Lots of classics made in the 1980s…  The Gundam sequels, the original Macross and its feature-length adaptation, Dirty Pair, Votoms, etc. 

Even lesser shows like Beast King Go-Lion which became Voltron internationally sprung up at this time.  Likewise with the other two shows incorporated with Macross into Robotech.

I own or have seen bits and pieces of all those shows.  The 1980s really was the Golden Age for anime and in particular animated sci-fi in Japan.

I don’t think it’s a coincidence that the longest-running series originated from that era.  The strongest ideas and most appealing characters have generally come from this period.

Still, I wish DC could do more than just projects about Superman and Batman but the fanbase and general public are ignorant about the other characters.

The OVA’s about Wonder Woman and GL haven’t sold well although everything after Superman: Doomsday has generally been much better.  (Doomsday is still the top seller to date as far as I know…  Can’t gauge the public’s tastes sometimes!)  GL: Emerald Knights was an excellent OVA but people are stuck on the idea of one overall story as opposed to a linked anthology series; they weren’t crazy about Batman: Gotham Knights, either.

I still think the classic parallel Earths story, “The Flash of Two Worlds,” would be a great story within a story for a REAL JLA/JSA crossover.  I’m talking about an adaptation based on the original comic, not Morrison’s rewrite.  Do that story and tie it into a crossover that involves the Injustice Society/Legion of Doom/League of Super-Villains, etc.  I think a re-appearance of the Crime Syndicate wouldn’t be merited; it’s had its own OVA anyhow.

The parallel Earths concept is better than anything DC’s done with a unified Earth since 1985 even though I think the 52-Earths is fairly lame now…

Dark Knight’s coming later this year…  I don’t know  how good the Superman OVA following JL: Doom will be, though.  Other than All-Star Superman, Kingdom Come, and Justice League: The Nail, I haven’t generally liked the Superman stories done since the early 1990s.

Most of the writers today just don’t get Superman starting from the top editor down at DC…

Stossel is supposedly a libertarian, too, but gets regular exposure over the weekend late Sunday night on regular Fox News.  The Judge I felt was always better at getting points across.  Stossel is sincere but doesn’t quite encapsulate points as well at times.  Stossel was ill-served by ABC where he was a loyal employee for many years.  I hope Fox doesn’t do an ABC act and abandon Napolitano.  He’s a legal voice that more people need to hear.  He has an authority about him that most legal pundits don’t have.

Unfortunately, the news channels tend to eat people up and forget about them.  There have been a number of former Fox anchors that have been let go after contracts were up or got into trouble with management for being a bit too independent.  The control is still nowhere near as bad as the alphabet soup channels or CNN.  At least that’s what the Fox newspeople say.

I never got Fox Business News since I’ve only had regular cable service with 50 bad channels and 3 good ones.  I just never felt that internal “push” to spend extra for 200+ more channels of garbage I’m never going to watch just for maybe 3-4 extra channels I might like.

In fact, I gave up cable altogether last week and am making do with just the Internet and reading.  I can’t say I miss TV that much.  You can get pretty much what you need news-wise off the Internet and subscribe to NetFlix streaming or DVDs for much cheaper entertainment than what you pay for the garbage whose channel selection you have no control over.

I haven’t subscribed to a newspaper in over 10 years now.  It’s been at least 4-5 years since I subscribed to any news magazine.  I can’t say I miss traditional media much and the way things were spoon-fed to me.

(Both Time and Newsweek have tried to get me back as a subscriber.  Some of the subscription e-mail offers that I got from Newsweek were so partisan that it put me off.  Didn’t know whether I was getting spam from a politician I’d never vote for or give campaign money to or a magazine that’s desperate for readership!  The e-mails were bad and a prime example of taking sides “with the Man” which the media shouldn’t be about.)

One thing, though, that’s still true about the Internet as much as any source of information.  It still takes effort to sift fact from propaganda and advertising as much as it ever did from newspapers and TV news.  It’s almost too much to sift through and a job-and-a-half to figure out your positions as much as who’s trying to sell you an angle…

I’d also point out that SLG (Slave Labor Graphics) has released a few trades about the adventures of Pinocchio: Vampire Slayer.  It sounds goofy, yes, but it turns out better than you think!

*******

Years ago, Mike Mignola did a story along parallel lines to this movie called “The Amazing Screw-On Head.”  I’ve never read the original story but I have the animated pilot that was produced for Sci-Fi Channel.  As I recall, it was pretty good stuff, too.

Not fun… It delayed my parents’ Florida trip a while until the doctors cleared her.

She was saying the catheter wasn’t fun, either.

Come to think of it, I don’t think I ever want a catheter put in me unless there’s no alternative!

The economy collapsed largely because of the housing bubble which was caused by government polices started by Carter, enhanced by Clinton and fueled by senators like Obama, Dodd, and Congressman Frank