Dispatches from the 'burbs: 11:35 last night and one of my neighbors briefly blasted about twenty seconds' worth of "Comfortably Numb" at tree-rattling volume from his patio.

It was breezy, cool and lovely on my walk at the local watershed this morning, and then out of nowhere I had to stop to let a cloud of orange ash the size of a city bus pass by, then I saw a squirrel kill a vole. Shit gets apocalyptic quick in nature.

I actually find it really jarring when superhero movies do this (even Raimi!) but they did it regardless, as though they just don't care about my feelings at all. *sob*

This week's throwback episode of Just One More Thing is The Bye-Bye Sky High IQ Murder Case which may have one of the worst titles of any Columbo episode but goddamn it's a doozy. Expand your vocabulary! Learn about the mid-70s West Coast self-help scene! See Boss Hogg get tickled! It's all here!

Just One More Thing: The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case

Notes and screenshots for  The Bye-Bye Sky High I.Q. Murder Case: Originally broadcast on May 22, 1977, starring Theodore Bikel as a murder...

calamityjon.blogspot.com

I had to check out at the top of the seventh in yesterday's inaugural Womens Pro Baseball League header between the LA Queens and the NY Heights and that was apparently *the* wrong decision. It was 6-8 when I left.

The idea that we all want an "assistant" is revolting

When some fucker says "I'm leaving" over and over you just know their unwelcome ass is stayin'.

Mediaite@mediaite.com · 3d ago

James Carville Tells Fox News He’s Out of the Democratic Party if Hasan Piker Stays: ‘One of Us is Going to Leave’

Coming to Film Forum soon... youhadtobetheredoc.com/cast

Cast | You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution...

Martin Short, Eugene Levy, Gilda Radner, Victor Garber, Paul Shaffer, and other entertainment icons got their start in a 1972 Toronto production of the musical Godspell. Featuring interviews with the ...

youhadtobetheredoc.com

Watching Catwoman again. Fucking marvelous, definitely a top five enjoyably "bad" comic book movie. A re-score and significant re-editing would do wonders, but I'm not gonna let that ruin it for me. Sharon Stone turns in a Bette Davis-class performance. CGI is what you see when you lick a frog. 5 🌟

Catwoman Searches for Cats and Women

Alt: Catwoman Searches for Cats and Women

static.klipy.com

Günther Burgers@calamityjon.bsky.social · last wk.

I'm watching the Halle Barry Catwoman movie, which could be worse, and something that can be said for this film is that it had the presence of mind to not be two hours long.

just became aware of William Howard Taft’s 1908 campaign poster

This is advice I really could've used the 4th grade production of The Music Man in which, during a scene which did not involve my character, I made the conscious decision to stand rigid and unblinking with my gaze fixed in the middle distance, and on the videotape I look like I'm being electrocuted.

Justin Sherin@wychstreet.bsky.social · 6d ago

Stage acting is total awareness of your mind & body. You know what to do with your hands & feet, your posture. It looks natural in a theatre but it’s totally unnatural. On film your whole body usually isn’t in the frame, but these things still matter, they affect everything else.

Ah, a breathless wall of grievance. That bodes well.

Keeping these two handy for response memes.

I maintain they've got this backward. Should be "Deacons & Dragons" because the way they got it now sounds like the title of a shocking true crime novel.

Haven't listened to Elvis Costelllo is years and I'd forgotten how hilariously bitchy he could be.

Octobriana, spirit of the Russian Revolution, makes an appearance before Larry Welz's Cherry, a character once described by Robert Crumb as "an abomination!"

They also need to see THIS:

DSA Program

Workers Deserve More!

program.dsausa.org

Christopher Webb@cwebbonline.com · last wk.

EVERY DEMOCRAT NEEDS TO SEE THIS. DSA co-chair Megan Romer laid out the organization’s platform. Now I’ve got to ask: will they be held accountable when they can’t get these policies enacted, just like Democrats in general? 🧵

Val Venis implies the existence of Pal Pagina

Aw man, check out how fucking great these are! That Funnyman is a masterpiece.

Rafa Rosa@rafa-rosa.bsky.social · last wk.

Mais quatro fanarts de heróis do livro "The League of Regrettable Superheroes" do @calamityjon.bsky.social que eu fiz já faz bastante tempo e nunca postei. Deu vontade de voltar a fazer

Dis week on da blog, the throwback episode of Just One More Thing is Old-Fashioned Murder starring Joyce van Patten as part of an old-money family who've turned to museumry to make ends meet. Fun fact, the interiors were also used for Wayne Manor back in the old Batman show.

Just One More Thing: Old Fashioned Murder

Notes and screenshots for  Old Fashioned Murder: Originally broadcast on November 28, 1976, starring Joyce van Patten as a museum curator w...

calamityjon.blogspot.com

I'm watching the Halle Barry Catwoman movie, which could be worse, and something that can be said for this film is that it had the presence of mind to not be two hours long.

Couple superheroes from an old sketchbook...

Watched Batman Forever last night for the first time since it came out, and it's still too long and boring for unreasonable stretches, and Jones and Carrey are hitting the wrong notes nonstop 90% of the time,but it really is the most traditionally comic booky Batman film, you gotta give it to 'em.

Needs be said:

Dreamboat Branny 🦢@bransonreese.bsky.social · 2w ago

I know people hate it because it "sucks ass" but the Gilchrist era of Nancy is so insanely funny to me. It being 100% unintentional only fuels it.

I don't know why, but I had it in my head that Sluggo's Uncle Spike was always absent because he was in jail.

NANCY COMICS BY ERNIE BUSHMILLER@nancycomics.bsky.social · 6mo ago

MEET MY UNCLE SPIKE

I'll see your bet and raise it. There can't be too many on-screen couples who looked more dawn-plucked and dew-addled than these two.

Dawn@502eire.bsky.social · 2w ago

there is a recurring prompt around what’s the best that anyone has ever looked on camera and I never have an answer but I’m watching right now and I think it’s gotta be George Clooney in Ocean’s 11

In an age of comics that can be little more than wikipedia entries with spot illos, this is terrific advice. No small number of memoir comics could learn a lot from this, too.

Erika Moen@erikamoen.bsky.social · 2w ago

Wish you could come to one of my @helioscopepdx.bsky.social comics lectures? Well, you can't. Sorry, man. BUT you CAN see my same presentation on making info-heavy comics via this two-parter post on my Patreon! Part 1: www.patreon.com/ErikaMoen/po... Part 2: www.patreon.com/ErikaMoen/po...

This is entirely my fault, but I now have the withdrawn 2008 Romanian Eurovision hip-pop entry about Dracula that had breakdancing vampires in it firmly stuck in head, and I know from experience that it's going to stay there for weeks. youtu.be/is6cBWvlh84?...

Andra feat Simplu-Dracula,my love (Oficial Video)

YouTube video by mihaymarino

youtu.be

Before he was Scrooge, what was he truly? Before the man is born, what is the template of man? Is he the image of the father? The mother? Does he betray the phantom of his parents' expectations by being, by becoming? Does the phantom yet live in the man? Also before he was Scrooge he was Ebenezer.