Tom & Jerry

Name:     Tom & Jerry
First Published :     Date:     1940
Place:     Metro-Goldwyn Mayer.
Formats :     TV Series
Cartoonist:     William Hanna and Joseph Barbera
Characters Story:

Tom and Jerry were an animated cat (Tom) and mouse (Jerry) team who formed the basis of a massively successful series of theatrical short cartoons created, written, and directed by animators William Hanna and Joseph Barbera (later of Hanna-Barbera fame) and produced by Metro-Goldwyn Mayer from 1940 to 1958.

MGM later had more Tom & Jerry cartoons produced by outside studios in the 1960s (Gene Deitch's Rembrandt Films from 1961 to 1962, and Chuck Jones' Sib Tower 12 Productions from 1963 to 1967).

Tom and Jerry later resurfaced in TV cartoons produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions (1975-1977; 1990-1993) and Filmation Studios (1980 - 1982). The original Hanna and Barbera shorts are notable for having won seven Academy Awards, more than any other character-based cartoon series.

The plots of each short usually centre on Tom's frustrated attempts to catch Jerry, and the mayhem and destruction that ensues.

Reasons given may include normal feline hunger, the simple enjoyment of tormenting him, revenge for being slighted, or a misunderstanding between the previous cohabitators. However, Tom never succeeds in capturing Jerry, mainly because of Jerry's own craftiness and cunning.

The shorts are famous for using some of the most destructive and violent gags ever devised for theatrical animation: Jerry slicing Tom in half, Tom using everything from axes, pistols, rifles, dynamite, and poison to try and murder Jerry, Jerry stuffing Tom's tail in a waffle iron, and so on. A recurring gag has Jerry causing some sort of an explosive to blow up in his adversary's face, causing Tom to appear in blackface. 

This information is taken from- http://www.comedy-zone.net/cartoons/characters/tom-and-jerry.htm

Cartoon Characters and Child Abuse Prevention?

What could cartoon characters possibly have to do with child abuse prevention?
Most would say nothing. Until recently, that probably would have been true, but not anymore.
Somewhere somebody decided to change a Facebook profile picture to cartoon characters in order to bring attention child abuse and the need for prevention. A lot of people followed suit, then a lot more, then thousands more. It grew into a mini-movement, got a lot of people talking, and even got national media attention.
The Facebook profile picture movement didn't ask anybody to do anything other than post a picture to recognize the fact that child abuse exists and that we all need to do something about it. Changing pictures to cartoon characters made a statement -- and started a conversation.
For many people, it did even more than that.
The Facebook picture campaign is prompting some to make donations to local organizations that prevent and respond to child abuse. Others are searching for more information about what can be done and sharing it with friends.
Others are posting messages on their own Facebook pages, responding to a myriad of blog postings, or contacting media outlets to ask that more attention be given to child abuse and the need to stop it. Still others are sharing their own experiences as survivors of abuse and/or reaching out in empathy to those who have suffered abuse.
All from a cartoon character picture.
Lots of people have tried to figure out who started it and if this has all been a legitimate movement. But none of that really matters.
What really matters is that conversations are taking place all over the country about child abuse -- something that people have often been hesitant to discuss, but a topic that desperately needs our attention. It's not just something that inevitably happens and can't be changed. It can.
More and more people are recognizing that in order for our communities to thrive, we must all acknowledge and address child abuse. Whether it's physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, or neglect -- it's not okay for this to be happening. It is simply unacceptable for any child to ever be abused in any way. Ever.
Addressing this issue head-on now will yield tremendous results later. The more we invest in the health and well-being of children and families now, the more the next generation will pay it back through greater productivity, improved health, and responsible citizenship.
More and more people are also realizing that protecting children involves every person in every community -- it's not someone else's problem. It's a personal responsibility.
Every single person can make a difference in his or her sphere of influence -- talk to friends, family, colleagues to raise awareness of child abuse. Find out what policies are in place to protect children. Ask local officials to take the initiative to do more to protect children. Get involved with a local organization that sponsors child abuse prevention and response programs.
For instance, there are over 900 Children's Advocacy Centers across the country that have hundreds of resources to prevent and respond to child abuse. One example is the National Children's Advocacy Center in Huntsville, Alabama where model programs and initiatives are developed and disseminated to communities across the United States and around the world.
The possibilities are endless. And the opportunities are out there. There are solutions that work, and they are available to everyone.
The most important thing is that more and more people are becoming more aware of what is happening around them.
All from a picture of a cartoon character. Amazing really.
Now we have to take it from here. We have to use the momentum to take awareness of child abuse to a new level and do even more.
This article is taken from- http://ezinearticles.com/?Cartoon-Characters-and-Child-Abuse-Prevention?&id=5561605

