How I Learned to Stop Worrying and... well, Tolerate the Twilight Fandom.

At this point you are aware of this book series known as the Twilight Saga, a magical romp through a land of glittery vampires, cuddly werewolves, epic battles between the two, and some other stuff that is not at all as interesting as it sounds. I read some of the books and watched the first movie all in the interest of science.

And I didn't like any of it.

I have since gotten into arguments over the quality of this series with my friends who do enjoy Twilight, and that brings us to the real point of this here post: If you have never heard of Twilight, you sure as hell have heard of it's fandom.

This is not without reason, mind you. Some Twilight fans are... aw, hell with it. Some Twilight fans are nuts. Sparkly vampire bat-sh*t insane, if you will. Several dozen copies of "Cracked Rear View" short of a used CD store. Crazy enough to be screaming for the fictional character portrayed by an actor but *not for the actor himself* (honestly, the vast majority of fans don't seem to give a pair of fetid dingo kidneys for the actors -- they just want the characters they embody, see all those chicks clawing at their jugulars so R-Patz Edward could feed off them.) Yet powerful enough to make the Mtv Movie Awards essentially useless for the next four years.

You know about them because the media loves to focus on the crazier side of fandom. This is why all Trekkers hang out in full Starfleet regalia at all times, all Furries are into the weird stuff, all Anime fans dress like "Naruto" characters and/or something called "Steamy-Punks" or "Lolly", and all "Avatar" fans are depressed over how life on Earth just doesn't cut it and they want to turn into Na'vi and move to Pandora and ride a Leonopteryx doin' barrel-roles and sh*t.

Some Twilight fans have delivered on the crazy fan behavior like no other known fandom. Boy, have they ever (and that's just from the surprisingly huge arts-n-crafts contingent).

SOME of them -- but not all of them.

As I've mentioned, I have friends who enjoyed Twilight. They are not crazy. They also like things that I can agree with. And they (well, except one of them) don't mind that I don't like the series.

Which brings us to this film that made the Internet rounds when "New Moon" was in theaters. And this, this right here, is how I learned to stop worrying and tolerate the Twilight fandom.

The first time I saw this, I thought it was pretty funny... for about the first minute or two. And then, when all the fans filed into their theater seats, excited to see the movie they've waited so long for, I got a little twinge of uncomfortable familiarity. Haven't I been in a crowd like that? As a matter of fact, yes I have -- my cousins and I were in exactly this kind of crowd going in to see "Matrix Reloaded".

And we all -- the whole theater -- would have been Bull. Sh*t. If this little bait-and-switch stunt had been pulled on us.*

* - Yes, I know. But imagine having to wait four years between, say, "Lost" seasons and you have an idea of the agonizing wait between the first "Matrix' and "Reloaded". Expectations were a *little* high. (And screw you all, I *like* the whole trilogy.)

But that's not the half of it. It isn't just that this guy isn't going to show the promised movie. He berates the Twilight fans for enjoying the series. And you and I might not like Twilight -- but imagine if you were brought into a theater as a teenager and told that the thing you love is bad and you should feel bad? Wouldn't that be heartbreaking? Wouldn't you feel awful and alienated?

And so, I give the peace sign to all the Twilight fans I may have offended in the past. I'm sorry.


(But I still maintain that getting into an argument with a Creationist is more fun than getting into an argument with a Twilight fan...)

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WIKKID IMPORTANT HEAD'S UP:

Amazon's Gold Box deal of the day is the complete series of "Fraggle Rock" for $37.50. If you do not own "Fraggle Rock" on DVD, hop to it! This is less than I paid for each individual season!
This goes double if you are a reader with kids.

Also, I got rid of the embedded video because it was causing problems.

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Sketch of the Day!
I believe we need something aggressively silly after all that.

Obligatory Halloween Content!

Well, first of all, raise a pint to Geocities. Somebody at FARK called this the end of the fun "oh, what the hell" era of the Internet. I don't know about that, but I will say that seeing this got me more emotional than I expected.

