Para los que tienen alma de exploradores, este campamento es el ideal. Lazlo, Raj y Rino tendrán que vérselas con su guía, el profesor Lumpus, que cerá con ojo atento las travesuras que los chicos hacen en los camarotes, jugando con barro o en la carpa.

Quem curte os desenhos do CARTOON NETWORK, que é o meu caso, vai curtir muito as estréias de dois filmes originais do Cartoon, que prometem realmente ser algo totalmente de alto nível e diferente de tudo já produzido pelo Cartoon em termos de filmes originais: Ben 10: Invasão Alienígena e Scooby Doo: The Mystery Begins!

Ben 10: Invasão Alienígena – Alex Winter (diretor) e John Turman (roteirista de “Hulk” e “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer”) se juntam para produzir um filme live-action baseado na série de TV Ben 10: Força Alienígena, com data de estréia para o final de 2009. Ben 10: Invasão Alienígena conta a história do herói adolescente Ben Tennyson (Ryan Kelley) e seus esforços com a organização secreta “Os Encanadores“, que luta para combater as forças alienígenas, para ajudar Elena (Alyssa Diaz), uma garota jovem e misteriosa, a desmascarar uma ameaça alien ao nosso mundo. No elenco também estão Barry Corbin (“No Country for Old Men”) como vovô Max, Galadriel Stineman como Gwen e Nathan Keyes como Kevin.

Scooby Doo: The Mystery Begins – Descubra a história nunca antes contada de como um quarteto adolescente totalmente incomum se juntou pela primeira vez antes de ser conhecido como Mistérios Inc. Freddy (Robbie Amell), o atleta do Colégio; Velma (Hayley Kiyoko), a gênio vencedora do prêmio de Ciências; Daphne (Kate Melton), a patricinha beauty; Salsicha (Nick Palatas), o desajeitado; e o novo cão adotado por Salsicha, Scooby Doo, são forçados a trabalhar em equipe para limparem seus nomes. Scooby Doo: The Mystery Begins deve estrear no fim de 2009.

=*

“Ben 10: Alien Swarm” plays succinctly towards the Cartoon Network’s afternoon/late teen audience. The program itself is not too intrinsic but also is not too safe. It understands the balance that needs to be played while still motivating a responsible audience. This is not Adult Swim, nor should it be. “Ben 10” and its presence are a very real indicator of what the programming separation should be on a channel like this. Cartoon Network is not the Disney Channel but in creating afternoon and evening entertainment for its younger viewers it needs to have some kick. That said, a good example of this is the kind of element ABC Family is doing with its programming like “Samurai Girl” and “The Middleman”.

What “Ben 10” lacks at times is good humor which is utterly necessary in this type of tongue-in-cheek outing. Director Alex Winter, former Bill of “Bill & Ted”, knows the target for his audience but doesn’t push it as far as it possibly needs to go. The technical elements including the production value, effects and shots all work very well but despite the script’s limitations, there are some advantanges that could have been taken and were not. The relationship between Ben and his “Q”, as it were, has many possibilities to it while still maintaining the dynamic. It however simply becomes a one note element. Secondly we have Barry Corbin who killled on “Northern Exposure” but is not allowed to spread his wings here. Granted this is a by-the-book for a price piece operating in a difficult genre world but the possibilities could have been pushed much further.

The story follows a betrayal which is highlighted in Ben’s former friend Elena who comes back to ask Ben 10 for help because her father is in trouble. Nobody including Uncle (Corbin) wants to believe her…but 10 does (since he has to have a folly as the hero). It turns out that there is something more diabolical at play. Considering how the film ends, it is pretty inventive considering the restriction of budget and, of course, the angle is open for another.

It is good that CN is pushing forward elements on a brand with a cohesive strategy and Winter is an apt director. However, some of the elements from his MTV/“Idiot Box” show or his “Freaks” feature, however subtle, would bring a great amount of character to the piece. Now granted these types of films are made by committee at times to hit a certain standard but within this auspice, leeway needs to be granted. Out of 5, I give it a 2.

