Author: rudy panucci (Page 17 of 34)

Animated Discussions
by Rudy Panucci and Melanie Larch

This is a huge weekend for television animation, as we get treated to a bevy of fresh, first-run episodes of classic shows, and an overnight treat of classic anime. Here’s your guide to a cartoon-filled weekend:

Miyazaki Redux on TCM

Late Friday night/early Saturday morning, Turner Classic Movies is running a double shot of Hayao Miyazaki classics, Princess Mononoke, from 1997 and 1998’s My Neighbor Totoro. We wrote about these previously, and they’re well worth staying up late, or setting your timer to record. Princess Mononoke starts at 2 a.m., and My Neighbor Totoro follows immediately thereafter.

The End Of The Justice League?

Justice League Unlimited wraps up its run Saturday night at 10:30 p.m. on Cartoon Network. This series has been one of the best animated treatments of the super hero genre ever, and it’s a shame the way Cartoon Network has shunted it around the schedule and buried it. They recently started running it on their sister Boomerang, which is great for those of us who want to tape them all without commercials, but it’s also a pretty strong statement that Cartoon Network never planned to support the show. Boomerang, of late, has become a graveyard for shows that the CN execs don’t like.

However, this series finale is a fitting one, with a huge climactic battle between the good guys and the bad guys, with the fate of the Earth hanging in the balance. There are strong rumors that the League will be brought back as a series of 90-minute “movies.” We can only hope. This is the classiest super hero cartoon on the air.

Fox Sunday

Sunday night, we get a nearly-three-hour block of animated programming from Fox, spoiled only by the series finale of the “I didn’t know that was still on the air” Malcolm In The Middle. A Simpsons repeat opens the night at 7 p.m. The season finale of King Of The Hill follows at 7:30, and then a fresh episode of The Simpsons, revolving around intelligent design, airs at 8 p.m.

At 9 p.m., we get a first-run episode of Family Guy, and at 9:30, the season finale of American Dad, which details a plot to kill George Clooney.

(adult swim)

The Sunday cartoon blitz continues at 11:30 p.m. over on Adult Swim with a new Robot Chicken. Then at midnight, there’s an episode of the wretchedly unfunny Minoriteam. The real treat of the night comes at 12:15 a.m. — the first of three unaired episodes of Moral Orel. These three episodes were pulled by Cartoon Network’s Standards and Practices department, and could not be shown until now. Considering that the episodes of Moral Orel that did make it to the air included included Orel reanimating the dead, getting hooked on crack and getting genital piercings, we can’t wait to see what they thought crossed the line. The remaining two “lost” episodes should air in the following weeks.

One of the guilty joys of the Internet for Beatles fans is the explosion of what had once been hard-to-find rare recordings of the Fab Four, available now for free, just a with a click of the mouse.

The Beatlegs Podcast presents nearly a half-hour chunk of good rare Beatles music, interviews, and snippets of notable events in each episode. This podcast is currently taking a few weeks hiatus, but there are many episodes archived on the site.

The most recent show presents, cleanly edited together, the Beatles jamming on a variety of oldies during the warm-up for the “Get Back” sessions, which ultimately resulted in the movie “Let It Be.” You get to listen in as the boys run through fragments of a litany of early rock classics. They also spend a lot of time goofing on their own early hits. You’ll get to hear the Beatles singing “Help” in the style of The Goon Show. They also do slow blues takes on some of their other early tunes like “Run For Your Life” and “Rain”. In addition to that, we also get to hear bits and pieces of tunes that would turn up on the White Album and Abbey Road, only with alternate lyrics and arrangements. The half-hour wraps up with John and Paul singing each other’s “White Album” songs “I’m So Tired,” and “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road.”

And that’s just one episode. There are dozens more focusing on topics like The Mellotron, the Beatles’ solo works, classic albums and more. This podcast is a MUST LISTEN for Beatles fans. With the recent legal action between the Beatles and Apple Computers, this may be the only place to find Beatles music online for quite some time.

Over at Cartoon Brew, Jerry Beck has uncovered the mystery behind a sudden influx of really, really cool greeting cards. They feature classic-styled Looney Tunes characters, instead of the watered-down, corporate-approved, lifeless versions of Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and company. These are incredible throwbacks to the designs of Bob Clampett and Tex Avery. It’s enough to make you start hanging out in your local Hallmark store.

