Superman vs. The Elite

Superman vs. The Elite


The hero epics continue with yet another cartoon movie. In this one we superman questioning whether is non-deadly use of force is effective. A group of newcomers is much more violent and aggressive and the world seems to like it.

Eventually these newbies known as The Elite challenge Superman defeating him in a very public way. Yet Superman does the old switcharoo and tricks them. Eventually the world see that death is not the answer.

It was an old fashioned morals tale but the use of so much violence obscures the message.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse

Maybe it is working with young people or the fact I have a new Netflix accounts but I have been watching an abnormal amount of cartoon movies. Working with teens and twenty-somethings you miss a few of their references and most is music and movies. Comic book movies and young adult novels movies are the worst but I have been trying to give them a chance.

Superman/Batman: Apocalypse
This has Supergirl making her debut and then Apocalypse and friends make things complicated. Not as violent as a Marvel comic movie but still some bad deaths. I do enjoy the rich story lines and the animation is cool. Aside from that nothing stands out, you always know the good guys win.

After the movie they have another DC showcase short but those are much worse. The feature is all you need to watch because the DC universe is too big to explore in one night.

Planet Hulk

I was talking with co-workers about cartoons when I was a kid and how they never actually killed anyone. Even the Hulk was a kind monster. These youngster told me I should watch the new Marvel and D.C. cartoons and I would be shocked. So I did and I was.

In Planet Hulk you have the Hulk being exiled to a paradise planet. Unfortunately The Hulk as usual makes things worse by going off course and becoming a slave. It was just the story of Ben-Hur done by Marvel. Throughout the struggle out of slavery many being were violently killed. Even if none were human they still died in such horrible ways for a cartoon that was not meant to be funny.

Now the graphics and animation were great nothing like the old cartoons the repeated backgrounds to save time. The physics were unrealistic but that is something that is common in all superhero movies whether cartoon or live-action.

Would I watch more of these? Yes, but not with children around.

Mr. Popo

Dragon Ball first came out in cartoon form back in 1986 and the world was rich one filled with fantasy creature living alongside humans in what seem s to be the near future.

Mr. Popo is a genie who lives peacefully and tends the grounds of a lookout. Unfortunately the Japanese animators found stereotypes non-offensive and honestly did not think they did anything wrong. When drawing this guy.

As you may know this cartoon became popular in America a decade ago and currently is in reruns for kids programming all over. As far as I know no one has complained about any of the stereotypes but certain networks have modified Mr. Popo.

Why so blue? Well because people in the U.S. often overreact. There are dozens of Bugs, Tom and Jerry, and others episodes that I remember watching as a kid that are no longer being aired. While some are obvious even the minor violence in those Tom and Jerry cartoons have been de facto banned on televesion.

I do not mind not showing things but modifying them seems wrong. The original is always better and modifying messes with the story in certain ways. Among other Mr. Popo changes was most scenes with his flying carpet. Apparently the genie stereotype is also offensive so they tried to Disney-fy him by making him blue and losing all the references to an Arabic/Persian origin.

I cannot wait to see how future people will modify The Simpsons and all there offensive yellow skin and bulging eyes.

Sunday Night Round-Up 07/07/13

The Simpsons: What Animated Women Want
While I have been an irregular watcher of The Simpsons I still enjoy watching it. This one has Homer trying to please Marge and Milhouse trying to displease Lisa. The whole episode tries to peek into the minds of women and does it very well. After 20+ years The Simpsons still no how to balance adult and kid cartoons well.

Under The Dome: The Fire
After ranting about missing last Monday's episode they repeat it tonight. The townspeople are begin to crack. The villainous types are working hard to try and cover their secrets while the heroic types are moving slow to understand the scale of the problem.

Falling Skies: Be Silent and Come Out
The Masons just cannot catch a break. Fallout from another mind-bug puts everyone in jeopardy but as you know the Masons are a tough bunch. A nice look at new technology for fighting the aliens probes is explored. This show is more of a family drama than a sci-fi or political show.

True Blood: At Last
The obvious Ben/Warlow connection is made but is it too late. Poor baby vamp Jessica cannot control her urges and the funny 4 fairies may have to pay the price. Next week is going to be a tough one to watch. 

All that and I still need to watch Dexter.

Postponed Part 2

Due to the shooting in Connecticut some more shows were cancelled or postponed or modified.

The Simpsons was not shown, at least not on the east coast.

