Black Friday... Mexican Style :)

Dear Readers,

Well, after a loooong period of inactivity, I am coming back to blogging. That's right, I am so hipster I have a blog. I remember it was actually around this time a year ago that I opened up this blog, and actually got some traffic, but then came school and blah, blah, blah. You may have noticed I wrote this post in the theme of a letter, well, that is because "The Perks of Being a Wallflower" is my new favorite book and had a great impact on me, LOL. So, shall we start?

I am writing on my long weekend, holiday weekend, or whatever you call it. Revolution Day is a national holiday on November the 20th and usually comes with a day off from school or work. Although it seems almost a tradition that they sort of like move it a few days for us to have a long weekend, which we nonsensically call a "bridge".

Okay, so back to the main topic... Today is Saturday, November 16th and it's the second day of this... thing that has been implemented for the last two years by my beloved Mexican Government. "The Good [week]End" as they call it is nothing more than a mere rip-off (which media call an "equivalent") of American Black Friday. (Just to clear up, the original name, "El Buen Fin" literally means "The Good End", but when you use the word "Fin" in that context, you're most likely talking about a weekend.

It's not the shameful pathetic rip-off (believing they are being sooo original) what's bothering me. What bothers me is that people are actually buying it! People think they should actually buy stuff they do not need just because they are a billion months interest-free. Products aren't even cheaper, they are actually just god damn interest free! But the last straw is that people are spending money now, to spend it again next month! They're buying their 80" LED TV today yes, and that iPad the kid "needs" for "school", but please keep in mind, we're in the middle of November, and the Holidays are coming up, that means, the Christmas dinner, the presents, the New Years Eve Party, and that sure costs a fortune. Now imagine you plunge into debt today AND spend the same money you spent today in a month. How stupid.

And who does this benefit? Of course Dr. Mr. Lord Sir Enrique Peña Nieto, M.D, Ph, D and his fucking bureaucrats, who were given their Christmas bonus early this  year and will be the sole Mexicans who'll make a profit out of this disgusting unleash of consumerism at its highest.

Now I'm not saying all of it is wrong, but there are people who buy excessively without a second thought (it's not Black Friday, amigos). So just be careful. I am gonna leave you with a video; in Spanish. That shows a very well-thought criticism of this Black Friday rip-off. The guy hides under the alias of Jay Sherman (yes, from the show "The Critic"). Hope you understand something.

Gruss,

The Angry Mexican.

Wake me Up When September Ends...

JWell, I am so dearly sorry for not posting in quite a while, but it has been some pretty busy months. I am a sophomore now, which in Mexico means a lot of demanding work, but I've been able to get through by following my famous motto, which instructs me to start easy and not too eager so I won't lose interest. Now, I don't mean to brag, but it's working, lol.

So anyways, this has been an interesting week. Monday was memorial day, so no school (for you guys), Thursday was Freddie Mercury's birthday and I drew a mural on the blackboard in the library... Abd they erased it. So anyways, my school turned 70 years old on Friday and they made a big celebration at the stadium. I didn't go to the celebration per se, but I went to the fair adjacent to the stadium. It was pretty nice, but it rained... Like real hard, and Titanium (as they called it) was nearly cancelled. It wasn't, but I couldn't go because none of my friends were staying not we had any tickets. (Although we were offered plenty).

Then Saturday was very boring, simply studying for my first big math test. That's when things fucked up. I was happy, I knew everything in my guide, then talked to my friend... He replaced me for some other people. And that's okay I guess, i don't want to talk to him anymore because I'm just hurting myself... But I'm weak... And that last message... "I am creating wonderful memories which I will not share just because"... That was the last straw... The pain... was unbareable... I begged my mom to let me get out for some air... 30 minutes of begging later I did, and encountered my dearest neighborhood friend... He said I creep him out... Everybody is such a fucking idiot...

All I did today was play Tapped Out and watch 9/11 documentaries... The date is approaching. 12 years, unbelievable huh? So I'm gonna leave you, I am watching the Social Network. Jesse Eisenberg is such a good actor...

June 23rd...

Today you would've been fifteen now. Years do fly by don´t they? If you were incredibly tall for your mere 3 years of age back then I bet you'd be off the 6" mark today.

