Last weekend I went camping up in the Adirondacks Mountains with three guys named John, two guys named Ralph, a guy named Jun, and my parents. We spent four days on Raccoon Point on Little Long Pond, having to portage our canoes and items from St. Regis lake through two other lakes to our destination. It was hard work!
Boy did I have a lot of fun! I spent a lot of time on the eight hour trip up there wondering what I was going to do in the woods for four days straight to keep myself entertained. The ironic part is, the days flew by so fast that I wasn't ready to leave! I could have stayed up on that mountain for at least another week living off ramen noodles and other campers passing through the area. We ate very well, having been treated to a Filipino dish of ran-Dang beef (I believe?), some turkey and noodle concoction that Ralph number two and I swear did not taste until the third night (due to interference of everclear memory blockage, and the absolutely divine taste of peanut butter and toasted marsh mellow sandwiches.
The days went by pretty much like this:
Wake up at 830-930.
Have coffee mixed with Frangelica or whiskey.
Go "looking for firewood".
Sit around and play "the game" (will explain in a minute!)
Have lunch.
Play "the game" some more, and begin drinking river water and everclear.
Have dinner.
Become incredibly intoxicated while feeding the fire, roasting marshmellows, and hanging out with my good pals! Also, play "the game".
Sleep around 11-12.
"The game" is something that I was introduced to last year while camping in northern PA in the winter. It started like this:
Flap: You guys. I got this great game.
You guys: OK..
Flap: You say a famous person's name, and the person to your left has to say another famous person with the first name starting with the first initial of the last name of the person you just said. If the person has the same first and last initial, it gets passed to the person on your right. Ready?
You guys: OK..
Flap: Loretta Lynn.
(You guys look around, completely confused as to whose turn it is.)
While "the game" usually picks up the second night of camping and is limited to one round until all parties have either exhausted every name possible and/or have fallen asleep and/or passed out from being drunk, during this camping trip, "the game" was played about four to five times a day, every day, in separate spurts, and mostly while intoxicated, leading to ten minute interludes of two people arguing as to whether or not someone said "Donald Duck" this round. To this day I am still sitting here, sending my friend text messages with "Fredirico Felini" and "Sam Snead", who by the way, if you can tell me who those people are, WITHOUT looking them up, I will award you superstar "the game" player medal honors. Thats the other frustration of this game, playing with people from different generations also leads to the argument of whether or not each generation is making up certain personalities in order to trap the other players in a two man battle of double lettered names. Incredibly frustrating, to say the least.
It was absolutely beautiful up there though, and I certainly felt like a completely different person when I came back - fresh, healthy, rejuvenated, until we pulled up into my parents driveway and noticed the empty box of beer left in the trash by my supposedly ill brother, along with the notice that his driving privileges have been suspended for a situation completely out of his control. But thats a story for a different day.
I give this camping trip 8 out of 10 stars, losing points for the most painful ride in a car ever (8 hours with my parents drinking martinis while driving, WTG), one of the most irritating people I have ever met in my life being present on the trip, the spider webs that blocked my way to a haven of un-tapped firewood resources, and the absence of my brother.
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Thursday, June 21, 2007
the freedoom of recovery
the music from the radio that igrew up with was all pretty awful. hearing it now and knowing that i enjoyed it once someTImes maKes me cringe. but having music that you dont fully enjoy Makes you appreciate the good taste you have.
I got this huge ipod sothat when I travel, its like my own porsonal MiKepasun Radio. I haue quite a bit of music on it that i dont necessarilly find enjoyable, but that's what helps me to appreciatewhy and how Much i really LOVE My taste in music.
updated using my DS browser, sucKas
I got this huge ipod sothat when I travel, its like my own porsonal MiKepasun Radio. I haue quite a bit of music on it that i dont necessarilly find enjoyable, but that's what helps me to appreciatewhy and how Much i really LOVE My taste in music.
