Muppets at Walt Disney World Outtakes (1990)

Something really cute I found on Youtube!

Daniel Radcliffe in Japan

Here is a cute clip I found of Daniel Radcliffe (for Harry Potter) in Japan:

Pucca: Sooga Super Squad DVD

Everybody could use a bit of cute in their life. Released in March, this DVD features one episode focused on the Sooga Super Squad, and the rest are kind of randomly added in:

1	Knock It Off
2	Invincible Vengeance
3	Sooga Super Squad
4	Striking Out
5	Datin’ And Dumplins
6	Surf Ninjas
7	Ping Pong Pucca
8	Let’s Go Fly A Ninja
9	The Sooga Showdown
10	Tokyo A Go-Go
11	Up From The Depths
12	Gold Medal Garu
13	Autograph This

From the kids taking a trip to Tokyo, to Pucca setting her Uncles up on a date with an Australian adventurist, to Garu and Tobe duking it out in ancient Greece, there's something to be enjoyed. If you're a Pucca fan, definitely check this out.

Futurama TV series coming back in 2010

From IGN:

June 9, 2009 - You just can't stop Futurama. A day after news broke that the show looked to be coming back, Comedy Central has made it official, announcing they have picked up the series for an impressive 26 new episodes – thirteen more than originally expected.

As Comedy Central notes, this will mark the first true new episodes of the show in six years – though the four recent, straight-to-DVD Futurama movies were re-cut into 22 minute episodes.

Comedy Central will begin showing the new installments beginning mid-2010. An interesting note in the press release states, "Twentieth Century Fox Television retains the option to license the original runs of the new episodes to a broadcast network," seemingly implying there is a chance a network (though come on, it would be FOX, right?) could potentially air the new episodes first, before Comedy Central.

Says co-creator Matt Groening, "We're thrilled Futurama is coming back. We now have only 25,766 episodes to make before we catch up with Bender and Fry in the year 3000." Added his fellow Futurama creator, David X. Cohen, "We're excited and amazed that the show is coming back, perhaps due to some sort of mysterious time loop. We look forward to working with Comedy Central and 20th Television to make this the best iteration of the loop yet!"

Futurama mirrors another 20th Century Fox production, Family Guy, by its impressive resurrection, years after cancellation. Says 20th Century Fox TV Chairmen Gary Newman and Dana Walden, "When we brought back Family Guy several years ago, everyone said that it was a once-in-a-lifetime thing - that canceled series stay canceled and cannot be revived. But Futurama was another series that fans simply demanded we bring back, and we couldn't have been happier when Matt and David agreed that there were many more stories yet to tell."

Mari Yaguchi and Natsumi Abe in Iceland January 2009

Entitled "The one Japanese woman living in an icy town," Mari and Natsumi must fly to Iceland and find the only Japanese person living there. But it's not as easy as they think it will be. They're dropped on the other side of the country and must find their way to her through any means necessary, be it by a bus or hitchhiking, and trying to communicate with people. What they find in the small village of Hofn is a very interesting person with a story to tell.



Sorry the screenshots are so crappy :( I have uploaded the special and you can watch it HERE! Subtitles (not done by me) are included.

Alvin & The Chipmunk: The Easter Chipmunk DVD

Released in February of 2009, this features a Easter special along with a few random episodes from the TV series.

The Easter Chipmunk: Upon hearing that his grandfather may have been the original giver of chocolates and colored eggs (aka The Easter Chipmunk) Alvin and his brothers set out to solve the mystery, with Alvin dreaming of inheriting the legacy.

Snow Wrong: The Chipmunks and Chipettes join a play production of Snow White, but the director's bratty daughter, Tara Marie, steals the main role from right under Brittany's nose.

Special Kind of Champion: Alvin doesn't feel like trying anymore now that his gym class has switched to track. So, his teacher assigns him as coach to a Olympic hopeful, but he doesn't turn out to be what Alvin expected. An energetic young boy with cerebral palsy and a positive attitude may just be what Alvin needs.

Thinking Cap Trap: Fed up with his family's inability to be on the same level of intelligence as him, Simon invents a special cap that can give them that gift for a short period of time. He's so confident he signs them all up for an IQ-based game show, but forgets to recharge the cap on the big day, and now they're all as they were before with no time to fix it.

Luck O' The Chipmunks: A new boy at school, Mickey, befriends Theodore, but wants so badly for more people to like him he tells Theodore he has a leprechaun living in his room who'll grant any wish. Word quickly reaches Alvin and once he's convinced the leprechaun is real, sets up a business to bank on this supposed fortune. But Mickey can't keep up with the charade and is worked ragged to please everyone from behind the pot of gold.

