Videos - What kind of private school would let in these kind of guys?

In the same vein as the Literal Take On Me video.  The singer isn't the greatest, but the lyrics definitely capture the WTF-ery that is the music video for Total Eclipse of the Heart.  Seriously, what's up with half that stuff?

By the same guy, here's the funnier Literal Penny Lane video.  "Let's not ride these horses in the street, we'll get hit by that bus."

The Zany Bishojo Evalana Finally Gets Around to Answering You - Part Two

(image from Carlos Illustration)
Max Jordan asked, "On Sushi Pack, do you think Mochi could be a good guy just as easily as a bad guy?"

The way that Sushi Pack is written, I could easily see most of the villains making a heel face turn.  Mochi in particular, though, I can easily see going either way.  That is, I can see her either being a part of the Pack in her own right, or just pretending to, essentially becoming a mole for the Legion.  But she'd do either one with a smile on her face, so you'd never really know what she's thinking.

He also asked, "Remember that ep when Titanium Chef fired the legion? If that had been real, what do see each member of the legion doing with themselves?"

Well, if they didn't become members of the Sushi Pack (and they probably wouldn't, just on general principle), then they might form their own group, probably still under the name The Legion of Low Tide, that fought crime.  Or committed them.  I mean, really, I doubt they need the Titanium Chef to be evil.  And I don't really see them splitting up or anything.  All they have is each other, really.

That said, here are the totally random things I imagine them doing if they really did split up:

Mochi - A survey lady at the mall

Fugu - Working at Radio Shack

Toro - Masked wrestler!

Uni - Has his own radio show

Unagi - Works at the local science museum giving electricity demonstrations

Hope that answers your questions, Max.

What I Watch - Once Upon a Mattress

I recently got around to watching the 2005 TV-movie version of Once Upon a Mattress (there were TV versions from the 60's and 70's, but I haven't seen those), and while I thought it was okay, a lot of the time it felt like "Mattress Lite" to me.  I mean, I love the Original Broadway Cast album to death (not literally.  My copy is still alive and kicking), so I knew that I wasn't going to be entirely satisfied with it, but so much has been cut out to make it fit into 90 minutes.  And while there are some awesome people in it--Tom Smothers, Edward Hibbert, Zooey Deschanel--they really have very little to do here, with the exceptions of Carol Burnett and Tracey Ullman.  And I don't know if I'll ever get over what they did to "Normandy."  I mean, it's hard to buy it as a song about a honeymoon destination when you know that it was originally a song about where Lady Larkin was planning to run away to avoid showing she was a "maternal bride-to-be."

Of course, there were a few things I liked.  The costumes are ah-mazing!  I have so much love for the costumes, I can't tell you.  The choreography is very good, too.  And I like the idea of casting Dauntless older (like in his forties), since it makes the entire kingdom's desperation so much more palpable.  Since part of the conceit of the show is that no one is allowed to get married until the prince does, you can bet that everyone in this version is pulling for Winifred to pass the test.  And while Tracey Ullman is great in the part of the titular princess, I'm still not sure how I feel about that British accent.  

...Is it truly terrible that the reason I finally got around to watching this is because Matthew Morrison is in it, and I wanted to see more of him after watching the Glee preview?

Late Night Video - My AMV?

And a late night it is.  However, tonight's video is very special because it is one I made.  You see, back when I went ahead and watched Barbie and the Diamond Castle, I got the idea to make an AMV featuring Lydia.  It was actually a completely different song, but then I watched an AMV set to "In the Dark of the Night" from Anastasia, and thinking about it later, I realized that it fit Lydia pretty well, too.  This video, however, is only a small bit of the song, since I found that the song may fit the movie, but the movie itself doesn't have the greatest footage to match the lyrics.  At this point, I'm optimistic that I can figure out the rest of it (except for the beginning.  I have no clue how to do that), but just in case I never do, I wanted to get this up.

