big one

LeSportsac Kasey Cross-Body,Big Love,one size
$38.00
This bag is not only cute, but very practical. It's well-constructed and durable. It's perfect for holding a wallet, keys, and sunglasses without being too bulky. It comes in a variety of prints and colors, and I love it!

SpongeBob SquarePants: SpongeBob vs. the Big One
$19.99
Hello, my name is Beatrice. I'm twelve years old, and a long-time Spongebob fan. I'm writing regarding the sharp decline in the quality of Spongebob episodes that we have been seeing for several years now.


Seasons one-three were great. This would have to have been the Golden Age of Spongebob. The writing was competent and didn't "talk down" to the audience, and the show, though primarily aimed at children, was clever enough for adults to enjoy it as well.
The movie was alright. Not bad, but not great either.
Season four is okay. Some episodes are very good--"Krusty Towers" and "The Lost Mattress" are prime examples--but there has definitely a change in tone, and the title character is much more annoying and childish than he used to be.
Season five starts out decent, but quickly degenerates into such disgraceful episodes as "Goo Goo Gas" and "Whatever Happened to Spongebob" (what an ironic title).
Season six: really, really bad. Awful. To say that it's a shadow of the show it once was would be the understatement of the year.
Season seven: I haven't seen any episodes from season seven, but judging by the direction things have been headed, I don't think I want to.


{{Please note that I am not insulting the writers themselves; I'm merely addressing the fact that they aren't doing a good job}}
Here is my theory:
The new writers who came with the resignation of series creator Stephen Hillenburg lacked the "zip" of the older ones. They seemed to be aware of this fact. They figured, "We know we can't write worth a darn. So, let's just gear the show towards undiscerning little kids--they've been our real moneymakers anyway."
And their plan worked. Though older fans were starting to turn away from the series, they were still making money. So then they thought, "Why not go a notch lower? It'll take less time and effort, and the kids won't even notice."
And it worked again.
They've been continuing with this general downward trend--getting lazier and lazier--and now they're churning out episodes that are so sloppily put together, so insulting to the viewer's intelligence, that they're genuinely painful to watch. To quote my brother, who is also a Spongebob fan: "The new ones are horrible."


These new writers don't even seem to understand the characters. They've simply taken each one's main character trait and taken it to such an extreme that it's not even funny: Spongebob, as obnoxious as possible. Patrick, as stupid as possible. Squidward, as mean as possible. They're not at all charming like they used to be--they're caricatures of their former selves, that's what they are.


There are fewer jokes and plot twists per episode (it takes less time and thought); one gets the sense that everything is drawn out to accommodate the standard 11-minute time slot. That includes the jokes, which are dragged out to painful lengths (see the season five episode, "A Flea in her Dome").


Very recent episodes seem to be avoiding remotely unfortunate endings, as if the kids wouldn't be able to handle it. It can't even be done in a humorous manner (see the season three episode, "Clams"), because that would just be TOO MUCH for them to take.


Now, on to the DVD itself: the only decent episode on this DVD is the titular "Spongebob vs. the Big One". The rest are so bad that if I didn't know better, I might think that someone was doing a parody of Spongebob. ("No Nose Knows" especially.)


In the years since the movie, the show has gone from a clever, well-made cartoon to--as one critic put it--"something it once wasn't: just another kid-pandering attention-waster."


I doubt Spongebob will ever actually get better. When it really hits bottom and loses all of its fans (I know that will happen), it will most likely be cancelled rather than going back up to previous quality. And when that happens, Nickelodeon will collapse because the centerpiece of Nickelodeon popularity will no longer be there. Maybe they will have learned their lesson? I don't know.


Whatever the case, I have (needless to say) stopped seeking out new episodes. In fact, I think I did in the mid-fourth season. The only reason I have seen recent episodes is because my little sister is a die-hard Spongebob fan, and she often wants me to join her in watching them. She's too young to recognize that this show is going down the drain (pun intended), but she will soon. In fact, there will come a time when it sinks so low that even the small children it's clearly aimed at will feel compelled to move on to other, better cartoons.


Thank you for reading my rant.


-Beatrice Larison


P.S.: If anyone else has their own theory about what brought on this general decline in quality, please leave a comment and say what it is.

These Roads Don't Move
$0.99

The Big One: An Island, an Obsession, and the Furious Pursuit of a Great Fish
$24.00
As an annual visitor to Martha's Vineyard I passed by this book in the Island bookstores this summer. There is a lot to do on MV and fishing isn't at the top of my list. I the fall I read a review of the book in The Cape Cod Times which motivated me to purchase the book on amazon.com. (I discovered my purchase price of a hard cover is about the same price the paperback will fetch in April.

The novel describes a world of Martha's Vineyard that the summer visitor never sees. Their annual fishing tournament is extremely well organized with hundreds of prizes for various catagories of fishermen. There are grand prize winners of a $30,000 truck and a $30,000 boat. They also hae daily prizes.

Like the title of the book suggests some people become obsessed with winning. People pan their vacations around the derby. Many go days without sleep or they sleep on the beach waiting for the fish to hit. Forget about having a contractor do work during the tourney...you'll find him at the surf or on a boat waiting for the grand prize winner to hit his hook.

If you like the Vineyard or fishing or good stories about human nature, this book is a good read.