Orphan Is The New Black

Here’s another resurrected and recolored FANEURYSM comic. As I explained here, there are a few FANEURYSM comics that I don’t want to allow to slip into the void of the Internet’s hazy memory, and that fit in nicely with the aesthetic of Sharkzpode. You can see the original version HERE.

I just finished season 3 of Orange Is The New Black. The shift in tone took a couple of episodes to get used to, but eventually it felt like a nicer balance between heart warming/chilling character development, drama and comedy than previous seasons. I like that Piper is now the least interesting character on the show. I wonder how long we’re going to have to wait for the rest of network and cable TV to catch up to Netflix in terms of them having found the perfect format for releasing serialized video entertainment chunks. I would rather every single show I watch just hold on the entire season until it’s complete, then release it all at once. I would also rather every show that tries to keep itself interesting for 22 episodes to cut that nonsense in half. Brevity is the soul of wit and 18ish hours is hardly brief when you’re really only telling one A story and a couple of B and C stories.

I’ve let Orphan Black pile up on the DVR this season. It’s all there waiting for me, but I haven’t felt motivated to watch it. I think the first seasons was perfect, and the 2nd started to flail a bit in terms of direction. I still think Tatiana Maslany deserves each and every acting accolade and award that we, as a species, are capable of giving out, but I just haven’t felt like spending any time in the clone zone. The fact that I don’t feel like I’m missing out (because I know it’s still on my DVR and will be there waiting for me when I’m ready) falls right in line with my admiration for the “release ’em all when ther’ done!” TV model. For me, a TV show has become a thing like an album. When I get a new one that I like, I listen to it on repeat almost exclusively for days or weeks. When I binge watch a show, I feel the same way. I want to spend time in the world that bit of entertainment allows me entrance to. I want to enter that particular headspace and swim around in it for an extended amount of time. It’s much more immersive for me to enjoy art this way. To just wrap myself up in it day after day for a week or two, then spend a few days decompressing and thinking about what it meant or how it made me feel.

SHARKSPLODERS: What bit of entertainment did you immerse yourself in for days or weeks at a time, and why?

Where You Lead, I Will Follow

There are multiple truths in this comic. A) I have been watching a lot of Gilmore Girls reruns, both on TV and Netflix, lately. The reruns on TV just hit the sweet spot where Lorelai has the inn open and she starts dating Luke and Emily and Richard are separated and Rory starts an affair with Dean and Lain realizes she has feelings for Zach and… it’s a really great show. Great characters, GREAT writing, just really excellent TV. Anyone that tells you different has never loved, been loved or is probably a replicant. And B) I cannot tell you how often I have forgone watching a movie in superior 1080p HD image quality because my Blu-rays were “all the way over there” and Netflix was exactly where my ass was.

Sharksplode is closing forever just after Thanksgiving. Some of the more popular shirts will be integrated into the new HE store, but about half won’t be. So if you want something from Sharksplode, now is the time to get it.

DID YOU GET YOUR HOGWARTS LETTER YET?! Check out these Harry Potter inspired owl post earrings and necklaces my wife made:

Orphan Is The New Black

50% OFF SALE in the HijinkS ENSUE STORE THIS WEEK!
Books, Prints, Posters, Lil’ Wil Wheaton plushies and Holiday Cards are all HALF OFF! Some shirts are marked down to $5!

I tweeted this almost a year ago. Since then, I’ve gotten hooked on both shows. It’s ALLLLLMOST like TV shows with a primarily female cast can be really good. Weird.

Fancy Patrons: I’ve posted the rough sketch of this comic for you to put your eyes on here. We are less than $50 away from unlocking more comics per week!

Mostly True Convention Stories: I’ve Just Made A Huge Mistake

Phoenix Comicon was a tonnage’o fun as always. David was my travel companion, roommate and life partner (con husband) for a week (also as always). Saturday night we had the very Arrested Development related debate illustrated in the panels above. At least the first two, maybe two and a half panels of it. In the end, we decided that wives were the way to go (plus the hotel Internet was so shitty, I expect it would have been a less than optimal viewing experience… also wives… yes, happy wives). I’ve been home for all of 14 minutes, so I am going to go sit in a familiar chair, in a familiar state that is (at least currently) below 100 degrees outside, eat some familiar leftovers and get my Bluth on.

