And Now For Something Completely Different

Yep. Been a couple weeks. Will update toons stuff next week. Until then here is the imbiber's list

Found this list via the Cigar Smoking Man, Originally from ART OF DRINK. Not all are alcoholic nor is it all encompassing. But it is a cool thing. Bold the ones you've tried. Cut and paste into your own blog/myspace/facebook.

A good exercise to see what you are missing in life.

Instructions:

1) Copy this list into your blog, with instructions.
2) Bold all the drinks you’ve imbibed.
3) Cross out any items that you won’t touch
4) Post a comment at Art of Drink, and link to your results.

List of Drinks You Must Try Before You Expire

1. Manhattan Cocktail
2. Kopi Luwak (Weasle Coffee)
3. French / Swiss Absinthe
4. Rootbeer
5. Gin Martini
6. Sauternes
7. Whole Milk
8. Tequila (100% Agave)
9. XO Cognac
10. Espresso
11. Spring Water (directly from the spring)
12. Gin & Tonic
13. Mead
14. Westvleteren 12 (Yellow Cap) Trappist Ale
15. Chateau d’Yquem
16. Budwieser
17. Maraschino Liqueur
18. Mojito
19. Orgeat
20. Grand Marnier
21. Mai Tai (original)
22. Ice Wine (Canadian)
23. Red Bull
24. Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
25. Bubble Tea
26. Tokaji
27. Chicory
28. Islay Scotch
29. Pusser’s Navy Rum
30. Fernet Branca
31. Fresh Pressed Apple Cider
32. Bourbon
33. Australian Shiraz
34. Buckley’s Cough Syrup
35. Orange Bitters
36. Margarita (classic recipe)
37. Molasses & Milk
38. Chimay Blue
39. Wine of Pines (Tepache)
40. Green Tea
41. Daiginjo Sake
42. Chai Tea
43. Vodka (chilled, straight)
44. Coca-Cola
45. Zombie (Beachcomber recipe)
46. Barley Wine
47. Brewed Chocolate (Xocolatl)
48. Pisco Sour
49. Lemonade
50. Speyside Single Malt
51. Jamaican Blue Mountain Coffee
52. Champagne (Vintage)
53. Rosé (French)
54. Bellini
55. Caipirinha
56. White Zinfandel (Blush)
57. Coconut Water
58. Cerveza
59. Cafe au Lait
60. Ice Tea
61. Pedro Ximenez Sherry
62. Vintage Port
63. Hot Chocolate
64. German Riesling
65. Pina Colada
66. El Dorado 15 Year Rum
67. Chartreuse
68. Greek Wine
69. Negroni
70. Jägermeister
71. Chicha
72. Guiness
73. Rhum Agricole
74. Palm Wine
75. Soju
76. Ceylon Tea (High Grown)
77. Belgian Lambic
78. Mongolian Airag
79. Doogh, Lassi or Ayran
80. Sugarcane Juice
81. Ramos Gin Fizz
82. Singapore Sling
83. Mint Julep
84. Old Fashioned
85. Perique
86. Jenever (Holland Gin)
87. Chocolate Milkshake
88. Traditional Italian Barolo
89. Pulque
90. Natural Sparkling Water
91. Cuban Rum
92. Asti Spumante
93. Irish Whiskey
94. Château Margaux
95. Two Buck Chuck
96. Screech
97. Akvavit
98. Rye Whisky
99. German Weissbier
100. Daiquiri (classic)

59/100.

Sam And Max..Freelance Police

Well another wacky cartoon is finally available. Well it's been available for a few months but I'm just getting around to reviewing it.

Sam and Max: Freelance Police. Based on the underground comic by Steve Purcell. This aired on Fox from October 1997 to April 1998 for 24 episodes. It won a Gemini award for Best Animated show...but no matter...canceled anyway

It seems like this property is making a bit of a comeback with some online episodes/games for the PC and Wii I believe. There was also a PC game based on Sam and max in the early 90s.

