Fish and Cherries Productions

Can’t take the heat this summer? Well, take some time in front of the cool computer and read what I thought of the sequel that took twenty years to come out.

Independence Day: Resurgence

I’d like to address a trend that I’m starting to find disturbing. I should probably have a whole article on it, but I’d rather get this out while it’s still fresh.

There’s been an announcement that Cartoon Network is rebooting the animated show Ben 10 and, judging from the promotional poster, it will have a minimalistic art style and focus on hyperactive, kid-pandering elements. Now I didn’t actually like this series, but I know it has a large and very devoted fan base and it is for them that I feel bad. Why? Because Cartoon Network has already come out with reboots for Teen Titans, The Powerpuff Girls, and Scooby-Doo, all of which had minimalistic art styles and focused on the hyperactive, kid-pandering elements. Oh yes, and all of them have been consistently bad.

Cartoon Network is going down a very troubling path, focusing on grabbing the attention of kids in the short term rather than keeping kids coming with quality stories. Variety is, of course, key… and that’s part of the problem. So many of these shows seem to be copies of each other. No, that’s not true, they’re actually all a copy of one show: Teen Titans Go! Despite the bad reviews, it’s pulling in very high ratings and has a huge audience to the point where Cartoon Network arrogantly advertises it as “your new favorite show.” What we’re seeing is a follow the leader mentality, putting out more of the same rather than different types of shows. While they still have gems that can legitimately engross kids with nuance like Adventure Time and Steven Universe, I’m worried that they’re going to get drowned out by this cavalcade of copycats. And I’m worried that the generation below us will suffer for it.

I don’t have kids yet, but that’s what makes me care more because right now, I’m dreading what kind of world I will be bringing them into.

Hello, class. The subject of today’s double feature is… marine life. I hope you brought all your notetaking material because we will have a test in one week. Let’s begin.

Finding Dory
The Lobster

Oh my… looks like I’ve got some big accomplishments to announce…

Let’s start with the first one: my mom and I were interviewed on a Bay Area public access show called Life on the Autism Spectrum hosted by AASCEND (Autism Asperger’s Spectrum Coalition for Education, Networking, and Development). If you don’t already know, I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome from a very young age and have spent a long time coping with it. Believe it or not, Asperger’s has been a huge boon in my creative work and going on the show allowed me to talk about it, as well as The Fire Truck Who Got Lost and the Fish and Cherries website. Follow the link here and see the interview in all its glory.

And more exciting news — I just came out with my first published book review. The website SFBook published a review I wrote on a book called The Complete Double Dead by Chuck Wendig. This marks the first time that a piece I’ve written has been published by a third party before it showed up on Fish and Cherries. Check out the review here and read about what happens when a vampire wakes up after the zombie apocalypse.

That’s all from my end. I’m going to go off and watch the trailer from the new Psychonauts game. My body is ready…

Well now, doesn’t it feel good to be back? Sorry for the delay, everyone. Emotional stuff and a multiday allergic reaction slowed down my work processes. Anyway, here’s my review of Popstar. Enjoy.

As to why I didn’t do WarCraft… I’ve heard a lot of bad press and I’d prefer to wait until X-Men: Apocalypse is more of a distant memory. I don’t think I can handle my childhood getting stomped on two weeks in a row.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping

Today’s On My Mind is being postponed for a later day. There’s something big coming in the week and I want it to be included in this week’s update.

Ahhhh, feels good to be back in the saddle. We got a double feature today, folks. The first one was delayed from last week because of Memorial Day, of course. The second one, the one that came out this week is… another Sandler film.

Fun.

The Do-Over
X-Men: Apocalypse

Wow.

I mean wow.

$6,176 raised for The Fire Truck Who Got Lost.

That is over triple the goal and I don’t know how to really express my gratitude. Thank you to everyone who helped make this happen. Bringing Barnabus the fire truck to life has been a real journey and you have definitely helped it move along. It’s hard for me to believe that my first official book is going to be published to the world. I’m excited, Amber the artist is excited, our families are excited, and you can bet that Barnabus and company are excited.

Hope you all had a great Memorial Day weekend. The holiday was the reason I didn’t post a Snippet yesterday, but I’m going to make it up next week, possibly even give you a Classic Snippet tomorrow. For now, it’s back to the grindstone for all of us.