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michaels added a feature for a while in sept. 2020 where shoppers could ask questions that would be answered live by other shoppers anonymously. which led to some good michaels interactions.
With all the hoopla over Twitter these past few days, you should know that there are alternatives out there. For animation peeps, I run Socel. Itâs small but growing and if youâre looking for the old-school-web kind of place that used to exist, itâs for you!
You can sign up at Socel.net or DM me for an invite
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
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Best of Original Cartoons:
My Life as a Teenage Robot
FredFilms Postcard Series 8.4
Long before his time on Gravity Falls, Samurai Jack or The Powerpuff Girls, Rob Renzetti and I worked together on a number of projects at Hanna-Barbera and he was one of my first choices to join us at Oh Yeah! Cartoons in the late 90s. Thereâs no one Iâd rather work with, a super nice man with originality, creativity and integrity. I was so confident of Robâs creative and directing chops that he was offered a six short deal, with no advance look at any of his ideas (well, one exception. I asked him to bring over the great characters from his H&B short, Mina & the Count; he ended up doing six more for Oh Yeah!).
Then, on his sixth short, Rob scored! One of the most beloved cartoons of the 2000â˛s. With a quick name change, âMy Neighbor was a Teenage Robot,â dropped on August 1, 2003 and left behind 40 comedy filled, sci-fi tinged, truly one of the Best Original cartoon series.
âŚ..
From the postcard back:
You are one of 125 people
to receive this limited edition
FredFilms postcard!
www.fredfilms.com
My Life as a Teenage Robot
Created by Rob Renzetti
premieres on Nickelodeon
August 2, 2003
Art direction by Alex Kirwan
Design & illustration by Jill Friemark
Executive Producers:
Rob Renzetti , Fred Seibert
Best Original Cartoons
Series 8.4 [mailed out November 1, 2022]
Based on the novel of the same name, Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko is another indie feather in the cap of GKIDS and Shout! Factory.
âBrash single mother Nikuko is well-known for her bold spirit, much to the embarrassment of Kikuko, her pensive yet imaginative daughter. In contrast to her mother, Kikuko wants nothing more than to fit in as she navigates the everyday social dramas of middle school. Life in the harbor is peaceful until a shocking revelation from the past threatens to uproot the pairâs tender relationship.â
Yet again, eastern creators show up just how stale and predictable American filmmaking has become and while Disneyâs latest critical success is trumpeted from the rooftops, fantastic films like this continue to find favor with critics and viewers alike. Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko is a quirky film that tells a story and is a refreshing change from films that merely document a quest. Centre stage is of course, Nikuko herself. A somewhat tragic, yet irrepressible character; her boundless optimism in the face of adversity contrasts starkly with her daughter Kikuko who is neither as jovial, or as optimistic, yet is perhaps the real adult in the relationship. Their bifurcated relationship is nonetheless strong made with a unique mother-daughter bond.
The story meanders and at one point I was left wondering where things were going but by the end I realised that itâs less about where things are going and more about where theyâve been.
The animation is lively, and watching this film on a full stomach is required lest the stunning depictions of food overwhelm your experience. Pixar spent however many millions in an attempt to create appealing CGI food in Ratatouille and a traditionally animated film like this comes along and proves it was all in vain.
The only shortcoming is to be found in the writing; itâs serviceable but doesnât do the story or the characters the justice they deserve.
Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko is primarily a retrospective film and how the various episodes and choices in life invariably lead us to places we never anticipated. One wishes that more western animated films could be as bold.
Fortune Favors Lady Nikuko is available on Blu-Ray DVD combo from Shout! Factory now.
With all the hoopla over Twitter these past few days, you should know that there are alternatives out there. For animation peeps, I run Socel. Itâs small but growing and if youâre looking for the old-school-web kind of place that used to exist, itâs for you!
You can sign up at Socel.net or DM me for an invite
The Netflix Cuts and the Disposability of Contemporary Animation
The axe swung hard at Netflixâs animation department this week. Management were forced out and shows either cancelled or cut entirely. Such actions are hardly a surprise given that Netflix subscriber numbers fell over the past quarter, but more intriguing is the news of Netflixâs extensive use of data to create and produce shows. It all adds up to a new era of disposable animation.