Smoke's no joke for Tom and Jerry

Children's TV channel Boomerang is to edit scenes from Tom and Jerry cartoons where characters are shown smoking.
The move follows an investigation by media watchdog Ofcom into a viewer's complaint that the vintage animations were not appropriate for young viewers.
The watchdog recognised the "historic" cartoons were made at a time "when smoking was more generally accepted".
However, Boomerang will only edit those cartoons where smoking appears to be "condoned, acceptable or glamorised".
Two such cartoons include Texas Tom from 1950 and Tennis Chumps from 1949.
'Stylised manner'
In the former Tom is shown trying to impress a female cat by rolling a cigarette, lighting it and smoking it with one hand. In the latter, Tom's tennis opponent is seen smoking a large cigar.
"We note that in Tom and Jerry smoking usually appears in a stylised manner," said Ofcom.
However, it said that "the level of editorial justification required for the inclusion of smoking in such cartoons is necessarily high".
"Depictions of smoking may not be problematic given the context," it continued.
"But broadcasters need to make a judgement about the extent to which a particular scene may or may not genuinely influence children."

Channel 4 has avoided censure after Sir Elton John swore on a live edition of Paul O'Grady's teatime show. On the programme broadcast 9 May this year, the British singer said he had changed his name from Reginald Dwight because it had made him sound "like a banker, or a w****r".
Ten viewers contacted Ofcom complaining that the language was inappropriate for the time of broadcast.
The media watchdog said the use of the word was "unfortunate" but that it accepted C4 had taken steps to avoid similar occurrences in future.

This article is taken from- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/5271470.stm

"Hetalia": History Gone Bananas

I think it must been when the Hetalia narrator announced that Italy was being hauled off to live with Holy Roman Empire at mean old Mr. Austria's house that I began to wonder if I needed to start questioning someone's sanity. But whose? That of the acquisitions executives at FUNimation, who thought that an anime Histeria! focused on European history would sell in the United States? Or mine: Should I really credit my ears when they insist I'm hearing things like the above?
Really, I'd love to know who the target audience is for this Japanese micro-series (each episode is about three minutes long, plus credits), even in its home country. It has got to be the silliest thing I have ever seen: a vague retelling of European history that reimagines the protagonist countries as a lot of cheeky teenagers pulling pranks and hijinks on each other.
Luckily, viewers only need the barest familiarity with actual history in order to make minimal sense of the shenanigans. Each nation conforms to its stereotype: Germany is the hulking, humorless bully masking his sense of inferiority and loneliness under a cloak of brutality. Italy is the flighty, pasta-loving coward. France is the flirty and effeminate one who talks a big game and surrenders when anyone looks at him cross-eyed. America is the preternaturally cheerful team leader convinced he is the star of a superhero movie starring himself as the superhero star of a movie about himself, with himself as the star who is also a superhero. England hides his emotional frigidity behind a façade of superiority—until his imaginary friends come out to play. Russia is just weird. Surprisingly (or maybe not, considering its country of origin), Japan is the only one of the bunch who really doesn't come into focus, though there is one hilarious moment in the first season when he presents Germany with a fleet of miniaturized U-boats in assorted snazzy colors, which he proposes to mass-market with a catchy theme song; and another where Italy stumbles upon his porn stash.

