In Robin Hood Yogi (1959), background designer Art Lozzi makes Jellystone look like a tropical paradise.
The year was 2000, the final, halcyon days of the Internet boom, and the St. Louis Rams played the Tennessee Titans in the Super Bowl, a moment that will be forever remembered as the tech bubble’s Waterloo. Take ego-rich 20-year-old CEOs, gravity-defiant stock prices, confused consumers, revolutionary technologies and half-baked business plans, give all the Doogie Howsers buckets of funny money to herald their arrival on the national scenes and you’ve got a billion dollar boondoggle: Super Bowl XXXIV. Football fans got a heavy dose of fool’s gold fever that day: 20 percent of the 61 television spots were for Internet companies who spent an average of $2.2 million for 30-second spots, amounting to more than $40 million dollars of stockholder cash and not-so-hard-won venture capital. The startups hoped that Super Bowl exposure would burn their URLs into the brains of consumers, but most viewers were left with only vague memories of singing sock-puppets, chimpanzees dancing to “La Cucaracha” and cats being herded like cattle by cowboys to promote something or other, while the businesses quietly disappeared into the ether. Pets.com, Epidemic.com, Lifeminders.com, Ourbeginning.com, Netpliance.com, E-stamp.com, e1040.com, OnMoney.com are al dead and gone, forgotten as the score of the game (St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16).
The following year, during the 2001 Super Bowl, one of the tech boom survivors, Etrade.com, hit us with this awesome commercial.
Even though I believe that religious zealots of all stripes are going to get us all killed eventually if we don’t stop them first, I’d be more than happy to let these people believe their Creationist fairytales if they weren’t out there trying to break into the political sphere for the purpose of mandating that this junk be taught in science classes. When was the last time you even THOUGHT about evolution prior to the the Tea Party and the Duggar’s Cartoon Comedy Hour? Because even back in the old days (before Reagan), I’m sure there were plenty of Americans who believed in Creationism, but they weren’t out there suggesting it be taught in school. There was a place for teaching that stuff, it was called “church”. Remember when people were actually tasteful and when they were private about their beliefs? They may have believed in Creationism then, but they sure as hell didn’t think it was going to win the Cold War.
What is tolerance? Â It is the consequence of humanity. Â We are all formed of frailty and error; let us pardon reciprocally each other’s folly – that is the first law of nature. Â ~Voltaire
THE ANNIE AWARDS were first organized in 1972, to honor excellence in the field of animation. The awards are sponsored by The International Animated Film Society/ASIFA, a California non profit organization whose creed is it to “promote and encourage the art and craft of animation.” ASIFA describes the “Annie” as “the Industry’s oldest and most prestigious award”. The Annies have been viewed with some skepticism and derision in the animation community, and have oft been the target of accusations; Dull ceremonies! Lobbying! Grudge harboring! An abuse of corporate power! Bad taste! Voting Irregularities! Its voting process and technical flub-ups have caused 2 controversies of recent. The Short Subject Scandal of ’08 evoked the 2004 presidential election, as wonky “machines” disrupted the voting process and the better of the candidates (Don Hertzfeldt), lost in the process. Then in 2009, a movie called Kung-Fu Panda swept the Annie Awards in an overwhelming defeat against Disney/Pixar’s enthralling and heartbreaking Wall-E – a film that later took the record for the most Oscar nominations for an animated film – which went home empty-fisted. At the time, the New York Times writer David Carr noted:
Not Don Hertzfeldt.
“Oscar watchers were stunned when Kung Fu Panda took all the awards from the International Animated Film Society. That was an inside job, full of backstage politics you don’t want to know about.”
Annie Lifetime Achievement honoree Bill Plimpton speculated that Dreamworks bought ASIFA memberships for the entire studio, instructing them to vote the party line: The unfortunate reality is that it feels like the elections were rigged they were bought! What a travesty. Apparently, DreamWorks does automatically buy memberships for every employee, does “encourage” them to vote the party line and may employ as much as 40 percent of the total ASIFA membership. Fed up, Dreamworks chief competitor, Disney/Pixar, which has sponsored the Annies since 1972, withdrew as a sponsor and declined to submit on behalf of their artists, citing judging irregularities: Variety, August 25
Anyone who know me knows my lifelong dream is to become a professional jockey. Sadly, at 5’8″, I have never seen my dream realized. Then I heard someone say: “you can do anything if you put your mind to it”, so there you have it. I can be a professional jockey. The best part is, I can learn to be a professional jockey without ever leaving my living room. I can learn to be a professional jockey online.
Do You Want to become a Jockey? YES!
Do you understand what this career is all about? YES!!
Do you want to learn more? YES!!!
According to multi-million dollar earning Jockey Frank Lovato Jr’s program, with a DVD, an Equicizer and a one month Bootcamp, I’m off to the races!!
I CAN DO THIS
“I hate violence. I hate war. Our children will not have peace if politicos just capitalize on this.”
In a message posted on her Facebook page last March, (newly self anointed pacifist) Ms. Palin reiterated her call for supporters to “reload” in the battle against health care reform. Presenting her message as a sly exhortation to college basketball teams competing in March Madness, Palin stuck to her guns in using firearm imagery against the administration. In the headline of her update, she mockingly predicted that the message would be “subject to new politically correct language police censorship.
“The crossfire is intense, so penetrate through enemy territory by bombing through the press, and use your strong weapons — your Big Guns — to drive to the hole. Shoot with accuracy; aim high and remember it takes blood, sweat and tears to win.”
Who else is sick of the language of sports being commandeered by the political media? “Hardball” and “softball” and the “horserace” and the rest of the Top Chimp athletic lexicon that has been trivializing our public sphere. Leave sports out of it. Framed political participation with “shooting gallery” imagery, crosshairs maps and “second amendment solutions,” as squawked about by orange-haired troll Sharon Angle makes it a blood sport. Lock and load! Retreat, reload, blahblah.