But the cartoon is just better in my opinion. Much better voice acting, especially for Sam the dog detective in a suit...and actually the voice for Max, the rabbity thing is better in the cartoon as well.

This is one of those cartoons that makes you wonder how they got away with what they did. In an early episode the two detectives, er Freelance Police, are in a speedboat in the sewers when crazy and kinetic Max looks over the side at the murky brown water and exclaims "Look, Sam, baby alligators."

To which his more level-headed partner replies "Well they're buoyant and log shaped but they're far from alligators."

A turd reference on a kids show. How can you beat that?

Funny writing and great design. The characters traveled in an old 60s cop car and went all over the place in their investigations: Ancient Egypt, the moon...whatever the story called for. And it worked. And a crazy ass hyper jazz soundtrack.

I like shows like this that break rules and just entertain. Very nice to see another cult show on DVD...along with Duckman. Now all we need is Big Guy and Rusty The Boy Robot

Oh My God! Duckman! Finally

Oh man am I happy this is finally out on DVD. I never thought I'd see the day come when this was finally released officially. I didn't think anyone else watched or remembered this but me.

I was getting close to going to one of those DVD bootleg sites and buying it. I still may have to do that with Eek The Cat & Ahhh! Real Monsters.

But not for good ol' Duckman. Official DVD...after all these years. I liked this show so much I even bought this on bootleg VCD at eBay about 8 years ago. Anybody remember VCD's? Came on about 25 discs. Nice.

Anyway this was an underground classic. It aired for 4 seasons on the USA Network from 1994 to 1997. 70 episodes.

The plot? Simple and everyday. As Duckman sums up better than I ever could: "I'm just one more duck detective who works with a pig and lives with the twin sister of his dead wife, three sons on two bodies and a comatose mother-in-law who's got so much gas she's a fire hazard."

Awesome. I'm always amazed when a show like this even gets produced. It is surreal and crazy and funny.

Fantastically weird design too. Half animals, anthropomorphic animals and human characters. Weird color and exaggerated humor.

Great voice acting from Jason Alexander, Dweezil Zappa and Tim Curry and Nancy Travis.

And it has 2 of my all time favorite characters ever in animation, Fluffy and Uranus. Duckman's syrupy sweet, sickeningly P.C., cloth-stuffed Care Bear-esque office assistants who die a horrible (and deserving) death in nearly every episode. Check the video. No death but you'll get a pretty good vibe for the show in under 50 seconds,

Oh, and Season 3&4 are due to be released in January. Sweet! And complete!

Been A Whille Since The Last Post

So yea, it's been a while since there was an update. I thought this would be a "no brainer-take only 5 minutes to do a post" type of thing.

But no. My love for toons made me a perfectionist.

No More! Perfection be damned.

So after being hounded by a couple friends--and finding out that one of them has an 8 year old daughter hooked on the Galaxy High Theme--I feel I must post more.

Comments Are Now Open

Duh. A little slow on the uptake over here.

Anyone can post now without having to register.

Tiny Toons vs Animaniacs

Ok. A couple days ago I mentioned that I preferred Tiny Toons over Animaniacs. And Teresa was just the opposite.

Time to clarify. As much as I love Yakko, Wakko and Dot, I think that Tiny Toons is a better show.

In other words it is a more enjoyable half hours of toons.

Teresa on the other hand prefers Animaniacs. But it turns out we agree.

We both think that The Animaniacs segments are better than any of the Tiny Toons cartoons on the whole. I agree with that part. But the filler segments (other than Pinky & The Brain) are crapola.

I could give a shit about Goodfeathers, a take off of Good Fellas. Gangster Pigeons? That joke was only half-funny and barely relevant almost 20 years when it first aired.

Slappy the Squirrel? She was supposed to be this "old" aunt squirrel but it never worked. She never looked older than her nephew. I never bought into it.

