10 favorite webcomics and comic strips (2024 edition)
Photo by Miguel Á. Padriñán: (Pexels.com; cropped from original) It’s time for my annual look at 10 of my favorite webcomics and comic strips. Or “webtoons”...
Apple's September 2024 event: The iPhone 16 launches
Image: Apple iPhone 16 (Apple) Apple held its annual fall event yesterday. Titled “It’s Glowtime,” the event featured the launch of the iPhone 16, as well as...
A look at the summer 2024 movie box office
Image, left to right: "Inside Out 2" (Disney/Pixar); "Deadpool and Wolverine" (Disney/Marvel); "Despicable Me 4" (Illumination) I admit I don’t go to the...
10 classic cartoon characters who've come out as LGBTQ
Image, left to right: "DC Pride Through the Years" (2023), art by Derek Charm (DC Comics); "Nubia: Queen of the Amazons" #1 (August 2022), art by Khary...
September 2024 media picks and news
"Knuckles." (Paramount) Here’s a look at media of interest coming out in September 2024. DVDs/Blu-rays A full list of DVDs/Blu-rays is available here....
Blog status update (August 2024): The site's moved to GreenGeeks
Time for another blog status update post. The site’s changed web hosts After six years of using DigitalOcean as a web host, I’ve moved the site to a new...
Chick-fil-A to launch their own streaming service
Image: "Retail Chick-fil-A" by ccPixs.com is licensed under CC BY 2.0. (Flickr, cropped from original) Despite that the state of the streaming wars,...
Cartoon review: "Barbie: Dreamhouse Adventures" and other Netflix spin-offs
Image: "Barbie: It Takes Two." (Mattel/Netflix/Mainframe Studios) Mattel’s famous Barbie doll has been on an upswing in attention since last year’s billion-...
A look at non-white versions of classic cartoon characters
Image, left to right: Jimmy Olsen, "My Adventures with Superman" (Warner Bros.); Bow, "She-Ra and the Princesses of Power" (Netflix); April O'Neil, "TMNT:...
Cartoon Network shuts down their website
Image: Cartoon Network's landing page on Max. (Warner Bros.) The Warner Bros. Discovery “hits” just keep on coming. Along with the Boomerang streaming...
Recommended streaming services for cartoons (2024 edition)
Clockwise, from top left: "My Adventures With Superman" (Warner Bros.); "Big Hero 6" (Disney); "Scooby's All-Star Laff-a-lympics" (Warner Bros.); "The Legend...
Boomerang streaming service to shut down
Image: Boomerang TV show page. (Warner Bros.) On Thursday, Warner Bros. Discovery announced that the stand-alone Boomerang streaming service is shutting down...
DC Comics brings back its classic logo
Image: DC Studios logo (DC Entertainment / Warner Bros.) At this year’s San Diego Comic Con, one of the things that got superhero comic fans excited wasn’t...
August 2024 media picks and news
Image: “Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie.” (Paramount / Netflix) Here’s a look at media of interest coming out in August 2024. DVDs/Blu-rays A...
Blog status update (July 2024): The blog turns 14
Photo by WOCinTech Chat (Flickr / CC BY / cropped from original) Time for another blog status update post. The blog turns 14 This month marks the 14th...
2023 comic sales down 7% from last year
Photo by emiliefarrisphotos (Pixabay) ICv2 has released its annual North American comics sales report for 2023. Below’s a look at 2023 estimated overall...
RIP Redbox
"Redbox At CVS Brickell" by Phillip Pessar is licensed under CC BY 2.0. (Flickr, cropped from original) A few weeks ago, I noted that Chicken Soup For the...
Paramount to merge with Skydance
"Paramount Studios Los Angeles" by Tips For Travellers is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (Flickr) Early this week, another major media merger was announced:...
Cartoons featuring people of color in the Olympics
Photo by Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Flickr / CC BY) The Olympics are a popular topic in animation and comics, just as it is in media in...
A look at streaming services' profile avatars (2024 edition)
"Amazon Prime Video Streaming (40845733273)" by Ajay Suresh from New York, NY, USA is licensed under CC BY 2.0. (Flickr / cropped from original) It’s been a...
July 2024 media picks and news
Photo by Bryan Turner on Unsplash Here’s a look at what media of interest is coming out in July 2024. DVDs/Blu-rays A list of major releases is available...
What are the biggest Comcast franchises?
Image, left to right: "Jason Bourne," "Jurassic Park," and "Despicable Me." (Universal/Illumination) Rounding out the major American media conglomerates,...
The 10 most-watched Netflix cartoons (July-December 2023)
Image, left to right: "Yu Yu Hakusho" (Crunchyroll) / "CoComelon" (Moonbug Entertainment) / "Barbie: Life in the Dreamhouse" (Mattel) As a follow up to my...
How to block AI crawlers from your site
Image by Mudassar Iqbal from Pixabay Artificial intelligence (AI) companies have to get their data from somewhere… unfortunately, that includes scraping...
Noteworthy asexual cartoon characters
Image: "SpongeBob SquarePants" (Nickelodeon); "Jughead" vol. 1, art by Erica Henderson (Archie) Asexual characters don’t appear often in animation, and even...