COMMENTERS: Without getting into spoilers AT ALL, have you watched the new Arrested Development episodes? What are your initial thoughts? I am hearing bad things on twitter, but I am reserving judgement until I’ve seen them for (and blue’d) myself.

Comments (31)

@heroicraptor· 105 weeks ago

Don’t overhype it for yourself. It’s really funny. Look at the good, don’t try to dig for the bad.

1 · active 105 weeks ago

MrSueDenim· 105 weeks ago

Excellent advice. Make sure that you watch them in order to savour the funny. I just finished episode 15 and found it was impressively good how each episode connected with each other.

Season 5/The Movie can’t come out fast enough though. </frustrated-impotent-fanboy-whinge>

Echelon Four· 105 weeks ago

I’ve seen about 6 of them. I thought they were good. The structure of each episode focuses on a particular character, rather than all episodes being everyone. I think that is what is causing the negative reactions. The show is still good, it just doesn’t live up to the impossible standards set for it.

negativsteve· 105 weeks ago

I didn’t care for the “Focus on one character per episode” format at first, but as I watched a few episodes and all of the pieces began to fit together, it began to grow on me. Now that I have burned through the entire season, I really enjoyed it. I am going to wait a week or two and burn through the episodes again, looking for details and subtleties that I missed the first time around.

Jordan· 105 weeks ago

I’ve honesty enjoyed it, even going in as a longtime fan. The whole season is one mega-story that builds upon itself, which means some jokes are only going to be caught on a second viewing. That said, it still feels like Arrested, and the long-term storytelling is enjoyable. The biggest burden is the catch-up for each character, but most have two episodes to spread their wings and have fun.

@borednihilist· 105 weeks ago

Strange; my tweeps have been reacting mostly positively to it, and having seen six episodes, I love it, and have only enjoyed the season more as it has progressed. I like the story structure; it will definitely repay rewatches.

theragingcelt· 105 weeks ago

When you get to Episode 11, you are going to be in for a shock.
I will say nothing else.
Except to make the bold statement that this Season of AD is the “Cloud Atlas” of sitcoms. Make of that statement what you will.

Orion M· 105 weeks ago

Season 4 is brilliant. It’s very dense, and it takes a couple episodes to build before everything starts falling into place. But it’s really, really good.

…it’s much darker than I anticipated. Much darker than anything that happened in the first three seasons. But still brilliant.

(Also, Seth Rogen as young George Sr. He’s very good!)

Dave Kinsella· 105 weeks ago

I’m 10 episodes in and it’s cleverly put together, I like the way the series gradually reveals more details in scenes that have already been shown. Also some very funny moments and great in-jokes from the first three series.

Zach· 105 weeks ago

Its brilliant, but you basically have to watch it all at once to get the brilliant mesh that exists. The pacing is actually wonderful, and I found the format and style to be a really nice break from the predictability of sitcoms.

KRW· 105 weeks ago

It’s SUPER meta. I remember it as being subtle meta before, but now it’s sort of like hard to relax and watch it. Every third second it’s like the creators are screaming “HEY GUYS! WE’RE A TV SHOW! WE’RE TOTALLY A TV SHOW! IT’S FUNNY BECAUSE WE ARE SELF-AWARE AND A TV SHOW!” Other than that, it’s pretty good.

Steven Don· 105 weeks ago

Little typo in the title there. “Convetion”. Anyway, off to watch AD.

redd galaxie· 105 weeks ago

The writing is amazing. I enjoyed the hell out of almost all of it. I didn’t really care for the ending. A few questions were left unanswered, and the end on an awkward note.

DuckAmuck· 105 weeks ago

I saw 1. The “making fun of our situation” jokes are clever as well as cleverly hidden.
My main thing was: wow – I’d forgotten all these people were in it, and THIS is what they look like now?

@sonochamp· 105 weeks ago

I liked this season, but it wasn’t as good as the previous 3. Go win with low expectations, because that’s where most of the disappointment on twitter came from. People set their expectations incredibly high after 6 years that it’s impossible for the show to meet said expectations!

brigidkeely· 105 weeks ago

I haven’t seen it yet because my husband’s all “but I don’t remember the previous seasons enough, so we must now watch them all, but I’m not going to propose this until the latest, newest season is out!” like a huge asshole. The promo looked really disappointing, though.

