Tag Archives: unnatural hand gestures

by billytheskink | August 18, 2022 · 10:30 pm

The Les He Knows, The Better

More word zeppelins in today’s strip… Not as bad as yesterday, but still, get your bookmarks out, folks!

You know, this is actually one of TB’s tidiest retcons, probably because it is one of the very few intentional ones he’s ever undertaken. It takes the original scene and changes its context (slightly) by depicting a previously unseen scene. Tidy. The pieces actually fit together. There are no loose ends, deleted original context, or unresolved conflict with the originals scene. See? That’s not so hard.

Heck, as a bonus it even (unnecessarily but adeptly) explains a silly detail from the original scene, why Les has a camcorder and this Hari Seldon story readily at hand as if he was waiting for Lisa to lament about all the things ~~Summer~~ she will never get to experience. Turns out, he pretty much was just waiting on the chance to whip that camera on out.

Tidy as it is, this retcon was no more entertaining or less irritating because of it. In fact, it makes the origin story of the Lisa tapes tremendously off-putting. The focus shifts away from the impending reality of Summer growing up without a mother seen in the original scene to the needs of Summer’s nogoodnik parents… First, Lisa wants to record the tapes so she can live vicariously through Summer’s adolescence in her imagination. Then, Crazy and Lisa hatch this cockamamie plan to let Les take credit for the idea to record the infamous tapes, which only soothes his ego and bolsters his hero complex. These people are awful and I hope I never wind up sitting next to any of them on an airplane.

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Tagged as Act II, Act II tragedies, bad ideas, cancer, cancer films, character death, Crazy, Crazy Harry, death, enraging facial expressions, flashback, flashback thought bubbles, hatchet face, horrible ideas, ideas, impending doom, Isaac Asimov, Les, Lisa, non-pizza foodstuffs, obsolete video technologies, pop-culture references, porch swing, raging egoism, references no one gets, retcon, retcons of retcons, seldom-seen characters wearing hats, sepia-tone, sepia-toned flashback, Star Trek, Taj Moore-hal, terrible ideas, the lisa, the Lisa tapes, tiny hands, tiny trees, trees, unnatural hand gestures, welcoming death, word zeppelins, wry banter, wry self-deprecation, wry weary snideness, wryness

by billytheskink | August 17, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Hari Don’t Care-i

I’m surprised it took until today’s strip for the word zeppelins to arrive… but one has docked right at Crazy’s mouth and is unloading such a tremendous volume of technobabble that it threatens to lift the roof right off the porch of the Taj Moore-hal! In explaining the concept of recording Lisa’s advice on video, Crazy somehow spits out 60% more words than Les did in the original take on this story back in 2007. It is almost enough to make you pity Lisa, who apparently had to listen to this verbal assault twice.

Hey, I said almost…

I’m not a big Isaac Asimov guy or a sci-fi reader in general, I’ve always been very much a non-fiction reader when it comes to things that aren’t comics, so I cannot tell you how accurate or apt or idiotic or unnecessary Crazy’s rambling is (I can tell you it makes for miserable comic strip reading, but that should go without saying). I suspect we have some folks much better suited to that than me in our comments section, so I will now turn this over to my fellow SOSFers.

56 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Act II, Act II tragedies, awful dialog, awful wordplay, bad wordplay, book, bug-eyes, cancer, cancer films, carousel of death, character death, Crazy, Crazy Harry, death, excessive word ballooning, false modesty, flashback, flashback thought bubbles, hatchet face, Isaac Asimov, lame wordplay, Lisa, NERDS!, porch swing, seldom-seen characters wearing hats, sepia-tone, sepia-toned flashback, sub-moronic wordplay, Taj Moore-hal, terrible wordplay, the inevitable death of the universe, the lisa, the Lisa tapes, unnatural hand gestures, wall of text, welcoming death, word zeppelins, wordplay

by billytheskink | August 16, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Where there’s an ill there’s a way

So much for Summer’s reappearance… with today’s strip we’re now seven panels removed from Monday’s “Hey Harry! What Brings?” with no end in sight to the sepia-toned sadness blocking Ms. Moore from view. If that’s not bad enough for poor Summer, Lisa can’t be bothered to even mention “her daughter” by name in the word salad she spits out in panel 2.

Are we headed toward another unnecessary and uninteresting retcon?

For years, mankind thought they knew the origin of the Lisa tapes… but they were WRONG.
WHAT IF… recording an incessant number of Lisa’s final few hours on earth wasn’t Les’ idea at all, but instead, the brainchild of a completely different nerdy MAN?
The TRUE origin of the Lisa tapes revealed… This August. Playing exclusively in Funky Winkerbean.
[read in movie trailer voiceover voice]

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Tagged as Act II, Act II tragedies, awful dialog, bug-eyes, cancer, cancer films, comma eyes, Crazy, Crazy Harry, Harry, Lisa, Not Summer, ponytail, porch swing, retcon, sad-sackery, seldom-seen characters wearing hats, sepia-tone, sepia-toned flashback, smirk, smirking, Summer, Taj Moore-hal, the lisa, the Lisa tapes, trite dialog, unnatural hand gestures

by billytheskink | May 20, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Off The Depend

Today’s strip is both stupid and gross. I have nothing else to say about it.

