Braceface is coming to DVD!

[Lazario]

Ah, that's good to hear. Of course, there's still a big difference between airing these movies and airing a *cartoon* with gay characters. They seem to have different standards, don't they?

Yes. Another casualty of our over-religious, ultra-conservative nation. No one cares about letting people actually live free in an allegedly "free" nation, they just push their agenda of apathy and artificial moral outrage.

When I was in sixth grade, I attempted to take a whole bottle of some medication all at once. I don't recall what the pills were, but I threw up about halfway through behind our garage. That was my only real attempt, although I often fantasized about killing myself. I felt like a total wimp for not being able to do it. I'd go for as long as I possibly could without eating in hopes of either losing weight or losing the energy to live; I didn't care which.

My suicidal period, when it began, lasted longer than 15 years. My most popular method was cutting the wrist area of either arm. I tried nearly 3 dozen times. I have permanent scars from about 6 years ago that I imagine will last me the rest of my life.

[Sunset Girl]

Yes. Another casualty of our over-religious, ultra-conservative nation. No one cares about letting people actually live free in an allegedly "free" nation, they just push their agenda of apathy and artificial moral outrage.

Well, at least this subject has become more accepted in animation in general, it's even brought up in the PBS serieh Postards from Buster. Of course, that stirred quite the controversy.

My suicidal period, when it began, lasted longer than 15 years. My most popular method was cutting the wrist area of either arm. I tried nearly 3 dozen times. I have permanent scars from about 6 years ago that I imagine will last me the rest of my life.

I'm sorry to hear that. I've had two friends that were cutters. I used to hit myself in more recent years, which obviously didn't endanger my life in any way or do any permanent damage, but it was another form of self-mutilation brought on by not being able to handle life. I had bruises all over my legs and arms, and for better or for worse, they were easy to keep hidden.

[Lazario]

Well, at least this subject has become more accepted in animation in general, it's even brought up in the PBS serieh Postards from Buster. Of course, that stirred quite the controversy.

I'm sorry, but didn't that NOT air? I think when I read the newspaper article on that, they said PBS refused to air it after pressure from a-hole conservatives claiming to be concerned parents. Yeah, they're concerned their kids might actually have minds of their own.

God, hitting yourself must be the hardest thing to do. I hit myself by accident all the time, and it hurts a lot. The worst is stubbing my toe which I seem to end up doing at least once a day usually. Damn toe, I'm so damn clumsy.

[Sunset Girl]

I'm sorry, but didn't that NOT air? I think when I read the newspaper article on that, they said PBS refused to air it after pressure from a-hole conservatives claiming to be concerned parents. Yeah, they're concerned their kids might actually have minds of their own.

Well, I hadn't heard all the details but I should have known. And now that I'm thinking along these lines I'm reminded of some controversy several months back of a children's music video that dealt with tolerance of diversity. Spongebob was among the characters used, and many people pointed their angry fingers at him claiming that he was a gay advocate for children everywhere.

God, hitting yourself must be the hardest thing to do. I hit myself by accident all the time, and it hurts a lot. The worst is stubbing my toe which I seem to end up doing at least once a day usually. Damn toe, I'm so damn clumsy.

It wasn't that hard, actually. Ever get so angry or upset that you just wanted to hit or kick something? Ever act upon the urge? Well I certainly did, but for some reason it was easier (and softer!) to hit myself in the legs as hard as I could (as I was sitting) as opposed to putting my fist through the wall. Something seemed too violent about hitting other things anyway, and at the time I felt I deserved what I was doing to myself.

I later found out it's sort of a natural eleviation for stress and anger, which is why some therapists offer padded sticks to their patients as a safer outlet.

Wow, I just realized how insane I must sound! I swear, I'm not that bad anymore.

[Lazario]

If I see Braceface on TV again, I'm going to give it another try.

Well, I hadn't heard all the details but I should have known. And now that I'm thinking along these lines I'm reminded of some controversy several months back of a children's music video that dealt with tolerance of diversity. Spongebob was among the characters used, and many people pointed their angry fingers at him claiming that he was a gay advocate for children everywhere.