Or that goddamn singing cat voiced by Bernadete friggin Peters. Rita and Runt or whatever it was. Ugh. Why is that woman a celebrity? Seriously, her cartoon cat persona is sexier than she ever was. What did Steve Martin see in that woman?

And screw Mindy and Buttons and Minerva Mink. That is a load of suck.

Animaniacs was a brilliant idea. And their shorts are well worth the price of admission on DVD. But they had to fill out the show and unfortunately it was with junk. I can forgive that I suppose. It;s tough to come up with half a dozen gems. But I would have preferred a half hour of just the Warner Brothers and their Warner sister Dot. And an occasional Pinky & The Brain. Thank God for the "chapter skip" button on your remote.

But Tiny Toons is a more entertaining half hour of cartoons, in my opinion.

Both had great friggin theme songs, though. They are both in my head all the time.

7 Cartoons That Ended Before Their Time

As Teresa and I finish up the 5th, and last, season of Teen Titans, I gotta say I'm bummed out. What a great show. I'll never understand when a really well done show with good ratings is canned. I mean it's cool we have 65 episodes of it, but I would have liked 130. Or 140.

Especially when you consider they made 318 episodes of the damn Smurfs. Or the fact they are STILL making friggin Scooby Doo based garbage 40 years later. Toddler Shaggy and Newborn Scooby Chase Ghosts! Look--Scooby's eyes haven't opened yet and Shaggy still shits his pants, but they'll still chase assfaces in rubber masks! Terrific!

Anyhoo, here is my Top 7 list of "13 Episode Wonders." I could have included stuff that aired longer but ended too soon like Futurama or Dilbert or The Critic or The Tick which still had a ton of potential left, but we'll stick with the stuff that a network spent a fortune to buy, license, develop, cast, score, and produce and then axe after a half season. Sweet.

And before anybody bitches and says "Hey those shows stunk out loud and weren't perfect" --let me just point out the first 13 episodes of The Simpsons were not that spectacular. Heaven forbid we judge that show based on that first awkward half season. [or what about the Tracey Ullman shorts] You know, way back when it was all about Bart, before the writers figured out that Homer was the real comedy gold.

I know you bought Season 1 on DVD and I know you watched it like once and then shelved it and waited patiently for Season 3&4 to be released on DVD. Right?

Ya gotta give a show at least a damn year or two to find its footing and not just shitcan it right away.

Okie doke. Here we go.

7 Baby Blues



Based on the comic strip by Jerry Scott and Rick Kirkman, this was a cute little show. It aired twice a week in the Summer of 2000 on WB.

Wait. What?

I can't believe that didn't work out.

Anyway, they could have done a lot more with this one. They just had Zoe but could have gone on for years by adding the other kids Hammie and Wren.

Enjoy the clip in Espanol. It's the only one on youtube that wasn't 10 minutes long.

6 Galaxy High School



Ah yes. I love 80s cartoons. This was a cool little Sci-Fi Saturday morning cartoon that could have gone on for years.

The premise is that two Earth kids go to High School in space. Kinda cornabll right? A bit, but the writing was actually pretty sharp. And the character design was crazy. The rich kid was half-unicycle? What?

I'm not making that up.

Turns out John K of Ren and Stimpy fame did the character design. And the show was created by Harry Potter director Chris Columbus

Bonus: Nancy Cartwright does a couple voices including one for a 2 dimensional kid named Flat Freddy that sounds exactly like early Bart Simpson.

Aired on CBS in 1986 and 1987. Check out that sweet ass intro song.

5 A Four Way Tie of MTV Cartoons



I couldn't pick one so I thought I'd go with 4 from MTV that ended too soon. And yes, they all went only 13 episodes each and were dropped. Why not just let one run for a year or two instead of starting a new one all the time. Ya gave Daria some time to (ahem) develop and that was a great toon.

Anyway.

First up is The Maxx based on the comic by Sam Keith. Great stuff but waaay to surreal for TV I suppose. One of my faves and the art was spot on. This aired in 1995.