Ben 10 transitioned its self from a cartoon series to a live action movie before and is back for second time in live form. However, this time around he takes shape as the older cartoon counterpart and with the help of his comrades he must battle an invading force trying to enslave the human race. I really don’t like television made live action Sci-fi movies because the CGI in these films are really cheep sometimes. However, watching most of the trailers for this film; it seems they’ve used only a moderate amount of CGI and it seems to work for them – doesn’t look out of place or cheaply done. The film stars Ryan Kelley (Ben), Galadriel Stineman (Gwen), and Nathan Keyes (Kevin). The film is directed by Actor, Alex Winter (1989’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure).

This discussion on 17/11/2009 asked class members to describe how they get information about anime, and how their ways of getting information have changed since first becoming interested in anime. The class formed three groups of four and one group member kept notes and fed back.

Andrew, Brian, Ruth, Soraya:

Andrew got into anime soon after Akira was released in Britain in 1991. He also saw My Neighbour Totoro at the ICA’s anime festival, read two British magazines, Anime UK and Manga Mania, and then got Helen’s first book in 1993. Nowadays he looks at the Internet to keep up with news about anime, mostly Anime News Network (ANN) and Ain’t  It Cool News (AICN). So his way of getting information has progressed from analogue to digital technology, just like his way of watching anime!

Brian is a new fan and can’t recall exactly when and how he first became aware of anime. As a longstanding animation fan he knew he wanted to find out more, and so when he saw this course advertised by the WEA he signed up.

Soraya is a longtime animation fan who remembers enjoying Hanna Barbera cartoons and the Banana Splits on TV. She first saw anime in the 1980s (in Japanese) and  decided she preferred it to most Western animation. She used to read SFX magazine for information, and also read Helen’s books and the Animerica Interviews book. Now she gets her information from anime-fan friends and buys most of her anime DVDs on eBay.

Ruth had seen some anime trailers on other DVDs, so when she saw the Barbican’s 2008 Tezuka festival on a web browser, she went along to find out more. She met Helen, and started buying NEO magazine. Now she uses the Internet and anime forums for information.

Adam, Naomi, Rhiannon, Steve:

Adam was a member of the Manga UK Club (run by video label Manga Entertainment) as a teenager, and would buy any anime with an 18 certificate on it. Nowadays he gets most of his information from NEO and SFX magazines, other science fiction publications and events like the Barbican festivals.

Naomi and Rhiannon both became fans around the same time as Adam and get their information from similar sources, and by word of mouth. They are aware that their choices are in a way ‘censored’ by what selectors for festivals and screenings, or DVD release, choose to make available.

Steve is a newcomer to anime who signed up for the class because he was curious about it. He has seen only what “breaks the surface of the mainstream” like Spirited Away, although he also went to the first ICA anime festival, again from curiosity.

Azusa, Becky, Jane, Sarah:

Azusa started watching anime in Japan when she was young. She still gets most of her anime information from two Japanese magazines, Animania and Animage. These have been published for many years.

Becky got into anime very young, watching it on TV channels like Cartoon Network and Toonami. Toonami no longer exists and Cartoon Network doesn’t show anime now, so she uses the anime fan network and YouTube to keep up with new material.

Jane is new to anime and signed up for this class to find out more because of her interest in Japanese culture. She gets her information from the Internet, anime blogs, and YouTube.

Sarah got into anime as a child in Asia, watching it on TV and watching videos. Now she searches websites for information, and has usedan online list of older anime and world anime which was packed with information. She couldn’t remember the name but by pooling our information we think it’s either Richard Llewellyn’s Animated Divots or Benjamin Ettinger’s AniPages Daily.

Conhecem o tal do Conto de Natal do Dickens? Elegante, não? O miserável Ebenezer Scrooge sofre com as assombrações dos Fantasmas do Natal, do Natal Passado, do Natal Presente e do Natal Futuro… leia o livro, assista os filmes, se vira, malandro.

E Aquateen? Conhecem? Como não? Passava no [adult swim], o bloco de animação adulta do Cartoon Network. Entenda, animação adulta não implica em pornografia, mas sim em conteúdo (talvez, porém nem sempre) inteligente. Infelizmente o [adult swim] não durou muito aqui no BraZil e mal posso explicar o tal desaparecimento para além de meras conjecturas, mas as animações eram realmente boas e já estão deixando saudades entre aquelas pessoas iluminadas e inteligentes.

