R.O.P.D.R.P.W. Episode III: Meteor Showered

Outdated? Yes. Funny? Well, to me it is.

I debated not including the small comment the meteor makes at the end, but I couldn't help but notice a resemblence he has to the characters of a certain cartoon...

Anyway, tell me what you think.

Fear the Silent Venezuelan Killers

To quote the esteemed ultraconservative religious television news host Reverend Pat Robertson in regards to Venezuela's Presidente Hugo Chavez, "You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war, and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."

Now, I'm a big fan of the first amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America. I might even say it's my favorite, along with number four and number twenty-five. All that aside, Robertson's a moron. To "apologize" for his idiocy, he came up with this little gem: "I didn't say 'assassination.' I said our special forces should 'take him out.' 'Take him out' could be a number of things including kidnapping."

Presidente Chavez has talked about suing Robertson, but I would suggest something a little different. He should use his stranglehold on the policies of his nation and use some of that oil money to train up some crazy spec-ops guys. (You know they'd find some kind of major military power to help them) Then they should do a covert insertion into the United States and "take out" Pat Robertson. This could include a number of things, including kidnapping. I wonder how the Reverend would like spending some time in the South American jungles with those gracious hosts...Seriously though, it would be totally hilarious if the reverend suddenly turned up missing with evidence of military involvement. Rock on Presidente, rock on.

Amerime

When I was reading today's Penny Arcade, I noticed the add on the side was for an anime movie that had won "Best Animated Film" from some award I'd never heard of. Seeing this got me thinking about anime, and cultural differences.

Here in the U.S., animation is not the realm of serious art. It is primarily used for entertaining children, and for adults, it is dominated by comedy. In Japan though, there are many serious stories told with animation, stories that could not be describe with the typical American "that's cute." Some of these films have made there way to across the pond, (can you say that about the Pacific?) but here, anime is the realm of little kids and nerds. The closest it came to edging its way into American pop culture was Pokemon, and we all know how big that was with people over the age of 15. All this led to one question: In Japan, does anime have a broad cultural appeal, or is it relegated to the same circles as it is here?

A small aside, and then my point: I think anime is mostly silly. Almost every anime I've seen has had at least one element to place it in this category, whether it be magical cop-outs, premises I don't care a lick about, or just being really, really weird. The only anime I've actually enjoyed watching was full of more Japanese cultural references than you can shake a stick at, and believe it or not, I couldn't really relate. Even then, I couldn't escape that God-awful flying blurry background thing that seems to be a required genre cliche. Though I find anime silly, I am not against animation as a serious medium.

Here's what I'd like to see: an American company needs to make a serious animation project, whether it be TV or a movie, in an American animation style that does not rely on big eyes and blue hair. (even though you've gotta have the blue hair) (For reference, see the super-hero cartoons of our youth, with their serious, yet not weird animation styles) It would also be preferable that it not involve samurai, ninja, giant fighting robots, talking animals, the apocalypse, or otherwise blowing up Tokyo.

I'd like to hear from the true anime fans on this one. What do you think? Also, is there anything that fits the description that you might refer me to?

Has anyone ever told you you've got Yugoslavian hands?

No, of course not. That would be stupid. Just forget I ever brought it up.

Size Does Matter

Here's a little philosophy for you: I should not have to cut my cereal. If I wanted a breakfast food that was both delicious and necessary to cut, I would be eating pancakes, or large pieces of meat, or omelettes, or something. Though they are delicious, I've got to wonder why in the world the box says "Frosted Mini-Wheats" when there's nothing mini about them at all! Last time I checked, these things were supposed to be bite-sized! Yeah, maybe for Godzilla-mouthed people, but not for regular old me. Mark my words, this is a sign of imminent takeover by large-mouthed bass or something.

Trip Blog, Concise

Okay, here we go.

Sunday:
Early. Senile old man, bad vision, oblivious. Swerving, fun lane selection, broken door (which apparently makes cars pull to the left?). Good CDs, Dr. Pepper. Good Popeye's, Bad water. Fun Cajuns with fun Cajun accents. Fun cats; The Fallen Ruler, The Top Dog, The Paranoid Cat, The Bathroom Cat. Family Guy. Reading.

Monday:
Early. Le toure d'histoire Alex. Hotel. Cards. Seemingly delicious spaghetti. Swimming. Reading.

Tuesday:
Late (finally). What to do? Water park. Where? Baton Rouge, where they keep all the red sticks. Swamp freeway, Mississippi River, two Highland Roads. Blue Bayou, I gua-ran-tee; water slides and such, Alex having fun, woo hoo. Matching sunburns, not woo hoo. Sun in the eyes, swamp freeway. Steamboat Bill's, more fried seafood than at which can be shaken a stick. A red stick. Woo hoo. Spaghetti's revenge, not woo hoo.

Wednesday:
Late. Resting off spaghetti's revenge. Feliz Cumpleanos, Alejandro! More Cajuns. Smoothies, mine was the best. Uncle Joey's; Halo, dominoes with Paw Paw, lots and lots of Barbeque: ribs, chicken sausage, aw hell yeah. Welcome back to the land of the eating. Oh, and chocolate cake with lemon pudding. Clue.

Thursday:
Early. N'awlns. Brian Regan, Chris Rock. Aquariam of the America's. Seafood that starts with an L. Shops. Caffe du Monde, cool bookstore, cool antique weapon and coin store (read: history major's paradise) learned some interesting things in there. more shops, and such. Traffic, reading, book conversation. Alex's sunburn slaps him around. Back and forth. Sleeping on my stomach. Pain noises.

Friday:
Late. Recovery from sunburn beating. Oil change at Wally World (WD-40 or 10-W40?) Crappy Burger King. Afternoon with Williams family. Backyard Burgers with Paw Paw. The Island, good summer movie. Reading.

Saturday:
Late-ish. Reading. Good CDs, Dr. Pepper. Red Lobster. Unhappy transmission. Waiting. Sheena's parents, smelly van. Waiting, phone calls. Smelly van. Happy reunions. Goodbye, beard. Hitler in a giant robot. Tabs to the rescue. Good to be home.