Tag Archives: how things are NEVER done

by billytheskink | July 26, 2020 · 1:33 am

Neither can we, Marian… uh, I mean, Lisa

And we’re back to Les’s cameo in today’s strip. I dunno what that golf thing yesterday was about, but it will probably be awful and unsatisfying if it is ever revealed at all.

Having seen more of this scene, I really hope Les’ fear that his cameo will elicit knee-buckling laughter from his friends, family, and assorted other acquaintances comes true. What better time in Lisa’s Story to bust a gut than this maudlin bit where Les recaps a phone conversation Lisa had with her insensitive doctor? That’s the first and only thing about this Lisa’s Story flick that makes me want to watch it.

This strip is a nice reminder that Lisa’s second battle with cancer was full of bumbling and insensitive doctors: always mixing up important cancer charts and exhibiting awful bedside manner. What timing TB has… I cannot think of a time in my life when fewer Americans would be interested in fictional depictions of incompetent and unpleasant doctors.

And that’s it for me. I cannot say I envy spacemanspiff85, who takes over tomorrow. Good luck to you. You won’t have it, but it seems the right sentiment to express.

23 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as cancer, cancer films, doctors, glib doctors, Hollywood, how things are NEVER done, jerkwads, Les, Les being a giant smug douche, Les' yellow shirt, Lisa, Lisa's Story, Marianne, Marianne Winters, MariLisa, Martin Johns, MasoLes, Mason, Mason Jarr, Mason Jarre, Mason's Nose, morbidity, movies, non-pizza foodstuffs, not how movies are made, palm trees, random film crew, sheer idiocy, smug inept bearded jerks, soundstage, wig

by billytheskink | July 22, 2020 · 10:30 pm

Order Up-chuck

Today’s strip was done better some 36-and-a-half years ago by one Charles M. Schulz. Les is echoing the more-likable Sally Brown’s Hark! Hark! Hark! Hark! from Christmastime 1983…

Unlike Lisa’s Story, those strips were worked into an actual film, It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown, which I got on videocassette for the price of a tank of gas in my parents’ Mazda at a Shell filling station back in 1993.

And frankly, “Les says things and bothers innocent bystander(s)” is not new ground even within the history of this strip either. Let’s move on.

21 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Anon-O-Character, cancer films, Hollywood, how things are NEVER done, insulting the reader's intelligence, jerkwads, ketchup, Les, Lisa's Story, movies, non-pizza foodstuffs, not how movies are made, other somewhat related comic strips, palm trees, sheer idiocy, smug inept bearded jerks, writing

by billytheskink | July 21, 2020 · 10:30 pm

Waitersday, July 22

Today’s strip was not available for preview; I guess that’s a Wednesday thing now. Les is, presumably, still antagonizing over the terrible horrible no-good very bad fate of making a 6 word cameo in a major motion picture. ¡Qué mala suerte!

While we wait on that, why not take another trip in the WABATIUK machine with me and check out a particularly disgusting Act II scene with Les Moore, the Midwest’s greatest monster, and his legendarily thin skin. Here, less than 3 months into their marriage, Lisa made the mistake of offering up some constructive criticism of Les’ in-progress and all-stupid John Darling book manuscript. Les acts like Les and Lisa complains about it downstairs in a conversation with co-worker Funky (EVERYONE in Westview has worked at Montoni’s at one time or another, it’s like compulsory military service in countries that have that). Lisa has Les pegged perfectly…

FW1-29-97

This rare moment of seeming self-awareness from TB about the monster that Les truly is proves fleeting, though. The very next strip, Lisa regrets not giving Les ten thousand words of well-reasoned adulation. Funky and Tony convincer her to bring him a pizza, and for good measure she stops by Komix Korner on her way home as well. Seriously, Les’ oversensitivity is rewarded with pizza and comic books and… an “apology” from Lisa.

This man must be stopped! This film must be stopped! This strip must be stopped!

34 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Anon-O-Character, Anon-O-Characters, cancer films, hatchet face, Hollywood, how things are NEVER done, huge hands, Les, Les being a giant smug douche, MasoLes, Mason, Mason Jarr, Mason Jarre, Mason's Nose, movies, not how movies are made, random film crew, smug inept bearded jerks, soundstage, uninteresting stupid anecdotes, wig, writing

by billytheskink | July 19, 2020 · 10:30 pm

This strip’s just six words wrong

Get a load of today’s strip… Les is gonna cameo in this thing?!

I think we’ve all but officially moved into The Producers territory, haven’t we? This Lisa’s Story movie is actually some sort of scam cooked up by Mason, Cindy, Cassidy Kerr, and probably Martin Johns, right? You wouldn’t think anything could possibly make any part of this movie any worse, and then there is the mere suggestion that Les could actually be in the flick. Les’ appearance is inherently negative, it cannot even be neutral. Les, amazingly, realizes this.