Logo, um dos nossos presentes de Natal para vocês, um dos mais divertidos! Sugestão do nosso camarada Pizza, segue a melhor explicação para esta data festiva que chamamos de Natal!

Victor Hugo, vulgo Jingle Jones

Sortie : 26 Novembre

Lancement : 80 000 exemplaires

Prix public conseillé : 50€

Plan média : TV, presse et Internet avec focus sur les enfants, opérations magasins (box, standees, catalogues, posters), partenariat Lego et Cartoon Network.

Source : JDLI, Novembre 2009

Top Chef: Culinary Olympics

How I Met Your Mother: Slapsgiving 2: Revenge of the Slap

The Venture Brothers: Self Medication

The Big Bang Theory: The Vengeance Formulation

Castle: Love Me Dead

White Collar: Threads

Well in between wondering if the wind will blow the tube carriage office off the roof of Village Underground and putting Johnny Bravo stickers on everything in sight (thanks Cartoon Network!) we have actually had a pretty productive week.

This week’s I Am Weasel’s are:

• TrueTiger’s pal who has just been made a Playmate: Woop! we’re one step closer to getting into the Mansion!
• Dom from Notting Hill Arts Club: thanks for helping host a great birthday party for Danny Howells (and thanks for the shots, the fake tattoo, the really lame coffee and thanks Dave Swindells for the lift home)
• Maxxy Thurlow: we’ll miss you, baybeee… we want a postcard every week from your travels…

• Vivien Vixen-Kenny: the princess of Raw Material is coming back to us. Mr Bling is a happy fox.

• Akis from Liferide.co.uk: aka the guy who is building our CMS system. A consultation with you is like therapy (in the nicest possible way…)
• Rob from Voltz: thanks for the 3 hour lunch – let’s never eat Lebanese food again though!
• Allan from Sweet and Chilli: we’re feeling a bit clever and smug that we guessed the same mixer to go in our Lamb’s rum as you (the superstar mixologist) recommended. But thank you for re-afirming our choice!

• People who popped in to see us last week: especially Sue Skeats and Andy Dangerfield and thanks for the plant Rich Hendry
• Dan’s granny: for making us Xmas cake you could kill someone with

And this week’s mean green Powerpuff Girls:

• American Apparel: OK, we know AA is the Upper East side’s 4th emergency service, but who in their right mind wants a lace catsuit in this weather? Run to Paper Dress and get some furs…

• Baby Groove Holbrook: you’re lovely, but your Daddy needs some sleep!

• Laurence from 360 Degree Music’s keyboard: it doesn’t have a ‘k’ key… or a few others. Makes for comedy Twittering tho!

This week: Happy birthday to our all time favourite lady, Miss Victoria Hart, to Sophie Gozlan and have a great last week at DJ Magazine Lesley Wright!

Firgas

Well, it’s Saturday and I have to admit that my morning this morning was pretty care-free.  Although, I had put pressure on myself to get some things done.  I got up around ten o’clock this morning.  I haven’t been able to do that in ages and I have to admit that it was rather nice to be able to sleep in a little bit.  Heather, unfortunately, had to take off around seven o’clock this morning for a bus run that she was doing with the Boys’ basketball team for Chenango Valley.  I went downstairs and got right to work on my main project for the day.  I wanted to get all of the music videos from my classroom processed and off of my laptop so that I could clear the hard drive on the laptop.  It’s kind of scary how much space those videos take up.  So, I spent my entire morning in the basement trying to finish those up.  I watched all sorts of TV shows including “The Clone Wars” again and mostly “Flip This House” on A&E.  Around noon, Heather called me and told me she would be home soon.  She said she wanted to go to Wal Mart and wanted to know if I wanted to go with her.

