This may come as a great surprise to most people, but television did not exactly flourish in communist Romania. The equipment was bad, there were only a few hours a day of programming and it was mostly the Great Leader speaking. Romania, for whatever reason, was generally worse than other European socialist countries in this respect. Back then cable was not a thing in this region and antennas were all the rage. If you were lucky enough, so to speak, to live near a border – Bulgaria, Serbia or Hungary – and had a tall antenna, you could catch some extra programing from those countries.
Children, Pie being no different, liked cartoons. It was a great misfortune in my young mind that my parents had to pick me up from kindergarten in the middle of the only daily cartoon shown – if I remember correctly something with a girl call Heidi, and I frequently missed the ending of the episode. There was also something Russian with a wolf and rabbit. My parents owned a VCR – a significant thing, most were black market and quite expensive – and a couple of cassettes with cartoons – some classic Disney, some Asterix and Obelix, some Tom and Jerry – which I must have seen 100 times. In fact, a few years before 1989 my parents had a JVC VCR which also had the capacity to record, and that was a rare beast indeed, they sold it for half the money of a new car.
After communism ended, things changed reasonably fast. One day, I would say about 1992 or so, I do not remember the particulars, after coming home from school, I noticed an unfamiliar black shape – a new Panasonic TV set, and with it came cable and with cable came Cartoon Network. Cartoons, all sorts of them, all day every day. It was truly a revolution.
My first one was an episode of Birdman, which at first I thought it was Batman – I did not know either, but had vaguely heard of Batman and it sounded familiar enough. Soon, for as long as I was allowed, I watched everything else shown on Romania’s Cartoon Network in the early 90s. Everything. There was still some drama. My parents watched the nightly news on the TV every day at 8 PM, right when Swat Kats was on, which I loved as a kid.
Back in that time, cable was young and there were no local subsidiaries of the big foreign networks, so there was no dubbing or subtitles. I had some knowledge of English – my parents got me a tutor for the duration of first grade that actually taught me a lot, and there was some in school. The problem with learning a language in Romanian school is that you learn rules, grammar, and some vocabulary in a formal way that does not always tie together. I had the same experience with trying to learn French, I knew some words and could read and somewhat write, but struggled to form sentences when speaking. The tutor helped more than school, a young woman who brought cassettes of English people speaking, and focused on that not on grammar rules. Learning this way was better – and I did real well at the grammar tests in school because, without really knowing the rules, picking what sounded right to me was usually right. I feel the same for Romanian, I would struggle right now to explain to a foreigner grammatical rules –although I studies them extensively in school.
Whatever learning I did before, it was accelerate greatly by Cartoon Network. At first I did not understand everything spoken. But I didn’t need to. Just having cartoons was so great, nothing else mattered. And I watched and I watched. And slowly, I started understanding more and more each time. Episodes tended to repeat on Cartoon Network, but for me it was quite alright, I liked them and I understood better as each month passed. And I learned organically for lack of a better word. This is important, as phrases often have cultural meaning and just knowing what the words mean is not enough, and this way I learned both. Sticks and stones does not mean sticks and stones, paying the piper does not involve singers and currency.
This also had had a positive effect on verbal skills. To be fluent in a language you just speak, you do not need to think of the rules. I was never fluent in French, though I learned words and verbs and conjugation. They just didn’t come together when I needed them. In English, on the other hand, I never really thought of the rules. If it sounded right, it probably was.
Not all kids in Romania were like this, but my generation of urban middle income kids were. By high school, movies and TV shows kicked in, praise be bit torrent and DC++. My generation talked a lot in what we called romglish, Romanian peppered with English words and phrases, mostly movie quotes. There were nationalist politicians that wanted to ban English words in advertising, to somehow preserve the purity of the language. Hell, there still are in several countries. But, for us, in a country with a native language that is, to be frank, useless internationally, learning English was a huge help. Most of people my age use it daily in their work; use it on vacation or watching movies, reading books not translated in Romanian, and off course writing fabulously. And many of us hold a debt of gratitude to Cartoon Network.
Cartoon Network is dubbed these days. I can understand why, but I still think it is a damn shame. Kids these days take cartoons for granted and maybe do not have the patience to watch a language they do not understand. Or maybe they do, if they were left at it, but the parents try too hard to make it easy on them. Who knows? Of course with internet, they have ample opportunity to learn English – but just internet often leads to broken English. And if they watch cartoons, why not get some benefit from it, hearing the language young and trying to understand. A bit of struggle grasping it might even help.
I am generally opposed to dubbing. It is rarely good enough and always takes away part of whatever you watch. In fact, for movies, I find delivering good lines is harder than facial expressions, and the way the actors speak are important for what the director want to achieve. And a lot of the subtlety is lost for those who happen to speak the language, and unlike you Americans we can handle subtitles. I have met Austrians who saw The Godfather only dubbed and were like: what is the point? Or just imagine hearing “We’re gonna need a bigger boat” in German… Of course the new cartoons are often crappy, not like back in my day. They don’t make ’em like they used to. Damn kids these days! But seriously, the recent cartoons are crap.
