The awesomness of voice acting

What do,

All have in common? They were all voiced by one man. Peter Cullen to be exact. I find this amazing on so many levels that I had to share.

First lets start with Murky Dismal. For those of you who don't know (because you had a depraved childhood), he is the arch enemy of Rainbow Brite. His voice is whiny and extremely nervous sounding. A quote from Murky "I'll get that rainbow brat if its the last thing I do" In a nasty whiny voice.

Eeyore - okay if you don't know who Eeyore is I think you need help. BUT for the sake of argument, Eeyore is one of Winnie-the-Pooh's bests buddies. He is deeply depressed, always thinks the worst is happening. A quote from Eeyore "The sky is falling, always knew it would." in a very low downtrodden voice.

Optimus Fucking Prime. Okay sorry just Optimus Prime...leader of the Autobots. Very cool dude. Speaks with an commanding distinctive voice. Its deep, a little gargle, almost machine sounding. A quote from Optimist..."There's more to them, than meets the eye."

SO the same man did all three voices (and many others but those are the ones that jumped out at me). I think its is wonderful and amazing that he was able to convince the audience of three different characters. Three different personalities.

Ready for another mind blower?

Okay, so this is Splinter. He is the 'father' figure to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. His voice is scratchy, old and wise sounding. Never guess who this man is really famous for voice acting?

That is right friends! Our furry little friend Elmo is voiced by Kevin Clash. He also did the voice of Splinter in TMT. No joke. He is most famous for the work he does done with Elmo though ranging over twenty years voicing the little red monster that has entertained preschoolers for years.


Okay one more. I could go on all night, but really what's the point.

So here we have The man in the Yellow hat!

This sweet man was voiced by the same actor who did Megamind!!!

Incredibly hansom criminal mastermind and master of all villainy. (his words not mine).

So in case you didn't know the man who voiced these guys is non other then....

 

WILL FERRELL!!! 

I know right? But very true...Although to his credit Will Ferrell plays many rolls. But that is another story. 

My whole point to this ramble is how amazing voice actor's really are. They say its easy (yes I watched the meet the cast of Kung Fu Panda). They get to come in wearing only their PJ's, not have makeup done blah blah. BUT they have to make us BELIEVE that the panda is talking, feeling, thinking. They give the charactor life. Through only their voice. I just find this so wonderful. Wonderful that one man can make us think he is a twenty foot robot and a depresed donkey. Amazing. 

One last thing. Have you ever watched a movie...sat there watching it and the whole time you are saying "I know that voice!" It bothers you so much that you can't really enjoy the show? 

Well those are the masters. They are the ones that can desguise their voices SO well, that when you find out who they are you say OMIGOSH NO WAY IS IT THEM!!! I leave you with one of those....

General from Planet 51. Okay if you haven't seen it, go see it, its cute. But this man is voiced by the amazing, talented, and heh hem...hansom....

GARY OLDMAN!!

What shall be our demise?

Is it going to be asteroid or global warming? WWIII or over population? Husband and I have a long going debate going on when it comes to the future and its technologies. Personally I think we are going to enter an I-Robot sort of world. Robots taking out the trash, doing deliveries etc. Husband seems to think that Star Trek is where its at. I am skeptical at best.

Robots - They are not okay!
I believe this is the closest to what will happen. Think of it we already have some of them in place! And what better place for robots...then...the military. I mean I don't want MY son dying in a pointless war, and I can just imagine the vote now Vote yes for robots going into combat Vote no and your children go instead! Yea even I would have to vote no on that. As I said we are already using them to some extent:

Know what this is? Its called a Drone. Its not manned. See there in the front where a person should be? Yeah no one is there. The guy driving this bad boy is miles and miles away sipping on a slippery looking at video screen. True facts look it up. Heck I will give the website: Drone Program. There you go!


