Our Favorite Peanuts Characters

The comic strip Peanuts debuted 75 years agos. We all know the Peanuts gang and we all have our favorite characters. The core group of Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, and Snoopy are augmented by a group of children and animals (but no adults) who each had their own unique personalities. 

This video is set up to rank seven (actually eight) of these characters from "criminally overlooked" to "global icon," but we know how such rankings can rankle. It's better to look at it as an explanation of their personalities, and how each one plays a role in providing someone we can relate to, or maybe even aspire to. That said, I am disappointed by the absence of Pigpen. (via Laughing Squid) 

Found

(Thanks, WTM!)

The Reason We Have Scary Monster Stories

Dr. Emily Zarka knows a thing or two about monsters, their history, and their meaning. Sure, we know that we love scary monster stories because we get a rush out of kickstarting our emotions, even when they are supposed to be unpleasant emotions like fear. It's an adrenaline rush. But it's a lots more complicated than that. Zarka gives us a good overview of what purpose these scary tales serve, and how those purposes differ through the rise and fall of cultural norms. They illustrate the importance of good vs. evil, and what happens when se don't stay on the good side. They warn us against danger, whether it's from real animals or people we don't know. They can be propaganda to rile up the populace against a perceived enemy. And they can help us examine what it means to be human.  

This video is only ten minutes long; the rest is promotional. (via Laughing Squid) 

City Workers

(via The Chive)

Tweet of the Day

Charlie Brown adopted Snoopy exactly 74 years ago today. This is the moment they met.

Get out the tissues...

🥹🥹pic.twitter.com/rCJvJXb5q9

— Goodable (@Goodable) October 4, 2024

(via Nag on the Lake)

If Harry Potter Was Southern

One of the charms of the Harry Potter series, at least for Americans, was how very British everything was. We Americans find it amazing that children can pull of those lovely accents when we can't do it top save ourselves. But the whole series would have been quite different if that owl had delivered an acceptance letter from Hogwarts to some guy named Harry from, say, Alabama instead. Putting a southern boy into that wizarding world would have caused great confusion, and not only for him.

Matt Mitchell steps into that role to show us just how different those worlds are. His potion is "shine of the moon." He can't wait for the opening of Patronus season. He's baffled by a lot of things, but figures butterbeer must be good because beer is good, and butter is good. I can't agree more.

The History of Acme

We all know the Acme Corporation. They were the ones who supplied Wile E. Coyote with all the gadgets and supplies he needed to catch the Road Runner. They didn't work all that well, but he could get them delivered out in the desert. Since those days, the name Acme has been used as a generic business name when you don't want to use a specific name. But wait, those Warner Brothers cartoons weren't the first to use Acme as a generic business name- they are just the most durable and universal media we have from 70+ years ago. Using Acme as a business name was already a Hollywood thing.

Even so, the name didn't spring up in Hollywood. It was a common business name during the early 20th century, selected for a mundane but genius reason. While a few businesses that use the name Acme are still around, startups rarely select it because of its association with Wile E. Coyote and his many failures in using their products.

Cookie Monster's Ailment

Life, and anatomy, can be weird. It's all okay with the monster, because all he cares about is the cookies! This comic is from Jim Benton. (via Geeks Are Sexy)

AI Marries High Fashion and Pop Culture

The art of the mashup is to meld two disparate ideas and make them work satisfactorily. That doesn't mean they have to make sense. According to Wikipedia, Balenciaga is a French luxury fashion house founded in 1919. The point is that they look expensive, as you can see these fashions are modeled by Star Wars characters.

While the characters are all recognizable, they are strangely blended with fashion models in a manner that makes their noble mission seem downright frivolous. You can see plenty more fashion mashups featuring Lord of the Rings, Game of Thrones, and various superheroes made with artificial intelligence at Laughosaurus.

A Tribute to 80's Entertainment

This video is a nostalgic treat. I was watching and thought, "Wait, did I really spend ten years of my life just being entertained?" Then I remembered that I worked in entertainment. Besides, some of these movies I only saw much later thanks to Blockbuster video stores. (via reddit)

Cosplayers Are So Happy, They Dance

For the first time since 2019, Ottawa Comiccon returned last weekend. Cosplayers, some who had been waiting three years to show off their stuff, were all over, and Geeks Are Sexy was there to document them. The participants were in a dancing mood, so here are some of them gettin' down to "Struttin'" by Thumpasaurus. This is just a tiny sample of the awesome costumes, so you'll want to check out the photo gallery from Ottawa Comccon 2022 at Geeks Are Sexy.

Fan Fiction

(via Tastefully Offensive)

The Queen has Tea with Paddington Bear

During the telecast of the concert accompanying Queen Elizabeth's platinum jubilee celebrations, viewers were treated to a short film in which the queen tried out her comedy acting chops with Paddington Bear! The two are bonding over a cup of tea. One minute of the short was released to the public, in which we learn the answer to that age-old question- what does the queen keep in her purse? The charming vignette ends with a segue into Queen's "We Will Rock You." The film was a surprise to the audience, as it was recorded much earlier and kept under wraps. Read more about this delightful short at Deadline.

Memes: Why We Love Copies and Copying

It's been almost ten years since we were treated to the delightful insights of Kirby Ferguson and his series Everything is a Remix. We're glad to hear he's resurrecting that series for 2021. Episode one was an introduction to the idea that everything is remix. It's quite long, but very interesting.

This video, which is part two, is about movies, but it's also about memes and how they eventually become remixes themselves. To do that, Ferguson explains what memes have in common with the rest of our pop culture. They are all copied from copies, because we like what's familiar, and we like to know what to expect. That's just human nature. (via Laughing Squid)

Venom

Another genius workaround by Lonelyman at Low Cost Cosplay. All you need is some underwear and q-tips!  

Hardly Porn

(via reddit)

Meeping Angel

Funny for Muppet fans, terrifying for Doctor Who fans. (via reddit)

What Kind of Puzzle is This?

Are these genome sequences? Paint swatches? Part of the fun is figuring out what this puzzle is in the first place -and then figuring out the answers in the second place. Give it a try on your own. While many will know what's going on right off, I must confess I was clueless when I first scanned this, until I saw the last one. Then it all became clear.

When you have exhausted all possibilities by guess, you can go here and click on the spoiler bars to get answers. If you still haven't figured out what the puzzle is about, just click on one of them to get started.

(via reddit)

Covid No More!

Cut to Black produced a clever and amusing edit of movie and TV clips that addresses our current situation and emphasizes that we are indeed, all in this together. (via Laughing Squid)

Eleven and Seven

I randomly ran across this picture when looking for something else, but it's too good not to pass along. Found at AtmosFX's Instagram account.