Yeah, what he said. Not only that, this new tech sounds remarkably similar - it also involves flourescence at multiple layers. Of course c-3d's players would have been fully backwards compatible. Or alternately, wouldn't have even needed a laser per se, just coherent light.
However anyone that's worked with flourescent compounds knows that eventually they will bleach. I have a strong suspicion that this may have been what killed c-3d, and it's possible it may prove to be an intractable problem with this new tech as well, although they say it doesn't degrade. We shall see.
(For the record, I think c-3d's FMCs - a card-sized non-rotating version of FMDs - were their best idea. Exposed disks are too easily damaged and distinctly kid-unfriendly, and the normal sized disk is too large to carry in a pocket. CDs and DVDs got this very, very wrong.)
Or at least, used to be for? Granted audiosnobs can get annoying, but it could potentially eliminate the problem.
Of course with Clearchannel dominating radio so thoroughly, and the recurring problem of payola, there are still problems. I don't think the author of the article was paying attention to the real ultimate power that radio already has over the entire music industry. That is the more serious problem.
Actually AFAIK they have been buying rights on an individual basis, and don't have everything of Ghibli's (certainly not TV shows). However, they do have the rights to all of the recent and good films, most of which they have not yet released, and it stands to reason that they will get the rights to new ones in the future. So effectively, nobody else gets anything Ghibli without Disney's cooperation. Check http://www.nausicaa.net for more info.
Partly that's because voice acting in japan - is an actual career - is highly competitive - has plenty of work - are the original voices for anime in the chosen language
The funny thing is how few of them there actually are. Watch enough of this stuff and you'll be able to recognize them immediately (Mitsushi Kotono, my favorite!) Eventually it's a bit distracting. Especially when they've got famous roles under their belt, and they're in something you wouldn't expect. I happened to see a hentai clip with the unmistakeable Hayashibara Megumi once, simultaneously putting pictures of Lina Inverse doing dirty things in my mind and confirming that yes in fact she does play all redheads in anime.
The framerate of the media, of course, is 24 for movies or 29.97 for TV/Video, but the actual number of cels per second for TV anime often half that, and sometimes less. Less frames means less work, of course, which is partly why anime tends to have more detailed scenes than american animation, which rarely sacrifices motion in the same manner. Of course, high quality movies and action sequences often do full frame rate, as well as CG animation of both types since it involves little extra work, just extra rendering. Also, frame interpolation is becoming popular, which saves a lot of effort.
If it's not a premium channel, there's a ton of stuff they won't be able to get away with. But if it's a premium channel, it'll be impossible to get subscribers beyond the existing pool of fanboys. The smartest move may be to do both. It's technically possible (on my service MTV2 and Spice share a channel).
Have a primary block that is freely available to everyone and meets regular American TV standards. Advertise it on other channels, and make every series a television event. Show your very best and broadest stuff to secure new viewers. Make it dubbed, and explain things to the uninitiated. The commercials keep this part of the channel self-sustaining. Most importantly, promote the the premium subscription and its advantages heavily.
The rest of the time, the channel is in premium mode and is available only to subscribers (scramble it, but not the sound if you can). It's a much bigger experience. Reruns of series with episodes you might have missed. Subtitled verisions. No censorship. A whole other major block of time with good series you could never show on network TV (right after the primary one). And a lot of lesser series to fill time and expand viewing choices.
It's an unusual approach, but then again anime is an unusual thing to show. I think this is the best option.
It sounds like a good solution on paper, but in practice it would suck (Having experimented with both SAP and the timing impaired CC). Hell, even DVD subs aren't that great due to the inherent limitations of the format. An unrestricted sub job can look a lot better.
Doing both dubs and subs would be practical and possibly even more profitable. They have plenty of time to kill and two distinct different groups of people to satisfy.
Actually I was referring to ADV's plans for the channel, which had only 4 demographics - Sci-Fi, Comedy Incorrect, Action, and Horror/Martial Arts (as if those two had anything to do with each other). ADV's current lack of sports series isn't really the issue - if they're going to do a channel, they'll need to acquire more series. And if they have any brains at all they should be working with their competitors (Pioneer, Bandai, CPM, etc.) to make a better channel. They'll need all the help they can get to get it off the ground, and if they do there will be more than enough gains to go around.
