence, she had to chase the money and figured Mycelium job market and being able to see her bestie was the best choice) She works a dead-end bullshit retail job on the island and always looks like she wants to kill everybody there. very loudly a proud commie through and through, she likes to wear this little red-guard lookin hat everywhere. the band are not embarrassed about their leftist messaging but cherry is by far the most motivated to stir up some shit. she helps organize locally and is very serious about reading up on Theory and has very little tolerance for poseurs. VERY occasionally does lead vocals, in that case she's writing the lyrics, hers are a lot more existential and political in nature than the other two's. very deep voice, she basically sounds like a scary Goth yknow? her singing voice is monotone and basically just her normal voice with more authority. she likes to put on an austere face but she's the easiest to make laugh, even at isabelle's dumbass jokes -- the other gals of course take advantage of this to tease her. as a strongly passionate individual she is also the most likely to start ranting at her computer screen when she's having trouble with something. she's got a pretty solid costume for concert appearances and photo ops that makes her probably the most recognizable member: Mao hat, long jacket, ragged looking pants, combat boots, and a pair of sunglasses.

tabby - every band needs the crazy one! she could bomb a hospital and the band would still have to drag her along because she's just that fucking good at bass. absolutely crazy mastery of speed and technique, her bouncing basslines usually provide a melodic counterpart to cherry's industrial vague notions towards "music" and whatever the fuck isabelle is doing back there. she's the only one without any classical training, though! as the lead bassist, she keeps the lead guitarist and lead drummer in check, creating a beautiful homeostasis of chaotic, highly technical songwriting and playing with all the brutality and energy of hardcore punk but also some of that inherent nerd-ass quality that comes with having three extremely proficient instrumentalists that know how to do a lot of things with their instruments. but enough of that bullshit, we gotta get to her VOCALS! she covers the majority of non-isabelle songs and her voice contrasts nicely -- isabelle has a deeper voice, sings brashly and over-the-top like she's eartha kitt doing i wanna be evil if she held her notes twice as long, but yknow she's been in classes for that and knows what she's doing and has a wide octave range. tabby meanwhile sounds like a living cartoon character.... BECAUSE SHE IS ONE!! but seriously she's got that high pitched peppy voice, but with enough roughness and scratchyness to it to make it actually fit the music. her speaking voice is actually pretty normal, but on the mic she leans into the most nasal, obnoxious tones possible. she got that shmorky voice to her i wont lie BUT SHE MAKES IT WORK!!! just say shes like uhhhh female psychicpebbles or something so you dont make her look lame. im being overdramatic about her voice btw, she actually has a pretty decent range and a FANTASTIC growl + scream but those only come out every-so-often. her lyrics are often violent, disgusting, brutally blunt in detail, and she's the one most inclined to doing crazy antics on stage. she usually comes to concerts in full leather wrapped with chains and parts of her body tied up and shit and like whatever nasty looking medical equipment she could find to put on her face and after each concert will be taken home bleeding from at least 2 or 3 different places. she's pretty chill irl though, but definitely as big as a goofball as isabelle. isabelle's the one that always takes leads on a goof attack, and tabby plays second-hand along with chief goof-strategist much to the annoyance/mirth of cherry. isabelle and cherry dont know much about her past yet bc she's pretty mum on talking about it much, but apparently she had rich parents but cut contact with them years back, and now just has an average ol life doing part time as a janitor, odd jobs on the side, and living in a nasty little apartment with her roomie katt. still, that general wealth helped a little, and she was able to build what she saved into a fairly stable life, so she's usually the one paying out of pocket for most of the band expenses. she's legit though, u know that because cherry would've beat her up otherwise

umm yess that's basically all i have to say i will post more if i remember more. if nintendo hires me i will also add to the canon that their 1st album name is "Poopin in the Boys Room" but that's not canon yet.

[omnybus]

I had the worst time getting to sleep last night, but I know I got at least a couple hours of sleep because I certainly dreamed SOMEthing.

All I remember is being in a food court, though rather than the usual brand names like McDonald's or Pizza Hut, the only food available was generic hot dogs, burgers, pretzels, and the like, the sort you'd find at a sports stadium or movie theater lobby. I was sitting at a table when one of the workers came over and asked for my order. I ordered a drink and a sandwich, but he insisted I show him something funny on my phone before he went and got my food. I was hesitant to do so, since it was such an unexpected thing for a server to ask for.

Before either of us could do anything however, we were interrupted by this strange creature a few feet away from us. It looked humanoid and was dressed in a food court uniform, but it had a big, round, featureless head like an egg, and long noodly arms that it would flail about wildly like Olive Oyl from Popeye. Its skin was green and had a wet, glistening look to it like greasepaint. As we watched, it stumbled about the place waving its arms all around, occasionally slamming one of them down on one of the tables, sending cups and plates and stuff everywhere. Every time it did this, it would yell out "WUH-WUH-WUH-WoooOOOoooOOOoooOOO!" in an obnoxious, goofy voice that pitched up and down like a bad sound effect.

My server just blocked my view of the creature with his arm and said "Just ignore him, he's a f*gg*t."

So yeah, points for sheer wackiness, minus a few points for needless homophobia.

[shadioh]

DAY 5: PIZZA TOWER

So you know how in these blog posts I focus on the story in a game, rather than the game itself? Well, for Pizza Tower, there is pretty much no story. I decided that we needed a palette cleanser from the last few posts, so here's a goofy game I've been obsessed with since it came out about a month ago. I'll touch on the story (because that's what I do) but most of it will be about the game itself.

As for what story there is, all you really need to know is in the beginning one minute cutscene; but I'll explain it anyway. Our protagonist is Peppino Spaghetti (yes that's his actual name), a middle-aged Italian man who owns a pizzeria, and is struggling to keep it afloat. One day, the owner of the titular Pizza Tower, Pizzaface, comes by and tells him his plans to blow up Peppino's restaurant with a big green laser (just because he wanted to, I guess?). Peppino sprints faster than humanly possible, chasing Pizzaface to the tower to stop him. That's it. No moral decision making like Fallout, no heart-breaking story like Oneshot, no internal battle like Celeste; just a man trying to save his pizzeria from a living pizza.

So now lets talk about what makes Pizza Tower so great, because for what it lacks in story, it makes up for in every other department.

The visuals can be summed up as a 90s cartoon if it was drawn in Microsoft Paint, but you really need to see it to appreciate it. Every character and background is so fluidly animated, that you can understand how it took 5 years to make it. Peppino himself has a whole gallery of hundreds of individual sprites for all the different moves he can do. You can take a screenshot at any point in the game and laugh at it while marveling at the attention to detail. The art is so wacky and goofy that even if you didn't like the game at all (which you will), you'd probably play it anyway just to look at everything.

The music goes through tons of genres depending on where you are, and it has to be one of the best video game soundtracks I have ever had the pleasure of listening to. Every song on it's own sounds good, but the overall style and inspirations of the game really bleed into it, using soundfonts from older games, and using samples from old songs and media. As for the sound design, the sounds are so silly and straight out of a cartoon - because most of them are. The game utilizes many stock sound effects used in tons of cartoons throughout the years, and making it's own in their style. A lot of times you'll hear a sound and say "Hey, I've heard that before!", and a lot of times you actually haven't - but it sounds like you have.

I won't talk about the gameplay here (as that's not my job nor my expertise, and this post is already stretching the blog's theme), but just know that Peppino is as fun to control as he is to watch.

Pizza Tower is an amazing experience, but not for the reasons I've said so for the other games. You just have this stupid smile on your face when playing it (or even watching it), and it all comes down to it's art and sound making you feel not just nostalgic, but genuinely impressed at how fresh it all feels at the same time. It wears it's inspirations on it's sleeve, but it has it's own identity. And I love that.

And the fact that it's just really funny. It's just really funny, okay?

Here's Peppino sitting in his restaurant like the main menu:

[90secondnewbery]

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

1963 Newbery Medal Winner

Adapted by 5th/6th Grade English Class of Berkshire Country Day School (2024)

From Stockbridge, MA

Judges' Remarks: I really enjoyed this sassy take on the story—and it was made with such skill and craft! I appreciated the attention to detail, like the on-point costumes (Meg's pajamas in the first scene, or Mrs. Which's wacky witchy clothes, or Aunt Beast's appropriately furry ensemble) and the sound design (thunderstorm sounds in the first scene, or the pounding "heartbeat" sound when they are in the room with the disembodied brain IT). It was a smart idea to condense the three witches into one character, and to dispense entirely with blind alleys in the plot like the trip to Uriel and the encounter with the Happy Medium. I enjoyed the smart-aleck insolence of the script, like Charles Wallace saying "it's because of my spidey-senses!" or "slay queen!" (right before he's hypnotized) or Calvin repeating about how popular-but-depressed he is, or Mr. Murry shrugging "sucks to suck." I also liked the goofy additions, such as the Man With The Red Eyes running in to the room after IT is defeated and howling "No! What happened! No! My little itty-bitty IT!" There was a good use of cinematography throughout, especially the placement of the camera in the scene with IT so that it looks like the disembodied brain is much larger than the brain prop actually is. I also liked that there were interior and exterior scenes in various locations—this wasn't just shot in the corner of the library or in a school hallway, but in a real-looking kitchen, a forest, the climbing wall in the gym, etc., and this movie actually took the trouble to stage the scene with the many kids bouncing basketballs in unison! There were also resourceful touches, like having the characters spin around in a circle with a characteristic sound effect to indicate that they are tessering, or using the glass wall in the school to indicate the transparent column where Mr. Murry is trapped. I was also amused at the comedy of Charles Wallace offering Meg "warm milk and a sandwich," but just hands her . . . an empty plate? This movie was funny, resourceful, and well-made, with fantastic performances by everyone!

