Adventure Time ~ Bringing Animated Out of the Dark Ages

If there is one animated cartoon series to watch today, it is Adventure Time. Now, I know I talk about retro animation, but let me take you to the present. Cause Adventure Time, has restored my faith in animation and has made the future a little brighter. Adventure Time has made me excited for every new episode to air since its launch, and a animated series has not done that to me in a long time. It is also the only show keeping Cartoon Network alive in my heart.

Adventure Time launched in April of 2010, and Cartoon network has already ordered a 2nd season.  Adventure Time is based off a cartoon short that aired on a Nickelodeon show called Random Cartoons. The show was pitched to Nickelodeon twice, and Nickelodeon turned it down. (I guess they where sticking with their crap live action shows).

After being rejected by Nickelodeon, Penleton Ward (the creator of the series) went to Cartoon Network. Cartoon Network (still keep some of there cool) green lit the series after seeing a story board fro the first episode.

Pendleton Ward has said that he is inspired by many things. Video games, the Misadventures of FlapJack, My Neighbor Totoro and other shows. Ward also intends the show to have a certain logic instead of cartoony slap stick. For example, a character won't just pull out a hammer from no where. Although there is magic in the world.

The show has gotten positive buzz and good reviews from fans. Which I can strongly support. This show was made to be in 2D, and has some great humor which reminds me kinda of the Simpsons or Pee Wee's Playhouse. It even has some jokes for adults which is awesome.

The show also has a great cast of characters. There is Finn, the main character of the series, who is a young adventure who must help anyone in need. Along with Jake, his shape shifting dog, who likes to make jokes, and is laid back. But also gives some good advice from time to time.

Princess BubbleGum, who is the Princess of the Candy Kingdom, is a sweet and well mannered Princess, but has a hot temper.  The Ice King, who is the ruler of the Ice world, is a annoying old man, who likes to kidnapped Princess's in order to try and marry one.

Marceline The Vampire Queen is one of my favorite characters. She is a very old vampire chick, who plays guitar and likes to be tricky. its thanks to Marceline that my faith in Vampires has been restored. (After twilight ruined it)

There are many more Adventure Time characters that are each crazy in there own way. Sure, Adventure Time feels like crack sometimes, but its that good type of crack. Cartoon Network hit the nail right on the head with this series. Adventure Time is one of the best animated programs you can find on TV right now. It has great animation style, characters, stories and humor. It will be interesting to see where Adventure Time's following seasons take us. Adventure time takes risks and proves that having balls is awesome.

Since the show is fairly new, Cartoon Network blows up any video that is uploaded on youtube that is a full episode. So I can only do clips.

Here is a song from the Adventure Time Episode, Evicted, about how Finn and Jake must find a new home after being kicked of there old home by Marceline.

Cartoon Network also doesn't allow embedding of there videos,  so enjoy these links instead.

See Finn answer a math question for his life

Jake has a three step plan to help Finn get over his fear of the ocean. 

Source: http://mewmichaelx7ra.blogspot.com/2010/08/adventure-time-bringing-animated-out-of.html

»»  read more

Follow @totalghost on twitter!

Twitter.com/totalghost

Source: http://nixbros.blogspot.com/2010/08/follow-totalghost-on-twitter_17.html

»»  read more

Geometric hilarity. (幾何級数的な面白おかしさ。)

Well, despite my previous suppositions and assumptions (and we all know what happens when you assume), posts about movies are clearly not what the public wants from this blog.

...or, at least, there was some strange coincidental downturn in readers coinciding with yesterday's post, for no reason readily apparent other than the content therein.

See what happens when I try to please you people?

Anyway, I have thus decided to meander back towards the less-typical subject matter of which I am so fond, and from now on only post movies when I feel like it.

...it is absolutely irrelevant that I did, in fact, feel like posting about a movie last time. You're missing the point here.

Ahem.

(Really, guys, this blog should get a lot more interesting after... say... August 13th. My life will, anyway.)

Moving onwards and forwards, as that truly is the only way to go.

