Exploding Kittens on Netflix is a hoot, although not for those who prefer their religion unpilloried…
It seems that God is felt by a divine council to need to be rehabilitated, and so He is sent to Earth in the form of a talking cat, devoid of his most useful but not all powers. He is to help a human family who prayed for his assistance, all the while contending against a similar demonic cat sent to thwart him… 🙀
This is pretty wild stuff that plays like Sunday School on heavy psychoactive medication. God-Cat has not long arrived on Earth before He is corralled by an animal control officer, and sedated. He escapes confinement, and goes on as a strange mixture of deity, human, and feline, railing against his cat incarnation while gradually embracing it. He learns the ways of man, and has frequent epic but hilarious battles against the opposing Devil-Cat.
You might say that God becomes a better fur-son because of all this, but you’ll just have to watch Exploding Kittens to learn of all the enabling details… Meow! 😸
(Foxsylvania proudly endorses Harris-Walz in 2024!)
It’s well-known that Disney studios have shelved Song of the South, a 1946 production that depicted such racially-insensitive stereotypes as happy, servile black slaves. Song of the South has never been seen on home video, DVR, or released to streaming, and has remained in the Disney vaults since 1986 where it will likely remain forever. I guess that means we won’t be seeing Br’er Fox anytime soon, although frankly he hardly represented the best of my kind…
Disney has also eliminated the “crow chorus” from the 2019 live-action remake of “Dumbo,” as the crows have been called racist caricatures for their minstrel show-like behavior. The leader of the crow clique was even originally named Jim Crow, a reference to a blackface character who supplied the name for the Jim Crow laws…
Fantasia was edited in the 1960’s to remove Sunflower, a dark-skinned centaur who acted as a ladies’ maid to several other white centaurs! Her stereotypic look was enough to raise concern, and the character was fully removed in 1969 from the film’s re-release…
The Siamese Cat Song was completely revised from the new version of Lady and the Tramp, as the original Siamese cats were considered Asian stereotypes, despite being cool cats and smooth operators…
“Liver Lips McGrowl” from Disneyland was removed from the Country Bear Jamboree at Disney World due to fears that the inebriated character was offensive to alcoholics, and transformed into the character of Romeo McGrowl…
Even the iconic characterof Tinker Bell from Peter Pan has been considered as a negative role model for her vanity and jealous possessiveness of Peter Pan when Wendy rolls around. While Tink is under some scrutiny, she appears safe in Pixie Hollow, at least for now…
Cultural standards change public perceptions over time, and those characters cited represent only a few examples. When it comes to extreme political correctness, however. I often find that I just don’t give a “Zip-a-Dee-Doo–Dah”…
I didn’t like the version of Riddler or Batman that we saw in the movie The Batman, but I did like the version of Catwoman and The Penguin that we saw. We saw a bit of “Oz Cobb”(Oswald Cobblepot) in The Batman, enough to make me want to see more. Fortunately, Colin Farrell is back as The Penguin, and he makes the role both gritty and believable…
(Don’t hate him because he’s beautiful!)