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[seeksstaronmewni]

The Bear Roots of Burbank Cartoons: A Lookback at Boo Boo Runs Wild

5 years ago, [adult swim] aired the greatest of all Yogi Bear / Ranger Smith episodes, “Boo Boo Runs Wild” (1999), on August 13th, 2016 A.D. at 4 AM.

Look and see, kids, how America’s not-so-average bear connects in the wide world of animation that produces many of the cartoons that you love in Burbank, Canada and more!

As and after I saw it, I knew that I found the greatest band of cartoonists out there, and that greatest band of cartoonists out there was none other than...

Spümcø, whose many creatives would end up working at Hanna-Barbera Cartoons, Cartoon Network Studios, and many other popular Burbank and Canadian studios that made the cartoons I grew up and beyond watching.

Obviously, the character design is rather different, but they still look like the right characters, even with the slight color changes...

and with their items of human attire out. Ranger Smith, on the other hand...

Ranger Smith is wildly off model, and probably on purpose, throughout the picture.

Only in one scene appears he with a more familiar face.

Now, I didn’t have to watch Wild Kratts (which, by the way, features 6 Spümcø Canada creatives) to learn that “there’s only one thing a bear likes more than raiding a pic-a-nic basket.”

As the title suggests, Boo Boo loses his temper when Ranger Smith restricts him from tearing bark and decides to go primal in returning to his bear roots: “From this day forth, I’ll not dress in the man’s attire, and I’ll not speak in the man’s tongue. From now on, it’s going on all fours and grunting for me!”

Boo Boo wreaks havoc for the trees with his natural bear roots.

Unlike past episodes, however, the artists went far wilder than the usual Hanna-Barbera cartoon, making the trees alive and screaming in pain! OH, WHAT TOURTUE! Not to mention how I love Boo Boo’s goofy/manical laugh, a beautiful product of John Kricfalusi’s voice (Yes; I know that he was a formerly abusive megalomaniac who still has ADHD, but God knows what cartoons would be like today—at least those produced in Burbank and Canada—if it wasn’t for the many layout artists that he led).

Also unnatural to a Hanna-Barbera cartoon is the extreme levels of slapstick, wackiness and graphic nature of cartoons since such shows as Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures, Beany and Cecil’s DiC reboot, and The Ren & Stimpy Show. Boo Boo and now Cindy Bear are licking away at all of the honey... and bees... with insanely long tongues (may be that they’re sloth bears?). This left Yogi Bear practically speechless.

The mere sequence of dialogue between Yogi and Ranger Smith, discussing what to do about Boo Boo, involved HEAVY work in the storyboards by Vincent Waller. So many expressions that they couldn’t fit in each of Spümcø’s 3-panel storyboard pages!

As you see, in addition to Vincent Waller’s storyboards, John K. added extra poses (storyboard revisions more or less, but definitely layout poses) under the respective scenes. That way, Vincent could focus on telling and writing the story in rough pictures. (source of storyboards)

I also love the sound design. While it’s definitely true to a Hanna-Barbera cartoon, John K. and the late Henry Porch were very creative with some weird, dated and out-of-context sound effects, similar to what they and Horta Editorial did on The Ren & Stimpy Show in the first two seasons. The production music (probably APM and Capitol Records) also gave it a vintage, nostalgic feel.

Ultimately, with the aforementioned abusive megalomaniac aside, Spümcø undoubtedly harbored some of the finest animators and artists ever. Such names as Bob Jaques (Spongebob Squarepants, Buy One, Get One Free*, The Baby Huey Show), Ben Jones (DC Super Hero Girls, Cats Don’t Dance, Teen Titans GO!), Vincent Waller (Spongebob Squarepants, Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog), Albert Lozano (Inside Out, A Kitty Bobo Show), Todd White (Spongebob Squarepants), Eric Koenig (Atlantis: The Lost Empire, Madagascar, Cats Don’t Dance, The Simpsons, and The Tigger Movie), and Erik Wiese (Samurai Jack, The Mighty B!) are among the hundreds of creatives who ended up almost everywhere working in Burbank and Canadian animation.

Other names on the Spümcø team that one might recognize include Gabe Swarr (Dexter’s Laboratory, The Buzz on Maggie, Foe Paws, El Tigre), and even background artists such as Richard Daskas ( @rdaskas​ - Samurai Jack, Time Squad, Sym-Bionic Titan, Batman Beyond), Richard Ziehler-Martin (Tiny Toon Adventures, The Wacky World of Tex Avery), Hector Martinez (Tom and Jerry: Robin Hood and His Merry Mouse, Timone and Pumba, Captain N, Evil Con Carne, Dora the Explorer), and Tony Mora (MAD, Teen Titans GO! to the Movies, Pickle and Peanut). I mean: in short, these artists worked for Warner Bros. Animation, Disney Television Animation and Walt Disney Feature Animation, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network Studios!

Spümcø’s production assistants on Boo Boo Runs Wild feature Matt Danner —a fantastic character designer, storyboard artists, director and producer, whose credits range from (Johnny Test and The Legend of the Three Caballeros to Team Hot Wheels and The Looney Tunes Show—and Cartoon Brew editor Amid Amidi. Brian A. Miller was an executive in charge of production, not for but probably in association with Cartoon Network.

Spümcø’s creatives, as I said, are all over the place in Burbank animation. Other shows that still air on @adultswim​ have ex-Spümcø creatives. For example: today’s re-run of Samurai Jack EPISODE XVI features Chris Reccardi (The Powerpuff Girls, The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy)...

Scott Wills (Genndy Tartakovsky’s Primal, The Twisted Tales of Felix the Cat)...

Lynne Naylor-Reccardi (The Shnookums and Meat Funny Cartoon Show, Wander Over Yonder) and Jim Smith (YooHoo and Friends, Tom and Jerry Tales, McGee and Me)...

and Leticia Lacy (TRON: Uprising, Sym-Bionic Titan, Wander Over Yonder, Korgoth of Barbaria).

Even outside of Cartoon Network Studios, where most ex-Spümcø artists end up, @cartoonnetwork​’s The Amazing World of Gumball, from Cartoon Network Studios Europe (AKA Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe), features ex-Spümcø artist Charlie Bean (The Powerpuff Girls, Robotboy, Batman: The Animated Series, Timone and Pumba, Creature Crunch) on The Cartoon Network Europe Development Team.

One of Cartoon Network’s biggest and craziest hits, Teen Titans GO!, also features such ex-Spümcø artists as storyboard artist, director and producer Luke Cormican (The Buzz on Maggie, Brandy and Mr. Whiskers, Brickleberry, The Replacements, El Tigre)...

Gerald de Jesus (The Book of Life, The Ricky Gervais Show, TMNT)...

and Eric J. Pringle (Fosters’ Home for Imaginary Friends, The Problem Solverz). What wacky cartoon filled with live-action images, unpredictable visual gags and extreme slapstick humor wouldn’t?

Relatively, you could even tune in to Nickelodeon, the original home of Spümcø’s ground-breaking hit, The Ren & Stimpy Show, and see names of creatives associated with Spümcø and Ren & Stimpy, such as Zeus Cervas (Star vs. the Forces of Evil, Spongebob Squarepants, Clarence) on today’s episode of The Patrick Star Show...

or even Gabe Del Valle (Mighty Magiswords, Spongebob Squarepants) on today’s episode of Middlemost Post!

Overall, Boo Boo Runs Wild introduced me to the cartoon studio whose works I took for granted and on which I was missing out all of my life, and I strongly encourage this generation to support this Yogi Bear / Ranger Smith episode, which you can watch RIGHT NOW on [adult swim]’s site. It was officially on their YouTube channel, but it was removed for unknown reasons. This short never even got a DVD or VHS release!

The last televised airing of Boo Boo Runs Wild on [adult swim] so far was January 6th, 2019 A.D., but Spümcø also produced “A Day in the Life of Ranger Smith” and “Boo Boo and the Man” (based on true events in the life of John Kricfalsui) for Cartoon Network.

As I come to a close, it’s worth noting that layout Ed Benedict, an animator and artist whose credits go all of the way back to the 1930s with Disney and continued with MGM and Hanna-Barbera/Cartoon Network Studios, originally worked on Yogi Bear episode “Yogi’s Birthday Party” as a layout artist, and reprised that very role for “Boo Boo Runs Wild”. What a legacy the animators and artists of this episode leave!

