January, 2003:
Where the HECK is Christine Cavanaugh?
She was my first introduction to voice actors and was my favourite for quite some time. Hers was also the first page written for the Obsession. I hadn't watched Rugrats or Dexter, the two shows still in production that she has main characters in, for quite some time when I received an email from the Voice Actor Appreciation news group asking if anyone knew where she was. Evidently, Candi Milo had recently begun voicing Dexter. She wasn't in the "Rugrats: Still Babies After All These Years" special, and Nancy Cartwright became Chuckie in 2001. This was quite a while ago, but it's really starting to worry me, now.
There have been no official reports on her status, to my knowledge. No one I've talked to has any clue as to her whereabouts. She's simply disappeared and left Chuckie and Dexter sounding…wrong.
I keep wondering what horrible affliction she has come down with which would have prevented her from continuing her voice work. What huge row she had with the entire cartoon industry that got her fired. Whether or not… But let's not think about that.
The last entry unto her IMDb profile (that she actually recorded new material for) is The Rugrats All Growed Up (2001). That's quite a while for inactivity for someone who had work on shows that have not yet been cancelled. The Unofficial Christine Cavanaugh Homepage has not been updated in almost exactly 3 years. I would love to hear that she felt that the shows were losing their charm. I would be so proud of her if that were true. But that information has not been released. None has.
Until I hear Gos again, I will be worried.
Warning: Gargoyles Spoilers!
Sorry - one of these days, I'll get off this kick. But until then, DON'T read this if you haven't seen "The Gathering." Don't.
Official Spoiler Space
How did Demona know about Owen?
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I certainly didn't catch it. Yeah, there's the pupil thing, but I didn't notice that until after I saw the episode (I was in cardiac arrest from the second they zoomed in on his eyes.) And I doubt she would have caught it, either. I was under the assumption that only Xanatos knew - obviously. Puck told him. But Demona?
Watch "The Mirror." She informs us that Puck "serve[s] the human." Our next clue that Owen is more than he appears comes in "City of Stone: Part 1," wherein Demona accuses Owen of being "the tricky one." Puck is, of course, the trickster. (Duh…)
So, did Xanatos tell her? Did _Owen_? Somehow, I just can't see either of them giving her more information than she absolutely has to have. Not their style. Not their style _at_ _all_. No. No one gets the whole story. No one. So, how did she find out?
Alright, fine. I should have done a little more research. On Sven's Gargoyles Villains Homepage (http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/9442/), I read the following:
"As I've mentioned once or twice before, Demona and Xanatos were introduced by Owen/Puck, who had met Demona centuries before."
There's the answer. Dagnabit, WHY the heck did they do what they did with Season 3?! WHY couldn't they have done a decent continuation of the existing plotlines?! So much potential...
Duckie posed the following question after seeing "Second Chances" a few days ago:
If Lt. Riker were to kill Cmdr. Riker or visa versa, would it be homicide, suicide, or what?
I'm afraid this one was my fault. There was one scene where Troi and Lt. were talking about a solution to their problem, and Robin, always the MiSTie, said "I'll lure him in here, you slip this cyanide into his wine, we'll switch your uniforms, and no one will ever have to know." At which point Kelly chuckled, then asked her question.
Considering the fact that Lt. Riker IS Cmdr. Riker, if he were to kill him, he would be killing himself, as well. So…?
Well, I had the ponderings for April AND May written in _February_, but I seem to have misplaced them. But I've come up with a new (albeit, slightly less thought out) pondering.
Why did they feel the urge to use CGI to draw those barrels?!
Keith Tyra sent me the following information:
Thank you, sir. I'll be getting back to you soon ^_^
The animation in TRtED is gorgeous (and I don't just mean the characters ^_^). The backgrounds, the costumes, the colours… Everything but the CGI. The gold was not mixed well at all, and the water, as in PoE, was too realistic for its own good. But I can forgive them that. They're still perfecting their techniques. Everyone is. But the barrels?! Did it really have to be CGI? Would it truly have been that difficult to just draw the bloody things?
Maybe I'm just picky. Maybe I'm not justified in preferring either entirely CGI or entirely traditional (or entirely claymation, etc). But if you really _must_ use CGI in traditional movies, can't it at _least_ be restricted to the things that are too difficult to animate by hand (i.e. crowd scenes/the BatB ballroom scene/some colouring and textures…)
Or I can just let the animation studios do their own things and be happy...
"I don’t know why the barrels in particular were done with CGI, but there are a number of reasons for mixing it in with traditional methods. First (unfortunately) is time – it is quicker, and hence cheaper, to do a lot of things with CGI these days. Second, eventually it will all be animated with CGI whether the original work is hand-drawn or created with a computer. So most animation companies are practicing their CGI craft (as you noted), coming up with a library of established objects, backgrounds and so forth. They are also building up a sort of ‘animation language’ of typical routines like automatically matching mouth movements to speech, walking, running, and other standard motions. One day people who can read lips will (with practice) be able to read the lips of anime characters. Third, they are trying different approaches to see how well they are received.
