Ovation, R.I.P.

Okay, they're not dead, but they may as well be.

Time Warner Cable stopped carrying them new years night, 2013.

Claimed not enough people were watching.
How the fuck do they know?

Nielson boxes?
Fuck the Nielson families.
What are there, like, six of these assholes?

Do they monitor our digital channel boxes?
We ain't all got 'em.
I ain't got one in my room, and I'm the one that watched Ovation.

So...how do they determine that?
And...so fucking what?
You're telling me people are using the R&B audio-only music channel more than Ovation?
Or, the Ska one?
Really?? Ska??
Bullshit.
Bull. Fucking. Shit.

Fuck you, Time Warner.
I've never not had capricious and lying assholes running our cable in my whole rotten life.
Why is this industry in particular so rife with corruption?

Is this a thing for everyone?
Are they all just assholes?
I'm trapped in podunkville, surrounded by an iron curtain, I don't know.

Anyhoo, took me a couple weeks to register it wasn't coming back on, and then I investigated the matter, and was furious.
Then....I collected the materials for this retrospective, but...I had Jade Shade stuff to get started.

So, let's finally get to it.

Ovation....
Well, see here.

Sifting through the bouncing gay French clown crotches, here's the stuff from Ovation that inspired me that I wouldn't have gotten to see otherwise.


Dante's Inferno (2007)

See here.


Donnie Darko

See here.

Oh, and update, "S. Darko", the "sequel", is indeed an abortion.
A blackhole of uncomfortable boredom.
Avoid, even if you get it for free in the 2-pack.


Goya: Crazy Like A Genius

Narrated/hosted by Robert Hughes, who you may remember as "the art critic guy from 'Crumb'".

Made me a Goya fan in seconds.
Do a Google image search.
He was the original Crumb, MAD, and Cracked, but in the 19th century.

Hughes also did one where he sneered and spat on ugly fascist American commercial architecture.
I couldn't find the proper title for that one for the life of me, and I really scoured.
But, it was beautiful.

...y'know, I really think Ovation's death was political.
This channel hated everything the big-business mind loves to inflict on us peons.
The bland, the pedestrian, the utilitarian, the thuggish, the insipid, the dumb.

...as you'll see with these other flicks!


Popaganda: 
The Art And Crimes Of Ron English

Another voice of the resistance.

See here, and here.


Tales of the Rat Fink

About Ed "Big Daddy", Roth.

Narrated by John Goodman.

Wow, you mean to tell me, early Hot Rod culture was about NON-conformity, and rebellion, and anti-authority??

I really didn't know that.
I didn't.
You couldn't tell that at all from the rich, old, fuddy-duddy, constipated, nasty, sellout boomer scumfuck assholes that suck all the fun and life out of everything they touch on Speed Channel, epitomized  by Jay-fucking-Leno.

Big Daddy would try to run these pigs over.

Hotrods were the first geek thing.
That blows my fucking mind.

And rewrites my fucking life.
Thank you, Ovation, thank you.


Ryan/Alter Egos

About this animator from Canada I never heard of, who...quite possibly might be the most freakishly talented human to ever live.

...aaaand, he pretty much drank himself to death a couple years after this.
He was on his last legs during it.

Typical story in this shitty world.

Except, his story isn't told as a conventional documentary, it's told in funky animation synced to his voice being interviewed.

Then, "Alter Egos", is the documentary of the making of the documentary.

I still don't know what the fuck to make of it.
Fascinating as Hell.


Spirited Away

Everything Miyazaki is liquid gold poured into your eye sockets, but, I own this thanks to Ovation, along with 11 others.
Although, they're on grainy compressed bootlegs, I really should upgrade.

I...think they had "Laputa", and "The Cat Returns", too, but I couldn't swear to it.

"Totoro",....pretty sure TCM had that one.
Yep, TCM had "Totoro", "Pom Poko", "My Neighbors The Yamadas", and "Only Yesterday".

Got those.


Tokyo Godfathers

I maybe should've tossed this in with "Twisted Christmas", but...no, it's got too much heart, despite having an edge to it.

Beautiful film.

From the director of "Paranoia Agent", "Paprika", and "Millennium Goddess".

Oh, shit, yeah, Ovation played "Millennium Goddess", too.
That one's pretty good.
I don't love it though.
You might.
Check 'em all out.


What Remains: 
The Life And Work Of Sally Mann

Possibly tied for my favorite documentary with "Crumb".

About the photographer, Sally Mann.

Must see to appreciate.
And, have an unconventional mind.
Especially about the topic of death.
If you're any sort of fan of this blog, you'll probably be okay.


So, if I can get any of you to pick up some of these films, maybe it'll go a slight ways towards undoing the damage Time Warner is trying to do to the American soul.

Here's hoping....

And, goodbye, Ovation.
First Nicely's, now you.
I always feel like a widower.
Always mourning another lost love.
*Sigh*