The kid stigma for american animation is a problem. The no-extended-plotlines taboo of american TV is also a problem.
But with regards to non-anime animation not portraying emotion, action, or other concepts as well, I must simply disagree. Such artistic matters are key to animation, no matter where it is made, and there are many different ways of going about it. Watch an old Looney Tunes sometime - despite the simplistic stories, there's actually a lot going on. And what're you smoking: american cartoons bend the laws of physics with wild abandon. Anime has no particular advantage in this regard, and in some ways it's actually at a disadvantage - for instance, american cartoons have worked around their' family-friendly constraints by making subtle jokes that differently at kid and adult levels, while anime in contrast is much more specialized with regard to their target demographic. Anime also often animates at a very low framerate that many american animators would regard as intolerable.
I can only dream of the possiblities if american animation were to move past the first two problems I mentioned. I would truly love to see the results.
Everything but Spiderman is on Cartoon Network already (it might even be on, I dunno). I suggest you check your local listings and watch them. However, you just might find your precious childhood memories ruined by the now-appreciated suckiness of some of those series. I never realized just how bad GI Joe was until I watched it recently. Same thing happened with Tron.
Wow. Guess I should update my web site. I've got plenty more to add. My mind is a raging torrent of possibilities and perils. And suggestions.
- Even the most sweaty-toothed otaku can't watch anime all day every day. Consider the case of the incredible self-destructing sci-fi channel - everyone thought it's success was a no-brainer. But fans of the sci-fi genre only watch so much sci-fi (and prefer the good stuff too). Fortunately, anime isn't really a genre, it's a medium. I humbly suggest ADV consider what makes a channel successful (particularly the regular network channels) and take a long hard look at how they're targeting different demographics, because an anime channel for existing anime fans alone won't get far.
- Speaking of which, ADV is completely missing a key genre of anime here, and it ought to be their most important for picking up new viewers -Sports. It's good for many subtle reasons I don't want to go into here - suffice to say that Hajime no Ippo and Initial D, properly handled, could get solid ratings.
- Certain Japanese moral standards and levels of censorship are a bit more... open than those in America. Nudity in particular is a big issue even for TV, and certain excellent shows (like Berserk) are controversial and violent. How does ADV intend to handle it? Dumb it down for America, make it a premium channel, or just push the envelope?
- ADV is one of the biggest names in american anime distribution, but there are several others with many good series. Getting them on board would be essential. Bandai in particular might be difficult since they have strong ties to Cartoon Network.
- One of the biggest obstacles to anime on TV is the high cost of licensing the TV rights from Japan. Considering just how much anime we're talking about, that could be quite a lot of cash. Perhaps the downward spiral of the Japanese economy will help bring the terms down to a sustainable level. Still, promising a percentage of the profits rather than blanket licensing seems like the only way this could happen.
- They're going to have to compete with other channels snapping up some of the better series, particularly if they are popular. Disney already has the rights all things Ghibli.
- Since so many dubs are so poor, and since they'll be showing so much anime (and no doubt rerunning a LOT of it), is there an actual possibility we could get subbed anime on TV?
- I love animation, period. Any chance that this channel would show any of the (lamentably small) body of less kid-oriented animation from america and around the world? Likewise, I hope that this channel could stimulate the production of more mature animated titles in america.
- Like I said before, just anime might be hard. Why not branch out into other neglected forms of entertainment, particularly those which would appeal to the core demographic? Kung-fu, wierd film, and now (unfortunately) Sci-fi. Say, doesn't ADV do Farscape on video?
So what we have here is a combination game system/mobile phone, which will stay constantly connected to the network and constantly within reach of the player, and which is now having games for it developed by the makers of one of the prime RPG consoles......Phantasy Star Mobile, anyone?