Now, my fine fellow glibs. You have all read, I assume, at least one of my pieces and maybe a few of my comments, and such know of my writing. What you clamor to know is: how does Pie speak? Does he have an Eastern European accent? The short answer is yes. Unlike some people I know, I never made any special effort to change my accent. Some went to great lengths to sound British, and most sound reasonably well but kind of pretentious. I do not have a very strong accent, due to all the movie and cartoon watching I did. I, for example, pronounce “the” with a silent Z, which cannot be said of many Easter Europeans. I think, were I to live for an extended period of time in an English speaking country, my accent would greatly improve. But, as things are, every English and American I spoke to understood me without issue and as far as language flow and grammar, I speak just as I would in Romanian. So, in conclusion, I speak well enough for practical purposes, good enough for government work, so no need to spend time fine tuning my accent. I mean, I would be othered anyway in the States for my exotic good looks, so language would not necessarily make me blend in. Without further ado, for the ending of this little piece… Pie speaks. I recorded myself on my phone, just for you.
I did not want to say random bullshit or use too little word variety, and as such for my first piece I have picked something that is explicitly going through a large variety of English words. SOURCE
For my second, I decided to quote the classics. SOURCE
And for my third, something short and personalized for the glibertariat.
Comments
317 responses to “Cartoon Network: English tutor to 90’s Romanian kids”
Glad you’re out of Communism, that must have sucked.,.
Hmm the audio I tried to add does not seem to work… Oh well
I am not sure I did the right thing uploading to WordPress and have no idea where else to upload. eh… not that important
Huh… It seems to play fine for me…?
For me it does not work. If it works for other people that is where it counts
I could hear all 3.
maybe I need a browser plugin or something
works in edge, not in firefox
Also works in Chrome, at least for me.
I see your problem…
Works in Safari, even loaded up with ad-blockers and such
Not working for me either.
Switched browsers and it worked for me.
Your accent sounds like what a Vampire’s accent should sound like.
you take the back! it is the kind of sexy European accent all the ladies love
True that…
I’m going to picture you as Peter Lorre from now on.
Contemplating a crime?
No; the dissipated Lorre from Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea.
Chicago accent > South American accent> Western European accent> Boston accent> Eastern European accent
sorry, the math never lies
Other than Chicago being at the wrong end of the list, this checks out.
I was going to reverse the whole list, myself.
You left off number one and started with 2nd? What’s that all about?
Yes, a Chicago accent is definitely “Number 2”.
/That’s a poop joke.
An Eastern European accent on a beautiful woman is a wonderful thing.
It’s the only part of travelling to Moscow that I miss.
The accent and the see-through blouses during the summer (back in the mid-90s).
Oh, I dunno. I really like the Eastern European accent. My view may be colored by hearing it from some truly beautiful women, though.
You sound like the Romanian Soldier at Talil that requested I keep it down, even though I wasn’t saying anything. he might have been drunk.
you take the back Romanians are never drunk
One of these guys?
Talill was… interesting.
Indeed.
Better’n Cedar 2…
Nice post! I reminds me of our sub versus dub conversation a few days ago.
I remember when I finally became fluent enough in Japanese to hear my own accent and become frustrated about both its existence and modest improvements despite the study and practice.
Every English as a second language person I’ve spoken with makes the same remark – he or she most definitely hears his or her accent, but finds it very difficult to remove.
I never attempted to remove it
Nor should you. I have always thought you had an uncanny grasp of English for a furriner, now I know how you acquired it.
Also, your accent is exactly what I expected.
Thank you for that Pie. But I must confess I am partial to this.
I did want to include an eat my shorts but exercised restraint.
You read my mind and saved me a search.
#3 may be NSFW, so use headphones.
Wait, does anyone listen to audio at work without headphones?
I do.
you must be the boss
Me as well. It’s pretty great when a colleague opens the door in the middle of Dan Carlin discussing an army giving no quarter to an enemy.
Man, I loved Swat Kats and Pirates of Dark Water as kid. It warms my heart to know Pie and I grew up watching some of the same cartoons. All hail the Cartoon Network.
Quit making us 70’s and 80’s kids feel old
Right?! I’ve never heard of those.
You bunch of olds.
I bet you haven’t watched Courage the Cowardly Dog, either. You probably spent a lot of time, what, playing outside?
Were you of an age to watch Toonami, at least?
USA Cartoon Express or GTFO
Looney Toons or GTFO.
*googles* I remember some of the Space Ghost stuff but I was in my late twenties so we were probably watching it drunk and/or high.
Space Ghost Coast to Coast
Oh man… I remember trying so hard to stay up until 2 am to watch that…
I used to watch the actual Space Ghost on Saturday morning cartoons.
OVER NINE THOUSAND?!?!?!
“Tune in next week for another episode of DBZ in which all they do is power up and scream at extended lengths!”
^^
I knew I liked you, Riven
Don’t get too carried away, trsh.
I mean, despite the above, I did tune in every week. … And I recall that I couldn’t wait.
Granted, it was on right after Sailor Moon, which I definitely never missed.
Granted, it was on right after Sailor Moon, which I definitely never missed.
*nods knowingly*
I was the only person in my friend group who couldn’t stand DBZ.
Rocko’s Modern Life is the end all and be all of cartoons for children getting things past the censors. The first episode has a doggie position joke, the second has a Deliverance joke, and it keeps on going.
Loved it. I mean, the guy’s dog’s name is Spunky. C’mon.
