The time CARTOON NETWORK invaded NICKELODEON in 2004, way back before talks of the acquisition

With all the uproar of the planned PARAMOUNT-WARNER BROS. Merger due to it threatening how the theatrical business does it's work

(amongst others without going too political),

It's starting to remind me of the time when CARTOON NETWORK decided to invade NICKELODEON back in 2004 by running this ROGUE PROMO to promote CARTOON NETWORK's 

CARTOON CARTOON FRIDAYS Block.

Check it out:

How did this slip by NICK's affiliates?

Well, it was a case of them CN Affiliates purchasing unauthorized LOCAL AD SPACE.

Why LOCAL AD SPACE?

Because CAR DEALERSHIPS & FAST FOOD CHAINS like MCDONALD'S use those to advertise their products and are rarely vetted at the NATIONAL NETWORK LEVEL.

Of course, I like how a few characters are freaking out about having bypassed NICKELODEON SECURITY(or in this case SUMNER REDSTONE) but worry about getting caught.

Because even if you find a loophole to pull off a stunt like this, You'll still run the risk of getting caught.

And no, stealing SOLID SNAKE's cardboard box is not going to help you in your stealth missions.

SKYDANCE's security is too smart to be fooled by a BOX.

And even FRED SEIBERT is not gonna approve of said stunts, what with him worrying about lawsuits and all.

Oh, and EDD(aka DOUBLE D) being in a PROMO that is in the SLIME FACTORY's affiliates is proof that ED, EDD N EDDY was originally going to be a NICKTOON but thank balls NICK's execs rejected ANTONUCCI's pitch and allowed him to sell the EDs to CARTOON NETWORK due to not only wanting to retain all CREATIVE CONTROL at AKA CARTOONS but also so that nobody interferes with his CANADIAN FILM & TELEVISION TAX CREDITS during production.

While people would consider ED, EDD N EDDY to be a CANADIAN Cartoon, 

It originally aired on the very AMERICAN CARTOON NETWORK so.......

Goofy's HOW TO series explained+Any similarities to MR. BEAN are virtually nil

In 1937, voice actor PINTO COLVIG had a falling out with the DISNEY company and left the studio to work with FLEISCHER STUDIOS in MIAMI, FLORIDA.

This abrupt departure left GOOFY without a voice for quite a while.

While other actors like DANNY WEBB would briefly take over, this caused issues within the company since GOOFY isn't really GOOFY without PINTO COLVIG's performance.

Then JACK KINNEY had a brilliant idea:

KINNEY decided to bring in CANADIAN-AMERICAN actor JOHN MCLEISH to provide narrations for a series of cartoons starring GOOFY.

MCLEISH was not new to DISNEY fans as we've heard his voice in the opening THUNDERSTORM scene of DUMBO.

The staff realized that MCLEISH's voice would be perfect for a series of cartoons where GOOFY would struggle to perform simple tasks due to his bumbling nature, all while a narrator explains the situation to the audience.

This would give rise to the.....

well.... it gave rise to the HOW-TO-SERIES of cartoons.

The idea like I said is that GOOFY has to perform simple tasks as the title of the cartoon would insinuate.

But that sounds easier said than done because GOOFY is somewhat of a bumbling idiot.

But since GOOFY would be left without a voice for a while, barring exceptions where he's voiced by a sound-alike,

The main voice is a disembodied Narrator who provides a verbal description of what the heck is going on in ANYTOWN, USA.

In the later years, a similar concept was developed by a fellow BRITISH comedian by the name of ROWAN ATKINSON

Yup.

But even though MR. BEAN was not inspired by the DISNEY HOW TO SHORTS as MR. BEAN was actually inspired by a FRENCH comedy called MONSEIUR HULOT,

Them two series share a similar premise:

Bumbling Adult Men try to perform simple tasks.

But the difference is that GOOFY is BUMBLING as per his nature.

While MR. BEAN is actually a smart fellow but the reason for his actions is because He'd rather improvise problem solving so that it suits his needs

Another difference is that while GOOFY has JOHN MCLEISH to back him up,

MR. BEAN instead has a SITCOM LAUGH TRACK to cue laughter from the audience.

No, this is not a CLASH post.

Had this been a clash post, it would have a title like CLASH OF BUMBLING IDIOTS at the title.

But I didn't intend this post to be a CLASH post anyway.

But if you want me to consider it, then let me know on the comments but then I'll have to come up with a better title than what I wrote above.

WINDOWS XP sure does make me happy about that RAY OF LIGHT-The original 2001 Commercial for WIN XP

October 2026 has just arrived and it's gonna be big for us WINDOWS users....

No. There's no new version of WINDOWS coming, (though 26H2 was just released.)

