My Thoughts On Paris And The Refugees (WARNING – SOAPBOX SPEECH AHEAD)

…So, I thought I should go ahead and talk about what happened yesterday, the senseless violence, the terror spread to millions, and the resulting backlash. I’m not gonna go into detail about what happened, but if you’re online, you probably know that, yesterday, there were a number of coordinated attacks on Paris. Last I heard, 129 people were left dead as a result. The current word is that these attacks were orchestrated by ISIS, but I should note that I don’t know that for a fact or if they’ve even claimed responsibility. Maybe they have and I just missed it, or maybe it’s just people looking for someone to blame, but that’s the word making the rounds.

Regardless, I want everyone to know that I feel absolutely horrible for the people of Paris who have had to go through this terrifying event. I’d also like to point out how impressed and proud I am of the worldwide out-pour of support for Paris and France. Several locations had their lights changed to resemble the French flag, including the Sydney Opera House, the One World Trade Center, the Toronto sign at Nathan Phillips Square, and Mexico’s Senado de la República. Myself and SEVERAL others have had our icons and profile pictures on Facebook and Twitter changed to add a filter coloured like the French flag (although, on a dare, I put it over the LGBT filter I’d already had on my Twitter icon, lol). Also, I actually couldn’t help but notice that the song “Do You Hear The People Sing?” from Les Misérables was trending on Twitter. And obviously, I understand why. “It is the music of a people who will not be slaves again”. I think that applies to fear as well, and the desire to not be slaves to fear, to not surrender to it.

All of that is great… … …and then came the people pointing fingers at Muslim refugees in Paris, and I thought “Here we go again”…Well, I thought THAT first. Then I brought up the idea for a picture of Ms. Marvel hugging Asterix (which, if anyone wants to steal that idea, go right ahead), and then I started thinking of The Drumhead, and then finally I decided to spend the rest of the night off of social media. To everyone who has been suggesting that all nations need to close their borders or more attacks like these will happen, I have a couple of things to say. First off, it’s easy for us to point fingers at these people until you actually stop and think for a second and realize that most of them fled their old homes to get away from this exact kind of bullshit. Secondly, speaking of The Drumhead…

As well as…

One of the advantages of being a honking nerd is having access to so many relatable quotes. And he’s not even my favourite Captain in Star Trek. 😛 But yeah, ultimately, that’s the price of freedom. When you give freedom to everyone, you run this risk, that someone with bad intentions could slip through the cracks. However, when you limit freedom to a certain group of people….well, then it’s not really freedom anymore, is it? It’s called being careful and cautious. You can do that and still have freedom, it’s just a matter of finding the right balance. Is this easy? God help us, no. Really, it just comes down to a simple question: Is it worth finding that balance? Me personally, I would say yes. In fact, if I may make an assumption and thus risk making an ass out of myself, I’d say that a lot of people would. Just know that it won’t be an easy endeavour, but that just because it won’t be easy doesn’t mean you should be willing to give up at the first sign of trouble.

…The last thing I wanna say…well, okay, not exactly say, but touch on, is the current situation right now with ISIS, and whether or not this will lead to war. I don’t really have the words to deal with that right now. Fortunately, as I’ve indicated earlier, I know plenty of people who do, one in particular. And, keep in mind, this is not directed at either side of the conflict any more than the other.

Some people ask why I indulge in escapist and speculative fiction. I-I just don’t know what to tell them. lol Anyway, those are my thoughts on the matter. Lemme know your own thoughts, although please try to avoid starting a political argument. Above all, however, I hope that you all at least consider my thoughts and opinions on this going forward from here on out. Ja né!

N. Harmonik’s Favourite 5 – 5 Favourite Oggy and the Cockroaches Episodes

Success! I, N. Harmonik, have managed to hack into Jyger’s Rant! I mean, I’ve decided to give my dear friend a break and try my hand at reviewing and stuff. And what better way to start than by typing about my currently most-adored franchise, Oggy and the Cockroaches!

Created by Jean-Yves Raimbaud (may he rest in peace) in 1998, this slapstickery cartoon is about a cat, the titular Oggy, and his dealings with three cockroaches, Dee Dee, Marky and Joey, who live in his house. When these ornery insects aren’t stealing Oggy’s food or some other object that he covets, they’re pranking him just for fun, usually with explosives. Oggy is sometimes helped by his cousin, Jack, although more often than not, his aid and bad temper just make the situation worse. Often, their antics will end up hurting and angering Oggy’s neighbour, a dog named Bob, who will then pound them (mostly the cats) into pulp. A late addition to the cast is Olivia, a sweet cat friendly to everyone (even the roaches) and Oggy’s love interest.