Okay so we went from there to here:

This is the hummingbird drone. Again, controlled remotely while it goes off and does whatever the government can think up for it to do. Doesn't it look precious!! Imagine seeing in your backyard...

Okay so this is the military stuff we KNOW about. Let me repeat...that we KNOW about. God (and the military) alone know what they have come up with now.

Okay so now I jumped from Drones to insect drones. Now at what point do we get to this:

Yes laugh, but seriously remember at the beginning when I asked your son or this guy? This guy right! Who cares if he gets blown to bits. And you know what this thing probably wouldn't do anything it wasn't suppose to do. Its just parts. What you have to worry about it is where this is getting its commands from. And that my friends is the point. They can't all be Johny Fives and Wall-e's

Allow me a side jaunt here. I love Short Circuit I cried in the second one. Bawled. I still get teary. And I cried during Wall-E too and if we are honest, part of me feels bad for the 'old' robots that Will Smith's character is mean to in I-Robot. I am not heartless. I love a defected robot as much as the next person. That being said...I don't like AI....






Because really its AI that causes all the problems. (Artificial Intelligence to you non-techies) If said Terminator was ALWAYS being run by a guy then there probably wouldn't be an issue. It would be game over for the robot, but not the end of the world. Maybe kid gets demotion if he destroys too many. IF, however, we have an AI running them, (think I-robot and Skynet), then we are screwed. I will tell you why. In the case of I-Robot at least, AI  is right. We suck. We are rotten to our plant, ourselves, etc. They would eventually come to that conclusion. Skynet scenario um, why take orders from weaklings? And the winner is...ROBOTS every time. Less you have John Conner around. Then we might stand a chance.

Space - The final frontier

Okay so husbands. "To infinity and beyond!" He is convinced that we are running out of natural resources and we have to find other worlds or we are screwed. Okay. I'll buy that to a point. He thinks now that NASA isn't running the shuttle program, that its all being privatized, things are going to start happening real fast. We are going to see some major advancements in space travel.

 

Yeah I gotta say bull on this. He went on and on and on about some space bubble. If we could bend space then we could just shoot from one place to another....and I was all huh?!

  

So pretending for a moment that space warping is possible, what new terrors does this yield? Let me start off by saying I am live let live kind of person. Now, if we found a planet that was not inhabited by ANYTHING. Fine. Go there, make home whatever. BUT if the planet we find is like our beautiful Earth, then there is a good chance there would be some form of life on it. NOW how would we feel if people from another planet came down here to mess with us? Take over our planet and all? "Hi sorry we destroyed our planet can we come share yours?" Yeah...and they say "sorry guys we like clean water/air". What do we do? Leave? Go find another Earth like planet? Yeah...right. We take over! 

Of course, its the only way. Disgusting. See this might not be the 'demise' of our planet or human race but our morals? Oh yeah! Defiantly! 

Thankfully, well hopefully, we don't have this technology. Either of them. I pray that we never do. I know, I know we want the latest thing, the greatest whatever. But there is a time to say stop, and I think before we hand over the military to A.I. or start doing space bubbles and taking over planets, we should ask ourselves, why don't we fix the root of the problem? We want to flee like rats leaving a ship because our lands are spoiled...start cleaning them. We want to have robots/drones what have you fighting our wars, stop having them. I may be stupid, I might not know politics, or environmental issues, but I do know that fighting doesn't have to be the answer. Fleeing isn't the answer. Change. That is the only answer. And not a change in technology, a change with ourselves and towards our Earth, and our fellow man!

Mr. Brown can Moo...

Great book if you are learning to read. Let it be said that I love Dr. Seuss. He is one of my favorite authors. That being said, his early reading books can wear on a parent when you read them over, and over, and over....

At some point every parent has a fantasy about what they would like to do to certain books....



Unfortunately not only is destroying a book a crime (morally at least), I do believe it is probably some form of child abuse.