I'm sure it seems like this is a great thing, having prevented a satellite TV monopoly, but look again: unlike cable, which is limited only by the expense of laying and lighting cable, satellite has severe constraints on expansion of their service. It's really expensive (and risky) to launch a satellite, there are limited orbits for them to use, and limited frequencies for them to use. A merger would have meant that the two companies could have pooled their resources and offered local channels throughout the country. Instead there's a huge duplication of effort, neither of which is adequate. So instead of less populous areas being subject to a monopoly (whose prices could have been controlled by other means, namely a single nationwide pricing scheme), they're subject to NO decent service. Cable, meanwhile, enjoys an effective monopoly in all those areas, at whatever price it feels like, assuming it feels like serving them at all.
(BTW: another brain-dead, protectionist aspect of the legalities surrounding satellite TV - unless you're in a particular local broadcast market, you're not allowed to receive channels in it - even if the equivalent channel doesn't exist in your area, or no local service is available for your area! I.E. I can't get UPN nor WB via satellite, despite the fact that they are actually broadcasting it off the same bird I would receive from. )
...and realized I should have read it a bit more closely in the first place. As you can see, the programming changes are for the most part close to what I suggested. Late night will be consistently adult, which is good. (BTW: I like the non-anime AS [except the Oblongs], and Futurama is a good buy). I'm surpised they're removing the Midnight Run for IY/CB, but I suspect they'll just move it to an earlier time slot. Well, it beats the Looney Toons / Tom and Jerry dead zone!)
More importantly... This doesn't necessarily mean the anime is gone! OS and MS Gundam was originally Toonami, and Yuu Yuu Hakushou was originally intended for it. Perhaps they're just moving back. And the high-ratin' moneymakin' Toonami ain't going nowhere. If I'm not mistaken (and I can't tell if I am since the article is/.ed) IY and CB will now be on every night. Which is bad for CB because of the rerun effect but OK for IY which is long, at ~ep89 in Japan. There's no reason they couldn't slip more new anime in there later. I just wish they had more variety (different day = different show, which does not seem to be the case).
In summary, there's no solid info that adult anime is doomed on Cartoon Network, and plenty of reason to be optimistic about the expansion of Adult Swim itself.
1) Adult Swim Action couldn't possibly have had worse promotion. Note: squeezing as many action clips as possible into 30 seconds does not a good commercial make. That synth-voice sucked. And a little cross-network advertising that actually targeted the right people would have been nice (Sci-fi good, CNN bad, stoopid).
2) The shows they picked could have been better. Specifically, they could have been for adults, and furthermore shouldn't have been edited down to a pre-teen level. Things might have gone rather differently if they had Hellsing or Excel Saga or Hajime no Ippo headlining (provided the dubs don't suck - I don't know).
3) The Inu Yasha dub sucks terribly, for a headlining show. Pilot Candidate sucks, period - I was changing the channel with extreme prejudice when that came on. MS Gundam is interesting from a historical standpoint, but not much else. OS and Tenchi had already been shown way too much already.
4) I wonder how many times they'll re-run Cowboy Bebop before they realize that adults, unlike kids, tend not to watch shows ad infinitum. This is the problem with ALL CN shows, and especially with AS. At the very least, they could run a show all the way through (anime series are almost all ~13 or ~26 episodes long) in a prime time slot once, then switch to a new series, and eventually rerunning it in a less watched time slot for the rest. Of course they best way would be to run it once in a blue moon and make it an event, and show LOTS of series.
5) Anime != Action. Tenchi is not action (nor is Sailor Moon over in Toonami). Anime covers a broad spectrum of genres and is generally marketed to specific target demographics. Grouping shows by genres is bad - it makes people compare. Grouping shows by demographic is good - it ensures people keep watching. No demographic wants to watch for more than 2 hrs, and most will watch for only 1.
6) I can barely stay up 'til one, even on Saturday, and am rarely in the mood to watch 3 hrs of programming at a time. Also, Saturday night happens to be when a very large chunk of the AS demographic has better things to do, like appeasing the girlfriend or going to a LAN party. It's an awful time slot. (For the record, I think a better pattern would be for 1hr per night Su-Th, with different shows targeting different demographics each night, like prime time on the networks but shorter. I.E. adults can just tune in at a certain time and something new for them will be on. Unfortunately late night is hard to program through, with the Midnight Run conflicting, The Daily Show competing, and Bed calling.)