How about that episode where his best friend Heffer (who is a steer) gets milked on a farm? Good stuff.
The restaurant chain they went to was Chokey Chicken (changed after the 2nd (?) season).
“Laundry day is a very dangerous day.”
+1 Dr. Ben Dover
I still watch Toonami. (54 next month).
Ugh I know of Courage the Cowardly Dog and have seen episodes but I wouldn’t say I watched it any more than I watched the stray editions of the Rachel Maddow I have been trapped watching in various places.
Early 90’s cartoons were at least good. I have vague memories of Pirates of Darkwater and it was probably the last edition of a family of kids animation containing shows like He Man, She Ra, and Thundar the Barbarian. There was also Gargoyles and the Batman animated series but the best was probably the Disney pack with Duck Tails, Darkwing Duck, Rescue Rangers, and Tailspin followed by the Animaniacs. The stuff that came out in the later 90’s like Courage, Catdog, Ed Ed n Eddie, etc all sucked so hard it isn’t funny. The only partial saving grace in the late 90’s was the Wild Thornberries which at least had decent writing even if the art style looks like it was done by a 6 year old.
Super Friends, Scooby Doo, Flintstones…
I loved all of the old Hanna-Barbera stuff as a kid.
OTOH I did not know of most of the Hanna-Barbera characters until watching Harvey Birdman, including Birdman. We didn’t have cable till the divorce.
Animaniacs, though. That was a good one.
Yup and all the spinoffs
“What are we gonna do tomorrow, Brain?”
I watched em to, but in first airing on network, not on Cartoon Network, we didn’t get Cartoon Network until I was a teen.
All other cartoon are inferior to the Coyote and the Roadrunner
Probably my all-time favorite, at least of the “kids” cartoons.
Breaking news:
PieSarah Sanders apparently said Trump won the Presidential election because God wanted him to.That’ll set some hair on fire.
Just like the Pats will win?
But that’s Satan’s fault.
Knowing now how the election was rigged against Trump, I tend to agree.
You got a better explanation?
You poor, deprived bastard. Growing up not knowing what true, quality cartoons are. Loony Toons, Rocky and Bullwinkle, Tooter the Turtle, etc.
I saw all sorts of Loony Toons as Cartoon network showed a lot of older cartoons. Rocky and Bullwinkle, Tooter the Turtle… nope
Rocky and Bullwinkle is worth digging up. It was the Animaniacs of it’s time — some jokes that would completely go over the kids heads. I can still remember one where the punchline was “The Rubiyat of Omar Khayam”
You didn’t see some of the Loony Toons, quite a few of them have been excised from the canon for wrongthink. The real question is what was the maid in Tom and Jerry? There were at least two different ones I’m aware of.
Huh. I wonder how Boris and Natasha would be received in the Eastern bloc.
Badly enough?
He constantly was outsmarted by a flying squirrel and a freaking retarded moose…
“a freaking retarded moose”
I’d rather be lucky than good.
Some went to great lengths to sound British, and most sound reasonably well but kind of pretentious.
Sounds like they succeeded then, if they sound kind of pretentious. Because I’m assuming by “British” you mean the upper class accent that you hear from professors, actors, and reporters and not one of the lower class ones that makes you sound like an Australian or a Dickensian waif. No one learns the former without wanting to sound at least a little pretentious.
“And for my third, something short and personalized for the glibertariat.”
This speaks to all of my preconceived biases, therefore, I’m going to assume it’s genuine.
Wow, fascinating personal remembrances and linguistic commentary.
This is one of the most personal and touching pieces I’ve seen here. Thank you.
Regarding “The Chaos” (first audio clip) – there would be huge variation in pronunciation of those words among native speakers of US English based on regional dialect, etc.
I found a clip of an Irish guy reading it and decided he pronounced some words wrong
[golf clap]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-JDu3o7Cyw
Interesting – Pie, how did you come to pick those first two to read? I must admit the third one was pretty amusing.
Tonio, wouldn’t you like to hear a complete Boston Southie try track 1?
I have known the first poem for a while now and fount it fitting and I liked The Raven since i read the complete works of Poe like 15 years ago.
“Pie on Poe” – could be a new article.
Yes! And a Scotsman.
This is true. The wide variation in American accents and figures of speech would fool some into thinking they are barely speaking the same language. Pie’s accent is not so far afield.
Tex Avery or GTFO.
Let me see if I have some…
Chuck Jones, I think:
I saw all of those
You’re being very un-rapey today STEVE, you feeling okay?
I think STEVE forgot to switch users
AND BY SWITCH USERS, MEAN . . .
“My parents owned a VCR”
Beta or VHS?
Someone must’ve hacked STEVE SMITH. Not enough CAPITAL LETTERS. And by CAPITAL LETTERS, mean…
Well, now the comment I was replying to has disappeared, so you may as well disappear this one too, as it makes no sense without the context.
But it sparks joy!
I hope all discerning people eschew dubbing – it’s awful, awful, awful.
It can be done well, but yes, if it’s not done well then it’s better not to done at all.
No kidding. I want to hear what the person actually sounds like. Imagine dubbing over Bogart in Casablanca.