I wanted to go because I needed some things to continue working on my clone trooper helmet with.  So, Heather got home around one o’clock and we took off for Vestal.  We did our shopping at Wal Mart and got some things Heather needed for around the house and I even got a new hot glue gun (since I broke the one I had at the last event).  It’s a pretty cool glue gun.  We also got some odds and ends and I got some sandpaper for my purposes.  We got done shopping and headed over to “Taco Bell” for lunch and then headed over to our “Best Buy” to check out the new store.  I have to admit that it’s nice to have a tech store to take over for the loss of “Circuit City” that left almost six months ago now.  We browsed the store for a little bit and then came home which got us home around three o’clock.  We got home and I went downstairs and started working on the clone helmet some more.  In between working on that I decided to watch the Penn State game.  It was pretty much a runaway from the beginning.

I was then called upstairs for a dinner of leftovers and I had some leftovers Tahoes plate and then went back downstairs and continued processing music videos and then played “Call of Duty 4″ online with my PS3 until it was time to watch “Law and Order SVU” and then Heather and I watched that and then went to bed.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 2 of Chapter 18 of “Star Wars – Medstar I:  Battle Surgeons, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry……Chapter 18 (Part 2):  Den Dhur sat in the chow hall happy with the fact that he would get cold, hard revenge on Filba the Hutt.  He had found that one thing that the Hutt would not want seen on the evening holonet.  He had found that vengance was now the perfect spice for his food.  No, the food was bland and it had to be local food because soldiers had little room on their transports for the extra luxuries of good food to eat.  Instead, they ate local food or ate RRs – Ready Rations.  They weren’t exactly anything to write home about and that’s why Republic cooks demanded foragers go out the minute a troop transport landed.  Den had been on assignments where the only edible food around were RRs and everyone got thin rather fast.  Luckily, Drongar was full of enough vegetation and animal life that the eating in the chow hall was better than most planets.  He knew anytime he ate something prepared by the military he was eating at his own risk.  Although today, even an RR would taste good since a good story helps to satisfy his appetite to do his job. He looked up and saw Zan going through the line and waved him over.  They talked about Zan’s meal of wrigglers and Zan said that it wasn’t as good as eating at the Manarai on Coruscant.  Dhur was surprised he was able to eat at such a swank establishment and Zan said he came from a family that was fairly well off.  Zan offered him a bite and Den declined as he wondered how a rich man’s son, with a talent as a musicia, would end up in the military……

Cartoon Network Fail

Picture by: robyn Submitted by: robynpeterson via Fail Uploader

Thanks for joining Universal Dork for issue #1 of our ‘toons you should sure as hell be watching. For this kick off I want to mention a ’toon that is popular with kids but I quickly overlooked. Fortunately, I am a big enough dork to watch any cartoon I can get my eyes on while working out early in the morning. Well I was blessed to have repeats of Ben 10 showing at the crack of down while sweating it up…and I found it was full of many pleasant surprises. As usual, I encourage you to follow the jump for all of the essential information and this unlikely superhero youth!

Here we go…

So, to kick this informative blog off…let’s get you up to speed on the basics of Ben 10. The show follows a 10 year old kid named Ben Tennyson who is on a summer vacation with his Grandpa Max and cousin Gwen RV’n across country. Early in the trip while camping in the woods, an alien ship is attacked in orbit around Earth. During the attack the ship jettisons the cargo being sought and it just so happens to be found by the unsuspecting Ben. When Ben approaches the alien cargo, it opens and attaches itself to his arm in the form of a funky looking watch. The watch offers Ben the ability to transform into 10 different alien beings and but has many disadvantages. First, he can’t get the watch off. Second, he’s 10 and sucks at using it…and he is very irresponsible with its power. Third, once he transforms, he only has a limited time as the alien being. But despite the short comings, his Grandpa and cousin help him try to understand the power that he has been gifted with and encourage him to use it to help people.

The show first aired in December of 2005 and wrapped up in April of 08. Ben 10 ran for four seasons on Cartoon network and only has 52 episodes. The show ends with a movie that covers the origins of the watch. You might say to yourself…why so short…did they cancel it? No, this is what I liked about it, they wanted to lay the ground work for the next series when Ben is a bit older (Ben 10: Alien Force to be covered in a later blog) and keep it fresh! So during the course of this first story, they develop a great underlying story line about the watch, its creation/purpose, and how other characters are tied to its alien origins.