7) Nothing ventured, nothing gained. ASA had little problem attracting the hardcore geek contingent. It might've survived if they tried attracting other people too.
IMHO, it would have been much nerdier to heckle him in the style of Canadian-German coproduction Lexx, the sci-fi channel's wierdest series. From the talking chess pieces of 4.18:
"We are only chess pieces in a continuum, and can only think inside the box."
"Yes, let us savour your mistake."
"We said resign! Not commit suicide!!"
You gotta watch it to understand. It's truly bizzare.
Exactly. It's all about getting out with people. Who goes to movies alone? Nobody. It's no fun. Ever tried to watch a comedy in an empty theater? It's a profoundly unfunny experience, even if it's a good one. Same goes for most other genres, because the emotional stimulation movies provide is far more effective in a group for reasons anyone with a rudimentary understanding of group psychology should get. Frankly, most movies these days are total crap that's barely bearable WITH the audience (I'm lookin' at you, Lucas).
No home theater has ever (and probably never will) offer this human dimension. Frankly "home theater" is a complete misnomer. It helps if your family or friends are there, but even so it'll be a much more subdued experience. And when you're plunking down $$$$ for your massive set and watching lots of TV, how much time and money will have to spend on those?
P.S. Alamo Drafthouse, damn straight. Wish I had one in my town.
Jesus H. Christ, can't hollywood write any original screenplays anymore? Bad enough they ruin the classics, now they're trying to remake animated ones (and TV series too) as live action movies. Name ONE movie that worked for. JUST ONE. Hey, how about Jim Carey's The Grinch? No, wait, that sucked enough for two films, it wasn't even bad enough for camp. And now they want to remake what was the most sophisticated animated film EVER when it was made? Hey, while you're at it why don't they remake a popular, not-particularly-great, but suitable-only-for-animation TV series like Dragon Ball Z as a live action movie too? Oh wait, they're already doing that.
Somewhere in Hollywood, an unscrupulous American producer needs killing, and somewhere in Tokyo a soulless Japanese producer ought to be committing seppuku. I can't imagine that Katsuhiro Otomo would approve of this.
Personally, I think Minerva deserves more than some iceball way out yonder. Perhaps we'll find something good enough for her someday.
For the record, since Apollo is so closely associated with the sun it wouldn't seem right to name it after him, despite his prominence in the Pantheon.
If it's a planet, give it a proper name from the list of the major Roman gods. When they named Pluto they suggested the following (from Appolonius.net). I vote for Baccus, god of wine and mysteries, or secondly Cronus.:
The naming of Pluto is a story by itself. Early suggestions of the name of the new planet were: Atlas, Zymal, Artemis, Perseus, Vulcan, Tantalus, Idana, Cronus. The New York Times suggested Minerva, reporters suggested Osiris, Bacchus, Apollo, Erebus. Lowell's widow suggested Zeus, but later changed her mind to Constance. Many people suggested the planet be named Lowell. The staff of the Flagstaff observatory, where Pluto was discovered, suggested Cronus, Minerva, and Pluto. A few months later the planet was officially named Pluto. The name Pluto was originally suggested by Venetia Burney, an 11-year-old schoolgirl in Oxford, England.
According to the article, qualcomm licensed the basic patents for CDMA to the european companies, but never gave up the technology it takes to get it to work properly, thus prepping themselves to dominate the market. So europeans are stuck with phones that won't work very well with the new standard, which happens to be completely incompatible with the old.
Ha Ha. You scoundrels.
I'll be laughing my ass off when europe gives up on CDMA2K and moves to a superior RF standard like 802.11 or Universal Wide Band (UWB), and Qualcomm is left with nothing.
Slashdot Mirror
Yeah, what he said. Not only that, this new tech sounds remarkably similar - it also involves flourescence at multiple layers. Of course c-3d's players would have been fully backwards compatible. Or alternately, wouldn't have even needed a laser per se, just coherent light.
