Thanks a lot. I needed that.

To Tony Saliste: You say: “yes, pablum, as you call it, is pervasive today... but, like they say about tv, that's what the remote is for. mindless stupidity is present in many areas, and all some are capable of... leave them to it.” Tony, zapping is only as good as that which we can zap to. There are practically no alternatives to pabulum these days, the “suits” have managed, through decades of enforced dumbing down programming, to create expectations in the minds of the viewers so that pabulum is what is mostly expected (and offered). Read the comments to my six articles, time and again you will see this visceral reaction to my positing “Art” as important and distinct from (indeed "better than") “entertainment,” accusing me of being “elitist.” Animation is this amazing medium that is being totally swamped by mindless stupidity, “escapism” (“Prozac”) is the dominant force in it, and I most certainly see no openness to something a bit more “mature,” more life-sustaining. Even animation festivals are under the crunch of budget cuts unless they go even more into commercial servitude. And as for TV, that is utterly hopeless, when was the last time you had a chance to see quality animation on it, with or without cable? You say: “the problem, and i think you will agree, is so much of it is 'published' and deemed as 'art'... perhaps to them it is. others of us may not 'like' that, but, so what? if no one pays attention to it, it, too, shall pass. when the 'suits' have squeezed the last nickle out of any fad, true 'art' will survive.” Indeed, we are in a situation that is quite amazing, the “brainwashing” has been so very successful, the expectations have been shaped so “well,” and the frame of reference contained even “better” (the Weltanschauung), the more one focuses on intrinsic worth and inherent universal “stuff,” the more one appears to be an “outsider.” As I said in some of my previous writing, the basic belief is that “the eye works like a camera and we all see the same thing.” That is likely why so many “different” major animation productions actually look the same to me, they all are born of the same world view. You say: “if it takes another 50 years, i say, have at it, knock yourselves out. just don't expect to make a fan out of me.” You must be a lot younger than me, I most definitely do not have 50 years ahead of me, far from it. Besides, why should one wait? If one can switch from being a mere viewer to becoming a doer, now’s the (only?) time!

jean, what you say is true, if a bit too far in the other direction... i'm sure your intent was not to stifle exploration of the media, including animation and music. there are more than two sides to animation, as in all art, stories, or lies. yes, pablum, as you call it, is pervasive today... but, like they say about tv, that's what the remote is for. mindless stupidity is present in many areas, and all some are capable of... leave them to it. the problem, and i think you will agree, is so much of it is 'published' and deemed as 'art'... perhaps to them it is. others of us may not 'like' that, but, so what? if no one pays attention to it, it, too, shall pass. when the 'suits' have squeezed the last nickle out of any fad, true 'art' will survive. if it takes another 50 years, i say, have at it, knock yourselves out. just don't expect to make a fan out of me.