Per the usual superhero stories, there are plenty of bad guys that want the watch and lots of typical episode plots. But the thing that I found really compelling about the show was how it only covers one summer of Ben. And during that time he never gets the hang of using the powers…in fact he sucks at it, but learns how to be resourceful. I also loved how each of the aliens gets a name by Ben, names that are just stupid. For example, the insect, goo shooting, flying alien is called “Stink Fly”; the Crystal beast called “Diamond Head”; and the four armed strong man called “Four Arms”… almost like a 10 year kid named them…cause he did! With great power comes great responsibility, right…well Ben Tennyson was not the best choice cause he sucks at thinking things through.

Not enough reason to check it out yet, well get this…Ben 10 was created by a team that calls themselves “Man of Action”. With the developing story line and obvious comic book overtones of the series, my curiosity got the best of me and I dug a bit on this “Man of Action”. Turns out the team is a combo of Joe Casey, Joe Kelly, Steven T. Seagle, and Duncan Rouleau. Hey comic fans…heard of these guys? Yeah, they have been writing for DC, Marvel, Image, Wildstorm, Dark Horse, Vertigo, etc. for years on comics from Spiderman to Godland and JLA to Constantine. I encourage you to look up each writers’ contributions. It also appears the concept is loosely based on an earlier DC comic creation called Dial H for Hero, which is based on the same premise.

Well, no more need for me to keep jaw jacking this to death, if you like ‘toons, I recommend Ben 10 to get you started down the road to the later series. As mentioned, I plan to cover the second series, Alien Force, in further blogs…and you got to love this, it has already been announced that there is another later series planned called Ben 10: Evolution. Almost like they plan to mature the characters along with the core audience…Awesome! As usual, I would love to hear your comments and feedback on the info here, come on out, dork it up, and weigh in!

Taylor has put up with my feminist outrage for a long time.  When we sit down to watch a television show at the end of a hard day, it’s almost tradition for me to see an ad and blurt something like, “Come on!  By using a woman they are insinuating that women are the only ones who are incapable of taking care of themselves without additional security!”  And Taylor raises his eyebrows a little bit and agrees with me when I press him about it.

I can be a little out of control, it’s true.

My feminist rage is at its strongest when watching cartoons.  It’s a fact: most all of the coolest cartoon characters are men.  The boys are allowed to have complex motivations and badass fight scenes.  They typically get the best jokes and tend to be the main characters.  The women’s motivations tend to be “SHE IS A LADY.  THAT IS WHAT LADIES DO,” and their jokes are limited to nagging  and histrionics.

It’s true that some characters are worse than others, though.  For your pleasure (and to give Taylor’s ears a break) here are the Seven Worst Female Cartoon Characters, rated in order of how much they conform to an unhealthy and unnecessary stereotype.  You may note that I’ve left out the classics – Betty Boop, Disney Princesses…I feel like these characters, sexist though they are, are the product of their times.  But now we have decided we are progressive!  Our entertainment features women who can rassle!  Women who know math!  So our modern cartoons are devoid of girls who rely on sexuality or bitterness, right?

Ha.

Are you ready to get your Righteous Indignation on?

7.  Candace from Phineas and Ferb:  I like Phineas and Ferb.  The show centers around two young boys who live each day of their summer vacation to the fullest, often concocting wild and impressive schemes to get what they want.  They are good natured and fun loving.  Their older sister, Candace, is not.  Candace likes boys and makeup and being a star, and hates fun and things that are messy.  She often plays the role of the villain in the cartoon, but her motivations are completely transparent.  It’s as though the creators decided she was A Big Sister and left it at that.  Boo, Candace.  Booo.

She is the very spirit of fun and mischief!

6.  Roxanne from A Goofy Movie:  What do we know about Roxanne from A Goofy Movie?  The main  character, Max, loves her and wants to impress her.  Why?  Because she’s hot, of course!  And she like…uh.  I guess we don’t really know what she likes.  But she’s very….oh.  I guess we don’t really know her personal qualities either.  Well, we KNOW her name is Roxanne, and that she is HOT!  And that’s enough for her to be a truly compelling character, right?  Right?  You guys?