Most of the main episodes focus on World War II (which, if you think about it, makes this series just about the most tasteless possible take on that horrific period in world history), but lots of other periods in history come in for grief, from the current era to the Middle Ages. The latter are the focus of "Chibitalia," a shorter short attached to the longer shorts, that portrays these same characters in their kid forms during the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Here the jokes definitely require you to have taken a college-level course in European history and to have actually paid attention in class. Aside from a continuing story about the kid-crush that Holy Roman Empire develops for Italy, it also includes allusions to or situations involving the Hundreds Years' War, the War of the Austrian Succession, and the Spanish acquisition of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. (Mr. Austria's predilection for Chopin may also be an allusion to the Habsburg annexation of Galicia during the oh never mind.) If you're like me and actually know these things, your jaw will drop and you will howl with laughter at the extraordinary depth of knowledge the series sometimes reveals and the cheek with which it treats it. If you don't, you'll probably just laugh your head off, then scratch it and wonder who did the what-now and why.
Occasionally there are explanatory notes, so that we are told that France's incredibly awkward proposal of marriage to England is an allusion to a 1956 plan floated by the French government for a formal union between the two nations. But there aren't many of these, which means you have to get by on the sheer entertainment value of the dialogue and gestures.
Which are totally and hysterically successful, so I don't know why I'm making a big deal about the supposed "history lessons" in this thing. Hetalia is brutally fast and wickedly quick-witted; the jokes and situations are brilliantly timed and visually composed. Everyone is a cliché, but they are sharply realized and entertaining clichés. Italy is at the center of most of these, and the glee he shows in finding new ways to avoid fighting—such as hiding in a box labeled "Tomatoes" and claiming to be the "Tomato Fairy"—is very winning. Given the speed this show moves at, I'd really recommend watching it dubbed; and, anyway, the FUNimation voice artists are at the top of their game, with great accents and terrific comic performances. For hilarity and tastelessness, it's easily on a par with Ghost Stories, and I never believed I'd find an English voice track has funny as that one.
I've only one criticism, and it's got to be the mildest criticism I've ever leveled against a show: Watching it is like eating popcorn. You can't stop with just one episode, and it is way too easy to gorge yourself on too many at a time. I felt physically ill by the time I got to the end of a disc, but I couldn't stop myself from marathoning it.
The two season releases each come with two discs: one containing the complete season (along with a handful of episode commentaries by FUNimation voice artists) and one disc given over to Japanese-produced featurettes. The latter are of only modest interest, but it is nice to have them.
This show really needs to be picked up by an American network as "educational programming," not because it is educational (it's hardly that) but because it would totally screw with the busybody groups who are always demanding more educational programming on television. Every complaint about its ribaldry and lack of respect for its subject matter could be met with "But where else will our children learn about the War of the Austrian Succession and the postwar Solidarity union between Switzerland and Liechtenstein?" That would shut them up, and that little miracle would be another one for the history books.
This article is taken from- http://www.toonzone.net/news/articles/35648/hetalia-history-gone-bananas

Internet cartoon delivers violent fun

Once upon a time, two graduates of the University of Colorado decided to make a perverse cartoon for adults, which would simultaneously lampoon the fads and politics of society while also testing the outer limits of their audience’s gag reflex. Thus Matt Stone and Trey Parker begat “South Park,” and so the modern age of mature cartoons was born.

On this very campus, one animator and a group of friends from the area have created a similar monster: “Goremaster,” a bloody Flash epic that follows the exploits of its eponymous hero. Imagine Rambo with Chuck Norris’ mullet and a temperamental wall-eye, and you have some idea of Hugo von Goremaster’s appearance, but looks aren’t everything.'
Goremaster, voiced by co-creator and junior in communications Zack Hicks, has, over two episodes, slain friend and foe in multitudinous manners. A flamethrower down the throat, an arm used to decapitate its owner, then as a high-powered aerial saw and the classic fist through skull are but a few of the entrail-covered means of bringing outlaws to justice.
Hicks said the show, rooted in the creators’ collective love of South Park and likewise violent comic animation, has been long in the works.
“It was me and two friends of mine,” Hicks said. “We’re basically South Park and Venture Brothers nerds. We figured, ‘We’re artists, we can make stuff make something really violent with a barbarian hero.’”
Thus came the show, which at the time of this writing is available on Newgrounds, Albino Black Sheep and YouTube and has amassed more than 89,000 views between the first two episodes. Hicks said a possible DVD release is in planning, but such a release depends on the success on the next few episodes of the show.
Hicks said that, while money is not the root of the show, the ability to turn it into a career may not be out of the question.

“We got sponsored by Albino Black Sheep and had over 20,000 views, and Newgrounds is sponsoring ‘Goremaster 2,’” Hicks said. “Right now it’s sort of my full-time job.”

Hicks’ cohorts include co-creator Luke Hatmaker, a student actor at Belmont who also voices Goremaster’s sidekick Grizzlefist, and Robert Stephan, a local actor who will appear in the Clarence Brown Theatre production of “A Christmas Carol” this year and lends his voice to nemesis Baron Skullprince, Goremaster’s chief nemesis.
Accompanied by original music from Lucas Samms, the show very much appears a work of love made by friends, though the love is not necessarily felt so much as the gut-crushing horror onscreen and the sick anticipation of what hellacious havoc Goremaster will wreak next.
Episode Two came out last weak and accounts for nearly half of the total views tabulated in this story. From the looks of things, viewers are flocking to the videos and have mostly positive responses. As Goremaster battles a familiar plummer who may or may not have enhanced many of our youths, one thing is certain: This brutal barbarian is here to stay.
This article is taken from- http://utdailybeacon.com/entertainment/2010/nov/15/internet-cartoon-delivers-violent-fun/