Here are some better comic strips, read them instead…

These puns that don’t infuriate me. Most puns don’t. TB truly has a gift…

40 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as awful wordplay, bad wordplay, complete lack of humor, Complete Worthless Ass, crappy ploddinng stories that never get anywhere, Crazy, Crazy Harry, curmudgeonly oldsters, disembodied hand, Funky, Funky Winkerbean, Funkys, hip, Holly, I used to be cool, idiocy, isn't it ironic?, lame wordplay, misappropriated wordplay, Montoni's, Montoni's apron, moronic grins, Now Crazy Harry, Now Funky, old crap, Old dying people, pizza, really dumb questions, sad-sackery, sheer idiocy, Squick, stupid, sub-moronic wordplay, terrible wordplay, the inevitable ravages of age, the raptor claw in Holly's hair, the ravages of age, tiny hands, toilet humor, unnatural hand gestures, wordplay

by billytheskink | May 18, 2022 · 10:30 pm

So your Haiku is stuck somewhere between Chipmunks and early Springsteen…

Hip hip hip hip hip
Today's strip more of the same
It just never ends

Chipmunks to Springsteen
Crazy's music tastes cover
'58-'80

Only now Crazy?
How hip did you feel during
The last 40 years?!

"You can become hip,
Just listen to new music"
- Captain Funkvious

Funky's bald advice
Somehow smartest thing in years
In this comic strip

Funky's silhouette
Recognizably human
Crazy's, not so much

Listening to this
No wonder no customers
Are at Montoni's

Make it stop make it
Stop make it stop make it stop
Make it stop oh please

54 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as age discrimination, Alvin and the Chipmunks, awful wordplay, bad wordplay, Bruce Springsteen, Crazy, Crazy Harry, crosshatching, curmudgeonly oldsters, endless tedium, flying music notes, Funky, Funky Winkerbean, hatchet face, hip, lame wordplay, misappropriated wordplay, Montoni's, Montoni's apron, music, music in general, musica, Now Crazy Harry, Now Funky, Old dying people, one of those arcs that just never seems to end, pizza, silhouette, silhouettes, sub-moronic wordplay, terrible wordplay, the inevitable ravages of age, things that never end, tile, unnatural hand gestures, very old gags, wordplay

by spacemanspiff85 | April 11, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Funky Pops

So we’re now in day two of Young Harry being baffled that a thing such as “comic book store” exists. And we also have Old Harry naming John Howard to someone in the past, which is extra funny because he still hasn’t mentioned having a wife or daughter.
And it’s also just a terrible thing to do if you’ve travelled back in time to the past. I expect tomorrow that he’ll tell his young self about the collapse of the USSR, 9/11 and COVID-19. Who am I kidding, I doubt Harry cares about those or even noticed they happened. This week will probably just end with the two of them hugging and consoling each other about the Death of Superman.

I feel like Batiuk missed a major setup for a Funko Pop related joke, given that one of Harry’s closest friends is named Funky.

33 Comments

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Tagged as comic books, Crazy Harry, Dead Skunk Head, John, Komix Korner, Montoni's, silhouette, spotlight background, time travel, unnatural hand gestures, video games

by billytheskink | March 18, 2022 · 10:30 pm

( ••) ( ••)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)

But seriously… be sure to read today’s strip before David Caruso‘s lawyer does.

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Tagged as bare trees, Cayla, Cayla's pink turtleneck, characters everyone hates, dead trees, enraging hair strands, huge hands, jazz hands, Jupiter Moon, Les, Les being a giant smug douche, Les' blue sweatshirt, Les. Cayla, Marianne, Marianne Winters, quarter inch pinch, robin's egg blue cars, Starbuck Jones, sunglasses, terrible overacting, things people would never actually say, trees, unnatural hand gestures

by billytheskink | March 17, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Keep Circulating The Tapes

I suppose it was inevitable… but I had a fleeting thought that we might escape this arc without anyone bringing up the Lisa tapes. Alas, today’s strip has happened. It was a silly thought, really.

Wait, all ~~Les~~ Cayla sent to Marianne was two videocassettes? (apparently) Didn’t Les ask Cayla to send DVDs of Lisa’s tapes? (yes) But didn’t Les also have all of his Lisa tapes on display on the very shelf he just placed Marianne’s Oscar on? (also, yes) But didn’t Crazy convert all of the Lisa tapes to “digital” (and DVD) years ago, negating the need to send any physical media at all? (again, yes) But didn’t the conversion process require Crazy to bake (and likely ruin) the tapes because of their fragility and deterioration? (it did) Beyond that, why is she only returning these tapes to Les now instead of through a delivery company or at the movie wrap party? (because TB has panels to fill)

I suppose the real question here is, did Lisa make a tape about what to do in the event that an actress won an Oscar for playing her in a major motion picture? That might explain why Marianne wound up giving her Oscar away… everyone obeys the Lisa tapes! Sic semper videocassetta!

