Just because newspapers are dying out, doesn’t mean comic strips are. By Brandon Rizzuto
When you were a kid, did you used to take the comics section out of your parent’s newspaper? The ten minutes it took to read that day’s Baby Blues, Zits, Peanuts, and The Boondocks strips were as much of a staple for me as Saturday morning cartoons. However, it’s 2016 now. Who reads newspapers? Screw that noise. Now I get my dose of the “funnies” through the internet, mostly Tumblr. I encourage you to waste some time at work and check out these comics. Hell, go all the way back and even check out their earlier strips. Why? Because your boss has never made you laugh, right? Exactly. Antidisestablishmentarianism. With comics.
The Awkward Yeti
The Awkward Yeti is a comic encompassing a few different strips, created by cartoonist Nick Seluk, The two main series include The Awkward Yeti, relaying to readers the everyday awkward life of Lars the yeti, and a spin off strip entitled Heart and Brain. Many strips, including Heart and Brain, personify Lars’s organs and how they interact with other organs and Lars himself. While Heart and Brain is probably the most popular series of strips, I’m particularly fond of Lars’s gall bladder – a baby organ just trying to help.
I asked five of my favorite ladies on Broadway to share with you their favorite audition DON'TS: Kate Baldwin, Kristin Chenoweth, Victoria Clark, Rebecca Luker, and Susan Stroman. (FYI when you type those names in a row your computer blacks out for a sec.)
Then I asked the fabulous Carter Thompson to cartoonize the advice, as cartoons have always been my preferred educational resource.
Luckily, everyone I just mentioned is a phenomenal human who nailed it.
Let's peek into the thought bubbles hovering over theses ladies' heads come audition time:
Susan Stroman advises, "DON'T sing your love song to the director."
"Also, DON'T sing the Soliloquy from Carousel, and DON’T get your pianist to act with you during your audition."
Victoria Clark says, "DON'T freak out if the person before you is singing your exact same song."
Your favorite toe-tappers from an unlikely source... By Ali Gordon
Today's post is dedicated to unexpected and, ahem, unsung musical heroes... great music found in animated TV shows! And no, Disney movies and any sort of full-length film don't count. I'm talking 20 minute, animated, made-for-tv episodes with music that nails it.
Strangely enough, "adult" cartoons like Family Guy have embraced the big-orchestra, full-chorus, pull-out-all-the-stops musical number as a means of humor and entertainment (think not just the Fat Man Anthem but also Shipoopi) but it's just not cutting it with "kids" cartoons anymore. Even the Arthur theme song is somehow superior to say, anything ever on Dora the Explorer.
Why is that? Everyone loves music, and it's been proven that children learn better when lists and facts are set to music. Yet, somehow, the 90s were a time for killer music in animated shows. And many of them are underrated, still.
This may not count, because the song isn't found "in" the TV show, but Disney's PepperAnn had one of the best theme songs ever.
I'm sorry, but if this song didn't introduce all you soon-to-be musical theatre nerds to the notion of "screlting" I don't know what you were doing in your childhood. (P.S. It's freaking me out that this video was found on "retrojunk.com" because if this is 'retro' I'm offically old and going to jump off a bridge.)
And does this song stand the test of time? Let this cover answer that question for you.
Turns out, positive female characters encourage real life females to be positive. Who knew? Here are some of my favorites. By Rachel James (Treasurer/Writer)
“The Buffy Effect” is the idea that watching strong female characters on television actually makes the world think more positively about women in real life. Although, after this week, I might call it “The Warren Effect”, “The Fluke Effect”, or “The FLOTUS effect”.
It got me thinking about television I watched growing up and the female characters I saw. While I was a huge fan of Buffy, there were lots of women on lots of shows I looked up to. Here are my top five.
Jem
Her biggest fights were with rival band, The Misfits, but she could project a hologram of her alter ego onto herself BY USING HER EARRING. Seriously, you guys. Synergy was a hologram program her dad left her when he died and she used it to create a rockstar alter ego. That was summoned by touching HER EARRING. The eighties were truly outrageous.
Dr. Beverly Crusher
She was a doctor. In space. And a single mom. In space. Basically, it was the space thing that really stuck with me. Plus, it was the Starship Enterprise!
Wonder Woman
She flew an invisible plane, blocked bullets with her bracelets, and her main weapon was a Lasso of Truth. She beats people by forcing them to be honest. Incredible!
Daria & Jane
I love both of these characters separately, but I included them as one because they work so well together. They cleverly depicted the apathy of the nineties while still just being teenagers. They were non-conformists not just to be different. They were non-conformists because all the other people were assholes. So glad this has a box set now.
Miss Piggy
When I think of strong females, I think of Miss Piggy. She was loud, opinionated, knew what she wanted, and she went after it. So could she please help bring back The Muppet Show? Please???
RACHEL JAMESis a native New Yorker and theatre baby. Her plays have been produced by The 52nd Street Project and Starfish Theatreworks. She currently makes a living as a Broadway treasurer. EMAIL HER | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR
It's Nerd Mecca, initially featuring all the latest and classic comic books and vendors from around the world, but now of course much more Hollywoodized, featuring the latest movie or TV show you have to see. I'm talking about the famous San Diego Comic Convention, where people dress up as their favorite sci-fi/fantasy characters, from Star Wars and Star Trek to Zombies and Flo, the Progressive Lady. The sheer size of this event is staggering and if you hate crowds and long, long, long, long lines, you'll avoid it like a futuristic outbreak.
