The Slumbering Lungfish Dybbuk Hostel and All-Night Boulangerie

If rule #34 of the Internet is "there's porn of it, no exceptions," then rule #34 of animation is "there's a cute cuddly version of it, no exceptions."

In the mid-80's, I saw an anthropomorphic six-pack of Chicken McNuggets trying to sell themselves to me on TV. At that point, I realized they'll put a cute face and a squeaky voice on anything. And I've been reminded of this consistently, through movies like The Brave Little Toaster.

And now that we have Pixar, a company that makes all its money from CGI movies, but can't really make them about humans because of the uncanny valley effect, we'll be seeing more and more of this as time goes on.

Hey, The Incredibles worked pretty well. Although they were going for a very cartoony look. Go back and watch the first Toy Story again, though, and see if you don't jump back in your seat the first time you see the baby sister. Horrifying. There's the Uncanny Valley for you.

Many a traveler has gone in search of the mythical Uncanny Valley, and few have returned to tell the tale...

Dude . . . I watched about one minute of that show . . . only about one hour ago! It was creepy . . . I mean come on! That is just twisted . . . though I acan just imagine some stoners somewhere thinking taht that show is the greatest thing ever made . . . though it is better than anything involving Britney Spears. . . now she is creepy!

Apparently the sheep piñatas vomit lamb chops as a weapon. Sweet!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUfRbhstzpo

Hmm. I think that now I need to see this... anything that is that fundamentally disturbing wrapped in the veneer of joyous, colorful frolicking has got to be worth a laugh...

I hadn't heard of the show, or game, until I read this entry last night. Intrigued, I saw a couple of episodes this morning.

Very odd, but kind of charming. I might actually watch more, but only if the episodes could have adverts for "Yu-Gi-Oh" and the Ninja Turtles magically washed out. (I don't have TiVO.)

The show seems to imply that the pinatas are cannoned directly to childrens' parties. How do Mexican flea markets fit into the picture?

that sounds quite horrifying......

I had heard of the game, and flipping through channels, I realized that this was on. I watched a minute of it, but it was totally made for children as far as I could see, and didn't really want to watch any more. Besides, the pilot for Yu-Gi-Oh: Capsule Monsters was on; a can't-miss.

I thought that Viva Pinata was one of a kind, then I remembered that they made a Viewtiful Joe cartoon too.

I'll just stick to Darkwing Duck.

More Protean than Promethean, don't you think?

No, I think Promethean is right. In Greek mythology, Prometheus was punished by being chained to a rock. Every day an eagle would swoop down, pick up a big stick, and bash him in the liver until the candy spilled out. Then the eagle would scoop up the candy and fly off to get a party hat and another slice of cake.

Or something like that.

Promethian as in The Modern Prometheus, aka Frankenstein. So the little piñatas are abominations befo--I mean, golems? As they are reconstructed time and time again for the dark purposes of playing god.

I don't think any Prometheus or Proteus or any other of those greek guys fit the bill.

The pinatas are more like a pagan harvest god, e.g. John Barleycorn.

They meet their doom at the end of a broomstick serenely, dispense joy and candy as they perish, and return home as heroes to repeat the process.