And after all these examples of the stupidity of conservatives, people still stick up for people like Bush and his cronie administration of clowns. Maybe I'm not so amazed... Anyway, the answer to the age-old question should be mightly easy to come by already, it's impossible right now to argue with the braindead that there's nothing wrong with homosexuality, they keep going back to the bible. So, let's make it official, we live in America, land of the FREE, not the free-to-live-the-conservative-way. I'm a natural opponent to gun control and legalization of marijuana, which makes me a little conservative at heart, but I'd be willing to let down these principles if we could finally live in a country where people understood what freedom truly is.

It wasn't that hard, actually. Ever get so angry or upset that you just wanted to hit or kick something? Ever act upon the urge? Well I certainly did, but for some reason it was easier (and softer!) to hit myself in the legs as hard as I could (as I was sitting) as opposed to putting my fist through the wall. Something seemed too violent about hitting other things anyway, and at the time I felt I deserved what I was doing to myself.

Wow, I just realized how insane I must sound! I swear, I'm not that bad anymore.

Oh please, I said back there that I tried to slit my wrists about 36 times. Who can remember the true number when you're so mad, you fantasize about pulling a little Columbine of your own. Funny how I can talk like that all I want now that I'm not in school anymore, but kids get arrested and charged for terrorism just for having in their possession a fictional story involving zombies at a high school. Zombies at a high school represent conformity, and now the conservatives have just been exposed.

Television is just one more media outlet where you have access to so many cool ideas and formats. It's eternally disheartening to see unfortunately that so many TV show episodes are held back and banned for trying to do the unconventional. Again, conservatism ruining the nation. People honestly, who do you think found that deleted sequence from Make Mine Music so offensive in the first place?

[matt2390p]

thats awesome!! i usually dont make an effort to watch the show, but when i do, i like it

[Little Red Henski]

who do you think found that deleted sequence from Make Mine Music so offensive in the first place?

I think it was a far Left hippie that censored that film. To be fair Right Wingers are not reponsible for all censorship. I hate Right Wingers too because they will not give us socialized health care so I'm not trying to stick up for them.

[Lazario]

I don't remember that deleted sequence having anything to do with hippies. Hillbillies and hippies are hardly the same thing.

[Little Red Henski]

The scene was censored because of the gunplay not because of hillbillies. Hillbilllies are White therefore nobody is going to give a damn if they are stereotyped in a cartoon. It is old hippies that are always complaining about violence in cartoons.

[Lazario]

I think it's more the soccor moms' doing. None of whom were ever once hippies. Old hippies know who the enemies are, they're not going to complain about children being programmed with violence, they know how harmless Disney really is. Sounds like you never once agreed with a hippie. Granted, I never believed smoking marijuana and growing one's hair long was a form of rebelling against conformity or abusive establishments, but don't you think peace would be a good thing? Hippies have no beefs with Disney. Except for maybe the WWII doco's Disney did between Bambi and Fun and Fancy Free.

[Sunset Girl]

Yeah, I think the fear of potentially offending the soccer moms is the biggest motivation behind the cuts made in the editing room.

I really don't know what to say about right-wing conservatists and hippies except that I feel that we rely too much on generalizations. And that doesn't just go for these groups.

Just the other day I was talking about how when I was a kid, one of the main things I thought was great about getting to be a grown-up was that they don't have to worry about social status anymore. You know, who were the jocks, who were the popular girls, etc. God, was I wrong! School is just a microchosim of just about every aspect of life. And I'm not saying that I don't fall into that trap, because I certainly do.

If I were to label myself, I'd guess that I'm a hippie in the respect that I love nature and do what I can to help the enviournment. I don't like the ever-increasing corporate greed of America (which you may recall from my "Is McDonald's Evil" thread) and I believe that something should be done about the price of healthcare. But I'm not a stoner (I'll admit that I tried pot at one time in my life), I don't believe in "free love" and I adore modern technology. I don't believe in censorship, although I'm appalled by all the crap they get away with playing on the radio these days.

