My guess is that Chuck has strict instructions not to interrupt the “Barbers’ Picnic”.
Also, Barbers’ Picnic is my new band name and probably one of the activities in the parlor cabinet in the hotel on Widow’s Bay.
Did you think I’d segue from Peanuts’ currently syndicated repeats into talk of The Pitt instead?
I never actually listened to Coast to Coast or any other program hosted by Art Bell,
yet I’ve heard of “Mel’s Hole”.
This may sound like something far afield of what it is to those of you who haven’t. Arthur William Bell III “was a pioneering radio broadcaster … renowned for creating the most influential paranormal talk show in broadcasting history,” to quote a short bio on the Art Bell Archives site. Which of the sites about his life and work are more official and/or accepted by his devotees, I can’t really tell you, but it’s 2026 and I doubt you need my help searching the Interwebs beyond an exhortation to use DuckDuckGo rather than Google for privacy’s sake.
Bell didn’t only cover the paranormal and conspiracy theories but was certainly open
to discussing stories on those subjects with callers. One topic from nearly two decades past that has apparently continued to fascinate on Reddit and elsewhere is the aforementioned hole of unknown origin and mysterious properties located in Washington State described to Bell in 1997 by a man identifying himself as Mel Waters.
A friend of mine who long worked for NASA shared an IFLScience post earlier today recapping the phenomenon. He did so for reasons other than promoting or debunking the details, but the context prompted me to adapt certain of those details to the chorus of the 1974 Doobie Brothers classic and personal favorite “Black Water”; here they are, with the usual apologies to singer/composer Patrick Simmons.
How I hadn’t come across “A Stranger Things Christmas” before this week, I’m not sure.
The video dates to 2016 but we’re in better late than never territory since the penultimate episodes of the series at hand drop today (and the grand finale on New Year’s Eve). While I’m unfamiliar with the work of co-creator Leigh Lahav, I look forward to exploring her channel further because this is absolutely perfect. [3:15]
Related: Happy Feet • Lead the Wild Rumpus, Stark • Coffee and Synchronicity
Now a little ditty to celebrate the return of Doctor Who.
(He pronounces his name “shoo-tee”.)
Ncuti Gatwa
Would you take me by the hand
Ncuti Gatwa
Would you take me by the hand
Can you hear me
Riff on Steely Dan
Play it on your juke box
Can you hear me
Ncuti Gatwa
Ncuti Gatwa
When a friend demanded a complete version of my “Yoda Clone” lyrics back in 2019,
I replied that I’m a fan of Jorge Luis Borges — the magical-realist, postmodernist master known to reference and review books that didn’t actually exist.
Like many others throughout cyberspace, I enjoy creating images of merch for imaginary movies, etc. Just a snippet of and/or allusion to a work not fully realized can be as satisfying as, if not more satisfying than, making or experiencing the entire work itself. Plus, I simply don’t have enough mental bandwidth and time, so my choice is usually to cobble together either a little bit or nothing.
The problem comes when I get a brainstorm and then let what I’ve sketched out sit
for a while expecting that I’ll bring it to fruition. Lots of Top X lists and mashup ideas languish unfinished in virtual folders, some of whose inspirations have long since left the zeitgeist.
Here are three parody choruses that I doubt will ever go any further. You’ll note that one springboards from much older material than the others, comics I’ve been reading to follow another blog’s reviews — where the mantra in the panel depicted is alternately referred to as a chant and an oath. Moreover, it’s based on a much older song, and its tune has been used here before in my extra look at Lost’s “Nowhere Man” way back in 2010.
I was talking with a friend recently and this happened.
We finally learned the name of the little guy who’s taken popular culture by storm on last week’s episode of The Mandalorian, and it reminded me that I never shared here the brief parody lyrics I posted on Twitter a year ago before we knew anything of his background.
Yoda clo-o-one
He is pale green in color
Plays with a knob and slumbers
Fifty years old, looks more
like fifty days (oh yeah)
Now you’re a kind of family
He led you down a nobler path
Mando, I hope that Yoda clone’s okay
I brainstormed the following list a few years ago on a lark. While I shared on Twitter and Facebook, I didn’t here at the time because I knew activity would be light and wasn’t keen to have dated Yuletide content atop the front page year-round. Posting it now is relevant to the cultural moment, of course, but also helps ensure that I finally get crackin’ on the blog again so we don’t have to keep looking at…
My Top Eleven Star Wars Holiday Songs
11. “Silent Night, Carbonite”
10. “Here We Come a-Wookieeing”
9. “O Little Town of Walrus Men”
8. “Winter Wampaland”
7. “X-Wings We Have Heard on High”
The Flash: Can he outrun Superman — or Supergirl? We may get an answer in
the Mar. 28th episode of the latter’s CBS series.