Rather, we're celebrating the 25th ANNIVERSARY of the greatest WINDOWS release of all time,

I've got a retrospective post coming soon but it won't be ready until OCTOBER 25 so please be patient.

In the mean time, I want to keep this blog active so I decided, it's commercial time!!!

And what better way to celebrate the OS' 25th birthday is to look back at this commercial that was shown on TV screens 25 years ago:

Quite the commercial... right?

Should be, if using MADONNA's 1998 song RAY OF LIGHT is any indication

But what the hey, it was 2001, we were already excited to enter the 21st Century as well as celebrate surviving the ordeal of the Y2K scare.... so this was promising....

If only a certain event didn't happen on SEPTEMBER 11 2001 but we're past that....

Speaking about that date, I heard that a SLOGAN was changed at the last minute due to sensitivity issues.

Yes, we can.

The original slogan was susposed to be PREPARE TO FLY, 

hence why the people shown in the commercial are floating off the ground

but due to 9/11, 

MICROSOFT wisely changed to slogan as to because the original slogan's emphasis on AERIEL/FLYING imagery was insensitive and inappropriate for the the PUBLIC CLIMATE at that time but the commercial already was filmed so instead, while the floating people were still kept, the commercial's emphasis was repurposed to emphasize HUMAN CAPABILITY with things like

TELECOMMUNICATION THROUGH TYPING

AND WEBCAMS,

Adjusting your audio settings

Filming your own movies

Connecting to the internet

and so much more......

Though even back then, MICROSOFT didn't take into account that most people who bought a WINXP Computer or built one themselves use their PCs for one thing, and one thing only:

That's right.

MICROSOFT completely left GAMING out of the MADONNA commercial.... which I guess made sense since MICROSOFT figured people would rather get an XBOX for their gaming fix back then....

But come on now, Gaming on a COMPUTER is as important for the market and OS as is a dedicated console.

Speaking about that COUNTER STRIKE image above,

I heard from LGR that a MICROSOFT EMPLOYEE loved to play COUNTER STRIKE on the company's CORPORATE LAN...... after hours.

But that's kinda like trying to compare that to DAVID "8-BIT GUY" MURRAY and his co-workers playing DUKE NUKEM on the Work Computers during work hours when they were employed at AST RESEARCH in the mid-90s before getting the call from their customers.

And yes, them CORPS don't mind if you play on their SERVERS, just as long as you keep doing your job professionally and don't get distracted. 

As for my experience with WINDOWS XP, 

I've already mentioned this in the past but I decided to hold that off until my WINDOWS XP retrospective post coming soon on OCTOBER 25th.

So please be patient until then. I promise.

Can we all just make up our mind!?-How people learned to accept controversial removals in newer devices(while some still refuse.... to an extent)

It was September 2016,

I was freshly graduated out of HIGH SCHOOL and beginning college..... before I abruptly dropped out embarrassingly.... then re-applied in late 2019 before starting again in 2020.

But before I started my studies in 2016, I saw news reports of the then newest iPhone that just launched into stores 

It was the iPhone 7.

This phone was to succeed the 6S series of Phones that APPLE had at the time

(I was still on my iPhone 5S at that time period.)

It was marketed to be more powerful than the 6S' of the time period as well as be more waterproof, have better cellular reception, larger cameras, all that jazz....

But it came at a huge cost:

The headphone JACK was removed, requiring the use of BLUETOOTH devices or the use of the included adapter to use your wire headphones.

While nowadays, people have learned to accept absence of the 3.5mm headphone jack in our phones..... begrudgingly,

Back in 2016, people were MIGHTY PISSED about the removal because they've been so used to plugging in their headphones when listening to music while also avoiding the latency issues with audio when using wireless headphones when playing mobile games.

The other issue at that time was that the iPhones did not support MAGSAFE charging so the only way you could charge your phone at the time was to use the lightning port in your phone.

The removal of the jack meant you could not use your headphones with your phone while charging at the same time.

Also, people stated that the use of wireless audio devices were still at their infancy while the audio reliability from lightning was still being questioned.

This really reminded people of an early mistake NINTENDO made with the GAMEBOY ADVANCE SP back in 2003 when they removed the headphone jack in favor of the charging port

While NINTENDO learned from their mistake and brought back the headphone jack in handhelds starting with the DS in 2004, then the DSI in 2009, the 3DS in 2011, the WII U GAME PAD in 2012, the original NINTENDO SWITCH in 2017, and yes, Even the NINTENDO SWITCH 2 from 2025 still has a 3.5mm headphone jack,

APPLE to this day still refuses to bring back the headphone jack in today's iPhones.

Again, while people have since moved on with their wireless earbuds, Bluetooth headphones, or their USB-C dongles,

I have a hunch that there's still a minority out there that still haven't got over the 2016 controversy. 

