from the couch of Renzie Baluyut

Thanks to a message thread on Facebook, I've been able to check out some old Sesame Street clips I've marked as my favorites on my YouTube account.

Sesame Street was definitely one of the most influential TV shows for me when I was a kid. Seared into my subconscious are some of the most fun sketches and songs I've ever seen, which to this day, I could still recite from memory. Check these lines out:

You take the Golden 'An' to the tan van- you give it to Dan, who'll take it to Fran!

A loaf o' bread, a container of milk, and a stick o' butter. (If you can't remember it, I'll write it down for you. That's OK momma, I won't forget.)

Once upon a time in the land of 8, there stood a castle, very great. With 8 flags up in the air, for the King of 8 had put them there (*trumpets*).

That's about the size, where you put your eyes, that's about the size of it!

What do you think your mother would do, if you yelled like a Yellow Yahoo? (Boo!)

But the coolest of all has to be this one: Stevie Wonder's live performance of "Superstition". And he brought his whole crew with him. And some kids to jam out on the balcony. And I mean really jam out. Check out my post on that particular version of "Superstition" here on my personal music blog, My Thoughts in Stereo.

But just as cool is this one song: something I've never seen on any Stevie Wonder album, though I've heard it's been included in a Sesame Street box set sometime ago.

Stevie has his exact same crew with him, this time with some lovely backup ladies (I wonder if one of them was Denise Williams?). Check this one out and tell me you won't be funkin' out to this. Enjoy!


Now THAT'S how you jam on TV. Thanks to lamarixoxi on Youtube for the video.

Stevie used the Heil Talk Box- and he wrote another cool song for Chaka Khan called "Tell Me Something Good" (thanks to rcollins305 for the info). I don't think I ever noticed the tubing (almost well-hidden by the microphone) when I was a kid. Stevie just moves away from the mike to breathe in from time to time.

Now if I could only find a clip of The Pointer Sisters' "Yes We Can Can". I tried searching for it on YouTube. Fail.

Wanna get more Sesame Street vids and clips? There's a whole lot of em posted all over YouTube, but you may want to check out the official Sesame Street Channel on YouTube here.

Hope you enjoyed this post, ladies and gentlemen.

Cheers, everyone!

I've always had a fond appreciation for Mazinger Z. I think it was 1978 or 1979 when we actually got to see this anime in the Philippines. It was phenomenal- kids would run straight home right after school to catch these huge-ass robots slug it out with other evil huge-ass robots; there was nothing on TV like it.

Aside from the other Mecha shows, of course. At the time, other than Mazinger Z, there were Voltes V, Daimos, Mekanda Robot, UFO Grendaizer on one TV station (GMA 7), and then you had Balatak, Jeeg, Danguard Ace, Striker Force and Star Zinger on another (RPN 9). Of course there were others later on (Getta Robot, Gaiking, etc.), so maybe I'll blog all about these other mecha shows in another post.

Anyway, Mazinger Z was the very first mecha anime that came out- Wednesdays, I remember. For a cartoon, the theme was rather different from other usual animated fare at the time, like say, SuperFriends, or Disney movies or stuff from Hanna Barbera.

Mazinger Z ushered in a host of new mecha shows that were a lot more violent, darker, and perhaps a little more mature. Looking back, maybe it was a little too violent for kids (I was 5 or 6 at the time). But as far as mecha anime shows go, Mazinger Z set the conventions which would later be used by similar programs, and set the standard for a great super-robot series.

Check out this great Mazinger Z pic by Jose Liepana. Totally awesome.

The Mazinger Z Story

An archeological research team digs up an ancient civilization (said to be the Myceneans) on an island (which may have been the island of Rhodes?). The team discovers that this civilization made use of an army of giant steel titans (not unlike the legendary bronze giant, Talos), as a protection against invaders. The expedition team unearth prototypes of these titans, and start restoring them.