This one’s been percolating for a while.
And there’s no time like the present. Not only have we reached the once-far-off date
to which Marty and the Professor traveled in the second Back to the Future film, but this year saw the 30th anniversary of the first movie in that trilogy as well as the (somewhat less heralded) 40th anniversary of Welcome Back, Kotter’s premiere. Thus, in the grand tradition of my poster for Captain America and the Maltese Falcon and DVD case for Tarzan of the Planet of the Apes, here’s a Golden Books tie-in to that hit TV show from another dimension, Welcome Back to the Future, Kotter.
One tiny spoiler for Ant-Man coming up after this odd image…
Just imagine Humphrey Bogart playing Sam Spade as Sam Wilson — a 1941 version
of Sam Wilson, private eye turned Captain America’s unofficial and unorthodox partner.
That’s what I did in this mockup for the mashup Captain America and the Maltese Falcon. Ever since brainstorming the title a couple of years ago for a hashtag game on Twitter, I’ve found its Reese’s Peanut-Butter Cup potential hard to shake.
Watching the Tony Awards telecast last Sunday, I found myself coming up with
comics-related twists on the titles of various plays and musicals. The game continued for several days until my list grew long enough to split into two — one for Marvel, one for DC (last post) — even after paring down by about half. Some entries are more accessible to non-comics-reading folks than others; the only rule was passing over titles that wouldn’t need to be changed at all, such as The Iceman Cometh or Beauty and
The Beast.
Now take your seats for my...
Top Twenty Marvel Comics Broadway Mashups
20. You’re a Mole Man, Charlie Brown
19. Dirty Rotten Fandral
18. Jess Is the Spider-Woman
17. Bring in Da Noise, Bring in Da Hulk
16. Thoroughly Modeled Millie
15. Lady Sif at Emerson’s Bar & Grill
14. Mandarin of La Mancha
13. Twelve Angry X-Men
12. A Slim Summers Night’s Dream
11. Who’s Afraid of Virginia, Wolverine?
Watching the Tony Awards telecast last Sunday, I found myself coming up with
comics-related twists on the titles of various plays and musicals. The game continued for several days until my list grew long enough to split into two — one for DC, one for Marvel (next post) — even after paring down by about half. Some entries are more accessible to non-comics-reading folks than others; the only rule was passing over titles that wouldn’t need to be changed at all, such as Man and Superman.
Now take your seats for my...
Top Twenty DC Comics Broadway Mashups
20. Riddler on the Roof
19. My Fair Lady Blackhawk
18. Ain’t Mister Mxyzptlk
17. Captain Carrot and His Amazing Technicolor Zoo Crew
16. The Justice League of American Buffalos
15. Koriand'rolanus
14. Same Time, One Year Later
13. Glengarry Pete Ross
12. Bizarro #1 Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Next
11. Oedipus Rex Mason
I got the above from the blog of a friend who doesn't know the source. Google image searches aren't turning up anything. Of course I realize that the world is not ending and that in fact all the apocalyptic frenzy is actually misinterpretation of the Mayan Long-Count Calendar, but just in c
This post is currently down for maintenance.
The first issue of Mad hit the stands 60 years ago this week — or not. I’ll get back
to that shortly.
What does this have to do with the image above, cropped from a 15-year-old drawing
of mine?
In early August, Miss Violet DeVille asked for suggestions on Twitter for the title of a burlesque show based on the work of Neil Gaiman.
Naturally, I threw out a few ideas. They all riffed on Gaiman book titles; at least one of them was redundant to someone quicker on the draw.
While I’ve been thinking about running them on the blog as a Top X list, there are just five — and that’s counting the one that I came up with belatedly for the title of this post. So I decided to monkey with the covers to the books in question to spice things up visually. Comme ça:
You’re not gonna get these if you aren’t familiar with the original books, of course.
