Things that make me happy this week... TV Show - Star Wars: The Clone Wars

Things that make me happy this week... Star Wars: The Clone Wars

If you are a Star Wars fan and really miss new stories in the Star Wars universe fear not. The Cartoon Network has created a CGI animated series depicting the events of the Clone Wars. These events take place after Star Wars episode II and before episode III.  Needless the say it feature a young Anakin Skywalker and Padme and the rest of the Jedis as they fight the emperor (who is still unknown at this point) and the separatist movement.

The Pros...
1. Great Plot and story lines each episode. This is not your typical cartoon.  The plot lines are complex and doesn't always have a happy ending. There is some violence but the fight scenes are kick ass.
2. They do a great job incorporating characters from the movies in recurring plot lines.
3. The CGI animation is pretty good. Cartoon now a days are way better than twenty years ago so you don't feel silly watching a cartoon anymore. If you can sit thru the Transformers or Avatar then this is some of the same effects... just in every scene.
4. 22 Episode a season. They just started season 4... so to catch up you need to rent the other three seasons.

The Cons...
1. Not many cons except people might look at you funny for watching cartoons. At least I don't play many video games.
2. The original show airs Friday nights... If you got better things to do on Friday night, bust out that DVR. Also it free on demand on most cable systems
3. If your not careful, you might miss the little lesson hidden in each episode. It is still a cartoon so it has to off set the violence somehow. Also no sexual content. That is actually a good thing.

So if you still yearn for stories from the Star Wars universe... give it a watch.  Oh yeah... And this season Anakin gets a little dark... Friday 9:30pm on Cartoon Network



What was your favorite movie you wished they made into a cartoon?

Later
S.F. Guru

Things that make me happy... Aaliyah

Things that make me happy this week... Aaliyah

On August 25th ten years ago a plane crashed after taking of from an island in the Bahamas taking the life of a young R&B superstar named Aaliyah. But before she was taken from us she left her mark on the music world with three great albums showcasing artistic growth, soulful sounds, and true hip hop flavor.

BET had a series of tribute including, Aaliyah: One in a Million, last month highlighting her career and her top videos.

Aaliyah Dana Haughton was born in NY but raised in Detroit. She started her released her first album at the age of 15 under the tutelage of R. Kelly. She released three albums in seven years and starred in several movies before her tragic death in 2001 in airplane crash after finishing a video shoot.

Did you know that Aaliyah was on Star Search at 9 years? Possessing triple threat ability in dancing, singing, and acting, Aaliyah was defintely born to be a performer.

A few facts...
#10 most successfull femail RB artist in last 30 years
#27 most successful overall RB artist in last 30 years
#70 most successful overall artist in last 30 years
30 million albums sold world wide

Nominated multiple times for Grammy, AMA, Billboard, MTV Video, and Soul Train awards.
Won 3 AMA, 6 Billboard, 2 MTV Video, and 1 Soul Train awards


Albums
Age is Nothing but a Number
One in a Million
Aaliyah

So why Aaliyah? I don't have many albums that I can play the whole thing and not feel like skipping any songs. Aaliyah has two such albums (One in a Million, Aaliyah).  And she was the princess of R&B. She brought a street swagger with a classic R&B singing voice. And her colloborations with Missy and Timberland set the foundations for Justin Timberlake, Ciara, and many other popular artist today with that hot double beat sound.

If you haven't seen an Aaliyah video in a while... Check one out. They still get nuff play on VH1 soul and other video channels.

A great talent taken away way too soon... RIP!!

S.F. Guru

Things that make me happy... Soledad Obrien & CNN Present

Things that make me happy... TV Show - Soledad Obrien & CNN Present

This week I saw another great documentary exploring race and religion on CNN Present called Unwelcomed: The Muslims next door.

Soledad has carved out an unique niche exposing bigotry and ignorance in America while creating a platform to explore sensitive issues in a constructive manner. This is by far my favorite CNN series and reporter.

In this documentary Soledad explores the small town of Murfreesboro, TN and fight to stop a mosque from being built by a local Muslim community. After watching this you might be alarmed to see the efforts made to support Anti-Mulsim bigotry.

The people of the town come off as ignorant and intolerant as they try to make the case in court that Islam is not a religion and therefore should not be protected by the constitution.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gRlqz3e9OrA&feature=youtube_gdata_player


Check it out on rerun if you get the chance. We got a very long way to go before everyone really read and understand our constitution.