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FightingSeraph
I've been on here for over a decade and have a high level, so fucking what? Regarding my MSN and Trillian accounts: Request to be added.

Shane @FightingSeraph

Age 39, Male

Need a new one.

N/A

Slidell, Louisiana

Joined on 5/25/01

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FightingSeraph's News

Posted by FightingSeraph - November 21st, 2012


I've always been a fan of Popeye, namely the Fleischer cartoons and the 1980 movie. However, here's some randomly chosen cartoons from the '50s and early '60s.

Insect To Injury

To be honest, I'm not too big on the '50s cartoons considering that they aren't as funny and creative as the '33-'48 cartoons. This, on the other hand, is kind of amusing.

Plumber's Pipe Dream

These limited-animation episodes were outsourced to various studios both Stateside (Jack Kinney from Disney) and overseas (Vaclav Bedrich who worked for Gene Deitch). This was done by the former with nice layouts by Ray Jacobs (ex-Lantz storyman), but suffers from the bad timing that was prevalent in most limited animation cartoons.

Peep in the Deep

Now this episode has Harry Foster Welch as Popeye when Jack Mercer was currently on military leave. (Fun Fact: Willard Bowsky, one of the prime animation talents at that studio, was killed in action during The Battle of the Bulge.)

Rocket to Mars

Were Bill Turner and Otto Messmer fans of the John Carter of Mars books? Apparently so.

Childhood Daze

Larry Harmon produced this one after he was done with the Bozo the Clown cartoons. Here's some interesting tidbits about the people who made this short:
-Cal Dalton once animated for Warner Bros.
-Lou Scheimer and Hal Sutherland used to work for both Harmon and Warner animator Bob Givens before starting Filmation in 1963.
-Harmon himself used to work for UPA on the Mister Magoo theatrical cartoons. (He did the voice of Waldo.)

Weight For Me

Here's one by Gene Deitch, and probably one of his better cartoons.

Lunch With A Punch

I hope people here learn something from these cartoons, and apply what was good about them while taking out the bad.


Posted by FightingSeraph - November 17th, 2012


http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/hostess-bankruptc y-what-role-did-policy-play/

I don't know how this went under the radar, but it is sad to see Hostess go under. The guys at the Cato Institute do a far better job at explaining why government regulations do more harm than good.

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/lies-my-history-t eacher-told-me-about-the-war-on-terror/

Here's an excerpt from a script I wrote concerning the Patriot Act: "If the Patriot act has made this country safer, then why did the Fort Hood massacre happen? Oops! Looks like it didn't make this country safer, which leads to another point: FUCK YOU!

http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_
id=2053595

An interesting paper written by Ilya Shapiro from the Cato Institute.

And now, another obscure game I found:

Vajra 2

This was released for Pioneer's Laseractive add-on for the TurboGrafx-16/PC Engine by the equally obscure Data West.


Posted by FightingSeraph - November 8th, 2012


As an added bonus, here's the Hardcore Gaming 101 article:
http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/rusty/rusty.htm


Posted by FightingSeraph - November 4th, 2012


1. Mitt Romney: To be honest, I don't like him considering that his voting record as governor is no different than Obama's. I mean, they both support the same healthcare plan, tax hikes, more regulations, the War on Drugs, the Patriot Act, the bailouts, and more of the same government bloat that I'm sick of. Why not vote for Gary Johnson instead of either one of those lame-ass losers?

2. Billy Cass (Dragoon Fenix 15): I've been a fan of this guy's stuff since his old Kirby cartoons and sprite flash. And it's been like what, eight years since Rokemon? Plus, after reading his announcement of a big comeback, I would love to see whichever he submits to see if he's still got what it takes to be the legend he used to be. Besides, he's still better than Legendary Frog and the Zirbes Brothers, who are far overvalued.

3. Kimlinh Tranh: My feelings towards her are mixed. While she is a decent voice actress who does have some skills in drawing, animation, and direction; seeing her plug her latest roles in her news posts is annoying and ostentatious. Furthermore, what the hell was she thinking when she agreed to work on VG Exiles ep. 3? Speaking of which...

4. R1665: I personally hate having to repeat myself, but I also have mixed feelings towards him. On one hand, he has the eye for fight choreography, as well as being adept at comedic timing. Unfortunately, as a writer and overall director: I don't see VG Exiles eclipsing Alvin-Earthworm, Splash Khat, or MaelstormM anytime soon. Reasons why: I) The pacing is intolerably slow, which is one of the reasons for my disdain towards motion comics. II) The story is convoluted, contrived, not very cohesive, and a bad case of trying too hard to be the next big thing. III) The dialogue is badly-written and I was laughing because of it. IV) The voice acting is also pathetic and unnecessary. I mean, it was much better when it didn't have voice acting. It's almost like the sprite equivalent to a shitty comics crossover.