Always will I remember how Spümcø, whose legacy connects to my Cartoon Network-infused childhood, blessed me and graced me that fateful day, August 13th, 2016 A.D., with the ultimate example of the fine art of cartooning that is the Yogi Bear / Ranger Smith episode “Boo Boo Runs Wild”. I was living in the moment, and I thank God for it.

“For years they have [been] asking me to make new Yogi cartoons, but I can’t even get a half a million [dollars] to make one, probably because I actually like the characters, but 60-70 million $ to make walking corpses is economical.” - John Kricfalsui on Yogi Bear (2010)

Another Ranger Smith, Boo Boo or Yogi Bear cartoon from the people behind The Ren & Stimpy Show is highly unlikely today, due to the abuse and harassment of John K. angering the world to the point of hating and condemning the man who helped to shape not only Cartoon Network but also television animation—and animation as a whole—with an undeniable legacy of artists and animators who deserve way more credit and respect than we perhaps thought of giving as kids.

Tweet version of this post here.

[japes-the-clown]

THE SPONGEBOB SQUAREPANTS MOVIE: AN INVERSION ON “COMING OF AGE” FILMS AND A CRITICISM OF ADULTHOOD

Hi hello hey it’s me Jericho Jay “Japes” Marshall out here with a pretentious love letter to the filmmaking on display in nickelodeons The Spongebob Movie. Yes, I know it’s a kids movie. Yes, I know it’s not that deep. But I’m majoring in english, and deeply depressed, so I need to get this OUT and onto a PAGE.

I have watched this film many times over my lifetime, a few when i was just a kid, then in my early teens, even when i turned eighteen, and now, a month before i turn 20. Every time, I grow a new appreciation for the nuances that this movie brings to the table, and on my most recent watch my own deliverance from childhood makes me relate to the core themes the hardest I ever have. The Spongebob Movie isn’t just a movie about childhood, but a movie about adulthood.

Today, I’m going to make clear exactly how The Spongebob Squarepants Movie criticizes our understanding of adulthood and how society treats the neurodivergent, while effectively turning the “Coming of Age” genre on its head, within its 87 minute runtime.

START: CONSISTENT CHARACTERIZATION

One thing a lot of films (ESPECIALLY kids films) fail to nail is consistently showing aspects of a character throughout the runtime, enough that changes to a character feel impactful and justified instead of rushed and stifled. The best examples of movies that fail to do this are often the marvel movies that people tend to not remember- the first two thor movies, the avengers age of ultron, etc. In these movies, characters certainly have traits, but their personalities and motives can be very weak and make dramatic changes feel A LOT less dramatic. This can be seen in age of ultron, when quicksilver gave his own life to save someone else, which felt like nothing because he wasn't well developed. He wasn't particularly endearing, nor did him sacrificing his life contradict a part of his character. It felt very much like the writers trying to say "Look, this character which was once opposing the avengers, is now dying for one. Please cry." No hate to the writers of Age of Ultron, but it proves itself often to be an unmemorable part of the catalogue.

In the Spongebob Movie, the characterization is ON. POINT. After the introduction, with the pirates rushing in to watch spongebob, we get so much information regarding spongebob as a character.

Pictured: Spongebob holding a piece of cheese like an operator

The first scene of the plot is a dream sequence a large crowded scene at the Krusty Krab, with a customer not receiving cheese on his patty, and it being positioned in the same way as a bomb being located. In the dream, everyone is panicked, and Mr. Krabs is visibly distressed, almost like a damsel. Spongebob comes in, announcing his position as manager, much to the relief of Krabs. He goes in, and puts cheese on the burger (again, very akin to a bomb defusal scene), bringing the perturbed customer out safe and sound. Everyone lifts spongebob up as a hero, which is interrupted by his boat alarm.

This scene is JAM PACKED with stuff that both introduces the character to new watchers and introduces the crux of his arc to everyone else. Spongebob of course is very fond of the Krusty Krab, and wants to be the manager- he wants people to see him as cool, and as a responsible adult. He wants to be the sort of person that can be trusted with big responsibilities. And we also see, most importantly, that he is extremely childish through his faximile of what it meant to be adult. Everything is scaled up; it's a very silly situation, which well suits both the joke and his character as an inexperienced kid. This is one of the most direct ways to convey someone's character, because a dream can be interpreted as a direct port into a character's desires. This being the first introduction to the character in the movie sets the tone for EVERY following situation.

In the next few scenes you see Spongebob's real life, which involves his lengthy morning routine; his life is sort of whimsical, and so too is his routine. He showers by shoving a hose into himself till he bursts with water, he uses toothpaste to clean his eyes but not his teeth, and he puts on pants which he must fold to make. Again, all pretty solid jokes, but also very telling about his outlook. He is funny, weird, and childish, which is juxtaposed by the scene where he's- he's uh- showering with squidward. Squidward is an example of the "adult" that spongebob isn't. This has always been the case, but here his normal routine makes it very clear that other people in this world aren't like spongebob. They shower normally, they brush their teeth, they put their clothes on like normal. Spongebob's world is one of wonder and without responsibility, which makes it questionable as to whether he could handle one.

Pictured: Spongebob's room, adorned with childhood imagery

Pictured: Spongebob celebrating his position as a manager, despite Krabs saying that it was squidward who got it

Even his room in this scene screams "kid". He has toys strewn about, glow in the dark stars, and pictures of superheroes on the wall. He even says "Sorry about this calendar" as he rips a page, personifying inanimate objects as a kid would. The movie is telling you, "THIS CHARACTER IS A KID", but in a way that's masked because it's also just a set up for jokes. It's done so well, in my opinion, that it would go over your head because from your perspective you would be laughing along as spongebob did his wacky antics.

On top of that, his excitement for his assured managerial position at the Krusty Krab 2 continues to be bolstered. He marked it off with a cute drawing on his calendar, for those familiar he changes his normal "I'm ready" chant to "I'm ready- promotion-", and he's even already set up a party to celebrate at his favorite chain, Goofy Goobers, a child's entertainment restaurant similar to chucky cheese, albeit replacing pizza for ice cream. He hasn't just gotten excited, but has this childish anticipation for something which isn't even assured.

Spongebob arrives at the opening of the Krusty Krab 2, where he is so excited he can't contain his glee. He breaks the silence and makes members of the crowd uncomfortable, reinforcing again that spongebob is a standout in a world of adults, and a kid who doesn't understand certain social norms, which society looks down upon. When Krabs reveals that Squidward got the managerial position, Spongebob hyped himself so much that he starts celebrating, not even noticing that he wasn't picked. He gets on stage, and begins to give a speech, to which Krabs interrupts.

The next part I think best illustrates Spongebob's clear ignorance to society: Krabs attempts to subtly tell spongebob that he isn't getting the job, but spongebob repeats everything he says into the microphone. Again, fantastic joke, grade A, but the amount this shows how invested spongebob was. He already saw himself as an adult, someone who everyone would look up to as a manager- he could take the responsibility, and isn't aware of everyone likely cringing in the audience. This is the natural step for him in his mind, especially because of his exemplary work which had been previously celebrated through employee of the month awards. This was not an option for him. There wasn't a world in his mind where he would be outclassed by squidward.

Krabs has to break to him that he lacks responsibility, and that his childishness makes it difficult for Krabs to give him such a job. This might seem harsh, but I think the intro again shows how Spongebob saw the job; he didn't understand what it would be like, fantasizing another level in the menial work structure to be an amazing adventure of a job. People in the crowd reaffirm that in the eyes of society, spongebob is just a kid, a goofball. In my eyes, this is a story not just of childhood, but of neurodivergence. Spongebob isn't normal, and is blocked by society for his ignorance of social norms and sunny disposition. He finds things fun that other people can not, and he places values in completely different things. So he is blocked from the meaningful recognition he desired, despite the obvious evidence of his commitment.

I think this is a mighty interesting dichotomy!!! Simultaneously, spongebob's understanding of the world truly is warped, often resulting in a lack of consideration for others as well as harm for himself when things don't go his way, AND he is a good worker which puts in MANY hours of work without so much of a complaint. This is COMPLEX. You have to ask yourself, as a viewer, "would I give spongebob the job?" The answer can be different and can be REASONED.

And that's JUST spongebob! There are other characters with characterization that mixes into the themes of the movie very well, but I'm going to bring up any related points in future sections.

Okay, Okay. So now you're saying "WOW OKAY GREAT so why does any of this matter?" I'm so glad you asked. VERY glad.

2: THE BREAKING OF A YOUNG MAN'S SPIRIT

THIS is the point of the movie. The obstacle in this movie truly isn't adulthood, but instead self doubt. Spongebob's whole world is turned upside down by Krab's rejection of his basic personality. Spongebob asks himself: is it REALLY okay to be who I am? Am I an adult? Is the world fair? One of the most shocking scenes in the movie is blended so well in tone with the rest that you don't really notice; spongebob eating ice cream to cope with his disappointment, akin to that of adults drinking alcohol, and appearing to be visually "drunk" and washed up. This is BRILLIANT, and a recurring theme, where the true line between adult and childhood becomes blurry and impossible to see. Spongebob, the representation of a kid, gets hungover, spiteful, and angry about the injustice of his situation. This is often how adults act in the fact of adversity, but what's funny is that this too is how a kid would act; getting angry and overindulging, feeling entitled and acting socially immature when he didn't get what he wanted. He walks in to the Krusty Krab literally just to shit talk Krabs. And it doesn't stop there.