The Zany Bishojo Finally Gets Around to Answering You - Part One

Prudence asked, "Your thoughts on the Rainbow Brite remake?"

Frankly, I don't really have any thoughts on it.  The original Rainbow Brite series was slightly before my time, so I don't have the same nostalgic feelings for it that I have for some other series currently making a comeback.  So far it looks like it's going to be a toy-only comeback, and I'm really not that interested in dolls and the like without having some other media to back them up.  I might get more interested once the online content debuts, but Rainbow's new look seems kind of generic to me, so we'll see.  I do like the look of that wand in the first image there, but I probably wouldn't buy a toy of it, though.

Strawberry Shortcake Books

While I continue to fail in my quest to pin down the exact date that the Strawberry Shortcake movie, "Sky's the Limit" will come out (I've heard sometime in July and September 15th), I did make a discovery today that totally made up for it.  A little while ago, Amazon listed three books for the upcoming revamp, but didn't post any cover pictures (not surprising, since the books don't come out until mid-October).  I just happened to check today, and found to my surprise that not only had the covers been posted, but short synopsi as well.

The second is just the same art that was debuted last year, but the first one features the 2D debut of Pupcake and a Berrykin, and the third has Orange Blossom in a different outfit.  But all three make me very happy because while the CGI style looks nice, the 2D style is ten times cuter (which is also my official opinion on AiCaL's styles).

American Idol - Season 8 Finale

Tuesday:

• 20:03 Last of these until next year. If I do it again next year. 
• 20:04 First one I'm doing on my new iPod touch, too. 
• 20:05 Three songs, eh? 
• 20:10 That hat makes Adam look like an elf or something 
• 20:11 He sounds better singing Mad World this time than last. 
• 20:16 I agree with Simon that it was Phantom-like. 
• 20:18 Still not crazy about Kris' pick. 
• 20:22 Have to admit, he *does* have an intimate performance style. 
• 20:27 I never heard of this song, Change is Gonna Come. Why's he screaming it? 
• 20:37 I don't know this song either, but Kris sounds good singing it. 
• 20:40 Whoa! Was Simon wearing that suit earlier? First I've noticed, but it's hot! 
• 20:45 Man, Adam is pitchy. 
• 20:55 The band isn't playing right for Kris, says Mom. 
• 20:56 Kris seems to be putting more into his performance than Adam did.

Wednesday:

• 20:00 Final results show! 
• 20:04 Heh @ the Randy "for me for you" montage. 
• 20:06 The Paula one was good, too, but the other two weren't that great. 
• 20:09 Great to see the girls again. 
• 20:11 Man, did I miss the girls. 
• 20:24 Yeah for Nick/Norman winning Best Outstanding Male 
• 20:25 He doesn't look right without the glasses, though. 
• 20:41 My sister hasn't watched all season so when Anoop showed up on screen, she asked if he was Jason Mraz. 
• 20:43 Little did we know the real Jason Mraz would show up. 
• 20:47 Geh, I hate this song. Always makes me have to pee. 
• 20:54 I figured Bikini Girl would get Best Attitude. 
• 21:07 My sister can't get over the shiny miles. Those are made right here in CT, you know. 
• 21:07 Gokey is sounding good tonight. 
• 21:17 What are those things on Adam's shoulders?! 
• 21:21 He fits on well with Kiss, though. 
• 21:28 Fun times with Santana. 
• 21:32 I totally called Steve Martin. Didn't predict the banjo, though. 
• 21:40 That mustache is not a good look for Anoop. 
• 21:41 Oh, Rod Stewart, you sound terrible. 
• 21:48 Of course, Tatiana got Best Outstanding Female. 
• 22:01 And now, the moment of truth... 
• 22:02 Yaaay for Kris!!!! 

