Thoughtnami™

 Today, June 28, 2024, is the 20th anniversary of the launch of this blog, Thoughtnami. Yes, the very first post I made here published on June 28, 2004. It's been a long, long, long time since I've done a true introduction to this place. And it has been a long, long time since I had anything to say around here at Thoughtnami. So, forgive me if it gets a little ramblely.  In 2004, I created this Blogger account and launched Thoughtnami . Granted, at the time I launched it, I already had a webpage, and a pretty popular one at that. The X Bridge was a fairly popular webpage dedicated to the far-more popular action cartoon block Toonami, which aired on Cartoon Network at the time, and action-animation as a whole. I was also hosted by Toon Zone, one of the best sources for animation news online. Funny situation though. I had been writing several articles criticizing Cartoon Network and its parent company Time Warner over various business decisions. I was brutal, but I felt guilty a...

 In case you haven't heard the news, MeTV has launched MeTV Toons , a new broadcast channel dedicated to classic television shows. Much like other similar broadcast networks such as Antenna TV, ACE TV, H&I, Catchy Comedy, Rewind TV, GET, Retro TV, LAFF, COZI TV, Grit, The365, DABL, Outlaw, Start TV, Family Channel, BUZZR, Comet, Charge, ION, ION Mystery, and, of course, MeTV, this channel shows classic television programming all day long, 24 hours a day. Seven days a week.  The difference between this channel and the others I mentioned is that MeTV Toons' focus is animation.  MeTV Toons is something a lot of older television viewers have been asking for, an over-the-air all-classic cartoon channel. At the time of this writing (June 2024), it's available to nearly 70% of the country as a broadcast network, including the top 10 TV markets.  That said, there are major markets still without the channel, including the following: Detroit, MI (Graham owns the MeTV affil...

 Now, I've never claimed to be a smart guy or anything like that, so I might get confused about some things in my old age., such as the case here. At least this is what I think happened, and correct me if I'm wrong. WarnerMedia, under the ownership of AT&T, launches HBO Max as a premium streaming platform using the popular cable brand as the core part of the service. WarnerMedia gets spun off from AT&T (and saddled with a LOT of DirecTV's debt in the process) and combines with Discovery to become Warner Bros Discovery. Under the myopic powers-that-be in the big offices of the merged company, WBD wanted to combine HBO Max with Discovery+ & drop the name HBO from the service because it's a negative draw to subscribers of Discovery+, who tended to be more conservative and rural compared to HBO viewers, and the executives who felt the HBO brand was a deterrent to parents of younger children who could watch preschool and children's programming on the platform...

It's time to clarify a lot of things regarding MeTV Toons, which is launching in most markets over-the-air on June 25, 2024. Sadly, my market isn't one of them at launch, but for you folks who are getting it, I want you to enjoy it and tell your friends and families to watch and contact your local cable and satellite providers to put the channel on their lineups. There has been a lot of confusion about the network's targeted audience. There's also a lot of misinformation about the channel's ties to Boomerang and whether its existence will cause that channel to close down. Let's start about what MeTV Toons is and what it's not. MeTV Toons is a general audience broadcast network in the vein of similarly-themed classic television channels like Antenna TV, Retro Television Network, GET, Classy Comedy, and, of course, MeTV. The difference between those and MeTV Toons is that MeTV Toons airs a lineup that's 99.44% animation (the 0.56% is Gerry Anderson's ...

Around 2011, I started closing most of my posts with two words: Keep Creating. I've always been a fan of creative individuals. I continue to be inspired by folks who make great things. I study and learn from many. I fight myself about not being up to a certain standard, but then I heed what Salvadore Dali once said. "Have no fear of perfection. You'll never reach it." I've been looking back on some of my older writings on my old Tumblr site, and I came across this piece from 2011 when I initially started using that simple two-word closer. And even though it's a 13-year-old piece from a pre-streaming media world, it still resonates, especially in an era when algorithms dominate media decisions causing them to simply destroy things "they" don't like and we had several strikes because creators continue to be used by these companies, and I'd like to share it in its entirety: Create. And Keep Creating. You like things, I get that. You like to do t...

I wrote the following back in 2009 when I had cousins graduating from school. Now, I have cousins whose kids are graduating this year. I don't know if they'll read it, but it's something I felt younger folks need to hear. Basically, it's some things that I wanted to hear from my graduations ages ago.  I tweaked it a bit, but it still resonates for anyone who wants to listen to a little life advice. Enjoy: I’ll never admit to being a sage or someone who actually has his act together, but I can offer some words of advice. Things folks told me on this long road called life and things I wished people told me. A wise person once said never be afraid to give others advice, even if they didn’t ask for it, so here’s me offering some words for those that want to read it. Find your place in the world and enjoy this life. It’s the only life you have (at least the one you can remember coherently). Never stop learning because new things happen every day, and you’re not as smart as y...

Three channels. That's all the Cartoon Network brand needs to expand into FAST media. Three channels. Why three? Because with nearly 30 years of original programming, you can't put it all in one place. That's why you don't see much of the library on television nowadays. Cartoon Network itself has a limited lineup, and they're hyper-focused on the younger demographics and push more modern shows. They tried to put some of the older CN library on Boomerang, but it was buried in late-night slots.  Plus, most major TV markets don't have Boomerang on their cable lineup. You'd think they'd try to get wider distribution deals, but I think Time Warner just gave up more than a decade ago. And yeah, I put the blame on Time Warner.  Not AT&T and WarnerMedia. Not Warner Bros Discovery. Hell, not even AOL Time Warner.  I'm putting much of Boomerang's lack of carriage on Time Warner. But I digress. With the Checkered Past block on Adult Swim, some of the ol...

As I was saying earlier, I feel that aside from the various streaming platforms they're currently on, the apps a bulk of the more recent library programming are on, and the digital storefronts you can actually buy entire seasons of episodes on (or, if you're crazy, you could buy a few of them on physical media), the best place for Cartoon Network originals is the channels of Cartoon Network.  That would be Cartoon Network/Adult Swim, Boomerang, and... that can't be right... Discovery Family Channel. Yeah, DFC is part of Cartoon Network, Inc., the umbrella unit that houses the Cartoon Network channels and streaming platforms domestically and globally.  Radical concept, I know. I know some folks want to see them on the upcoming OTA broadcast classic animation channel MeTV Toons, and I explained in the previous post why that's a bad idea and completely not the best use of the library. Then, I suggested that Cartoon Network should launch CN-branded FAST channels. While the...

I've been talking about MeTV Toons for about a month now (and there's no guarantee it'll even come to my part of the world) that I kind of forgot about the dumpster fire that is Cartoon Network right now.  Okay, I haven't forgotten about the channel. There's not much to talk about, at least when it comes to the main brand. The  Total Drama Island  revival premiered on the channel nearly a year after it premiered in basically every major international market. Craig of the Creek is premiering its final cycle of episodes.  And, well, that's pretty much it in regard to the main Cartoon Network brand. Adult Swim has been a lot livelier thanks to a cycle of Ninja Kamui and various acquisitions on Toonami and season premieres of Smiling Friends and My Adventures of Superman , my favorite show on the block right now. Oh, and Toonami expanded to Friday afternoons by adding the Viz-dubbed Sailor Moon and encores of Dragon Ball Z Kai and Naruto. Even Boomerang has been ...