Imagine?
https://youtu.be/8OBJ2NjlV5c
*narrows gaze*
Honestly, I don’t mind the dubbing in Dragonball Z or Ruroni Kenshin — it adds nicely to the cheese. Like Sauternes.
never saw the series, but I remember liking Rurouni Kenshin Requiem
I will stand by the decision to watch dub and sub active at the same time, and will stand up for the Gaiman translation of Princess Mononoke.
I’ve watched some anime on Netflix where the english subtitle and the english dub-over say significantly different things; I believe they’re driven by translations of something that might be a turn of phrase in the original japanese.
The subtitles in Friday Night Lights on Prime don’t match the original english.
It’s like they built the subs from the original scripts and the director modified it.
I think it depends on what you are watching.
For example the aweful dubbing absolutely enhances the experience of watching Kill All Monsters
I’ll allow exceptions for unintentional hilarity.
In grad school I took a seminar on medieval magic. It was bizarre and totally awesome. The whole idea was to study medieval Latin (and paleography) in a fun way so we read grimoires and curses and other weird stuff. In my class was a Romanian chick who was one of the strangest people I’ve ever met. I made some dumb joke about not teaching more magic to the gypsy chick and she got sooooooooo pissed. I think she may have cursed me. Idk.
Anyway, hearing Pie talk just brought back all the memories of all the strange conversations I had with that girl. Good times.
Yikes. In most European countries calling someone a gypsy is the equivalent of the N word here. I bet she was pissed.
I don’t think it is the equivalent of the N word here a white American would not be upset that much at being called a nigger. Romanians are touchy about gypsy as they consider them a different ethnic group and dislike being considered the same as gypsies are associated with crime, begging and anti social behavior. Especially western Europeans used the gypsy as a slur against Romanians knowing Romanians are touchy about it. This was further enhanced by the gypsies deciding to use words like Roma and Romani for themselves which many Romanians were upset about because they sounded to much like Rome and Romanian.
Most Romanians still use tigan to reger to gypsies they refuse to use rom which is the PC word
In contrast, us Americans have always found gypsie women to be hot ever since “From Russia with Love” came out in theaters
Well, Cher did her part as well.
/Sexy, back in the day.
Well, they are a different ethnic group, likely a tribe expelled from India way back when. Apparently speakers of Rom can understand Hindi and vice versa.
They aren’t very well liked here either but the hate doesnt rise to the level it does in Europe. Worse are the Irish Travelers who have some kind of connection to the Gypsies proper, I am not sure what it is. The Travelers here are pretty bad. Their culture is pure criminality. Those motherfuckers come around here once a year or so with some kind of scam. They dont like me very much because I dont hesitate to tell them to fuck off.
The bunch that showed up last year sent one of their toughs around after I ran them off. I saw him coming so I walked out on the front porch. He got out of his truck, walked halfway to the porch then stopped. He stood there for a long time obviously weighing the situation then he walked back to his truck. He stood there with the door open for a long time re-weighting the situation. Then he just got in and left. Neither one of us said a word the whole time. He must have been here ten minutes. After he left I called the Sheriff.
“What was he driving? Oh yeah, I know the one. I am gonna send some boys over there to see him. Maybe they can talk that bunch into going somewhere else.”
Speaking of which, I haven’t seen them this year. I guess they will be around soon.
One of those awful reality TV channels (Bravo or Learning Channel or ?) had a show about young gypsies dating.
This appears to be the one. It was so appalling I couldn’t take my eyes off it for an entire episode.
I thought their marriages are arranged. A million years ago I read the account of a woman who spent a couple of years traveling and living with Gypsies. Apparently not many academic types have studied their culture and it is mostly a mystery. They are very insular.
A lot of marriages in Romania for them are arranged. As low as 13. The dowry is usually gold coins.
How many gold coins?
*sad trombone*
It amazes me now of the famous names doing vocal work for kids shows. Never really paid attention then to the voices. The visuals and story mattered more to me.
hey it hurt back then
Way back in the day it was mostly voice-only actors. Now it’s trendy, popular TV and movie actors – I blame Shrek, that’s when I remember that crap starting up. I find it too distracting.
Ehhh… you would have to go back to Batman: The Animated Series and Gargoyles. B:tAS had Mark Hamill as the Joker, and Gargoyles had most (if not all) of the cast of Star Trek: The Next Generation as voice actors.
All Dogs Go To Heaven had Burt Reynolds, Dom DeLuise, AND Vic Tayback!
I’m specifically referencing TV shows that brought bigger names into voice work.
Fair enough. I guess Lorezno Music as the voice of Garfield isn’t good enough for you.
I’m talking shows that got critical acclaim for their voice actors. I mean we could start going back to Scatman Crothers and Hong Kong Phooey, the Transforms, and the Harlem Globetrotters.
This is Carlton, your doorman.
I’d be hard-pressed to place any of those within the proper decade any more. So… you win!
Yeah but Mark Hammil was anything but a big name by the time B:tAS came on the scene. I mean yeah he was Luke Skywalker but he hadn’t acted in anything for years and had not been in anything but Star Wars in over a decade
He did some episodes of the new The Outer Limits! And Wing Commander! (the game)
He didn’t have to be. That’s huge enough on its own.
Thunder…
THUN-der…
THUNDERCATS!
Had to watch that with my nephews. That and He-man. I am more a fan of the Coyote (fuck the road runner) and Felix the cat..
no THUNDERCATS no He-man and no Felix the cat for me… never saw any
HOOOOOOOOOOO!