I was gonna end this here but ever since the PLAYSTATION Disc Discontinuation controversy announced back in CANADA DAY 2026,

I decided to touch on more about controversial removals on past devices that other companies have done and what their impact on them was.

First, lets start with IBM and their PS/2 line of Computers from 1987:

To this day, tech junkies keep LOUDLY insisting that the PS/2 was IBM's undoing that forced the company to sell their PC making business to LENOVO....

But that's not far from the truth.

While the PS/2 is indeed IBM's controversy worth talking about, the real downfall was IBM's refusal to move forward with innovations in favor of overpricing their computers so that only businesses can afford them.

The PS/2 however sold well.

But there was one overlooked issue that people don't talk about:

THE MOVE FROM 5.25" FLOPPIES

to 3.5" FLOPPIES.

IBM saw that APPLE did that with the MACINTOSH series

So IBM did the same, thinking that they'd be innovating like APPLE did....

Needless to say, DOS users did not take a liking to the FLOPPY DRIVE switch because it broke compatibility with older software due to the Floppy Drive being different from what them seasoned users were used to.

Eventually as the years went on, DOS users accepted the use of 3.5" Floppy Disks due to the increasing complexities of the software before the days of CD-ROM.

Ok but what about the time APPLE removed the FLOPPY DRIVE in favor of CD-Drives with the 1998 iMac G3?

Again, we learned to live with the changes though that wasn't without controversy at first.

Most of the Controversy was levied not just on the removal of a FLOPPY DRIVE but also at replacing APPLE's tried-&-true ADB interface with USB.

While at least the KEYBOARD still kept the DAISY CHAINING ability with their keyboards, people bemoaned the fact that their ADB mice had nowhere to plug in without the use of adapters.

PC manufacturer eMachines did however get the last laugh when they tried to copy the iMac with their WINDOWS 98SE eOne PC in 1999.

But not just that but also to mock APPLE's removal of the floppy drive and complete move to USB by having a floppy drive on the eone

as well as retaining PS/2 ports on the machine

And yes, they even let you DAISY chain the mouse to the keyboard, just like the ADB keyboards did as well as the IMAC's keyboard.

Quite the last laugh huh.....

Till APPLE sued eMachines for copying the iMac.

In the later years, We've all moved on to using USB for our Mice and Keyboard.

And we no longer use Floppy Disks in our systems even though it is proven that WINDOWS 11 still has FLOPPY DRIVE support going as far back as the 5.25" Floppies used in the IBM days.

No Lie. FLOPPY DISKS are still supported on WINDOWS 11 out of the box

Though you do need to have a CASE that supports mounting a drive

(Unless you go USB with the FLOPPY DRIVES),

you need a PCI-E FLOPPY CONTROLLER card to connect the DRIVE to your motherboard,

And use the MOLEX cables that came with you power supply.

Those migrations away from legacy ports, we've all learned to live with it....

Except for one factor which is the PS5

I'm guessing this is still ongoing, what with all the memes I'm seeing on FACEBOOK.

But for those who need a reminder, 

It was announced in CANADA DAY 2026 that SONY was planning a complete PHASE OUT of PHYSICAL MEDIA by JANUARY 2028 due to rising production costs as well as the fact that even though people still buy the DISC version of the consoles, SONY figured that People would rather buy their games digitally through the PLAYSTATION STORE.

Boy did they underestimate the heavy backlash but what made people so PISSED at the JULY 1st announcement was that it was a complete reversal of a campaign that SONY willingly used back in 2013.

Yes, I remember reading about the BACKLASH that MICROSOFT got when they unveiled the XBOX ONE back in MAY 21 2013 as I was in 9th grade in HIGH SCHOOL reading about it on both the SCHOOL's computers as well as reading it on WIKIPEDIA on my Wii-U.

The idea was that MICROSOFT wanted these CONSOLES to always be connected to the internet via your WI-FI or ETHERNET setup, that the included KINNECT 2.0 has to always be connected, and the games that were purchased would be tied to one's MICROSOFT ACCOUNT, sort of like a MACHINE I.D.

People hated the idea of always needing it to be connected online just to use the thing but others took offense to the fact that the KINNECT always being connected to the console would be a privacy concern....

But what got people PISSED OFF was that the MACHINE I.D thing would limit reselling of games because as we all know:

WE HATE DIGITAL RIGHTS MANAGEMENT

No seriously, DRM is CRASS to a gamer,

As if we already had to put up with the SECUROM, SAFEDISC, STARFORCE, and now DENUVO crap that permeates PC titles,

The last thing we needed was for a company to tell us we don't own games outright.

And 2013 era SONY took advantage of XBOX's fumbling's by holding a presentation that mocked XBOX's DRM policies by letting the press know that SONY will not be adopting a similar DRM approach.....

