Esotropiart

"Wait a minute" because, well, how do I explain the previous blog entry about a redesign when nothing has visually changed here? Ha, I just realized the irony of it. I'm writing these new entries on the old iteration of my site. This old version still exists on my old host while I simultaneously work on the redesign on the new host. In a short time the old hosting plan will expire, and this old site will disappear. I'm not really worried about a seamless transition, so there will probably be some dead time where the domain points nowhere. Don't care. No one will see it anyway. It's barely even indexed in Google, and that doesn't bother me. Not much to see here anyway.

Speaking of the Ramblin' Rod Show... good memories. Not because the show was good. But Saturday morning cartoon memories in general = good. Kids are seriously missing out. Sure, they can still sit down on Saturday mornings and watch cartoons. But they can do that anytime due to the more modern cartoon channels or streaming whatever. I don't watch TV at all anymore, but I recently learned major networks stopped airing children's programs on Saturday mornings. This was an absolute SHOCK to me! Considering that I haven't regularly watched TV in decades, I wasn't aware. It's one of those things assumed to always exist for every generation to enjoy. Same goes for after school cartoons. I guess since TV is all about making money and influencing minds, someone decided kids' programming wasn't a high priority.

I mean seriously (in no particular order)...

• Scooby Doo
• Smurfs
• Inspector Gadget
• He-man
• DuckTales
• G.I. Joe
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (original)
• The Littles
• TaleSpin
• Voltron
• Transformers (original)
• Looney Tunes
• Animaniacs
• Thundercats
• Alvin and the Chipmunks
• Chip 'n' Dale Rescue Rangers
• Batman: The Animated Series
• Gobots (worthless Transformers ripoff)
• Captain Planet (ew)
• Darkwing Duck
• Mighty Morphin Power Rangers (the original)
• Beetleborgs
• Gummie Bears
• Heathcliff

You get the idea. Of course not all those are 80s cartoons, but that's not the point. Kids nowadays probably don't understand the concept of Saturday morning cartoons, nor might they appreciate the old school shows above. As I started writing this I was listening to a Ramblin' Rod episode in the background, mainly to refamiliarize myself with the intro. My kid ears always heard, "Wait a minute, you're at... bic... bon." Even as I listen to it now, I still hear something like that because I'm biased to the memory. I have no idea what those split-second pieces of song are on the Etch A Sketch, so I'll continue to refer to them as bic bon. Interestingly enough, a few nights ago I was humming the toon to the Ramblin' Rod show on my way home from eating dinner at Wendy's. Perhaps that's why it came back to me just now. As far as Ramblin Rod, now I can't even watch it without thinking of Weird Al as Uncle Nutsy in UHF. Somehow Rod's guests were [only slightly] more enthusiastic. Probably because they knew they would appear on TV. The basic idea of Ramblin Rod besides a chance to introduce yourself on local Portland TV was a chance to watch some Merrie Melodies and Looney Tunes cartoons. In web design terms, Ramblin Rod was all the extra, cluttered code and tag "wrappers" for the most important content: the cartoons. It was always like, "Eh, go away Rod. Play more cartoons!" I guess there was something interesting about all his buttons when you were young, maybe.

And while I covered the entire intended subject in the first paragraph only to drone on about an unrelated tangent... there ya go!