Apologies, dear internetlings, for neglecting to post a Saturday Morning Cartoon yesterday…I’ve been steady on the grind putting together our new EPK, which I promise will be better than the Hammer Man episodes that I’ve been wanting to post but can’t seem to find on the Youtubes. So this fine Sunday I bring you a weekend combo…the childhood media confection of mine that also happened to very much shape who I am today, through its subliminal hippie politics. It’s true, I do believe that in the 80’s the Fraggle Rock cast and crew was comprised of the Sesame Street employees who couldn’t stop smoking Snuffleupagus and passing out muppet liberation flyers. The result was the show that featured a band of underground musician critters who taught important lessons in:
Many people feel like hip-hop has died since the arrival of such things as Rap Snacks and Jimmie Hatz. However, us 80’s babies know that in the early 90’s, even if hip-hop wasn’t dead, it was at least very sickly. Because even before Illmatic, before Southernplayalistik and Reasonable Doubt, there was Audrey Junior the rapping cartoon venus fly trap. Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah boyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! This animated adaptation of Little Shop of Horrors only lasted for one season, a.k.a. 2 months. Maybe the people just weren’t ready for the realness.
Something that really speaks volumes about my generation is the fact that there could exist a cartoon flagrantly named to market a specific video game, with episode titles that could include the term “Super Kootie” which featured Milli Vanilli, and that I LUHHHHed it. And you LUHHHHH it too. Blogreader, you know it’s true.
However, what baffles me is how the duo of professional lip syncers managed to go to Nintendo studios or wherever the hell they made this cartoon, and record their drops for the show. That’s some lip sync syncing. Or lip lip syncing. Or lip lip lip in yo hip hip hip bobbity bip bip bip whip whip. Okay yeah, I didn’t get home till 6am and only got 4 hours of sleep last night. Blame it on the rain.
Part 2 after the jump (which you only want to miss if you don’t want to see a dragon girl say “I really dig your dreadlocks.”)
There’s something strangely familiar about a series featuring a group of California-rooted, mildly dark-toned individuals trying to make a career out of funk music. I can’t quite put my finger on it. And yes, it might be quite racist that this first episode begins with a bunch of California Raisins singing on a slaveship. And I’m definitely not trying to play oppression olympics, but given that raisins spend their careers being grown in harsh crops, then picked and laid out in the sun to shrivel, then packed together for years in boxes, and then eaten up by people most of which who claim they don’t even like raisins – I gotta admit that they live a hard life.
Even still, raisins on a slaveship is pretty problematic. ENJOY!!!
Our peoples have been blasting announcements about our new single to the press, who today may be logging onto here for the first time expecting to see a rap site and instead seeing The Little Mermaid. But fuuuuuuuck ittttt. I can post mermaids and still be a thug…sheeeeeeit. Over the past two months we were going insane trying to find songs that are reminiscent of how we wanted “Gentleman’s Kool-Aid” to sound so the engineer could get a sense of how to mix it. But of course, it wasn’t until tonight–two days after we released the track–that I realize that the answer is and always was in SEBASTIAN!! Damn that crafty racistly-charming rasta crab!
“Under the Sea” captures all the orchestrated chaos, diversity in voices, excessive festive horns, and satirical writing that we sought to conjure in “Kool-Aid.” And like Disney songs, we hope we can shift our audience to a place where songs need no rules…where a raw 16-bar verse can co-exist with a giant swordfish singing background vocals. If you’ve heard our song you know what I’m talking about. If you haven’t heard our song, WTF???????
Dammit, I really wish I had thought of all of this 2 weeks ago. Oh well, we just sent the engineer a bunch of Jeezy instead, which basically accomplishes the same thing.
It’s not morning anymore, and this video also isn’t of a cartoon…so pretty much this whole post is a FAIL already. But last night when I was asking Nico what I should post for this week’s SMC, his eyes lit up with glee as he squealed, “Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego!” It was very similar to asking a kid how old he is and answering, “Ice cream!” He was so filled with joy, I didn’t have the heart to tell him that he’s adorable, but nonetheless an idiot who can’t answer basic questions.
So here it is, a clip of Eric Costello totally laying the smack-down on Africa. It’s amazing, and depending on who you are, might even spark an identity crisis.
Okay, so last week I posted Widget the World Watcher and got an overwhelming response from other lonely souls far and wide who thought they were the only ones to remember our purple metamorphical friend. And to that I say: balzacs! As obscure as Widget might’ve been, he still had prime cartoon timeslots and lasted for several seasons. So to my fellow Widgeteers out there, you’re not weirdos, the rest are just didn’tpayattentionos.
So onward into animated obscureness we go, and this week I present to you Sam & Max, one of my most beloved adolescent series’ though it only lasted for one season on Fox Kids. Originally based on an adult-themed comic book series that was adapted as a violent computer game and then toned down as an animated series for children, this show was so from left field it only seemed to grab the attention of Silicon Valley computer engineers (my dad) and hormone-ridden children who went to Fry’s Electronics for fun (me).
Even still, Sam & Max exhibit a form of genius, as one of the few tongue-in-cheek spazzy cartoons that would eventually pave the path for such ADHD confections as Spongebob and Dexter’s Lab. Watch the first episode and bask in its late 90’s randomness.
So I’ve been wanting to implement a new section of the blog entitled Saturday Morning Cartoon (I think it’s pretty self-explanatory) but I had a big problem…NONE OF US WAKE UP ON SATURDAY MORNINGS! So I figured, once we move to the east coast, at least it’ll be morning for our Cali ill-literates. But now in NYC, I’ve just been waking up 3 hours later than normal. Oh well, cartoons are good for afternoons too. Or maybe even Sunday. Or Monday. COME TO THE SITE MORE OFTEN!! I need coffee.
ANYWAY, here’s a cartoon that I’m always using to try to explain things (there is a surprisingly large number of analogous connections between iLL-Literacy music and a shape-shifting purple alien) and people always look at me like I’m making this up. So here it is. My favorite cartoon throughout my early elementary school era. Widget the World Watcher.
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