Hmm. I'm not sure where I'm going with this. I wonder what the stereotypical adult Disney fan is supposed to be to those outside our loop? Maybe something like a geeky fanboy for the guys living in his parent's basement and a ditzy soccer mom-type that goes "aw!" over every cute thing she sees for the ladies?

[Lazario]

***(I must warn ahead of time, this post contains a brief bit of offensive language, though it's not directed at any Ultimate Disney Members, please understand I feel this is absolutely necessary and needed to illustrate a point. This is also not the beginning of any habits on my part)***

If I had to label myself, I'd call myself an ideal realist.

I understand what's wrong, in excrutiating detail sometimes, but that doesn't keep me from knowing what's right too. I feel like people are having their inspired thoughts penalized by a society that wants to control everything we say and do. I blame the social conservatives, because they are the people who have experienced the least amount of hardship, and had to contend with the least amount of personal setbacks. They make light of issues affecting women, gays, race minorities, etc. And everything in their world revolves around money. I believe private school for the rich should be ABOLISHED so that those privilaged preppie wimps can see how much protection us "fags" and "bitches" and "niggaz" have in public school. We don't have locked gates and security guards. And there's no reason these rich jerks should be looked at as more important than the rest of the students in the education system. When their system is underfunded, they're short 50 to 100 bucks. Too bad, I guess that means no kegs at the Prom. When the public system is underfunded, we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars - sometimes millions. The wealthy tax payers aren't the only ones getting breaks, their kids benefit just as much as they do.

That's one of the things you stand behind when you support George W. Bush and the Republican party. I know it sounds like a joke, right? You patriots want to believe that the liberals are the ones responsible for all the problems with America. But they're not. Sure, most liberals think legalization of marijuana is a good thing. Though they certainly have the most compassionate viewpoint on marijuana for medicinal purposes. But conservatives cut budgets for child services (including adoption, foster / group homes, scholarship programs to ivy league schools for underprivilaged gifted students, and generally anything to do with public education), women's services (abused & battered women's shelters that are the only places that protect them from violent spouses), and medical care (including stalling ground-breaking research and development of treatments that can cure a variety of life-threatening illnesses).

I'm a realist because I don't ignore the facts about conservatives and Republicans, just because I agree terrorism is bad. But I'm an idealist because I still think there are a lot of intelligent people who can think for the good of everyone rather than just selfishly, and having issues with things they don't know more about, or think are icky, or don't have the power to be empathetic.

[Little Red Henski]

My public school had locked gates and security guards and cops. It is in the best interest of those that are in power to keep the working class Americans ignorant. It's kind of hard to brain wash people with the media, when they can think for themselves.

[Lazario]

The worst thing about the news media is, there is no human connection. It's always so damn robotic. Who wants to just know what happened, and listen to people who should seem shocked really that they're being interviewed by insensitive TV crews, talk about any manner of things people forget about instantly. It's just like reality TV, people want to be on camera, so the camera goes everywhere. We are a society with no more personal lives. Everything is documented, and you know when you hear Tom Cruise losing his mind on national television, that the media, for whatever side it's dominated by, is showing us too much. I include Oprah, and many talk shows in this embarassing spot on modern civilization.

[Sunset Girl]

Oh god, don't even get me started on schools. . .

My high school and fellow students found themselves very important. We often had it hammered in our heads that for a ratio of money per student, that we were the second richest school of the entire state.

Yet they cut the art budget. And I know for a fact that none of the athletic programs were hurting for any money, and every school dance was decorated to the nines.

And it wasn't that I even grew up in a rich area, I certainly didn't. The reason our school had money was because it was a small town that happened to have a nice big power plant that paid a hefty sum in taxes. But we ended up with a lot of cocky students that never hurt for anything.

My boyfriend works at the small, insignificant end of the media business. I, for one, don't care much for radio and television anymore, and that began long before I knew him. The media may be showing us too much, but that's only because it's catering to an audience that can't get enough.