It's the first Obligatory Holiday Content of the season! Yay!!!
I absolutely love this time of year. Since Halloween is fast approaching, I'd like to inaugurate the Halloween Costume Count (and Inadvertent Pop-Culture Barometer) on this blog.
All you have to do is list what the kids in your neighborhood are dressed as this year. It's a lot of fun to see which costumes fluctuate in popularity and which kids are the most creative.
I have noticed that every year Princesses, as a group, are most popular among girls with no one character taking the top spot. Superheroes are most popular with boys with a different character being most popular each year, often depending on who's most visible in the public consciousness that year (I got a lot of Batmans last year for example).
Last year (checking my retired MySpace page again; I've been "rescuing" old posts from my retired websites), I had well over fifty kids Trick-Or-Treating over the course of two hours, peaking around 8:00. This is the time of year where I learn that my neighborhood is full of weirdos very creative people. I think the best costumes were a glowing Ariel and light-up Spider-Man (brother and sister; they might have been hand-made too), and a kid that went as "your mom".
As far as strange Trick-Or-Treaters, I once had an entire family of seven - including grandma - in creepy masks (it's funny how Halloween is such a Weirdness Censor; a masked family crashing into my porch and begging for candy at any other time of year would be... worrisome). I also had Wonder Woman and her dog (she was carrying her little terrier around as she traveled the neighborhood; I'm sure the dog loved this), and a "Red Sox Fan" -- a paper fan with socks pinned on.

Now, this picture is from last year, but it illustrates an important issue that some of you may be facing this week: What to do with all those pumpkin seeds? Yes, all those seeds came out of this one little Sugar pumpkin (IMO, your best bet for simple carving). Some people like to roast and eat them, but I mix them in my bird seed. The local Cardinals go nuts for them, so they are worth saving.
Last year, I wasn't sure what to do with the "meat" (does that word really apply to a plant?) I've since found a recipe that, it it's good, I may share in a future post as it could work for Thanksgiving as well. If I don't mention this recipe, you may feel free to assume that it was either a failure or the meat wound up in the compost pile.
"It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" airs tonight at 8:00PM. You may be aware that there was a book published a couple of years ago, Schultz and Peanuts and that it caused a bit of a sensation in cartoon and comic fan circles. There's an excellent article about the book written by Bill Watterson, who manifested in our Dimension for the first time in many, many moons to weigh in on the controversy. Now, I couldn't help but think of all this the last time I watched "Great Pumpkin", "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving", "It's the Easter Beagle", and especially "A Charlie Brown Christmas". Apparently, many people were surprised at the book's revelation that Schultz was somewhat bitter and angsty, and that this was a huge surprise as there was no indication whatsoever of this in the happy-happy sunshine world of "Peanuts".

Don't get me wrong, I love the Peanuts specials and have nothing but deep admiration for the comics, but there's no effing way these characters were born out of an optimistic, "people are wonderful" mind.
Anyway, this year "Great Pumpkin" is taking second-billing to something called "Monsters Vs. Aliens Vs. Evil Pumpkins", which I have seen approximately one-million commercials for compared to about three ads for "Great Pumpkin".

For your enjoyment, here is a link to "Disney's Halloween Treat" on YouTube. Disney Channel brats will remember this one. Dig the creepy low-budget 80's horror movie effects.
Note that part one starts with the notoriously nightmare inducing Evil Satanic Laser Mickey company logo. I'm warning my fellow born-in-the-late-70's people so they can fast-forward through the Nightmare Fuel. For older (or younger) people, just try to imagine having to get through this in order to watch "Winnie the Pooh" or "Mary Poppins" or something.

Further Sketchbook and Michael Jackson auction thoughts

Let's go on another journey through the world of Sketchbooks. Which, as you may recall, are Personal Things. (See also "On Moleskines" and "New Sketchbook".)

Any time I'm in the kind of store that sells Sketchbooks, I have a hard time walking out without one.  I like to stock up on them.  Recently, I was in the Massachusetts College of Art's bookstore and, while they did not have as many Sketchbooks as I'd expect, they had an interesting variety.

In particular, they had loads and loads of Lowfat Moleskine Substitutes. The one on the right was the largest of these available (the rest were tiny) and I was apprehensive about not getting a watercolor version - Sketchbooks designed for pen tend to have absurdly smooth paper. So I wasn't up to seeing what this brand was like. They're resting atop a Sketchbook about as long as my forearm with handles, which I can't help but think is a better idea in theory.
MassArt also had quite a few hilariously impractical Sketchbooks.

