Thoughtnami™

I'll admit it. I was just a casual viewer of Nickelodeon when I was a kid. I got more satisfaction watching other channels like the USA Network, Superstation TBS, TNT, The Disney Channel on the occasions when they had free weekend previews and that time my folks actually subscribed to the channel for a while, and the Cartoon Network. Plus, network syndication was still a thing when I was in the peak Nick viewership demographic growing up, so I found a lot of entertainment outside of that channel.  But I can say I enjoyed Nickelodeon when it was really worth watching at its first real peak period of the early to mid-1990s.  Then again, that's the era I appreciated the network. Your mileage may differ depending how old you are.  I felt this particular subject was something I needed to talk about since it came up in a casual conversation that was sparked by a Bluesky post from Pop Arena , who produces one of the best, though slightly biased, oral histories of any media outl...

When I was still a kid, all bright-eyed, super-optimistic, and not world-weary, and the one thing I loved to do was visit the local mall in my city, Tower Mall.  That retail oasis was a haven from a busy week of school, but since it wasn't somewhere I could visit unless I didn't have a little change in my pocket, those trips were few and far-between. But every now and then, my folks and I always made a trip at least twice a month. It wasn't a big mall, mind you. Military Circle, Greenbriar Mall, and Lynnhaven Mall were all much, much bigger at the time, but they were far from home and tended to be an all-day trip.  Tower Mall had everything you could get at most other malls. The mall was open Mondays through Saturdays because at the time, Virginia had "blue laws" that kept most retail businesses closed on Sundays and oddly didn't go away until Walmart entered the region.  The mall was anchored by Montgomery Ward, Rices Nachmans (later Hess's), Miller &...

Warner Bros Discovery, a once proud and powerful global media powerhouse that has revolutionized the entertainment industry for over a century, is now officially dead. Back in February, the company has announced that it would be purchased by Paramount Skydance, a fascist-leaning media company financed by foreign governments who sponsor state terrorism and heavily favored by a despotic administration who feels he is the permanent leader of the United States and ruler of the world. And today, April 23, a majority of the company's stockholders officially okayed the deal, which is still being thoroughly investigated by several state attorneys general as well as a few global trade organizations. This is not the end I wanted to see, but it was one I was prepared to admit was always a possibility, especially in an era in our history where truly vile nepotic businessmen have determined to rid the world of progressive, diverse, and established media in favor of authoritative, fascist-leanin...

My grandma was the best cook I’ve ever known, and a lot of people would agree with me. She used to fix meals for church and family functions from picnics to massive dinners. I don’t think there was anything she couldn’t fix, and everything she made was done with love and care. A few months ago, someone brought up regional foods on BlueSky, and I thought about her and something she excelled at: Yock. Yock is a regional noodle dish from my part of the world that has Chinese and Black culinary roots, and to be honest, I haven’t had a good bowl of it yock in ages. I just knew my grandma made it better than anyone I’ve ever known or ever will know.  Here’s a brief history about yock. Yock, sometimes called yock-a-mein (a box of noodles), originated with Chinese immigrants who came to the Tidewater region of Virginia back in the early part of the 20th century. The locals largely call the southeast portion of Virginia "Hampton Roads" nowadays, though there are some who still call i...

You people made me break my hiatus for this one post. I explicitly stated that I did not want to talk about the deal anymore. I'm not entirely talking about it, but there is something that has been grating at me the moment the deal was officially determined.  Look, I get it. You hate this deal. I really hate this deal. Folks who work at Warner Bros Discovery hate this deal. Even some of the stockholders and board members hate this deal. It's a terrible deal. It's not even sealed. It's not completed. And there's still a chance it might not legally get cleared by most trade commissions and jurisdictions and completely fall apart. But please hear me out for just a moment.  I want you folks, especially you animation fans, take the time to actually read this because a huge chunk of you folks is acting like petulant children. Since I have to be the grown-up in the room, I'm going to have to say this. Paramount Skydance is NOT going to just get rid of Warner Bros prog...

"I, not events, have the power to make me happy or unhappy today. I can choose which it shall be. Yesterday is dead, tomorrow hasn't arrived yet. I have just one day, today, and I'm going to be happy in it." - Groucho Marx I don't take anything I've done for granted in the nearly 30 years I've been writing professionally. In 1998, I created a simple GeoCities page about my favorite programming block, Toonami. CN2 Toonami Inner Circle was part love letter for the block/part news and opinion outlet. I also was trying to convince the folks of Cartoon Network to launch a Toonami channel.  An ambitious task in 1998, mind you, but I was prepared to fight. Cartoon Network eventually launched a spinoff channel in 2000, albeit one based on its Boomerang classic cartoons format. That change forced me to change my site into CNX: Toonami Revolution. A few years later, I changed my site from CNX to The X Bridge (TXB for short) largely because, well, they actually made ...