My Favorite Scenes: Drawn in Musicians

I was doing some research on new music, and came across this article which discusses cartoons and music in light of comic-con. http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/herocomplex/2009/07/toons-and-music-unite-phineas-and-ferb-and-da-jammies.html (One day I need to make it to a convention that honors people obsessed with a pop culture genre to the level of geekdom.)

While reading this I felt validated in my love of Phineas and Ferb. I know for many there will never be harder cartoon rockers than Jem or Josie and the Pussycats. But I have to say, growing up and owning my own green sweater vest, white tee and khaki shorts I thought the Beets of Doug fame were right there with whichever band was in the Top 40. I assure you, you will be singing Ooo Ee oo Killer Tofu for a while after this.




Of course musical legacy in cartoons comes from a variety of areas. Where else can chimpmunks sing and create a Christmas legend...




or would Andre 3000 get to lead a class in music that was super appropriate...




or would there be a social commentary on real musicians? I can't say I know what actually goes on in Aaron McGruder's head, but if you need the full story ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Story_of_Thugnificent)



Really, these cartoons can stand up to California Dreams any day. I'm a little ambivalent at the moment on Da Jammies. In writing it sounds great, but in visual this eerily reminds me of the PJs. Multicultural cartoons are something I harp on a lot. So this could be promising.



We're in desperate need of a funky cartoon that will leave us dancing in the aisles.

Throwback Pop Culture Clip: WB Saturdays, Earthworm JIM

Earthworm, Earthworm, Earthworm JIM

Continuing with WB Saturdays: here's Earthworm Jim. Some super fan has created a montage of the greatest moments. I saw AWESOME!

Throwback Pop Culture Clip: WB Saturdays

Next up on our trip down WB Saturday memory lane is Freakazoid. I guess every 16 year old boy's alter ego is a strange old man.

He runs around in underwear. Freak a me...Freak a you.
Back to editing for me. Enjoy!

Throwback Pop Culture Clip-Wayne Head: Actors and Their Cartoon Selfs

"The Party's Just Begun!"
Somewhere in doing research for my dissertation and watching Hollywood Shuffle, I remembered the joy that was the WB 11 Saturday morning cartoons. Sometimes ABC just didn't do it for you. Keeping in line with the rest of this weeks posts and my homage to comics in character form with Robin Harris in all his Bebe's Kids glory on this season's cover, this week's throwback is Wayne Head. This wonderful little cartoon, based on the wonder that is the Wayans family, was definitely a favorite of mine. I'll keep going with the WB toons in later weeks.






Wayne Head was in the same multicultural vein of CBear and Jamal but a little less Hey Arnold and probably a bit more like Fat Albert. And since we're paying homage to comics in cartoon form we can't leave out Bill Cosby who's done it to himself not once, but twice. Unfortunately there are no appropriate Little Bill video clips online. They are all a little warped and perverted.




That's it. Enjoy your day.

Black Disney Princess Update

Peep this trailer for the Black Disney Princess movie from the good folks over at Bossip/Livesteez. Where did that reject Song of the South fly come from? Come on Disney you've done the random black sidekick for Disney's heroines before. Neither Harry Belafonte's Sebastian or Eddie Murphy's Mushu was that frightening. The verdict is still our because the movie's not done yet. Well at least Anika Noni Rose and Jenifer Lewis are working. But still, this movie is officially getting the side eye treatment of the week.

And I promise this is not becoming the Disney Blog. I wouldn't have a big ol pic from Bebe's Kids if it was.

Happily Never After: The Struggle for a Black Princess in the Disney Culture.

While browsing That Black Girls Site I noticed an article on Disney' s search for a black princess. I had previously spoken about Disney's struggle with princesses and my excitement for Maddy in this piece about American Girl ("American Girl Movie. A Playlist and An Apology"). Apparently my dream is never going to come true. According to this piece it has been reported that the princesses' name has been changed to Tiana, she's going to get with some non-black dude, and they will live in a fictional land. Well for one this disproves my theory that non-white Disney princesses are all localized in order to deal with the issues of ethnicity. Don't they owe the South one after the horror of Song of the South?* However, it does bring up other issues that are too numerous to mention.

I can talk all day about race, cartoons and children's programming as its something that I've wondered about since the days of Doug and the Puzzle Place (really the Funnys and the Beets were white, everyone else included rich lil Bebe was funky colored). But I won't.

Instead I bring the past which I may be looking at through rose colored glasses. HBO used to do a great series that was also available for purchase called Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child. The stories were "politically correct" and featured a range of races and ethnicities for the characters. There was this one Caribbean one that my family watched and laughed at over and over. Robert Guilliame narrated and there was quite the cast (voices) of minority actors (Magaret Cho**, Raven-Symone, Sinbad, even Pauletta Washington). The stories were really good with a little moralistic lesson as well as not demeaning the life of women. Apparently the episodes still come on in the morning. If you subscribe to HBO Family check it out: the schedule's here.

Here's a very short clip from "The Princess and The Pea:"



Also a Wikipedia article including links to the IMDB and HBO website. If you're really interested you can buy some episodes on Amazon.

*At 20 years old after seeing the movie the year before I went to Disneyland to try and ride Splash Mountain. It was sadly closed. Still that was a great way to spend senior year Spring Break.
**Crazy as Magaret Cho may be you have to admit she rocks hard for the kids. This and C-Bear and Jamal were the ish.

Boondocks-Usher Confessions

This is a few weeks old, but I just found an edited down clip. Go about three minutes in: hilarious

Also, full episodes can be found at www.boondockseries.com

THROWBACK POP CULTURE CLIP OF THE WEEK

Did you watch this? One of my favorite cartoons ever. This multicultural/ethnic cast was definitely something to look forward to on Saturdays and Tone Loc and Margaret Cho did voices. This was on Fox during their black years when Living Single and Martin also came on.