Two episodes in this set really bugged me: the Easter one and the leprechaun one. So am I to believe that the Chipmunks live just down the road from the Easter Bunny, along with his factory and even a holiday based library? And where did this grandfather come from? Granted, I haven't seen all the TV episodes, but that was pretty random. As for the Luck O' episode... just, wow. There are a lot of stereotypes in there. Theodore even asks Mickey to come over for potato soup!

Q.E.D., episode 10 (FINAL)

Q.E.D. (Q.E.D.証明終了, 2009) is the story of two high school students: Touma, a boy genius who recently transferred from an American M.I.T. school, and Kana, the adventurous daughter of a detective, who team up to solve mysteries.

Touma is going back to the USA? It seems MIT needs him for something, and so he's leaving again. Kana is crushed, but feels she can't stop what he wants to do with his life. After fumbling in kendo from being so distraught and distracted, her friends suggest she join Touma in a school "mock" trial. If she can think for herself and come to the same conclusion as him on her own, she'll gain the "right" to tell him not to go.

Q.E.D., episode 9

Q.E.D. (Q.E.D.証明終了, 2009) is the story of two high school students: Touma, a boy genius who recently transferred from an American M.I.T. school, and Kana, the adventurous daughter of a detective, who team up to solve mysteries.

A member of the Detective Club is spending his evening walking the streets with dowsing rods. The other members won't take him seriously until he actually finds something. It turns out to be a time capsule - and Kana's at that! But she doesn't remember putting it together, and is especially baffled by one particular item - a baseball. It plagues her and plagues her, and with the help of the Detective Club and a handful of classmates, she may slowly gather the clues and find the owner of the item she hid away so long ago in her childhood.

Q.E.D., episode 8

Q.E.D. (Q.E.D.証明終了, 2009) is the story of two high school students: Touma, a boy genius who recently transferred from an American M.I.T. school, and Kana, the adventurous daughter of a detective, who team up to solve mysteries.

Kunihiko Sendagawa is a college student struggling to pay the bills - he bitterly believes that an excellent, deserving student such as himself going through such a situation is unjust and unfair. Meanwhile, a series of burglaries have been taking place in his neighborhood (which also happens to be Kana's as well), and when he hears about it, finds himself envying the culprit, figuring the thief must live a happy life. So, he decides to pretend to rob his own house! After fooling the police, he decides to go to the second plan and rob his landlord. But when he finds the man dead, he realizes he's in over his head, and one small but important mistake might reveal him.

Q.E.D., episodes 6 & 7

Q.E.D. (Q.E.D.証明終了, 2009) is the story of two high school students: Touma, a boy genius who recently transferred from an American M.I.T. school, and Kana, the adventurous daughter of a detective, who team up to solve mysteries.



Episode 6:

Touma and Kana visit what has come to be called "The Horror Mansion" to do a school assignment. Apparently during the Showa period, there was a mysterious explosion there, and the previous owner (now owned by Kana's kendo master's grandfather yet left untouched) disappeared. When Kana gets seperated from Touma, she comes across a strange device in the basement, which sends her to a strange place. Somehow she's in the year 1934, and there are clones of the people she knows in the present everywhere - the most important being a Touma lookalike named Touba. Touba has been studying at a university, but the one paying for it recently died. However, if Touba can solve a problem for a distinguished lawyer, he'll take over financing his education. Kana comes along to help, but perhaps her biggest puzzle of all will be figuring out how to get home.



Episode 7:

A strange man, who dresses like a pirate and calls himself "Jack," invites a member of the Detective Club at school to join him in a treasure hunt - Kana asks to tag along out of curiousity. But instead of taking them to some kind of cave, or ocean, or other cliche place to find treasure, they end up at an office building. There, he asks them to take a safe in an office, but his "underlings" (as he calls them) won't do it, making up hasty excuses to leave. But Kana knows that even though they left, the surveilence cameras have already shown them with Jack, so they may be considered his accomplices if the robbery actually takes place. Distraught, Kana goes home to have dinner, when the news reports that a safe has been stolen from that very building. Could it be Jack? She, along with the members of the Detective Club, decide to get to the bottom of things.

Alvin & The Chipmunks: A Chipmunk Valentine DVD

Released in January of 2009, this DVD features episodes centering around Valentine's Day and romance in general.

A Chipmunk Valentine: Brittany is anxiously awaiting for Alvin to ask her to the Valentine Ball, but Alvin will have no part of it. He's suffered his share of heartbreak in the past, and can't handle another rejection. In a dream state from listening to some self-esteem tapes, he becomes Captain Chipmunk, heartbreaking ladies man.

Dr. Simon and Mr. Heart-Throb: While being interviewed by Toddler Beat, Alvin accidentally messes something up in Simon's lab. When Simon gets a hold of the mistake, he becomes the handsome and dashing Mr. Heart-Throb. Being able to woo the girls with ease, he comes to prefer his alter-ego.