Pictured: Plankton finding "Plan Z" and looking at it like a centerfold in a playboy magazine

Almost every character in this movie juxtaposes another, again smearing the line of what it means to be an adult. For example, Spongebob and Plankton are polar opposites; plankton is cold and vengeful, angry at the world around him, and spongebob is a happy person who tends not to take things personally, a friend to all. In planktons first appearances in the movie, he is portrayed with clear adult themes, mocking spongebob, making pinup jokes about plan z, and living in a fairly dark and grey space. But, as the story moves along, we see many similarities; both spongebob and plankton are fairly one track minded, and when spongebob's perception is broken he himself gets a little vengeful. When eugene is put in danger over this, though, we do see that he places the lives of others over his own wants. And, even at the end of the movie, we see their similarities. Plankton reuses the "Sorry Calendar" joke that spongebob used at the start of the movie, drawing another line of what it means to be an adult. Is it childish of plankton to say that? Is the inherent irony he has impactful here? His want for something that isn't his, and his disregard for others in pursuing it feels just like how a younger child may steal the toy of another, without understanding what it means to share.

Pictured: Neptune flipping his shit at his lost crown

Then, there's the character of Neptune. Neptune is a big man baby. He rules the entire land, commands the most respect, and is considered the most powerful person under the sea, and yet, we see that he gets overprotective of his property, prepared to execute anyone who even annoys him. Throughout the film, he's obsessed with chasing an image of youth, as he is bald, and ignores the suffering of the people on bikini bottom to make sure no one sees his bald head. He throws what's equivalent to a tantrum when he finds his crown is missing, and believes a very crude note written by plankton saying that it was eugene who stole it. His character is an "acceptable" child because he's in a position of power, where spongebob is an "unacceptable" child as he is just a working class member of society. And the funniest part is, that he mocks spongebob for wanting to go for the crown, when even he, the strongest person in bikini bottom, refuses to go out of fear.

We see that these "bastions" of adulthood, plankton and neptune, are the ones who are responsible for missteps of society; we're ALL children in the long run, but the strict enforcement of a perceived true adulthood creates a space where they can act immaturely yet those under them/around them cannot. Dennis makes this case even more, as the only thing he does in this movie is hurt others. There's only one thing that seems to truly denote adulthood, and it's cruelty.

Even squidward, the adult that is supposed to be more responsible that spongebob, refuses to go on the quest to retrieve the crown, as he acts mostly in self interest, even later claiming to only care that plankton was stealing the secret formula as it was hurting his own paycheck.

Spongebob is the only one willing to go, willing to defend the man who wronged him, willing to value life over his own interests. He is both child and adult, just as the adults are too children.

As he moves through the plot of this film, he becomes less confident in his disposition, with his naivete causing moments like him and patrick crossing the state line and immediately getting carjacked, or them being put into an uncomfortable situation by all the bubbles they blew when they tried to get their car back. His bright personality is questioned constantly: Only five days to shell city? BY CAR. This is man's country. But weren't we the double bubble blowing babies?

Pictured: Spongebob caught trying to take back the key to the patty wagon when patrick fails to distract everyone

This is made more obvious to him as patrick remains oblivious throughout; patrick is a mirror for him, that acts as a childhood constant, that makes it clearer for him every day the draws of his childishness. There's the moment in the club where patrick's distraction was poorly thought out, and only because he said he wanted to do it adamantly, there's the moment where patrick challenged neptune on how many days they would have to do it, which served no purpose but for his own fun, there's the moment patrick points out the free ice cream trap- he is the unemployed uncritical lens that spongebob is afraid he is.

So everything's fucked, and anyone who is childish is bad i guess!!!

But that isn't so,

3: The illusion of manhood

So we've talked about spongebob's characterization as a naive child, how this is impactful in his transformation into someone who is anxious about that aspect of his personality, and how the society around him is hypocritical in it's own immaturity. But where does this all come together?

Pictured: Planktons dystopian world, which Mindy shows Spongebob and Patrick

It's at spongebob and patricks "conversion to manhood". At his lowest point, spongebob becomes a squidward- he becomes critical of his AND patricks interests, and regards them as childish, deciding that this means that they can't make it to shell city, as it requires them to be adults. When mindy shows them the dire situation back home, she hopes that spongebob's sunny personality and care for others would shine through, but instead he turns to what society has been telling him; it's impossible. He can't do it, he's just a little kid, and there is no point to any of this as he'll fail regardless.

Thinking about it like this, it truly is one of the darkest points in the entire series; spongebob just openly admitted that there was nothing he could do, that all of his friends were goners because he was effectively useless.

Mindy comes up with an idea; she'll trick spongebob and patrick into believing they're men; she convinces them of mermaid magic (their innocence allowing them to believe) and uses kelp to make them think they've matured into adults. Notice that physical modifiers being the only key to this "fake adulthood". With this, they jump off a cliff because they believe that with adulthood, they are invincible.

This is really telling about how the society they're in thinks of being an adult, and relays that to children. There's another level, a distinct separation between spongebob and adulthood, which seemed like the difference between a squire and a knight- being an adult means that you aren't weak anymore (as though he was weak in the first place), and thus you can do things you never thought before. Is it truly healthy that this is how a society tells kids that adulthood is like, for them to enter the world and feel a truly awful financial and literal hellscape waiting for them? uh, you can, you can decide that for yourself i think.

Nonetheless, they survive the fall, and conclude that they really are invincible, able to power through a ravine with their happy go lucky attitude, eventually befriending the monsters which were once trying to kill them. They weren't acting like adults, but the labels themselves made it possible for them to soldier on with the childlike disposition they had. I find that to be powerful. If we were able to be more hopeful as adults, and power through the worst things brightly, could we do great things? Idk but these depression meds sure do taste good nom nom

After crossing the ravine, spongebob and patrick meet dennis, and have their worldview crushed as it's revealed that they are actually still kids. Dennis being the "alpha male" that he is, is characterized by violence and a lack of morality. The pair are saved by a giant boot, which is the first of two humans in this movie. Spongebob and patrick are both taken by the man in the diver suit, as we fade to black, marking the end of their illusion of adulthood.

4: Back from the Edge (of death)

Spongebob and Patrick awaken in an antique shop, realizing that they were surrounded by fish that had been killed specifically for sale as tacky antiques. They are lifted out of their fishbowl, and put under a heatlamp, as their fate is sealed to become a member among those dead fish. In spongebob's final moments, he mourns his inability to be an adult, as well as to reach shell city; but before they both die, patrick points out that they truly did reach shell city, as the crown was within their reach.

This. This is a phenomenal scene. Why? Because of what it means for spongebob's arc.

Pictured: Spongebob and Patrick on their deathbeds, finding happiness

He sees the crown, and realizes that, unequivocally, that even if he didn't bring the crown back, he made it to shell city. Every person he met told him that he couldn't even do that. and he did it. He is a kid, yes, but he's a kid who went where not even NEPTUNE dared go. Everything people said about him, about how him being a kid stopped him from success, was suddenly shattered. He has been asking himself if it's okay that he is a kid, and he saw, unambiguously, that it is. He is allowed to be happy. He can enjoy things that other people don't. He can be naive. He can be himself, no matter what anyone says. And so can you. Great things can be done by people who are "childish", who are "naive", who are kind without expecting a return, all of it. YOU are okay. Your stims are okay, your comfort series are okay, your interest in tropes are okay, YOU'RE OKAY!!!!

with that, spongebob and patrick are dehydrated on the table, and ostensibly die, the kids that they are, shedding one final tear each, forming a heart beneath them.

...

Miraculously, the tear electrocutes that lamp at it's socket, causing smoke to rise and set off the sprinklers, rehydrating the pair, and bringing them back to life. The "Man in the Suit" attempts to capture them, seeing them about to lift Neptune's crown, but the rest of the dehydrated fish come back to life- squirting him with his own glue and beating him to the ground, as spongebob and patrick run out with the crown. David Hasselhoff offers them a ride back to Bikini Bottom, and the pair begin their ride back.

5: The confrontation of Adulthood and Childhood

Pictured: Dennis looking all lame and shit

As spongebob and patrick are being swam back to bikini bottom, the boot under which dennis was crushed rockets to Hasselhoff, spitting him back out to finish the job. The appearance of Dennis, IN MY OPINION, makes him look rather goofy, with his broken glasses making him look more like a office worker than a badass assassin as he attempts to kill spongebob and patrick. Spongebob, in trying to reason with him, is able to ruin his eyes with bubbles, and then survives as dennis gets hit by a raised platform which spongebob and patrick are too low to be hit by.

Having defeated one representation of adulthood, spongebob and patrick are shot down by HasselHoffs MASSIVE MAN TITS with the crown in order to prevent Krab's fate, blocking Neptune's lazer just in time as they crash in.