Family Guy and American Dad were both pulled and older episodes were shown instead.

Homeland aired a disclaimer the due to the Connecticut incident the episode may be a bit harsh. They were right since the bombing on the show led to a scene where 200bodies were lined upped at a hanger waiting to be processed.

On The View some good advice was given, of course not by the women of the show but their special guests.
--Pre-1970 asylums and institutions dominated the country now unfortunately we can only hold the mentally ill for 72 hours.
--1 out every 100 people use to be in an asylum.
--Blaming others is a key to spotting a future mad-killer. (The FBI should look at the number of bloggers dedicated to hating Obama.) 

Nothing new so stop blaming TV and video games.

Bath School bomber killed 38 children and 6 adults after killing is wife that same morning on May 18, 1927.

King of the Hill Series Finale

Image via Wikipedia

King of the Hill: To Sirloin with Love

Bobby learns he's a beef savant and his father realizes he final can bond with his son.

For 13 years King of the Hill struggled with realism versus the absurd. The Simpsons of course went to the unreal but the people over at Hill kept bringing back the show to a guy who loves his family and his very small world.

Good job and I can't wait for the next Mike Judge project ( I will ignore the awful The Goode Family that premiered last season).


Off topic: Kanye West and Charlie Sheen seem to be vying for the moron of the year award.

TOON

Cartoon Network, Channel #32

Almost a 24-hour cartoon network they have some non-animated programs. Once filled with classic cartoons but those are now considered controversial and ultra violent, plus Tom, Elmer, and Wile E. never went broke and lost their homes trying to catch their prey.

On my watch list lately:
Batman: The Brave and the Bold - classic Batman teams up with second rate heroes to fight classic enemies
Samurai Jack - not sure if it's still on but beautifully stylized and very depressing
Robot Chicken - Seth Green's great little 15 minute parody clip show

Add to that reruns of other cartoons like King of the Hill, Home Movies, The Oblongs, and other odd broadcast network cartoons for adults. Overall the late night block is good the morning and afternoon schedule is unwatchable.

D'oh

After twenty years of watching The Simpsons John Stewart just pointed out something I never noticed.

If Homer is 38 and Bart is 10 then Homer was 28 when Bart was born.
But Marge gave birth to Bart when she and Homer were 18 just after high school.
This means Homer is 28.

Thanks For The Repeats

Yes I've been so dang busy with these classes that I can't watch all the TV I'm use to.

Luckily the Olympics cured that problem. I didn't watch any of the Olympics and all the networks decided to show repeats so plenty of time to graph paraboloids and find gradients, wooo-hooo!

Here's an easy little plot z² = (x² + y² )/ 9 and y² + z² = 1
This one is simple and took less then a minute soon and it is only getting more complicated. Soon there will be AutoCAD and projects and no more repeats on TV.

24
Overall kind of weak this season. They're repeating it tonight.

Sci-Fi Friday: Stragate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Battlestar Galactica
The last two are fine but the original Stargate SG-1 is still struggling without Jack.


Drawn Together
Has been one of the few funny things on TV.

Stephen King's Desperation has finally been given an air date but I still don't think it's solid so I'll wait.

Well if I don't write again soon I wish you all good day and have fun. Remember it's just TV, great and wonderful TV.

Super Late Week In Review

First off tomorrow is Single Awareness Day also known as Valentine's Day for couples. If you get some good for you.

Now I've been doing a 9 to 5, 5-day a week class schedule so here are my late reviews.

Surface: Episode 15
The season finale, maybe series finale, picks up with Rich being detained at Iderex(secret creepy lab) where he sees an image of Jackson on a computer screen that says "Sector 1019 Chief", whoa Jackson was working with Iderex.
Meanwhile Miles and family are preaparing to leave while his girlfriend is sent ahead alone. The family makes it to the ferry but the girlfriend gets scooter robbed and knocked out close to Miles' home.
Rich manages not to get killed and uses a cell phone to make his goodbyes.
Miles realizes that his girl is in trouble and jumps ship to find her. At his home he finds his girl and they watch the devastion in Puerto Rico. On th TV they see giant creatures that look like floating debris in the water when suddenly one of them eats the reporter. They know the tsunami is about to hit and drive away.
Laura rescues Rich and the duo make there way to the streets and flag down a car driven by Miles.
Finally all the main characters meet.
Rich takes over driving and the him and Laura meet Nim, there is only time for a quick explanation because the car goes dead as the wave breaks shore. They all run to a church and go up to the steeple as the water rises and medium size sea monsters are looking for human-snacks.
Laura then comments "It's a new world." while looking over a flooded city.
Great show bring it back for a second season!