Yesterday (YOUR birthday) was more of a spiritual healing (?) more than a Sunday. I had been forced to go to a hospital to give away some food to those waiting in Emergencies. I actually refused at first, but you were pretty generous yourself, so why not.

I actually had a great time. Although some people were rude and greedy over the food, (which is understandable based on the fact that they have family or friends in Emergencies) people were really  thankful overall. Then i went to visit my ill great-grandmother, who often complains about her swelling feet, yet maintains her high spirits and good mood. I refused at first as welll, but had a great time as well. We watched an old Mexican film. Then I went to church. I hate organized religion and churches (more specifically) but then remembered you were pretty religious yourself... And "mysteriously" also a Roman Catholic like me. I won't say I had a great time during Mass, but afterwards we did. We had some enchiladas and laughed at the nonsense of my 8-year-old bro.

For some reason I think life would have made us cross paths eventually, as I plan to study in CalArts while living on WeHo, but more than that I think of we, a lazy me and a gigantic yet loving and gentle you as friends later on.

I don't know if you were an artist or had some kind of taste for drawing, but we would've definetely met in CalArts (I'm two weeks younger than you.) but I think God had some special plan for you to go to heaven that young as he did to me to read that blog in which i found out about you.

It is also worth mentioning that my mom told me a real mind blower a few days ago. She said when she worked at the office, there was this American professor named David, and I would run and yell "David!" Every time I saw him, an I was probably 2.5 or 3. Of course, that David was a full grown man, but that was strange to hear.

You are always in my mind David Reed, and although this may sound weird, I kinda hope those "truthers" are that ans you flew to Cleveland where you lived a happy life with your Papa and Daddy, yet away from all of us who love you but neer had a chance to know you in person.

June...

So, today was one of those days that make me look back and make me wonder how the hell I ended up the way I did. Today they picked up the rental books in World History (too bad it wasn't Grammar, LOL) and, God damn it, was it a blast from the past!

I can clearly remember when I first got into my 7th grade (tat's when middle school starts in Mexico) homeroom and thiught to myself "Man, are these gonna be great years!".

Not that I hate myself, but I was a freaking douche. I wa not really that wrong; things started out pretty well... For a few days. My pedophilic, stupid, ugly-jawed 7th grade teacher's favorite thing in the whole world was to find new and clever ways to piss me off.

I won't say I didn't have fun making fun of everything that 5" douche did, but hey, look at me now. Half of my school hates me, including my ex... There's no solution, but all of my experiences, good and bad, have helped me become the young man I am today.

As I sail my way into the last month in the school year, ninth grade, and middle school, I get more melancholic and think back, waaay back and wonder how, we all ended up the way we did.

Rainy Sunset...

So I was invited to a Mexicanized version of your all-American Sweet Sixteen - which we call XV Años. According to traditions, the birthday girl should take her special guests for a ride before a religious ceremony, and although it is frequent the ride is on a small limo packed with twenty people, the girl chose a big fancy bus (they were playing Underdog and Sky High) for our confort.

So we went to a fancy mall on the rich part of town before the ceremony. After some 30 minutes we left en route to a church, with a true westbound heading, which gave us a clear, hazy glare-y view of the sunset... And it was raining at the same time. Mindf**!

So I also wanted to say I got the voices for Sven and April and began working on the master soundtrack for Episode 3 (or 4) right away. The reason for that is that I found out I take the same amount of tine to draw a fancy yet mute comic with no movement than to create a film, so now I'm back to animations! I started tofay and I got 10 seconds LOL.

One World Trade Center

Finally, two years after Osama bin laden's death was the new World Trade Center Tower completed. Today at a ceremony at former Ground Zero, the workers raised the final part for the 400 feet tall antenna, the beacon, which will rise some 1000 feet over the symbolic 1776 that was reached today. After 4 and 7 World Trade Center, the former Freedom Tower was the third tower to be completed today, for a tentative late 2013 opening date.

I'm very happy for this six long years to be finally finished and I'm glad you New Yorkers finally got a decent memorial for such a tragic loss of life. I'll make sure to visit the observation deck on my next visit to New York.

I'm not slacking off, eh...

Well, I am still getting used to making comic stuff, but until now I am able to make one page fully inked and colored in one day, but today I finished two, because I colored the one from yesterday. So as I am today I think I can get an issue every month or so. So, to prove I'm not slacking of like Mordecai and Rigby, here is the proof I have been working on something. Funny thing though, today is Labor Day in Mexico and people don't go to work or school. Then, it's illogical to be called so, so I have two sollutions for that. Either we work more or call it Unemployment Day.