As you can see, this is a spiritual successor to Tom and Jerry. Unlike Tom and Jerry though, wherein every character except the cat and the mouse can talk, no coherent words are ever spoken and written words are kept to the barest minimum. Rarely, they’ll sing public domain songs (notably “A Night at the Opera” in which the opera “Carmen” is performed) but all communication is done through gestures and gibberish. Because there is no need for dubbing, the show is able to reach a wide audience, airing in at least 150 countries at the time of writing this. The cartoon’s success has spawned clothing, accessories, dolls, comic books, magazines, board games, video games, a music album, a radio drama and even a movie!

Allow me to tell you of my 5 favourite episodes in order of airdate. Naturally, there’ll be spoilers.

#1 – Granny’s Day

Oggy’s grandmother comes over to his house to celebrate her birthday. First the audience thinks the episode will be about the cockroaches driving her up the wall…until she pummels and captures Joey and Marky. Next the audience thinks the episode will be about how the remaining roach, Dee Dee, will endeavour to rescue his buddies/brothers…until he uncovers strong evidence that they’re dead. This causes Dee Dee to collapse into a sobbing mess, much to granny’s surprise, as if she had always assumed cockroaches were heartless. When she takes a look at her captive insects, they hand her a photo album showing them having a great time from babyhood to present day. And thus, granny is touched and realizes that Joey, Marky and Dee Dee may be awful to her grandson but they’re a family through thick and thin to each other. She not only releases Marky and Joey but the three bugs go with her back to her place for a while!

#2 – Love and Kisses

Oggy’s sister, Monica, visits and Jack is instantly smitten by her, thanks in no small part to her mistakenly kissing him. Noticing that she likes sports (the more extreme, the better), Jack strives to impress her in that department. Naturally, he stinks at all the events, even without the cockroaches (whom he had infuriated earlier) messing him up. Yet throughout, he never gives up so by the end of the episode, Monica finds his efforts cute and gives Jack her number before leaving. Unsurprisingly and amusingly, Jack celebrates the only way he knows how: loud as possible!

…Yes, Jack and Monica are cousins. I don’t know, maybe cousin-on-cousin isn’t considered incest in France where the show was made. Regardless, their relationship is strangely rather adorable. A pity it won’t last…

#3 – Ugly, Dirty and Good

Have I ever stated that I’m a sucker for the old good-guy-gets-amnesia-and-gets-tricked-into-becoming- a-bad-guy shtick? Well, in this episode’s case, the inversion occurs!

After falling on his head during the usual raid on the fridge, Joey not only mentally regresses into a child and forgets who Marky and Dee Dee are but also becomes convinced that Oggy is his father! Said feline cannot bring himself to harm him after an affectionate display of adoration so he adopts the bug. Oggy even makes a blue, furry suit for Joey to wear so he’ll look like him! Throughout the episode, Oggy and Joey partake in several endearing father-and-son activities while the other two roaches do their best to land a blow on their former leader’s head in order to get him back. Ultimately, Joey gives himself a concussion that snaps him out of it. He bites Oggy while returning to his brothers’ welcoming arms yet later is seen to beam at Oggy fondly…then he promptly slaps Dee Dee and Marky when he notices them snickering at him.

#4 – Back to the Past! (Featuring Olivia)

The roaches destroy a witch’s hat by accident (for once) and pin the blame on Oggy, Jack and Bob. As punishment, the witch transforms the cats and dog into children, leaving Olivia to look after them. Olivia soon finds herself at wit’s end taking care of the cute but hyperactive rascals so she drags Joey off with her to locate and confess to the witch and makes babysitters out of Marky and Dee Dee. Meanwhile, the men are having a delightful time being boys again; pillow fighting, playing with their food and roughhousing while being as messy as they can. The one exception is school where they have to deal with bullies and human kids who think they’re dolls. In the end, the witch turns Bob, Jack and Oggy back into adults then, at Olivia’s request, changes Joey, Marky and Dee Dee into kids! The cutie pies are then given to the guys by Olivia to care for until the spell’s undone. And Oggy himself is likely going to need the practice…

#5 – Oggy is Getting Married! (Featuring Olivia)

The cats and cockroaches take a trip to Venice, Italy. Oggy reveals to Jack that he intends to propose to Olivia while Joey reveals to Dee Dee and Marky that he intends to pilfer his engagement ring to propose to Lady K, a conniving female roach living in Olivia’s house. In typical cartoony fashion, Oggy’s first attempted proposal fails; luckily, so does Joey’s first attempted theft. Oggy becomes jealously suspicious when he espies Olivia conversing with a male, grown-up human then hiding later when aforementioned human passes by. One awkward kidnapping later (with Jack as an all-too-willing accomplice), she reveals that he is a painter with whom she was transacting. With that matter mostly cleared up, Oggy pops the question and Olivia gleefully accepts…only for the roaches to swipe the ring. What follows is a madcap pursuit through the canals and roads that ultimately reduces the city to rubble. Oh well, at least they got the ring back. Later back home, it is shown that Olivia had commissioned the artist (revealed to be named after creator Jean-Yves Raimbaud) to do a portrait of her sweetheart-and-now-husband, Oggy.