38 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Academy Awards, awards, cancer films, cancer movie, enraging hair strands, giant mouths, hatchet face, insufferability, Les, Les being a giant smug douche, Les' blue sweatshirt, Lies!, Lisa's Story Movie, Lisa's Story-The Movie, Marianne, Marianne Winters, obsolete video technologies, oddly muted squiggly lines, Oscar, Oscars, rewarding the worst, silly awards, smug inept bearded jerks, squiggly lines, squiggly lines used to denote texture, tags you never thought you'd use, tapes, terrible ideas, the Lisa tapes, those stupid tapes, trash, unbearable smugness, unearned awards, unnatural hand gestures, VHS

by billytheskink | March 15, 2022 · 10:30 pm

Guilt blip

As our sharp-minded posters have already noted, Oscar statuettes cannot be given away or sold without first allowing the Academy the right to buy them back for $1. As such, what Marianne gives to Les and what she keeps should rightly be flopped in today’s strip.

But we’re not in reality (we’re 1/4″ away from it), so what we are left with is a false modesty competition between Marianne and Les that offers nothing we did not already know yesterday. It’s a good example of Les showing his true colors though… If Les really and truly felt guilty about taking the Oscar that Marianne is stupidly and inexplicably giving up, then he wouldn’t wait until she flew across 70% of the country to tell her. I’ll bet he also excuses himself to go to the restroom just before the check comes at a restaurant and then returns to sheepishly offer to pay the bill just as his dining companion is handing their credit card to the waiter. Cue Ben Schwartz saying the thing…

45 Comments

Filed under Son of Stuck Funky

Tagged as Academy Awards, awards, bare trees, cancer films, cancer movie, collectible garbage, comical takes on trademarked brand names he cannot use, curtains, dead tree outside window, dead trees, enraging hair strands, face-melting rage, false humility, false modesty, giant mouths, hatchet face, horrible ideas, how Les feels, how things are NEVER done, huge hands, inadequate Lisas, insufferability, insufferable assholes, Les, Les being a giant smug douche, Les' blue sweatshirt, Lisa's Story Movie, Lisa's Story-The Movie, Marianne, Marianne Winters, Netbusters, not how the world works, not how things work, Not Summer, not the way the world works, Oscar, Oscars, rewarding the worst, showbiz, silly awards, smug inept bearded jerks, smug poses, Taj Moore-hal, this is all a horrible mistake, towel curtains, trees, unbearable smugness, unearned awards, unnatural hand gestures, window

by billytheskink | March 13, 2022 · 10:30 pm

You’ve come a long way, baby

Ah, the classic tug-of-war between privacy-invading exuberance and false modesty… who wins that race to the bottom in today’s strip?

Les’ false modesty does, of course. For one thing, it’s coming from Les, which makes it an additionally off-putting version of an already off-putting behavior. The biggest reason, though, is that Cayla’s desire to “let people know” is essentially moot, everyone already knows. Anyone who cares saw Marianne tell the television cameras that she was coming to give her Oscar away to Les this week. Yeah, if she’s trying to organize a mob to meet Marianne then that might not work if by “on the way” Marianne means that she’ll be there within the hour… but with Marianne’s very public announcement of her planned visit and the relatively specific time frame she gave, the Taj Moore-hal should have been descended upon by pushy celebrity obsessives and Starbuck Jones fans days ago. Where are they? Where’s Lenny and Frankie and (ugh) DMZ? Why am I asking you?

43 Comments

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Tagged as Academy Awards, awards, bare trees, Cayla, Cayla's pink shirt, Cayla's pink turtleneck, cell phones, cellphone, dead tree outside window, dead trees, disembodied hand, hatchet face, huge hands, insufferability, insufferable assholes, jazz hands, knowing smirks, Les, Les being a giant smug douche, Les' blue sweatshirt, Les. Cayla, Marianne, Marianne Winters, Oscar, silly awards, smirk, smirking, smirks, smug inept bearded jerks, smug poses, Taj Moore-hal, tiny hands, tiny trees, travelin, trees, unbearable smugness, unearned awards, unnatural hand gestures

Tag Archives: unnatural hand gestures

The Les He Knows, The Better

Hari Don’t Care-i

Where there’s an ill there’s a way

Off The Depend

So your Haiku is stuck somewhere between Chipmunks and early Springsteen…

Funky Pops

( ••) ( ••)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)

Keep Circulating The Tapes

Guilt blip

You’ve come a long way, baby

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