[Lazario]

My high school and fellow students found themselves very important. We often had it hammered in our heads that for a ratio of money per student, that we were the second richest school of the entire state. Yet they cut the art budget. And I know for a fact that none of the athletic programs were hurting for any money, and every school dance was decorated to the nines.

Yeah, competitive sports are one of the first things on my society's demons list. And sports will never see a suffer of financing. Because it's a conformist club. When you join, the community feels like they've got an eye out for everything you do. That is, unless you're a male. In which, you've got a whole group of morally bankrupt people who always have something to say about the way the guys live their lives. I understand a lot of high school athletes feel a lot of pressure to measure up to what their parents and coaches expect of them, but look at how many times these kids assault girls in their schools and get off with slaps on the wrists because they're small town sports heroes. Boys involved in high school sports begin to get the message that they can do whatever they want and they'll be protected by their winning football games. Even though this isn't entirely true, the callous people usually involved in instructing P.E. (I had 7 P.E. teachers in my school experience and they were all jerks) don't do much to dispell that myth.

Any afterschool activity to do with groups, especially those who give shows to which large amount of community members attend (many sports are nothing more), are put before the ones that give more back to the students. It's a smaller version of the nation, things that give back to the community, regardless of whether they're better for the students or not, are put before that make a difference and enrich students' school experience. Then, test scores are more important to the people in charge than whether the students learn anything or not. School is such a joke. Even when I was going, I hated it, yet we had a better governing administration.

[Sunset Girl]

I think that having sports is important, but only to a certain extent. Yeah, it's good for students to get some physical activity and discipline, learn teamwork and sportsmanship, and yadda yadda yadda, but it should not be held in the high regard that it is. And is it really fair for pro athletes to make the amount of money they do?

Sports overshadowed everything at my school, and I'm sure it's like that at most schools where entire art and music programs are being dropped.

We just need a good balance of everything, but I don't see that happeneing. People's priorities are just too screwed up.

And you're right about the test scores, of course. I got pushed into taking ACT's and SAT's even though I didn't want to take them. They were not a requirement of my college anyway, but I guess my high school figured I'd do well with my scores because I was a decent student (despite the fact that I missed a lot of school).

My constant absenteeism was a big problem, not because they were concerned for me, but they lost money from the state every time a student is absent. They played down the fact that I had asthma and said to my face that I simply cut school because I didn't like it. Well, it's true that I didn't like it, but that wasn't why I missed a lot.

We were also the first school in IL to use the "block system" for class schedules, which I guess is pretty standard now. Privilidged students got to skip class and give tours to visiting teachers and students from other schools.

Now why do I keep thinking of Daria?

[Lazario]

Sports overshadowed everything at my school, and I'm sure it's like that at most schools where entire art and music programs are being dropped.

One of the reasons I'm glad I don't go to school anymore. I couldn't stand to be lied to anymore.

We just need a good balance of everything, but I don't see that happeneing. People's priorities are just too screwed up.

And everyone's only choice is to wise up about it now. Because time is not on the kids' side anymore, not without money.

Now why do I keep thinking of Daria?

Daria is a good role model for kids, even though she was fictionalized. "It's not how hard you study, it's how hard you play football!" I even think the episodes covered a fairly wide range of topics, all within the privilaged kids versus... the others. One episode about how Daria could get into an ivy league High School just based on her brains, only to meet the kids that go to such an advanced and unique school, and they're actually much snobbier than the kids from her well-to-do Lawndale High. Another episode dealt with the high school's fashion club losing it's members one-by-one due to strange indentity crises - one girl gets fat, another girl realizes she needs the fat girl because for all her backstabbing she actually knows too much about fasion to lose from the club, the next girl realizes she needs the first two girls because she can't deal with the last girl's obsession with-herself alone. Another episode was about how the popular kids dealt with death by asking advice from the loner girl, Daria, the school's resident "misery chick", then Daria starts making money off of them.

[Sendur]

I hope they will also release it in Holland, because Braceface is here very populair
(With Totally Spies and Spongebob) the most populair toonshow in Holland