Scrubs: My Buddy's Booty/Cabbage
Getting a bit cartoonish but having Sarah Chalke and Mandy Moore making out was cool.


Drawn Together
Sick show and cool moments making fun of other cartoons.

Grey's Anatomy: As We Know It
The conclusion from last week when EMT Hannah stuck her hand in a chest to stop the bleeding then panicked and ran away causes Dr. Grey too stupidly stick her hand for the same weak reason. Oh yeah at the same time there is bazooka shell in the man's chest.
Dr. Grey does pull it out and hand it to bomb squad guy(Kyle Chandler of Early Edition fame) when he suddenly blows up into blue mist.Another cool scene was when Dr. O'Malley dream of having all the ladies taking a shower together came true. Unfortunately it was not sexy instead they were washing the pieces of cop off of Dr. Grey.

Surface Gets Better

Surface: Episode 12
Laura was about to open the door with the bad guys on the other side when Rich came in and snapped into action. After a chase through the hotel Rich confronts on of the agents and beats the crap out of the guy.
It's nice to see how every time you think Rich is mellowing out he goes a little psycho.
Eventually Lauar opens an e-mail from a stranger trying to help her. The person on the other uses an extreme version of Google Earth to take live pictures of Rich and Laura from a satellite. The person then gives the two a phone and some money and fake ID's. The stranger tells Laura to fly off and meet in person. When she does she realizes that the pilot is the stranger.
The stranger is played by Martha Plimpton, of Goonies fame, she is a scientist claiming to be one of 2,500 who helped design this creature.
Meanwhile Miles is trying to help Nim again, deal with a hot-fast-slutty girl and starting to transform into a sea monster.
The creatures seemed to haven't eaten a couple of kids but the world is still mostly ignorant.
Jackson is still missing.
Quote of the Show: "Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope" when Laura sent a message to her ex via video-mail.

The Simpsons: Homer's Paternity Coot

Most shows that have lasted a long time takes special care not to make mistakes. But in this episode their was an obvious one. When Dr. Hibbard was announcing Homer's real dad there was a continuity error with Mason Fairbank's clothing.

As you see the doctor announces who Homer's father is,
everyone is shocked and Mason has a jacket and shirt.

Then Homer asks who Mason was and the doctor points him out,
and Mason is wearing the sweater from earlier in the episode.

Goofs like this are normal but on such highly rated show. Especially with all the computers now used this error should have been caught.


Cold Case: 8 years
I normally don't watch this show but a slew of Bruce Springsteen songs were used.
It was a very sad and good episode involving a twenty year old murder in New Jersey.
The music added a great element to the show the flashbacking was great.
This show was what Reunion wanted to be but Reunion failed.

TV Guide: Jan. 2-8

SURFACE IS BACK TONIGHT, EPISODE 11 ON NBC 8P.M./ET.
Same with Arrested Development.

On the cover Without A Trace with stars Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio & Anthony LaPaglia. There is a four page article but since I don't watch the show I can care less.

Good Things To Read Inside:

• The battle between The Simpsons and Family Guy will continue.
• David Boreanz doesn't have a TiVo and doesn't want one.
• Lost was about to be called Nowhere.
• Scrubs behind the scenes.
• Edward James Olmos want sthe last episode of Battlestar Galactica to have them land on Earth and then Prez. Bush nuke the "aliens".
• David Conrad of Ghost Whisperer doesn't buy the premise of his show.

On With The Shows

Strike Poster
Originally uploaded by David Reeves.

Okay going back a day or two the President made an impromptu speech on Sunday trying to justify the war. Well I like his moxy but he keeps stumble while speaking.

Family Guy: The Father, the Son and the Holy Fonz
Peter is looking for a good church and invents the Church of Fonz. They took some funny shots to Desperate Housewives and Madonna, who now looks like a 70 year old prostitute.

SideNote: The recent South Park episode about the bleeding Mary statue has been condemed by the Catholic Church and called to be smited from existence.
American Dad: Not Particularly Desperate Housewives
Fran tries to join a click and Stan gets a dog. Could be better.