However anyone that's worked with flourescent compounds knows that eventually they will bleach. I have a strong suspicion that this may have been what killed c-3d, and it's possible it may prove to be an intractable problem with this new tech as well, although they say it doesn't degrade. We shall see.
(For the record, I think c-3d's FMCs - a card-sized non-rotating version of FMDs - were their best idea. Exposed disks are too easily damaged and distinctly kid-unfriendly, and the normal sized disk is too large to carry in a pocket. CDs and DVDs got this very, very wrong.)
Or at least, used to be for? Granted audiosnobs can get annoying, but it could potentially eliminate the problem.
Of course with Clearchannel dominating radio so thoroughly, and the recurring problem of payola, there are still problems. I don't think the author of the article was paying attention to the real ultimate power that radio already has over the entire music industry. That is the more serious problem.
Actually AFAIK they have been buying rights on an individual basis, and don't have everything of Ghibli's (certainly not TV shows). However, they do have the rights to all of the recent and good films, most of which they have not yet released, and it stands to reason that they will get the rights to new ones in the future. So effectively, nobody else gets anything Ghibli without Disney's cooperation. Check http://www.nausicaa.net for more info.
Earlier versions of OS X were pretty slow relative to Classic. It's sped up considerably since then, but the reputation persists.
Partly that's because voice acting in japan
- is an actual career
- is highly competitive
- has plenty of work
- are the original voices for anime in the chosen language
The funny thing is how few of them there actually are. Watch enough of this stuff and you'll be able to recognize them immediately (Mitsushi Kotono, my favorite!) Eventually it's a bit distracting. Especially when they've got famous roles under their belt, and they're in something you wouldn't expect. I happened to see a hentai clip with the unmistakeable Hayashibara Megumi once, simultaneously putting pictures of Lina Inverse doing dirty things in my mind and confirming that yes in fact she does play all redheads in anime.
The framerate of the media, of course, is 24 for movies or 29.97 for TV/Video, but the actual number of cels per second for TV anime often half that, and sometimes less. Less frames means less work, of course, which is partly why anime tends to have more detailed scenes than american animation, which rarely sacrifices motion in the same manner. Of course, high quality movies and action sequences often do full frame rate, as well as CG animation of both types since it involves little extra work, just extra rendering. Also, frame interpolation is becoming popular, which saves a lot of effort.
If it's not a premium channel, there's a ton of stuff they won't be able to get away with. But if it's a premium channel, it'll be impossible to get subscribers beyond the existing pool of fanboys. The smartest move may be to do both. It's technically possible (on my service MTV2 and Spice share a channel).
Have a primary block that is freely available to everyone and meets regular American TV standards. Advertise it on other channels, and make every series a television event. Show your very best and broadest stuff to secure new viewers. Make it dubbed, and explain things to the uninitiated. The commercials keep this part of the channel self-sustaining. Most importantly, promote the the premium subscription and its advantages heavily.
The rest of the time, the channel is in premium mode and is available only to subscribers (scramble it, but not the sound if you can). It's a much bigger experience. Reruns of series with episodes you might have missed. Subtitled verisions. No censorship. A whole other major block of time with good series you could never show on network TV (right after the primary one). And a lot of lesser series to fill time and expand viewing choices.
It's an unusual approach, but then again anime is an unusual thing to show. I think this is the best option.
I'm not aware of any American animated dramas, except maybe Spawn. Plenty of absurdist comedy (Simpsons et al) though.
It sounds like a good solution on paper, but in practice it would suck (Having experimented with both SAP and the timing impaired CC). Hell, even DVD subs aren't that great due to the inherent limitations of the format. An unrestricted sub job can look a lot better.
Doing both dubs and subs would be practical and possibly even more profitable. They have plenty of time to kill and two distinct different groups of people to satisfy.