Realizing these giants can be remote-controlled, Dr. Hell soon sees the massive potential of these prototypes as instruments of world domination, and decides to kill off all the other members of the research team, so he can have the steel titans for his own designs. Professor Juzo Kabuto, another member of the research team, was the sole survivor of this treachery, and managed to escape to warn the world of Dr. Hell's plans.

Dr. Hell then starts building his mobile base of operations and his army of robot "beast fighters". In the meantime, Professor Kabuto builds Mazinger Z- a super-robot created out of a fictitious super-alloy (Chogokin-Z) that could only be found at the base of Mt. Fuji, and armed with an array of weaponry to stand up against Dr. Hell's mecha army.

Just as Professor Kabuto finishes Mazinger Z, he is assassinated by Dr. Hell's right-hand man, Baron Ashura. The dying professor passes on the secret of Mazinger Z to his grandson, Kouji, who then does battle with the beast fighters sent by Dr. Hell in every episode.

Mazinger Z Weapon Systems

To activate Mazinger Z, Kouji flies a specially-made hovervehicle (called the Pilder) into the super-robot's cranial cavity. This effectively allows him to interface with Mazinger Z and control the mecha's movement and access the weapon systems.

• Rocket Punch. Mazinger Z can launch his fist and forearm as a projectile that can punch through steel. These forearms then fly back to reattach themselves back to Mazinger Z's arms.
• Koshiryoku Beams. Laser beams that shoot from Mazinger Z's eyes.
• Rust Hurricane. Mazinger Z can blow out gale-force winds which can disintegrate steel
• Breast Fire. High-intensity beams powerful enough to melt metal that radiate from the red fixtures on Mazinger Z's chest.

Mazinger Z also had a female counterpart, Aphrodite A- which is piloted by the hot-blooded and tomboyish Sayaka Yumi, who also serves as Kouji's romantic interest. While Aphrodite A is also made of the same Chogokin-Z superalloy, she doesn't have much in the way of offensive weaponry. In fact, her only weapon system are missiles launched from her breasts- the Oppai Missile System.

Other Mazinger Z Facts

• Go Nagai, the legendary Japanese animator, was the creative genius behind Mazinger Z. Mecha/super-robot fans would usually credit him as the father of the super-robot anime genre, and Mazinger Z as "the mecha show that started it all". In response, Go Nagai would humbly pass the honor to two other animators and their projects: Osamu Tezuka's Tetsuwan Atom (aka "Astro Boy") and Mitsuteru Yokoyama's Tetsujin 28-go (aka "Gigantor").
  
• Mazinger Z was re-dubbed in English and re-named Tranzor Z for the US release in 1985. Many scenes considered too violent or too sexually suggestive were edited from the series, cutting down the number of episodes from 92 to 65.
• As you can see on YouTube, Mazinger Z seems to also have been popular in Italy, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Spain and the Middle East.

There were actually two Mazinger Z openings. This one I remember the most watching it as a kid (thanks to javeln, who shared this clip on YouTube):



This other opening replaces the first midway into the season (thanks to JihadAlexander, who also shared this clip on YouTube):



If you wanna check out more of Mazinger Z, you can read more about him here on his Wikipedia entry, here on the AnimeNewsNetwork, or here on TV.com. Interestingly enough, you may also want to check out Wikipedia entry on Mazinger Z's enemies-of-the-week, the "mechanical beasts".

"Crap From My Childhood" is a special feature on old cartoons and kiddie shows from the 1970s and 1980s. Read all about it on Renzie's personal blog on all things television: "Too Much TV!"

Cheers, everyone.

Remember that old eighties cartoon Spiral Zone?

Well, I can barely remember the series myself. All I have are memories of '87 or '88, catching it on some afternoons right after I get home from school.

I thought it was kick-ass though. It made a great alternative to other cartoons like G.I. Joe and the Transformers, and I liked the whole concept around the "let's-put-together-a-crack-team-of-commandos-from-around-the world" idea. Check out the intro from a clip we found on YouTube right here:

What's Spiral Zone All About

Supposedly a renegade military scientist who calls himself "The Overlord" managed to envelop a significant portion of future Earth in a strange dark mist using some new form of biological warfare.