It is kind of amusing to me really. My son has these two books. Mr. Brown can Moo can You. By Dr. Seuss and The Gingerbread Man by Jim Aylesworth. The Dr. Seuss book is meant for early readers, so the words are simple one - two syllable at most. It's mainly sounds..."Mr Brown can sound like a clock he can TICK he can TOCK" The Gingerbread Man has an actual story line and each page has many, many words. Granted, there is rhyming so it makes it easier to read. That being said, I would rather read this more 'difficult' story over and over then read Mr. Brown one more time. No joke. Its not just that book, I hate reading Goodnight Moon (yes I do). I know grandparents and mothers of older children all go 'aww I love goodnight moon...I remember reading it to my children..." yeah do you remember reading it over and over and over? How about The hungry hungry caterpillar? Yeah? These books are enriching in their colors, shapes, words and the worlds created by very talented children's authors. They are repetitive, boring, and down right mind numbing to a parent. Well to this parent. Does this make me a bad parent? Does it make any parent bad if they hate something their kid likes? I mean if you are a Uber girl and you have a son, does it make your horrid if you hate cars and trucks? I don't think so. No where is it written that being a parent means you automatically love what your children do. In fact I would say it is perfectly okay to down right loath certain things. (think teen years with music and clothing....)  Being a parent means you put your kids first.

Selfishness isn't part of being a parent. So if your kid wants to read Goodnight Moon....again...you read it. You muster up the enthusiasm even though you can recite it in your sleep. You build city's and train tracks when you would rather play with dolls, you watch Little Bear when you would much rather watch Dexter.

And you pray...you pray that someday your child will want to read something with a plot....like Horton Hears a Who....









As a final note, am I the only parent who rather spend an extra fifteen minutes reading a 'real' story to my child then reading a quick nonsense story? I'd like to think that I am not alone.

This is why I don't like roller coasters....

Its because one minute everything is fine, world is stable beneath your feet and then next...whoosh...flip...spin....breathtaking heart stopping, stomach flipping downward spiral. Wham!! Nothing is what you thought, you are left with a shocked expression, funny tingling in your stomach and a bad hair do. That night what? Can you sleep? No. Why? Because you are thinking about that roller coaster. You might still be feeling it. You might still be a little sick.

This is life though. This is how life works. Its always been that way. Sometimes the roller coaster is awesome. Best ride of your life. Sometimes its scary, and you want nothing more then to get off. Sometimes, there is a dark tunnel and you can't see the end. Then when you think all hope is lost, the light shines through and you see it was worth it.

So what ride are you on this week, month, year? The kind where you are happy and having a great time? Or the one where you are begging the attendant to let you off? Just remember, my fellow riders, there is always a light at the end of the tunnel. It may be hard to see now sure, it may be very distant, and it might not make up for all the pain and fright and anxiety you had during the ride, but it will make the ride worth it. I can say that, even though I am currently on a very strange ride. One I never thought to be on, one I hoped to leave behind.

Addiction

There are many, many forms. Some are good for you. Being addicted to running for example.

Some are awful for your health, drugs come to mind!











And some are awful the people around you. Like gaming addictions....

I have been addicted to things in my day. Like smoking, big one there, and coffee. So I am no stranger to the pull that addictions can have one you...

Come here, I will make life all better!!

That all being said, I thinking gaming addiction is the dumbest. Perhaps that is because I have a loved one who has one. "Yes my name is M I am the spouse of a gamer.? "Hi M!"

So in true therapy fashion how does this make me feel. Well, I feel angry, a lot. I have come to despise his computer in ways I have never despised an inanimate object before. (were are not going to talk about a missing Cowboy Junkies CD that was accidentally maliciously destroyed).

I get angry at him for not wanting to spend his free time with his family. Now I understand that you, want some you time after work. I get that. Gosh I would like it to. Now GROW UP!! For Gosh sakes we have a four year old!! And every single day he is just getting older! Why isn't that the most amazing thing you have ever seen in your whole life? That is what kills me. If it was just me, whatever. But having this amazing wonderful person to play with and enjoy and not WANTING to? Just PISSES ME OFF!!! I can't even handle it.