"Actually, something occurred to me that might explain the barrels. Normal reviews are done with light tables, CGI reviews are done with digital projectors. Even the best digital projectors (at the time) didn’t do a great job with some colors – particularly metals. Possibly the reviews looked good and by the time they did test screenings it was too late to redo."
When are my movies going to get here?
What is the point of Random Woman Singing in the Street?
I ordered a couple of movies (Equilibrium and The Importance of Being Earnest) from Amazon a couple of days ago and their status is currently "Shipping Soon." Grr... Patience is not one of my strong points.
Seriously, though. The real pondering isn't much better.
I recently hosted Balefest, where several friends came over and we stayed up all night watching Bale flicks. Among these were Equilibrium, which you should definitely see (two thumbs up from Ebert and Roeper - the latter called it "enjoyably classy trash." Probably wouldn't make it on to the box cover, but SO true...), and Newsies, another first for me.
So, during "Carryin' the Banner," right after the nuns sing their bit, this random woman appears in the midst of the throngs of singing, dancing adolescent boys and laments the loss of her son, Patrick ("Patrick, darling/Since you left me I am undone/Mother loves you!/God, save my son!") Is there any reason for this nonsense? Did I miss some subtle (or blatant, even) clue to her identity? Is Patrick dead, or did he just run away? Is one of the newsies this Patrick child? I mean, her part provides a nice interlude and some neat harmonies in the song, but...?
And while we're discussing randomness in Newsies songs...why the heck do Les and David, who initially have generic American accents, suddenly pick up the Boston accent in "King of New York"? "Uh mezanine seat to see da flick-ahs," and "An editahs desk fuh da stah ruh-powah-tah!", indeed. Skittery seems to have lost his in "Carryin' the Banner" ("For uh buck I might!") Those aren't their accents...
Come on, boys. Don't let the (exceptionally talented) British guy show ya up.
Is Quasi related to Clopin?
Wild, fangirl-charged idea, I know, but have you ever paid attention to the opening sequence? I'm going on the assumption that the man who protects Quasi and his mother is Quasi's father. Is it just me, or does he bear some resemblance to Clopin? Like, they could be cousins, or brothers, even. That would explain a bit about Clopin's interest in the story and his knowledge of it, but adds a whole new dimension to his neutrality and objectivity.
It really makes you think, eh?
Is Goliath really that naïve...?
"Money is a necessary evil in Xanatos' world, but not in ours," Goliath tells Thailog. Um... First of all, in Xanatos' world, money is... Well, I'm not sure WHAT goes on in Xanatos' world, but I'm sure he thinks more highly of gold than that.
And is Goliath truly so naïve as to think that money has no value for him? Everything they have - food, TV, books, and such - came from somewhere. Presumably, it was from Elisa's pocket. Unless they're STEALING, and goodness knows Goliath would never stand for THAT. Elisa must be living in abject poverty by the end of the series, providing for not only herself and Cagney, but six (and later, seven) full-grown Gargoyles, as well. Unless the NYPD is paying more than I think...
So, Goliath, dear, money is very much a necessity in today's world, even for your enlightened soul, not to mention your enlightened appetite. Even if you don't have to directly handle it.
Fay asks:
Does Double D ever take his hat off?
I honestly don't know, as I don't watch the show.
If he did, what would he look like?
Something like this, perhaps?
Mmm... Probably not.
She then asks:
Fay asks:
If Spongebob’s parents are circular, why is he square?
Ah, another genetics question. I love these (Mendel was a genius ^_^). It sounds like a case of two square carriers mating to produce a square offspring. This would indicate, though, that square body shape is a recessive trait. I don’t know about anyone else, but most of the sponges I’ve seen are square. There are a lot of round ones, and a good deal of oblong and assorted shaped ones, but the majority are square. My guess is that the trait is actually influenced by several chromosomes. Or possibly a sharp blade…
To celebrate the release of “Loyalty” and “Duty” (finally!), I’ve got a Hornblower pondering (well, several ponderings). It’s got spoilers for “The Duchess and the Devil,” so don’t read it if you haven’t seen that one.
Okay, England’s not a huge place. Do you suppose the Duchess of Wharfedale and the Earl of Edrington have ever hob-knobbed into each other? And if they had, how would they have reacted to each other? What would Edrington think if he knew who she really was?
Is there actually a Duchess of Wharfedale? Does Edrington know her?
How long has Kitty been the Duchess? Just since she showed up in Gibraltar? And what was all that cryptic business at the end? Where did she go? Who did she become next? And when are they going to bring Edrington back?