Sure, Danny DeVito and Burgess Meredith gave us memorable versions of The Penguin that were fun, but so cartoonish that they couldn’t possibly exist in reality. Colin Farrell’s Penguin is no outrageous freak show with a pointed beak-like nose and flipper fingers, but rather a master gangster-like figure, perhaps what Tony Soprano could have been if he were far nastier and battle-scarred. Colin Farrell is a good-lookin’ actor who plays Penguin under heavy latex modifications that gives him a larger (but not beak-like) nose, extra pounds, and facial scarring. His hairline is receding and slicked back, and he walks with a pronounced side-to-side limp, perhaps a nod to the character’s waddle in previous incarnations. We see his bare foot in one scene, and it’s hideously deformed. This Penguin (who doesn’t like to be called that) knows his way around a knife and a machine gun, and wouldn’t be caught dead tooling around in a giant rubber ducky like Danny DeVitoin the role…
Robin Lord Taylor got the role of the young Penguin much better and more realistic in the series Gotham, in my opinion. This guy was intelligent, adaptable, and ruthless…
So I’m glad to see this re-imagining of Penguin, and see the character given proper respect. No, he’s not my favorite Bat-villain, coming in my hierarchy after The Riddler and Joker. The limited HBO/HBO Max series takes up right after Riddler has flooded parts of Gotham in The Batman flick, and Oz Cobb is looking to fill in the gap in the power vacuum following the death of his bosswith a mixture of shrewdness and brutality. No, you won’t see Batman in this, but he is out there, and no one knows just where. This is a crime drama told from the point of view of The Penguin himself…
Only the first episode of the series has aired as of this posting, and there are nods to the character’s comic roots in his gait and his use of an umbrella in the episode. Involved in the drug trade, this is Penguin as a tough, ruthless crime boss looking to climb the ladder, and this bird just might fly… 🐧
With Paul Reubens sadly deceased, there remains one chance to see his Pee-Wee Herman character in a lesser-known movie that I wasn’t aware existed until recently. Pee-Wee’s Big Holiday (2016), while not in my opinion his best movie, gives the actor-comedian and his defining character a fitting send-off…
Itseems that Pee-Wee, the man-boy in his trademark too-small suit, has settled nicely in the town of Fairville, a wholesome place where he is known and loved by all, and works as a cook in a local diner where his masterfully-prepared meals are the delight of all. When not working, Pee-Wee may be seen motoring about in his sporty miniature convertible.
While Pee-Wee professes that he “doesn’t want to go anywhere, and doesn’t want to try anything new,” this changes when Joe Manganiello motorcycles into Pee-Wee’s town, craves a milkshake in the diner, and bonds with Pee-Wee over their mutual love of root beer barrels. Joe invites Pee-Wee to his upcoming birthday party in the Big Apple, and the film then essentially becomes a road trip movie as Reubens makes his way to NYC, encountering misadventures along the way.
These occurrences include captivity by a trio of female bank robbers who steal his car, an overnight with a farmer who curiously intends to marry one of his nine daughters off to Pee-Wee, and a memorable sojourn with an Amish community! Arriving in New York City, Pee-Wee manages to fall into a well in Central Park, necessitating his rescue. While trapped, Pee-Wee has some apparently delusional encounters with Abraham Lincoln and Queen Elizabeth…
While Pee-Wee and Joe seem to be an extremely unlikely duo, their attraction is supposedly based on shared interests and is a friendship, nothing else. This is a children’s movie, after all, or at least a child-friendly one. The Pee-Wee character is supposedly a boy in latency, although he did seem to show interest in the opposite sex in Big Top Pee-Wee. Anyways, Pee-Wee’s Big Vacation may be seen on Netflix, and is recommended viewing for fans of the character, admittedly an acquired taste for somethat others never acquire…
RIP, Paul Reubens. His Pee-Wee character always reminded me of a demented composite of all the kiddie show hosts that I grew up watching…
The buffalo in the Buffalo Wild Wings commercials appears to be a party animal, and as he shows in the Box Out ad, is a bit of the “bull in the china shop” beast as well, not that a pub equates to a china shop! The buffalo spokes-animal still manages to trash stuff pretty impressively, and that’s without being mad!
I’ve always kinda admired the Wild Wings buffalo as a rather well-rendered and impressive chimera, and he’s certainly articulate and expressive to the point of being brash or domineering. I doubt that his wings would be adequate, however, to enable flight, and support his massive bulk. They’re nice wings, nonetheless...
The buffalo, whose name is Hank, is voiced by Beck Bennett. Crafted for the March Madness event, the commercial is certainly mad and wild. Hank, who thinks that he knows a bit about playing defense, goes into a demonstration by unintentionally knocking people about, even breaking out the window, complete with a bodily ejection and flying glass. One would certainly want to be on this bison’s team, as his opponents might not survive him!
