The Perils Of Companionship

Here are some things:

People have asked for a print or poster of the Sesame Street comic. You can click “Buy a Print” under any comic and get a very nice, high quality print mailed to you in regular or gigant-o-size.
Here is a new Lofi Comic about doing my taxes. It’s funnier than it sounds.
If you are going to NYCC, head over to booth 950 (Blind Ferret) and buy some of my stuff why not?
Here is the most recent HE Podcast: Episode 90 “BONE TOKENS!”
Dallas Fan Days is next weekend and I am going to be there in the artist alley. Not in the main hall, but up on one of the higher floors (four, I think) where all the celeb panels are held. I will have books and shirts and sketches.

Farewell, Amy and Rory. You were cute and ginger and stubborn and I liked you a lot. Go along, Ponds.

COMMENTERS: How do you feel about the Pond’s exit? Spoilers are fine. It’s been a couple of weeks, right?

DON’T READ THE COMMENTS OF YOU DON’T WANT SPOILERS!!!

Brought To You By The Letters P, B And S

Update: New Lofi comic for 10/8/12!

PBS is great. Sesame Street is particularly great. As the parent of the young child, I can’t even explain the profound impact that show has had on my daughter and her development. She learned numbers, letters, social concepts like sharing, courtesy, apologizing, honesty, etc. all while being engaged and entertained. Of course my wife and I proactively taught her those subjects and concepts as well, but just think about how much more relatable they were and how much more easily a 2 year old could understand them when we were able to say “You have to share. Remember how Elmo felt when his friend didn’t share?” Sesame Street is not just a TV show. It’s an institution and an invaluable national resource.

I know Sesame Street, and particularly Big Bird, are the topics being thrown around the media right now, but I can say with 100% certainly that PBS produces the highest quality children’s programming available and THE ONLY children’s programming that consistently entertains and educates my exceptionally bright child. I’ll give you two examples out of the dozens that come to mind. Curious George is focused on problem solving through experimentation and doing. After she watched an episode, she often disappears into her room or our craft area and emerges 30 minutes later with a contraption based on whichever episode she just watched. “Look! I built an automatic kitty feeder just like George!”

Her favorite show right now is Word Girl. It’s about a superhero that uses her vocabulary to defeat villains. In addition to having above average writing for a kids’ show, it is also voice acted by some of the top comedians in the country (Maria Bamford, Patton Oswalt, Brian Posehn, Chris Parnell, etc.) Last week, after watching an episode of Word Girl, she ran into the kitchen, grabbed a pencil and some paper and started writing a play. She wrote pages of lines for each character, assigned my wife and I parts and we sat down as a family and had a table read before bedtime. It was, in a word, adorbs. But more so, she was exercising her creativity because she was inspired by what she had seen on PBS.

Watching these shows makes her brain move in new directions instead of just keeping it subdued for 30 minutes while we cook dinner. Anyone that looks at the minuscule government subsidy that PBS gets and doesn’t see the value (or doesn’t even understand how much it is) probably didn’t watch enough PBS.

COMMENTERS: Any particular memories of Sesame Street as a child or a parent?

NOTICE TO COMMENTERS: PLEASE do not use this as a forum to preach your politics. I don’t want to know who you’re going to vote for or why. I don’t want to know what you think about the President or the opposition. This site is where I make comics based on my personal opinions. If you want a place to yell opinions at the Internet, go elsewhere. This spot is already taken. If you chose to ignore this request, your comments will be deleted and you will be banned from commenting.

Yippee Ki-Yay Younger Looper

Guys, I make a lot of books and t-shirts and plushies and what not and you are totally welcome to go procure some or all of that stuff for yourself or your loved ones. You can also get a a high quality print of any comic in regular or giant sized sizes.

Looper was… [ehem] SUPER DOOPER! Sorry, I had to. Thanks for being a trooper. Pooper scooper, Sterling Cooper.

Seriously though, Looper was exactly what I want from a stand alone sci-fi movie. It brings you into it’s world, quickly establishes why it’s different, how it’s futuristic, etc. then it tells a human story with the gimmick (in this case, time travel and a bit more) as the back drop. The futuristic aspects of the story are small elements of the narrative and while they make it possible, they do not overtake or even lead the story as it progresses. In Looper the characters (FANTASTIC performances by Joseph Gordon Levitt, Emily Blunt and a stunning/terrifying young boy) and their choices are the focus. So many one-shot sci-fi films get this formula backwards. It’s like someone writes a cool idea on a napkin (100 years in the future, money is all gone and people use hip hop dancing as currency), then scrambles to write another 119 pages just to make that idea take 2 hours to play out on screen.

