Blurred Productions

Introduction:

June 1st marks the beginning of the 3rd season of The Venture Brothers. Is two seasons too few to have a “best of” countdown? Most likely. But we’ve got to anticipate somehow, and the people love their lists, particularly complaining about all my glaring omissions. Because of the dearth of episodes, this will only be a top 6. I could easily have done a top 10, but at that point I’d be dangerously close to going through every episode and talking about why it’s great. (Though I could do that easily.) I’ll split up the episodes into pairs, covering two a week until the premiere.

For the oblivious, The Venture Brothers is a character-driven show that, on the simplest level, is a parody of the old Johnny Quest cartoons. Thaddeus “Rusty” Venture was a Johnny-Quest-type is his own day, now middle-aged and living in his super-scientist father’s shadow along with his hyper-violent bodyguard Brock Samson and two children, Dean and Hank. The parody only works as a set-up though, and the well-written and well-defined cast of dozens quickly takes on a life of its own.

So if you’ve never seen the show, here’s a few suggestions of places to start. If you have seen the show, now’s the time to start disagreeing with me. Here’s number 6:

#6. Ice Station Impossible!

Dr. Venture goes to work at an arctic base with his old college instructor, Prof. Impossible (voiced by Stephen Colbert). Meanwhile, Hank, Dean, and Brock are treated to Race Bannon’s unglamorous death and Hank becomes injected with an explosive serum.
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Somehow I manage to get 2 weeks in a row without a single Smith Michael’s post to mar my perfection! And we’re super on time this week. Today our intrepid band of reviewers looks at the 15 minute surrealist film “Un Chien Andelou” or “An Andalusian Dog”. Salvador Dali and Luis Bunuel team up for this basic long term dream sequence. Among other things, it’s considered a groundbreaking film.

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Cannibal Holocaust (1985) is up today, directed by Ruggero Deodato and supposedly banned at one time or another in 50 countries. At this point in the column I wonder if I even need to mention rape, murder, or nudity, or if I should just encourage everyone to take it as a given. (more…)

Just to be helpful and one-up Psycholarry I’ve created a permanent page on the sidebar where you can navigate the various entries in his (hopefully) long running Crossing the Line feature.

You’re welcome.

And lo it was decided that the Crossing the Line column should have a facebook group. And it was so.

Crossing the Line!

After some good Newsarama bashing, here’s a preview page from Final Crisis via Newsarama:

UPDATE: (Via Blog@Newsarama) EW has the first 5 pages.

UPDATE II: For the hell of it, he’s a page from the Batman: RIP preview on Newsarama:

UPDATE III: Fixed…

(Via Kalinara, via 4thletter!)

Tell me: is this racist?:

The above was deleted from a Newarama interview shortly after it was published.

Ah, Newsarama. A real class act. As I’ve discussed this sort of shit from Newsarama before. Do they have, I don’t know, hiring standards?

Remember folks, this is the state of comics journalism.

Last night was a good night to be an Obama supporter. After a couple of disappointing Tuesday nights and that whole Wright mess, it was nice to have a good night. It seems now that, barring disaster, Obama has a lock on the nomination.

The question is now is where do we go from here? How do will get all of the Democratic Party to rally around our nominee?

The first thing is not to alienate Clinton supporters any further. You’re not going to hear from me that Clinton should drop out or that her supporters are fools. (Bacially there will be no sexist “Clinton should take her boobs and go home” arguments from me) Sen. Clinton clearly appeals to a large segment of the Party and their voices should be heard. The process should continue until its done in late May and early June. But when the votes are counted it seems clear at this point that Obama will have a clear lead in the delegate count and the popular vote. At that point I think it will be clear that Clinton has only one option: to drop out and endorse Obama.

After that we Obama supporters should embrace Clinton supporters with open arms. Because none of us want a McCain presidency.

As Obama put it last night:

This has been one of the longest, most closely fought contests in history. And that’s partly because we have such a formidable opponent in Sen. Hillary Clinton. Tonight, many of the pundits have suggested that this party is inalterably divided — that Senator Clinton’s supporters will not support me, and that my supporters will not support her.

Well I’m here tonight to tell you that I don’t believe it. Yes, there have been bruised feelings on both sides. Yes, each side desperately wants their candidate to win. But ultimately, this race is not about Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama or John McCain. This election is about you — the American people — and whether we will have a president and a party that can lead us toward a brighter future.

This primary season may not be over, but when it is, we will have to remember who we are as Democrats — that we are the party of Jefferson and Jackson; of Roosevelt and Kennedy; and that we are at our best when we lead with principle; when we lead with conviction; when we summon an entire nation around a common purpose — a higher purpose. This fall, we intend to march forward as one Democratic Party, united by a common vision for this country. Because we all agree that at this defining moment in history — a moment when we’re facing two wars, an economy in turmoil, a planet in peril — we can’t afford to give John McCain the chance to serve out George Bush’s third term. We need change in America.

Related to this, Hilary and Chelsea Clinton were in my town today. I had an exam and thus was only able to check the tail end of the speech. From what people in the crowd told me the speech was very short, 15-25 minutes, and started late. There were a remarkable amount of Obama supporters at the rally, at least a third of the total attendance (and some of our local Ron Paul crazys… hi Doug!). And a lot of students who weren’t at the rally were wearing Obama stuff.

his isn’t a surprise, since Shepherdstown is Obama country. And odd choice for her first rally post-last night’s setbacks.

The part of the rally I caught seemed to lack energy and just kind of broke up without much fanfare. It was the most low excitement political rally I’d ever been too, this side of a county fair. Honestly, I’m really surprised they didn’t pick a place more friend to her, somewhere in the central or southern part of the state.

But I guess Shepherdstown is just a hop-skip-and-a-jump from DC.

UPDATE: Shepherdstown mentioned on CNN Political ticker.

Today is long-time Blurred Productions editor/contributor Psycholarry’s birthday. He turns 23 today.

Happy birthday, old friend. I wish you many more.

In case you hadn’t heard there’s a primary (or two) today.

And if you need some perspective about this election: remember my fellow Democrats, we all think this guy’s a jackass. That’s what everyone needs to keep in mind through out tonight…