Thoughtnami™

I haven't had cable in two months, and I have mixed emotions about it. I miss the variety cable has to offer as well as a clearer signal of broadcast television. However, in the absence of cable, I've realized one strange fact. Cable is very toxic. I'm not being metaphotical either. Cable television often made me physically ill, and I didn't realize it until it was gone. Cable news is the worse offenders and the most toxic element of cable television. Fox News is so one sided when it comes to their primetime lineup and certain news stories as well as having obnoxious, arrogant, smug personalities shouting at and talking on top of their guests, even cutting off their mikes mid-interview, and the other three major cable news channels wanted to emulate them. Headline News has this guy that is so xenophobic, sexist, and racist anchoring the night followed by a woman who lacks grace when it comes to . . . anything. MSNBC and CNN are no better. They put emphasis on turning ce...

In light of the sad, tragic events that occurred over the weekend involving one of my favorite wrestlers of all time, I'm just glad to read something good to lighten the mood. Scratch that, not something good. Something GREAT! According to Variety, Fred Seibert (creator of the MTV logo, the architect of the imaging and packaging Nickelodeon uses to this day, former president of Hanna-Barbera, founder of Frederator Studios, and the most underappreciated guy in the animation industry today) and a pair of entertainment executives announced plans to launch a new independent animation movie company, Frederator Films. Their mission is a great one: To create 2D and genre-based animated films aimed towards young men with a low, but workable budget. Here's the text (caution - Varietyspeak is in abundance in this piece): A trio of toon veterans are launching Frederator Films as an indie feature film company with a mission to produce 2-D animated genre movies budgeted below $20 million. F...

Things I Can Strike Out on a list for Things I Thought I'd Never See: - A professional team originally named after a movie starring Emilio Estévez or inspired an animated series winning a professional championship. Congratulations to the Anaheim (Mighty) Ducks, your 2006-07 NHL Stanley Cup Champions! Quack, quack.

Finally! I've realized why Cartoon Network and Warner Bros. aren't interested in animation anymore. They're turning them all into live-action movies. Over the past couple of weeks, the following films have been greenlit for production: He-Man and the Masters of the Universe Teen Titans ThunderCats Adding the Speed Racer movie still in production as well as the Voltron and Johnny Bravo movies still in production hell, a lot of animated titles are becoming fleshed out. Originality is no longer needed in Hollywood, and whatever makes a better toyetic franchise, the more likely it'll be made. They still haven't officially announced the new ThunderCats series (coming in fall 2008 to either CN or the CW), but hey, there's officially going to be a live-action version coming soon. Still, any excuse for Mattel to make new MOTU action figures (and ThunderCats since Mattel's the master toymaker for all things Warner Bros), the better. But, how about creating something ...

Why does My Network TV continue to exist? Seriously, why does Fox continue to prove that they cannot operate a second broadcast network? MNT's a failure. A miserable, tactless failure that needs to go the way of DuMont and PTEN. The telenovella format bombed. The lineup is now filled with old movies, failed reality shows, celebrity news "documentaries," and an MMA league that's not UFC nor Pride. The new lineup looks the same as well. And poor affiliates that aren't owned by Fox have to suffer with limited acquisitions, no Saturday morning lineup, and little support from Fox themselves. All because they wanted to be affiliated by a network since UPN and The WB merged into The CW. Of course, the reason why they did that is because, well, if they didn't, Fox would have killed UPN in September 2006 by dropping the network affiliation from top markets. MNT barely registers on the consciousness of Americans. Even The CW has created a niche in its year of existance....

Front page is fixed up a little. To my surprise, Blogger added a few new toys to play around with. So, say aloha to the old look and the retirement of the Thoughtnami: Animated Thoughts name/logo, and say aloha to an evolving look and the site's newish name: Jeff Harris' Thoughtnami. Speaking of new arrivals, I've posted links to The American Roadtrip Sessions , Richard Mage's Search , and The Hangar . Keen-eyed readers will notice that these new links share the names of three IK Comics titles, coming in 2008. You don't suppose that . . . nah, I'm not that clever or smart, am I? Well, these blogs will entertain you until the actual comics arrive and are written in character. I'm not crazy, just a little unwell. Next week, I think I'm going to test out the audio component of this site. Yes, audio. It'll probably be fun as well as bad for your health. I'll talk about that later.