Next is Downtown about a group of hip New Yorkers. Also a smart show that was probably ahead of its time. Aired in 1999.

Third is Undergrads Pretty good little show that centered on 4 friends in college. They were kinda stereotypes--the nerd, the jock, etc. But it dealt with campus life in a pretty funny way. This obviously could have lasted for 4 years. This aired on MTV back in 2001.

And last is Clone High. About clones of famous people set in a contemporary High School. Joan of Arc is a goth chick who digs a teen Abe Lincoln. But he digs Cleopatra and JFK digs everybody. Pretty funny little show. Aired in 2002-2003

The clip is of the intro of The Maxx.

4 Striperella



Surprisingly funny and witty show. Kinda had that superhero parody thing going for it like The Tick or The Venture Bros. And a bit of that Get Smart "what are this week's silly gadgets that will totally come in handy" type of thing thrown in as well.

Starring Pamela Anderson and created by Stan Lee. This aired on Spike back in 2003-2004. Featured the cheapest villain ever --Cheapo. Surely the enemy of many a stripper.

Bonus: The DVD shows boobies!

PS All the youtube videos were of a real stripper named Stripperella who looks like a dude. Thus the above clip.

3 God, The Devil and Bob



Ok, this one got canned pretty much before it even started because religious nuts thought the God character looked too much like Jerry Garcia. Or some such bullshit. Anyway, pick this up used on DVD for 7 bucks. You'll see what I mean. Pretty good little show.

Great cast -starring French Stewart (NOT being annoying) as Bob, James Garner as God (perfect choice) and Alan Cumming (Nightcrawler!!--super geek alert) as the Devil.

Only 4 episodes were broadcast on NBC in early 2000.

2 The Oblongs



Ok this is just a crime. What a friggin hilarious show and a fantastic premise. Starred Will Ferrell as Bob Oblong the limbless head of the Oblong household. And Jean Smart, who was hilarious as Pickles the drunk mom.

Classic "freaks vs snobs" material...but with hideous deformities!

Also starred Pamela Segall as Milo the son. Pamela is best known for doing Bobby Hill on King of the Hill so Milo sounds a bit like Bobby from time to time. Segall also voiced the Debbies, the clique of identical bimbos on the snob side: "cute shoes, cute shoes!"

Other characters include Anita Bidet and Helga Phugly. Awesome! Why was this show canned? Oh yea, it was on the WB and got lost in a sea of Wayans Brothers type comedies. Ah well.

Aired in 2001.

Bonus: Great theme song by They Might Be Giants.

1 Mission Hill


I had a tough time choosing between this and the Oblongs as Number One but it's gotta be Mission Hill.

This was created by a couple of head writers and producers of the early Simpsons so the writing is smart and funny.

The show focuses on a set of friends living in Mission Hill, the hip artsy are of an unnamed city. Andy is the main character and he has to look after his younger dorky brother Kevin. When I first watched this I thought immediately of Peter Bagge's classic Hate comics. And the creators freely admit they borrowed a lot of ideas from underground comics like Hate and Clowes' Eightball. So that's cool they cited their inspiration.

Great voice acting from Scott Menville (Teen Titans, Avatar), Vicki Lewis (News Radio), Brian Posehn (Mr Show), Tom Kenny (Spongebob, Mr Show). In fact this was pre-Spongebob Tom Kenny and there is a very familiar voice heard in one of the episodes for another character.

Plus Mission Hill had some of the best artistic design and color usage ever. It's just beautiful to look at.

If you listen to the commentaries, what makes this show especially tragic is they had a 10 year story arc already planned out that showed Andy going from a cartoonist with a dead end job all the way up to producer of his own cartoon show with Andy changing jobs every 6 episodes or so. This was to be a tribute to Matt Groening and his career.

Ah well. Aired sporadically on *sigh* the WB in 1999 and 2000.

Bonus: First gay couple kiss broadcast on TV, albeit in toon form.