Invalid characterset or character set not supported "mature content" on Cartoon Network?





"mature content" on Cartoon Network?
July 16, 2007

I caught half an hour of Adult Swim tonight after peeling myself away from the Genesis for a while.

First was the dramatic season finale of "Saul of the Mole Men", a show which I previously only saw two minutes of, got irritated, and changed the channel. I was also stoned at the time. That's pretty fucking bad when even 420 cannot convince me that something is amusing, not even in a "compellingly awful" way.

This ep was even more impossible to follow. Saul in his blue jumpsuit teams up with Fallopia, a mutant mole girl, a Muppet-esque ordinary mole man and something looking like a cross between Birdman and a giant crab. They turn a pyramid into a spaceship and Saul uses his DNA to burrow into a rock behemoth who is really two human rock-zombies merged into one monstrosity. He severs a ventricle in the beast's heart with the edge of his shovel, and his girlfriend jumps up and down in slow motion. That was the only part I enjoyed.

Then he met a bisexual professor with a gun and they flew off and the fucking show just ended without a resolution. Ugh. The only "mature" thing I saw was comical spurts of blood, and only adults can enjoy something like that, right?


Next was the finale of "Moral Orel", a show that managed to grow on me like a callous on my big toe. While alone in the woods, hunting with his dad, wimpy Christian kid Orel watches horrified as his dad downs bottle after bottle of scotch and turns into a decidedly non-Christian asshole.

The kid has a revolver and almost shoots his father in rage but misses and shatters Dad's two remaining bottles of scotch. Coincidentally that's the only thing he's shot during the hunting trip. Dad retaliates by blasting his own son in the kneecap, then downing all the rubbing alcohol in their first-aid kit. He passes out and Orel, bleeding to death, barely has enough strength to defend his comatose dad against a hungry grizzly bear.

Eighteen hours later, Dad wakes up and demands to know whether Orel mustered up the strength to kill the bear. "No, dad, you shot it," says the kid, pale with bags under his eyes. They drive home, Dad quite chipper and his son wracked with guilt and frustration and some extreme blood loss.

Recuperating in bed, Orel asks why alcohol turns people into assholes. "It doesn't always work like that, sweetie," Mom says. "It just makes people show their true nature." She leaves; Orel eats his crackers while contemplating the abject horror that is his life.

It ends with a dedication to John Cassavetes. Appropriately, in my opinion.

Both these shows are intended for "mature audiences". One is completely juvenile and the other was quite sobering and only funny in a horrifying way. It was totally not what I was expecting to see in this programming block.


A few more recent releases:

Boris + Michio Kurihara - "Rainbow": If this album wasn't mixed so haphazardly I would probably award it a 10. As it is, Boris' contributions are fuzzed out and always confined into the background, while Kurihara's guitar is at times absurdly loud. All the tracks are great in their own respective ways, but all share the distinction of having the fucking loud lead guitar. Not even Hendrix drowned out the rest of his Experience. 9/10

Pelican - "City of Echoes": I hate Pelican because they peaked with their debut self-titled EP album and have contentedly worn themselves into a creative rut. Each successive album beomes less harsh and experimental and more "indie" sounding. This one is by far the most boring, only the title track has any hint of the hard-edged stoner Pelican of yore. A shame. 4/10

Grizzly Bear - "Yellow House": Self-consciously quirky indie stuff. I say stuff because it's not quite rock, not quite emo, not quite psychadelia, not quite anything good. Just a lot of layered sounds blending together to create a fuzzy conglomeration of ... "stuff". All the vocals are similar, none of the tracks memorable. Represents all the worst traits of the Pitchfork scene. 3/10

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carcinogen_crush carcinogen_crush - July 16, 2007 (11:08 AM)
It doesn't seem like very many people have gotten a handle on what it means to offer mature content.
Most of the time, when people use the term 'mature', they're just referring to some predetermined exposure level for the worst of "social profanities".

I say it's bullshit.

But I don't even know if that's what you meant. . .

Oh well.

But hey, at least you do something mildly productive. When I'm blazin, I just kind of sit there.
Genj Genj - July 16, 2007 (11:15 AM)
I've never enjoyed Adult Swim's original programming. The ever popular Robot Chicken, for example, is like the perfect show for stoner geeks with ADD and no sense of humor (HAHAHAHA STAR WARS!). Aqua Teen is just retarded as hell. The best original show they have is Venture Bros. and it's only "meh" at best. I only watch Adult Swim for Futurama re-runs and the occasional bad late night anime.

My roommate loved that Grizzly Bear album last year and played it so much. I often retaliated with some obnoxiously loud Beastie Boys. "HEEEEEEY LAAAAADIES, GET-GET FUN-KAY!"
carcinogen_crush carcinogen_crush - July 16, 2007 (12:10 PM)
HORSE the band!
johnny_cairo johnny_cairo - July 16, 2007 (06:32 PM)
I'd concede Venture Brothers got off to a slow start but Season 2 is sublime. Seriously, some of the best comic writing in ages. Give it another look.

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