I'd seen the Strathmore Circlevision 360 Sketchbook before. It's still hilarious. I can't see anyone honestly bringing that anywhere and drawing in it.
The tiny, tiny linen books are equally impractical. And expensive to boot.

And then there's this $100.00 beauty. The sucker is heavy. I guess if you never wanted to bring your Sketchbook anywhere, maybe it'd be the ideal Sketchbook for you. I'm failing to see the point myself.
So what Sketchbook filled my needs most recently? Well, I bought a larger version of the awesome Nature Sketch at MassArt. My current Sketchbook, however, the one that earns the italics, is one I had picked up at Dick Blick last year on sale.

An Aquabee Tree-Free Hempdraw. For under ten dollars I couldn't leave her. She was all set to go, I just needed to personalize her a bit.

So here's my baby. Inside, she's got my name and address label just in case (I have only mislaid a Sketchbook once ever. It was over a friends house thankfully, but it was traumatic enough.) Not every Sketchbook is so gaudy but, well, it's almost spring! And after all, she's a Hemp Draw.
(By the way, chill out. It isn't that kind of hemp..... right?)

Meanwhile, the complete catalogs for the Neverland Yard Sale are up now. My thoughts:

* Who is David Nordahl and how did he get that job? The job being, apparently, drawing and painting whatever Michael Jackson demanded. All those treacly/scary paintings of Jackson leading The Children of the World across some field? Nordahl's fault.
* Had I the finances to spare, I would absolutely put one minimal bid on those official Neverland doormats. I mean, why not?
* The "Earth Song" statue is pretty badass/hilarious in itself. It's too expensive, but it is based upon the climactic scene in the one song and video that most succinctly defines the latest, say, quarter of Michael's career (starting with the whole spectacular "HIStory" album debacle). It goes a little something like this. Brace yourself for the Narm/Bathos.

Drawing must also be Serious Business -and- Jumping on the "Worst Cartoons Ever" bandwagon

Drawing must also be Serious Business!

Therefore, I have invested some Christmas money in the two anatomy books at right and borrowed the third from the library. Reviews will be forthcoming (though I can tell you already just by thumbing through the three that the Goldfinger is a bit of a disappointment given the $30-$50.00 [!!!] asking price.)

Inspired by Worst Cartoons Ever (natch) and Topless Robot, I've decided to bring up the following Great Moments in Animated Adaptations. I have a bit more to say about the results of their "Worst Cartoon / Cartoon Episode Ever" surveys but it can wait. For now, we have Serious Business to attend to.

It is time. Dear reader, you must decide which of the following two series (which, thankfully, never got off the ground) is the more boneheaded adaptation of a popular Anime for the American market.

You probably have already heard of the Saban (but not really Saban's fault apparently) Nightmare, a proposed adaptation of "Sailor Moon". If you haven't, it would have looked like this:

At least now we know what "Blossom" would have been like if it had been about a superhero. And you have to appreciate how they take the show's title very literally.

This is "Doozy Bots", a proposed adaptation of "Gundam SD". It is not as well-known, but is, in my humble opinion, worse:


Feederwatch Friday!!! It snowed! That was kind of interesting, but other than that, nothing much happened. The male and female Cardinals visited together for the first time this year. Awwww... Though mention of Cardinals (still talking about the birds here) puts me in mind of this Onion AV Club interview. There is a line in it that brings up another subject I'd like to cover next post.

Let's Read _Fairy Dust and the Quest For the Egg_!

Before we get into this, here's some art:

I am trying to develop a better work ethic, therefore I am attempting to finish a new painting at least every Tuesday and Thursday.
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Let's be honest. The "Tinkerbell" movie (I'll eventually get to it) isn't half as interesting as all the "Tinkerbell" movie hoopla. Disney has been planning this Tinker-assault for years now.

One of the first Tinker-thingies to arrive in this world was a book entitled Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg, written by Gail Carson Levine. In it, we are introduced to Tinkerbell and her little Fairy friends who are (so I've heard) replaced by an entirely different set of Fairy friends in the movie. Huh.

Anyway, I am now going to read this book. Do read along with me, won't you? When you're done, please answer these semi-rhetorical

Discussion Questions!