I, on the other hand, reveled in the chaos that is downtown San Diego every July. It's one weekend of nerd debauchery and fanfare and yes, long, long, long lines, but no, I chose not to do any cosplay. In a big venue:
But worth it. I met some fascinating characters. Like The Enigma, from that circus episode on The X-Files (Humbug).
Surely little girls can't like pink THAT much... By Jenny Donoghue
...When I was a kid my favorite color was orange. Or stripey.
...and then the plethora of pink swallowed the child whole.
This week the topic of strong female lead characters in cartoons came up mid-friendly chat. I was disappointed to realize I couldn't think of many. Not from my own childhood, nor from the meager offerings of present day.[1]
While the non-bundance of kickass females didn't stop little girl Donoghue from aspiring to do all the cool things the male cartoons did, and while I bet most kids don't yet register gender on a conscious level, young girls (and boys) are going to get bombarded with so much subliminal shitty gender stereotyping in their lives, it wouldn't hurt to give them a strong foundation of examples of gender-equal awesomeness.
Besides, the boys shouldn't get to have all the fun.
Below are the badass lady cartoon characters I could think of. There were so few I quickly started in on live action children's TV. Even that was a challenge. If you have specialist cartoon knowledge[3]/think of any I've left out, leave them in the comments!
Mulan. Nobody puts Mulan in a corner.
Animaniacs. Although she was part of a trio, this girl was a firecracker.
The Mighty B. If it's created by Amy Poehler, you know it's not only going to be super awesome but also pro-feminist in the most fun way. Poehler is doing great things for young girls with both this show AND her inspiring Charlie Rose show for young girls, Smart Girls At The Party. The show "celebrates extraordinary individuals who are changing the world by being themselves." Thank God for Amy Poehler.
Ashley Spinelli from Recess. She actively defies the obnoxious girl stereotypes in her namesake episode. Gretchen from Recess was also smart, capable and awesome.
Kim Possible. Ass-kicking girl superhero! Yes please!
Miss Piggy (Muppet Babies version!) Event though she wears all pink, she doesn't take no shit. This gem was from back in my day. Good times. If it weren't for these guys kid-me wouldn't have gotten out of bed on a Saturday morning.
As Told By Ginger. She was a bit older, more of a young tween. But still a cool girl.
Miss Frizzle from The Magic School Bus! So many of the females on this list are redheaded...coincidence?
The Worst Witch. She's live action, but homegirl was the original Harry Potter.
Wizadora. Not a cartoon, but British quirky lady for kids.
A Little Princess. NOT A CARTOON EITHER, I KNOW. But what a lovely role model for girls. If only these kind of princesses were forced down girls' throats instead of that pink sparkly tiara crap. I CRY EVERY TIME.
[1] Though I will admit I'm not super well versed in today's menu of children's TV.
[2] I think this is a good and healthy thing for a 24 year old.
I have a hard time introducing my kids to new stuff. Maybe it’s the OCD in our family, but they like “the known” way better than “the unknown.” So it’s like pulling teeth to introduce them to new movies (strangely/fortunately the same thing cannot be said for new music or books -- they'll eat new music and books for lunch). The one exception to the “no new movies” rule has been Star Wars: they embraced the whole universe -- both the prequels and the original trilogy -- like the Star Wars universe was simply an extension of our own.
But my kids’ experience, and my ability to put it into words, pales in comparison to Drew’s story.
I was originally introduced to Drew McWeeny while he was a writer for “Aint It Cool News,” a film nerd nirvana when it first started (I don’t read it as much anymore). He has relocated to HitFix, and, over the past few months he has documented introducing his two sons Toshi and Allen to the six Star Wars movies for the first time.
Brilliant.
Here’s an excerpt:
“The film rumbles along at a preposterous clip, always throwing new ideas and locations at the audience, and it seemed like the boys were on overload trying to make sense of it all. We watched all the way up to Lando's betrayal on Cloud City, and then we had to pause the film for lunch and Toshi's T-ball game and my "Thing" interviews at Universal. During lunch, I got peppered with questions about Lando's behavior. The boys were confused by the idea that someone's friend might betray them, and I could see that it just didn't compute. There's nothing duplicitous about a six-year-old or a three-year-old, and when they encounter adult behavior that they don't understand, they will quiz me on it incessantly. They need to understand why people do these things, and even after I explained that Lando was trying to protect the people who depended on him to run Cloud City, that didn't work for them. They still thought he was wrong to betray Han Solo, and even when we got back to the film later in the afternoon, they weren't ready to forgive Lando. Didn't matter that he ended up helping everyone else. They couldn't get past the betrayal, and they both decided that they don't like Lando at all.
That was nothing compared to their reaction to The Moment, though.”
Drew is the writer I hope to be someday, and has a clear-eyed but deeply emotional connection to both family and filmmaking. But enough of my talk. Go read all six articles:
LOREN A. ROBERTSproduces films, videos and music, designs magazines and logos, plays and sings in a rock-and-roll tribute band, and is a student of what happens when science, the arts, technology, and culture collide. www.hearkencreative.com EMAIL HIM | FACEBOOK | TWITTER | OTHER POSTS BY THIS AUTHOR
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