updated using my DS browser, sucKas
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
growing up
So why haven't there ben a million Mario games in the past million years? i was playing new super mario bros. and thinking this to myself. there are a lot of games that are sidescrolling action platformers, but what is it about mario that makes him so friggin popular? it certainly isnt because plumbers are hip. Let's see if i can count the genuine mario games, excluding party games, sports games, and edutainment games. i believe that the New Super MArio Bros is in fact the 5th side scrolling Italian plumber adventure (not counting game boy games). And to my own surprise i find myself being able to state all the differences to each one, even being that i tend to distaste the popularity they have accrued. they were pretty much garbage until 3, and the real gold is mario World on SNES. NEW SMB does not have the ability to fly, but instead you get to rock a blue turtle shell and go crazy with it. The DS was a fine platform for this game because, in my opinion every 3D mario game has been trash, and it also eliminates that annoying 2-player take-turns gameplay that nobody really liked anyway. the only multiplayer allowed is for fierce battling and wacky minigames.
another thing i find interestign about mario is that i cannot remember a time when i did not just know where everything was in a mario game.then when i was about 18 or so i decided to try and get 100% in SMW, not realizin gjust how much of a feat it really was.... there were many hidden levels and paths in that game, and if you wanted to change the season to fall you better have been ready for a fight. the first three mario games were wrote to me in all of my memories regarding them. it dawned on me one day that maybe that was the only reason i even like them: they were easy and i knew them like the back of my hand.
So, in comes new SMB for the DS, i am ripe with skepticism and ready to talk about how terrible mario is in general, and to go on about how much this new title will just fall into a useless category that everyonew ill love for no good reason. and to my pleasure and chagrin i noticed that i really, really... REALLY enjoyed playing it. it is about a hundred thousand times easier (im struggling to keep my lives... at 99) but its got just the right amount of sameness and differentness to be a really remarkable title. and now that i am not blessed with teh ignorance of carelessly running through games, it is STILL tons o fun. i am currently resting on th efinal castle having gotten every single giant gold coin in previous levels. some of them were painstaking, but i wanted to have them all. the gap between mario games has been so great, that in the span between mario world and new smb i have grown out of turning on a game and just playing it from the beginning every time until i remember everything abou thte first twelve levels for the rest of my life. i am running these boards through a fine sifting device and takign all the treasure available to me. from warp cannons to hidden mushroom houses to alternate exits, i am tearin this game about a hundred new assholes, and i am seriously enjoying every minute of it.
so i guess what i am saying, is sorry everyone for bitching about mario sucking.. it was just my way of conveying that i needed a fresh new mario fix that wasnt something i had played a million times over to the point of full memorization. (seriously tho this game is gooood)
-mvp
another thing i find interestign about mario is that i cannot remember a time when i did not just know where everything was in a mario game.then when i was about 18 or so i decided to try and get 100% in SMW, not realizin gjust how much of a feat it really was.... there were many hidden levels and paths in that game, and if you wanted to change the season to fall you better have been ready for a fight. the first three mario games were wrote to me in all of my memories regarding them. it dawned on me one day that maybe that was the only reason i even like them: they were easy and i knew them like the back of my hand.
So, in comes new SMB for the DS, i am ripe with skepticism and ready to talk about how terrible mario is in general, and to go on about how much this new title will just fall into a useless category that everyonew ill love for no good reason. and to my pleasure and chagrin i noticed that i really, really... REALLY enjoyed playing it. it is about a hundred thousand times easier (im struggling to keep my lives... at 99) but its got just the right amount of sameness and differentness to be a really remarkable title. and now that i am not blessed with teh ignorance of carelessly running through games, it is STILL tons o fun. i am currently resting on th efinal castle having gotten every single giant gold coin in previous levels. some of them were painstaking, but i wanted to have them all. the gap between mario games has been so great, that in the span between mario world and new smb i have grown out of turning on a game and just playing it from the beginning every time until i remember everything abou thte first twelve levels for the rest of my life. i am running these boards through a fine sifting device and takign all the treasure available to me. from warp cannons to hidden mushroom houses to alternate exits, i am tearin this game about a hundred new assholes, and i am seriously enjoying every minute of it.
so i guess what i am saying, is sorry everyone for bitching about mario sucking.. it was just my way of conveying that i needed a fresh new mario fix that wasnt something i had played a million times over to the point of full memorization. (seriously tho this game is gooood)
-mvp
Sunday, June 17, 2007
Pancake Wars
First of all, happy fathers day to all you dads out there.