Our main villain managed to put up "Zone Generators" which spewed forth clouds that covered vast population centers. End result: millions of people stuck in this spiral-shaped territory (thus, the title) become zombie-like thralls- or Zoners- from which The Overlord now builds his army.

Naturally, he's got himself some henchmen as well- The Black Widows- which act as his lieutenants and special agents, riding around Zoned areas in Sledge Hammers: one-man vehicles with tracked wheels, overhead guns and flails on the side. The Overlord has a special command ATV with a cannon for himself.

Anyway, the world finally unites against this global menace, and puts together a crack team of commandos to go in the Zones and blow up the Zone Generators to liberate the planet one city at a time. We got:

• Colonel Dirk Courage. American field commander. Rides around in this monocycle with this massive cannon mounted on top.
• Lieutenant Hiro Taka. The team's recon, infiltration and melee combat expert from Japan.
• 2nd Lieutenant Max Jones. The team's African-American special missions expert.
• Master Sergeant 'Tank' Schmidt. The team's heavy weapons specialist from Germany.
• Corporal Katerina Anastacia. The team's medic from the Soviet Union.

So these guys don a special body armor that renders them immune to the effects of the Zone. From a mountain base, they're flown to the mission-of-the-week via a jet transport, then ride into enemy territory in fast-attack monocycles.

Spiral Zone Now

It's hard to get a hold of clips or pictures of this old cartoon. Personally, I only have a VHS tape of a few shows myself, and I'd really like to get me a DVD copy (if I could find one). Found a website which supposedly distributed copies of the series, but it's all sold out for now.

Bandai actually had a toy line going on in Japan, years before the franchise (and the accompanying TV series) was developed for the American market. So if you're into collecting the action figures, it means that there should be a number of collectors out there with a few pieces you might be interested in.

Check out Spiral Zone on TV.com and on IMDb.com. You can also catch bits and pieces of Spiral Zone on RetroJunk, and its entry on Wikipedia.

"Crap From My Childhood" is a special feature on old cartoons and kiddie shows from the 1970s and 1980s. Read all about it on Renzie's personal blog on all things television: "Too Much TV!"

Cheers, everyone.

Okay fine, maybe I got a little nostalgic after that last post of mine on Iron Man. So I browsed through a few more videos on YouTube, and decided to share the opening themes of other old (circa-1967/68) Marvel cartoons here.

One of the catchier tunes that's been nailed into my brain since childhood was this one of The Incredible Hulk. Never was that huge a fan of the Green Goliath, but this campy theme just never fails to entertain. Check it out:

Not the best theme song there is, right? But incredibly sticky, you gotta give them credit for that. Okay, I'm sure you remember this one of Captain America:


Now that wasn't so bad, was it? Moving on, here are the opening themes for The Mighty Thor and the Sub-Mariner.

Lastly, while not from the same series of cartoons, here's the opening theme from the classic Spider-man cartoon:


So you have to hand it to Marvel for coming up with all these great gems from waaay back then. Sure, they're horrible now, compared to even the worst cartoons you have on Nick or Cartoon Network, but man, were they a lot of fun!

Cheers, everyone!

In the most recent Iron Man movie with Robert Downey, Jr., I noticed there was something familiar about the music during that hotel/casino scene towards the beginning. And then Pepper Potts' mobile phone goes off a couple of times. The ringtone was almost instantly recognizable for me, and I just knew it- they HAD to use the theme from the old Iron Man cartoon.

Check out a clip of the opening theme which I found on YouTube:

I remember watching the cartoon on weekday afternoons after school in the eighties, not knowing that at the time, the show was already almost 20 years old! I only found out fairly recently that the old Marvel cartoon made its first TV appearance in 1967 or 68.

Totally cheesy, I know. But it sure brings back some great childhood memories, for sure.

Check out my other blog entries on "Everything You Need To Know About Iron Man" on my other blog, "Renzie on Movies", which I wrote after checking out the kick-ass Iron Man movie. You can read Part 1 here, and Part 2 here.

Cheers, everyone!