What I Read - Rumo

Back in the Fall, I picked up The 13 and 1/2 lives of Captain Bluebear, since I was working my way up to the third book by Walter Moers, The City of Dreaming Books.  While I thought it was a good book, it was totally blown away by the second book set in Zamonia, Rumo and His Miraculous Adventures.  This books is sort of a prequel, but sort of not, since it uses a few characters from the first book, but with slightly different characterizations.  And it is awesome.  If you only read one book by Walter Moer, this is the one to read.  It all flows together so well, and I literally could not stop reading it once the story reached a certain point.  

Basically, it's the story of Rumo, a Wolperting who ends up saving his kind from being enslaved in Hell, but there's so much more to the story than that.  You'll just have to read it to find out.  I don't think you'll be disappointed.

What I Watch - An Awfully Big Adventure

I recently watched An Awfully Big Adventure, which was put in my Blockbuster queue some time ago, although I don't remember when, or even how I found out about it.  But I do know that I put it in my queue because I found out that both Hugh Grant and Alan Rickman were in it, and I tend to like movies with both of them in it (i.e. Love Actually and Sense and Sensibility).  And while I thought it was a good movie, the ending is too much of a downer for me to want to watch it again.  So if you don't like movies where Alan Rickman dies, don't watch this one.  And a bit of a warning, this is an R rated film, for reasons of minor sex and the occasional bit of female nudity.

But that's not why I'm writing about this movie today.  No, what keeps haunting my mind is the Harry Potter connections I kept making while watching it.  For one thing, see that guy (Hugh Grant) up there?  Does he not look like a bad Harry Potter cosplayer?  And beyond his looks, his character's name is Meredith Potter.  And of course Alan Rickman is in it, as I mentioned before, which is a connection in and of itself.  But what first got me thinking in this direction is that the main character (the girl up there, Stella) is staying with her Uncle Vernon and Aunt Lily.  So it makes me wonder, is this all just a coincidence, or did J.K. Rowling see this movie and draw inspiration from it?  Or maybe she saw it and subconsciously drew inspiration from it.  

Or maybe it's just a coincidence.

The Princess and the Frog official trailer

While the teaser trailer came out back last July, the official trailer for The Princess and the Frog only just came out this week, and is being hosted by Apple.  The animation looks great, and as Disney's return to 2D animation, I'm looking forward to it.  But is it just me, or do an awful lot of Disney trailer start by harkening back to past projects?  I mean, besides this one, the ones that come straight to mind include Lilo and Stitch, WALL-E, and The Little Mermaid, but I know there are more.

Sushi Pack - When Will Ben be Zen? and Wharf City on the Half Shell

Both of these episodes are kind of off-beat, but I like them. Comic book heroes, Maguro invading Tako's many-headed thinking routine, a giant space clam and mukluks, what's not to like?  I didn't take as many screenshots as usual, though.  Not sure if it was the animation quality, or just that what transpired in the episodes didn't really inspire me.

When Will Be be Zen? - "If you're allowed to demolish these private businesses, then the universe is out of order!"

This one begins on a relatively peaceful day, with the Pack taking some tea with Ben.  Tako, however, isn't down with the peacefulness, since this is supposed to be a superhero show.  Ben starts to comment that "there are many ways to be a hero," but is interrupted by some guy in a hygienic bubble.  Interrupting Jones introduces himself as General Anesthetic and proceeds to give the Green Donut an inspection, despite Ben's assertion that he just had an inspection.  Regardless, the general shuts him down by condemning the whole shop due to unrefrigerated raw fish out in the open (that being the Sushi Pack) and lack of napkins.  Upon learning that the shop will be torn down the next day, Ben demands a hearing, which the general grants, but in two weeks, after the shop is demolished.  "You know the old saying, 'you can't fight city hall,'" he says, and breezes out of the shop, as much as a man in a hygienic bubble can.  Ben insists that he can, indeed, fight city hall and storms off.  As he goes, the Pack notices that every store on the block has been condemned by the general.