Thundercats was OK but Snarf was the worst.
Today’s Southern California weather.
Tex Avery- Magical Maestro
Full hopelessly inappropriate culturally insensitive version, but weird screen view (presumably to evade copyright sniffer?).
Well, now the comment I was replying to has disappeared, so you may as well disappear this one too, as it makes no sense without the context.
Gaslit.
SECOND GREATEST TRICK STEVE EVER PULL AM CONVINCING WORLD HIM NOT EXIST.
GREATEST TRICK INVOLVE HIKER AND MAKING THINGS DISAPPEAR.
Pie: I could hear you….totes kewl.
Anyone else listen to this guy:
://www.npr.org/people/2100359/andrei-codrescu
I think there’s an odd favorable prejudice that scores ESL poetry as good: the accents, particularly the European ones, render every effort charming, the same way upper class Englishmen are thought to sound smart, similar to the way that all Native Americans are thought to be artful, mystical, outdoorsy, and grounded.
I listened to Codrescu for years; we share a sort of educated whimsy about Southern life and Americans in general.
Robert Smigel gives his dog puppets Russian accents because he says dogs approach every moment with the fresh wonder and budding but thin comprehension that his grandparents brought to the great American cities.
In English, on the other hand, I never really thought of the rules. If it sounded right, it probably was.
I’m in the same boat—even as the son of an English teacher who takes grammar very seriously. She’s probably among the last to have her students diagram sentences, something she taught to ninth graders because they’d never or rarely been asked to before. I can’t diagram a sentence to save my life. Mom gave up on that headache early on.
I love grammer…and I loved diagramming sentences and still think that way, but, at this point, its ?an? historic throwback.
I love my Grammer too, she was a sweet old lady.
But we’re talking about grammar.
I really internalized diagramming when I took Spanish in HS.
oh we diagrammed Romanian sentences plenty in 6 and 7th grade
Depends on the language.
Latin uses declensions so you will have to change words depending on what it is doing in the language. As a result the language is partly self diagramming. Having learned Latin, it made the concept of Japanese grammar particles significantly easier to understand.
In English word order is very important, much less so in Japanese and in Latin it is essentially optional, but in ecclesiastical Latin by convention usually the verb goes at the end of the sentence.
I feel Romanian grammar is very hard I just don’t think about it. Also I am privileged as the Romanian I speak is considered “good” Romanian
Exactly. That’s the advantage of your native language, you don’t have to think about the twists that it makes.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve had a non-native English speaker ask me how to properly say something and I wind up repeating what they said multiple times in multiple ways to come up with the natural way it is said.
OTH, if I need to express that same thought it just instantly comes out.
I just poured the last of my bottle of Glenmorangie Lasanta
Into a vessel from which you will drink it, correct? Not like on the ground to appease the Vampire gods or something…
Quinta Ruban or GTFO!
I still have a half bottle. I don’t like it well enough to buy a second bottle, but I want to have some in case a friend comes by that likes it.
So I missed adding to the posts, at first re-watching episodes of cartoons I understood more words. But the interesting part is after I understood all words, I did not understand the adult stuff in the cartoon as a kid and remember understanding more as I grew older. One good example of that was a line in two stupid dogs when the big guy was teaching the dogs corn farming and not much was growing and the line was “Sadly so. Still the government pays me good money for what I don’t grow” which, while understanding the words, I did not get the joke as a kid
Oh my god. I remember that episode, if not that line.
Two Stupid Dogs was so much fun, too.
Breakfast? That’s not breakfast. Let me whip you boys up some nice ham and eggs
(the not breakfast was cornflakes and milk)
Any thoughts on Comrade Detective on Amazon?
The older version of Cartoon Network.
Speaking of Rocky and Bullwinkle:
Boris Badenov: But Fearless Leader, that would be illegal!
Fearless Leader: Laws are for honest people, Badenov.
This^^ This right here. Were people really so literate in those days that such a pun would be recognized, and if so, exactly how degenerate are we?
I don’t think the audiences degenerated, I think the authors did. And I think it could be argued that degenerated in this case is equivalent to became more efficient. To write something popular with layers requires a lot of work, while writing to the lowest common denominator is easier and thus more likely to provide a better return on investment.
I’m not so certain. I sent Swissy’s redo of the “Kubla Khan” to a college professor who didn’t recognize the reference. She also had never heard of Kowloon.
Star Blazers season 2.
that is all.
I didn’t know one season from another but I watched the hell out of that before school. I was pissed one year when my bus came to pick me up in the middle of it.
season 2 was against that armored cometoid. i remember feeling despair as a kid believing the Yamato was good and truly fucked. kinda funny all they had to do was fly underneath it where it had no guns (WE FOUND ITS WEAK SPOT!) and a big hole for their fighters to dock.
That’s beginning to sound euphemistic, comrade.
THAT AM HOW STEVE DOCK.
Was that the one with the Yamato in space?
Yes. Space Battleship Yamato.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_8fcWsbOMA
They spent so much on that insanely catchy theme song, there was nothing left for the animation.
https://youtu.be/LKe0wARmks4
Surprisingly close to the original!
