Donny Boy

I've made a discovery. It's a personal one, for sure, since this guy has certainly been kicking importantly around for over a decade now. But he's new to me. And what a wonderful thing to find. I've been sort of obsessing over his stuff for almost a week now, so I figured he more than warranted his own place in my blog. 

My favorite so far: The Animation Show (Don Hertzfeldt)

You'll want to watch the whole thing here.

If We Killed Him, He'd Be Funnier

Listen, I'm deeply sorry if you're one of those people who still thinks Garfield is funny (I'm not altogether sure those people exist, but if they do, and you are one of them...), but it (meaning the comic) is not. And it has not been funny for...well, for as long as I can remember. Garfield is, of course, iconic, so I also don't remember when I was first introduced to him, but I never remember having laughed.

However, by some mystical stroke of absolute, dazzling genius, someone has figured out how to make Jim Davis funny (a feat assumed impossible by greater minds than mine):













Find more of them (a LOT more of them) here.

PS: Be sure and click on that link so I don't get sued. And because everyone who's ever been tasked with the impossibility of understanding why Garfield is still in print should visit that page.

Watch, Laugh, and Become Very Ill

Yes, it's hideous and despicable. But it's also fantastically animated. (And funny. It's very funny.)

Worthless Pile of Steaming Refuse

I'm a terrible blogger. The neglect is just...it's absolutely terrible. I am ashamed of myself and of you. Why you? Because you're here, even though I have proven that I am a worthless pile of steaming refuse.

But, since you ARE here, I might as well write an actual post.

You know how, if you're keeping a journal, and you fall behind, it's hard to get yourself to sit down and write again because you imagine that you have to cover all the ground you've missed since the last time you wrote? That somewhat explains my neglect.

Instead of having posts on some of these things, allow me to just bullet them in, and if you're interested, you can look up more information/opinions/randomly, loosely related material.

• Dr. Stranglove - I finally saw it, and I LOVED it. Kubrick is a genius. A genius. I'm not exagerating. The man is a true, over-the-top, blow-your-mind, I-feel-like-a-much-dumber-person-even-thinking-about-it genius. Watch this movie. Five times.
• Sarah Palin who? - Yes, I'm terribly excited, just like most of the rest of the Republican base and all of the non-feminazi women in the country (and, I'm sure, many outside of it as well.)
  
• 10 Things I Hate About You - You're wondering if I just saw this movie for the first time. How dare you wonder that? No, I just saw it again for the first time in a while. Is it as simply wonderful as I've always thought of it to be? Short answer: yes. It's not a perfect film, but it's spectacularly charming and still stands heads and shoulders above every other teen movie ever made (I'm not including John Cusack's masterpiece Better Off Dead)
• David Copperfield - I'm currently reading it, and it's making me a better writer. Dickens is like the elixir of literary ability.
• Blues Traveler - Turns out they're really good. I know, I'm about a decade late for this one, but better late than...oh nevermind.
• Charlie Chaplin - *swoon* I love this man. When you have spare minutes to spend on YouTube, type this name in to feel good. Several of his contemporaries were just as magnificent (such as Buster Keaton), but I'm mad with respect and admiration for Charles right now, and that's all I have to say. Except for pointing you toward this video:

Hm. There's a lot more. And what I wrote probably doesn't come close to covering all of the really burning-important things I really, REALLY meant to blog about. Oh well.

Here's the latest, best thing, though:



If you know anything about what's going on in the frenzied banality of the current political landscape, I predict audible laughter on your part. I laughed pretty hard--which is something that SNL has failed to help me do for years.

I won't let two months slip by again. I promise. And promises are like candy...you never forget about them and look forward to eating them at the first available opportunity. Also, they come wrapped in shiny paper sometimes, which I always enjoy.

Happy Union

Every once in a while, XKCD and Google cross paths, and when that happens, I rejoice. Here is why:

Hamster Me

This is very funny:

Avada Kedavra

I've been wondering about these words.

I read Harry Potter late. I was reading book 3 after the 7th deally had already come out. I even successfully avoided catching any spoilers until I had finished the entire behemoth of words. I even enjoyed myself. (I was a Harry Potter hater before I got into them. Now I'm a Harry Potter tolerant.)

There was a lot of silliness all throughout the books. Just...a lot of it. You know. I don't have to prove that much of that giant franchise is pretty ridiculous. But it was fun. And it seemed, for the most part, that Rowling had a handle on how to treat some subjects seriously enough to get the reader invested in the story she was trying to tell.

But then... "Abracadabra!" Wait, what?

"It's the killing curse" (the most evil possible thing you can ever do as a wizard). "ABRACADABRA!!!"

Abracadabra? Really?

"No! It's Avada Kedavra!"

Oooooh. Oh that's much different. I see.

So, what I'm getting here is that J.K. Rowling, in her attempt to envision the most bone-chilling curse imaginable, made up a couple of words that, when said together, sound almost exactly like the word Bugs Bunny uses when he's pretending to be a genie. I just...I just don't understand how I'm supposed to take this seriously.

I also struggle to get my head around the idea that the ultimate, unforgivable spell results in what amounts to a quick and painless death. Shoot, I'd take that over some of the pranks the kid-wizards pull any day.

I've resolved that if I ever meet J.K. Rowling in person, I'm going to pull out a short stick and shout, "Avada Kedavra!" at her. Why? Eh. I don't think these things through.