I would also like to mention that our hero of this story Danosaur should currently be where I would like to be today - at the free Jonas' Brothers concert in New York. That lucky dogg. Now on to the good stuff.
So there is this town called Mt. Carmel, which is in Coal Mining country PA (about 3 hours away from where I live now). The reason this town is so cool will have to wait for another blog, but their role in this story revolves around a diner in town that serves "Blastin Blueberry Pancakes" for the whopping price of three dollars and fifty cents for a stack.
Before my first visit to this amazing corner of the country my friend Sara (prior to my first visit to the town) had told me about these pancakes, singing their praises like she was a widowed black mother who had lost her son in a gun fight praying to the good lord on sunday morning church in her starkingly large pink hat and matching petticoat. I have to tell you I was so excited for these pancakes that my hairs stood on end. While we were out drinking the night before I had the honor of trying these pancakes all I could think about was these delicious breakfast materials and how good they would taste to me after a long night of drinking 50 cent beers and chugging energy drinks mixed with vodka for five or six hours straight.
I was not let down.
These pancakes, be it because of novelty, price, or the feeling of overwhelming joy you get when you are hungover and food finds its way into your mouth, were the absolute best pancakes I had ever had in my entire life. They were not only cheap, but they were just enough to rid my stomach of that "holy shit I might throw up stomach bile" feeling, and good freakin lord they tasted so god damned delicious. I am telling you that the ratio of pancake to blueberry was absolutley perfect (keep this in mind), and though the pancakes were no different than any other diner food that I had ever tried, the fact that they were, and still were after the second time I indulged on my second trip up there, the best pancakes I had ever tried had resonated in my mind every morning I woke up with an hour to spare for breakfast food.
HOWEVER!
This weekend my friend Holly took Dan and I to breakfast for my birthday. We went to a cozy little place that I had been to once before, a small diner/grocery store on Spring Garden street in Philadelphia. I was struggling with the menu for about five minutes, half hungry for hash browns, half hungry for eggs, when I heard Holly say, "I'm having the banana pancakes". I looked up at her, eyes *trying* to be wide open, and said, "Yes".
These pancakes came to my table completely opposite of what I expected. I was waiting for these thigns to show up just bana flavored, like they had squirt some kind of crazy syrup into the mix to make them banana flavored. No. Completely wrong. These pancakes, and I cannot express in words how suprised I was, showed up SUPER fluffy, bigger in height than any pancake at a diner that I had eaten at. They were super light, but completely cooked, like the chef had some exquisite super power on knowing exactly when they would be awesome. But the best part was that they had banana slices COOKED INTO the pancakes.
I know that sounds like its nothing special. But you have to understand that after a morning of dancing and house music and beer and Wii and expecting just some shitty diner food breakfast, that these pancakes were like getting the red power ring for the first time in the original Zelda game. The ultimate expression of power in pancakes. The. Best. Breakfast. Ever. Now I gotta make this quick cause I have a father's day thing to do....
I immediately thought about the Blastin Blues. How did these pancakes chalk up to that? Well:
1. They were lighter and fluffier
2. They had more flavor to offer: While the blueberries were good, they were way sweet. These bananas weren't overpowering in sweetness, they were just enough to lighten up the taste.
3. I used mad syrup with the blastin blues. These banana pancakes only needed the slightest touch of that. They were already juicy from the banana mush being inbedded in them.
4. They were a dollar more expensive. In my eyes, that was totally worth it.
5. Blastin blues are 3 hours away. Banana-cakes are only 1.
So, in lieu of that, I hereby declare the banana pancakes the new King of Pancakes.
I would also like to mention that our hero of this story Danosaur should currently be where I would like to be today - at the free Jonas' Brothers concert in New York. That lucky dogg. Now on to the good stuff.