1) In "Peter Pan" (not just Disney's film but the original James M. Barrie play), Tinkerbell was a mischievous, mood-swing prone, clingy, jealous girl who deeply resented the new arrivals in Neverland -- especially Wendy. Here, she's suddenly transformed into a sweet, friendly, one-Fairy welcoming committee who greets new Neverland arrivals, flits around the magical tree with the other Fairies, fixes broken cookware, and gets downright Emo rather than resentful when the subject of Wendy comes up. What does this imply about both Disney and society as a whole?

2) One of the new characters is a Fairy named Vidia. Now, Tinkerbell is of course a pretty blond, her BFF Rani is a pretty blond, and the heroine, Prilla, is a cute light-brunette. They all wear the stereotyped little foo-foo frilly Fairy dresses and smile all the time. Vidia, in marked contrast, is a sort of Goth-chick Fairy with very dark hair, and she is -come to think of it- as mischievous and feisty as Tinkerbell used to be. In this book, she is one of the heroes of the story, which would be a welcome change. But she is also the only really mean character; even Captain Hook isn't so nasty. I have heard that she later on turns out to be a villain, and in any case she is largely absent from more recent promotional materials. What does this indicate about Disney's legendary inability to deal with characters with anything more interesting than a "Lawful Good" (boyscout-like, to you non-geeks) alignment?

3)Every Never Land Fairy has a special power or "talent". They range from music to water-bending manipulation to keyhole design. There are also talents, like baking and animal, that have specialized subtalents as well, like cookie cutting and caterpillar herding. Now, aside from the exception that forms the plot of this book, every single Fairy knows what their talent is from the moment they arrive in Never Land. So what happens if a born Water Fairy decides he'd rather bake cookies?

4) Speaking of male Fairies. Here, they are called Sparrow-Men instead. Now, there isn't any way to word this question without it sounding very bad, but you KNOW Disney was desperate to avert this: doesn't the phrase "Sparrow Man" actually sound more gay than "Male Fairy"?

5) Early on, we are told that Never Land is an island that "moves". Later, we learn that Prilla mentally "jumps" from Never Land to different places (and times?) on the mainland. So, who is Prilla's Constant?

6) Rani is a Water Fairy who desperately longs to swim. Never Fairies can't swim because their wings get in the way. Eventually, Rani has her wings cut off so she can swim. Now, this is admittedly more of a heroic sacrifice than anything (she needed to ask the Mermaids for help), but is "you may have to mutilate yourself to do what you want" really a message little girls need to hear?

7) Why in the world is the Light Fairy named Fira on the cover illustration (upper right) if she isn't even mentioned once in the text?

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This is totally unrelated but I had to share it. Because - and this is damn scary - I really can't tell if it's a parody or for real. The caustic attitudes of the three adult campers seems to indicate a parody, but everything else, including the kids' dialogue, is absolutely authentic to the time period. I'm not kidding.

Remember that in the early 90's, people on television actually dressed like this. This is what high-paid television writers actually thought rap songs sounded like:

NOTE: Compare "Creating REM Lazar" and "Teen Witch".

Superbowl Commercials = Serious Business

Therefore, I shall now give my opinions of the various ads that entertained me (or not) during the game (which, being a chick, I wasn't all that emotionally invested in):

"G.I. Joe" trailer - Eh. Actually, I think I'll see if I can rent the "G.I. Joe" animated movie. I have a feeling it'll be better than this big live-action Hollywood version. Now, why would I think that?

"Transformers: Revenge of the Sith Fallen" trailer - Oh yeah.

Pepsi - You are not Bob Dylan, Will I. Am! Shrek is not Gumby! There is nothing about this ad that does not make me angry!

Budweiser - The horses in love one was very nice. The "fetch" game, not so much.

"Land of the Lost" trailer - It doesn't look that funny, but it's bound to be better than the 1991 revival. (I can't be the only one who remembers if. Observe.)

"Star Trek" trailer - It's enough to say that I'm getting excited about an odd-numbered "Star Trek" movie. And did Kirk just run into a smaller Clover?

