Discovered this Canadian artist, Mac Demarco, roughly a month ago, and got totally in to the “slacker wave” thing he’s doing. I came across his visually-distressing Passing Out Pieces music video (I’m not exactly weak when it comes to gore and all that, but I didn’t even bother finishing it) and I was like “okay, this is… weird?” Then I got to watch this Pitchfork “macumentary” on him and his music and realized that yeah, he’s definitely nuts (not to mention his touring band), but nevertheless a great talent.
Pepperoni Playboy really gets in to every bit of Demarco’s dimensions. Approximately three minutes in, you’ll see Mac naked in a steamy shower room and his friend fiddling with calendar cards with Asian women on them. Two minutes later, he’s playing Ryan Paris’ La Dolce Vita and discussing the rudimentary elements of a great pop hit. When you’re new to Mac Demarco in general, you’ll probably grow to take the serious stuff he talks about with a grain of salt, but when it comes to his craft, he sure know what he’s saying.
I’m currently learning this track off his Salad Days record so don’t be surprised if a Macky cover comes up one of these days:
You there with the daddy issues, your pops just might be something straight off a Cartoon Network series.
CN’s Adventure Time, Steven Universe and Clarence are all pretty individual in themselves despite basically branching from the same tree (Clarence’s creator Skyler Page and SU’s Rebecca Sugar are former storyboard artists from Adventure Time) but I’ve been watching these shows for a while and it’s hard to not notice how the main protagonists all have some kind of disconnection with their dads. Is it a coincidence or some weird plotted Cartoon Network trope? We don’t know. But looking more into these bearded recurring characters will sure be interesting. So if yours is MIA this Father’s Day—or any other day, for that matter—do not fret, the dad-son relationships on these shows aren’t really perfect themselves, either.
Disclaimer: I am not some research geek to enumerate and write about every single dad in Cartoon Network history, just gonna talk about the shows that I currently watch. Drop me a comment below if you could add to it, okay? (And suggest me some good toons to watch—even outside CN!)
You know how some dads are not really the best parents but are the coolest old people you’ll meet? Greg isn’t Steven Universe‘s guardian and prefers not interfering with anything magic, so time spent with his Crystal Gem son is a bit constrained. He’s badly sunburnt, has a van for shelter, and lives by a saying that alludes to the imperfection of porkchops—the Gems are probably right; he’s kind of a mess, but he does try his best to make things up to his son. Here’s a clip from the second episode in which he helps Steven find a laser light cannon that will save Beach City from a giant red eye:
Come on, don’t you think it’d be so cool to have a one-man band for a father?
“There was a little bit when I didn’t have a dad, but now I have a Chad; he’s pretty awesome,” Clarence tells his friend Amy on second episode “A Pretty Great Day with a Girl,” implying his parents might have gone through a divorce, or his father passed away—a possibility I don’t want to believe ’cause I actually want to see Mr. Clarence in a non-flashback way. This show’s pretty much a newbie in the Cartoon Network roster (with only eight episodes in as of now) so deets on the whereabouts of Clarence’s biological dad is still unknown, and the character development on his mom’s live-in boyfriend Chad hasn’t really progressed that much—but we do know they’re not pulling the mean stepparent archetype on the series, which is nothing but delightful. I just don’t know if it’s a good thing that Chad’s as clueless as his eight-year old stepson… at least they have chemistry?
EDIT: I just watched the latest episode, “Dinner Party”, and there’s this scene wherein Chad saves Clarence from an attic floor’s faulty construction. Yeah, he’s pretty cool.
Clarence: “Chad, I want you to know that you are my hero… just in case you fall to your death.”
Adventure Time‘s Finn has it all bad, though. Raised by a family of dogs that found him “leafed up” in a forest, this adventurer from Ooo looked up to his best pal’s dad Joshua all his life as if he was his own. It was only on the fifth season finale that a constellation in the form of Billy tells Finn that his biological father is still alive and is in a place called the “Citadel”. Finn and Jake arrive at the said place come season six—but at the expense of Prismo who gets killed by The Lich (that season premiere was crazy, I know… #PrismoForever)—only to find out Finn’s dad, Martin, actually sucks balls.
Finn: [inhales] [speedily] Why’d you abandon me in the forest when I was a little baby???
Martin: Oh… I mean… Heh. You know me. I’m a funny guy.
Finn: [groans unhappily]
Martin: I don’t know. It was a long time ago. [Martin brushes his hair back while he talks] Who knows, [points at Finn] maybe you left me!
Finn lost his arm trying to stop Martin so if that’s not some fucked up parenting then I don’t know what is:
As much as everyone wants to have adventures as exciting as these Cartoon Network kids, not everyone is cut out to handle the family drama. If your dad’s a Martin who’s got you dismembered (metaphorically), well… I’m sincerely sorry. At least your father didn’t eat your fries and is not the ruler of some demonic alternate universe, Marceline would probably say.
I couldn’t actually care less that most of these shows are for kids. Television, be it live action or cartoons, is supposed to be a reflection of the real world—and in the real world, not everyone gets perfect dads, or perfect parents in general. Which is okay, because that’s the way it is. To quote Buck Dewey, a minor character from Steven Universe: “It’s not rough, the lack of daddy kisses made me what I am.”
A couple of minutes left and it’s Independence Day no more. Looking back, I should have actually done something “pinoy” like watch that Johnoy Danao mall gig, do a lame #RP612fic tweet, or eat that leftover suman from last week (okay, that’s a bad set of examples—except for seeing Johnoy Danao live; I really wanted to go—but what in Pepe’s name do you even do on Independence Day?!). Same day last year my cousin and I sneaked in an Up Dharma Down meet-and-greet, had the band sign my notebook, and watched them and Bamboo perform live—so apparently my Araw ng Kasarinlan of 2014 is pretty lame in comparison.
Maybe I should’ve just started writing on this thing a month back when I interned for a local newspaper’s very sosyal social gathering and my life was actually interesting.
What to say, what to say.
I’ve been listening to this track by Ridge Tan (of the Library Kids!) for a week now, if that’s anything:
Such a gem! I wish I could write something as beautiful, or at least love my father as much. Really freaking disgusted at how my One Direction cover has more plays than this.
The Dolphin Hotel Affair 