So there is this town called Mt. Carmel, which is in Coal Mining country PA (about 3 hours away from where I live now). The reason this town is so cool will have to wait for another blog, but their role in this story revolves around a diner in town that serves "Blastin Blueberry Pancakes" for the whopping price of three dollars and fifty cents for a stack.
Before my first visit to this amazing corner of the country my friend Sara (prior to my first visit to the town) had told me about these pancakes, singing their praises like she was a widowed black mother who had lost her son in a gun fight praying to the good lord on sunday morning church in her starkingly large pink hat and matching petticoat. I have to tell you I was so excited for these pancakes that my hairs stood on end. While we were out drinking the night before I had the honor of trying these pancakes all I could think about was these delicious breakfast materials and how good they would taste to me after a long night of drinking 50 cent beers and chugging energy drinks mixed with vodka for five or six hours straight.
I was not let down.
These pancakes, be it because of novelty, price, or the feeling of overwhelming joy you get when you are hungover and food finds its way into your mouth, were the absolute best pancakes I had ever had in my entire life. They were not only cheap, but they were just enough to rid my stomach of that "holy shit I might throw up stomach bile" feeling, and good freakin lord they tasted so god damned delicious. I am telling you that the ratio of pancake to blueberry was absolutley perfect (keep this in mind), and though the pancakes were no different than any other diner food that I had ever tried, the fact that they were, and still were after the second time I indulged on my second trip up there, the best pancakes I had ever tried had resonated in my mind every morning I woke up with an hour to spare for breakfast food.
HOWEVER!
This weekend my friend Holly took Dan and I to breakfast for my birthday. We went to a cozy little place that I had been to once before, a small diner/grocery store on Spring Garden street in Philadelphia. I was struggling with the menu for about five minutes, half hungry for hash browns, half hungry for eggs, when I heard Holly say, "I'm having the banana pancakes". I looked up at her, eyes *trying* to be wide open, and said, "Yes".
These pancakes came to my table completely opposite of what I expected. I was waiting for these thigns to show up just bana flavored, like they had squirt some kind of crazy syrup into the mix to make them banana flavored. No. Completely wrong. These pancakes, and I cannot express in words how suprised I was, showed up SUPER fluffy, bigger in height than any pancake at a diner that I had eaten at. They were super light, but completely cooked, like the chef had some exquisite super power on knowing exactly when they would be awesome. But the best part was that they had banana slices COOKED INTO the pancakes.
I know that sounds like its nothing special. But you have to understand that after a morning of dancing and house music and beer and Wii and expecting just some shitty diner food breakfast, that these pancakes were like getting the red power ring for the first time in the original Zelda game. The ultimate expression of power in pancakes. The. Best. Breakfast. Ever. Now I gotta make this quick cause I have a father's day thing to do....
I immediately thought about the Blastin Blues. How did these pancakes chalk up to that? Well:
1. They were lighter and fluffier
2. They had more flavor to offer: While the blueberries were good, they were way sweet. These bananas weren't overpowering in sweetness, they were just enough to lighten up the taste.
3. I used mad syrup with the blastin blues. These banana pancakes only needed the slightest touch of that. They were already juicy from the banana mush being inbedded in them.
4. They were a dollar more expensive. In my eyes, that was totally worth it.
5. Blastin blues are 3 hours away. Banana-cakes are only 1.
So, in lieu of that, I hereby declare the banana pancakes the new King of Pancakes.
Friday, June 15, 2007
molly: last night i had this awesome idea for a blog
molly: about turning old
molly: but now i cannot remember anything was going to say
Danny Dreamboat: lol
Danny Dreamboat: cause you're old
molly: :-(
Danny Dreamboat: laughing my ass off
Danny Dreamboat: OH WAIT SHOULD BE POLITE TO THE ELDERLY
Danny Dreamboat: LMBO
molly: man
Danny Dreamboat: owned on ur bday
molly: about turning old
molly: but now i cannot remember anything was going to say
Danny Dreamboat: lol
Danny Dreamboat: cause you're old
molly: :-(
Danny Dreamboat: laughing my ass off
Danny Dreamboat: OH WAIT SHOULD BE POLITE TO THE ELDERLY
Danny Dreamboat: LMBO
molly: man
Danny Dreamboat: owned on ur bday
Thursday, June 14, 2007
The band evolves... ALMOST.
