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Tag: Spongebob

  • SpongeBob Headstone for Iraq Vet Banned by Cemetery

    A family is battling a cemetery after they were forced to remove a previously approved headstone for Kimberly Walker, an Iraq War veteran. The headstone, which is 7 feet high, is a smiling SpongeBob in an Army uniform. Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati said that they decided the headstone was inappropriate. The family of Kimberly Walker also had to remove a near-duplicate headstone that was set up for Walker’s living sister.

    “We’ve decided that [the headstones] aren’t appropriate for our historic cemetery and they can’t be displayed here,” cemetery President Gary Freytag said. Freytag also said that the SpongeBob headstones were approved in error and that they didn’t fit in with the cemetery’s stately appearance.

    Walker’s family is furious with the cemetery’s decision to remove the SpongeBob headstones. “They had no compassion for what we were going through,” said Walker’s mother, Deborah Walker. Kimberly Walker served two tours in Iraq and was found strangled and beaten to death this past February. The family had just gotten the headstones erected earlier this month when they were told they had to be removed.

    Do you think the cemetery was right to remove the headstones? Respond below.

    The cemetery has offered to reimburse the family, who prepaid $29,000 for their six plots in Spring Grove Cemetery, for each of the headstones as well as pay for new ones.

    “I feel terrible that it got to this point but I’m hoping we can come out at the other end of the tunnel with a solution,” Freytag said. Freytag said a possible solution to the issue may include using a more traditional gravestone with a small likeness of SpongeBob.

    The family doesn’t want new headstones, though–they want the other SpongeBob headstones back. Walker’s twin sister Kara Walker says that the lack of respect the cemetery showed by forcing them to take down the SpongeBob headstones is very frustrating.

    “They already brought enough grief and pain to the family,” she said. “We want what we paid for and what I know my sister would have wanted.” SpongeBob was Kimberly Walker’s favorite cartoon. “For them not to accommodate and respect what my sister sacrificed, not only for my family, but for everyone else in this country, really bothers me,” Kara added.

    Images via YouTube and Hulu

  • SpongeBob 2 Movie Features Antonio Banderas

    Heads up, parents–every kid’s favorite yellow sponge has landed another film. The good news is you have about a year and a half before the kiddies drag you to the theaters to hear the charming voices of SpongeBob and his friends. “SpongeBob SquarePants 2” is about to begin filming in Georgia and has a reported release date of February 13, 2015, just in time for Valentine’s Day.

    Antonio Banderas, who did the voice for the popular Puss in Boots from “Shrek,” is one of the big stars in “SpongeBob 2.” Banderas will be voicing a pirate in the movie, and if he can make the character half as entertaining as Puss in Boots, the movie might be a little more enjoyable for the parents.

    The director of the Savannah Film Office, Jay Self, is really excited about “SpongeBob 2.” According to Self, “This is going to be one of those films that every kid in the world is going to want to see and their parents are going to have to take them.”

    Some of the live-action scenes from the movie will be shot in the Savannah area, something Self says will be great for the community. “SpongeBob is a very successful international franchise and we are very excited to be working with Paramount on this project. We know from experience how valuable the investment and exposure generated by a project like this can be for our community,” said Self.

    “SpongeBob 2” is filming on Tybee Island in Georgia at the end of the month, and scenes in Savannah will begin shooting October 9. According to Savannah Now, filming in Savannah will last about 40 days, and there is a big need for people to work on the crew and serve as extras.

    SpongeBob’s last movie hit theaters in 2004 and grossed more than $140 million. The TV show is still running on Nickelodeon, and season 10 is expected to begin airing in 2014, which should help increase interest in “SpongeBob 2.”

    Some Twitter users are really looking forward to the sequel. A video that does a fun take on the SpongeBob theme song is at the end of the article for your viewing pleasure. Are you excited about “SpongeBob 2”? Respond below.

    Image via YouTube

  • Viacom’s Ridiculous SOPA Support Pitch Video

    That’s Professor Chaos from South Park which appears on Comedy Central, which is owned by Viacom. The reason the image is leading this post is because it’s Viacom’s intellectual property, vicariously, anyway, and after watching their propaganda video supporting SOPA, I’m hoping you have the same reaction as the Professor does.

    First, the laughable video:


    Oddly enough, Viacom didn’t post this on YouTube. It was apparently ripped from this page — notice the “anti-piracy” in the URL — and that’s another reason I’m using it: To show how ridiculous their position really is. Notice they haven’t requested that YouTube pull this format of their sob story, even though it’s been up on YouTube for two days. Good thing it wasn’t a 30-second clip of South Park, otherwise it would’ve been gone already.

    Apparently, the good people who made this video aren’t trying to monetize it, so it’s OK for YouTube to have it. Ah, hypocrisy at its finest.

    As for the video itself, as TechDirt so eloquently pointed out, it’s essentially a “support SOPA or Spongebob dies” approach, and it stinks of hyperbole and a “woe is our company because there’s no SOPA to protect it” approach. Don’t forget about the “we need more of your money, therefore, SOPA is right” approach, either, because it’s definitely available in the video.

    It should be noted that Viacom’s view on piracy is not in dispute here. If you get caught downloading a movie you haven’t paid for, you should have to pay the consequences. The problem is, SOPA is not the way to go about it because it gives entirely too much power to the entertainment industry, which has been the major sticking point against SOPA all along.

    Ironically enough, Viacom’s quarterly financial report has also been released, and after watching their sob story video, you’d think the company is on the verge of bankruptcy. Yeah, about that. A quick look at the document’s title reveals a much different outlook than the one the video presents:

    VIACOM REPORTS DOUBLE-DIGIT GROWTH FOR FOURTH QUARTER AND FULL-YEAR FISCAL 2011

    But, but… didn’t the video essentially plead for people to keep consuming Viacom’s products in such a manner that the money keeps on flowing in, saving the entire Viacom staff from certain doom? So is this more hypocrisy or just an outright lie? Furthermore, when does Viacom get held to the fire for refusing to adapt the technology available? Or, as TechDirt put it:

    Nowhere do they talk about making use of what the internet provides to build bigger audiences, to promote better, and to better monetize. Because that’s the kind of stuff that Viacom just doesn’t do. It just begs others to cover up for its own business failures.

    It should be noted that full episodes of VH1’s amazing lineup of reality programs are available at the VH1 website, but you wouldn’t know that if you visited Viacom. If you want to actually combat episodic piracy, why not go out of your way to promote the fact these very same episodes are available for free on the website of a property you own instead of making videos that further turn public opinion against you?

    Nowhere on Viacom’s site is that knowledge gained. In fact, it was Google that let me know these episodes are available, but yet, it’s a lack of SOPA that causes people to download Viacom’s IP and not a lack promotion? That doesn’t make any sense whatsoever.