Arrested Development: Making A Stand
Damn funny episode. Having the father filming his sons fighting and then selling the tapes was great, but when the Latino workers recognized the sons that had me rolling. Overall a great show so many small laughs.

How I Met Your Mother: The Limo
A cool episode with Neil Patrick Harris playing Barney stealing every scene.
Thanks to TV Squad here's a list of his "Getting Psyched" mixed tape.
1) I Wanna Rock -- Twisted Sister
2) You Give Love A Bad Name -- BJ (Bon Jovi)
3) Lick It Up -- KISS
4) Paradise City -- GNR (Guns & Roses)
5) Dancing With Myself -- Billy Idol
6) Rock You Like A Hurricane -- Scorpy (Scorpions)
7) Panama -- Van Halen
8) Talk Dirty To Me -- Poison
9) Thunderstruck -- AC/DC
10) Dr. Feelgood -- Crue (Motley Crue)
11) Round and Round -- Ratt

This was a New Years episode and was as funny as it was sweet having Robin kiss Ted after midnight.
God the girl they get to be Ted's future wife better be perfect.

Two and a Half Men: Santas Village of The Damned
Alan has a girlfriend is a nester and she is plying the family with home cooked feast. A truly funny episode while we watch the guys get fatter every scene.
Also having Josie Davis playing the domestic hottie was perfect, many may remember her from Charles In Charge as the nerdy sister.

At the end of the show they have an essay as the closing credit, form Chuck Lorre I assume he did the same at the end of Dharma & Greg. Usually just rambling but his one was a complain about the fact that Weeds got nominated for an award over this show. I said the same. Weeds is horrible and not funny, while this show is crass but hilarious. He said he won before for Cybil because he took the judges out for dinner and this year he gave the judges junk.

2 Days, 4 Shows, 1 Strike

A strike is looming for the NYC transit workers. This will happen right before finals and I still haven't gone Christmas shopping and I still haven't got my classes registered for next semester.

So instead of a getting a plan together or calling my guidance counselor I'll just watch some TV.

The Simpsons: The Italian Bob
Homer goes to Italy to pick up a car for Mr. Burns. He gets into trouble and meets Mayor Sideshow Bob and his new family. Lisa proceeds to ruin his new life and the whole Bob family seeks revenge vendetta.
While in Italy a criminal book was shown and had Peter Griffin of Family Guy with the title Plagarismo and then Stan Smith of American Dad with the title Plagarismo et Plagarismo.

Quote of the Show: "You're the best husband and son I ever had." from Cletus' wife to Cletus.

Grey's Anatomy: Grandma got Runover by a Reindeer
Dr. Izzie is still upset from getting cheated on and then losing a newborn patient last week. So she deals by decorating the house like crazy.
Dr. Bailey is uber-pregnant and going throughall kinds of problems yet she is still the go to surgeon.
Dr. Karev needs help and gets it from everyone even Izzie.
Dr. Yang has no seasonal spirit and annouces to her man she's Jewish. She says that because her step-dad is Jewish but she does not celebrate or believe in anything. Dr. Burke tries to give her faith and gets a tree and a menorah, but she is still reluctant.
Great and funny episode, I need Izzie to decorate over here she does a great job.

Arrested Development: Prison Break-In
An obvious shot at Prison Break has a fund raising party at a prison. Tobias wants to be called T-Bag, George Bluth II gets a "tattoo" of the prison on his stomach. James Lipton of Inside the Actors Studio plays the warden. Funny episode.
Quote of the Show: "I want to cry so bad , but I can not afford the moisture." Mrs. Bluth.

Real World/ Road Rules Challenge: The Gauntlet II
Jo calls the cops and gets escorted out with little explanation. The veterans lose and sends the captain home and Derek is the new captain. Less drama today.

BREAKING NEWS
The Night Stalker got picked up the SciFi Channel for next summer.

No Lost /Invasion Wednesday

That 70's Show: Long Away
This show is barely watchable without Eric or Kelso. In this episode we find out that Eric, still in Africa, broke up with Donna three weeks ago. He dumped her because they are growing too far apart. We also learn Leo was a war hero.
Related News: Wilmer Valderrama, who plays Fez on "That '70s Show," will star as motorcycle cop Ponch in a big-screen version of "CHiPs."
Any reason to show this picture again.

Freddie: Dollars and No Sense
Freddie's niece learns a valuable lesson on the value of a dollar. This should be a TGIF show.