Dan (me!) : i think we should start an avant post-tweegazing hip-hop strum-core sextet.
Aaron : we dont know 4 other people.
Aaron : we dont know 4 other people.
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
The Human Condition
The most fun thing in the world is Dungeons and Dragons (or some similar role-playing phenomenon.)
Unfortunately most of us are far too insecure to do such a thing, so we just get jobs and watch television instead.
Unfortunately most of us are far too insecure to do such a thing, so we just get jobs and watch television instead.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
Invention Corner - Gigglecandy
I wanted my first post to be really good. I was like, "man, I should start this blog with my friends and then we could pretty much just post whatever, that would be so rad!" I was gonna do it around one this afternoon, but I had to go to the front desk and be receptionist, so I didn't start til' half past two. So I got everything all ready, just all geared up, just happy to have such cool friends who'd be interested in just talking about shit for no reason, and then I just sat there. I just sat there, and couldn't think of one fuckin' thing to write about. I still can't either. I made some soup, and watched some television, and played Lumines, and I've been grinding my gears for a good idea to write about, and still, nothing comes up. All day, since like twelve.
One good thing, though? Gian got some Halo Farm juices. Halo Farm is a local microdairy, and you can just get milk and juices and some grain products there, all cheap, all good, just so delicious, it's nuts. Juice makes me happy; my favorite is grape, but at Halo they don't have grape juice, they have grape drink. I always giggle when I see it, cause what if one time, it turned out to be wine? You know, grape drink? I just think of some little kid coming in and reaching past the Sunny D, and grabbing some grape drink, and being a polite kid, he takes a cup out to his friends, everyone gets to quench their thirst. Then, shit kicks in, just kids drinking wine, not even knowing, being belligerent, breaking toys.
My grandpa pulled that trick on me when I was a kid, man. He'd drink a glass of wine some nights, and one time I asked him for one, and he just gave it to me. You never saw such a cocky little bastard. I even did that weird kid thing, too; my grandpa gave it to me, but I knew it was an Adult thing, so I felt the need to go into the other room and savor it away from watching eyes. I drank it, and it tasted like millions of hells coursing through my body. I spit it out into the trash can, and I came out and gave him the dirtiest look I could fathom, and oh, how he laughed. "I'm glad you drink it yourself, it tastes like crap!" I ran out of the house, like that was some kind of punishment to him. Yeah, I'm totally sure it sucked that the little brat ran out.
Anyway, this all actually does equate to something. I made a cocktail. I poured some grape drink into a half glass of wine, and it's so good. I have a good name for it, too: Gigglecandy. That's what it is, I'm not even kidding. It takes the mild bite of wine away, replacing it with the sweet delicious taste of grape drink, yet the alcohol still takes effect. I had two glasses and I'm already being very very silly, and I've again got that childlike naughtiness going on. You should see how proud I am, walking around, stirring my drink for no reason, chuckling at my own genius, just being a total lame-o. Keep this in mind, boys and girls. If you concentrate very hard, and put your mind to something constructive all day, maybe you can completely bypass your goal and come up with a stupid idea and bless it with a somehow even stupider name. I wrote a blog, didn't I? Thanks internet, thanks Gigglecandy, thanks Halo Farms, thanks Aaron and Chinese food, and thanks Jimi Hendrix, for playing right now and basically being a stone cold ice machine.
One good thing, though? Gian got some Halo Farm juices. Halo Farm is a local microdairy, and you can just get milk and juices and some grain products there, all cheap, all good, just so delicious, it's nuts. Juice makes me happy; my favorite is grape, but at Halo they don't have grape juice, they have grape drink. I always giggle when I see it, cause what if one time, it turned out to be wine? You know, grape drink? I just think of some little kid coming in and reaching past the Sunny D, and grabbing some grape drink, and being a polite kid, he takes a cup out to his friends, everyone gets to quench their thirst. Then, shit kicks in, just kids drinking wine, not even knowing, being belligerent, breaking toys.