+1 Marcy Playground song
I liked both seasons (I know there were others). Honestly, though, I still don’t know how that got past the child decency censors. It was originally a show meant to be watched by adults. The captain was dying of cancer, the ships doctor was a drunk, the main character blamed the captain for his brother’s death, and there was a love triangle between the main character his best friend and their mutual lover. And this was a show that was being put on for kids.
Neon Genesis Evangelion was supposed to be a kids’ show too.
I never cared for this work, but watched it because it was so highly recommended.
I can see why people like it, but there isn’t a sympathetic character to be found in it…
I don’t know, season 2 kinda made Deslok kinda sympathetic at the end
I meant in Evangelion!
+1 on Firefly. Awesome theme song.
NGE is the greatest anime of all time. I will fucking gut you with a progressive knife.
No. Just no…
You just keep hoping for some character development that never happens.
BTW – many of the folk who produced and voiced some of the characters in NGE were so burned out that they chose to do “Oruchuban Ebichu” as a followup.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oruchuban_Ebichu
Most episodes on YouTube. Absolutely NSFW! This particular GAINAX production I loved.
The voice actress who played Katsuragi plays the human protagonist.
My bad she played the hamster!
Speaking of which – the Japanese live action flick from a few years back is actually pretty fun. Better than the average anime adaptation. https://youtu.be/7hLE_AoFTiM
Best tv show theme song ever, at least until Firefly came along
I should probably know this, but I don’t…
why is French the “second language” in Romania? Is that another thing we can blame n Napoleon, or is this some other reason?
It’s always struck me as a bit odd that so many Romanians know French when France is all the way across the continent.
Similarly, I always found it strange that the Russian nobles during the time of Catherine the Great all spoke French at court.
How long did it take eastern Europeans to realize that France is lame? I thought that was a disease that only afflicted the Canadians
That probably had to do with inter-marrying of the elite. French was the language of court after the Norman invasion in England for a while as well.
I instead prefer to think that all the Western stereotypes about Russia being an incompetent and backward country are true.
White ethnic stereotypes are fun
Have you ever looked at their engineering? They get everything almost right. Almost.
Couldn’t even find a decent culture to be colonized by.”
It took the English a few hundred years after the Conquest to slough off the French language.
French was the lingua franca (heh) for the elite for many centuries. I just don’t know how it became so popular in Romania.
My PhD advisor was Romanian. He knew French much better than English.
I know, but it was a perfect opportunity to take a dig at the French
Catherine the Great made an effort and learned Russian after she married her husband, future Emperor Peter III. Even though her husband had a Russian grandfather (Peter the Great), he didn’t bother to study Russian. It didn’t end well: he was deposed and killed within 6 months after ascending the throne. His German wife became the Empress of Russia.
I thought French was supposed to be the “language of peace” since it is often spoken at peace accords, treaties, etc.
Depending on where in Europe you are from, your first language is specific to your country/region but since France seems to be in the middle it seems as logical a choice as any. I dunno.
The year I spent in Germany, in my school they told me that for my grade the 2nd foreign language alternated between French and Latin each year. I was pissed I had to take French; I wanted Latin.
It is complicated. But overall it is linked to Romanian being a Romance language and France being a center of culture in EUrope, to the point of Francophone being a thing beyond french speaking in a way. It has nothing to do with Napoleon, more with Romanian upper classes in the late 1800 early 1900 being educated in France and then learning french as a sign of distinction. It probably started after the revolution attempts of 1848 when many left for France for exile or education or a bit of both. They started speaking french to differentiate themselves from the lower classes who spoke Romanian. I think there’s a whole article in this. There was a lot of satire about peopel going to Paris and forgetting to speak Romanian. There was a saying… Hmmm how to translate… In Romanian bou meaning ox is an insult for someone stupid. The saying is he want to Paris an ox and returned a cow. Meaning a slightly different form but equally stupid.
Same in English.
Have you ever been around oxen?
Nope. Just have heard the phrase “dumb ox” here and there.
They are dumb. Real dumb. So dumb that you pity them.
I like that phrase.
The phrase people use for “language you can expect everyone to know” is lingua franca. I find it amusing the lingua franca these days is English.
For a long time, though, it was French, I think mainly because France was the big swinging dick in Western Europe for centuries, really until Germany got organized. It was the language of diplomats, etc.
HM can probably drop some knowledge on this topic.
Recently, I posted an OT link regarding a Pharmaceutical Executive that gave doctors lap dances in an attempt to sell fentanyl, as that was her previous profession. It appeared that I offended some of you, because the article I posted contained no picture of the executive in question. This did include cursing.
Alas,WAPO delivered the goods.
I eagerly await all of you to curse me out, as this individual does not fall into the wood category. That is all.
Way to be diplomatic and fall on your face. You SF’d the link!
oh, now it works?! This is a conspiracy! I blame Baron Trump!
Oh, I’m sorry, did my mistake in syntax stemming from multitasking at work offend your delicate sensibilities?
*hands CPRM a tissue*
WAPO wants me to pay them a dollar to see the article.
Are you getting a cut, you shitlord?
Dayum that is one RBF.
Ruth Bader Finsburg? No wonder she’s a “wouldn’t”.
more forgiving picture
http://ashokanews.com/2019/01/31/stripper-sunrise-lee-gave-doctor-lap-dance-to-get-prescription-for-highly-addictive-drugs/
Still a nope.
This is news in India?