All seems to be well, but plankton uses one of his mind control helmets (which we'll be getting into later) to enslave even Neptune, putting mindy, spongebob, patrick, and Krabs against the wall.

In another stark moment of characterization, Spongebob tells patrick that "Plankton Cheated", which prompts plankton to tell spongebob that the situation wasn't a kiddy game, and that it was the real world. This sort of distinctions in their ethos tell you how spongebob interacts with justice; he believes in "playing fair", while plankton is bitter and believes in getting what he wants.

Finally, the apex to our plot, is a musical number. Spongebob begins to make a long-winded speech, where he takes ownership of every label he was called as he stood on the stage at the beginning, the similarity between the two events being clear (holding a microphone at an inappropriate time, making a speech as he blocks out input from an adult trying to talk him down). Spongebob then busts out into the film's rendition of Twisted Sister's "I Wanna Rock", "I'm a Goofy Goober". This results in spongebob reversing plankton's whole plot with "the power of rock and roll". Plankton is made powerless, and thrown into a little padded cell.

The final scene in the movie has Mr. Krabs freed from his imprisonment in ice, and spongebob is offered squidwards position as manager of the second Krusty Krab. He seems hesitant, and squidward offers an insightful analysis of what spongebob might be feeling (the typical analysis of a coming of age movie, where the protagonist finds out that what they wanted all along is not what they wanted, but it was what was inside all along). Spongebob refutes that squidwards fly was just down, and GLADLY accepts the job.

AND THAT'S THE MOVIE

6: AN INVERSION ON THE COMING OF AGE GENRE

A coming of age story tends to be one which is focus on the growth of a character from childhood to adulthood, asking questions about what it means to be an adult. A character reaches for their perceived adulthood, and realizes what it means to ACTUALLY be an adult, typically juxtaposing what people think (drugs, parties, sex) versus what the movie postures as the correct adulthood (responsibility). In this, I think that the spongebob movie directly criticizes the position of what "an adult" is, in the sense of how someone acts.

Like we discussed in part 2, every adult character in this movie tends to be very childish in themselves, unable to see through simple ruses, and often very possessive of personal property. I don't think we actually see a child in this movie as a speaker at any point, only really as background characters (in goofy goobers to solidify spongebob as childish, and I believe in the chum bucket as they're lead to an unsafe place by their parents, who are supposed to be responsible). Thus, what is mostly examined is how adulthood and childhood is a very thin line. Squidward, for example, going directly to plankton to accuse him of stealing the formula, instead of taking it to the top immediately, which would have ended this whole thing fairly quickly; that was rather silly, and was the fruit of his need to assert himself as an adult.

Spongebob goes through this movie FIRST not caring much about whether or not he was an adult, and it is only after the social pressure from adults does he start to chase it. He then chases his perceived image of an adult, going on an adventure, and is crushed by the fact that he isn't an adult. Instead of finding what an adult is, he instead becomes comfortable with his existence as a child, finding himself at the end of the movie able to comfortably chase after an ideal again, where in a normal movie he would humbly reject the job he was offered.

This is, truly, what we should all take from this film. Spongebob realizes that people who aren't necessarily socially adjusted or acceptable can do great things, regardless of what the people around them say, especially because the people around them are liable to throw tantrums and be actively harmful to society. He is allowed to find comfort in childish things, and to be naive, because the world needs more people willing to help others. It's a scathing criticism on the imposed adulthood that exists in a lot of coming of age films, which begs us to drop fun in the interest of doing the right thing, as though those two ideas are contradictory.

BONUS: EXTRA STUFF THAT I LIKED

The goofy goober song became really good storytelling, at first marking childishness, then marking a level of discomfort and judgement in the club, then marking spongebob recognizing that his happiness came from what he liked and not some vague idea of adulthood, and finally marking his full acceptance of his childishness, taking the form of rock, the music of rebellion. It's not as subtle as leitmotifs, but it works really well in how the same song can give very different feelings throughout, and inform how we interact with a story.

There are a lot more examples of adults being pressured into childishness, with the connected twins who liked goofy goober at the club, who were beaten senseless for absolutely no reason, which highlights the way that the society hurts people that, by all means, are just as much adults as anyone else. There's of course Plankton's helmets which created a society of people who simply slaved away with nothing to say, taking life as it came and listening to authority.

On top of that, this movie is PRETTY ANTICAPITALIST AND ANTIMONARCHY, despite those things being allowed to continue to exist at the end- monarchy is seen misusing power constantly and often for unfounded reasons, and Spongebob's diligence at work is rejected by a penny pinching Krabs, who cares only about money. Like, THE KRUSTY KRABS ARE RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER? THAT IS SOME MONTY PYTHON ASS SHIT. This year is the first year i laughed at that joke, because it's really some "capitalists are fucking dumb as shit" humor that slipped over my head when i was a kid. The villain literally being defeated by Rock and Roll, which was sung with a message against the oppression of differences in people? Yeah, I think the spongebob movie hated rich mother fuckers.

END: UH YEAH THAT'S WHAT IT IS

So yeah. The movie is good I think. There's a lot more i could go into, but I've been writing this post for hours and at this point i haven't even read it so...

I recommend going back and giving this film a rewatch!!! Pay attention to all the moments where adults act like children/kids act like adults, because it'll make ur brain pop like a zit. Anyways that's me, I'm Jericho Jay "Japes" Marshall, and I HATE facism.

[lokewolf-father]

So I Listened to the First Five Insane Clown Posse Albums...

And I really enjoyed myself! I tried this post already, but the Tumblr app is a piece of garbage and lost it somehow, so here goes again. To make a long story short, even though I didn't really enjoy the first two albums, Carnival of Carnage and The Ringmaster, I found a lot to enjoy about Insane Clown Posse, and can safely say I like them. Death metal guitar mixed with heavy bass, carnival sounds, and lyrics about necromantic clown sorcerers, killer toys, and cartoonish depictions of murder make their concept albums something that is both novel and undeniably cool when it isn't too crude or juvenile, which is more frequent than I would like.

I should probably state, especially considering I'm writing off the first two albums, that I am not the target audience for ICP. I do not consider myself a Juggalo in any definition of the word; I don't really listen to rap, and couldn't define hip-hop without looking it up. I do however enjoy horror movies and low-brow entertainment like comic books, and consider Marilyn Manson to be one of my personal heroes, so believe me when I say that I really do like aspects of the cavalcade of crazy that is the Insane Clown Posse.

Riddle Box is awesome, and I find myself wondering if this is the album where people feel like ICP came into their own. Part of their mythology is that if the Dark Carnival, where sinners are judged by a cavalcade of characters before being killed and sent to their souls ultimate destination. Several albums are designated as Joker's Cards, and depict characters and elements of the Carnival.

The intro is awesome, introducing the Riddle Box, which is a magic box that either gives the slain a vision of God, warming their souls and sending them to Heaven, or a demonic fog that drives them insane and sends them to Hell.

One of my favorite songs, "Chicken Huntin' (Slaughter House Mix)" is on this song, and demonstrates ICP's understanding of their audience. A song about killing dumb, ignorant hillbillies, I have to assume it's cathartic to people who left behind wacky rural families behind when they left home. "Toy Box" is about a guy with murderous toys that turn on him, and makes me laugh. It sounds hokey, and that's because it is, hokey and worth a listen. A lot of this is appealing to me because I don't listen to rap music, partly because I don't care for the subject matter.

I like rappers like Kanye West and Eminem because I can't identify with or enjoy a lot of the gangsta-macho stuff that mainstream rap can't seem to get away from. With ICP, their personas are over the top killer clowns, and that's awesome! Because they're so goofy and have been pretty much rejected from pop culture, their music appeals to social outcasts and others who are down on their luck, something that Shaggy 2 Dope and Violent J recognize.

That being said, before I move into the next album, I should probably mention "Ol' Evil Eye", ICP's own adaptation of Poe's "The Tell-tale Heart". Good shit, even if it makes the master turn over in his grave.

The Great Milenko is fantastic, and is a Joker's Card about an evil necromancer clown that tempts you into damning yourself. I'm told this is more of a hip-hop album, but as someone who isn't that familiar with this kind of music, I can't tell the difference. What I will say is there are more songs here that I like than on the previous three albums. The intro, which is read by none other than Alice Cooper, is excellent, as is the title track and "Hokus Pokus", both of which are sufficiently creepy and dark.

"Piggy Pie" is a song about murdering dickhead cops that uses a very, um, clever three little pigs motif. As a funny aside, this album was initially put out by Hollywood Records, and had to be approved by Disney, who forced them to change this song. The album was pulled from shelves anyway, making the whole exercise of censorship pointless anyway. It's just funny to think that Disney read associated with ICP at one point.

"Southwest Voodoo" is another effective song, featuring a black magic chant for chorus, which is to say nothing of "Halls of Illusion", which has Slash on guitar!

One of my other favorites off this album is the existential "How Many Times", which puts you in the mindset of the type of person ICP is talking to. Broke, down on your luck, arrested, your stereo stolen, it's hard to imagine things can ever really get better; in a world that rejects you and shows your no respect, why not remake yourself as a psychotic clown? As Manson says, "They'll never be good to you/bad to you/they'll never be anything at all". Any aging goth kid can understand where ICP is coming from here.