My grandpa pulled that trick on me when I was a kid, man. He'd drink a glass of wine some nights, and one time I asked him for one, and he just gave it to me. You never saw such a cocky little bastard. I even did that weird kid thing, too; my grandpa gave it to me, but I knew it was an Adult thing, so I felt the need to go into the other room and savor it away from watching eyes. I drank it, and it tasted like millions of hells coursing through my body. I spit it out into the trash can, and I came out and gave him the dirtiest look I could fathom, and oh, how he laughed. "I'm glad you drink it yourself, it tastes like crap!" I ran out of the house, like that was some kind of punishment to him. Yeah, I'm totally sure it sucked that the little brat ran out.
Anyway, this all actually does equate to something. I made a cocktail. I poured some grape drink into a half glass of wine, and it's so good. I have a good name for it, too: Gigglecandy. That's what it is, I'm not even kidding. It takes the mild bite of wine away, replacing it with the sweet delicious taste of grape drink, yet the alcohol still takes effect. I had two glasses and I'm already being very very silly, and I've again got that childlike naughtiness going on. You should see how proud I am, walking around, stirring my drink for no reason, chuckling at my own genius, just being a total lame-o. Keep this in mind, boys and girls. If you concentrate very hard, and put your mind to something constructive all day, maybe you can completely bypass your goal and come up with a stupid idea and bless it with a somehow even stupider name. I wrote a blog, didn't I? Thanks internet, thanks Gigglecandy, thanks Halo Farms, thanks Aaron and Chinese food, and thanks Jimi Hendrix, for playing right now and basically being a stone cold ice machine.
Molly's Abode for Real-Life Aquaintances
There are a lot of shows on television now that I cannot stand to watch, or even stand to think about watching, or even stand to hear people tell me that I should watch. Its not because I dislike television, or dislike drama, or dislike having to wait an entire week in agony wondering what my favorite character's fate in the next episode is. Well that part I could do without. What my issue with most programming on television is these days is the fact that you barely ever can just turn on an episode of any given program at any given time and know not necessarily what exactly is going on but at least who the damn characters are and what they are talking about or be able to pick up a general plot line in five or so minutes without going, shit I can't watch this without watching last week's episode.
What I am trying to say in too many words here is that there are barely any shows on TV anymore that are remotely FUN to just WATCH. You've got your general comedy show here and there starring humans that can fill the void in your heart left open for hilarious television, but that black hole is suddenly ripped open again as soon as the credits roll and the next episode of LOST is practically shoved down your throat so hard when you scream for help your voice comes out sounding something like Denise Russau's voice on that call for help they picked up on their transmitter in the first season.
That said in too many words, the same issue seems to slowly be creeping into cartoon shows. Take shows like Ben 10, or Naruto, or Shaolin Showdown, or (wtf?) Winx Club, and even Pokemon now a days. These might not be the best of examples but you get my point. These shows all have these drawn out obnoxious pretenses that lead to episode after episode of plot and character development that eventually gets so involved that your average "i just got home from school" kid who might have had detention 3/5 days that week cannot be telling the truth when he goes over to his friends house and says "Yeah man I totally know how messed up it was when Jizzon stole the power watch from Dark Lord Roundworm" because the other kid is saying "yeah well if you saw episode 3384 on Monday you would know that The Argonaut totally was Flying Deluth's brother and they saved him from the evil Miss Flotsombottom so when they took the power ring they were really.." etc. What is happening is that these kids are being trained to pretty much marry themselves to the television show and taught that you cannot just watch a show just to watch a show you need to watch the whole SEASON of shows and that no matter HOW the season ends you are going to be disappointed because it is all LEADING UP TO SOME KIND OF DEFINITIVE END.
Because of this Cartoon Network and every other station on TV was beginning to lose my support until I saw Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. This show is practically everything that I could ever want in a TV show. And its practically the opposite of everything that I just said.