And yes, we have talked. There have been many, many talks! Nothing. I promise I will cut down, I promise this I promise that. Instead I am left to have these wild fantasies about what I would like to do with his computer. Like this one for example.

Pretty good huh? Totally made that myself!! But honestly this is a mild one. Others have included acid, fire, burying ashes, oh car tires. Many many more wonderful ways of destruction, and I am open to more ideas.

I just don't understand the addiction I guess. In ways I am sure some people will never understand why I spent so many years smoking. But to me, this is just stupid. I mean down right, loser stupid. Its like Dungeons and Dragons for losers. You have to play and get good or whatever and then interview to join the best guilds!! Lame! Is this a job? Are they paying you? Oh and apparently if you aren't on raids enough, your percent goes down and they can kick your butt out!? What is this survivor? Honestly!! This is the stupidest waste of time. Read your kid a story, play some go fish. Some day he is going to be a man and you are going to say...what the heck happened?

Here are some fun links for you:

Everquest - not just for kids for anymore
Gaming Addiction - where to get help 
Addictions - again, where to get help 
Being the loved on of an addict 

Childhood Memories...they aren't what you think!

Okay so we are watching Bambi, and I seem to remember it being longer. I remember this epic tale of forest animals who fight starvation, hunters, fires, each other. I remember epic battle scenes and death scenes that lasted forever...All the scenes that stick out in my mind were epic hour long scenes...come to find out they are at most a few minutes...

The battle he has with the other deer, totally lasted hours, with bloodshed and cliffs, same name calling. I think there were actually a gang of deer and they had a dance sequence.
The fire, took most of the movie! I mean we are talking this great inferno that destroyed everyone and everything. Blacking the sun out for years.
His mom dying (spoiler sorry), literally took at least 1/2 an hour and was complete with final words.

In reality the entire movie is only about an hour and half long. The scenes that I really associated with this movie, only last a few minutes. What does this say about our memories? More speciaically childhood ones? Are they reliable at all? Can we really look back and say "yes of course I had pink skates and they had a rainbow on them and I was the best skater in school." when the reality is no, they were white, had no rainbows and you couldn't stand up to save your soul!

What is real?! Seriously! Watch Bambi again, make a list of things you remember, see if they compare. In fact I plan on watching other classics. Just to make sure they are the same. Thankfully Beauty and the Beast didn't dissapoint me...or my memories.

Change is in the air...

Mom finally got a job! I will be working at the Parrish Art Museum, which is a very nice art museum here in town. It is part time (28) hours a week. It came at the very best time!!! I am so thankful for this job!!

I am also thankful for another reason (aside from the new income which is greatly appreciate and MUCH needed). The other reason I am thankful is because I can now send my son to a school that specializes in helping children with needs. The school is called Alternatives for Children and its a beautiful school.
Here, he will receive his speech and occupational therapy. He will be with other children receiving services as well, which I think is wonderful.

He has been doing speech now for two weeks and, I think he is doing well. The teacher comes and usually plays a game with him. (today for example was bingo). They will pick a card... say with an apple... and she will ask him all kinds of questions, what color is the apple, what other things are red, what other names of fruit are there, etc. So she is really working on his ability to recall information, give more detail and ask questions himself. He is really receptive and having fun. I hope he does just as good in his new school!!

He had his first occupational therapy lesson today, that was fun. The girl that came just hunkered down on the floor with him and started playing! He really needs to work on his fine motor skills and I am sure that with six more months of specialized schooling and training he will be just fine! I am so thankful and so RELIEVED that we are able to get Cody into this school. I am so glad I was given this job so that we could do it.

We still plan on moving in June, so no worries there! This is just tiding us over till then. And really, to give Cody this opportunity is so amazing!