Cole· 105 weeks ago

This is a show I’ve been with since the second episode aired, and I was not disappointed. The altered structure means that there’s less progression per episode than many people may be used to, but we have half a decade of catching up to.

I loved it. A perfect balance of what makes Arrested Development what it is and new ideas and structure to keep things interesting.

@EmMaeKay· 105 weeks ago

I’m enjoying the new episodes immensely! There’s a wonderful mix of throwbacks to the existing jokes, and some new funny stuff as well. I don’t fully understand the flack, I guess.

Red· 105 weeks ago

It’s okay. I’m not rolling on the floor laughing like I used to be, but I don’t regret seeing it through either.

Candace· 105 weeks ago

I haven’t seen the show at all, I just wanted to say the 3rd panel is hilarious! The facial expressions, the body language – perfect!

deadrobot· 105 weeks ago

I dunno. I think “Sex with a man” would possibly enrage your spouses.

1 · active 105 weeks ago

Ali· 105 weeks ago

That was the punchline.

WorldMaker· 105 weeks ago

Binged over the weekend and thought it was great. It tells one continuous story (the last 5 years in the history of the Bluths) and so there was a strong temptation to binge all of it, which you may or may not want to try to avoid.

Ali· 105 weeks ago

I saw it. Loved it. Wish we got a little more tying-up of plot threads (especially GOB’s) but it was pretty great overall. No chicken dance though.

Liam· 105 weeks ago

So you played with David’s Transformers?

1 · active 104 weeks ago

The Unknown FB· 104 weeks ago

There may have been some shortpacked hijinks.

neminem· 105 weeks ago

Yep, that was me, only I was the one who made my girlfriend not watch it without me.

I’ve now watched about half of it, and I agree with the general consensus so far that the first couple episodes weren’t as good as the average AD episode, but subsequent episodes so far have not only been quite up to part with the best of them, but also retroactively made the first couple way funnier, too.

1 · active 105 weeks ago

neminem· 105 weeks ago

(Well, and she didn’t, obviously, decide to instead get it on with a girl while I was gone. At least, not to my knowledge.)

Videostoreguy· 104 weeks ago

Frankly, I was just happy to see AD back. It was like pizza: even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good. But the fact that we may never see new ones again weighs on me.

1 · active 97 weeks ago

emperorbailey· 97 weeks ago

You will see new ones.

Chaucer59· 99 weeks ago

Unsexiest bromance moment ever.

Getting Things Done

CRUISE FUNDRAISER UPDATE: 96/100 prints are sold which certainly means the print drive was a total success! It would be great to sell that last few remaining prints before the the cruise, but at this point I am all booked for the boat and will be shoving off in a month. Thank you to everyone that participated in the fundraiser. Prints are being ordered now and will hopefully start shipping by mid to late January.

Hey, go see the shirts me and Wil made at Sharksplode.

Let’s start the year off REALLY weird, why not? I was thinking about how the Space Jam movie website had been unearthed, totally preserved a while back and wondered if there might be enthusiastic groups of Internet dudes that have bitter rivalries over 90’s sports figure movie vehicle fandoms. Sounds too crazy? Did you see the part where I said, “Internet dudes?” I thought not. I’ve also been thinking about how I’ve been adding quite literally dozens of seemingly fascinating documentaries to my Netflix streaming queue with not so much as an iota of intent to ever actually watch them. Seriously, it’s at least a week’s worth of non stop potential infortainmention. I keep adding them because I feel like Netflix is judging me. Every time my daughter watches Disney Faerie Adventures or whatever, I know that it’s counting against MY RECOMMENDATIONS. What kind of personality profile is Netflix building for me? As far as the robot in my TV knows, I 5-starred Se7en, The Usual Suspects and Angelina Ballerina?! That’s evidence that will hold up in court should anyone on my street ever go missing and turn up in various boxes.

[Holy crap, I found a 1996 review of Kazaam from a local Tuscon paper.]

COMMENTERS: Two Questions! What’s your favorite 90’s movie to hate? Don’t you dare say Drop Dead Fred. That cinematic masterwork belongs in the National Film Registry. OR! Have you ever liked, faved, pinned or otherwise told the Internet you were into something you weren’t THAT into in order to appear cooler, smarter, etc? It’s confession time. Unburden your digital delusions. Or is it more analog? Do you have certain books on your shelf that you want people to see? Shame on you.