Thursday, September 30, 2010

7 Years of the Monkey

If you haven't caught the reference in this post's title, then, you haven't been to FredtheMonkey.com. It's been seven years since this fun little website launched and now, the entire site just got a facelift. It's not that this hasn't happened before as seen in the "3, 2, 1... RELAUNCH!" parts 1, 2, and 4 (note that part 3 is missing) in addition to this brief 'toon before part 4, "Closed for Repairs", but this recent upgrade has got me excited. How about you? In fact, I just updated my previous post on the site so that future readers don't go to dead links. I even saw the 'toon to mark the seventh anniversary of the site and both Fred and S.C. have never looked better! But don't take my word for it, go see the site for yourself!

The Golden Stone Age Family

Thank you, Google, for reminding me of an important cartoon occasion: The 50th anniversary of the Flintstones TV show!

The Flintstones and their neighbors, the Rubbles, brought their modern Stone Age lives onto our TV screens on this day in 1960. The late William Hanna said that "The Honeymooners" was the concept for TV's first ever prime time animated series. And cartoon voice legends Alan Reed and Mel Blanc (most famous as the voice of most of the male Looney Tunes like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig) voiced Fred and Barney, respectfully. And here's an article from Cartoon Brew, marking the occasion. 50 years and looking fabulous! Now, that's a modern Stone Age turned Golden Age!

Monday, September 20, 2010

You're Invited... Again

Last year, Tokyo DisneySea held their first ever Halloween theme, a Masquerade party, if you will. (I even remarked on the event as seen here.) And guess what? They're doing it again! Yay! Though I can't be there myself (since my mom and/or I couldn't afford to go to Japan which was the case last year, too), I'm so glad TDS decided to bring back this fun Halloween theme. This year, they added a Mexican Fiesta hosted by Chip, Dale, and Clarice, the chipmunk singer who caught Chip and Dale's eye in the classic cartoon "Two Chips and a Miss".

The "MOUSEquerade" is back and Daisy joins the fun this year. (Last year, it was just Mickey, Minnie, Donald, Goofy, Chip, and Dale.) And another thing you'll notice is that the main gang are wearing masks throughout the entire dance. Other than that, it's pretty much the same as last year.

...so is the "Mysterious Masquerade" stage show at the Tower of Terror. Most of the show is left unchanged, but at the happy ending, the whole gang has masks on instead of just Mickey. I once explained my vision of the show should it be brought to the U.S., however, there's another version reeling in my head. It goes like this: Most of the cast is the same, but I've also included Horace Horsecollar, Clarabelle Cow, and the aforementioned Clarice. Like in my original vision, Goofy doesn't turn into an evil pirate and Minnie doesn't become a possessed Egyptian queen. Instead, Horace is the pirate and Clarabelle is the Egyptian queen. This leaves Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy left to save the day by getting eveyone to dance with them, even the unsure Clarice. Vidia, the fast-flying fairy rival of Tinker Bell, would teach the audience the dance. Another variation has Goofy's son, Max, in Clarice's place. What do you think of my recent idea?

You can see vids of both shows (from both this year and last year) on YouTube by searching "MOUSEquerade" and/or "Mysterious Masquerade". Hope they do all this again next year, too, 'cause it might still be a while for the U.S. Disney Parks to get this Halloween theme.

UPDATE 10/28/10: The Disney Parks Blog just posted a look at not only Tokyo DisneySea's Halloween celebration, but also Tokyo Disneyland's Halloween theme this year. Check it out here and let them know how much we want this in the American Disney Parks.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Todaybor Day is a Labor Day!

...and Strong Bad won't be checking emails on this day (as seen in sbemail #83). Homestar leads his "Homestarmy" makes sure nobody or their brother does any work at all today (as he reminds The Cheat, seen here). While the main site itself is still non-updated, you can still peruse the site for past cartoons to watch again (unless you're watching some of them for the first time). Doesn't mean Strong Bad's not active though: Earlier this month, Telltale Games annouced "Poker Night at the Inventory" which has Strong Bad playing, obviously, poker with Tycho from the "Penny Arcade" webcomic, Max (the rabbit) from "Sam & Max: Freelance Pollice", and the Heavy from the video game "Team Fortress 2". Telltale has worked with Strong Bad before to create the ever popular, super fun "Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People" (or, if you wanna get in on the ground floor of abbriviations, SBCG4AP), but hey, I'm just psyched Strong Bad's still around. How about you? Are you excited about this game as I am? Hopefully, this will be a sign that the Homestar Runner website will be updated soon. Please, oh, please, oh, please!