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Oh, right. My random thought: What is one supposed to do with stories that don't fit any decent markets? Print the stories out and use the pages as kindling?
Posts: 1139 | Registered: May 2008
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If the stories don't fit a decent market does this mean that the story is itself indecent? Then I guess you have to send it to indecent markets.
They don't call me the greatest for nothing, I actually have to pay them quite a bit of money.
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I'm on vacation. Three weeks and change. Away from that hellhole I call "my job." I won't be going away till Saturday, and I hope to squeeze in some writing in between prepping for that---usually I don't have the time.
Then again, I'll only be gone from weekend to weekend, so I'll have time on my hands when I get back---maybe more writing.
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I've recently had a nostalgia trip in the form of old cartoons. I've discovered something, She-Ra had dynamically better writing than He-Man. As a boy who loved He-Man and hated She-Ra it was depressing to discover this.
Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I've been wondering about the decline of the half-hour cartoon show...Disney and Nickelodeon went into serious live-action...even the Cartoon Network runs some live-action stuff, why I don't pretend to know...and the ones that have come to pass seem, well, kind of "smarmy" to me. Difficult to describe, actually, but there seems to be a heavy "we know we're in a cartoon" vibe to the characters.
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Qubo actually has some decent cartoons. In particular, Jacb Two-Two stands out. It's just fun and the characters are enjoyable. An old-fashioned adventure.
Posts: 1993 | Registered: Jul 2009
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I've been wondering why cartoons, for so long, anyway, were considered for children (and mainstream animated movies are still geared more for children than for adults--yes, I am aware that there are all kinds of animated "adult" things out there, but I'm talking about the general perception of cartoons as being for children).
What is it about cartoons and animation that made them kid-stuff in the first place? (When I was a kid, I believe the cartoons we saw on tv were actually "short subjects" that had all kinds of allusions to and depictions of actors and actresses and movies for adults, and I also believe they were produced to be shown in the movie theaters before they ever made it to tv.)
So when and why did animation, for so very long, become associated with "for kids"? Was it production costs (no paying expensive actors) or simplified images or what?
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Yes, I watch a lot of Qubo, I was so happy to see Spliced return, it's my favorite show right now. (There was a really brilliant short the other day involving a refrigerator.) Although it being on Qubo is the weirdest part of it all. I would really like to see the return of the cartoon variety show, the last one we had was Animaniacs and that was a really long time ago (In TV terms anyway.)
I'm not sure why people came to think of animation as just for "kids." There is some really brilliant things being done with it these days. (Although it's hard to find in all the Anime and honest to goodness baby stuff.) Of course there is alot of good anime and Gaijin Anime too.
My Shortlist of stuff running right now: WordGirl, Spliced, Jacob Two-Two, Martha Speaks, and one other that I can picture in my head but can't remember the title.
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Pyre, I don't know spliced but I'm with you on the others. Sitting Ducks is good for a chuckle too.
Posts: 1993 | Registered: Jul 2009
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Forgot I was a big fan of "Jane and the Dragon," from Qubo and syndication.
Some of what I perceive as "decline" could be attributed to CGI and such---Pixar's pulling it off but it's a lazy way out for the guys who put on half-hour TV cartoons.
It's odd to discuss "realism" in connection with cartoons, but, as far as the cartoons go, they often don't have it. Something like, oh, that "Fairy Godparents" thing usually on Nickelodeon. (Is that the name? I forget. Or is it on the Cartoon Network? I forget, too.) (I'll pick on it 'cause it seems kind of the start of the problem.) The kids in it don't talk like kids, don't act like kids, and don't relate to each other or to their parents or anyone else like kids. Same for any of the other characters---they just don't come across as what they're supposed to be, but parodies of what they're supposed to be.
Something about that sort of posture, on the part of the creators, in the ongoing creation of a cartoon show, just rubs me the wrong way. I'm not really looking for satiric masterpieces when I look at, well, anything---but cartoons in particular.
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I grew up on Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry and Yogi Bear. So I guess I'm not looking for any sort of realism out of my cartoons. Just entertainment.