Netflix
Animators are a proud bunch and rightly so. Animation is not an easy artform to learn, let alone master. Animators draw upon a legacy that stretches back a hundred years whose earliest works continue to educate and inspire. Live-action canât quite say the same; nobody makes silent films anymore but while rubber hose animation is antiquated, it never became obsolete either. Such longevity may be coming to an end and while the cause is not a single one, one company looms large: Netflix
Alternatively the hero or villain of the entertainment business, Netflix nonetheless pushed the industry into the modern era by catching it off-guard with streaming. Everyone struggled to catch up, while Netflix attempted to cement its moat with original content in every shape and form. Animation forms a key part of that moat; all the better to keep Disney at bay by acquiring younger viewers before they know who Disney even is. Netflix never set out to replace your favourite cable channel, it set out to replace your entire cable service. Ergo the often contradictory personality of the companyâs offerings. High culture critical darlings on the one hand, and bargain basement, lowest common denominator trash TV on the other.
Animation was not going to escape the same fate and for every Midnight Gospel, there were a half dozen DreamWorks spinoffs. Yet the allure of a creative space with minimal executive interference was potent. Numerous high profile creators joined and excelled at Netflix and much like Nickelodeon thirty years prior, the results showed.
A Ruse
Yet, one wonders if their endeavours were actually part of a ruse. Not in the sense that Netflix would cast them off once the audience was acquired (which may or may not be or become true), but rather that Netflix, in its mad dash to build a library of content and reliance on data to get it there, was willing and able to actively devalue their contributions by drastically increasing the rate of production. There was a time when Disney would put out an animated film only once every three years. Then it became one every year, then it became one a quarter. Now Netflix is releasing one practically every week.
The company uses data extensively and in a capacity far beyond what Nielson ratings can ever hope to provide:
To put it simply, if youâre watching any TV show or movie on Netflix, it knows the date, location, and device being used to watch, as well as the time of your watching. On top of that, Netflix also knows about how and when you pause and resume your shows and movies. They also take into consideration if you are completing the show or not, how many hours, days, or weeks to complete the episode or a season or a movie.
Ultimately, it tracks every action taken by the user on Netflix and considers it as a data point. How many metrics will be there in total which Netflix might be using for data collection?
People and the data they produce changes over time though. What you liked as a kid is not what you may like today or what you may like in ten yearâs time. Netflix does not care about the past or future though. They only care about the now, or rather, the future as far as it takes to produce and release a film or show. They produce things to appeal to viewers now. To grab their attention now. To keep watching Netflix now.
Netflixâs credo: Why rewatch an old favourite when a sparkly potential new favourite awaits to be discovered?
Caring (or Lack Thereof)
Truthfully, do audiences really even care? Netflix zeroed in on a formula thatâs worked and will continue to refine it as the data suggests they should. Audiences demand entertainment; artists are among the few looking for fulfillment and a call to a greater cause. The former are concerned with their immediate gratification, not with the effort it took to gratify them or what happens to those involved thereafter. American football satiates an immediate need for pleasure; the lasting physical and psychological damage done to the players is the last thing on viewerâs minds.
Creators pour their heart and soul into passion projects hoping they will provide a lifetime of enjoyment but the reality is a flash in the pan. Culture moves so fast and things have to hit instantly and powerfully to even create awareness let alone viewership. Hence Netflixâs policy of only starting any marketing efforts a month in advance of release; any sooner and audiences will consider it old news by the time they can watch, if they even want to. Like I wrote in my recent Oscars post: stuff released in 2021 may as well have been released in 2001; thatâs how old they appear now. Animation is not safer on other platforms either; all of which have the same library problem Netflix did but additionally face breakneck production schedules to catch up and keep pace with the industry leader.
Consume and Throw Away
What this adds up to is a new disposablness of animation. Artistic endeavours designed to be popular now and not the future, to be binged instantly before spending an eternity in a library; only ever a click away but obscured by a thicket of new content. The latest news out of Netflix reinforces this fear. A fear that even the greatest is simply no better than the average and no less fitting of a similar fate.