The Amazing Jeckel Brothers is the first album I listened to, and probably my favorite one. "Terrible" and "Bring it On" have the heavy sound that I love, and "Assassins" is just an awesome, badass song in general. If hip-hop is just another word for tough guy music, these songs definitely fit the bill. The bass lines make the songs positively rock in a way I didn't think was possible for ICP. "Everybody Rize" is a cool Juggalo anthem, as is "Fuck the World", calling out a culture and industry that rejects and hates them like a boss. If you're on the fence about these fuckers, this is another great album to start with, especially considering the touching final song, "Nothing's Left", which reflects on the broken nature of the world, and wonders if there can be any real salvation for anyone. Considering ICP are Christian and ultimately incorporated they're religion into their music, I know what their opinion on this is, but just begging the question gives the song a universal appeal that even an angry atheist like myself can identify with.

At the end of the day, I have to figure that getting to know the Insane Clown Posse was rewarding for me. I'm not a Juggalo, but I understand their world a lot better and get how they can be kind to others and have something special with their subculture. I plan to listen to more ICP and write about them, but I'd like to write about Juggalo culture first. If you're a Juggalo or have any thoughts, I want to hear from you! Have you met the Insane Clown Posse or been to their shows? Have you been to the gathering of the Juggalos? An I wrong about anything I wrote above?

[riotatthemovies]

Hellmaster (1992)

For years I thought this was a goofy shot on video movie and when once attempting to watch it on YouTube found it wasn't wacky enough to make up for the hard to see visuals so I gave up 30 minutes in. BUT Vinegar Syndrome has been on a role of fixing near lost b movies and cleaning up movies only available in over transfered vhs rips into clean brand new looking transfers. To my shock this was made on film and looks actually fairly professional. This made it easier to get pulled in this time and watch past the first 30 minutes when the movie gets a lot more fun. The movie obviously is a play on Hellraiser in title and cover and has many Clive Barker elements (aka rip offs) but it made me think of Popcorn a lot as (spoiler) it's less demonic evil and more science evil that just seems like magic. The legendary John Saxxon owns as a chilling mad scientist that turns students into zombie slaves. Zombie killers that feel like demons for sure (comparible to demons from the movie Demons). The pinhead like guy on the cover is not the main villian but his name is Johnny Razorface so thats pretty entertaining. One young zombie especially with a prostetic face is super creepy in the now high quality transfer. Looking and sounding like a puppet specifically like Baby Oopsie from Demonic Toys (which now seems funny looking back on it). However no cleaning up of the film quality will hide the awful acting (most of the young actors seem to not know exactly what's happening in scenes) made worse by some pretty bad editing. Scenes drag out with people staring with a look in thier eyes that they are waiting for someone to say cut as well as some confusing cuts that make you wonder what the actors are looking at. The off editing adds to the kind of trippy effect they go with in the films second half, making it fun but you wouldn't say "good". Similar also to the second half of The Deadpit. New collectors blu ray or watch for free on.. wait for it.. Tubi tv (oh yeah) . It was fun if not exactly original. Watch it for mad John Saxxon or watch Hellraiser, Popcorn, Demons or Deadpit since why the hell not?

[constakes]

A Golden Oldie

By Conor O’Farrell

As part of my education in the legendary Bond franchise (which after being reminded of I am now fixated on), I decided to wind back the clock and give 1995’s GoldenEye a go. This decision was not made on a whim however, as my research told me of a nostalgic, slick, stylish and fun watch that is commonly regarded amongst the inner sanctum of Bond diehards moreso than critics. So, the question remains, did I get what I was promised? Yes, I bloody did.

This film is not flawless by any means. At times, tired hallmarks of previous Bond films begin to creep in (from what I’ve discovered thus far). When a sudden seduction disrupts the development of a genuine romantic connection and clearly defined dots are somehow not joint to uncover villainous activity, these seem far from great signs of progress. However, GoldenEye sees the good comfortably outweigh the bad. Pierce Brosnan’s debut as Bond is great (and widely regarded as his finest outing) as he brings a natural charm to the role. Despite fluffing the agent’s signature introductory line of “Bond. James Bond.” early on (pronouncing it more like “James Bod”): with respect to the fact that the weight accompanying such a statement would terrify most into speechlessness - he oozes bravado for the rest of the flick, still allowing for a coldness to bleed through when it comes down to business (you barely notice his Irish accent seeping through a handful of occasions).

The writing backs up the protagonist’s performance, as provided is a relatively realistic (as close as can be for a Bond film), sensical and engaging plot whilst the vast majority of the character arcs are similarly grounded; Izabella Scorupco’s Natalya Simonova stands out in this instance. While most attempts to satirise (while honouring) the era of campier Bonds are much appreciated, the shady Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming) is made too goofy, taking away from the film as he plays an especially prominent role in its final third. Among the more effective satirical endeavours is Famke Janssen’s Xenia Onatop, who despite possessing elements of ‘piss-takery’ somehow doesn’t come across too ridiculous. This film doesn’t hold fire on previous outings either, boldly renouncing the misogyny of ages past without tearing its predecessors apart. Judi Dench debuts as the new M at MI6, making for a seemingly destined pairing backed by Dench’s Brosnan-like confidence. On an acting note, General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov (Gottfried John) is perfectly cold while Sean Bean’s Alec Trevelyan works a treat, thanks to a versatile performance and a solid backstory. Martin Campbell impressively achieves an odd balance between taking jabs at old Bonds whilst honouring them through throwbacks and homages (quite often, they occur simultaneously). All things considered, this film represents a franchise stepping into the future with a new main man, new gadgets and most significantly, new attitudes.

Whilst the light-hearted jokes and gags are genuinely funny and stand as respectful nods to earlier times, the outstanding action scenes are nothing short of iconic, as creativity, audacity and classy cinematography blend beautifully. Without giving too much away, when tanks and exploding pens involved, for me there can only be one result. Awesomeness - even days after watching it, I was happily replaying them in my head. Tina Turner’s slick theme tune (interestingly penned by Bono and the Edge) is supported Eric Serra’s wickedly good soundtrack, throwing the electrified sounds of the 90s, militaristic marches and traditional Russian singing into the pot and somehow brewing up a storm. Its wackiness may not please the traditionalist, but personally I believe this film isn’t meant too. Innovation will always have its critics.

Watching this film has sparked a weird new romance for me. The nostalgia (I often wish I grew up in the nineties), a cool ass Brosnan and mind-melting action sequences have indeed captured my heart. Everything about it has an irresistible freshness. Is it perfect? No. Is it enjoyable? Hell yes. Do yourself a favour and watch this film.

[deanky]

Total - C. Martin Croker Q&A

Total TV: I know you were already an animator before you got involved with Space Ghost. But did you also know that you had this great talent for voices?

Clay Croker: I used to work out at the laser show way back when. Ten years ago. It's out at Stone Mountain Park, this giant granite mountain that sticks right up out of the ground, and they project laser shows up against the side of it. That was my first animation job. I created a character right when I started out there, they had this bear character and they wanted a sidekick for the bear. So I came up with a Possum character that they called CW, which stood for Civil War, argh. [mimes vomiting] I didn't come up with that part. But I also wound up doing the voice of that character too. So I was doing voices for laser show characters a decade ago. And I'd always done goofy voices on my answering machine and stuff, and I was always a fan of Zorak from the original Space Ghost.

Oh, really? So this was like a deep-seated desire?

Oh, yeah. They started rerunning Space Ghost in 1978, when I was in high school. And we'd all talk about it at the lunch table and stuff. And there would be friends of mine who'd be like, Brak's my favorite, he's the coolest, he's that Tiki cat kind of guy. And I was going, oh, man, Zorak blows 'em all away. You don't know what you're talking about. So I actually did like a Zorak answering machine message probably while I was still in high school.

God, it'd be great if you still had a copy of that.

I may. I may. I save everything. I have answering machines tapes going back to '80. So when Space Ghost was pitched to Design Effects, where I was working, I had to kind of horn my way in. 'Cause they were just gonna make it a designer job and not have any animators in on it. And I was like, wait a minute! What do you guys know about Space Ghost? You know about any of the villains? And they were like, well, maybe we should have him sit on this. So I wound up actually suggesting that Zorak be on the show, 'cause I was such a big Zorak fan. I was going like, we gotta have some villains on the show! Zorak would be perfect! And [Cartoon Network programming head] Mike Lazzo agreed. He said well, Zorak was always one of my favorites too.

But I was dismayed when I found out they weren't going to use the original voices. 'Cause I thought, Oh boy, we're gonna be working on shows with Gary Owens doing the voice of Space Ghost and Don Messick doing the voice of Zorak Then I find out no, no, no, we're just gonna go with local guys. And I was horrified. I was like, oh, man, here I thought I was giving Zorak a career boost. And there was a point in a meeting where they said, hmm, well we're gonna have so and so do Space Ghost, so that solves the Space Ghost dilemma. Who are we gonna have do Zorak's voice? There's this long silence, and I'm like, well, it's now or never. And I just said, Well I can do that voice. And they were like, do it. So I just spat out one of the old lines I remembered and they were like okay, you're Zorak, that solves that problem.