She has a sparkling uh...personality?

5.  Amy Rose from Sonic The Hedgehog:  When you have a cartoon and video game franchise centered around a blue hedgehog, the natural choice for his counterpart is a pink hedgehog.  It is the law of the wild.  Amy Rose exists to chase Sonic with large hearts in her eyes, wielding a hammer that she uses to stun him into submission.  When she isn’t chasing him, she is nagging him to ‘be more sensitive’ or ’slow down and do things with her’.  Flash forward twenty years and he will be an overweight husband in a dead-end job, and she will be a hot wife that only wants him to do the dishes, and harps on him to eat a salad now and again.  Stay in school, girls!

Don't showcha your chocha, Amy!

4.  Jean Grey from X-Men Evolution:  Okay.  I’m going to catch a lot of flak for this one, because lots of people like Jean Grey, but her X-Men Evolution iteration is…maybe a little less than impressive.  In this era, Jean is a high school student.  She is gorgeous, limber, the most popular girl in school, gets straight A’s, and has fantastic telekinetic and telepathic powers to boot!  All this besides the undying love of most of the male characters.  So, here’s what I don’t like about Jean: she is entirely focused on what others think of her.  From the outside, this sounds like a solid motivation for a character, but Jean, in the true tradition of dim female characters, relies entirely on the males around her to define herself.  Is she dating the football jock or sensitive Scott Summers?  Is she being kidnapped by Magneto, or are her Phoenix powers being squelched by ultra powerful psychic Charles Xavier?  Jean is a grievous cartoon stereotype offender because she purports to be a Modern Woman – smart and powerful, but ultimately she relies on the men in her life to boost her esteem and supply her opinion.

Don't be afraid, Jean! Somewhere out there...somewhere, there is a shirt that will cover your midriff.

3.  Raven from Teen Titans:  In the bold tradition of Jean Grey, Raven is a heroine who seems quite heroic until you take into account who pulls her strings.  She is the daughter of vicious demon Trigon, which has imbued her with impressive magic.  The magic controls her more than she controls it, and when Trigon comes to earth, he promptly subjugates her to his whim.  A great story would be if Raven found her courage and her strength and rose up to slay her father, freeing herself and gaining control over her power.  Buuuuut Robin the Boy Wonder does it for her, and she is so pleased to be saved it establishes her trust in humanity.  Yay, Robin!  You’ve finally showed us all that we don’t need to save ourselves, as long as we can go from one male protector to another.  Did I mention she does all this in a tight-fitting legless leotard?

Dig the belt, Raven! But I think you...did you forget to put something on this morning? Starts with a P? Ends with an 'Ants'?

2.  Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon – Oookay.  I know Tuxedo Mask is a dude.  I’ve been focusing mostly on horrible female stereotypes, but male stereotypes exist as well.  Tuxedo Mask is the Edward of Sailor Moon.  He is a preteen girl’s ultimate fantasy.  That bratty guy at school that causes her so much grief secretly loves her for no apparent reason!  And what’s more than that, he is secretly a super hero!  He always shows up at the right moment to save her from evil amid a show of bubbles and delicate rose petals.  What does he like?  What are his hopes and dreams?  What are his fears?  It’s a mystery.  After all, Tuxedo Mask doesn’t need to be a real person, as long as he loves me.  Sob sob sob.

Ohh, Tuxedo Mask! Let me stare into your eyes for another four hours!

1.  I have reserved the number one spot for a cartoon creation that truly kindles the flames of my red-hot ire.  I speak, of course, of The Ruiner.  The Great Hair-Flipper, the Bunny-Smoocher, whose vapid stare and saxophone-stoked entry music sends me into paroxysms of rage.

I speak, of course, of Lola Bunny.

You guys remember the movie Space Jam.  Aliens try to take over the Looney Tunes, and they challenge them to a basketball game.  To tip their hand, the Tunes snag Michael Jordan.  Hilarity ensues.  When it turns out they don’t know how to play basketball at all, Michael Jordan says, in desperation, “Hasn’t anybody here ever played basketball?”