Well, back to basics...

It amazes me the fact that I get like 10 readers in an hour. I know that's not much, but that means I'm getting some regulars and that's good to know. :)

So you remember what I told you about how drawing comics is better for know than making animations? Well, i tried SAI and it was good but too complicated as there is no rectangle tool whatsoever and that makes it difficult to draw the panels. I tried Illustrator but I just didn't get it, I mean, vectors are good, but the whole anchor thing was just too complicated for my taste.

Then I read this blog about how most comic artists start with Flash for some reason, so I tried and it was so much easier. The free transform tool is a life saver and it's easier to move a panel if it's a little to the left or right or something.

I started and finished a page without color, and I think it's okay for now, but I plan to get an episode every two weeks.

Silly me...

So you may or may have not notices the slight complete redesign of this blog. I think it looks cooler; the title font somehow reminds me of The Big Bang Theory, but I'm gonna go to the point. I was walking towards the park and then, it hit me. It hit me like a cold shot of vodka. Why not follow Andrew "F'kin" Hussie's (known for being the coolest person of the Universe) (and bear a creepy resemblance to) example and make my story (webtoon) a comic?

It's not that I don't like animating; I love it, but it's time. I take three months on average to make a 300-400 panneled storyboard a 10 minute film and my cartoon hasn't gained much popularity. So why don't I take my crappy scrappy storyboard and turn it into a comic in... Say, two weeks? That means around 26 episodes a year which sounds far better than four (which is my most optimistic estimate). Of course, I wouldn't stop making films, but they will take a while.

I started today and got around half a page in half an hour (I didn't finish because I was writing the script for episode three AND my new profile picture) and was much better because it is as detailed as I want my animations to be in substantially less time. The only thing I am not sure about is the software. I began on SAI but then wondered if Illustrator would be better. What do you think?

I'm back... Like, for real...

So yes, I said I'd come back, like, a month ago but due to some personal crap, that didn't happen. But now that I got the chance, here I am! ... Like a hurricane! Anywho, well, I do have a couple of projects right now, like to upload a little animation I made for school about zapping cancer cells. (Google that, it's really awesome.) But my main priority is to start Episode 3 (or episode 4, whatever.) ASAP, and the script is on its way. (The episode is technically already written, but I'm rewriting and revising most of it to update it to my newer style of comedy.)

On the personal side I went to see Iron Man 3 today and it was pretty awesome. Great plot, Marvel-ous special effects ad hilarious bits. Here's a tip. When the movie ends, wait for the two minute-long credits to roll, there's a last joke aftereards.

Why Newgrounds is Starting to Tick Me Off

So when I joined Newgrounds in my first account, I was very excited to join such a cool community. I had discovered Newgrounds from Eddsworld, who heavily promoted it as a way to publish your crap. So I joined the famous site on May 2010 and began posting some animations now and then, but then when things got serious and I started with this Suburban Life thing, I knew someone whose username was itsmemario1234 would not be taken serious, so I tried to make a new account and close the old one, and that's when I discovered the first flaw of Newgrounds.

You're not allowed to close your account. Seriously, you can't. There is no way. And you can't link two accounts to one email address either. Your best hope is to simply make a new e-mail address and create a new account, then never use the old one again. That was not really a problem to me, as I actually needed to make a new email address for this whole project of mine, so that's okay.

I enjoyed my first months, it was really fun, until I saw that the site was going to be completely redesigned (and I hate that, YouTube should've never changed, but oh, what the hell) and strangely enough, I actually liked the new layout because I thought (and still think) it looked really cool, and was eager to use it, which is good, because my first animation was just about completed.

When I finished "The Replacement". I was pushed by Shadana to post it right away without seeing that it had some really bad mistakes in there, which eventually went unnoticed until I saw the actual animation online. I was actually a bit confused by the new layout but got orientated in a while. I instantly took down the animation and re-uploaded it correcting minor Actionscript mistakes and a random note that appeared suddenly on the screen after the first scene. I was surprised to see that it was particularly easy to take down and re-upload your movies and I fell in love with the site. (I think they did expect that new artists would mess up every now and then).