What about Moltar? Did you have any affinity for him?

No. Zorak I really wanted on the show. And then we started reviewing Space Ghost cartoons at Design Effects, and the first cartoon we looked at was "The Evidence of Moltor." They changed his name between first and second season, I think they probably just couldn't remember what he was called. Originally, they had Andy [Merrill], who does Brak's voice, come in and read for Moltar. He sort of did kind of what wound up being Brak, sort of the same crazy inflections. And they were like, I think that's a bit strong. And then right before the show went to final edit, they said we want you to come in and read for Moltar. Can you do like a Ted Cassidy kind of voice? And I went [switches to sonorous basso] well, sure, I think so. And they said, well, go on in there and do it. So I thought what the hey. But, you know, the rest is history.

Do you ever get confused going back and forth?

At rehearsal. That's the only time I get confused sometimes. LIke I'll have Zorak and Moltar arguing, and sometimes I'll wind up starting to do the other character's voice and inflection. I'll see the word and think, Oh, this is a Zorak line. And it'll wind up being the other way. Sometimes I have to go, "Wait a minute, wait a minute, okay. Start the clock again."

Do you ever get up in the morning and feel like it's a Moltar kind of day? Or a Zorak kind of day? Does the identification ever go that far?

Well, the cool thing about Zorak is the fact that I can pretty much say what I'm thinking if I say it with Zorak's voice. Like at conventions and stuff, when overbearing fans get in our face I'm like, [in dismissive Zorak voice] "Yeah, yeah, yeah."

People love to be insulted by Zorak.

Oh yeah. Well, it definitely makes it easier to deal with some of the fans. We get some pretty rabid fans for Space Ghost. To me it's like, you know, it's just Space Ghost. But we've had some people that are just absolutely, like, crazy for the show. And being able to deal with them as Zorak does make things easier, because you can be like, [in nasty Zorak voice ] "Yeah, well pipe down, sonny, I hear your mother calling you." And they're like [breaks into rabid-fan chortling].

Do people assault you with their version of Zorak's voice?

Usually not. I think, you know, they would be too self-conscious about it. But we always get the guys who come up like with buttons all over their shirts and stuff, and they'll be like, [switches into moronic stoner voice] "Let me be a character on the show, come on, I do good funny voices." OK, we'll get your card and we'll call you. But in answer to your question, the only time I really feel like [a character] . . . I actually feel more like my other alter ego, who's the cartoon series that I've got on the side burner, which is Mr. Angst.

Mr. Angst?

Yeah, and I very often feel like Mr. Angst, a lot of the time.

How does Mr. Angst speak?

Oh, I'm still working on that, but it's somewhere between like Lenny Bruce and someone that has screamed till they're hoarse.

That sounds a little bit like Brak.

Yeah.

At least the screaming end of the spectrum, not the Lenny Bruce end.

Actually the guy that does Bird Man's voice I'm thinking about using as a character. But I think I'm going to use him as Mr. Angst's pal Crude Dan. He was based on a real guy I knew called Crude Dan.

What's Mr. Angst look like?

Let's see, well he's sorta kinda like . . . I don't want to say Danny Kaye because that involves a lot more connotations, but a lot like Danny Kaye gone bad, sort of.

The vessel with the pestle has the pellet with the poison.

So he pretty much just looks like this. [starts to sketch] One of these days . . . I've got some pencil tests done of him already, but with all the animation realism shows that are being worked up now, like King of the Hill and all these more reality-based shows . . . I've been wanting to do that for like . . . I mean I've had this character on the back burner since like '91.

Wow. He looks like a bit of a hipster.

Yeah. Oh yeah. Well I mean he's about like 35 to 38, somewhere in there, and like really into barbecue and bowling and all kinds of stuff like that. Oh, and he's always got to have that un-PC butt hangin' out of his mouth. [sketches it in] So he would be like . .. oh, I forgot all the . . .

The angst lines.

Yeah. [sketches them in]

That's really cool. Mr. Angst. Can I keep that?

Certainly.

Maybe after this big push for the new Space Ghost Coast to Coast episodes you'll have some time.

Well, the thing that's cool is because there's been so much Space Ghost stuff going on I've been able to ramp up my production. I've been able to like get more desks and pencil test machines and all the other equipment that I need when I eventually start doing something other than Space Ghost. But I've also heard rumblings that there's already something besides Space Ghost waiting in the wings, so we shall see.

Beyond Cartoon Planet?

Yeah. Yeah.

I love Cartoon Planet.

Oh yeah, me too.

And Zorak's Horrorscopes.

Yeah, Pete Smith wrote all those, they were a blast. I think we've done like the entire zodiac.

Pete wrote a bunch of, like, wacky stuff, a lot of the songs the Cartoon Planet Band sings on the show. Are we still recording?

Yeah.

I just wanted to like get the process down from the start. We read through the script, we make notes, I come up with a thumbnail story board, I show that to [line producer] Jim Fortier and then I work up the actual first draft of the boards. Then we have a meeting and go through basically all the boards and say, well, we want to use this, we don't want to use that. Then I work up the final boards, they get approved and then they start being animated. So that's how the process gets rolling, as far as like where all the new art comes from.

And that's basically your domain, the new art?

I do all the new animation for the show. I run my own animation company, Big Deal Cartoons. I actually run it out of my house, I have a studio set up in the basement and have freelance animators, all of which have 9­5 jobs in this town, doing animation because there's been such an explosion of the art form in the last year or so I can just get them at night. Right now, we're mostly working on Space Ghost needs.

What exactly do you do here in the Flame Room, Clay?

Tear our hair out? [laughs] This is where we do digital ink and paint. And then composite those new cells into other scenes. Which in this case is all the scenes of Bird Man sitting at the desk, stuff that did not exist in the original Bird Man universe. We do new animation compositing, rotoscoping some of the existing animations from the '60s and take Bird Man and Space Ghost and other characters out of them. We cut 'em out of their original scenes, give ''em new backgrounds, put 'em into a set.

You actually cut them out digitally?

Frame by frame.

That sounds pretty time-consuming.

It is. The show's kind of like a waking hours thing. While I'm awake, I'm thinking about the show. Before, up to this point, we'd been on the air almost three years and put out 33 shows. About a dozen shows a year. This year, we're doing 26 new episodes so it's a big change. As is usual around here, I'm booked in more sessions than just one at once. Right now I'm doing the Fred Flintstone thing at the drive-in and the bowling alley, where I'm like running up and down the hall all day long monitoring what's going on in ink and paint and what's going on in the actual composite, which is in here. So all the cells are brought in, we bring them in under the camera over here and shoot them directly into the paint box room. They digitally ink and paint them, like you're seeing an example of right now. Sometimes we add special effects. Space Ghost blows up Zorak in another scene, we have to paint him to make him look likes he's charred and burned.

Do you use like a stock image of Zorak charred or do you actually create that for every episode? 'Cause Zorak gets zapped a lot.

They have pretty much a standard few scenes where he gets charred, and they just use that over and over. In fact, they just made a new one. But yeah, we try to keep it as standardized as possible. We try to keep all the colors standard.

What about Zorak's boinks? Are the boinks new animation?

Where he bounces?

Yeah.

No, actually that's something that they digitally did. The first time I saw that I went, wow, what was that? They said, "Oh, that's something we were just messing around with." And I was like, okay. I just wondered, you know, 'cause most of the time now if there's new artwork involved in the show, then [senior Flame artist] Butch [Seibert] and I--or whoever is working in here, like putting it together, but most of the time it's Butch--we like put together all the new scenes. But every once in a while they'll come up with something and just go, "Oh, well that's a Tom thing," and they'll have [online editor] Tom Roche come up with something in final edit.

You guys have all these great names: Croker! Roche!

Yeah. [laughs] So I'll see the show and like all of a sudden see something I had nothing to do with and go, "Wow, what was that?" Well, too late to change it now. Watching it on TV.

That must also be kind of fun in a way. You get a little surprise.

Yeah, well, it's like reaching into a bag and getting, like, eeyew, noodles!

[susandsnell]

whaaat Hadestown sounds awesome!!! i’ll definitely check both those out but it sounds like Hadestown is like, the style of my dreams. also anything that starts as a folk opera is awesome bc i love the concept of a folk opera. follow up: i’ve seen some things about Be More Chill and somehow missed its jump to Broadway? what’s it about?

Sorry I took a day to get back to you, musical anon, but I just had to write my penultimate final first thing this morning! Hadestown is the style of everyone’s dreams, and I really hope you like it when you do check it out. It’s incredibly unique. 

As to your second query, permit me to have some obnoxious gif usage because life is short and I am now permanently on my bullshit. And, well. You just asked me, Coco, about Be More Chill.

WELCOME TO HELL. YOU CAN NEVER LEAVE NOW. 

(Festive, right?) 

So! 