I didn't start liking the show right away. What kind of happened with me and this show is sort of what happens when you kind of start hanging out with a boy, or girl, and you kind of like them cause you know, you've hung out with them a few times and you've had an OK time, but then out of nowhere they invite you on this awesome adventure and well the timing is just right because you've been sitting in your house all day listening to your roommates argue about whether or not the new Killers album is worth even trying to listen to because that first single was just really unattractive, and you've been avoiding them by sitting in your room but its gotten a bit too stuffy in there and you wanted to go outside and do something but its hot and you weren't exactly sure what, but then this boy or girl calls you and they tell you they will come pick you up and they get there JUST in time in this really comfortable car with excellent not too strong on your face air conditioning and when you get in the car that boy or girl is listening to this song you haven't heard for ages and suddenly you don't care about what you two are going to do because you know you will have a great time with that person no matter what and you fall in love.
For a long time I struggled with why I liked the show so much, other than the obvious. Its drawn in a very attractive bright colored Victorian house style, the characters are ALL lovable and are extremely easy to attach yourself to (favorites are not hard to pick with such extremely defined personality types) and well, its funny. But I knew there was something more there than the fact that I enjoyed comparing Bloo's antics and inability to take the blame for any kind of situation to my boyfriend's identical "problem" and how much Wilt reminded me of this site's wonderful creator, Dan. It was upon reading some posts on this Foster's blog that seems to have been since abandoned that made me realize that I like this show because I can just sit down and watch it, and have a wonderful experience, and be done. There is no OH MAN I WONDER IF MAC IS COMING BACK NEXT WEEK, there is no THEY NEVER RESOLVED MR HERRIMANS CARROT ADDICTION, you get the point. When the episode is over, it is over, and I am reassured without fail that next week the same characters are going to be there getting into another crazy situation without having to worry if one of them will be whacked by the end of season 2. I'm not even thinking about season 2. Well I am because the DVD should be coming out sooner than September 11th, but again, you follow me here.
I have to get back to work but real quick - I know a lot of you might have been thinking I am wrong about the first part of this post - that there are plenty of shows out there like that, but give me one that is actually GOOD - BESIDES Lucky Louie and DAMN that show got canceled! Disney shows do not count here because even though I love them WE ALL KNOW THEY SUCK when it comes down to it and it takes some kind of fucked up tween to really appreciate those shows. Lastly, I refuse to count toddler-oriented shows such as The Doodlebops (sucky) and BoohBah (awesome). Cartoons Spongebob (overrated) and Ed, Edd, and Eddy do not count either because they have both been on the air for so long that they are either completely overdone, or everyone has been exposed to the show through some over-saturated marketing campaign. Something, again, which Foster's has avoided.
gotta juice -
What I am trying to say in too many words here is that there are barely any shows on TV anymore that are remotely FUN to just WATCH. You've got your general comedy show here and there starring humans that can fill the void in your heart left open for hilarious television, but that black hole is suddenly ripped open again as soon as the credits roll and the next episode of LOST is practically shoved down your throat so hard when you scream for help your voice comes out sounding something like Denise Russau's voice on that call for help they picked up on their transmitter in the first season.
That said in too many words, the same issue seems to slowly be creeping into cartoon shows. Take shows like Ben 10, or Naruto, or Shaolin Showdown, or (wtf?) Winx Club, and even Pokemon now a days. These might not be the best of examples but you get my point. These shows all have these drawn out obnoxious pretenses that lead to episode after episode of plot and character development that eventually gets so involved that your average "i just got home from school" kid who might have had detention 3/5 days that week cannot be telling the truth when he goes over to his friends house and says "Yeah man I totally know how messed up it was when Jizzon stole the power watch from Dark Lord Roundworm" because the other kid is saying "yeah well if you saw episode 3384 on Monday you would know that The Argonaut totally was Flying Deluth's brother and they saved him from the evil Miss Flotsombottom so when they took the power ring they were really.." etc. What is happening is that these kids are being trained to pretty much marry themselves to the television show and taught that you cannot just watch a show just to watch a show you need to watch the whole SEASON of shows and that no matter HOW the season ends you are going to be disappointed because it is all LEADING UP TO SOME KIND OF DEFINITIVE END.