A final word of warning: animation is not a genre but may as well be as far as audiences are concerned. Westerns are a genre, and as they increased in popularity they too became formuaic and disposable and have deservedly languished in limbo for the past half a century.
Originally published on The Animation Anomaly: https://animationanomaly.com/2022/04/21/the-netflix-cuts-and-the-disposability-of-contemporary-animation/
With all the hoopla over Twitter these past few days, you should know that there are alternatives out there. For animation peeps, I run Socel. Itâs small but growing and if youâre looking for the old-school-web kind of place that used to exist, itâs for you!
You can sign up at Socel.net or DM me for an invite
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
â Live Streamingâ Interactive Chatâ Private Showsâ HD Quality
Anya is LIVE right now
FREE
Free to watch ⢠No registration required ⢠HD streaming
The Walt Disney Companyâs been in the news this week in ways that show it in a poor light. Whatâs going on and why does a company with erstwhile positive LGBTQ+ attitudes suddenly find itself on the defensive?
The Animation Oscars are So Utterly Not Relevant and We Should Stop Pretending They Are
The Oscars in general are struggling with relevance in an age of streaming and a population that has better things to do yet the animation community, year after year, finds plenty to alternately celebrate and complain about the animated awards. Why even bother getting worked up over something that is no longer relevant?
There was a time when the animated Oscars could be considered relevant but those days are over. In case you missed it, this yearâs ceremony dispensed with the Best Animated Short category from the live broadcast (relegating it to a prerecorded segment), and the Best Animated Feature went to Disneyâs Encanto; the studioâs ninth win in ten years, and 13th win in 15 years (including Pixar films).
Which, if youâre the director of a Disney animated film, almost has to feel like a participation trophy, right? You received it because of what you did not how well you did it. The award may be worth something personally, but to everyone else, itâs like the New England Patriots winning another Superbowl; exciting for them, boring (and skippable) for the rest of us, and a concern for the NFL that needs high viewership. Disney is going to release a film every year, so whatâs the point? Thatâs strike one.
Itâs not a perfect system, but at least the Annieâs acknowledge that award ceremonies are capable of becoming dominated by the films intertwined with the voting membership. Hence their âBest Indie Featureâ category. The Oscars skates long and hard on its reputation as the pinnacle award in movie-making yet repeatedly baulks at recognising the downright refusal of its membership to consider animation as an equal to live-action. Why even bother participating in something that shows no sign of treating you any better? Thatâs strike two.
Do you know anyone who watches an animated film because it won an Oscar? Of course not, everyone watches them when they are released and instantly move on to the next new film. Letâs be honest here, the Oscars are as much a promotional/marketing machine as they are a recognition of the best. There is, however, no longer an âOscar bumpâ to boost winning films and in any case, films on streaming networks donât obtain the same financial benefit. Recognising the best film from the previous year is also a laughable exercise in 2022. Weâve moved on to this yearâs films which are so often in practice, simply better. Everything from 2021 is so far in the rearview mirror, we canât even see it. So you watch a film and nine months later it wins an award? Do you care? Do you feel validated that you spent the time wisely? I wouldnât and I suspect Iâm not alone in that regard. Thatâs strike three.
Studios may continue to see value in gunning for an Academy Award but perhaps its time the industry as a whole just moves on. Consumers certainly have.
Originally posted on The Animation Anomaly: https://animationanomaly.com/2022/03/30/the-animation-oscars-are-not-relevant/
Scrat? SQRAT? Clearing up Some Confusion Surrounding the Lawsuits over the Ice Age Character
This week, âSQRATâ creator Ivy âSupersonicâ Silberstein celebrated the postscript of over a decade of litigation against Blue Sky Studios/FOX (subsequently Disney). A lot of articles (and there are quite a few) comment that Disney can no longer use the character âScratâ or create any more films featuring him. Such an assertion isnât entirely correct and once again highlights the muddy waters that lie between copyright and trademarks. Read on to find out why.