Okay, I know that PopCult is not supposed to be a political blog, but I have to say that, if the returns hold up from yesterday’s election, I am thrilled beyond belief that Dave Higgins lost in his bid to represent the Democratic Party as the candidate for the 8th Senate District in the general election. I know that both papers endorsed the guy, but I was on the receiving end of a really crude and offensive push poll from his campaign a couple of months ago, and he ran what appeared to me to be the dirtiest smear campaign, for what is essentially a piddly little office, that I’ve ever seen.

But it wasn’t the push poll, with questions like “Would it change your opinion of Erik Wells if you knew he supported forcing first-graders to have abortions?” that made me root against Higgins. It wasn’t even the fact that Higgins was one of the architects of Charleston’s much-beloved User Fee. It was the recorded phone messages– three or four a day, for the last three weeks. These were the kind of recorded messages that kept playing in their entirety, even after you hung up. Your phone was held hostage for the duration of their message, whether you listened or not. So I had selfish motives for wanting Higgins to lose. I didn’t want to have to deal with those damned phone calls for another six months. They were driving me to my wits end.

Any politician who wants a free ticket to get elected should just run on a platform that includes putting political solicitation calls under the domain of the “Do Not Call List.” Promise to free us from the tyranny of the automated phone-dialer, and you can ride that gravy train all the way to the White House.

I just wonder if more people would have voted for Congressional candidate Mark Hunt if they realized that sending him to Washington would have meant that he wouldn’t be advertising his law firm on TV anymore. If he’d run on that platform, I think he would have won in a landslide.

One of the sad truths about comic strips is that most newspapers don’t appreciate or understand them. Every few years, overcome by the desire to “freshen things up” newspapers will drop long-running comic strips and replace them with newer strips, which often display an alarming lack of taste on the part of the person doing the choosing. Because of this, long-running strips like “Dick Tracy” or “Popeye” get dumped, and manage to limp along with a greatly reduced circulation, while newer strips, many of which look like they’re drawn by second-graders, take their position in on the comics page, and fewer and fewer people decide to keep buying the paper.

One of these classic comic strips is Gasoline Alley. Gasoline Alley began in 1918, by cartoonist Frank King, and had the novel approach of aging its characters in real time. This comic strip saga held the attention of millions during its heyday, but many people are shocked that it’s still being produced. What’s more amazing is that it’s still better than 95% of the comic strips being published. You can read it online here. It’s one of the first things I check out every morning.

After humble beginnings as a comic strip about auto mechanics, the strip really took off when one of the lead characters, Walt Wallet, found a baby on his doorstep, and named him “Skeezix.” From that incident, the comic strip evolved into a unique creation, featuring elements of soap opera, situation comedy, and adventure. With the characters aging in real time, readers have been rewarded with a huge family tree. Currently, the strip focuses on the octogenarian Skeezix and his large family. In 2004, the strip dealt with the death of Walt Wallet’s wife, Phyllis, at the age of 105. Walt is still alive, but has a live-in caretaker.

Currently written and drawn by Jim Scancarilli, Gasoline Alley manages to tell compelling stories, which lately tend to deal with issues of aging. However, the strip is never boring or morose. The gentle humor and realistic elements of the stories make this one of the best “continuity” strips running today.

Long overlooked by the critical elite, Gasoline Alley is just starting to garner some respect. Collections of Frank King’s early strips are being published under the title “Walt And Skeezix,” by Drawn And Quarterly. Getting back to the issues I addressed in the opening paragraph, if the Gazette ever wants to revamp their comics page, and turn it into a revenue-generating circulation-booster, I’ll volunteer my services as an expert in the field.

Me First And The Gimme Gimmes is one of my favorite bands. They are considered by some to be a novelty or comedy act, but musically, their stuff holds up. Their gimmick is that they take the hardcore-punkish musical chops that the various members honed in a slew of legendary So Cal Punk bands like The Swingin’ Udders, Lagwagon, and NOFX, and apply them to what can best be described as “inappropriate” songs. Our SOTW is from their most recent CD “Me First And The Gimme Gimmes Ruin Johnny’s Bar Mitzvah.” It’s the Gimmes cover of Billy Joel’s “The Longest Time“.

“Ruin Johnny’s Bar Mitzvah” is a live album, recorded at an actual Bar Mitzvah, and includes covers of songs by Led Zepplin, The Beatles, and a couple of very special versions of “Hava Nagila” You can buy CDs by Me First And The Gimme Gimmes, and also grab a few more free MP3s at the Fat Wreck Chords website.

After taking on Singer/Songwriters, Broadway, and R&B on previous albums, the Gimmes entered the studio just last month to begin work on their next opus, a collection of Western classics.