Because of this Cartoon Network and every other station on TV was beginning to lose my support until I saw Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. This show is practically everything that I could ever want in a TV show. And its practically the opposite of everything that I just said.
I didn't start liking the show right away. What kind of happened with me and this show is sort of what happens when you kind of start hanging out with a boy, or girl, and you kind of like them cause you know, you've hung out with them a few times and you've had an OK time, but then out of nowhere they invite you on this awesome adventure and well the timing is just right because you've been sitting in your house all day listening to your roommates argue about whether or not the new Killers album is worth even trying to listen to because that first single was just really unattractive, and you've been avoiding them by sitting in your room but its gotten a bit too stuffy in there and you wanted to go outside and do something but its hot and you weren't exactly sure what, but then this boy or girl calls you and they tell you they will come pick you up and they get there JUST in time in this really comfortable car with excellent not too strong on your face air conditioning and when you get in the car that boy or girl is listening to this song you haven't heard for ages and suddenly you don't care about what you two are going to do because you know you will have a great time with that person no matter what and you fall in love.
For a long time I struggled with why I liked the show so much, other than the obvious. Its drawn in a very attractive bright colored Victorian house style, the characters are ALL lovable and are extremely easy to attach yourself to (favorites are not hard to pick with such extremely defined personality types) and well, its funny. But I knew there was something more there than the fact that I enjoyed comparing Bloo's antics and inability to take the blame for any kind of situation to my boyfriend's identical "problem" and how much Wilt reminded me of this site's wonderful creator, Dan. It was upon reading some posts on this Foster's blog that seems to have been since abandoned that made me realize that I like this show because I can just sit down and watch it, and have a wonderful experience, and be done. There is no OH MAN I WONDER IF MAC IS COMING BACK NEXT WEEK, there is no THEY NEVER RESOLVED MR HERRIMANS CARROT ADDICTION, you get the point. When the episode is over, it is over, and I am reassured without fail that next week the same characters are going to be there getting into another crazy situation without having to worry if one of them will be whacked by the end of season 2. I'm not even thinking about season 2. Well I am because the DVD should be coming out sooner than September 11th, but again, you follow me here.
I have to get back to work but real quick - I know a lot of you might have been thinking I am wrong about the first part of this post - that there are plenty of shows out there like that, but give me one that is actually GOOD - BESIDES Lucky Louie and DAMN that show got canceled! Disney shows do not count here because even though I love them WE ALL KNOW THEY SUCK when it comes down to it and it takes some kind of fucked up tween to really appreciate those shows. Lastly, I refuse to count toddler-oriented shows such as The Doodlebops (sucky) and BoohBah (awesome). Cartoons Spongebob (overrated) and Ed, Edd, and Eddy do not count either because they have both been on the air for so long that they are either completely overdone, or everyone has been exposed to the show through some over-saturated marketing campaign. Something, again, which Foster's has avoided.
gotta juice -
The thing with music
The thing with music is that it's really exciting when you find a new band you like. The first time you hear a song by a new band you might decide that you kind of like it. The second you are starting to learn the song and have probably made a final decision. But the third through about ninth time you hear that wonderful new song will be among the best moments of your life, and when it is over you will want to start it over again. (And if no one is around, and you've disabled Last.fm, you just might!)
But beware! After eight or nine listens in the first week, the song may begin to lose its luster, and you may end up getting disappointed in modern music, and after finding out that this wonderful new band has now been declared "Band of the Millenium" by Pitchfork media, you may just end up sulking and listening to Belle and Sebastian for the next two months.
But beware! After eight or nine listens in the first week, the song may begin to lose its luster, and you may end up getting disappointed in modern music, and after finding out that this wonderful new band has now been declared "Band of the Millenium" by Pitchfork media, you may just end up sulking and listening to Belle and Sebastian for the next two months.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