5. The video upload invite: I know a lot of people will hate me for repeating myself, but my feelings towards the recent video player are mixed. Look, I have no problem with people submitting video on NG, but when people submit regular flash cartoons as video is where I get a bit annoyed. To elaborate on what I said: people who have excellent 3D CG, stop-motion/claymation, Photoshop animation, and live-action shorts who have no knowledge of how Flash's actionscript works, I can see where they are coming from (Examples: Kellz5460 and Jacob Streilein). The same can be said for .swf files that are over 35-40 MB such as Rambojoe's rotoscope cartoons. But for certain others who got the invite to submit regular flash as video for the sake of it is ostentatious, irresponsible, wasteful, and asinine. As said before, High-Def belongs on Blu-Ray, Imax, X-Box 360, and home theaters. In addition, also worth mentioning are the following:
-People who have video stuff and knowledge of Flash can just import their video, balance weight/quality, and add a preloader to the beginning. (Examples: Four Minutes, BONK!, and Warriors of the Portal) Thus rendering the uploader as mostly unnecessary.
-I see little point in using After Effects in 2D animation seeing that A) AE's effects are distracting, unimpressive, and ugly, B) Only Proxicide has managed to make it augment his sprite movies, and C) considering what actionscript is capable of in the hands of a clever animator, it seems redundant and inane.
In other words, it would be nice of people on here to save it for the aforementioned 3D CG, Stop-motion/claymation, Live-action, and .swf files that are larger than 35-40 MB in size. Newgrounds shouldn't be fruitlessly copying off Vimeo, and I prefer it to be bullshit free.

6. Ouya: A lot of you may not like what I have to say about this, but I don't see this being a huge hit as its skeptics have mentioned. Let me put this in perspective: there were similar systems that have preceded it. (Voodoo, Phantom, and Pandora) Therefore, like the iPhone, it's not really innovative, but on the other hand, not everything needs to be. Second, The controller is a copy off of the X-Box 360 controller, which wasn't a smart idea considering the numerous third-party controllers for that system. Third, pretty much all of the games are already available for PCs and other systems. I mean, no exclusives for release is another sign that it isn't going to last very long. Finally, seeing that there aren't any good photos of the system yet, it'll end up being forgotten rather quickly.

7. Shark Black: It really sucks that Celx had to pull the plug on this due to his fiscal situation, but it would have been interesting to see this continued. While it does have issues (The voices could have been recorded better and the animation more dynamic with better posing); the direction and story are far superior when compared to most of this year's top-ranking submissions. In other words, it is what Broken Saints should have been.

8. Psytrance: I have to thank McFretN, SolusLunes, IronClaw, and Mottis for introducing me to this kick ass style of music. So far, I like Infected Mushroom, Astral Projection, Psysex, Paranormal Attack, Andophoria, and Hallucinogen though have yet to listen to everything they have to offer. Also worth mentioning that Goa trance, Psy ambient, and Russian Dark Psytrance (to an extent) are also great. However, there's just something about Darkpsy that I don't get considering that Psytrance is--to a degree--dark in tone. In addition, it would be nice if these 150 BPM+ Darkpsy musicians put more thought into actual melodies and harmonies. (Having Full-on-style drum/bass/effects is headache inducing.)


Posted by FightingSeraph - October 27th, 2012


While reading reviews, I noticed the buttons to change pages are gone. Honestly, it's annoying and here's hoping the staff will fix this soon. Besides, it's a little side activity I do on here. Another thing worth mentioning is that I'm trying to figure out the effects plugins to LMMS, but haven't gotten the results I wanted. It isn't like FL Studio's effects plugins that have GUI. (Especially the EQ though I am starting to get the hang of it.) If there is anyone else on here who has more experience in using LMMS, help would be very appreciated. That and good, royalty-free percussion samples.

Update: I think I need to clarify on the first sentence by saying that it's the userpage review page buttons that are gone. In addition, voting on games no longer qualifies towards the daily five, which is very bizarre. Personally, those two issues needed to be brought up. Sorry for wasting everyone's valuable time.


