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The Bottom Line: "Perfect"

Wow. I have so much to say about this episode, but I have a limit here so I'll try to shorten it. Everything about this episode is just awesome. It starts with King Dedede pigging out on chips while watching TV and getting fat (which is some great artwork), then eventually Kirby gets fat and NME gets Richard Simmon's wierd lovechild to get them into shape.

From beginning to end this episode is magnificent. All of the animation is beautiful to watch, nothing drags on. The thing that really got me was that Richard Simmons dance workout from hell. The entire way he's doing all this wierd stuff to them and yet Kirby and Dedede are both still jiggling and staying well animated. Then the waddle dees start dancing and that is just awesome animation right there alone. The writing is spot on. Even one of Escargoon's bad jokes is good and the lyrics to the dance is wierd and evil at the same time. The entire thing is charming, cute, and wierd (in a good way). The voice acting in this episode was just perfect. Every actor showed the emotion they needed to for their part and the disco pounding was in great quality.
Let me wrap this up by saying I literally cannot say anything bad about this episode. It was masterfully done from start to finish. I'll be keeping this episode on my DVR for a while.

The Bottom Line: "Great"

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles has been around for over a century, and there were some people who got worried about 4Kids owning it's license, but now, even from people who generally hate 4Kids Entertainment, people believe it's the best work they've ever done.

Let's start with the writing. It's good. There are several seasons, story arcs, and even a few times they reference the 1980's series (Especially in that "Secret Origins arch. They referenced it 3 times!). This is actually darker than that old series, but still keep it to a TVY7 rating. My only real writing gripe is saying "shell" instead of hell. It's clever, but I just hear it too often for it to be that clever. Now it's just annoying. None of the turtles say anything out of character, no terrible puns, and nothing really cheesy. Plus almost every character has some kind of backstory that they reveal to you in time, which really brings out their character.

The animimation is what I will call "very good". It's no spectacular, but it's way above average. Nothing is ever choppy, they're smooth and accurate, and they have correct speed (by that I mean fast blows really have an impact and slow blows are weak). Even in some of the chaotic fighting scenes the animation doesn't slow down. Good work there.

The music is the kind of music you'd want to listen to while playing an extreme beat-em-up game, which is a good thing. 4Kids is really good with the music and theme songs, but the music IN the show could use more guitar, but that's just my tastes. The voice acting is as great as you'd expect. Though sometimes they go a little off character when they voice. Splinter's voice also sounds a little breathy, like he's exhaling air more than he's talking.

Let's wrap this up with my opinions on the series' characters. I just love them. All of them are very unique with their own set of abilities. You've got Casey with his blunt objects, Shredder with his claws and technology (plus he's a badass), and my favorite, Baxter Stockman. Super genius. And with other unique villains and heroes it makes it look like they'll never run out of ideas.

Currently Reading: The Bible!?

I know, shocking.

Despite having been of the Christian faith, at one point, I've never actually sat down and read the thing on my own. So I decided to get myself a copy of the NIV. For like $13, it's really nice. Nicely bound, large font, and all that. Quite large, though. Larger than I remember it being, anyway. The only problem is that I'm not really sure where to start reading it. I read a bit of Genesis and Leviticus, although, my Statistics teacher recommend going to John first. Any advice here would be nice.

I liked what I read of Genesis. There was one main thing that I didn't like in Leviticus (from what I've read). That being it's stance on homosexuality, although, I don't think I'll ever agree with the Bible on this (for obvious reasons).

I do want to read the entire thing through. But, seeing as it's like 1400+ pages, I don't think I'll be accomplishing that any time soon.

THE COUNTRY OF TEXAS !!!i!!!

Very URGENT E-MAIL i HAVE RECIEVED.........Texas wants to secede from the union.

Please note that Texas is the only state with a legal right to secede from the Union . (Reference the Texas-American Annexation Treaty of 1848.)

We Texans love y'all, but we'll probably have to take action since B. Hussein Obama won the election. We'll miss you too.
Here is what can happen:

1. Barack Hussein Obama becomes President of the United States , Texas immediately secedes from the Union .
   
2. George W. Bush will become the President of the Republic of Texas .

So what does Texas have to do to survive as a Republic?

1. NASA is just south of Houston , Texas . We will control the space industry.
   
2. We refine over 85% of the gasoline in the United States .
3. Defense Industry--we have over 65% of it. The term "Don't mess with Texas ," will take on a whole new meaning.
4. Oil - we can supply all the oil that the Republic of Texas will need for the next 300 years. Yankee states? Sorry about that.
5. Natural Gas - again we have all we need and it's too bad about those Northern States. John Kerry will have to figure out a way to keep them warm....
6. Computer Industry - we currently lead the nation in producing computer chips and communications--small companies like Texas Instruments, Dell Computer, EDS, Raytheon, National Semiconductor, Motorola, Intel, AMD, Atmel, Applied Materials, Ball Miconductor, Dallas Semiconductor, Delphi, Nortel, Alcatel, etc, etc. The list goes on and on.
7. Medical Care - We have the largest research centers for cancer research, the best burn centers and the top trauma units in the world, as well as other large health centers. Dallas has some of the best hospitals in the United States .
8. We have enough colleges to keep us going: University of Texas , Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Rice, SMU, University of Houston , Baylor, UNT ( University of North Texas ), Texas Women's University, etc. Ivy grows better in the South anyway.
9. We have a ready supply of workers. We could just open the border when we need some more.
10. We have essential control of the paper industry, plastics, insurance, etc.
11. In case of a foreign invasion, we have the Texas National Guard and the Texas Air National Guard. We don't have an Army, but since everybody down here has at least six rifles and a pile of ammo, we can raise an Army in 24 hours if we need one. If the situation really gets bad, we can always call the Department of Public Safety and ask them to send over Chuck Norris and a couple of Texas Rangers.
12. We are totally self-sufficient in beef, poultry, hogs, and several types of grain, fruit and vegetables, and let's not forget seafood from the Gulf. Also, everybody down here knows how to cook them so that they taste good. Don't need any food.