You guys.

Lola Bunny has:

I feel like that is all I really need to say about Lola Bunny.

Tune in next Monday when I post my picks for Top Seven Awesomest Cartoon Ladies!

Para quem conhece este clássico da MPB e também para quem curtia o Adult Swim, que passava (ou será que ainda passa?) no Cartoon Network. Virar as noites em sextas e sábados era muito mais divertido nessa época.

Castle: Famous Last Words

How I Met Your Mother: The Playbook

The Big Bang Theory: The Adhesive Duck Deficency

The Venture Brothers: The Revenge Society

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia: Paddy’s Pub: Home of the Original Kitten Mittens

Una de las novedades de CN para el 2010

Para el próximo año, Cartoon Network tiene muchas sorpresas preparadas para el público latinoamericano.

Luego del éxito de “Ben 10“, tanto en serie de dibujos animados como en películas para televisión, Cartoon Network ya tiene preparada una tercera serie sobre este personaje: “Ben 10: Supremacía Alienígena“, donde el joven Ben Tennyson de 16 años, ha revelado su identidad secreta al mundo. Armado con un nuevo y misterioso Omnitrix, Ben será un héroe internacional que si bien es amado por los niños, despierta sospechas entre los adultos. Esta serie será producida por Glenn Murakami (“Los Jóvenes Titanes”, “Ben 10: Fuerza Alienígena”), con guiones de Dwayne McDuffie (“Liga de la Justicia”).

De los creadores de “Ben 10“, Man of Action, llega también “Generador Rex“. Luego que Rex, un jóven de 15 años, es infectado por moléculas nanorobóticas, desarrolla la capacidad de crear máquinas increíbles con su cuerpo. Contratado por una organización llamada Providencia, ahora Rex recorre el mundo, investigando las causas de estas capacidades.

Cartoon Network presenará también “Titanes Biónicos“, creado por el innovador Genndy Tartakovsky (Dexter’s Laboratory y Samurai Jack) y basada en la historia de tres extraterrestres que caen en la Tierra accidentalmente, mientras intentaban escapar de su planeta, Galaluna, que esta siendo devastado por una guerra.

Para los fanáticos de Star Wars, en el 2010 continuará La Guerra de los Clones en Cartoon Network con la nueva serie “Star Wars: La guerra de los clones – Rise of the Bounty Hunters“. Aquí la vida de los Jedi se vuelve cada vez más compleja, descubriendo relaciones secretas y prohibidas y apareciendo en escena un nuevo tipo de villano que desea tomar ventaja de los tiempos de guerra: Los cazadores de recompensas.

En el transcurso del año, Cartoon Network irá informando las fechas de estreno de estos programas.

Introducing the Mooninite cars!

http://forums.forzamotorsport.net/forums/thread/191469.aspx

#1 in da hood G!

In the written equivalent of my best Andy Rooney voice, I’d like to pose a question: “Have you ever wondered why a media company would manufacture so many DVD copies of a crappy movie?” I’m sure we’ve all seen shelves at our local big-box electronics retailers loaded down with far too many copies of Employee of the Month or some other cinematic affront to decency. Because there is a finite number of resale shops, gas station racks, and other destinations for discounted, largely unwanted DVDs, it stands to reason that those thousands upon thousands of excess copies of ribald Dane Cook features (and other DVD-era movies bound for similar oblivion) ultimately end up in landfills, contributing to the toxic effluent slowly seeping into our groundwater.

Thankfully, Cartoon Network and other Warner Brothers companies are pointing the way to a different production model: the on-demand manufacturing of DVDs in response to customer orders. Starting today, visitors to Cartoon Network’s Web site can order customized DVDs filled with their favorite episodes of several popular series in the network’s Adult Swim block of nighttime programming.

Based on the “print on demand” model already adopted by many smaller book publishers, this model of disc production meets needs on both the supply and the demand ends of the transaction. Warner obviously wants to cut costs and achieve “just in time” levels of efficiency, and savvy customers want increasingly customized and self-selected media viewing experiences. A personal example: I own two Warner Brothers Looney Tunes DVD collections (eight discs total), but I’d much rather be able to create and purchase one or two discs of the handful of specific Bugs Bunny and Foghorn Leghorn cartoons I remember from childhood.