Be More Chill is a very loose adaptation of a (vastly different and quite offensive) 2004 novel by the same name. It did the work of my dreams, which is combine my two favourite genres, science fiction and musical theatre, in a big way, while also stealth being a narrative about mental health, recovery, friendship, love, and sexy computers.  Also, the songs are absolute bops and the music style is contemporary but still unmistakably Broadway. It’s also openly inspired by Little Shop of Horrors (while also being very much in the vein of other wacky, culty musicals like Reefer Madness, a bit of Rocky Horror thrown in, etc), which is a major plus. 

It’s a darkly hilarious, sci-fi-horror-teen drama-romance-musical, in short. 

In long??? A little gist: 

So, our leading man, Jeremy Heere, is a (canonically Jewish! Canonically Jewish! CANONICALLY JEWISH!!!) typical high school geeky outcast who struggles with severe anxiety, self hatred, and a vast panoply of other issues. He’s badly bullied, only has one friend, Michael Mell, who is quite literally the savior of the universe, and crushes on the local theatre kid (and a literal queen), Christine Canigula. In an effort to impress her, he takes the advice of the local bully, Rich, and buys a pill from the back of a Payless shoe store called a SQUIP (short for Super Quantum Unit Intel Processor), which, if ingested and activated by Mountain Dew (just go with it I promise it’s worth it), installs a computer chip in his brain that can manifest the illusion only he can see of a personification that is an intensely attractive person (has been cast as multiple genders depending on the production!!!) who will instruct him on what the right thing to do or say is so that he can overcome his perceived social and personal failings, and improve himself, and maybe get the girl. 

Of course, this thing goes evil, and absolute epic mayhem ensues. 

Where do I even start with what I love about this musical? 

The characters are incredibly true to life; literally nobody is who they seem to be in terms of typical high school, sci fi, or even theatre tropes. which is part of the ultimate message (and I love that!!!) Jeremy’s narrative is very much a subversion of the typical entitled-nerd-boy-goes-wild-trying-to-get-the-girl, because his actions and mistakes are steeped very much in long lasting mental health struggles (he literally mentions having to go to the nurse constantly due to his anxiety attacks), as well as a heartrendingly realistic and depressing home life, and the show is very clear about this, pulling no punches. He’s flawed, he’s sweet, he’s funny, he’s tragic, he’s redemptive, he’s just…wonderful. 

Michael, who in any other show would be ‘the goofy best friend’ character and that’s it gets an incredible arc showing his brilliance, and his own inner demons, including the big showstopper Michael In The Bathroom, which is famous not only for being an incredible song, but because it goes there; it depicts the entirety of a severe panic attack in gut-wrenching detail. All set to awesome music, of course. His depth is revealed in that the otherwise cheerful, happy-go-lucky best friend character whose life seems to revolve around the protagonist’s brought to the logical conclusion of this archetype; extreme codependency and other mental health struggles. This is by no means all that he is – I’d explain why, and what an incredible, positive, heroic character he is, but I won’t dare spoil where his arc ends up going. 

Christine Canigula, our leading lady, is a badass feminist and so much more than a perky theatre kid; she’s shown to struggle much in the same ways Jeremy and Michael do, she’s politically involved and dedicated, while still being desperately uncertain about what to do with her life, her entire character is dedicated to subverting expectations (all her big numbers end with a subverted rhyme to prove this!!), she’s developed so much more than other love interest characters, and is in so many ways so much more than a love interest. She’s fiercely intelligent, but tempted to take the easy route to popularity in different ways than Jeremy, while being more inclined to being true to herself, and her autonomy drives the plot. She’s also canonically a woc who has ADHD and she’s a gun control advocate. Like??? When will your faves ever?  Her romance is believable and wonderful and driven by what she wants and her arc, while subtle, is integral to the plot. 

I could do a paragraph for each character (and if you’re on my blog, I’ll probably get around to writing meta for each of them), but the popular kids, the bullies, even the apparently useless parent character…none of them are what they seem. As for the SQUIP, I don’t dare reveal the awesomeness of that particular villain, except to say that it’s a metaphor for…a number of things, while incredibly enthralling, and The Pitiful Children, the big villain song, is honestly up there with any of your Disney villains for a truly epic sci-fi experience. It’s a completely irredeemable villain whose appeal lies in its irredeemability, especially fascinating because it’s a machine, and hence gains no sadistic pleasure from it’s evildoing; it merely seeks results, which is just chilling. 

The cast is incredibly diverse, and there is a TON of LGBT+ representation, including Michael having lesbian mothers, a completely non-stereotyped bisexual male character who ACTUALLY CALLS HIMSELF BISEXUAL OUT LOUD, and who is arguably the most tragic character in the show, but that tragedy is separate almost entirely from his orientation, and more. 

While being lighthearted sci-fi fare, it deals pretty straightforwardly with a number of heavy topics, such as mental illness, suicidal ideation, extreme loneliness, self-hatred, isolation,  trauma, abuse, sexual orientation, dysfunctional families, dysfunctional friendships, existential crises, near-death experiences, brainwashing, addiction, bullying, torture (of the sci-fi variety but still pretty damn hard to watch), and even (albeit briefly, but it still bears mention) male sexual assault, and handles all of them exceptionally well, never overdoing it on any of them (they’re interwoven and sometimes entirely subtextual to the plot) but also being honest enough about the fact that some of our darkest moments include incredibly dark comedy, all while never making light of these serious issues. That being said, consider this the trigger warning paragraph if any of that’s a limit for you! They’re so wonderfully balanced by a narrative of healing and forgiveness and loyalty and love that it makes the story all the stronger; seeing everyone facing these awful things, and being able to overcome them together. 

It’s also the type of sci-fi that I love; the kind that, like Back to the Future, Weird Science, and Stranger Things embraces a retro aesthetic, and is a smaller, singular fantastical/sci-fi element contained in a setting that is otherwise very recognizable to our world; the kind of adventures you feel like you could have between your own classes. The sci-fi effects and costumes are incredible, especially in Act 2. 

AND, and and and, It’s an underdog story within an underdog story; it opened in a regional theatre in Jersey for a limited run in 2015 and closed very quickly, and everyone assumed it would never be picked up again, but in Winter 2017, it blew up by sheer word of mouth due to a combination of the original cast album being on Spotify and the popularity of certain amateur productions since it got licenced; eventually, it got a 2017 regional theatre revival at Exit 82, and that sparked an online fandom so strong that the show got a second chance with an off-Broadway run that happened this past summer, which in turn got so successful that the show is transferring to Broadway. All the way from a seemingly failed regional limited run, with most of the original cast (who are darlings, as are the creators, incredibly empathetic people bringing this wonderful, weird, warm story to the forefront). And who doesn’t love the meta of the show itself being an underdog when the cast is entirely of underdogs?

Just. Please. Do yourself a favour and check it out. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll cheer.  I heard about it only peripherally since around mid-2017 ish and then only really got into it this past May/June, and….gosh. My life’s gotten so much better since. I’ve met dear friends through the fandom, dragged other dear friends into this glorious pit, and the show, as a narrative of healing, is helping to heal me, too. 

Possibly a new all-time favourite. 

[nohkabukihere]

Sukiyaki Western Django

Sukiyaki Western Django was by far one of the most entertaining movies we’ve watched for this class. It was wacky, ridiculous, and a fantastic movie to make fun of while watching with a group. That being said, I would never in a million years watch this film by myself because as a whole, it is just bad. I genuinely had a good time watching the film with the class, but don’t think that same enjoyment would come from a subsequent viewing without watching it with a new group to laugh with. 

From the very beginning the movie wasn’t taking itself seriously at all, and I loved the stupid generic western painted set for the opening. While on the topic of set, I did find the mixture of classic “old west” style mixed with generic Japanese architecture to be interesting, and surprisingly I didn’t really find it jarring or taking me out of the film at all. 

I enjoyed the dumb sound effects that accompanied a lot of the action such as the generic whistle sound when something was falling, as well as just the goofiness of a lot of the movie in general.

The movie obviously took heavily from the clichés of spaghetti westerns. To start, we have the most generic of all the tropes, “The nameless hero” who wanders into a town and saves them  from the outlaws/bandits/other bad guy. The use of the metal under the clothing to deflect bullets is another that I noticed. I found the barrel rolling through town at one point hilarious since it’s normally a tumbleweed. I like the use of Quentin Tarantino as the token white character since a lot of old west films tend to have a token Native American in them, I thought this was a funny play on that. 

The plot felt like it had a lot going on at all times with the two warring groups, the sheriff switching sides, the story of the Genji girl/son/mother/grandson, the old man in the mountain, the mention of Bloody Benton (who was the grandma), and Tarantino’s character. Just a lot happening that I definitely wasn’t keeping track of it all. The symbolism of the red and white was very on the nose (which was the point I’m assuming), but when the snow started falling out of nowhere I instantly knew that it was so they could splash blood on it. 

Overall, I don’t have too much to say about the film as a whole. It’s a giant spoof on the western genre, it doesn’t take itself seriously, and it’s fun to watch with a group to laugh at. Is it a bad movie for that? I don’t know. It definitely entertained me but I don’t think it’s a “good” movie.