Having said that, I do like cartoons that are smart. Animaniacs and Jacob Two-Two certainly fit that category.
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I liked Bugs Bunny cartoons, too...but they were six minutes long each, not stretched to half an hour or longer. Right now, I like mundane things like plot and character, things that are moved along by humor, where humor itself is not the point. (Most of the Hanna-Barbera school of TV cartoon work didn't hold up for me when I caught glimpses as an adult.)
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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It was "Fairly Odd Parents," playing off Fairy Godparents.
Spliced is probably one of those "humor is the point" things. There isn't much of a plot (and they usually follow the two segments in a half-hour episode model) but it's all about the characters. Qubo shows it a 2 in the morning because some people really don't think it fits with the Qubo ideal. Which it doesn't, all the characters in it are basically trying not to get smashed or eaten by the other freaks while trying to have fun. It also comes with things like, "the moral of the story is don't shove antelopes up your nose because they have pointy horns which will poke your brain." It's been described as the Island of Dr. Moreau for kids.
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My house votes for Jacob Two-Two, Jane and the Dragon, B.G. and Rescue Heroes, although I am not a big fan of Rescue Heroes.
Posts: 212 | Registered: Aug 2005
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(On "Fairly Oddparents"...when I posted, it was relatively late and I was relatively tired...when I'm tired my mind isn't firing on all cylinders. I'm up pretty late right now (by my standards) but I think I've shaken some of the blurry fatigue off...)
I haven't done more than glance at Qubo, but the stuff on it does seem to be pitched to a younger age group than, say, the stuff on Nickelodeon or Cartoon Network or Disney. The "one-digit age-group" stuff on most of the channels generally turns me off.
Of course there's Adult Swim...but most of that has turned me off, too, and the only things I look into on that come from outside, like cast-off network rejects or Japanimation.
By the way, has anybody besides me noticed that Nickelodeon and Disney have largely abandoned their half-hour cartoon shows? And even Cartoon Network is starting to run live-action stuff? What gives?
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Might as well say it here...I won't be around for the next week and a half...it's time for my vacation and, as I've said before, when I "get away from it all," "it all" includes going online.
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I've got a buddy in Alaska who's almost been run down by moose three times. He's a very fast runner. Posts: 365 | Registered: Aug 2010
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I loved it. I watched it while I was eating at Carl's Jr and laughed out load. Everyone turned to look at me but I didn't care. That was funny!
Posts: 212 | Registered: Aug 2005
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Yep it was the Detroit Lions, I threw it in there for Snapper, I didnt want him to be the only one cheering for them
Posts: 1168 | Registered: Mar 2008
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What does that say about the type of person you are when you get fired from the 'volunteer' job you recruited to do? Posts: 3072 | Registered: Dec 2007
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What does it say? Probably that your "type" doesn't fit very well with whatever "type" the person in charge likes best.
I'd bet that "volunteers" are sometimes easier to fire because they aren't getting paid (and therefore won't be losing income), so the people who "fire" them don't think they have to feel as guilty about it.
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I've thought about it...but a laptop is one more thing I'd have to worry about if I took it along. One more expensive thing, at that. (I'm still on my original cellphone, being not inclined to update to texting or Blackberrying or iPhoning or whatevering.)
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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You know it really sucks to spend a day and a half stripping and waxing a floor in a locked closet only to come back after the last coat to find a line of nicely defined footprints and wheelmarks right through the middle of it. You would have though the person would have at least wondered why all the junk in the closet was out in the hallway, or even noticed that the floor was sticky.
Posts: 1895 | Registered: Mar 2004
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One of our complaints when our custodians strip the floor wax is that they use the combined cleaning powers of ammonia and bleach. If you don't know why that's grounds for complaint, check it out...
A lot of our newer custodians are former postal clerks...it's a combination of the practice of excessing employees, and the desire of not wanting to relocate to Orlando from southwest Florida...meanwhile, we're short-handed and they're not done excessing...
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