Meh, I’ve woken up next to worse.
I’m gonna have to disagree with this part right here. If you’re talking shows for children, this may be true, but there’s a lot of good animation for adults out there. Off the top of my head: Archer, Futurama, King of the Hill, Bigmouth, American Dad! (after the first half of season 1), Rick and Morty, Invader ZIM, Aggretsuko, and I’m sure quite a bit more that I’m forgetting right now.
I am talking shows for children. there is an abomination round here called duck tv. For me good children stuff – shows books etc – are also enjoyed by adults.
Rick and Morty – I am just not smart enough to understand Rick and Morty
I chortled.
I actually like the show but the fans are insufferable.
Me too. But it took me something like 4 episodes of persistence before I warmed up to it.
I almost gave up.
Pure nostalgia. The cartoon shows for kids now are anywhere from 10 to 15x times better than those. Adventure time, Gravity falls, teen titans, etc. you’re just not a kid anywhere. Those old cartoons were shitty.
Bigmouth is too pervy for me. I didn’t enjoy it.
The new Groening show on Netflix is pretty good too.
Pretty good, but it feels a bit like a caricature of Futurama at this point. Of course, Futurama was weak at the very beginning as well, so I’ll give it another season or two to see if it finds its own voice.
*falls off chair*
Episode 2 was the whalers on the moon episode and it was freaking genius.
It did dramatically change in tone though over time. At first it was a pessimistic show. Dystopian future. Suicide booths, no career freedom, etc. but the creators’ optimism for the future quickly grew. It became something different and fun.
+1 She’ll be comin around the mountain
I stand by my statement. You don’t get a truly great episode until Hell is Other Robots (although an argument could be had about a Fishful of Dollars).
My Three Suns is absolutely genius from start to finish.
You’re talking about episodes 6 and 9. OK, you did say “very beginning” so I’ll accept your argument.
I too loved the theme-park on the moon episode 2.
Now that I think about it episodes 4 and 5 were also amazing. To me at least. Yeah it seems like it was pretty strong from the beginning to me.
The Netflix show I laughed at quite a bit but it’s not even at early futurama stride yet.
Conversely, the only dud I can think of is the one with Beck.
I thought season 1 of Futurama was the pinnacle… and then it ran out of steam after that. ie – Fry as the main character was only interesting as the “man from the past”. Once he learned the culture of the future, and became part of it, then the show wasn’t as interesting.
Now that I think about it you’re right: Lela is the princess, Fry the elf guy, Bender’s the demon, and Farnsworth is the King. It could turn out to be a classic but it needs to get better first.
Duckman!
Bob’s Burgers.
What the hell are you looking at!?
Stupid show ending on a cliff hanger.
FLUFFY: Mr. Duckman, why’d you eviscerate us with a hot curling iron?
DUCKMAN: It’s Tuesday.
Great article and explanation. Your parents were ahead of their times in having you learn English from childhood. Many of us here can appreciate that. In the rural areas English takes on many regional accents, even though we don’t notice them our selves. There’s a good chance that many on here would hear me speak and know at least the region of origin. We all believe we have the Kansas City dialect but it ain’t so. Thanks.
Confession: Everything I know about He-Man, I learned from watching Robot Chicken.
Probably best that way.
He-Man was basically a 18 minute commercial to sell He-Man toys.
Robot Chicken definitely nailed it.
The Netflix Documentary series The Toys that Made Us has an episode about He-Man. And yeah, it was all marketing and trying to sell toys to young boys.
Doesn’t that describe like 80% of the kids cartoons made since 1977 when George Lucas taught the entertainment industry the value of merchandising?
off topic…..the Great MAGA Noosing of Chicago is descending into farce now.
From a Chicago TV reporter:
And this from some sort of Chicago crimewatch outfit
I’m going with either drug deal gone bad or consensual beating aimed at getting his name out there because his story doesn’t make a whole hell of a lot of sense.
Doesn’t matter. Everyone knows MAGA-people are guilty of thought assault 24/7. So they’re guilty. Fake but accurate.
QED muthafucka.
I’ve seen in multiple places on these Twitter feeds a screenshot of what looks like a blog comment from somewhere unknown claiming that he was beaten up by the angry boyfriend of a guy he picked up in a club. No idea where that came from or its veracity, but it sure as hell sounds a lot more plausible than a roving team of Trumpists.
I haven’t laughed as hard as I did when the Chicago police released the photos of the people of interest in a long time.
“Have you seen these two small blobs of indeterminate age, race, or sex?”
Their hats appear to be fluorescent orange watch caps, not red maga hats.
I think those were photoshopped in, meme style, because the original photo I saw was just a dark outline.
we’ve really lost our way as a society when getting beat up by a tranny hooker is so stigmatized that you’d file a false police report.
I’m going to say something controversial.
I’m not normally one to encourage heavy handed police actions, but if it is somehow proven this is a hoax, I hope the cops in Chicago are pathetic enough excuses for humanity to throw the book at this guy.
Just to make an example of somebody making shit up.
Haha
That’s funny. The politicians will ensure that the police don’t prosecute him for the lie. The police, no doubt, would want to throw the book at this guy, but that’s not going to happen. Which is not to say that the police are some noble do-gooders who would want to prosecute this guy because it’s the right thing to do- it’s just politics. CPD shares a lot more in common with Trump voters (culturally and policy wise) than they do with the lakefront liberals in the City (which are now the dominant group). It’s just another gang trying to shit on rival gangs.