Actually I was referring to ADV's plans for the channel, which had only 4 demographics - Sci-Fi, Comedy Incorrect, Action, and Horror/Martial Arts (as if those two had anything to do with each other). ADV's current lack of sports series isn't really the issue - if they're going to do a channel, they'll need to acquire more series. And if they have any brains at all they should be working with their competitors (Pioneer, Bandai, CPM, etc.) to make a better channel. They'll need all the help they can get to get it off the ground, and if they do there will be more than enough gains to go around.
The kid stigma for american animation is a problem. The no-extended-plotlines taboo of american TV is also a problem.
But with regards to non-anime animation not portraying emotion, action, or other concepts as well, I must simply disagree. Such artistic matters are key to animation, no matter where it is made, and there are many different ways of going about it. Watch an old Looney Tunes sometime - despite the simplistic stories, there's actually a lot going on. And what're you smoking: american cartoons bend the laws of physics with wild abandon. Anime has no particular advantage in this regard, and in some ways it's actually at a disadvantage - for instance, american cartoons have worked around their' family-friendly constraints by making subtle jokes that differently at kid and adult levels, while anime in contrast is much more specialized with regard to their target demographic. Anime also often animates at a very low framerate that many american animators would regard as intolerable.
I can only dream of the possiblities if american animation were to move past the first two problems I mentioned. I would truly love to see the results.
Everything but Spiderman is on Cartoon Network already (it might even be on, I dunno). I suggest you check your local listings and watch them. However, you just might find your precious childhood memories ruined by the now-appreciated suckiness of some of those series. I never realized just how bad GI Joe was until I watched it recently. Same thing happened with Tron.
Wow. Guess I should update my web site. I've got plenty more to add. My mind is a raging torrent of possibilities and perils. And suggestions.
- Even the most sweaty-toothed otaku can't watch anime all day every day. Consider the case of the incredible self-destructing sci-fi channel - everyone thought it's success was a no-brainer. But fans of the sci-fi genre only watch so much sci-fi (and prefer the good stuff too). Fortunately, anime isn't really a genre, it's a medium. I humbly suggest ADV consider what makes a channel successful (particularly the regular network channels) and take a long hard look at how they're targeting different demographics, because an anime channel for existing anime fans alone won't get far.
- Speaking of which, ADV is completely missing a key genre of anime here, and it ought to be their most important for picking up new viewers -Sports. It's good for many subtle reasons I don't want to go into here - suffice to say that Hajime no Ippo and Initial D, properly handled, could get solid ratings.
- Certain Japanese moral standards and levels of censorship are a bit more... open than those in America. Nudity in particular is a big issue even for TV, and certain excellent shows (like Berserk) are controversial and violent. How does ADV intend to handle it? Dumb it down for America, make it a premium channel, or just push the envelope?
- ADV is one of the biggest names in american anime distribution, but there are several others with many good series. Getting them on board would be essential. Bandai in particular might be difficult since they have strong ties to Cartoon Network.
- One of the biggest obstacles to anime on TV is the high cost of licensing the TV rights from Japan. Considering just how much anime we're talking about, that could be quite a lot of cash. Perhaps the downward spiral of the Japanese economy will help bring the terms down to a sustainable level. Still, promising a percentage of the profits rather than blanket licensing seems like the only way this could happen.
- They're going to have to compete with other channels snapping up some of the better series, particularly if they are popular. Disney already has the rights all things Ghibli.
- Since so many dubs are so poor, and since they'll be showing so much anime (and no doubt rerunning a LOT of it), is there an actual possibility we could get subbed anime on TV?
- I love animation, period. Any chance that this channel would show any of the (lamentably small) body of less kid-oriented animation from america and around the world? Likewise, I hope that this channel could stimulate the production of more mature animated titles in america.
- Like I said before, just anime might be hard. Why not branch out into other neglected forms of entertainment, particularly those which would appeal to the core demographic? Kung-fu, wierd film, and now (unfortunately) Sci-fi. Say, doesn't ADV do Farscape on video?
Well, that's a start... Hey ADV - call me.
So what we have here is a combination game system/mobile phone, which will stay constantly connected to the network and constantly within reach of the player, and which is now having games for it developed by the makers of one of the prime RPG consoles... ...Phantasy Star Mobile, anyone?