The Original Lawsuit
Details of the entire affair are frustratingly hard to find on the internet thanks to a combination of its longevity but also the inevitable effects of link rot. are juicy! The gist is that SQRAT is a half-squirrel half-rat character created by Silberstein, pitched to âFOXâ in 1999 and ultimately passed on. Cue the 2003 release of Ice Age featuring the character Scrat that is also a half-squirrel half-rat character.
Via: The Human Interest Story
Silberstein subsequently sued for copyright and trademark infringement and this is where things start to get interesting. Silberstein came up with the idea and the name âSQRATâ but hired an artist to create an image of the character with the intent of merchandising it. That artist did not create what was supposed as an original image but a âdead ringerâ for a piece of clip art of a beaver sold commercially by a company called DAS. During development of Ice Age, FOX approached the company behind the clip art package (DAS) and acquired rights to the clip art image in question. Except it would later be revealed, that the image was not created under a work for hire arrangement and was instead created by an independent contractor; Ron Szafarczyk. He disputed DAS' ownership of the image and in July 2003, arbitration awarded both parties an equal 50% ownership in it, retroactive to 1999.
Now hereâs where it gets really interesting:
Subsequently, in or around July 2003, Silberstein purchased Szafarczykâs rights in and to the Beaver, retroactive to the date of the Beaverâs creation in July 1994.
Then:
âŚin or around September 2003, Fox and DAS entered into a second agreement that superseded and voided the March 2002 agreement based on the fact that the parties had, at the time of that prior agreement, lacked knowledge as to the ownership of the Beaver copyright. Under the new agreement, Fox gained a non-exclusive license, retroactive to July 27, 1994 and continuing in perpetuity, to use and exploit the Beaver in connection with Foxâs Scrat.
So where weâre at at the end of 2004 is that both FOX and Silberstein own half of a character that forms the basis of each otherâs SQRAT/Scrat creations. Notably, FOX did not contest that the beaver in question forms a basis for the Ice Age âScratâ character.
The summary judgement in the case (essentially the court determines that given all the known facts in the case, a trial would produce no different outcome) was against Silberman on all counts.
On the copyright issue, it held that:
Silberman was unable to prove that her 1999 pitch of 'SQRAT' was definitively connected to the development of FOX's Scrat. On the other hand, FOX was able to prove that said pitch to the company in 1999 was to a completely different part of the overall conglomerate that shared no connection to the film studio or Blue Sky.
FOX was able to provide incontrovertible proof that âthe conception of this character [Scrat] and its role in the film evolved and developed in an incremental fashion that does not bear any indication of having been shaped by plaintiffâs Sqrat or indeed by any other preexisting creative work.â
As a half owner of the original beaver, Silberstein could not sue the other, equal owner (FOX) for copyright infringement for their use of the beaver as the basis for Scrat. She only had grounds to sue for clear and obvious copying of her own derivative SQRAT character. The court found that ââŚno reasonable jury could conclude that Sqrat and Scrat are substantially similar with respect to protectible (and, indeed, non-protectible) elementsâŚâ. The judge noted one of the distinctions being that SQRAT exists solely as a 2-D characater while Scrat exists only as a 3-D character.
On the trademark issue, it held that:
âPlaintiffâs trademark infringement claim is deficient as a matter of law.â Oof! Silberman never actually exploited her trademark for commercial purposes, instead âSilbersteinâs Sqrat logo was a mere advertisement for itself as a hypothetical commodityâ. Basically since Silberstein never actually sold any SQRAT merchandise, she had no grounds under the law for remediation from FOX. Interestingly, the court noted that âHad she agreed to one of the offers she allegedly received in 2000 to license Sqrat for a TV project (Silberstein Decl. œœ 85-90 Exs. I J), that commodity might have formed the basis for a trademark infringement action.â
Whew!
The Appeal
But thatâs far from the end of the story. Silberstein appealed the decision and in 2007, the Court of Appeals affirmed the lower courtâs decision that, essentially, Silberstein failed to successfully argue her case or disprove FOXâs evidence to the contrary. In 2008, the District Court denied FOXâs request for legal fees on the grounds that while unsuccessful and presenting a weak case, Silberstein nonetheless used the correct legal motions to pursue it and that her decision to sue was not made in bad faith. That being said, FOX alleged that Silberstein âintended to extort a settlementâ in the original case and, âperjured herself at her depositionâ, and that she did not believe the arbitration settlement over the beaver character was binding on the court. FOX also allege (without any apparent proof) that Silberstein created a document to support her claims.