Apple 2024 WWDC keynote: The iPad finally gets a calculator app; Apple's all in on AI (unfortunately)
Image: Apple On Monday, Apple held its annual World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC) keynote address, announcing its latest software features. Below are my...
7 noteworthy transgender characters in cartoons
Image, left to right: "Lumberjanes" (art by ND Stevenson)(Boom! Studios); "Dead End: Paranormal Park" (Netflix); Koi Boi (art by Derek Charm)(Marvel) There...
Blog status update (June 2024): The blogroll returns, plus blogging vs. AI and social media
Photo by Ketut Subiyanto (Pexels) Since it’s been awhile (and I needed a topic to write about), here’s another blog status update. Bringing back… a blogroll?...
June 2024 media picks and news
Photo by Tony Schnagl (Pexels) Here’s a look at media of interest coming out in June 2024. Movies Inside Out 2, June 14 Hulu A full list is available here....
What are the biggest Paramount franchises?
"Paramount Studios Los Angeles" by Tips For Travellers is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (Flickr) In the spirit of my look at Disney and Warner Bros.’s biggest...
A look at Google alternatives (2024 edition)
"Google Headquarters in Ireland Building Sign" by Outreach Pete is licensed under CC BY 2.0. (Flickr / cropped from original) Google, Microsoft, and what...
What are the 10 biggest Disney franchises?
Image, left to right: "Steamboat Willie"; "Star Wars: The Last Jedi"; "The Princess and the Frog." (Disney) Awhile ago, I looked at Warner Bros.’s 10 top...
Disney and Warner Bros. to offer a Disney+/Hulu/Max bundle
Image: Disney+ and Max logos. (Disney / Warner Bros.) Last week, Disney and Warner Bros. Discovery announced that starting later in 2024, Disney+ will offer...
Cartoon review: "Cyberchase"
Image: "Cyberchase" cast. (WNET New York) Today’s cartoon review is a look at the long-running PBS Kids animated series “Cyberchase.” The series debuted in...
Jack Dorsey leaves Bluesky, calls Twitter "freedom technology"
Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay Jack Dorsey, the founder of Twitter, is no longer on the board of Bluesky, as the social network has confirmed. Dorsey’s...
MeTV to launch animation TV network spin-off, "MeTV Toons"
Image: MeTV Toons. (Weigel Broadcasting) Big news in the animation and broadcast TV space this week: Weigel Broadcasting (owners of over-the-air nostalgia TV...
The US bans TikTok unless the social network's sold
Image: "TikTok on iPhone" by Nordskov Media is marked with CC0 1.0. Last week, President Biden signed into law a bill that gives ByteDance, the China-based...
May 2024 media picks and news
Image: Actor Ncuti Gatwa, as the Fifteenth Doctor. (BBC) Here’s a look at what media of interest is coming out in May 2024, plus my thoughts on some recent...
How to filter AI images from Google search results
Photo by congerdesign (Pixabay) The artificial intelligence (AI) craze is in full swing, with every tech company trying to shove AI features into its...
Target to scale back in-store DVD and Blu-ray sales
"Target" by JeepersMedia is licensed under CC BY 2.0. (Flickr / cropped from original) On the heels of Best Buy dropping DVDs comes another big box store...
2023 bookstore graphic novel sales: Viz and Scholastic are still the "Big Two"
Image, left to right: "Mary Anne’s Bad Luck Mystery (The Baby-Sitters Club, vol. 13"; art by Cynthia Yuan Cheng (Scholastic) / "Spider-Man: Fake Red," art by...
Where can you buy DVDs and Blu-rays?
"Samsung DVD player (front)" by dougbelshaw is licensed under CC BY 2.0. (Flickr / cropped from original) Over the past year or so, I’ve resumed buying DVDs...
Tech review: Samsung Galaxy Tab A9+
Image from Samsung. Back in 2019, I bought a sixth-generation, entry-level iPad, replacing the several Android/Fire tablets I used through the 2010s. At the...
President Biden is now on the fediverse
President Joe Biden. Photo by Governor Tom Wolf (Flickr / CC BY / cropped from original). The “fediverse,” the decentralized, federated social media world...
2023 US music revenue: Vinyl outsells CDs for the second year in a row
"Compact Discs" by Brett Jordan is licensed under CC BY 2.0 (Flickr / CC BY / cropped from original) The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has...
Disney+ and Hulu officially merge for Disney Bundle subscribers
Disney+ main screen with Hulu's "Shogun." (Disney) This week, Disney officially launched (after several months of beta testing) Disney+ with Hulu integrated....
April 2024 media picks and news
"Basketballs" by Håkan Dahlström is licensed under CC BY 2.0. (Flickr / cropped from original) Here’s a look at what media of interest is coming out for...
Blog status update (March 2024)
Image by Thomas Ulrich from Pixabay Time again for another blog status update post. Dropping Google ads (again) For those visiting my site with their ad...
"Across the Spider-Verse," "The Talk" win 2024 NAACP Image Awards
Image from "Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse." (Marvel/Sony) The 2024 NAACP Image Awards was held last week. The awards, of course, honor African...
"Hailey's On It!," "Star Wars: Doctor Aphra" win 2024 GLAAD Media Awards
Image: "Hailey's On It!" (Disney) The first half of this year’s GLAAD Media Awards were held on March 14 in Los Angeles, with the second half scheduled for...