Jon Bergdoll
@jonbergdoll.bsky.social
Statistician, inexplicably a philanthropy expert, comic fan but only the weird ones, here for the dumb stuff
@mapcrow.bsky.social Also, I’ll assume you’ve seen this from back in the day, but no Bombadil discussion on this site is complete without it.
Faine Greenwood@faineg.bsky.social · 3y agoTom Boobadil welcomes you to Bluesky. This is what you have signed up for.
Just for fun, gonna post a little threaded review of a new-ish comic publication I was really happy with, The Collected Buzzelli Vol 1, The Labyrinth, by Floating World Comics (1/🧵)
Saw a showing of Spirited Away at a local theater today. One thing I noticed near the start was this eye sign as they first enter the bathhouse area - I wonder if it was directly inspired by a similar frame in Nejishiki or if it’s just coincidence (or shared Buddhist source imagery)
I really loved this review, and I think its core thesis - that this is the basically best VR can ever be, and that that throws into stark relief how limited VR is - is really smart. www.theverge.com/24054862/app...
Apple Vision Pro review: magic, until it’s not
The Apple Vision Pro is supposed to be the start of a new spatial computing revolution. After several days of testing, it’s clear that it’s the best headset ever made — which is the problem.
theverge.com
My dumb football rule hill that I will die on is that if a defender gets an interception on a fourth down, if they give themselves up they should take over at the line of scrimmage.
Day 20: A Christmas episode of a show called Pickle and Peanut. I’m not totally sure if I like a kid’s show being that level of strangeness or if my gut is correct in finding it off putting.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 18: “Kosher Christmas”, from a show called Pepper Ann, which felt like a very declawed Daria aimed at a marginally younger audience.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 17: a Where’s Waldo direct to VHS Christmas special. I know it’s a way to be cheap and have less animation, but I did kind of enjoy just having minute long freezes on shots so you can find Waldo/solve a puzzle.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 16: Dave Foley’s The True Spirit of Christmas Specials was not a lost classic like I hoped it would be, but it was pretty fun (and extraordinarily of the early aughts)
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 15 was a British kids show and was so completely fine and nondescript I forgot to post about it entirely.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 14: “Jingle Bell Rap”, a special that wanted to be a backdoor pilot. I can’t tell if it ever aired or was straight to video, but it’s about a band of four cartoon dogs. Along with the titular track, there’s also a weirdly melancholic “Christmas in Our Hometown” song.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 13: Prep & Landing, which apparently was enough of a hit to inspire sequels. I will say, though I loved Arthur Christmas, that movie clearly saw this special.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 12: “A Gert Lush Christmas”, which was completely fine with a couple of great lines and an appearance by Greg Davies.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 11: hit some burn out and changed the rules to “random special that I have even the slightest interest in watching”. Did “The Snowman and the Snowdog” tonight. Sweet & sappy & nostalgic, but pleasantly animated and overall cute.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
There’s an interesting essay to be written - and maybe has been! I’m a dummy, I wouldn’t know - about how Godzilla Minus One and The Boy and the Heron are both (opposing) testaments to the passing of the Japanese generation born and raised during WWII
Day 9: it was a long day so I cheated and just watched a Teen Titans Go Christmas episode and then forgot to bother posting about it. Also the new Batman Christmas cartoon is a full-ass 97 minutes long? Huh.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 8: Santa’s Magic Toy Bag. A puppet special about an elf that keeps screwing up. Pretty nondescript except that Santa has ALF’s voice.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 7: Deck the Halls with Wacky Walls, 1983. See, this is why I do this. 23 minutes of a cartoon to advertise what is barely a toy, where a group of sticky alien octopuses follow around a spoiled kid to learn what Christmas is, complete with voice acting legends and written by Mark Evanier.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 6. The Robot Chicken Christmas Special. The nicest thing I can say is that at least it was only 11 minutes. A show so deeply unfunny that I was pleasantly surprised to see a joke at about the 10 minute mark.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 5: Christmas in Cartoontown. I am beginning to think this bad idea of mine was, in fact, bad.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Being pushed to my limit here in Day 4 with Highway to Heaven’s “Merry Christmas from Grandpa”. A reminder that TV used to really stink, though I begrudgingly respect a holiday special going post-apocalyptic. So many dying children.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 3: “On Christmas Eve”, a wordless 1992 BBC animated special about a fairy making sure a little girl gets her presents. A pretty blah, seemingly cheap affair. There’s something really unpleasant about a lot of 90s BBC music, a kind of cheap digital feel that’s off putting to me.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
Day 2: Kenan & Kel’s “Merry Christmas, Kenan”. I liked that the toy store was stocked with unpopular action figures from the last summer - clearly had bought Congo and Waterworld toys on clearance to serve as props.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
First up: Edith Ann’s Christmas, a 1996 animated special based around a Lily Tomlin sketch character. This was an aggressively maudlin and depressing way to start things off, with a focus on a runaway sister and a comatose child. Oof. It also just oozed of the 90s.
Jon Bergdoll@jonbergdoll.bsky.social · 3y agoI have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
I have an infrequent tradition of watching a randomly selected Christmas special per day in December (using the random special button on christmas-specials.fandom.com/wiki/Special... ). I’ll try to post little minireviews on here.
I have finished Blood Meridian. What a book. I’m exhausted. Gonna be comic books after this for a bit.
On vacation in Atlanta. Our AirBnB is on top of another AirBnB and they listen to their TV way too loud. So of course I had to spend the last 10 minutes figuring out what they’re watching. Suits. The answer is Suits.
I know I’m 40 years late to this party, but…Blood Meridian is pretty amazing? It’s also a relief to be liking a Smart Book, as I’ve not exactly challenged myself in a long time.