Thatâs NOT All Folks!
Silberstein had filed a trademark claim for âSQRATâ back in 1999 that was abandoned by accident prior to the release of Ice Age in 2002. She then re-filed and used that as a basis for the original lawsuit. The result of which is above.
After the judgement in that case, Silberstein filed a trademark for âSQRATâ on what it known as the âSupplemental Registerâ; a good description of which is here. Essentially she was reasserting her âSQRATâ trademark under a slightly different form of legal protection.
She then sued FOX again but, crucially, used the same arguments as her original lawsuit.
That didnât pass muster with the federal courts and in 2018, they found that because her argument in this second case was the same as the original and relied on the same facts as the original case which were already judged upon, they precluded her from having a new case even though she filed under a different cause and in a different [federal district] court.
Details on what happened next are hazy, but what is known is that Disney acquired FOX and therefore Blue Sky in 2019 and in 2020 approached Silberstein with an offer of settlement with results depending on who you ask. Silberstein says she âwonâ while Disney state they âsettledâ, the case. Since the settlement is private, no details are available.
What the settlement potentially involved was Disney promising not to file or contest further litigation in return for Silberstein promising not to file any further suits over the trademark. Ergo the latterâs recent tweet and the absence of the Scrat character from the formerâs latest series.
What does this mean for either party? Probably not as much as you might think. Disneyâs shutdown of Blue Sky suggests theyâre satisfied with the assets they acquired and can milk for ever more amen since the judgements (and possibly settlement) allow them to exploit they properties already in existence. For Silberstein, she can now sell merchandise with the âSQRATâ name and enforce her trademark properly.
The Confusion
As I wrote about here (and here, and here), thereâs a lot of confusion surrounding copyright and trademarks with the two often being conflated for each other. Silbersteinâs actions add further confusion as her tweets and other interviews attest to since the nuanced detail of what exactly she owns is not mentioned.
A copyright prevents anyone else from replicating the artwork in question even for non-commercial reasons and in different forms without permission from the creator. A trademark prevents anyone promoting or selling something substantially similar under a name that may cause confusion. For example, you could not start your own Pixar animation studio without infringing on Disneyâs trademark, but you could start a Pixar oil company and thereâs little that Disney can do to stop you. (Ironically. Disney got sued for trademark reasons for selling âLuxo Jr.â versions of the Luxo lamp that serves as Pixarâs mascot.)
Silbersteinâs lawsuits concern both copyright and trademarks and as the initial lawsuit details, they can form a formidable legal thicket for owners and users alike.
Parting Thoughts
Iâve a few parting thoughts. The first is that creators must be smart about how they handle their creations, but also how how they contest any litigation surrounding them. Get a good lawyer and get your facts straight before filing. Large corporations like Disney and FOX do have the resources to discover the truth, and they will do it when they know they are right.
Stolen ideas are a dime a dozen and studios deal with their fare share of shafted âoriginal creatorsâ looking for restitution. The SQRAT/Scrat case if anything, magnifies the enormity of the legalese to be navigated by creators to contest and win a case. Silberstein lost not once, but twice and managed to luck out in the end, but the same wonât be true for others. She's also had almost two decades of legal fighting over her head to deal with.
The other thought is that almost two decades of litigation ultimately amounts to nought. Silberstein obtained her federal trademark in the end but itâs valid only within the United States of America. Is Disney the undisputed owner of the âScratâ trademark everywhere? You bet! There is nothing stopping them from producing a new Ice Age film or show in, say, Canada and selling it everywhere but the USA. Such a move would not be surprising since Ice Age has traditionally done better in the international market than the domestic on. If thatâs the case, who really won in the end?
All in all, thereâs a lot surrounding the entire saga that highlights yet again why the intersection of art, commerce, and law is never straightforward.