Dear Diary: The Chipettes get their own diaries, but can't help snooping in each others, leading to a gross misunderstanding and fight for the heart of a boy.

Theodore and Juliet: Try as he might, Theodore can't get the girl he likes to notice him. What's worse, she likes Alvin!

Q.E.D., episode 5

Q.E.D. (Q.E.D.証明終了, 2009) is the story of two high school students: Touma, a boy genius who recently transferred from an American M.I.T. school, and Kana, the adventurous daughter of a detective, who team up to solve mysteries.

Sachiyo Nagisa, the actress referred to as "The Queen of Thriller," is being stalked, on top of suffering depression from not being as popular as she once was. Or rather, somebody tampered with her car, and she decides pretending to have a stalker might give her waning career a needed boost. But how to get the police involved? Sachiyo's manager decides a bumbling detective named Sugimichi Kasayama is fitting for the role - he's very passionate about his work, construing everything to be like a thriller drama - perfect for the attention they want. Despite the press that comes about, the actress is furious that Kana is basically stealing her thunder because she stopped the person who was wrecking her car. So they take it a step further, claiming Sachiyo was shoved in the subway station. But just how far is she willing to go with these stunts, and what happens when they start becoming real?

Q.E.D., episode 4

Q.E.D. (Q.E.D.証明終了, 2009) is the story of two high school students: Touma, a boy genius who recently transferred from an American M.I.T. school, and Kana, the adventurous daughter of a detective, who team up to solve mysteries.

Despite the fact that they're always together, Kana realizes she doesn't know even the most basic things about Touma. Her classmates suspect something's up, and gossip that he has a shady background, like he's on the run from American law, or he's part of some mystery organization. When Kana notices him being followed by a strange man in sunglasses, she decides to investigate, and after attacking the "stalker," finds out he's a MIT friend named Loki. But Loki and Touma have a shaky past, one that Touma ran away from, and it all comes back to a destroyed thesis. Who was responsible for destroying the work that led Touma to leave MIT?

Q.E.D., episode 3

Q.E.D. (Q.E.D.証明終了, 2009) is the story of two high school students: Touma, a boy genius who recently transferred from an American M.I.T. school, and Kana, the adventurous daughter of a detective, who team up to solve mysteries.

It's school festival time at the high school, and this year the Kendo Club is opting to run a maid cafe and gain the most customers. Sadly, their spot is in an isolated area along with three other clubs; the Detective Club, Music (Visual Kei) Club and Rakugo (comedy storytelling) Club, all of whom are upset that the others might drive away business from their own projects. There's a blackout, and Kana leaves shortly to go after Touma, who had left earlier to be alone. When she returns, somebody has sabotaged something in each of the club areas, turning everybody against each other in angry accusations. What culprit (or culprits) could be behind it?

Alvin & The Chipmunks: The Chipettes DVD

Released in January, this DVD features episodes of the Alvin and the Chipmunks show where the Chipettes appear.

May The Best Chipmunk Win: Brittany, Jeanette, and Eleanor have just enrolled in the same school as The Chipmunks. Eager to fit in, Brittany seeks help from Alvin on just what she should do to become popular - he tells her to "think big," but he didn't mean for her to become his running mate for class president!

Operation Theodore: Brittany may never earn her candy stripes at the local hospital if she can't keep one little troublemaker patient under control! When Bobby escapes from her once again, she asks Theodore, who had stopped by to give Eleanor her homework, to stand in for him while she looks around. But he's mistaken for Bobby and it's a race against time to save him before he's placed under the surgical knife.

Sisters: Brittany is well on her way to becoming a member of The Sisters - an elite group at school that prides themselves on their looks and fashion. But is she willing to walk all over her own, real sisters to get in?

The Greatest Show-Offs on Earth: A beloved local circus is in danger of closing forever, and the Chipmunks and Chipettes decide to arrange a celebrity circus and raise the money to save it.

My Fair Chipette: Brittany and Alvin make a bet - if Alvin can turn any girl into a beauty queen and she wins the Miss Wonderful contest at their school, he'll get $1 along with any prize money she receives. The subject chosen? Clumsy and nerdy Jeanette.

Tell It To The Judge: Alvin breaks Dave's new and incredibly expensive bike, and decides to blame Brittany for it. Unable to afford a lawyer, he takes it to a public court TV show.

As I've said before, if you're a big Chipmunks (or in this case, Chipette) fan and are anxious to see anything from the TV show on DVD, check this out. It might send a message to the release company that we'd like season sets, or at least more of these. The DVD menu is pretty cute, but there are no extras. The original 80s songs sung are intact.