So kudos to Warner and Cartoon Network for beginning to meet all these needs (not to mention the possible reduction in environmental impact—I shudder to think about all that plastic, and I don’t just mean Dane Cook’s stage presence).

Now if only Cartoon Network’s marketing division could be as innovative as its sales division. I can’t help responding to a recent theme of publicity for Adult Swim’s airings of the British version of The Office. I haven’t caught any on TV, but I’ve seen ads for “The [real] Office” in several places on the Web (including Pitchfork last week, though the ad seems to be down now). The Adult Swim fan page on Facebook has a few examples too.

“The [real] Office.” C’mon, Adult Swim—you can do better than that, can’t you? If it ever was, that slogan hasn’t been accurate or relevant since the summer of 2005. Back then, I heard that response to the American Office from a handful of people who, liked me, loved and borderline worshiped the original British version. But those of us who stuck it out beyond the first episode or two (which WERE truly painful in the lack of promise they showed) learned fairly early on that the American version had much to offer in its own right.

Yes, the American Office premise and some early plot points (including the threat of downsizing) were borrowed, and the earliest traits assigned to central characters were similar to those of their British counterparts. But after the first couple of episodes, the American version was already something more than a static or staid recreation of the original.

And by this point, 100+ episodes into the American version, the two are, of course, entirely different beasts. There were only about seven hours of content in the British version—it was entirely self-contained, with taut and clearly defined (and brilliantly written and executed) arcs for its central characters. The American version? About 50 hours of content and counting, so it’s self-evident that there’s been far more time for numerous storylines for both primary and secondary characters. In fact, those secondary players—at least a dozen wonderful characters—really set the American version apart and give it much of the richness and depth that those who wrote it off far too soon have completely missed.

So I’d say that the Adult Swim marketing folks need to take a cue from their sales division counterparts and shake off those old ways of thinking. Just as manufacturing Adult Swim DVDs at the appropriate quantity levels doesn’t have to be a guessing game, enjoying the two versions of The Office doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game. Fans of the original Office whose knees didn’t jerk too hard in response to the American version’s early episodes (even when Jim put Dwight’s stapler in the jelly), know that neither the British nor the American version is more “real” than the other at this point, and both are pretty damn good.

Postscript: That probably sounded a bit like an Andy Rooney rant, but I’m not ready for his level yet. And regardless, even if some TV show inexplicably gave me space to ramble on in the incoherent and uninformed manner he’s turned into an art, I’ll never be able to grow anything that rivals Rooney’s dense eyebrow thicket. He’s probably hiding missing children in those things!

I finally got that Arceus that I’ve been wanting for like ever. Well more like since I heard it was coming out and what it can do on Heart Gold and Soul Silver. So yay got it now. Now I can create my own pokemon….on Heart Gold and Soul Silver. So that was fun. Had to do the normal stuff around the apartment which was no fun. Then I found out that there was a Looney Tunes Marathon on Cartoon Network. So I spent the rest of that time watching it. Then by the time that was over I remembered that the Cowboys were playing the Packers. Well as I expected the Cowboys blew it. There is only one thing I can truly expect from the Cowboys and that’s disappointment. This was the one time I needed them to not blow it. Now I’m going to have to hear this guy talking about it for a whole week. It’s one reason why I got the Arceus. To try to side track him. I also tried to do a work out, but I don’t know what happened. It was just hard to do anything. So I stopped and am taking a break tonight. So yeah that’s all that happened there. Guess that means it’s the Squiby time. So today’s video is the 1st opening for the new Full Metal Alchemist out. It’s Full Metal Alchemist Brotherhood. Basically it’s a new telling of the story. Different reasonings behind different things. I only saw the first episode and I found it interesting. I really need to start watching it, but I get side tracked with work and stuff. The song is called Again by Yui. Today’s tip is while working with money it is probably a good idea to not be absent minded. Especially while working at a bank.