Tag: Thoughts and Musings

My Life

Why did cartoons go downhill after the 80’s?

Post author By Jayvee Fernandez
Post date August 27, 2007
15 Comments on Why did cartoons go downhill after the 80’s?

In the 80’s, the animation industry was at a boom.
Western artists and storytellers collaborated with influences from Japan
To create the most memorable stories in western animation.
The recurring themes were
The exploration of the unknown frontier,
The synergy between man and machine,
And the study of the Institution.
This was the golden age of cartoons.

As most of the readers of this blog are children of the 80’s, I’d like to present an observation about how cartoons in the late 90’s till the present have degraded into a combination of the following formula:

1. slapstick humor
2. toilet humor
3. pop culture references to the 80’s (we’ve grown up, so we’re still the target market)

Here are my thoughts on why this has happened:

The dawn of CG in the mid 90’s put a refocus of the market to special effects rather than content. The toy industry, which kept the cartoons alive, dwindled as video games replaced die cast metal and plastic paraphernalia as the medium for entertainment. Great story still exists today, mostly in the form of Japanese animation that took over where Western cartoons died (Giant Robo, Ranma 1/2, Captain Harlock, Evangelion, and the like).

Let me take you on a trip back with the following intro links. I suggest you watch them in succession for maximum effect.

Spiral Zone
M.A.S.K.
Tiger Sharks (showed on Mondays as part of Comic Strip)
C.O.P.S.
Thundercats
Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors
Centurions
Inhumanoids
Mighty Orbots (only ran for one season)
Gobots
Transformers
Visionaries
Sky Commanders
Bravestarr
Silverhawks
Bravestarr
Bionic Six
Galaxy Rangers (this show had my ultimate favorite theme song)

So, can you name more? Which were your favorite 80’s cartoons? This fun 80’s flashback post is an example of how content will always be king. No amount of technology can compete with well-weaved stories. Either I have a point, or I’m just getting old. 🙂

P.S. Of course there were some really campy but otherwise entertaining shows like Captain N: Game Master (Nintendo’s marketing campaign) and … *snicker* Chuck Norris and the Karate Commandos. As for the latter, can you count the number of times the narrator says Chuck Norris’ name?

Tags Ideas, Thoughts and Musings

Mostly Everything

Is Wowowee’s Wilyonaryo really rigged?

Post author By Jayvee Fernandez
Post date August 26, 2007
3 Comments on Is Wowowee’s Wilyonaryo really rigged?

Videos have been circulating around the Internet on the live rigging mistake from the Wilyonaryo segment of Wowowee. You can view the longer version of the video and voice out your comments.

Honest mistake? Production error? Or really a rig?

Discuss.

Tags Media, Philippines, Thoughts and Musings

Mostly Everything

Remember, remember the 5th of September

Post author By Jayvee Fernandez
Post date August 25, 2007
3 Comments on Remember, remember the 5th of September

iPod stocks have not been replenished in two weeks. Rumors point to a big Apple announcement on the 5th of September. All signs point to the new generation of iPods that would seem to carry 16GB of NAND flash memory running on a heavily rewritten OS X platform. Truth be told, the new iPods that allegedly would be launched on the 5th are, to my best guess, what the Asian iPhone owners already have – an iPhone sans the phone capabilities.

Here are the possible iterations of the form the new iPod will take:

The rumor of the iPhone nano will be confirmed? This is highly unlikely, as the iPhone has not even been officially released in Asia. A move like this would definitely undercut sales of the current iPhone that’s not even available in the Eastern part of the globe.

The widescreen iPod nano? With iLife ’08 and the iPhone demonstrating the vast implementation of Coverflow, what is to stop the iPod from implementing this? The new iPod will run on a heavily rewritten Mac OS X and will feature video playback and 16GB of NAND flash memory.

Resources:

3G iPod nano
Apple to hold event on September 5th
Current iPod supply dwindles

Do yourself a favor — if you’re itching to buy an iPod in the next 11 days, don’t. You will be extremely disappointed.

Tags Thoughts and Musings

Mostly Everything

An Open Apology to Janette Toral and Moving On

Post author By Jayvee Fernandez
Post date August 17, 2007

I learned from a seminar I attended a long time ago that if parents fight in front of their kids, they should also make up in front of them. In this light, since I opened a can of worms in public, I’ll throw the can away in public too. I would like to apologize for the first post I made about Janette (I did not mention her name at the time). For the record, Janette and I had a short exchange of SMS messages. I apologized for the harshness of the accusation, but I told her that I wanted to talk because of several unanswered questions that I had. While all this was happening, my post didn’t just steer a public outburst – both pro and against the entry – it also spurred emails and GTalk chats from members of tech communities as well. What these emails contain – I would rather discuss with Janette alone.

Janette is out on vacation now, which is why we have not met. As far as we are both concerned, the issue is over and it is time to move on. Awkward, but honest.

I also apologize to the people who felt that I was being jealous of Janette’s efforts. I can see why they feel this way, because I have also spoken in public about new media because that is the industry I belong in – 4 years and counting with print, and 2 1/2 years with new media. I don’t feel jealous. I feel more like I’ve hurt a friend which is true, as Janette and I have spent time together because of blogging events. She has even given me advice on my love life 😛

I’m sorry, Janette. Thank you for accepting my apology and see you soon.