I’ve never posted about a buffalo before, but Hank does cut an impressive and imposing furry figure in this ad; you’d just want to think twice about inviting him to your apartment, however! Unanswered are the questions of whether Hank will be held liable for damages…
And BTW, this fox was born in Buffalo, New York!
And by the way, I just happen to have been born in Buffalo, New York! My university mascot was a bison!
Why do I blog? Good writing prompt, BTW, and I rarely respond to these things. – – I blog because it’s so muchcheaper than therapy! Thinking about it, however, I blog because it affords me a sense of community, of knowing that somewhere out there in internet-land there are a few people who are interested in the same things that I am, and perhaps share elements of my weirdness. This can make it a bit easier to take the daily masquerade that we all engage in, of preparing a face to meet the faces that we meet…
What I am is a strange mixture of frustrated English teacher, biologist, paranormal fancier, and red fox furry. I was afurry back in the pre-internet days before we even had a word for it, and those of us who were of that persuasion just kind of blundered around unnaturally attached to cartoons, and identifying with the animal characters depicted. I played a chicken in my 2nd grade class play and Don Quixote’s horse Rocinante in a college adaptation of Man of La Mancha, and couldn’t have been happier. Playing a horse was much better than being a chicken, however, as I got to wear a large paper mache head and pulled a draped sawhorse frame behind me to simulate a horse’s body. The rear sawhorse legs were hinged so I could sit down on stage…
I guessthat experience initially led me to identify as a horse in the fandom, and I functioned acceptably that way for a while, but I could only take the identification so far. So I tried being a wolf for a whole, but wasn’t really a pack animal nor could I handle the frequently expected aggressiveness. Many of us in the fandom need to experiment and essentially try on different identities before we find the right one, and that’s fine! It’s kinda like deciding on a career field, but far deeper psychologically…
Now the furry fandom is full of vixens, but I reasoned that there must be male foxes as well to continue the species. So I accepted my identity as a male fox, and the role has fit me like a glove ever since! Sometimes, it would appear, we must wander in the desert for some time before we can finally find where we are going…
So blogging can reinforce your sense of personal identity, tie you in with a community of like-minded spirits, and it can even be a kick, to boot (pun intended). It’s also humbling to draw readers from different locations around the world. So thank you, WordPress, for giving each of us our own crazy personal niches! It may not be a second Eden, but it still beats Berwyn, right?
Back to business in my next post. But right now, it’s time for a group hug or skritch in appreciation for my readers who put up with me!
I’ve already seen fall and Halloween stuff in the stores for several weeks, and with August nearly over, who can blame me for anticipating a time yet two months away? It’s not like I’ll be accused of “Seasonal Spread,” which Xmas gets away with increasingly every year. Besides, what other holiday is near…and I doubt that American “Labor Day” will be offended. Christmas steps all over Halloween annually too, so we Halloween spirits might as well get our licks in early! 🎃
We Halloween heads are getting a special blessing this year with the arrival of Beetlejuice 2 (also referred to as Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in some references) opening n theaters on September 6th! I can’t think of any movie whose sequel I’ve anticipated for as many years as Beetlejuice (1988), with Michael Keaton thankfully returning in the titular role.- – This is truly the Ghost With The Most!
Setover three decades since the time of the original, Lydia, played by Winona Ryder, is grown-up and has a daughter, Astrid, played by Jenna Ortega. The actress had memorably played Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series, Wednesday. As the protagonist, Astrid discovers the model of the town in the family homestead that is the portal to the Afterlife, triggering Beetlejuice. Willem Defoe plays a new character (Wolf Jackson), a jaded movie star in life who is now a deceased police detective! We’ll be seeing a lot more of the afterlife and its denizens in the sequel, including Bob, the guy with the shrunken head we last saw sitting in the waiting room with Beetlejuice.
The original film used practical special effects rather than CGI, which gave the movie its distinctive and striking award-winning design. Michael Keaton to his credit insisted that practical or handmade special effects likewise be used in the sequel to preserve the flavor and continuity of the series.
So if you enjoy horror comedy, you may want to see the “Juice turned loose” in Beetlejuice 2. I feel like I’ve been waiting my whole life for it!It gives a whole new meaning to the expression, “spill your guts!”