Later, Ben returns to find that he actually couldn't fight city hall, since he couldn't find anyone who knew what he was talking about, and dejectedly starts packing his things, much to the Pack's dismay.  Tako starts to think about what to do, but Maguro invades his thoughts to give her own opinion, although Tako doesn't take kindly to this.  So he calls for an official Sushi Pack round table to get everyone's thoughts on the matter.  Kani suggests destroying the general's hygienic bubble, but Maguro feels that the real problem is with Ben.  With his spirit broken, how can he lead them?  Tako agrees, but what can they do to help?  Wasabi, inspired by Ben's comic collection, comes up with the idea of going back to Ben's earlier, interrupted saying, and showing him just how much of a hero he really is.  Everyone likes this plan, except for the part that somehow involves Wasabi wearing mukluks.  (This is very minor, but when Wasabi goes up to Tako, you can see everyone thinking really hard in the background.  Ikura, in fact, is shaking from the effort.) 

And so the Pack confronts Ben about losing his spirit.  Ben appreciates their concern, but insists he isn't a hero and he certainly doesn't have any powers.  Ikura qualifies being a hero as being part of a team, just like the Finger Force Flyers, and we get a short sequence from one of the comics, with Ikura doing all the voices.  Ben says that isn't the same as his situation, so Tako and Maguro do the voices for an issue of Blue Flashlight, where General Contractor turned the whole town purple, the only color not affected by BF's powers  (he still wins because Contractor actually turned everything magenta, not purple).  They try to convince Ben that he, just like Blue Flashlight, can defeat a general, and the rest of the Pack deliver a pep talk, but Ben doesn't get into the spirit.  He goes to sleep on it, and the Pack go to find out more about General Anesthetic.

The next morning, the general arrives with a wrecking ball to tear down the neighborhood, but Ben refuses to move from his store.  The Pack cheers him on, but the general has no qualms about destroying Ben along with his shop.  Anticipating this, the Pack leaps into action.  Tako covers the wrecking ball with ink, distracting the general, Maguro uses her telekinesis to make the wrecking ball wreak the crane it's on, Kani severs the hygienic bubbles' tubes, sending the general flying, and Ikura launches some orange balls that bring the general back down to the ground.  They grab him and drag him to his own home and accuse him of being a slob.  The general does not appreciate this, as he claims to have a spotless home.  Except the Sushi Pack was there earlier that morning and tracked little footprints all over the place, which the general also does not appreciate.  He tells them they can't do this to a city official, but Tako reveals that they did some research and found out that he isn't a city official at all.  In fact, he doesn't even work for the city anymore, since he was fired a month ago for being a sloppy garbageman.  It turns out that this was the general 's motivation for his actions: he became completely germ-free and planned to get rehired after making Wharf City itself free of all filth.  Of course, the methods he used are far from legal, as Tako points out, and so it's off to jail for the general!

Once that's all over, the Sushi Pack congratulates Ben for standing up to Fred (the general's real name), and Ben ruminates on how social injustice can create heroes.  "And other times, lightning storms create them," he adds, the first actual reference to how the Sushi Pack came to be on the show.  Wasabi finally gets his hands on some tiny mukluks, and all ends happily.

Okay, the best part (from a shipping point of view) is Maguro invading Tako's mindspace.  And I kind of felt bad for the general by the end, but fraud is not the way to go, Fred.

Screenshots:

Tako has had it with peace and quiet

Ben can be cute at times

Maguro shares a thoughtspace with Tako

Kani has a suggestion

Wasabi is inspired!

Tako likes Wasabi's idea...

...But why mukluks?

Maguro strokes Wasabi's head in approval

Maguro and Tako with an issue of "Blue Flashlight"

Ben stands up to the general

Footsteps all over the floor

The Pack is pleased with themselves

Wasabi finally gets mukluks

Wharf City on the Half Shell - "Where is your flow of chi?"  "You don't wanna know."