And let’s not forget, Mason is getting “points on the backend” for this work as casting director, which has seen him cast three people with no genuine auditions. Gotta be a scam.

55 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as bench, cancer films, disgust, excessive tagging, excessive tags, hatchet face, Hollywood, how things are NEVER done, Les, Les being a giant smug douche, Lisa's Story, MasoLes, Mason, Mason Jarr, Mason Jarre, Mason's Nose, New York, not how movies are made, park bench, smug inept bearded jerks, snow, soundstage, unidentified background objects, wig

by billytheskink | July 19, 2020 · 1:25 am

Secrets, Lies and Errors

What fresh awfulness do we have in today’s strip? Oh, just the latest reminder that Lisa’s Story is all about Les… and that anything written or filmed about Les isn’t worth the paper or celluloid it is recorded on.

This is who Mason considers “a real hero”? Someone who apparently told the accomplished and successful actress Marianne Winters to her face that she wasn’t good enough for the role of Lisa? Someone whose advice to her on playing the role of his late wife in a scene where she is preparing to have a biopsy to confirm a probable cancer diagnosis is to think more about HIM?

Les Moore is monstrous cad and in a just Batiukverse he would have been thrown off of a railroad trestle years ago by one of a long list of suspects too long to investigate and whom no jury would convict even if caught.

34 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as bench, cancer films, disgust, Hollywood, how things are NEVER done, inside lingo, Les, Les being a giant smug douche, Lisa, Lisa's Story, Marianne, Marianne Winters, MariLisa, Martin Johns, MasoLes, Mason, Mason Jarr, Mason Jarre, movies, not how movies are made, park bench, sad-sackery, silhouette, smug inept bearded jerks, soundstage, Squick, tags you never thought you'd use, wig

by billytheskink | July 17, 2020 · 10:30 pm

Snow Job Snore

Cameras are FINALLY rolling in today’s strip, which is take 3 (why?) of the contents of this Sunday strip from January 31, 1999.

Yep, even when it was actually happening, Lisa’s story was pretty much all about Les.

Les didn’t write the script for this movie, and yet, this scene is almost verbatim what was actually said back in 1999. I guess he had nothing to fear after all as the script writer must have been clairvoyant… or perhaps just too lazy to even try to punch up a bland passage lifted wholesale from the Lisa’s Story book.

If Les cannot live through seeing actors recite his own words, he knows where the door is. Even if he somehow didn’t walk through it to get in the soundstage, maybe he parachuted in or was brought in bound and gagged inside of a trunk (my favorite theory), he saw Marianne do so.

30 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as bench, cancer, cancer films, Hollywood, how things are NEVER done, Les, Les being a giant smug douche, Lisa, Lisa's Story, Marianne, Marianne Winters, MariLisa, Martin Johns, MasoLes, Mason, Mason Jarr, Mason Jarre, movies, not how movies are made, park bench, retcon, sad-sackery, snow, soundstage, wig

by billytheskink | July 16, 2020 · 10:30 pm

Abraham, Martin and Johns

Anybody here seen that old jerk Les Moore,
Can you please tell me that he’s gone?
He annoyed a lotta people, readers chiefly among
Y’know I just looked at today’s strip and he’s gone.

Anybody here seen any act-tion,
Can you tell me when it comes on?
There’s been a lotta panels, but it seems nothing has happened
I just looked at today’s strip and I yawned.

Does anybody here get this movie’s appeal,
Can you care when Lisa’s fate is foregone?
They need a lotta viewers, their wallets must be wrung
But it’s being made for an audience of one.

Didn’t we snark on Lisa’s arc before?
Won’t this movie plot and strip end eventually?
Then we’ll be free,
Someday soon it’s gonna be one day.

Has anybody here seen my old friend Tom,
Can you tell me where he’s gone?
I thought I saw him there WAY over the hill
In denial that he’s been there so long.

32 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as bench, Hollywood, how things are NEVER done, huge hands, inaction, inside lingo, Lisa, Lisa's Story, Marianne, Marianne Winters, MariLisa, Martin Johns, MasoLes, Mason, Mason Jarr, movies, not how movies are made, park bench, snow, soundstage, wig

by billytheskink | July 15, 2020 · 10:30 pm

Bounce Bored

Could cameras finally be rolling in today’s strip?! Ha ha, no. Tom “Tell, Don’t Show” Batiuk is living up to his nickname again. Whatever was just filmed was “great!”, though. Not great enough to portray in this strip or to make additional takes unnecessary, but still great!

