Birnam

Fozzi-Wan Kenobi.

Nigel Farage is the alien that eats the boy’s hat in Flight of the Navigator. I’ve been saying this for years.

This is from working at a cinema. The “Yeah, that’ll do” factor for parents is a big reason for family movies being profitable but split second familiarity or cultural bias can make a difference in the crunch of “Okay, which one are we seeing?”

Then kicks in the “cartoons are for kids” bias. That pushes the needle of parental decision towards live-action, ‘cause they think it’ll have more that adults will enjoy, on some level. Then it throws on the nostalgia factor: the Disney Renaissance movies that resonated with Millennial parents.

I think they unfortunately hit a bunch of uncritical markers for box office success. There’s a preset audience of parents taking kids to the cinema (sometimes weekly) just for something to do, not really caring what they see. Kids usually need supervising adults, so that’s at least one extra ticket.

I’m also biased as a drummer to think that most comedy comes down to rhythms. Having a set-up also pay off comically *early* (The Simpsons loved using this) can be as unexpected as waiting until the audience forgets about it. Fever rant done.

Nothing is wasted, in that medium, because absolutely every object, movement and line of dialogue has to highly intentional, by nature of the stop-motion medium. So everything collides together for the farcical climax, with happenstance and character uniting for maximum effect.

Is it one of those things where it’s SO much easier to do in visual mediums that few people even try it in prose? The best examples I can think of (at least while I have a 101 fever) for immaculate call-backs and subtle setups are things like Wallace and Gromit, esp. the Wrong Trousers.

Yeah, no, Put It Back works on some things (ancient coffins, stone tablets from buried tombs, books with locks in the walls of a church) but this thing was just out there wanting to be found. It won’t go away until a full Magnus Archive episode of shit happens.

They watch Reddy, the American show about a family of cats with two boys and a goofball mum. The twist? All the games Bluey and Bingo force their parents to play were stolen from Reddy episodes.

Eagle-dropping the worst, most chaotic hobbits of the Shire into Mordor to see what happens?

Durin’s Bone.

You also have something that AI couldn’t replicate: a subtle but consistent writing style. I’ve noticed it enough to appreciate it, across various works.

Tie-in with Absolute M*A*S*H.

Or it’s some early AI dream logic grasping desperately to generate a sexy comic. It’s an LLM: a Leg Lusting Model.

Every single one of these panels is a geometric nightmare.

The Twits always sticks out for me: the pages where he puts forward the idea that being morally unkind has a developmental result on physical appearance in particular. “Here’s why it’s okay to hate ugly people, kids.”

A bit of Burns, since it’s Burns’ Night:

“May Liberty meet wi’ success!
May Prudence protect her frae evil!
May tyrants and tyranny tine i’ the mist,
And wander their way to the devil!”

- Here’s a health to them that’s awa.

Stereosnotically.

I was a huge fan of the list of Deviant names in your Eternals run, entirely because of this vibe.

YouTube video by Throwbacktvads Viscount advert 1991

This advert from my childhood immediately springs to my mind. youtu.be/-CO_WvkIhW8?...

Sorting out my comics. There is a clear @kierongillen.bsky.social and not-Kieron division at work in my system.

I always felt that it was the “most Elvish” name in the series, which JRR was probably the most proud of.

No thanks, I’d rather make out with my Marilyn Monrobot.

Important to get everything squared away before you pass.

I know exactly how “thrilling” is being said; it’s with that manic, head-shaking way that the Futurama Nixon says “rrrrrriddled with phlebitis.” There must be a name for that.

Name them STEAM: Societal Transition, Employment and Adaption Management. Or a better acronym.

Buy a copy of DIE, you feed Kieron for a day. Second half of this joke is a spoiler, buy DIE.

“The Life of Diogenes: a Biography” by B. Hilda Mann.

“This machine should really just follow orders if it doesn’t want to get in trouble.”