There’s a strange live-action/animated anthology TV series hosted by “Bill” (Bill Leff ) , MeTV’s “cartoon curator,” along with his puppet friend, Toony the Tuna. One does not often see a fish co-hosting a TV show, much less a talking fish apparently comfortable out of water, but Toony manages. Toony even sports wardrobe changes!
Each show contains four to six animated shorts taken from classic cartoon shows, including Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies, Tom and Jerry, Betty Boop, Popeye, Woody Woodpecker, and a number pf others. The shows featured mostly aired from the 1950’s through the 1990’s. In between cartoons, Bill and Toony banter about what the cartoons illustrate, as well as issues around the studio. The show can be mildly educational at times…
While the MeTV show airs early weekdays in many areas for just an hour, a more comprehensive 24-hour a day version called MeTV Toons began in late June, and is available through subscription, or if you’re fortunate enough may be available through your cable package in your local area. Several complete episodes are available for free through YouTube. At any rate, it’s nice to see a series dedicated to the airing of classic ‘toons, and we’ll just hope that Toony doesn’t wind up in a casserole or someone’s sandwich…
I find the “Feed The Pig” PSA commercial creepy, surreal, and oddly disquieting in that it features a human-sized pig, the walking and riding embodiment of a piggy bank, going about with a gaping slot in his head! The pig’s eyes are disturbingly human, while his face is frozen, and plastic-looking.
There is something terribly wrong here! With the gash in his head,the commercial makes me wonder who did this to the pig?! Is there some kind of Dr. Mengele or Dr. Moreau who goes about performing brain surgery on porcine members of the furry fandom, or what? What is the purpose of this mutilation? This pig walks, but is he brain-damaged? For some insane reason, this pig appears happy, and is just going about his business…does the pig even know what’s been done to him, or is he too neurologically-damaged?!
In the commercial, a young man shopping receives a text message that his bank balance is low, spots the pig walking along, and then hastily pursues him through a variety of scenes, the pig at one point riding a motor scooter, riding on an escalator, and in another appearing on a subway. The chase continues through the food prep area of a fine dining facility, and through the restaurant itself. The young man is in hot and frantic pursuit, dodging traffic, and even vaulting over a yoga class in a park to the sound effect of the Bionic Man, Steve Austin, jumping…
Eventually, the guy catches up with the pig outside a residence, tackles him, and stuffs a currency bill into the slot on his head! They are surprisingly polite to one another. “Same time next week?,” asks the dude of the the pig. “Well of course!,” the pig obligingly replies…
Created by the American Institute of CPAs and the Advertising Council in in the U.S., the Feed The Pig series of commercials is designed to get young people saving. I get it…but it’s also nightmare fuel! (*shudders*)
I’ve always loved SyFy horror, and the Netflix series Parasyte: The Grey is of that tradition. We’ve seen bits and pieces of like materials before, in such films as Invasion of the Body Snatchers and even Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. You can watch the spiny little pods descend, and their worm-like spawn wiggle their way into people‘s ears, causing their brains to be consumed, and the hosts to become imitations of the people they once were…but with the capability of emanating deadly tentacles from their heads!
There’s something about tentacles that are Lovecraftian, alien, and deeply disturbing, especially when they’re topping off a human body! These tentacles are powerful, capable of extending themselves to great lengths, moving heavy objects, and cutting through or slicing through flesh. It‘s 100% nightmare fuel…
But one young woman assaulted by a psychotic slasher has her assailant terminated by an alien, and is unable to beassimilated because the alien expends too much of its time and energy healing her wounds, leaving her brain and humanity intact while conferring alien powers, and kind of co-habiting with the alien in her body. She uses these otherworldly capabilities to work with the humans (Korean) to fight against the aliens, and some glorious tentacled fights ensue…
The special effects are good, and oddly compelling...and who doesn’t enjoy a good tentacled fight, anyways? 🦊
FOXSYLVANIA 
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