It was a busy and fun-packed weekend here in Charleston. Anybody who complains that there isn’t anything to do in Charleston just isn’t looking. There was too much stuff to do. Case in point:

Friday night I attended the performance by the No Pants Players at the Labelle Theater in South Charleston. Even with a truncated cast, the Pantsless crew put on a hugely entertaining show that drew fans from as a far away as Kentucky. They also performed Saturday evening. The next No Pants Players extravaganza takes place during FestivAll. Details to come.

Saturday afternoon, uncle-y duties prevented me from dropping by the book signing by Robin Boyd at Taylor Books, but I’m sure I missed a cool time. I’ll have to stop by and grab a copy of her book later this week. Late in the afternoon, I tuned into the Kentucky Derby to see if the horse that shares its name with a wrestling personality (Sinister Minister) would win the big race. He didn’t.

Saturday evening, Mel and I caught our Gazz Editor himself, Doug Imbrogno, along with Paul Callicoat performing as “DouglasEye” at Capitol Roasters on Summers Street. Fifteen years we’ve been writing for Doug, and this was the first time we got a chance to hear him sing. We were both quite impressed, even more so when we found out that this was the first time Doug and Paul had performed together. It sounded like they’d been working together for years. As we were sitting there, enjoying the performance, I realized that this was the first time that I’d been out to hear live music (not counting seeing Mel perform) in a decade. I gotta start getting out more. Thank God for smoke-free venues!

Sunday was a day of rest. Or, in my case, it was a day for the mighty hefting of large appliances and pieces of furniture. I don’t think there was anything major to go to Sunday night, but with new episodes of “The Simpsons,” “Family Guy,” “Desperate Housewives,” “American Dad,” “Robot Chicken,” and “King Of The Hill,” who cares? There’s nothing wrong with spending an evening watching great TV.

This week, we kick off with a double shot of Monday Morning Art.

These are two digitally-assaulted takes on the same photograph, a simple streetscape shot in Dunbar, during a February stroll. On the left, you see “Dunbar Street 1,” a straightforward version, with the photo minimally tweaked for contrast and run through a variety of filters.

On the right, you see “Dunbar Street 2,” a more drastic assault, with lots of extraneous painting, and a flood-fill rainbow, created using power lines, and a different set of filters.

That’s the fun of digitally-assaulting photographs: You can create an endless set of variations using the same source material. If you want to stare at them more closely, click to enlarge.

This week the Cool Toy is an action figure made by Hasbro, one of the big toy companies, but since it’s a unique figure, and since getting your hands on one is going to be fun, I thought it’d be good to showcase this guy. You read about him in GazzNotes, now you can get the action figure!

It’s George Lucas, as the limited edition George Lucas in Stormtrooper Disguise tribute figure, from the new line of Star Wars action figures. The catch is that you can’t buy it in stores. As part of the Star Wars Ultimate Galactic Hunt You have to collect and send in five proof-of-purchase stickers from the new assortment of Kenner-styled Star Wars action figures. These figures harken back to the classic action figures that many of us grew up collecting. Including Lucas as a Stormtrooper is a great gag and something that will delight hard-core Star Wars fanatics.

My buddy, Derryl Depriest, brand director for Hasbro’s Star Wars division explains, “As the architect of the Star Wars galaxy, George Lucas has entertained millions of fans with his classic space saga of good versus evil. The new action figure allows Hasbro to honor Lucas, the greatest character in the universe.”

You’ll have to buy a few specific figures to get the redemption certificate and different stickers (you can see an example on the left), and you’ll still have to kick in $4.95 for shipping and handling, but you’ll be rewarded with a cool, somewhat goofy action figure. You can find full details about the promotion here.

As everyone knows, May 5 is a special day. It’s National No Pants Day! What better way to celebrate than to see Charleston’s own No Pants Players, as they treat us to an evening of fine improv comedy at the Labelle Theater in South Charleston?

Friday (and Saturday, for you stragglers) The No Pants Players ply their improv trade at the Labelle with an all-ages show that kicks off at 8 PM. Admission is a mere five bucks, and audience members who participate on stage will be rewarded with prizes from Krispy Kreme and Main Tin. I caught the No Pants Players a couple of months ago, and it was loads of fun. It’s about time that we finally got some great improv comedy in this area.

If you go: Admission is five dollars. The show is appropriate for all ages. Curtain time is 8 PM, Friday and Saturday May 5 and 6 at the Labelle Theater, 311 D Street, South Charleston.