It’s important to remember, as our old pal Gil O’Teen tells us, that rights have never been given freely in the history of this planet. Those in power will do whatever it takes to keep that power.
Mind you, I personally am not in favor of violence to get change unless it is absolutely necessary (like you live in a literal dictatorship and there is no other option). But in a democracy, you should be able to get change with disruptive protests, civil disobedience, lawsuits, and non-violent illegal means (such as whistleblower activities).
It’s also important to remember that our human rights to be treated fairly and justly have always existed. Whenever I hear someone say something like, “Well, men gave women the right to vote,” I reply “If I steal your car and then give it back to you, does that mean I should be congratulated and rewarded for giving it to you?”
So yeah, fight for your rights. It’s the only way you can get them.
Here we go again!
In the 80s, I started a magazine called “Animato!” that later grew quite large and popular. I got to meet and interview great animators like Chuck Jones and Ralph Bakshi but later sold the magazine, and it went on to even bigger successes until the internet killed all magazines.
So I’m still an animation fan, but it’s basically impossible to see all the films and all the animated TV shows these days unless you’re a full-time animator or animation historian, I guess.
These days, with so much CGI, we can debate what an “animated film” even is, but generally the accepted definition is that the main characters must be animated — not just the monsters or effects. (And “motion capture” doesn’t count.)
So here’s my annual end-of-the-year list of best and worst animated films (based on their Rotten Tomatoes score). Ties are broken by number of reviews, and you have to have at least 10 reviews to make my list.
Wallace and Gromit: Vengeance Most Fowl (100%)
Look Back (100%)
Flow (97%)
The Wild Robot (97%)
Memoir of a Snail (94%)
Paddington in Peru (93%)
Inside Out 2 (91%)
Transformers One (89%)
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (86%)
Ultraman Rising (86%)
The Day the Earth Blew Up (85%)
Haikyu: The Dumpster Battle (75%)
Kung Fu Panda 4 (71%)
That Christmas (66%)
Thelma the Unicorn (63%)
Moana 2 (61%)
Despicable Me 4 (56%)
Saving Bikini Bottom (56%)
Mufasa: The Lion King (55%)
Hitpig! (55%)
The Tiger’s Apprentice (53%)
If (50%)
The Most Precious of Cargoes (50%)
Spellbound (46%)
Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim (44%)
The Garfield Movie (37%)
Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate (9%)
Hey remember that guy who said he had secret information about all the terrible crimes Hunter Biden did and who was on Fox News 43 times and whose accusations formed a ton of content for many Fox News people and probably had an affect on the election?
Yeah, you didn’t see this coming, but he just pled guilty to lying about all of it at the direction of the Russians.
So let’s all hold our breath until Fox News posts a retraction and admits it pushed false information without any regard for the truthfulness of it — you know, how they have done many times in the past and have been sued and had to pay many millions of dollars for knowingly lying to people.
Nah…
I see that the party of Law and Order — you know, the one that just elected a felon — is supporting the appointment of a new FBI director who has vowed to shut down the FBI.
There’s a line in Henry V: “The first thing we do is kill all the lawyers.” People joke about the line, but it was said by the character Dick the Butcher — a Bad Guy who wanted all the lawyers gone so he and his cronies could commit crimes and get away with it.
You think there may be a reason why the Felon-in-Chief wants to get rid of the people who will stop him and his cronies from committing more crimes?
Anger drives ratings, as Fox News is well aware. And that’s why they created the War on Christmas. Those poor Christians, being attacked and persecuted and treated terribly — how awful it must be to be a discriminated against majority. All those laws requiring people to never say “Merry Christmas” … oh wait.
I remember now. None of that ever happened.
Every example Fox News gives for a “War on Christmas” always boils down to something like “They won’t let us force kids to sing our religious songs!” or “They say ‘Happy Holidays’ which acknowledges that not everyone is a Christian and therefore they are attacking us!” or “They are refusing to allow us to use their money (taxpayer dollars) for a religious display.”
You never heard of a “War on Christmas” until Fox News made it up as a way to gain ratings, because they have learned that the angrier they get their viewers, the more they tune in. So they create fake controversies each week, with this being the annual rerun.
So here we go again. It’s now the 12th year where I have challenged anyone to give me an example of a real “attack on Christmas,” because every one of these examples is, in reality, fought in defense. You wouldn’t even hear about them if these particular Christians weren’t trying to require everyone to obey their beliefs.
(Once more, I am not counting the lone Grinch who doesn’t want anyone to say it around him, nor am I counting stores that want their employees to say “Happy Holidays” in order to include everyone. (Clearly, while on the job, employers can require you to do and say certain things.) I’m talking about a law or ordinance or anything that would prohibit anyone from saying “Merry Christmas.”)
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