Brian Smith

A panel from the Nov. 6, 1983 installment of Berke Breathed's "Bloom County," from the multipart "The Bill the Cat Story" that would bring the cat back from the dead. We see Bill dressed as Little Orphan Annie. Narration box: "And thus...America opened up their Sunday papers that next week to find the genius of a cat named...Bill." Bill, singing: "Tomorrow! Tomorrow! I'll bite ya, tomorrow! It's only a litter box away!"

If it helps, a November 1983 "Bloom County" panel supports the idea that LOTS of people thought the lyric was "only":

John Moe’s Pop Song Correspondences: A Letter Between Siblings Who Lived in the House Described in “Our House” by Madness My dear brother, Thank you for your recent letter regarding the scheduled demolition of our boyhood home. It’s obvious that you are upset and love ...

Is it OK to post links to McSweeney's here on the Bluesky? Because I have a link to McSweeney's to share, here, on the Bluesky.

♫ And if you want it, come and get it, test drive it now
♫ The deal that we are giving you will raise your eyebrow
♫ It's kind of a van, but easier to steer, get it before it's gone
♫ Vanagon
♫ Vanagon

(apologies to David Gray)

(apologies to everyone, really)

The logo for ABC's '80s/'90s drama "thirtysomething".

This gets to the heart of why I never watched "Thirty Something." They forgot to capitalize the title in the show's logo, they made it all one word, and the designers were using two different fonts! It's all so *sloppy*.

I'm convinced that the Next Generation folks were focused on the Original Series' 79 episodes when they titled THEIR 79th episode "Legacy," and their 80th episode "Remember Me."

But other than that? Yeah, pure nonsense.

I *love* the little detail of Ditto Tycho's shirt not being separated from his pants or his hands.

It's finally time for me to share a pandemic-era photo I stealthily took about a minute after I thought to myself, "OH MY GOD that poor man, how is he even able to...oh, no, wait..."

Three installments of "Rip Kirby", from a Monday-Wednesday in December 1966. The promo for the storyline -- because serial comics would do that in 1966 -- reads, "Those lovely, madcap Amour sisters are brewing a bombshell for Rip Kirby! The beautiful, wealthy and completely irresponsible Amour sisters are each determined to be chosen queen of an upcoming charity ball. Blonde Tutu and brunette Mumu are both ready to go to any lengths to be the girl who will wear a priceless royal crown at the museum ball. Ace criminologist Rip Kirby will need all his skill -- and the aid of those sterling butlers, Desmond and Wiggers -- to solve the explosive situation resulting from the rivalry." I mostly just liked the clunkiness of the middle panel: Tutu Amour: "Give up gracefully, sister. That crown is going to rest right on this beautiful blonde head." Mumu Amour: "How could it rest on a head as empty as the color is phony?"

There's a 12-week "Rip Kirby" serial that began a few months after this comic, so now I'm thinking that there was just something in the air in 1966 that made guys think "LADIES LOVE CROWNS"

"SEXY LADIES WILL FIGHT OVER CROWNS"

It's not an '80s song, but I'm never going to have a better/worse idea than this:

The opening montage of "Up," immediately followed by the "My New Adventure Book" end credits set to Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping."