So then I uploaded my second animation, without problems and began working on the third one. I finished one week later and tried to post it, and that's when things got sick.

Every time I tried to post it, stupid messages came on, random "errors" appear. Either the file has been moved or deleted, or the file is identical to another one, or (my personal favorite) "You are only allowed to upload two submissions per day and you already used yours". Just... what? I don't know if it's now gonna consider submission ATTEMPTS (because if they don't fix the bug they're not gonna be anything more than that, attempts.) as Portal Submissions or WHAT, but it's very frustrating and I'm starting to get sick of it. It's been three days and I still can't get this online.

The last straw is that when I tried making a post about it nobody answered, so I read the rules. I admit my mistake, my post what titled "WHAT?!" and the rules specifically said not to create titles which did not contain any useful information, so that was my bad, so I made a new one that clearly specified my problem with uploading, and got what I needed least, a rude response from a self-appointed admin or something. I would paraphrase what he said, but I'll better quote it.

"Please do not re-create threads just because they did not get any replies. You are not the only person having this problem and there's no sure way to fix it yet. The staff are aware.
This is not the correct forum to be posting this sort of stuff in. Normally I'd say repost in the Where is / How to? forum, but there are already several threads there about the same issue."

Gee, thanks a lot! You didn't answer my question AND you closed my thread for further help. What is wrong with Tom today, I know he's trying to fix it, but come on, this?

New Girl... I mean, episode.

I have recently completed a new episode. I am sorry for not posting in here for some time close to a month. Naturally, the ratings (if any) decreased dramatically. There are now virtually no pageviews, but I would like to continue once again with this blog.

So the episode is no normal episode. In fact, the episode is actually an excuse for something. You see, I've recently replaced Sven's voice actor, Jimmy, with this new voice actor that ShadAna suggested. That's great, huh? It is! Buuuutt... his voice is damn deep. Yes, he's 17 and Jimmy is barely 15, but what the hell?

So ShadAna and I came up with an idea of having Sven's puberty into an [actual] episode because we knew secondary school doesn't last forever and Jimmy and us would eventually take off, plus the new guy is ShadAna's friend online and is technically available forever. :DD

So it's recess on a Thursday and everybody left and we were left alone, so she mentioned the episode again and I was like ughhhh why now and stuff, but agreed to plan it now. I came up with a one-minuted clip in two minutes and she liked the idea, so we agreed to tell the guy he had been "hired" and proceed with the animation right away. It took me around ten minutes to record my voices and she sent in the guys voices that same night, so I begun with the animation (i.e. created the Flash File) on March 21st, and concluded production on March 28th.

I tried to upload it that same night, but the new Newgrounds is now making it very hard to upload anything, and God knows why NG told me I had posted more than two contributions on the Portal when I didn't make one. So, after trying today again I gave up and opted to simply upload the video to YouTube. Apparently today isn't my best day, as my Xilisoft video converter told me it had randomly forgotten the license code and it wasn't able to convert more than three minutes of the file. (That's not a problem, this episode is barely a minute and a half long, but regular episodes are 10+ minutes long ¬¬) I looked for the license code but couldn't find it, so I decided I've had enough stress and called it a day and converted the video anyways.

Then I began to watch my idol, TomSka and here I am :) OAH, I almost forgot, here is the video for you to enjoy!

Hey guys... It's March 25... In memoriam

So as I write myself ito the night, calling it a day after completing a whopping 15 seconds of my next big thing, I look at the date and think of a very special person.

Edward Duncan Ernest Gould was born on October 28th, 1988 in Isleworth, England, but was better known by his Internet name, Eddsworld. And although he began animating in 2003, he never really drew much attention until 2005, when he made an animation in which two boys fall in love with their lesbian heighbour. I never heard of Eddsworld until 2010.

So there you got a 11 3/4 me, surfing the Internet when I came across this video named "WTFuture" by a guy who called himself Eddsworld; I watched it and enjoyed every second of the 10 minute film.

Baturally, it wasn't much time until I planned my OWN cartoon in which I used some previously designed characters (except cooler).

So, I spent countless hours trying to emulate him, putting a great deal if effort into my recently created masterpiece, hoping that I would, TOO, become an Internet sensation; episode one wouldn't be animated in two years.

So on the night of March 27th, 2012, with a little over 6 episodes written, I came across this video called "RIP Edd Gould". Because of Edd's big sense of humor, I thought it was an April Fools joke, but my soul was crushed when I learn Edd had actually passed away.