This whole mess will be swept under the rug and CPD will just be pissed about it and looking to get revenge on some woke alderman or something.
Yeah….you’re right.
but this is getting old.
To find who rules you, just look at who you can’t criticize.
https://freebeacon.com/politics/house-dems-reject-gop-proposal-to-block-raises-for-federal-employees-guilty-of-sexual-misconduct/
So, it is the Jews then?
https://www.mintpressnews.com/new-senate-anti-bds-bill-unconstitutional-and-ineffective-at-curbing-israel-boycotts/253598/
Does the BDS nonsense actually accomplish anything? I dont really know what Israel exports.
It’s hurt Palestinians. The biggest employer in the West Bank is Soda Stream. They employee over 400 Palestinians. They were boycotted a few years ago because hey were Israeli owned. Guess who got laid off?
I have a magazine loader made in Israel.
See, I have had a hell of time acquiring Israeli orphans. Who’s your dealer?
Hotties? Also seltzer machines.
Advertisement .
Ted S take note. You’ll like the song.
Solar Power systems
Robotic Exoskeleton systems for paraplegics.
You have to heard of these guys.
Politics really is just a gigantic game of “gotcha”.
And the taxpayers are the ones who always get got in the end.
No love for Space Angel?
I always liked cartoons that didn’t talk down to me. Exo-Squad was a show about genetic engineering, racism and the horrors of war with giant robot suits thrown into a space adventure. Characters actually died, the bad guys had legitimate reasons and sometimes the good guys did the wrong thing. It was awesome.
Exo-Squad was awesome. The “bad guy” had a real point, his entire race was created as slaves and rebelled. It’s kind of hard not to be on their side.
I’ve seen in multiple places on these Twitter feeds a screenshot of what looks like a blog comment from somewhere unknown claiming that he was beaten up by the angry boyfriend of a guy he picked up in a club. No idea where that came from or its veracity, but it sure as hell sounds a lot more plausible than a roving team of Trumpists.
Does Smirking Papist Kid have an alibi?
I didn’t think “over-egg” could be literal. I doubled a recipe for squash casserole but ended up with something more like soupy quiche.
Fry it and make squash crepes?
Going to have to. Eugh.
very OT: Now which one of you did this?
https://5newsonline.com/2019/01/30/man-accused-of-throwing-meth-filled-death-party-for-wife/
We discussed this a couple o days ago.
That’s Tundra after a three day bender.
Sorry I missed it. We have a few MN glibs. Wasn’t sure which one it was.
FAKE NEWS!!
It was four days.
The 4th day of a 7 day bender.
Fucking cops spoil everything.
That mug shot is too funny.
“Duane checked her out and took her home against medical advice. The couple spent their last hours together making love and listening to metal band Quiet Riot’s 1983 album “Metal Health,” the Daily News said.”
Fucking awesome.
Seriously. Worse ways to say goodbye.
Indeed. I would have chosen MDMA and anything mid 70’s Jorge Ben, but not too shabby.
Sorry about your wife, btw.
Met a nice 50 year old young lady already. She had been arrested for dealing and was there when I was booked. I think she digs me.
Life does, indeed, thunder on.
I randomly remembered Centurions: Power Xtreme as something I watched as a kid
Good article Pie, enjoyed it.
I spent years in school “learning” Spanish. One month in Latin America being immearsed in it was far better for my speaking. Portuguese, much the same. A Brazilian young thing helped get me up to speed with that tongue. Nothing beats language acquisition by just jumping in the deep end.
This comment achieves an admirable level of euphemism density. Well done.
it is thicc with euphemisms
That was the thrust of it alright.
Awesome article Pie. I’ve been trying to learn Polish so that I can read some of their novels.
I’ve been using Duolingo and lists but at this point I’m wondering if I wouldn’t be better off watching Polish TV shows/movies with Polish subtitles and just working it out from that.
I was under the impression that it takes three people to read a single Polish novel.
I feel like my jumping is insufficient to catch the joke.
No you have it backwards, it takes 3 polacks to read a novel
Working hard is racist
https://hotair.com/archives/2019/01/31/phoenix-man-offended-historic-image-coal-miners-calls-blackface/
related
https://twitter.com/AlexisB42771804/status/1090588700298432512
Great article, Pie!
Can I hire you to be my voice double?
15 bucks an hour #fightforfifteen
Worth every dime!!
I still find your English competency astonishing. The fact that cartoons helped makes me feel like we all might have a chance to be fluent!
Unpossible. If you make 15 then you’re depriving some poor Romanian families of their well deserved $3.50 living wage.
I can’t believe you guys remember Star Blazers I watched that religiously (I mean, even more religiously than my religion at the time).
Star Blazers and Force Five were my go to every day when I got home from school for like 6 years.
For those who did not grow up in the North East during the 70’s and 80’s Force Five was a set of 5 Japanese cartoons and a different one was shown each day. The Shows were
Gaiking
Danguard Ace
Starvengers
Grandizer
Spaceketeers
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Force_Five
I understand. Japanese space cartoons were so awesome…
Get home from school, and, yeah…
/note: not meant ironically.