Want to read the actual legal documents for yourself? You should! Here they are:
Original case
Appeal
Request for costs
Second trademark case appeal
Originally posted on The Animation Anomaly: https://animationanomaly.com/2022/02/03/scrat-sqrat-clearing-up-some-confusion-surrounding-the-lawsuits-over-the-ice-age-character/
Animation Fans Beware: NFT Scams are Coming Your Way
Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are the buzzword/fad/hot thing of the moment. FOXâs recent announcement that they were working on a show using the technology proved an inspiration to others but can the technology and the hype surrounding it be used to scam fans? Itâs easier than you may think.
What is an NFT?
The gist is that since computers can create infinite perfect copies, art loses its inherent rarity factor. Enter the blockchain, essentially a glorified ledger that contains entries for each piece of art with a corresponding entry for the name of the âownerâ. The ledger is structured such that everyone can see the entries and can therefore agree on the validity of the entries. Itâs like a copy of the Mona Lisa; everyone knows the original is owned by the Louvre. An NFT takes that principle and applies it to any piece of artwork (or other âassetâ); anyone can possess a copy, but only the buyer is listed as the agreed-upon owner.
How is This Related to Animation?
Selling the assets of shows and films always seemed like a sort of afterthought for studios. Indeed, many times they were considered waste to be disposed of. (For the life of me, I cannot now locate a link to the story of the entire, yes the entire, set of thousands of production cels from the Back to the Future TV show being put up for auction).
Enter Non-Fungible Tokens and their promise to allow creators to once-again exploit the rarity factor of their art without having to risk the exposure of having their art out there in limitless quantities.
Blockchain Buddies
Although FOX announced an NFT-based show a while back, Blockchain Buddies seems to be the first actual animated show to get out there with the technology. Per AWN:
The project will be a first of its kind interactive animated project, with NFT holding community members empowered to shape the future of the creative universe.
In other words, the show creates NFT assets that are purchased by fans. Those fans are then given some sort of say in how the show progresses. This is very similar to the approach that FOX announced with their project and a good indicator of the direction creator see NFT projects developing.
NFT Positives
Thereâs a few positive aspects that I see to all this. The first is that it strengthens the bond between creators and fans. The latter gain a vested interest in the show, and creators can rely on their fans to guide the show in ways that keep them engaged and therefore maintain viability.
The second is that it shifts animated shows (and films, etc.) away from the consumerist approach to merchandise. Instead of cranking out mass-produced physical items, support is reduced down to a small number of relatively high-cost NFT assets. Fans thus gain more unique things to treasure.
NFT Negatives
If there are upsides, there has to be downsides and they illustrate how NFTs can be a double-edged sword. Bringing fans closer to the creators will make conflicts both more inevitable, and disruptive. If creators want to go one direction and fans want to go in another, who has the final say? Do creators need a âCode of Conductâ for fans?
In tying the value of a show to quote/unqoute âassetsâ there is a possibility that the life-span and indeed the shelf-life of shows becomes smaller. As new shows arrive using similar NFT value propositions, older shows are likely to lose value and ultimately become worthless. What happens than? When a show relies on a market as an intrinsic indicator of its value, what happens if the bottom falls out of the market for a particular show? What if fans rebel en masse and collapse the market for a show?
In business, companies must follow certain rules and regulations pertaining to the relationship between the ownership of the business, and the management who run it. NFTs are unbridled by such worries; people who buy an NFT are not considered an owner in the corporate entity that actually owns the show. (Such is my hunch.)
The Scam
NFTs are new, but scams and frauds are not. How this affects animation and animation fans is through a microcap fraud. From the US government:
Fraudsters often use emerging technologies or industries â including Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs) and digital assets â to entice investors as part of a fraudulent or manipulative scheme. For example, they may publicly announce a development that is intended to affect a companyâs stock price. Or they may promote a company that claims to be developing products or services relating to the latest news events or trends.
The image above is typical of the scam. It promotes all the benefits of buying in; even providing links that from first glance provide credibility. Clicking on the YouTube links brings you to something very different however. Animation-based NFTs frauds emphasise a community-based, common-interest, vested-ownership in a TV show or film. Yet placing them under a harshly critical light exposes the fraud. They are not simple sales agreements (exchanging money for goods or services), they are investment vehicles that require the exchange of money for an economic asset (the NFT).