Q.E.D., episode 2

Q.E.D. (Q.E.D.証明終了, 2009) is the story of two high school students: Touma, a boy genius who recently transferred from an American M.I.T. school, and Kana, the adventurous daughter of a detective, who team up to solve mysteries.

Suzuko, a woman Kana looks up to as an older sister figure, has written the schoolgirl to let her know she's getting married. Naturally, Kana goes over to visit as soon as possible, dragging Touma along for the ride. He soon loses his annoyance when he learns that Suzuko's mother is the famous doll maker, Katsumi Nanasawa, whose works easily fetch two million yen each. But the visit doesn't stay pleasant for long. They soon find that Yoshino, Suzuko's fiance, owes Kakuzou Akutsu, the director of a credit union, money, and the cold businessman won't relent in his harrassment until Katsumi gives one of her dolls to him. She refuses, proclaiming she would never give one of her dolls to someone who wouldn't love them. When Kazukou turns up dead some time later, shortly after Katsumi's own demise, it's up to Kana and Touma to find the killer in a list of three suspects.

Q.E.D., episode 1

Q.E.D. (Q.E.D.証明終了, 2009) is the story of two high school students: Touma, a boy genius who recently transferred from an American M.I.T. school, and Kana, the adventurous daughter of a detective, who team up to solve mysteries.

A series of strange things have been happening to the famous sky-diving troop, "Starship." When Kana forces Touma to come with her for a free sky-diving session (as thanks for helping her get her changing room locker open the first time they met [which was only a few days ago]) they witness something even more deadly than malfunctioning parachutes - somebody has stabbed member Nomaki in the back, while they were free falling at that! Who could've done it, how, and why?

Yay, it's Ai Takahashi's newest TV drama! It's definitely a lot less hardcore than Law & Order, but I shouldn't expect it to be that way, anyway. Looking forward to the next episode (Thursdays at 8 pm).

Official Site

Pucca: Ninjas Love Noodles DVD

If you've got a craving for that stringy goodness, why not heat up a bowl and stick this in the DVD player? Released last year, this themed volume contains episodes that have something to do with noodles (and ninjas, of course!).

Episodes:

Noodle Round The World
Misplaced Face
Noodle To The Stars
And The Band Played Rong
The Shirtless Avenger
Four Alarm Fire
Sooga Size Me
Ninjitsu For Dummies
Tobe's Nighttime Troubles
Chef Slump
Ninja License
Woolen Warrior
Feud Fight



Each episode is absolutely hilarious (as well as adorable), whether Abyo is ripping off his shirt, DaDa is screwing something up in the kitchen, or Tobe is trying to sabotage Garu. Sure to make anyone smile, even if they were forced to watch. Highly recommended!

Holiday Must Watches!

In no particular order:

Movies:

1. Muppet Christmas Carol
2. Home Alone
3. The Santa Clause

TV Specials:

1. Jim Henson's The Christmas Toy
2. Muppet Family Christmas
3. A Chipmunk Christmas
4. Mickey's Christmas Carol
5. A Charlie Brown Christmas
6. Garfield Christmas

Alvin and the Chipmunks Holiday set: Christmas

Paramount recently released a DVD set featuring Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas specials by Alvin and the Chipmunks. I shall review each disc as their respective holiday arrives.

Disc Three: Christmas

A young boy named Tommy is bed-ridden with a mysterious illness, and may not make it through the holidays. Meanwhile, Alvin and The Chipmunks are anxious and excited for the holidays, caught up in the festivities and consumerism. But when Alvin finds out about Tommy, he gives away his treasured "golden echo harmonica" so that Tommy might get better - and soon after finds out that during The Chipmunks upcoming performance at Carnegie Hall, he's been assigned a harmonica solo. Too afraid to tell Dave what he did, Alvin attempts to make quick cash and buy another one in time.

Also included are two episodes from the 80s TV series:

Merry Christmas, Mr. Carroll - Alvin is so caught up in researching what he wants for Christmas, he neglects his homework and paper route, among other things. An elderly neighbor, Mr. Carroll, is considered mean by Alvin for demanding timely delivery of his paper and not understanding his "important" Christmas dilemma. But when Alvin falls asleep while writing an essay at the last minute about holiday spirit, he may get the wake up call he badly needs.

Dave's Wonderful Life - Times are hard on Dave. His song writing is in a dry spell, his car is as good as dead, and his kids expect to go to a camp they can't afford this year. Believing the chipmunks are better off without him, Dave takes a nap and comes across a discovery he should've realized long ago.

As I said in my review for the Halloween and Thanksgiving disc, check this out if you're a Chipmunks fan and/or simply want to see the 80s show finally on DVD. The Christmas special is a classic and a definite mustsee for those looking to get into the spirit. The TV episodes aren't so bad and definitely tie in with the theme of the disc.