"Internet?"

If you're by now thinking, 'Why can't he update this blog whenever he's happy about something?', two things: a) I'm lazy and b) That makes two of us.

The good news (and, believe me, I looked hard for the silver lining): "The Fairly Oddparents" is getting a season set DVD release. The bad news: it's the unpleasant pod-person version of the show, not the hilarious near-masterpiece I fell in love with.

According to TV Shows on DVD, the fall release will comprise of the newest episodes of the show. These are the ones starring the chillingly popular non-entity, Poof. One would think it impossible to match the lameness set by the previous era, where Cosmo morphed into Stanley Roper, but never underestimate the power of writers with total contempt for their viewing audience.

It saddens and depresses me to see talents like Tara Strong, Daran Norris (whose current voice for Cosmo is a front-runner for the most annoying sound in the world) and Susan Blakeslee (among others) being forced (there's no way that these - I assume - intelligent people would willingly submit to this crap) to work on what used to be an entertaining program.

When I say that I could shit a better show, that's not so much a vulgar exaggeration as it is a scientific fact. That this is getting released and not any of these (or, God forbid, the superb first season) says a lot about the state of entertainment today.

I'm not an atheist, but with news like this...I'm getting there.

This is why I'm so serious.

Now...I quite liked The Dark Knight. Well-acted, well-constructed (even if the composers delivered a score well beneath their talents) and properly jolting, but...just look at what I circled:



The only way the film could be more overrated now is if a) it was nominated for Best Picture and/or b) one of its writers used to be a stripper.

Con job.

I had hoped to avoid yet another 'oh, my life is boring; cool shit is happening without me' bitch-fest, but I recently obtained the schedule for this year's Comic-Con, which I'd hoped to attend.

Among the year's highlights (which is to say, the events that interest me):

Thursday the 24th:
- 'Freaks, Geeks and Tiny Toons' (in time for the - long overdue - DVD releases of the first installments of "Tiny Toon Adventures" and "Freakazoid!", some of the show's key personnel will be talking up the releases)
- Summit Pictures - Push (the movie - about people with psychic abilities - sounds okay, but how cool would it have been to meet Chris Evans? Don't know who he is? You owe it to yourself to check out Cellular, Not Another Teen Movie and the Fantastic Four films.)

Friday the 25th:
- 'Powerpuff Girls - 10th Anniversary' (the creator and VAs reunite)
- 'Spaced' (never seen it, but it comes from the creators of Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, and that's good enough for me)
- 'Production Designers' (A number of production designers talk about their craft, including Alex McDowell. Let me say that, again: Alex McDowell! The Cat in the Hat, The Terminal, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.)
- 'Trailer Park' (hey, I love trailers)
- 'American Dad' (a read of a not-yet-aired episode by the voice cast)

Saturday the 26th:
- 'The Fairly Oddparents: Past, Present and Future' (The amount of ass the show sucks now is unprecented; I just wanted to relish the opportunity to boo the people I thought I could trust to make the show better again instead of debatably worse, not unlike the warty old woman in The Princess Bride. Also, '...and Future'?! It may be the wax in my ears, but that sounded like a threat.)
- 'Futurama Secrets Revealed!' (Do I even need to explain the appeal of this?!)
- 'The Writers Room: Writing Prime Time Animated Comedy' (The panelists have written for some of the most underrated shows of the last decade - "Futurama", "The PJs", "Drawn Together" - ...and "Li'l Bush".)
- Cartoon Voices I (again, self-explanatory)
- Adventures in Voice Acting Workshop (learning the technique of voice acting...awesome)
- 'World Premiere: Mutant Chronicles' (Don't know much about the film, but it stars The Punisher, Hellboy and Deadly Little Miho. When does it open?)

Sunday the 27th:
- 'The Business of Cartoon Voices' (again, sounds interesting)
- 'Cartoon Voices II' (see 'Cartoon Voices I')

Why do I torture myself like this? God only knows.

Lights up.

As this is the Fourth of July, fireworks went up (and continue to do so as I type this). My family had been out there a while before my curiosity got the better of me and I watched along with them.

The colors were brilliant. We thrilled to the little show in the sky.

I can't help but draw parallels to my life. There's a big, beautiful colorful world out there and yet...I stay in a box. Why? Because it's comfortable. I've been aware of this for a while, but watching those fireworks, it hit me: my life sucks because I allow it to. I don't work harder on things that could conceivably get me out of the box, but I should. I'm a talented guy and, to be honest, this town isn't really a place for my kind of talents.

As if this wasn't enough of a mindfuck, I saw Wanted today, which didn't remind me of my life as much as The Promotion, but it still inspired me to do something with my life, much like the protagonist of that film.

I want things to change. Whether I have the confidence to act on it is another matter.