In this ep, we learn that those calls of "Sushi Pack" and accompanying poses that end each episode are actually the result of lots of practice.  One such practice is interrupted by Maguro, who was distracted by Kani's tools lying around on the floor, inches from the toolbox.  She takes it on herself to clean it up, which aggravates Kani, who would rather her tools be left where they are.  Neither one is willing to budge on the issue, and their fighting is loud enough to attract Ben.  He suggests they try negotiating, but as usual, doesn't explain how they can do this.  He does, however, illustrate the concept by taking a bite out of two donuts to make them fit together; giving a little to get a little.  "Was that a lesson, or was it lunch, Ben?" Tako asks, pointedly.

Ikura got bored during all that, so he's the first of the Pack to discover an unexpected total eclipse of the sun.  Sophia Tucker reports that it's way too soon for an eclipse, and goes to a scientist who explains that the object blocking the sun is not a moon, but something else. No need to worry though, the scientist says.  Until he gets new data indicating that the object is heading straight for Wharf City!  I see.

When Wharf City is in danger, the Sushi Pack will find an answer!  They take off in the Sushicraft to get a better look at the object, and find that it is a giant space clam.  The clam lands and begins devouring everything in Wharf City Harbor.  The Pack devises a plan involving horseradish, lemon juice, and oyster crackers, but first, Kani needs to build the necessary equipment.  Maguro tries to help, but Kani rebuffs her.  Once everything is ready, the Pack takes off once again and heads for the harbor, where the clam is still eating everything in sight, despite the army firing at it.  As the Pack arrives, so do three trucks full of their supplies.  Seeing the clam, the truck drivers get out of there, and the Pack gets down to work.  The Mayor and Officer Flume show up briefly, on the way home from their golf game, but like the truck drivers, they do not hang around long.

With everything finally ready, the Pack puts their plan into motion.  First, flinging horseradish at the clam, although it seems to like the taste.  Second, cocktail sauce and then oyster crackers, which it also likes.  Finally, they spray it with lemon juice, which makes the clam start making noises.  Kani, hearing this, realizes she can communicate with it, since crabs are bottom-crawlers and clams are bottom-stickers, apparently.  Turns out the space clam was on its way to eat somewhere else, but saw Earth and decided to try it.  Maguro presses Kani to negotiate with the clam, but Kani is not optimistic that a clam that could easily step on her is going to give in on anything.  Fortunately for her, it agrees to stop eating Earth if they agree not to squirt him with lemon juice.  And so the clam takes off once again.

After seeing negotiation in action, Kani and Maguro are able to come to an agreement re: Kani's tools.  Kani can arrange her tools however she likes as long as they're in her toolbox, and Maguro can keep the rest of their headquarters in feng shui balance as long as she doesn't mess with Kani's tools.  The two hug, and then the Pack puts their practicing to good use to close the episode.

Can't help but feel that Kani got the worse end of the deal here, and the kicker is that she came up with it herself.  And what's up with a giant space clam anyway?  This is just a weird ep through and through.

Screenshots:

A botched practice

Maguro cleans up Kani's tools

Ben takes a little from both donuts

A lesson or lunch, Tako wonders

The mayor and Chief Flume are golf buddies

Kani with a flamethrower (so cute!)

The clam gets juiced

'Tis the voice of the lobster clam, I heard him proclaim...

Kani speaks clam

Aw...

American Idol - Final Three

Tuesday:

• 20:05 Gokey really doesn't look like he should sound like that. (So he'd be perfect for a radio DJ ^_~) 
• 20:11 That was a sbemail reference, in case you didn't know. 
• 20:15 Has Kris played the piano before? I feel like he has, but I can't remember when. 
• 20:25 One by U2, eh? 
• 20:26 Oh, so that's what that song is called. 
• 20:27 At first it was boring, but then Adam pulled out the weird faces. Oh, you Adam you. 
• 20:27 And the tongue. Quote Dad, "He just couldn't help himself." 
• 20:37 Who's singing that cover of Africa? 
• 20:37 I heard that they didn't do Idol Gives Back officially this year because of the economy. 
• 20:46 A nice performance, although I'm now trying to remember who sang that song once that seems to stick in my mind. 
• 20:47 You Are So Beautiful is kind of a generic song, though, and Gokey didn't really do anything special with it, IMO. 
• 20:51 Kris does all right playing the guitar again. 
• 21:01 An okay performance from Adam, but I forgot to actually watch what he did while singing.