Veronica Mars: One Angry Veronica
Veronica is chosen for jury duty and helps convict two rich kids for latina who got beat-up. The Aaron and Lily sex tape are stolen and eventually Logan finds it, watches it, cries over it, and then erases it.
Meg wakes up tells Veronica to save her baby from the religious right and then dies, her baby girl lives.
It's New Year's Eve and a few seconds for the ball to drop when one of those damned Veronica Mars knock on the door moments. At the door it's Wallace he's back with no explanation until the show returns in January.

Southpark
They attack Alcholics Anonymous reveal it's religious views.

Drawn Together
Captain Hero is jealous of the Supernanny and tries to defeat her. She tries to take over the government but Captain Hero defeats her.
Meanwhile Ling-Ling tries to get a drivers licsence but being Asian he can't. After many stereotypes he has a "round-eye" procedure and sees the world normally but is unhappy.
Quote of the show: "Twinkie - Yellow on the outside, white on the inside " by Godzilla to Ling-Ling when protest his eye procedure.
Another cool part of this show was when Captian Hero went to secret lair he has what looks like a giant 1 Agorah similar to the ten pictured to the right. This is just like the giant penny Batman has in the Batcave, it was very funny.

Halloween: Coming Soon

Halloween is my favorite holiday. I love scary movies especially on TV at 3:00 AM and during a storm. Everytime there is an unexplained noise in my apartment I turn off the lights and go to investigate, but nothing no monsters, no adventures through a mysterious portal only a damn mouse trying to crawl under the door.

But first regular TV.

South Park: Two Days Before the Day After Tomorrow
Cartman and Stan break a damn and the Katrina jokes come flooding in. Nothing over the top and offensive except the constant Jew gold references. This tenth season opener was better then recent years but lost some of its punch.

Drawn Together: The One Wherein There's A Big Twist Part 2
After last seasons very offensive and sexual season these animated roommates took off in a helicopter that was about to crash. When we rejoin them they do crash in the style of Lost and lose two roommates.
Their new roommate is a Strawberry Shortcake Nazi and she is the least offensive thing in the episode. While all the dead characters come back Strawberry gets eaten.
This show is funnier then south Park and more offensive I love it. Everyone is back on this cartoon reality show and getting ready to disgust the masses.

Gilmore Girls: Welcome To the Doll House
Rory is still wondering and getting dumber by the second. While this episode is just a bridge for next week big birthday celebration it was still funny and smart, especially compared to the two previous shows I just reviewed.
The main plot in this episode was the Birkin, a Hermes bag that sells from $10,000 to $64,000( at a recent New York City auction of a black crocodile version). Everyone around Rory gets the meaning of the bag except for the twit herself. It's like an engagement ring.

Smallville: Aqua
Aquaman, AC, or Alan Ritchson whatever he calls himself makes an appearance trying to stop the further evilness of Lex.
One cool part was having Lois coming out the water like Pheobe Cates in her now famous Fastimes scene.
The other cool part was the little in joke at the end...
AC:"Maybe we should start a Junior Lifeguard Association or something."
Clark:"I don't think I'm ready for the JLA yet."

Sunday Shows Are Short

The Simpsons: Bonfire of the Manatees
Starts with the new funny opening chalkboard and couch joke and then falls flat until the end with Burns, Smithers and the manatee.

The War at Home: Pilot
The laugh track made this show worse then it already was. They try so hard to be controversial that is stops being interesting. This show is crap as I predicted.

Family Guy: Peter’s Got Woods
James Woods starred in this funny episode. Way too many cultural references.

American Dad: Bullocks to Stan
Sick, I liked it.

The Flight That Fought Back
Very good re-enactment movie inter-spliced with actual recordings and family interviews luckily we didn’t see none of the whining from the widows from New York(Long Island).

Rome: An Owl in a Thornbush
Titus Pullo is turning out to be the star of this show he finds a woman and tons of gold in this short episode.

The Dead Zone

Um, Johnny, an artist, his daughter, a rock to the head and everyone is fine at the end. I'm sorry I fell asleep through most of it but it seemed dull.

Family Guy was funny, Stewies' rant that featured the Simpsons was funny.

Also I have to remind myself to see Fahrenheit 9/11 to see what the fuss was about, it was on Showtime tonight at 8:00pm but I missed it. It's on again tomorrow at 8:00pm.