Quiz Parade!! Hexagon II (don't ask about the title, because while I'm sure there is some reasoning behind it, I definitely have no clue as to what it is) has the honor of being pretty much my favorite Japanese game show period. (Remember, SMAPxSMAP is a variety show, and thus is not competing in the same category. Though, admittedly, anything with Kimutaku has a rather unfair advantage and should probably be pulled from any competition for the sake of fairness...)

Sometimes I think I shouldn't be allowed to use parentheses.

Anyway, as you may have guessed from the title and my brief description, Hexagon (the abbreviation most often used, at least in my experience) is a game show of sorts, but, as per usual in Japan, does not star the average Joe (or average Daisuke, rather), but instead talents and celebrities who are either (a) looking for work (b) making the TV circuit or (c) Hexagon regulars kept around for their idiocy.

Oh, yes, didn't I mention? This show can be rather cruel.

See, it begins by ranking all the contestants in terms of how well they did on the pre-show test, splitting them into teams (somewhat) fairly by placing the three top scorers as the head of three separate teams, and then continuing on in that fashion. Thus, the three lowest scorers are also distributed evenly.

And when I say lowest, I mean lowest. The game is something of a competition of intelligence, but often employing the, shall we say, slower contestants' lack of intelligence for the purpose of entertainment.

They're very good sports about it, really.

An example of this would be one of my favorite games, the name of which is アナウンスクイズ (Announce Quiz). The game itself is actually quite simple: the lowest scoring member of a team reads questions to the rest of his or her teammates, and they have to answer as many as they can in a set amount of time.

Except, of course, there's a catch.

There are no 振り仮名 (furigana, kana beside or above kanji to indicate pronunciation) helpers for vital parts of the question, and more often than not the moron reading has no clue how to pronounce them. Personally, I think it's even more hilarious when the furigana-less portion in question is English, though I may be a bit biased there.

For the rest of the team, of course, the trick is answering the questions with half of them misread, misunderstood, or completely missing. (That was an excellent bit of alliteration there if I do say so myself.) Good teammates will listen to what the moron (sorry, that's basically what they are for the purpose of this show) is saying, extrapolate what kanji can mistakenly be read that way, and then plug all their options into the rest of the question to see what fits. And then they have to try and answer.

It's fun times, guys. Really.

クイズパレード！！ヘキサゴンII(080423)

Unfortunately, Youtube is not being very helpful today, so I have to resort to other video sites for footage today. As such, I cannot present you with select items, but instead must beg your forgiveness and ask you to fast-forward to the correct time frame on your own.

Just think of it as a quick and simply brain exercise, eh?

Er... as for the advertisements... well. I can only do so much.

Anyway, fast-forward to the 7 minute mark for some Announce Quiz goodness. Don't if you'd like to see the beginning of the show, which involves the host, Shunsuke, doing a comedy bit of sorts with the players, and the separating of the contestants into the three teams.

I apologize to all of you non-Japanese speakers out there, as this post won't really do much for you. But hey, who knows, the desperate desire to understand just what's going on in the above video clip may be the catalyst that thrusts you into the wild and crazy world of Japanese language learning once and for all!

...or you might just give today's post up for a bad job and move on with your life. Oh, well, you win some you lose some.

However, if you do understand Japanese (even a little bit, because quiz shows like this are great study tools, believe you me; Hexagon is where I first learned 羞恥心 [shuuchishin, shame], after all!) and find yourself bored to tears some Wednesday night (at least, I hope it's still on Wednesday nights...), why not try flipping it over to Fuji Television and see what's what?

If nothing else, just to see people making fools of themselves. Oh yes, I realize what a powerful hold schadenfreude has on us all. It's why this sort of show does so well.

...also, I like it when I know Japanese things that Japanese people don't. Sure, it's a cheap ego boost, but an ego boost nevertheless!

This is Edo, signing off quite proud of herself for not turning this into some sort of homage to Tsuruno.

...oops.

Source: http://edomeetskyoto.blogspot.com/2010/07/geometric-hilarity.html

»»  read more

Last Lost: "The End"

Source: http://vinylisheavy.blogspot.com/2010/05/last-lost-end.html

»»  read more