Wednesday:

• 20:59 Ben Stiller? 
• 21:00 Is that Zac Efron? I don't think so. 
• 21:00 And who's that other guy? 
• 21:01 I guess I'll have to go to the Night at the Museum 2 IMDB page to know who they are. 
• 21:04 Break My Stride doesn't sound right in that key... 
• 21:08 I can't make out a word this kid is saying. 
• 21:17 It's always fun seeing the contestants going home for a visit. 
• 21:18 XD @ Gokey unable to hold back a laugh after hugging the cheerleader. I would totally do that, too. 
• 21:57 Whoa, Kris made it through? 
• 21:58 And Adam, but that's not really a surprise.

Summer Movies

Once again the Summer Movie season is upon us.  After reading the Entertainment Weekly preview issue, here's my usual lists, in no particular order:

What I Want to See in Theaters:

Star Trek

Up

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Ponyo on the Cliff

What I'll Wait to See on DVD:

Night at the Museum 2: Battle for the Smithsonian

Management

Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs

Year One

Moon

Julie and Julia

What I Might See if Someone Else Wants to go:

Easy Virtue

(500) Days of Summer

9.99

Ugly Truth

Shorts

I'm kind of interested in The Answer Man, but only because of EW's one sentence description of it as "A reclusive writer suffers from lack of sassy lady friends."

American Idol - Final Four

Tuesday:

• 20:03 Duets night, hm? Sounds interesting. 
• 20:08 Aw, come on, where are the duets? 
• 20:08 I'm not liking this song Adam's singing (I missed what it was). But it sounds right for him, I will say that. 
• 20:18 I like that lipstick on Allison. The song's okay, too. 
• 20:28 Okay, so Gokey and Kris are duetting. But are they going to have individual songs, too? Probably. 
• 20:28 Whoa, awesome rocking! 
• 20:38 Not sure how I feel about Kris doing "Come Together." It's just a weird song. But he sounds good and looks sexy doing it. 
• 20:49 No offense to Gokey, but I'm falling asleep here. Not sure if it has anything to do with his "Dream On" performance, though. 
• 20:59 Adam and Allison sound to similar 
• 21:00 too similar, even

Wednesday:

• 21:02 I'm thinking Allison is going home this week. 
• 21:24 Oh hey, No Doubt 
• 21:26 Man, she is out of breath. 
• 21:31 Neither I nor Mom could remember Gwen Stefani's name until I looked it up. 
• 21:55 Just as I predicted.

Late Night Video - Island Princess/PotC mash up

I didn't really intend for this to become a series or anything, but if I'm going to be up this late, I might as well share the videos I come across. This one is a song from Barbie as the Island Princess set to clips from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies:


It cuts off a couple of seconds early.

Late Night Video - Computer Warriors Rap

This one is really quite strange. It's like they filmed a normal 'behind the scenes' featurette for Computer Warriors (I never heard of the show, nor the corresponding toy line, before seeing this video), and then somebody made it into a YTPMV (Youtube Poop Music Video). Still, I find it kind of interesting to see old school computer animation work being done. (But I couldn't take the rap for more than three minutes at a time.) Oh, and that guy Bill Kroyer? He directed Fern Gully: the Last Rainforest.

Late Night Video - Early Mel Brooks short

Watch this, it's funny. Of course, it's Mel Brooks, so that almost goes without saying. It's from 1963, which means that it was made before The Producers, just FYI.