Yes, you read that last part right, folks; a slapstickery cartoon actually defied the status quo of its genre and had two of its main characters tie the knot! This is the last episode produced so far yet chances are good that another season will be produced. I just hope it doesn’t take a few years again…

Those are my 5 favourite episodes and you probably noticed a theme connecting them all: love. And I hear you asking, “Why?” The thing is, I actually can’t stand franchises that are almost completely about love; I greatly prefer stories that have lots of action. Because love doesn’t come up often in this series, it seems much sweeter and cuter! Perhaps that’s why I like this franchise…

But just in case, here’s a list of more of my favourite episodes that aren’t as, ahem, lovely if you know what I mean: A Night at the Opera, The Ghost Hunter, Working Cat, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Oggy’s Double, Roachy Redneck, Inspector Dee Dee, Priceless Roaches, Let’s Party Guys, Metamorphosis, The Dictator, For Real, What a Lousy Day and From Mumbai with Love (Featuring Olivia).

So, leave any comments you might have below, and I’ll see you later…maybe. Kawoom!

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…-r my 400th blog post!… … …What the hell just happened? o.O

Related articles

• Oggy and the Cockroaches (en.wikipedia.org)
• Oggy and the Cockroaches part 1 (forfourfingers.wordpress.com)
• Oggy and the Cockroaches Wiki (oggyandthecockroaches.wikia.com)
• Oggy and the Cockroaches Facebook Fanpage (www.facebook.com/Oggy.fanpage)

Pokémon X and Pokémon Y Announced! It’s Evaluating Time!

So because I have some of the most insane timing in the world, here’s another Pokémon blog entry, this time about the new games that were revealed today: Pokémon X and Pokémon Y.

…If you haven’t fangasmed yet, you clearly aren’t that big a Pokémon fan. And since there’s official artwork and gameplay released for the game, that means…

…It’s evaluating time!!!

So, let’s start by looking at the first thing that caught my attention when I saw the article on Serebii.net: The new Pokémon.

The Grass-type Starter, Chespin

So I’ve been a fan of Pokémon since the first games released in North America, and I’ve noticed something about the Grass-type Starter Pokémon:  They’re all reptilian. Dinosaurs, geckos, turtles, and snakes. Chespin, however, is clearly a mammal, meaning it strays from tradition, but that’s okay. I actually like that they’re doing something different, and also, and you’ll excuse me if I drop serious dude points here but, isn’t it the most adorable thing you’ve ever seen?! Oh my God, I just wanna pinch its cheeks, it’s so cute!

The Fire-type Starter, Fennekin

Fennekin looks to be the cool one this time around. ‘Cuz let’s face it, a lot of times the starters are usually cute one, cool one, wacky one. While not the first Fire-type to be based off a fox, I’m sure it’ll be different at least, and hopefully won’t evolve into a Fighting-type like the last three Fire-type starters.

The Water-type Starter, Froakie

That leaves Froakie as the wacky one, and boy does he look wacky. And I don’t mean that in a bad way, just wacky. Look at him, he’s unevolved but he has a beard. One thing I have to note, in particular here, is that it’s kinda hard to determine which Pokémon will specialize in what stats, as the starters tend to do that to better help players decide which one to pick. I honestly can’t tell which one of these three specialize in what. But that’s not too big a deal, we’ll find out soon enough.

Pokémon X and Pokémon Y

Next comes the part I bloody well know people will nitpick the hell outta: The titles for the games. I know I found them kinda odd, especially since surely there’s plenty more colours left to choose from. However, after talking it over with PinkRangerWannabe, I figured out the likely reason why they’re called X and Y: Coordinates. Remember, this is a game that’s in full 3D, AND it’s a game released simultaneously around the world and this will likely result in an expansion on the Global Link to include these games. Suddenly, X and Y make perfect sense.

Finally, let’s look at the region. It seems to be taking full advantage of the new 3D effects to build a wondrous landscape around, plus new ways of exploring the world like leaping from vines. Also, do I possibly detect a France-based region? One tower in the background certainly looked like a well-known tower in France. 😀

Anyway, that’s all from me. Comment below what you think of the new games, and we’ll see what happens in October. Ja né!