I'm sure it seems like this is a great thing, having prevented a satellite TV monopoly, but look again: unlike cable, which is limited only by the expense of laying and lighting cable, satellite has severe constraints on expansion of their service. It's really expensive (and risky) to launch a satellite, there are limited orbits for them to use, and limited frequencies for them to use. A merger would have meant that the two companies could have pooled their resources and offered local channels throughout the country. Instead there's a huge duplication of effort, neither of which is adequate. So instead of less populous areas being subject to a monopoly (whose prices could have been controlled by other means, namely a single nationwide pricing scheme), they're subject to NO decent service. Cable, meanwhile, enjoys an effective monopoly in all those areas, at whatever price it feels like, assuming it feels like serving them at all.
(BTW: another brain-dead, protectionist aspect of the legalities surrounding satellite TV - unless you're in a particular local broadcast market, you're not allowed to receive channels in it - even if the equivalent channel doesn't exist in your area, or no local service is available for your area! I.E. I can't get UPN nor WB via satellite, despite the fact that they are actually broadcasting it off the same bird I would receive from. )
...and realized I should have read it a bit more closely in the first place. As you can see, the programming changes are for the most part close to what I suggested. Late night will be consistently adult, which is good. (BTW: I like the non-anime AS [except the Oblongs], and Futurama is a good buy). I'm surpised they're removing the Midnight Run for IY/CB, but I suspect they'll just move it to an earlier time slot. Well, it beats the Looney Toons / Tom and Jerry dead zone!)
/.ed) IY and CB will now be on every night. Which is bad for CB because of the rerun effect but OK for IY which is long, at ~ep89 in Japan. There's no reason they couldn't slip more new anime in there later. I just wish they had more variety (different day = different show, which does not seem to be the case).
More importantly... This doesn't necessarily mean the anime is gone! OS and MS Gundam was originally Toonami, and Yuu Yuu Hakushou was originally intended for it. Perhaps they're just moving back. And the high-ratin' moneymakin' Toonami ain't going nowhere. If I'm not mistaken (and I can't tell if I am since the article is
In summary, there's no solid info that adult anime is doomed on Cartoon Network, and plenty of reason to be optimistic about the expansion of Adult Swim itself.
1) Adult Swim Action couldn't possibly have had worse promotion. Note: squeezing as many action clips as possible into 30 seconds does not a good commercial make. That synth-voice sucked. And a little cross-network advertising that actually targeted the right people would have been nice (Sci-fi good, CNN bad, stoopid).
2) The shows they picked could have been better. Specifically, they could have been for adults, and furthermore shouldn't have been edited down to a pre-teen level. Things might have gone rather differently if they had Hellsing or Excel Saga or Hajime no Ippo headlining (provided the dubs don't suck - I don't know).
3) The Inu Yasha dub sucks terribly, for a headlining show. Pilot Candidate sucks, period - I was changing the channel with extreme prejudice when that came on. MS Gundam is interesting from a historical standpoint, but not much else. OS and Tenchi had already been shown way too much already.
4) I wonder how many times they'll re-run Cowboy Bebop before they realize that adults, unlike kids, tend not to watch shows ad infinitum. This is the problem with ALL CN shows, and especially with AS. At the very least, they could run a show all the way through (anime series are almost all ~13 or ~26 episodes long) in a prime time slot once, then switch to a new series, and eventually rerunning it in a less watched time slot for the rest. Of course they best way would be to run it once in a blue moon and make it an event, and show LOTS of series.
5) Anime != Action. Tenchi is not action (nor is Sailor Moon over in Toonami). Anime covers a broad spectrum of genres and is generally marketed to specific target demographics. Grouping shows by genres is bad - it makes people compare. Grouping shows by demographic is good - it ensures people keep watching. No demographic wants to watch for more than 2 hrs, and most will watch for only 1.