Edd is in a better place now, filled with cokes and bacon, and although he cannot see it, I dedicate every single animation to his honor.

Edd Gould
1988-2012

It's coming, kids.

Hey, so with this, I'm officially back into blogging. I started this blog in December 2012, and gained a total of 183 pageviews for the month, 153 in January (because I quit blogging halfway around the month) and... 3 in February. So I would like to excuse myself in the abrupt pause from blogging by saying a pedestrian excuse... Eh, school kept me occupied.

Nonetheless here I am, ready to type.

So yes, as I stated on my Christmas post, I am 14 years old, even though you could classify me as a post-pre-pubescent, let's just leave it a wider range, I am a teenager. And as a teenager, I have my great days, my awful days, and emotional swings.

A few days ago I noticed something. A couple of friends and I were talking about how kids hit their growth spurts randomly, and how a tiny shot guy that made you feel a skyscraper ended up being two feet taller than you. So yes, we mocked the seventh graders because they're tiny, but then we noticed they were exactly as tall as we were in seventh grade.

Why am I saying that? Well, to me, you grew around 4 inches and you didn't even notice. I think that's exactly what happens to your maturity. I didn't notice when my voice cracked, I was anxious for that to happen, but then I checked and my voice is pretty damn deep. That doesn't go only to physical changes, but also to mental changes, which is what I want to talk about.

Let's admit it, you didn't think the same when you were 13 than when you were 14. I believed I was gonna marry a pretty girl and be happy for the rest of my life when I was 12, but when I was 14, we didn't even talk anymore. I used to think toilet humor was hilarious, but it all seems disgusting now. You see what I mean? I hear teens complaining about how badly they want to grow up, but it all makes sense now. QUIT THINKING ABOUT IT.

WHAT?! 10 DAYS WITHOUT A POST?!

Well, it's not like a very good excuse, but I was too embarrassed by the fact that in between these days I've been playing around with After Effects and Vegas and stuff, so I was completing a lot less progress than on any given day. My lowest record was 5 seconds, and my highest was like 10 or 11, still under the 12 second goal. So anyways, I am very pleased to announce the last scene was completed. Don't get it wrong, it's the last scene of the episode, but it's not the last scene I'm gonna animate LOL. Because a friend of mine never send me the recordings of her character until around last week, I wasn't able to include her part in Scene 1, so I opted to skip it and simply continue with the next ones. So it's too hard for me to randomly make space where it's supposed to go within Scene 1, so I'm gonna simply make a new scene, and with my friend Actionscript, redirect the frame that goes before the scene I'm gonna add, and redirect it with Actionscript to the next scene. Piece of cake. For now, I'm gonna leave you the yet-unfinished episode two. You can see what I have to do now, as mouths are uncoloured and un-tweened.

Oh, humanity...

I am so freaking retarded. Oh, my God! You may notice I could finally upload a video, but you see, when I tried to upload any video, I pressed the Video button in the Toolbar, then this came up, that said something like: 0B/7.82MB. I thought the number was supposed to go up as the video uploaded, but I actually had to press upload to make the process start. Come on! I know that was sooo stupid, don't judge me LOL.

Now, today wasn't a really good day. I said I would try to do some 12 seconds today just to maintain an average of 12 seconds per day, but I could only finish eight. I know I haven't been really accurate on the time, but I can finally leave you the video for you to see. Now with numbers, I have now around 46 seconds of the sixth scene. (There are seven on the .fla file, it was due to Scene 5 being too long for Flash to take all at once.)

First Day of School... The day to attack your slack?

So today was the first day of school in this "post-apocalyptic" 2013. It was actually supposed to be yesterday, but my school is weird, I mean, who the hell starts a week on Tuesday? Anyways, so every year, on the night before school started, I would be like: "Yeah, this is gonna be a kick-ass year! I'm gonna wake up at five tomorrow!" And I did, but, is it really worth it?

I mean, Monday: Very positive, you give it all you got. Tuesday: Positive, you are eager to continue, but feel a little bit tired. Wednesday: You start to lose interest, it was not worth it. Thursday: Wow, how could I make such an effort on Monday, geez. Friday: Ughhh, stupid day, finish off, already!