Eventually, MICROSOFT realized their mistake and on JUNE 19 2013, they announced that they will reverse their DRM approach as well as reverse their ALWAYS ONLINE approach... and they even decided to remove the requirement to have the KINNECT plugged in at all times despite it being bundled still.

Who would have guessed that 13 years later, its become a cruel irony to see what has happened at SONY when they announced their FIERCE COMMITMENT to NO FULL OWNERSHIPS for consumers just because of changing gamer purchase dynamics.

But despite things like a BLACKOUT, protests, etc.,

SONY refuses to backdown....

Part of the problem with the July 1st 2026 Announcement was that it completely strips COMPLETE OWNER SHIP of our games in favor of revocable license and that's something gamers are FIERCILY not going to support. PERIOD.

And in a similar case to how SONY used to mock XBOX for their DRM crap back in 2013, 

Companies like DOMINOES PIZZA and GOG have mocked SONY's actions in the recent days

(Though GOG's mocking approach seems to be more targeted at STEAM than SONY.)

And 4.5 months before the release of GTA VI on PS5 and XBOX SERIES X?

This does not bode well

SEE NO EVIL, SPEAK NO EVIL, HEAR NO EVIL....

Sums up everything we've been reading.

This has us all worrying about the current state of the gaming market, what with

EFFING SAM ALTMAN and his influence on PRIORITIZING A.I development for manufacturers instead of us consumers, which explains those STUPID high prices we now have to pay for our RAM, GPUS, and SSDs....

Excuse my RANTS an all but........

Someone needs to speak about the market conditions as it's left people like

JAYZTWOCENTS frothing,

that it's not even funny.

I'm at the cusp of FROTHING too so rather than RANT, 

I'm gonna go brew myself a cup of EARL GREY tea and DRINK.

Maybe that'll calm my nerves a bit.

And yes, 

I was inspired by a post from DAVID FARQUHAR's THE SILICON UNDERGROUND post about the IBM PS/2 regarding controversial removals on our devices, hence the mentioning of the IBM floppy disk debacle.

One of the rare chances that I borrow from THE SILICON UNDERGROUND when compared to being competitive on certain topics he hasn't covered yet. 

I'm still looking to see if he's covered topics like the ALAN KAY's laptop patent, BLISS photograph from 1996, MATTEL PATRIOT Computers, etc...

But so far, he hasn't with his own words.... yet....

I'll keep on looking.

The Cinema Policy Trailer that never was-REN & STIMPY's "DOWN IN FRONT!"

I was looking through the REN & STIMPY wiki and I saw that there was a Cartoon that never got made past the STORYBOARD stage.

It's called DOWN IN FRONT and it was not meant to be shown on TV but rather it was meant to be shown in Multiplex Cinemas before the movie starts.

Or more like..... CINEMAS that were owned by VIACOM under the tenure of one

SUMNER REDSTONE, then CEO OF VIACOM until 2005.

Think

in the UNITED STATES

and 

in CANADA

Though this implies it was more for NATIONAL AMUSEMENTS as the MULTIPLEX THEATER of choice for this Policy Trailer.

If you want to see the storyboards, here they are:

Pretty bizarre to see STIMPY get angry over breaking the NO SMOKING RULE since that's totally out of CHARACTER for him.

No seriously, it's out of character!

And JOHN K. knew that during production of IN THE ARMY back in 1992 when his writers came up with a scene where STIMPY chews out REN for screwing things up which admittingly is funny but it's totally out of character for STIMPY since it's very difficult to get him mad.

Anyway, I don't know why NICKELODEON rejected this cartoon?

It looks like it would have been a funny cartoon to watch before the COMING ATTRACTIONS were shown in CINEMAS.

Most likely during a screening of THE LION KING in 1994 or A GOOFY MOVIE in 1995. 

I did read that the reason why NICKELODEON rejected the cartoon was because they wanted to focus on promoting AHH!!! REAL MONSTERS which eventually had their own policy trailer in 1995.

Had DOWN IN FRONT! had been made, it most likely would have been the closest that REN & STIMPY would have gotten the CINEMA exposure since a cartoon like STIMPY would not have been a good fit for a 90 Minute theatrical feature without the executive meddling involved because as we all know, 90s ANIMATION EXECUTIVES loved to copy DISNEY but they pull their hair when they find that their film fails to beat their rival in the BOX OFFICE.

At least we got something similar in 2002:

Sort of.

While this ITCHY AND SCRATCHY cartoon actually did get made and was seen in THE SIMPSONS SEASON 13 episode JAWS WIRED SHUT,

TO KILL A TALKING BIRD was not shown in theaters as a policy trailer much to MATT SELMAN's intense chagrin.

And yes, BOB CAMP still has the storyboards as they are seen in his BLOG:

REN & STIMPY "DOWN IN FRONT" STORYBOARD