6) I can barely stay up 'til one, even on Saturday, and am rarely in the mood to watch 3 hrs of programming at a time. Also, Saturday night happens to be when a very large chunk of the AS demographic has better things to do, like appeasing the girlfriend or going to a LAN party. It's an awful time slot. (For the record, I think a better pattern would be for 1hr per night Su-Th, with different shows targeting different demographics each night, like prime time on the networks but shorter. I.E. adults can just tune in at a certain time and something new for them will be on. Unfortunately late night is hard to program through, with the Midnight Run conflicting, The Daily Show competing, and Bed calling.)
7) Nothing ventured, nothing gained. ASA had little problem attracting the hardcore geek contingent. It might've survived if they tried attracting other people too.
IMHO, it would have been much nerdier to heckle him in the style of Canadian-German coproduction Lexx, the sci-fi channel's wierdest series. From the talking chess pieces of 4.18:
"We are only chess pieces in a continuum, and can only think inside the box."
"Yes, let us savour your mistake."
"We said resign! Not commit suicide!!"
You gotta watch it to understand. It's truly bizzare.
Exactly. It's all about getting out with people. Who goes to movies alone? Nobody. It's no fun. Ever tried to watch a comedy in an empty theater? It's a profoundly unfunny experience, even if it's a good one. Same goes for most other genres, because the emotional stimulation movies provide is far more effective in a group for reasons anyone with a rudimentary understanding of group psychology should get. Frankly, most movies these days are total crap that's barely bearable WITH the audience (I'm lookin' at you, Lucas).
No home theater has ever (and probably never will) offer this human dimension. Frankly "home theater" is a complete misnomer. It helps if your family or friends are there, but even so it'll be a much more subdued experience. And when you're plunking down $$$$ for your massive set and watching lots of TV, how much time and money will have to spend on those?
P.S. Alamo Drafthouse, damn straight. Wish I had one in my town.
Cool, and by cool, I mean TOTALLY SWEET!
Jesus H. Christ, can't hollywood write any original screenplays anymore? Bad enough they ruin the classics, now they're trying to remake animated ones (and TV series too) as live action movies. Name ONE movie that worked for. JUST ONE. Hey, how about Jim Carey's The Grinch? No, wait, that sucked enough for two films, it wasn't even bad enough for camp. And now they want to remake what was the most sophisticated animated film EVER when it was made? Hey, while you're at it why don't they remake a popular, not-particularly-great, but suitable-only-for-animation TV series like Dragon Ball Z as a live action movie too? Oh wait, they're already doing that.
Somewhere in Hollywood, an unscrupulous American producer needs killing, and somewhere in Tokyo a soulless Japanese producer ought to be committing seppuku. I can't imagine that Katsuhiro Otomo would approve of this.
but don't brag about it until/unless it helps you crack the case.
Personally, I think Minerva deserves more than some iceball way out yonder. Perhaps we'll find something good enough for her someday.
For the record, since Apollo is so closely associated with the sun it wouldn't seem right to name it after him, despite his prominence in the Pantheon.
If it's a planet, give it a proper name from the list of the major Roman gods. When they named Pluto they suggested the following (from Appolonius.net). I vote for Baccus, god of wine and mysteries, or secondly Cronus.:
The naming of Pluto is a story by itself. Early suggestions of the name of the new planet were: Atlas, Zymal, Artemis, Perseus, Vulcan, Tantalus, Idana, Cronus. The New York Times suggested Minerva, reporters suggested Osiris, Bacchus, Apollo, Erebus. Lowell's widow suggested Zeus, but later changed her mind to Constance. Many people suggested the planet be named Lowell. The staff of the Flagstaff observatory, where Pluto was discovered, suggested Cronus, Minerva, and Pluto. A few months later the planet was officially named Pluto. The name Pluto was originally suggested by Venetia Burney, an 11-year-old schoolgirl in Oxford, England.
According to the article, qualcomm licensed the basic patents for CDMA to the european companies, but never gave up the technology it takes to get it to work properly, thus prepping themselves to dominate the market. So europeans are stuck with phones that won't work very well with the new standard, which happens to be completely incompatible with the old.
Ha Ha. You scoundrels.
I'll be laughing my ass off when europe gives up on CDMA2K and moves to a superior RF standard like 802.11 or Universal Wide Band (UWB), and Qualcomm is left with nothing.