Posted by FightingSeraph - October 19th, 2012


First, here's some Beavis & Butt-Head episodes:

Burger World

Closing Time

Scientific Stuff

Finally, Here's a mock up of them as old people:

If there is one thing that I like about B&B aside from being funny, it would be its sense of authenticity. Something that The Simpsons, South Park, and lots of big-name users here used to have but was lost at some point. Besides, Mike Judge's brand of crude exuberance is always preferable to something that is meticulously crafted yet homogenized like what the long-time studios have been cranking out since the late '90s. (Examples: Looney Toones: Back In Action, Most of the Dreamworks animated features, and Up to name a few.)

Second, here's some stuff from Daria:

Fat Like Me

Esteemsters (Fan-made Live Action ver.)

Fair Enough

This show may not be a laugh riot as B&B or the next show on the list, but it's still enjoyable considering that they got characterization right.

Finally, here's Ren & Stimpy:

Man's Best Friend

Haunted House

Powdered Toast Man

Proof that John K's shows still crack me up years later. Hell, it's stood up to the test of time far better than its contemporaries. However, it would be great if people learned the skills that went into this show without copying off of the style. Fun fact: John and his friends hated working for Hanna-Barbera and Filmation, which led to them turning to Ralph Bakshi to create Mighty Mouse: The New Adventures.

As an added bonus: http://www.lp.org/finally-a-stark-look-at-all-3-
presidential-candidates


Posted by FightingSeraph - October 13th, 2012


First, some political bullshit:
http://www.lp.org/news/press-releases/an-open-le tter-to-the-commission-on-presidential-debates
I have to say that this very article explains why Gary Johnson would be a far superior alternative to Obama and Romney. Honestly, it kills me that people here act like the Democrats can do no wrong considering that it just isn't the case. However, just to let you know, I'm not a supporter of the Republicans.

http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/hurricane-isaac-a nd-louisiana/
http://www.downsizinggovernment.org/usace
If anyone is interested in habitat loss issues, I suggest that you read these.

Second, Bran Lanen's Techno songs:

I love classic Techno, along with the following: Acid House/Techno/Trance, Psytrance, Dark DnB, Darkstep/Neurofunk/Techstep/Darkcore, Deep House, Jungle*, Hard Dance, Aggrotech, and Industrial.

Finally, More musicians worth checking out:
Maverlyn Darkstar
Dythen
Deshiel
1600-Also an artist/animator.
Mich/Cimylium
Hades
xenith800
Dialo
KgZ
DJ Nate
Acid Notation/scratchR
Lich Lord
Bafana
Bunnymajs
Z-Raven
Nathan Allen Pinard
Adisky
Arnas


Posted by FightingSeraph - October 2nd, 2012


1. Environment: My views on the environment and environmentalism are similar to that of Patrick Moore. Just because I don't want trash on the sidewalk doesn't mean I believe in climate hysteria, extinction hype, or what other scare-story bullshit that gets perpetuated. Personally, the environmental movement has lost its worth years ago and as a result, has become that metaphorical big tree that looks strong on the outside but so rotted on the inside that the next lightning strike causes it to collapse. As for the whole climate hype, there is very little we can do to change it. Plus, how can it be man made when it has been going on since water first appeared on the Earth billions of years ago? Furthermore, how can Carbon Dioxide be a pollutant when there is plenty of substantial evidence to prove that it is anything but? It kills me that people are fretting over things that aren't threats at all whereas real ecological problems such as what the Army Corps of Engineers is getting ignored.

2. Symphony of Specters: I have to admit, it's really nice of Zack Striefel to start this group for those in need of fitting music for their projects. However, there are times where their involvement comes off as redundant considering that many of the things they worked on also have people that are also composers. (Though I will admit that there are times when redundancy is necessary.)

3. Thad Komorowski: I've been reading this guy's journal posts, and have to admit that he knows what he's talking about. His posts on the lesser known cartoons of the Golden Age were really informative, and I concur with what he said about Walter Lantz and Terry Toons. (They're two of the most underrated names in animation history.) Plus, who else would do the following:
-Comment on the cartoons that Columbia/Screen Gems were making that didn't involve Ex-Disney animator UB Iwerks.
-Write an unauthorized history on Ren & Stimpy while being a critic of John K.
-Openly criticizing Pixar. (He even wrote a review of Wall-E explaining why he thought it sucked.)
For those who missed it the first time here's his site.

4. Aztraz: I have to agree with Catoblepas/Catobleper/Catoblefaux/Catoblerone and Wooden Sneakers on this long-time NG user. Like Roger van der Weide, he may be a shitty draftsman, but how he animated those bad drawings is very creative in a style reminiscent of Van Beuren, but with extreme adult humor. Plus, his stuff had a sincere charm that is reminiscent of Evil Dave and Pirata Cobra, but was lost over the years in the name of demographic pandering, homogenized 'professionalism,' and kissing the ass of whatever mediocre shit that Disney and Pixar are churning out.