Investing vs. NFTs
Disclaimer that the below is not intended to be, or should be interpreted as, financial advice. Always consult a registered financial advisor prior to making any investments
Investing is not for the faint-hearted and serious investors will always undertake their due-diligence before committing to an investment. That due-diligence is a thorough and intensely critical look at the investment being offered, but also its potential relative to other investments. For example, if youâre thinking of buying stock in The Walt Disney Company, you want to be really sure that the value of the stock is going to go up, but you also want to be really really sure that stock in Netflix isnât going to go up by even more. Smart investors hedge their bets and buy stock in both companies.
NFTs on the other handâŚ
Theyâre more like investing in magic beans. Could they sprout a giant beanstalk? Itâs possible. Can you sell or trade them to someone else? Sure. What happens if you buy the beans and nothing happens AND you canât sell them? ÂŻ\\_ (?)_/ÂŻ
Trust, or The Lack Thereof
Buying into an NFT-based show is akin to a rigged hoop-toss game at a carnival. The prize is right in front of you but only the game operator knows whether you can actually win or not.
The landscape is littered with failed Kickstarter projects as it is. Even major networks cast ideas and pilots aside all the time. Buying into an NFT animated TV show or film comes with ZERO guarantees that you will actually receive what is promised. Trust is wholly on the side of the fan which is why the traditional models of studio/broadcaster financing thatâs firewalled from consumers is necessary. NFT-based funding runs roughshod over this; regardless if itâs a legitimate corporation like FOX, or a conman on the internet like in the images above.
Conclusion
I dislike the idea of NFTs although the original idea for community-verified ownership remains interesting. I also fail to see enough upsides to exploiting NFTs to create a show. People have found an interesting way of financing their shows and run their cons that skips around necessary laws and regulations. There are similar benefits and pitfalls to simply creating a company that owns a show and inviting fans to by shares. Of course that requires red tape with stiff penalties for fraud. NFTs are, for the moment, free of such government oversight and will wreck havoc until brought under regulation. In the meantime, caveat emptor.
Anya is live and ready to show you everything. Watch her strip, dance, and perform exclusive shows just for you. Interact in real-time and make your fantasies come true.
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Neon Genesis Evangelion TV series finally on Blu-Ray!
Better late than never, the seminal anime TV series Neon Genesis Evangelion arrives on Blu-Ray at last.
Fans of Neon Genesis Evangelion have it relatively lucky (at least in Japan and the US), where the show and its films have been given numerous home media releases down through the years. The release that I happen to own is the Platinum Collection which was definitive at the time but shows its age in 2021 and hearkens back to a time when you pretty much had to buy DVDs in order to watch anime, and special features were almost always an afterthought.
Thankfully, GKIDS and Shout! Factory have created not one, but three collections for the Eva fan: the Ultimate Edition, the Collectorâs Edition, and the Standard Edition. All three are a sincere attempt to appeal to all types of fan from the dedicated all the way down to the curious casual.
The Ultimate Edition
Unfortunately the Ultimate Collection sold out the day it was announced so unless there is an expansion to the limited quantity of 5,000, you are unfortunately out of luck.
The Collector's Edition
The Collectorâs Edition arrives on December 2nd and, while less featured than the Ultimate Edition, nonetheless packs a punch:
The NEON GENESIS EVANGELION Collectorâs Edition is a deluxe 11-disc set presented in a rigid case, containing a 40-page book, 8 art cards, the Official Dub and Subtitled versions, and the bonus Classic Dub and Subtitled versions. The Collectorâs Edition set contains over seven hours of bonus features including animatics, TV commercials, music videos, Japanese cast auditions, trailers, and more.
The Standard Edition
The Standard Edition, while lighter still, is no slouch and Shout! Factory were kind enough to send a review copy:
The Standard Edition is an essential five-disc set that will contain over five hours of bonus features, including animatics, TV commercials, music videos, and more.
This set is the closest to my own Platinum Collection but is by far its superior. I can say with satisfaction that itâs a joy to see Evangelion finally available in HD! All the detail, all the effort that went into the hand-drawn animation is finally allowed to shine and in its original 5:4 aspect ratio too. A 5.1 channel soundtrack also adds an extra level of enjoyment to the show that it lacked before and if youâre a purist, the original stereo tracks are included as well.