From Paul Johnson's "On the Air" column for the Arkansas Gazette, September 25, 1989: SCRIPT GIVES ARKANSAS MOMENT IN THE SPOTLIGHT The dialogue about Arkansas and Arkansans in tonight's episode of DESIGNING WOMEN is extensive. Creator Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, Arkansas's adopted daughter, said late last week she has included tonight's mentions of Sam Walton, Bill Clinton, Win Paul Rockefeller and others to "score a few points for Arkansas." The script brings up Arkansas when Charlene suggests Suzanne call some Arkies to ask them to contribute to a fund to promote literacy. Suzanne scoffs at the idea that anybody rich could live in Arkansas, but Mary Jo and Jula both support Charlene and confirm that Sam Walton, a friend of Charlene's, is the richest man in America. Part of the dialogue: Suzanne: "Is [Sam Walton] richer than Donald Trump?" Mary Jo: "Are you kidding. Donald Trump couldn't even be Sam Walton's shoeshine boy! Like a lot of rich people, Trump just has a great PR guy whose job is made especially simple by people like you who think that nobody could be that rich or smart or stylish unless they live in New York or Los Angeles." Suzanne: "I don't believe this! How much is he worth?" Mary Jo: "About seven billion dollars. I know because I read 'Fortune 500' at my dentist's office, and the next closest person on the list is some poor little guy named Kluge, and he's so far away from Sam Walton's neighborhood he might as well be living in a trailer park." Other segments of the script talk about Clinton's interest in education and describe him as "the education governor." Bloodworth-Thomason said last week she was "using Arkansas as a metaphor for all those states and people between New York and Los Angeles who are so often ignored. "Our point is, our culture has become anemic because the media keep feeding off the same two geographical locations." DESIGNING WOMEN will be carried at 9 p.m. today on KTHV, Channel 11.

The TV columnist for the Arkansas Gazette newspaper rather breathlessly followed all Arkansas-related television in the '80s and early '90s, including "Designing Women," "Evening Shade" and Park Overall's LaVerne on "Empty Nest." So this episode of "Designing Women" became actual news in the state:

Grim Reaper with the 1920s Warner Bros logo (looking suspiciously like Michigan J Frog) knocks on the door of Oracle, while doors labeled with the previous Warner acquisitions have bloody trails leading from them

Every so often, I think about 1960s Marvel comics, when a dress shirt and sport coat was all that was required to hide Warren Worthington's wings and Tony Stark's chest plate, and I have a good chuckle and I move on.

Along those same lines, THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING spans three decades in which Eddie Redmayne's Stephen Hawking ages from his mid-20s to his mid-50s, and Felicity Jones' Jane Wilde ages from her mid-20s to her late 20s (but with grey in her hair).

The IMAX poster for “Marty Supreme,” featuring Timothee Chalomet holding a ping-pong paddle while flying over the city 🌃 n a giant orange ping-pong ball labeled “Experience it in IMAX”.

I’m going to be That Guy and break it to you that they apparently got an advance peek of the “Marty Supreme” IMAX poster by accident and said “Do this.”

From "The Kids in the Hall," season 3, episode 4, the "Academy Awards" sketch. Mark McKinney (right) and Scott Thompson play, respectively, Liam Guernsey and Chalice, presenting the award for best actor. We're at the moment when they announce that the winner is a three-way tie -- "everybody but the Hamlet guy!" The nominees were: Tyler Winston (Dave Foley), playing a deaf man fighting bigotry in "Hear the Light" Todd Langdon (McKinney again), playing a man in a wheelchair fighting bigotry in "Rolling Tall" Tom Wax (Kevin McDonald), playing a man with a spike in his head fighting bigotry in "Spike" Sir Lawrence Reynolds (Thompson again), playing Hamlet in "Hamlet" and absolutely having the deck stacked against him.

"Oh my God, it's a tie! Everybody but the Lockjaw guy!"

...I don't THINK you were referring to the Kids in the Hall sketch, but "Academy Awards" is one of my low-key favorite Kids in the Hall sketches.

Carrie Fisher

A quick screenshot from the Bernadette Peters (not shown) episode of "The Muppet Show," where Sam Eagle (not shown) shares the story of the Ant (shown, left) and the Grasshopper (shown, right).

The Ant is Jewish, but that doesn't matter to Sam Eagle, who celebrates the Ant for embodying traditional American values like hard work, rugged independence and long-term planning. (The Grasshopper, meanwhile, is a toxic mix of prosperity gospel evangelical and AI-loving tech bro.)

The opening image from Mad Magazine's "Dressed to Kill" parody, "Undressed to Kill," featuring Mort Drucker versions of Angie Dickinson, Michael Caine, Keith Gordon, Nancy Allen and Brian DePalma.

ALSO: Mort Drucker. That's it. That's the follow-up post.

