Reviews, tips and opinions from Araby Carlier.

Araby Carlier is a member of the see you in the streets generation that has brought us the anti-globalization and anti-war movements. As a young urban warrior she defended abortion clinics, stood with the people in the streets of Cincinnati during the rebellion after the police murdered Timothy Thomas, she led Philly Freedom Summer against the execution of Mumia Abu-Jamal, and has spoken at countless demonstrations, conferences, radio shows, and workshops across the country. Most recently she co-produced for the Artists Network of Refuse & Resist!, "Unconventional Heroes"-- an evening of performance honoring courageous resisters presented in the thick of the protest against the RNC in NYC. Araby became obsessed with novels after tasting the liberation in Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga and Steinbeck's classic Grapes of Wrath. Armed with the certainty that anyone will LOVE a great book, Araby is applying her creativity and determination to write about novels in a fresh way because she is confident that another world is possible and many books that already exist may light the way. Araby's own blog is at: liveswemightlive.blogspot.com

Archived entries October 5, 2005- Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks on the Cartoon Network June 28, 2005- Sleater-Kinney new album May 23, 2005- PEN Conference: Making New Maps May 22, 2005- Public Enemy #2: An All-New Boondocks Collection May 7, 2005- PEN FOREIGN EXCHANGES: Conversation between Art Spiegelman and Marjane Satrapi April 18, 2005- PEN World Voices: NY Festival of International Literature April 16, 2005- The Onion: Pope Disappointed by Heaven April 5, 2005- Springsteen on U2

The Boondocks

Coming this November

Aaron McGruder's The Boondocks Springs from the Comic Strip to Cartoon Network

15 Episodes

By Aaron H. Bynum on animationInsider.net

Cartoon Network has announced their future plans regarding the highly anticipated The Boondocks animated television series. The announcement was made at the annual Television Critics Association in North Hollywood earlier today. Announced last year as an interesting new program sure to diversify the Adult Swim programming line-up, The Boondocks will certainly be a welcomed program once it debuts later on in the 2005-year. The following is the press release from the network: The Boondocks, a new animated television comedy based on Aaron McGruder's award-winning comic strip of the same name, will join Adult Swim, Cartoon Network's late-night block of animation for adults this fall. Cartoon Network has ordered 15 half-hour episodes of the series, and like the comic strip, The Boondocks is a provocative family-based comedy brimming with social relevance and satire.

When Robert "Granddad" Freeman becomes legal guardian of his rambunctious grandkids, he moves from the south side of Chicago to the quiet and safety of "The Boondocks" (in this case, suburban Woodcrest), hoping that he can ignore them altogether and enjoy the fourth quarter of his life in peace. But Huey, a 10-year-old left wing revolutionary, is determined not to enjoy the affluence of suburbia. This attitude is seconded by his 8-year-old brother, Riley, a proud product of contemporary rap culture who lives only to spread chaos and mayhem. Although they torture each other and provoke the neighborhood, they are no match for Granddad, who is eccentric even by "crazy-ass-old-black-man" standards.

"It's actually quite a lot of pressure being on Adult Swim, because they do really cutting-edge stuff and give their shows incredible creative freedom, which means, if we suck, everyone will know it's our own fault," said McGruder, who will serve as an executive producer for the series.

"I would feel better about television if Aaron McGruder wrote and produced everything on television," said Mike Lazzo, senior vice president of Cartoon Network responsible for Adult Swim.

"I've already set my TiVo Season Pass," said Russ Krasnoff, Sony Pictures Television's president of programming and production.

More programming information for The Boondocks will be announced at a later date. The series is produced by Rebel Base and Hudlin Entertainment in association with Sony Pictures Television.