Both EVA films are also included, which is a great benefit given that they are usually separated from the series and in the case of End of Evangelion, are required viewing to feel youâve seen the complete series.
The extra features are a very nice touch. So often with older films and (especially) TV shows, there is a dearth of material to work with with the result that the releaseâs producers have to rely on retrospectives and other gimmicks to pad it out. Fortunately nothing could be further from the truth here. Thereâs plenty of original content to choose from and I personally enjoyed the animatics as they offer an insight into how the show actually came together. With over 5 hours on the Standard Edition and even more on the Collectorâs and Ultimate editions, they will please fans and entice non-fans further into the series too.
The only aspect I was disappointed with is that, as an [ahem] older fan that first viewed the series with the original English dub featuring Spike Spencer, Allison Keith, Tiffany Grant, et al, I would have to opt for the pricier Collectorâs Edition. This is understandable as licensing isnât free and it is unlikely to be a consideration new fans or those that live and die by their Japanese subs. That this trivial matter is the only negative aspect of the whole release is telling of the quality of the sets.
All in all, this is a timely release that will allow Eva fans to fill in the hole in their collection that the original TV series and films occupy.
The Collectorâs and Standard Editions in Blue-Ray, in addition to a digital download are available from the GKIDS store: https://store.gkids.com/pages/neon-genesis-evangelion
Originally published on The Animation Anomaly: https://animationanomaly.com/2021/11/29/neon-genesis-evangelion-blu-ray/
The Simpsons x Balenciaga: More Confusion than Art
It came out of nowhere: The Simpson family and friends walking the catwalk at Paris Fashion Week for Spanish house Balenciaga.
The entire scenario is a bit of a head scratcher and gives pause for thought. The first is that holey moley, the Simpsons is still relevant!? Much like old rockers still cranking out songs while never getting anywhere near the top 40 on Billboard let alone Spotify, the Simpsons remains, and is also available for hire! This isnât the shows first âcollaborationâ or cross-over and itâs unlikely to be the last. It does, however, speak volumes to the stature the Simpsons continues to command after more than thirty years.
The second thought, is that this special, 10-minute long episode is, appropriate? Yes, itâs a one-off and itâs a commercial, but itâs new content beyond the usual episode. It has a runtime more in line with contemporary online attention spans too. Itâs also something I advocated the show do and ditch the half-hour episodes that cannot hope to keep pace with the times.
Lastly, itâs a curiously fashion-forward collaboration for the Simpsons; a family and town famous for wearing the same clothes almost all day, every day. It isnât the familyâs first dabble with high fashion however. In the Season 7 episode âScenes from the Class Struggle in Springfieldâ, Marge famously bought a Chanel suit at a consignment store (that was less famously discovered by Lisa):
The theme of the episode is very much about class struggle as Marge discovers her new suit imbues her with social climbing powers the likes of which sheâd never known before. Nonetheless, the episode is keen to emphasise that high fashion and the trappings it embodies do not come cheap. Â When Marge blows the familyâs savings on a new Chanel gown to impress members of a wealthy country club she becomes aware of the sacrifice she is about to make her family undertake and the hard choice that entails. So itâs therefore amusing to see a family with humble, working class roots ham it up on a Paris catwalk wearing clothing that costs an arm and leg.
Itâs easy to dismiss the piece as a gimmick because it was an integral part of Balenciagaâs show. Itâs just hard to see what relevance it has to either the show or the fashion house outside of the context of the catwalk. Twitter is ablaze with hype and praise, but beyond thatâŚ? The Simpsons does not dictate fashion trends, and Balenciaga does not influence the showâs writing style or humour. The whole thing is memorable, but even fashionistas have already moved on (Paris Fashion Week continues as of writing).
What is the lesson here? Is it that The Simpsons is still relevant? Is it that the show sees new avenues to remaining relevant through stunts like this? Or is it a sign of the changing times; when media is less about relating to its viewers and more about selling them a desirable yet unobtainable lifestyle?
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