There’s really nothing here, is there? We’ve seen Mason and Marianne in their costumes… we’ve seen the laughably cheap winter park bench set being set up… Les has already reacted to all of this. Did we really need to see Martin Johns say some cliché movie director things and spout some authentic Hollywood jargon? Can we move on to Les’ inevitable griping about what is actually being shot? The sooner we get there, the sooner we get out of this story arc (I hope).

At the very least couldn’t TB have had Ayers punch this up by giving Martin a clichéd old-style Hollywood director’s get-up? Y’know, stupid beret, sunglasses, jodhpurs, oversized megaphone, etc.? And if you’re gonna have Shermy cameo as a cameraman, at least let us see his face!

33 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as bench, fat fingering, Hollywood, how things are NEVER done, Lisa's Story, Marianne, Marianne Winters, MariLisa, Martin Johns, MasoLes, Mason, Mason Jarr, Mason Jarre, movies, not how movies are made, palm trees, park bench, poor lighting, snow, soundstage, tiny hands, wig

by billytheskink | July 14, 2020 · 10:30 pm

Hollywoodnesday, July 15

Today’s strip was not available for preview. Whether it is available for regular view in a timely manner is up to Comics Kingdom and their miserable and often buggy interface that has supplanted seemingly every newspaper’s online comics section. Oh to return to that time a few years ago when some papers let you read comics from multiple syndicates on the same single webpage… or even just a few months ago when I could download a PDF file of the physical paper with my overpriced and constantly-rising online newspaper subscription and read the comics in the pleasant manner that I would in a physical paper. The internet has never been easier to access or more difficult to use… but I digress.

I’m going to assume Les is still in the Hollywoodland Studios soundstage with MariLisa and MasoLes. As both actors are wearing thick winter clothing (in addition to their amazing wigs) in prior appearances this week, I am also going to assume they are preparing to film scenes from when Lisa first figured out something was amiss in her body. That was back in January 1999.

Lisa and Les, Cindy and Funky, and Lu Lin and Zhang Li all went out into the snow to play football (apparently tackle football?!) in mid-January 1999. Lisa decided to perform a critical self examination for breast lumps after feeling abnormal pain when Zhang Li tackled her to the ground. You know the rest. If you don’t, TB has some books he would like to sell you…

For those that don’t remember (looking at you, TB), Lu Lin and Zhang Li were a refugee couple from China who owned and operated The Jade Dragon (see this handy Act II character guide), a Chinese restaurant next door to Montoni’s. Like everything in Westview that doesn’t involve pizza, comics, or high school, the restaurant eventually went out of business and the couple wisely left town. Montoni’s then expanded and absorbed the space that The Jade Dragon once occupied.

30 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as bench, Hollywood, how things are NEVER done, Les, Les' pocket pen, Lisa, Lisa's Story, Marianne, Marianne Winters, MariLisa, MasoLes, Mason, Mason Jarr, Mason Jarre, Mason's Nose, movies, not how movies are made, palm trees, park bench, sarcasm, snow, soundstage, wig

by billytheskink | July 13, 2020 · 10:30 pm

The Wrong Hair-ku-lor

Using every word
Today’s strip‘s whole dialogue
Can make a haiku

“The hair color is
wrong isn’t it?” “I believe
The next line is yours.”

The wrong hair color?
Looks pretty darn close to me
Not that viewers care

Masone’s Les costume!
Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha!
Good grief that’s funny!

Oh man, that hairpiece!
Did some poor fellow mold it
From latex and tar?

Maybe that’s not it
Maybe that is matte black paint
On Bull’s old helmet…

Why is Les quiet?
He wanted accuracy
Now he’s getting it

Not a good start here
This flick is gonna be bad
Worse than Money Plane

37 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as coloring gaffes, enraging hair strands, helmet hair, Hollywood, how things are NEVER done, Les, Les' pocket pen, Lisa, Lisa's Story, Marianne, Marianne Winters, MariLisa, MasoLes, Mason, Mason Jarr, Mason's Nose, Masone Jarre, movies, not how movies are made, smirk, soundstage, whispering, wig

Tag Archives: how things are NEVER done

Neither can we, Marian… uh, I mean, Lisa

Waitersday, July 22

This strip’s just six words wrong

Secrets, Lies and Errors

Snow Job Snore

Abraham, Martin and Johns

Bounce Bored

Hollywoodnesday, July 15

The Wrong Hair-ku-lor

FW Related Links

Other Links

Archives

Search SoSF

Most Tagged

Follow @sonofstuckfunky!

Upcoming SoSF Guest Authors

Days until Funky Winkerbean’s 50th Anniversary