Then it's downhill from that point, you start to lose interest and end up exactly how you hated you would end up like. LOL. That has happened to me throughout the years. Every single year since 2006 or 2007 it's like: "Come on, just six more months to go! We gotta do this!" And three days later: "(MOANS LOUDLY) Why-y-y-y-y???!!!"

To me, today was a blur. I guess that's how things are for most people. The classroom is full of noise. People are interested in hearing your new stories, jokes, and what you did during these two weeks. For almost everyone, today marked the end of a happy two weeks of no responsibilities and noon-waking-up, they were not really happy to come back.

I was really happy to come back. Not that I am some sort of genius, nor I love school whatsoever, but I simply had nothing to do around these weeks. Of course, my animation, but I hate routines. You don't need more than 2 days of doing the same thing over again to make me lose my mind. The first week flew by, it was Christmas time and New Years with family, and that was pretty interesting. But, God! I started my routine in January 4th and did the exact same thing for the next three days. It was madness.

I woke up at 9:30 (I tried 7:30, but... No.) had breakfast, watched TV, slacked off, and was anxious to get to the computer to work on my animation, my blog, and my American Idiot play. Finished at around 10:30, slacked off more, watched TV and went to bed at midnight. This is like, the first time I've been happy to go to school. God, what is wrong with me?!

Back to the cartoon

Yup, I think I got a little bit carried away, but hey, this is a great place to give your opinion to people, which I will still do, for projects right now, I'm thinking of writing about the unrealistic aspects of Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

But until then I guess we're stuck with the classics. On the other hand, I am also writing a down-scaled, censored version of American Idiot The Musical to see if we can perform it in a school play at the end of ninth grade (Holy crap!). I am not writing it, per se, but I am watching the recorded version of the musical at what appears to be Broadway in New York City. I have around 10 minutes or seven pages, but I am on my way, I am on winter vacations right now and school starts Tuesday, so I'm gonna push myself to the limits to see if I can get it done by then.

Why so much of a rush? Well, the teacher wants us to do Camp Rock (belch and shudder). I think most people disagree with that, but there are some people who likes it but wouldn't mind doing American Idiot instead. Besides, if I finish, the teacher will most likely say yes, because well... She has nothing and I already did half of the work.

So today was a regular day because I need to balance my time between animation and writing the play. Today I completed ten seconds. That brings my three day average (Since I started to draw again) to around 13 seconds, which is a tad bit above my goal. I made a whopping 18 seconds on the first day, then 10 and 10 on yesterday and today. I need to make 12 or 13 tomorrow if I want to get this done fast.

I also got an idea for an episode of season 2, I think I'll call it "Dereks Wanna Have Fun" or "Dereks Just Wanna Have Fun" The episode is about Derek getting a TV show, which sucks, but a girl becomes obsessed with his character and asks him to date her. He agrees, but the girl takes things too fast, and is later proven to be a sadomasochist, hahaha. It's up to April to save him because the other guys are on a Guys Night and stuff.

Holiday Madness

So yeah, I know the holidays already ended and stuff, but I haven't had any time to post this.

Apart from the usual same thing of going far away to visit family, to me, the Thanksgiving-New Year's time is nothing more than a 2-month guilt trip.

You see, I'm not deeply religious nor have anything against Christian believes, but the consumerism on the Holidays is a thing which I find vile and grotesque.

I am not American myself, but I came across this Walmart store in Eagle Pass, TX for a stopover while on my way to visit family, and what I saw was simply disgusting. The store was a mess.

It was December 23rd and the entire store was flipped over, everything was out of place, there was not much people in the store, but you could imagine the amount of people there had been there last night.

Consumerism cracks to the Number One spot of the things I hate the most in life,k and it's precisely what we see the most in department stores like Walmart and Target. People cramming junk into their carts, fighting over the last item in a shelf... "This Is Madness!", as my good friend Gerald Butler would say.

Why madness? Simply because of the fact that, let's face it, you don't need even half of what you're buying. Therefore we're wasting, both, resources and money unreasonably, and worse than that, excessively.

"Well, I got the money to buy this." As someone would say. You know, I once watched a very good documentary in Chemistry class, it was called "How Stuff Works" or something like that, and it's right! Seriously, can five dollars pay for the amount of workers, the amount of resources, and the amount of fuel needed to manufacture and take to Target or Walmart this alarm clock?