My favorite part about Looper is that it was filled with actual “nearly didn’t see that coming” surprises. This was due mainly to the fact that the first round of trailers fooled you into thinking they were serving up the entire plot (young Bruce Willis has to kill old Bruce Willis from the future) on a silver platter, when in fact that only covers about the first half of the movie. The main story is much smaller, much more character-centric, and has nearly nothing to do with time travel. The current trailers are showing more of the 2nd half plot, but nothing that actually clues you in as to what’s going on.

As far as original sci-fi stories go, I have absolutely nothing but praise for this film. SURE, if you question the time travel premise even a little bit, the whole thing falls apart, BUT that’s why we have the old saying, “You can’t spell TIME TRAVEL BULLSHIT without BULLSHIT.” Leave it alone. Let it be. Enjoy the movie. It’s great.

Side note: The makeup effects better win somebody an Oscar. You don’t really get the full impact of JGL’s transformation into young Bruce until the two are face to face on screen for the first time. It’s rather shocking.

ADDITIONAL Side note: If you HAVE seen Looper, go read this interview with the writer where he explains many of the loose ends that might have nagged at your geek-brain.

UPDATE:

COMMENTERS: What did you think of Looper? Also, what is your favorite/least favorite stand alone (non franchise, series, tv spin off, etc) cinematic sci-fi situation?

But When I Like Something, It’s A Manifesto

A bunch of my T-Shirts are only $12 in the store right now. Check it out!

New episode of the HijiNKS ENSUE Podcast! Episode 89 – John Quincy Adams: Mummy Strangler

Thus ends another short run story-ish style continuity-let. Now to make some comics about The Pondless Doctor and Looper (which was super duper).

COMMENTERS: Feels, right? They’re the worst. What’s the most ACTUAL HUMAN EMOTION you’ve ever felt about something that happened in a TV show? A few shows have definitely made me cry actual man-tears, but none are coming to mind at the moment. Perhaps you will jog my sadness memories. I remember when the Galactica jumped into atmo on New Caprica, I actually stood up and cheered like I was at a sportspuck arena and a score had just happened.

Red Octoberfest

A bunch of my T-Shirts are only $12 in the store right now. Check it out!

New episode of the HijiNKS ENSUE Podcast! Episode 89 – John Quincy Adams: Mummy Strangler

Based on last week’s episode, Revolution is 0 for 2. This had me feeling like the fall TV season was off to bad start. Then I watched the pilot for Last Resort and my excitement was decidedly renewed. Almost instantly I was caught up in the premise (a nuclear sub disobeys questionable orders and seeks haven from it’s own government in the harbor of a tropical island that appears to be run by a pirate/drug lord/pimp). I was nervous, tense, excited, guessing and theorizing throughout the entire episode. These are all good signs. It’s so much more rewarding to be mentally screaming at the screen “NO NO NO! DON’T DO TH… OH CRAP HE DID IT! THAT SONOVABITCH!” than, “I’m SUPPOSED to like this kind of show, right? I mean, it’s sort of sci-fi. I bet it gets better.”

The laws of attraction apply to TV as well as people. Sure, you need to give people (and TV shows) a chance to show you what they’re really all about, but there needs to be an initial spark. Something to cling onto right off the bat that keeps you wanting more. Last Resort definitely has that spark. It’s the first new show I’ve seen in at least 3 years where the casting, the acting, the premise and the writing were ALL the strong suits. It’s also the only one I can recall in recent memory where all those elements were working together and moving in the same direction. All too often you see good casting wasted on week scripts, or good lines wasted on flat deliveries. Last Resort, at least in the pilot, isn’t falling prey to these types of maladies. If it can maintain this momentum, then I am going to be in for the whole season. Conversely, Revolution gets 2, maybe 3 more eps from me before I give up.

Bonus points to Last Resort for casting Dichan Lachman. She’s a scene (and sometimes show) stealer if there ever was one. Unfortunately I don’t think she even had a line in the pilot, but I am hoping they use her well in the future. Scott Speedman from Underworld is the X.O. of the submarine. I’m not certain, but I think he’s still a double werewolf.

COMMENTERS: What did you think of Last Resort? Keep spoilers to an absolute minimum and mark you posts as such: SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS SPOILERS!!!!