Detritus of the Mind

Shockingly, this blog isn't dead. I have had an exceptionally hectic private life right now, so I spend time off catching up on necessary things instead of doing fun stuff like blogging. I have a special thing planned for next year called "Pilot Program", a look at the unsold pilots for merchandising toons that aired in the 80s & 90s as "specials" but never went to a full series (although the subject planned for the finale is sort of a special case).  But that won't be ready until after the holidays. I don't anything I feel is worthy of doing a year-end wrap-up to discuss.  The same things that annoy & disappoint continue to multiply, and the handful of happy things can probably be predicted if you've read enough of my ramblings.  Smarter folks out there have sung the praises of Ms. Marvel and Guardians of the Galaxy (and its amazing stinger guest star), so it's better to just read them. In magical girl news, the new Precure season hasn...

Okay, Part 1 was Gripe-a-palooza.  Part 2 is the stuff I liked, and I’ll try really hard to make it more than just fannish gushing.  Also, as part of my Shift to Positive, I’ll be offering a Mea Culpa for some initial knee-jerk reactions in the past, since my revisits have changed my impressions. As I said before, SPOILERS, SPOILERS, SPOILERS for stuff that’s mentioned. BEST TV SHOW: Steven Universe:  “If every pork chop was perfect, we wouldn’t have hot dogs!”  Promoted largely because it’s from the first female original-show creator in Cartoon Network’s history (which surprised me, since they usually want to avoid acknowledging females in any way), it is a damn fine show.  Steven himself is a refreshingly sweet & dorky change of pace from the usual sassy & wiseass kid hero (which you do get a break from on Gumball & Adventure Time), the Gems all have great personalities & work well as his surrogate family, his supporting cast is growin...

Ah, 2013.  It was another year of pointless stress but what do you expect for adulthood?  It was the year I got back into anime, the year I finally figured out how the hell Tumblr works, the year I belatedly got hooked on Pokemon.  Everything outside of pop culture was trying extra, extra hard to make this a bad year, but the balance was otherwise such that I managed to stay sane. Like last year, I have decided to break this down into two parts, and since this is the year I made the choice to try & be more positive, I’m going to get any negativity out of the way in this first entry.  So here’s my disappointments & one bafflement for 2013. (Please note that video games are not on this list.  There weren’t a lot of new games that came out that interested me – so that will be the Disappointment for 2013 for gaming – and the ones that did interest me were on the 3DS, which I just got for Christmas (whoo-hoo!).  So games are benched for this year, a...

The first five hit the internet yesterday to... the usual level of interest, so here's the second half of my 2012 retrospective.  I'll be honest with you - this one skews a bit more negative. Worst Trend, Animation:   The Disappearance of Action Shows from Cartoon Network.  This one is kind of self-explanatory; CN had a reputation as a place for high quality action shows, and they've decided to let it slide, even actively hastening the removal of the genre they used to champion.  I would argue that its two most successful originals, Adventure Time and Regular Show , manage to be "stealth" action shows, but they're also known for their humor.  Out of all the DC Nation shorts to take to series, they choose the fine-in-short-bursts Tiny Titans instead of the series that fans actually demanded (but that's due to CN's well-known sexism as much as anything).  Toonami's return is entirely dependent on internet word of mouth to promote it (Steve Blum b...

Y'know, as bad as it sounds, part of me was a bit bummed the Mayans got it wrong. Saying this wasn't a great year is like saying Sandy was a light drizzle. But bygones - we've got an end of year list to do! And I have actual Best Ofs to do, too! Best TV Show: The Legend of Korra . Holy shit, what a perfect show. This is the kind of work O can only dream of making. You had a heroine who wasn't drawn to look like a fashion doll, you had a conflict that addressed heavy themes, and you had use of taboo subjects on one of the last networks that I ever expected to even broach them. Couple it with an endearing cast, an already rich mythology, and sumptuous animation, and you have a perfect show. Anyone bitching about the ending (and sadly, they're out there) missed its entire point and really be better sticking to something simpler, like Ninjago . I'm curious where they'll take things next season, as this seemed to be a perfect compact package; and if the...

Yes, now that 2011 is on its way out, and all we have to look forward to next year is NBC's piss-poor Olympic coverage & yet another painfully venomous election before Armageddon mercifully hits us all, it's time.  Time, of course, for yet another end-of-year list.  Now, since everyone else is going best/worst of different media, I am taking a different track.  I am listing off different trends, events, and other such things that struck my attention about 2011. Best DVD Release:   TIE!  MST3k Versus Gamera and Jem: The Complete Series .  Both of these have been personally long-awaited, and they did not disappoint.  My only serious nitpick with either one is that the extra about the fandom on the Jem set, which seemed rather weak compared to the other extras.  But both of these were DVD sets that I actively cheered when I got them, so choosing one over the other would be too damn hard. Best Web Review Series:   Marzgurl's Don Bluth R...