Monthly Archives: June 2017

06/22/2017 · 10:15 am

Matty Watches Transformers: The Last Knight

As an “underground” artist, I go broke often. Sometimes I have to sacrifice comfort or nourishment to pay my rent.

Sometimes, I’m broke because I’m a total assclown who takes public transportation across town to see a $22 popcorn movie, alone. (I didn’t have enough for actual popcorn.)

Even while facing the consequences, I have no regrets.

I don’t know what the hell Al Gore had to do with the history of Transformers, and I don’t want to know. I had to sit through the trailer for his second bullshit global-warming scare film, and he can go fuck himself with an iceberg.

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Filed under Bad Influences, Idiot's Delight, Movies You Missed, Nostalgic Obsessions, Robot Toy Fetish, Saturday Movie Matinee, Unfairly Maligned

Tagged as 1980s, 1986, 1988, 1990s, 1991, 1996, 2000, 2007, 2008, 2017, 3-D, Cartoon Network, corporate crap, Dark of the Moon, Godzilla, Hasbro, Mark Wahlberg, Michael Bay, movies, Optimus Prime, Revenge of the Fallen, Robert Loggia, Steve Buscemi, The Simpsons, The Transformers: The Movie, Tom Hanks, Transformers, Zero Mostel

06/20/2017 · 9:54 am

Prideful Moments

From BIUL II.

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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Worst Of All

Tagged as 2015, Bands I Useta Like, comix, despair, strips, underground

06/18/2017 · 1:33 pm

The Pink Panther Problem

In the 1970s, children’s television was heavily occupied by a presence that’s nearly forgotten today; an artifact from the opening credits of a slapstick detective franchise, called the Pink Panther.

Like Bugs Bunny, the Pink Panther was a former smoker. Many cartoon animals smoked in the 20th century.

If you were a kid in the 1980s, the sight of that character reminded you of a piece of Henry Mancini’s distinctive score. This is the Pink Panther Problem.

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Filed under Animation Analysis, Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Saturday Movie Matinee, Thousand Listen Club

Tagged as 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, Blake Edwards, David H. DePatie, Disney, Friz Freleng, Germany, Harrison Ford, Hawley Pratt, Henry Mancini, Jackson 5, John Byner, John Zorn, laughter, movies, music, Naked City, Peter Sellers, Ralph Bakshi, Ron Howard, Saturday morning cartoons, Star Wars, The Pink Panther

06/16/2017 · 11:38 am

Name Your Rock Band

A long, long time ago, on a website far away, there was a thing that pulled in page-views like a drunken champion. It was about 50% my creation. The rest was appropriately and totally ripped off.

It was called “Name Your Rock Band”.

For the first handful of years of the 21st century, it was the most popular page on my site, Mike The Pod. In truth, it goes back even farther than that.

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Filed under Bad Influences, Faint Signals, Idiot's Delight, Site Stuff

Tagged as 1970s, 1980s, 1985, 2000s, 2005, behind the scenes, comedy, laughter, Mike the Pod, National Lampoon, New Jersey, satire, The Fugs, The Simpsons, underground

06/12/2017 · 11:57 am

Phuck Phones

From BIUL III.

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Filed under Bad Influences, Comix Classic & Current, Don't Know Don't Care, Faint Signals, Girls of BIUL, Idiot's Delight, Worst Of All

Tagged as 1970s, 1990, 2016, Bands I Useta Like, comic, comix, Goodfellas, Martin Scorcese, Paul Sorvino, smartphones, strip, women

06/11/2017 · 11:30 am

The Other No Exit

When retiring his comic strip Bloom County, Berke Breathed remarked “a good comic strip is as eternal as a ripe melon.” Personally, I think that’s bullshit, and reflects more on Breathed’s motivation, or lack thereof. A good comic strip lasts a lifetime. We still pass around clippings of The Far Side and Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, decades after they were printed. A cartoonist who can’t perpetuate over changing times has inked themselves into a corner. Or dried the well.

If a comic strip is still hilarious long past its sell-by date, it is a successful comic strip. That is the acid test.

Before you ask, the “flip book” of Dan Quayle eating a Twinkie actually works. Quite well.

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Filed under Comix Classic & Current, Magazine Rack

Tagged as 1980s, 1986, 1991, Arizona, Berke Breathed, Bloom County, college, comic, comic strips, Doonesbury, Erik Andresen, Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers, Family Guy, Franz Kafka, Jeff Shesol, laughter, New Kids On The Block, political correctness, Robot Chicken, strips, The Far Side, Tucson, University of Arizona

06/08/2017 · 12:18 pm

Not For You

I’m old enough to remember when Bill Maher was a stand-up comedian; i.e., a person who stands behind a microphone and makes people laugh. I have vague memories of Kathy Griffin doing the same thing. As far as I can determine now, Maher and Griffin just make people mad, by saying or doing something deliberately inappropriate, and then flaying open their breast in apology, crocodile tears a-flow.

Then they go back to being unfunny. Because funny ain’t what pays their bills.

More integrity and realism than anything Maher has done since.

I’m also old enough to recall when Maher’s show Politically Incorrect lived up to its name, instead of being a vehicle for trendy virtue-signals. My pal Jim Goad once made an appearance. It was far more fringy and loose. Now it’s a reductive caricature, a safe forum for “differing viewpoints” (vetted by the network/sponsors). It’s a funnier joke as it is than anything that ever came out of Bill Maher’s mouth.

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Filed under Bad Influences, Don't Know Don't Care, Idiot's Delight, Worst Of All

Tagged as 1990s, 2010s, 2017, Bill Maher, comedy, Comedy Central, corporate crap, Family Guy, gangsta rap, Ice Cube, Internet, Jackie Gleason, Jim Goad, Kathy Griffin, laughter, N.W.A., Pearl Jam, political correctness, Politically Incorrect, sellouts, television, The Honeymooners, The Simpsons, whores

06/06/2017 · 11:38 am

Willy Murphy

If you don’t recognize the name in the title, it’s okay. I’m not gonna browbeat you this time. This guy takes a lot more effort to be aware of, so don’t feel bad if you’re unfamiliar. In fact, let me introduce you to one of the funniest underground cartoonists of the 20th century.

From San Francisco Comic Book No. 4, 1973.

If you’ve read Harvey Pekar’s American Splendor, you’ll recognize Murphy’s distinctive style. Willy was as much a natural talent as Gilbert Shelton or Robert Crumb.

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