books, cartoons and movies, oh my!

[nigeltde]

Interesting article/interview on/with Dean Koontz here. He seems to be rather neurotic which, as bookslut points out, should not really be a surprise. Apparently he brushes his dog (a Golden? Would be appropriate!) every day for almost an hour a day. But it makes me happy that his wife is seems similarly neurotic. Good on them for finding each other. I haven't read all that he's written by a long shot. Watchers, though, is one of my all-time favourite books, one of the most genuinely scary things I've ever read, and Einstein has got to be one of the best characters ever created. I love him so much! Intensity, also by Koontz, is also excellent; it's a book I think about quite often, actually. I try to adopt the antagonist's philosophy regarding pain whenever I stub my toe or something :-D

It seems like Warner Brothers is "reinventing" Bugs & Co again. My first reaction is "Nooooooooooooooo!" screamed dramatically and in slow motion because my childhood! But there is a good reaction to it here (and there are more pictures of the horrible, horrible new versions there) which basically says WB has done this to us tons of times and it should just be ignored so as to not encourage them. But my overwhelming experience with these characters is the original cartoons (I can barely remember Space Jam) and that along with the WB's laziness means that I still feel very resentful about this. I mean, wasn;t the whole charming POINT to those cartoons was that all the charaters were fluffy and adorable and cute and totally, totally evil?

OK, this is everywhere by now, but in case you missed it, the new Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy trailer is up!!!!1111!!!. I am so excited111!! I really think this will be an awesome addition to the already extensive HHGG canon.

I spent a truely hideous amount of money on new computer parts today. New CPU, RAM and motherboard. And they're not even that state-of-the-art, especially when you think of the built-in obsolesence thing. But I don't need that much out of my computer! I do however, like it to, you know, BOOT UP occasionally so I am looking forward to reassembling it and seeing how it goes. I think I'll give Linux yet another try; my dad's got a copy of Suse 9.1 and Ubuntu which has an awesome philosophy behind it.

Comments

[lydia-petze.livejournal.com]

Apparently, falling anvils and exploding cigars are no longer enough to keep kids 6 to 11 years old entertained.



Not surprising, considering those films were NEVER made for kids. This preoccupation with animation as a strictly children's medium burns the hell out of me. 6 to 11? I'll be cackling at Bugs and Daffy when I'm NINETY.

sets phaser to "rant"

[nigeltde]

This preoccupation with animation as a strictly children's medium burns the hell out of me.
Me too. Have they even watched the bloody things? The NYPost article is quite irritating on that point. And the whole thing's just so incredibly patronising, like, they have to make them 'hip' and 'cool' which, what? Means making them pointier and glaring and have bared teeth all the time? Whereas the originals, while being hilarious, were also incredibly intelligent (the cartoons, not the characters...) and a significant part of that was the contrast between content and presentation, like, I'd be surprised if theses hadn't been written on that theme for the Roadrunner cartoons ALONE (because painting a tunnel on a wall means you can run through it!). It makes me angry and sad because OBVIOUSLY kids today are just too stupid to be interested in seeing a cartoon play out an opera! And what kind of retarded adults would want to watch something like THAT? And who needs satire anymore anyway? *tears out hair*

Re: sets phaser to "rant"

[lydia-petze.livejournal.com]

they have to make them 'hip' and 'cool' which, what? Means making them pointier and glaring and have bared teeth all the time?

FWIW, I liked the design of that pseudo-Bugs they had up. But not AS Bugs, ok, that's not him, that's a totally separate character and I'd thank them to treat it that way.

Whereas the originals, while being hilarious, were also incredibly intelligent (the cartoons, not the characters...)

Well, Bugs was, and so was Daffy, in a highly self-destructive sort of way. What made these cartoons so fantastic when they were at their best was the character interplay - something Disney never got the hang of. And the extremely strict rules of the Roadrunners that Chuck Jones did.

(because painting a tunnel on a wall means you can run through it!).

Oh yeah, the other really cool thing about them was the Surrealism ;-)

makes me angry and sad because OBVIOUSLY kids today are just too stupid to be interested

It'd be nice if they had the chance, but as long as the halfwit adults are holding them back...

[lainy122.livejournal.com]

*raises eyebrow at new cartoonies* Dude, let them rest in peace already. Um, although I'm one of those sad, tragic people that actually liked Space Jam and Loony Tunes back in action *sheepish grin*

[nigeltde]

Ah, I don't even think I *saw* the latter. And I do remember enjoying Space Jam (Chelle and I used to watch it all the time, IIRC). But in every iteration they get dumber and dumber.... You're totally right; RIP little buddies.

[lainy122.livejournal.com]

I dont think its even the movies themselves - its all, hee! They're doing the same jokes from the cartoons! So it was more enjoying the characters; dude, when each makes his cameo I squealed, no joke.

But seriously, they need to let it go.