June 4th
Today is National Cheese day. I actually don't like cheese as much as the next guy so this article is going to be about my complicated relationship with a dairy product. If that sounds dull just skip to Monday where I'm talking about a racing anime.
I like the taste of cheese, don't get me wrong, but I have sensory issues and like 90% of real cheese just doesn't agree with me. What's left is like some sharp cheddar, most pizza cheese, and cheeseburgers. Next to that I usually stick to cheese flavored stuff like cheese puffs and crackers. If I sound picky, it's just an ASD thing. Trust me, if I could eat mac and cheese without getting sick I would.
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June 5th
Today is the birthday of a tv show where I'm not entirely sure if it's an anime or not. Ōban Star-Racers is French-Japanese television series created for the now defunct Jetix Disney programming block.
The plot of the series is actually a lot of fun. Eva is the daughter of a late interplanetary racer who died in a race and her race manager husband who put Eva in a boarding school after her mom's passing. Eva then leaves the boarding school to reunite with her father and he honestly didn't recognize her because he hadn't seen her in ten years. Eva then decides to start going by Molly and gets involved with space races under the impression that if she wins the big championship, she may be able to bring back her mother.
I haven't seen this series since it aired but I remember it being good if you want some spaceship racing action in what can well be decided as a beautiful love letter to 70's anime.
[EDITOR’S NOTE: I’m ruling this one as anime for, of all things, linguistic reasons. Both Japanese and French use the word “anime” to describe cartoons and illustrated film, with it being short for dessin animé (animated design) in French. Even the Japanese term is borrowed from European language, though I’ve found conflicting sources on which language it’s borrowing from.]
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June 6th
Today is Yo-Yo Day, a holiday dedicated to the classic toy that's now a proper performance art. This toy dates back centuries. The oldest depiction of a yo-yo is found in ancient Greek pottery, where a young man is shown playing with one rendered in terracotta. The toy's longevity is attributed to a low learning curve to use it basically but also a lot of room to do crazy tricks with them.
There's a long list of yo-yo tricks, and a lot of them have great names. "Man on the Flying Trapeze", "Walk the Dog" and "Around the World" all have great names and are pretty cool to watch to boot. My favorite to see however has to be the plainly named "two handed star", where someone makes a star with the string while the yo-yo is still going. It looks rad.
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June 7th
Today is VCR Day, and can I just say that I love that VCRs exist. It's something easy to take for granted, but I've been following lost media long enough to know that there's a shocking number of full television shows that would be completely lost in modern times if not for home video recordings.
Here's a few of those series in particular in a list if you are in the mood for a show primarily existing in home recordings at this point, viewer digression for at least liquid television.
Phantom Investigators (a stop motion show about child paranormal investigators with superpowers.)
Sheep In the Big City (the military is after a sheep who's just trying to enjoy life in the big city. I have a longer retrospective about this one this site)
Liquid Television (MTV adult shorts anthology. Mostly animated but the live action stuff is cartoony enough anyway.)
Today's Special (Sesame Street if it took place in a Canadian department store. Characters include a self aware living mannequin, the overnight display designer, a charming old security guard puppet, and a rhyming mouse.)
Old Bear Stories (an old British stop motion series of some adorable stuffed animals having adventures. A cozy series to watch with a warm drink.)
[EDITOR’S NOTE: The lead child actor in Phantom Investigators grew up to voice Dusa from Hades. Absolute champion.]
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June 8th
Today I'm going to start with a callback. Remember last article when I said there's TV shows that would be lost without home recordings? Today is the anniversary of one of those shows first airing on Cartoon Network. Time Squad is a show that probably be best described as Peabody and Sherman but more cynical and oozing with as much gay subtext as a kids show in 2001 could get away with.
The plot of the show is that two Time Squad officers, a violent macho man-child named Buck Tuddrussel and his effeminate, snarky Robot partner Larry 3000 kidnapped an orphan boy named Otto because Otto knows more about human history than both Buck and Larry combined. The show hasn't aged great in some racial representation places to be honest, so it definitely loses recommendation points for that. Despite (or because of) its obscurity, the show maintains a light cult following and still has its place in Cartoon Network's history as one of the network’s most obscure shows.
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June 9th
Today is a grab bag article, and thus I relay your attention to Ariel and her weather facts.
Growing up, have you ever wanted to chase the end of a rainbow? Well, you can’t. You’re about to learn why you can’t chase a rainbow.
There is no fabled pot of gold at the end of the rainbow… or the other end… actually, rainbows don’t truly have an “end”. Believe it or not, what we perceive as rainbows are only part of the picture—rainbows are circles, or halos, that we only see half of at that moment, presenting as an arc.
“But Ariel, the half circle still has ends we can search for!” Still not true, you know why? Rainbows are just an optical illusion. They’re a simple result of refraction, reflection, and dispersion of sunlight in suspended water droplets. And when you move, the rainbow moves, because you can only perceive the rainbow through your own vision and geographical position in the first place. Rainbows aren’t solid, stationary objects!
Sorry to crush your pot-o’-gold dreams. I was honestly more upset to find out I could never touch a rainbow.
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June 10th
Today is Iced tea day. I'm more of a "Herbal tea no cream no sugar" kinda guy, but even I can enjoy a chamomile on ice for a hot summer evening. That being said, I know iced tea is a big deal around where I live. That being said, if you like iced tea, today can't be a bad day for it whatever weather you have outside. Homemade or premade, it's a nice drink.