From Mad Magazine issue 222, a speech box from the "Dressed to Kill" parody, "Undressed to Kill": "And I'm Brian De Trauma, the Director of this film! Critics have raved about this spine-tingling drama! They say it's a directorial tour de force! Others claim it's a 'carbon-copy Hitchcock'! They say I've stolen everything from his films! That's the most outlandish thing I'ver ever heard! Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go make a 'cameo appearance' in my movie!"

Before I ever saw a Brian DePalma film, I read Mad Magazine's parody of "Dressed to Kill," and that version of the man became THE version in my mind.

I had to watch an episode of that with my dad this month. Me: “He’s not really getting a lot of laughs.” Dad: “Well, there’s only a few dozen people in the audience. Besides, Gutfeld’s really ‘sharp-clever’ funny; he’s not ‘ha-ha’ funny.”

"Beetle Bailey" for Tuesday, July 9, 2002: Panel 1: Miss Buxley introduces Chip Gizmo, an officer wearing a headset AND headphones, who's absolutely laden with devices. Miss Buxley, to Gen. Halftrack: "Tech Officer Gizmo will show you how to use the computer, the internet and the DVD" Halftrack: "Good. I don't understand any of that" Panel 2: We've shattered the 180-degree rule and are on the other side of the desk. Halftrack is now on the left, Gizmo is on the right, and Miss Buxley has spun her head completely backwards, like an owl. Her left arm awkwardly follows the contours of her body. Halftrack: "I still don't understand the typewriter, the telegraph or the phonograph" Chip Gizmo: "What are those things?"

Shuddering at the thought of a "Whoever Wins...We Lose" fight between the Muppets' Chip and Beetle Bailey's Chip Gizmo

Artwork of Mario in his Hammer Suit from "Super Mario Bros. 3". He's flinging multiple hammers and wearing a Koopa-style hat and a similar shell on his back.

Mario, of course, is the exception that proves the rule (he DOES use hammers, but never to drive nails).

Literally the Alfalfa to his Buckwheat!

In 2012, Bonnie Raitt covered "Right Down the Line" on "The Colbert Report," which was on in the break room at work.

20-something woman asked what I THOUGHT was: "Who sings this?" Me: "Gerry Rafferty did the original." Her: "No, who's that singing NOW?"

And I've only gotten older ever since.

So...if the New Universe is still out there and still progresses in real time...and the Fantastic Four now starts around 2011...

Then the New Universe has gone from "began on Marvel's 25th anniversary" to "been around for 25 years before Marvel 'started'."

...excuse me, I need a drink

“How do you get to the North Pole? Just go to the South Pole and then go anywhere!”

A very slapdash edit of the 1960s paperback version of "Look Back, My Love," billed as "A love story by Jean Carew". It's Paperback Library Romance #13 and features a woman looking at a farmhand and a businessman, but it's been edited to include Thor looking up wistfully.

The last two panels of the Feb. 1, 1975, installment of "Peanuts". Snoopy is on his doghouse: "I'd tell the jury the joke about the farmer and the three hogs...I'd win the case easily...the first thing they teach you in law school is the joke about the farmer and the three hogs!"

FINALLY

A screenshot from a YouTube walkthrough video for Activision's "Mindshadow," a 1984 text-based game for the Commodore 64. The premise: You have lost your memory and must return home and rediscover your identity by finding clues and using the "THINK" or "REMEMBER" command with them. The image here is of a hat-check girl and a club host, later revealed to be her husband. TEXT: Rick's Cafe is smoked-filled and crowded. You stop at the hat check room. A pretty woman smiles at you from behind the counter. : TALK TO WOMAN

Something similar happened to me back in the '80s, but it was worth it to meet THIS stunningly lovely lady:

I (and I suspect a lot of people) go through three stages with that version of Batman:

TV-loving youth: Enjoying it as a colorful action-adventure

Cynical teen/20-something: Picking it apart ("Gotham is apparently nothing BUT abandoned warehouses")

Hopeful adult: Enjoying it as a campy comedy