"Up" trailer - It's Pixar and it involves a cranky old guy and the plateaus of South America. I am sold. But by the way, not one single Annie Award for "Wall-E"? Seriously?
Teleflora - Um... This flower delivery company knows that flowers are the reproductive parts of a plant, right? Because I do, and with that in mind, this commercial just looks wrong.

Cheetos - When did Chester Cheetah turn into a jerk-ass?

ZOMG 3-D COMMERCIALS WTF LOLERCOPTER!!!
OK, I was lacking in the 3-D glasses department so I have no idea if they were better with them, but the "Monsters V. Aliens" trailer didn't look terrible without them. The movie itself just doesn't look all that interesting to me though. And the So-Be ad after it started out cute, got confusing in the middle, and ended with some premium nightmare fuel.

"Heroes" - It's always fun to be reminded that the stars of "Heroes" are fans themselves, so I liked the playful football ad.

Nerf Swords - Every year, there is one commercial that stands out because it looks so out of place. I'm sure all the LARPers out there are excited about this. I do not doubt that there are LARPers who watch the Superbowl (most LARPers are male) it still seems odd.

"Some-Other-Verb-Besides-Escape To Witch Mountain" trailer - Yes, Disney is revisiting the Witch Mountain series for no good gorram reason. With the Rock. Yeah. (Writes a note to add the original "G.I. Joe" and "Escape to Witch Mountain" movies to her Netflix queue...) Oh, hey, remember how in the original, we didn't learn that the two kids were aliens until the very end? Yeah.

Coke - I loved the Coke bugs! Obviously, somebody liked their "Minuscule", but it was still so cute. Best of all, the insects were allowed to be cute on their own terms; they weren't humanized too much. (See the aforementioned SoBe commercial to see how even slight anthropomorphism of otherwise realistic CGI animals can go horribly, horribly wrong.)

Coke Zero - On the other hand, this "LOL, we'll pretend we're angry at ourselves for stealing our own recipe" ad campaign was not, is not, and never will be funny.

Hulu - It's nice that they're hosting all these ads but... WTF Alec Baldwin? Also, the mammalian brain is already of a fairly squishy consistency. I will invite the reader to accept, without questioning, why I know this.
(OK, think high school, anatomy class, and a dozen female students in their early teens being traumatized when the trailer for "Babe" began running the same week we started...)

Legal Seafood - At this point, we're getting into the local ads at the end of the game. Anyway, this ad features the sounds of Presidents slurping clam chowder. This is what the word "squick" means.

Stop N Shop - Nothing much to say here but, "Yay! They are using animated ads again!" (They had a cute and memorable one around 1989-ish. Sadly, YouTube has failed me.)

And those are about the only ads that made an impression on me. How about some cel-shading (click for big as usual):

Why the hell is TV Tropes such a Time Sink?

The world may never know. I should try quitting cold turkey, but it seems as though I always have That One Website that demands to be "checked" (for hours?) each day. If anything, this blog ought to be that one website.
How about this: unless TV Tropes starts paying it's most frequent editors for what we do, don't bother.
Been a while since I showed you some Art on this Art Blog, hasn't it?


118. Rhuagh
Originally uploaded by Babbletrish
Click for big

Rhuagh was not a Time Sink. I'd actually be very happy if he was.
I have a plan to start *really* drawing again. Hopefully, I'll be getting something fun in the mail soon...
Speaking of mail, I have the last two "Justice League" DVDs. You ever like a series so much, you didn't want it to end?

A Reasonable (you'd hope) Proposal.

"Fun in the Backyard!" - Episode 30
Originally uploaded by Babbletrish

Drew this shortly after the Golden Globes (as usual, click the picture to see it big). Damn you, Animation Age Ghetto! Damn You!!! (Shakes her little fist.)
Really, why not have Brad Bird do the introduction? Or one of the Cartoon Brew bloggers? Now you can't tell me THAT wouldn't be entertaining as heck.

Oh, hey it's Feederwatch Friday, isn't it? My little Carolina Wren buddy finally showed up, as I'd hoped. There was another random flock of robins; they as well as pigeons, gulls, and a couple of hawks were flying all over the neighborhood all week. And I caught a brief look at a House Finch. I used to see lots of them about five years ago but it seems their population in the northeast is dropping a bit. Best of all, all of this biodiversity happened on a Count Day!