5. Touhou Project: Why is it that there are a paltry ammount of submissions involving this series whereas we're seeing too many Pokemon and Minecraft parodies getting free frontpage slots just because of an author's name recognition? Seriously, the characters themselves are perfect flash fodder in the right hands. (Just look at some of Coffgirl's stuff.) I haven't played any of the actual games aside from a few fanmade ones (Super Marisa World), but would like an actual copy of any Windows release.

6. Rosenkreuzstilette: I've seen videos of this and wouldn't mind getting an actual copy of this along with its sequel. So far, the demo of the sequel is excellent and even recommended some of our users to the game's creators. Unfortunately, by the time I made that suggestion, the sequel, RosenKreuzStilette Freuden Stachel, was already going into the testing phase. As much as I want these games, the proposed English dub is unnecessary considering the translation patch is good enough as is. Plus, having Rina-Chan, who has become stale from overexposure, isn't going to be a good idea and will likely attract the wrong crowd. (Read: the guys behind Street Fighter Chode.) On the other hand, at least it will have Jessica Calvello (Dragon Half, Dirty Pair) in this, so it isn't all bad.

7. Sailor Moon Parodies: It's surprising that there aren't more PSSM parodies on NG, and it's even more-so when it comes to those with actual quality. Most of them are either spam or are just unfunny in spite of great animation. Honestly, that series has more than enough parody material for two whole collection pages, but since General Ivan did that unfunny sound byte; people have relied on bad acting on purpose as the joke norm considering that it was only funny once or twice and really difficult to get right.

8. Kraftwerk: I've been listening to their music recently, and I have to say that they're just as great as Led Zeppelin, Rod Stewart, many disco acts, Black Flag, and many stateside contemporary musicians. Plus, you have them to thank for the Techno genre of Electronica, though Juan Atkins coined the term in the mid-'80s. Speaking of Techno, I don't think it or other electronic genres (E. G.: House, Trance, Jungle, DnB, etc.) deserve the hate they get considering all of the bad singers, lyricists, and music done with actual instruments. Please keep in mind that I also am a fan of Black Sabbath, Gwar, Slayer, and numerous Metal/Punk groups.


Posted by FightingSeraph - September 23rd, 2012


Louisianian users aside from LilG, Brad Borne (DrNeroCF), Marc M, and Matt Begneaud (ImCoolerThanYou)?

Libertarians?

Users from ConceptArt.org?

Romhackers, or people who play those?

If you happen to be any one of the three, speak up!

Edit: I should have mentioned this earlier, but found a site that's a VST goldmine:
http://www.dskmusic.com


Posted by FightingSeraph - September 11th, 2012


It's been a while since I did a post on cartoons that were made in the old days that only a scant few have heard about, let alone seen. First, here's a couple of shorts that Disney did that they would find embarrassing now.

The Story of Menstruation

This is one of the few Sex education films that Disney had ever done, and I remember seeing one on sexually transmitted diseases when I was the seventh grade. (1997-1998) Furthermore, this is how an educational cartoon should be done. (Points at Jordan Duchnycz and Spirit Science.)

Education For Death

Easily the most disturbing thing that Disney has ever done.

Private SNAFU

A really funny wartime cartoon series that Warner Bros. did for the military during WWII.

Rocky Road To Ruin

This cartoon is an attempt by Columbia to copy what Chuck Jones did with The Dover Boys at Pimento University, or Rivals at Roquefort Hall. Unfortunately, this cartoon was nowhere near what Jones did back then.

Swing Symphonies - The Greatest Man In Siam

Here's another cartoon from the underrated Walter Lantz that was directed by Fleischer animator James Culhane.

The Lyin' Lion

This is one of the first cartoons that Jim Tyer got to work on at TerryToons. Plus, he used to work on Popeye after the Fleischers left Paramount.

Kitty Caddy

Most people who saw this think it sucks. I, on the other hand, thought it was funny.

Cockatoos For Two

Bob Clampett, Stan Freberg, Cal Howard, and Bob Wickersham have made one of the few cartoons from Columbia/Screen Gems that was up to par with what Warner and MGM were cranking out.

The Pink Panther

This character was an offshoot of the movie that I prefer over the movies themselves. In case you are wondering, this was made after Friz Freleng and David DePatie left Warner.

Thanks to Thad Komorowski for discovering many of these cartoons.