Categories
funny Stranger than Fiction

The accented syllable matters

In many English words that can be both nouns and verbs:

  • If the accent is on the word’s first syllable, it’s probably the noun form.
  • If the accent is on the word’s second syllable, it’s probably the verb form.
Categories
funny Music

“To start, press any key”

Photo of pipe organ with 7 keyboards and a LOT of pedals and switches.
Categories
funny It Happened to Me

Funny because it’s true for me, too

Tweet by @KeiLunMusic: “i have faced more peer pressure to drink oat milk than to do drugs
”
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Categories
funny

“Inside you there are two bears…”

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Ms. Crabitha (@APunishedCrab) won the internet that day.

Categories
funny Geek

The first law of thermodynamics

Tyler Durden (played by Brad Pitt) in the scene from “Fight Club” where he explains Fight Club’s first rule, but the caption reads “The first law of thermodynamics is that you do not talk about thermodynamics.”
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I hear that Carnot Club meets in secret locations.

Categories
funny Geek

The “Hulk vs. Venom” team-up comic book was definitely a product of the ’90s

A scene from an old comic book came into one of my social media feeds, and now I’m feeling nostalgic for comicdom’s most over-the-top decade.

Cover of “Incredible Hulk vs. Venom,” issue 1. An incredibly 1990s-looking cover depicting Hulk and Venom fighting each other while tangled in a web.
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Just look at how incredibly “nineties” the cover of The Incredible Hulk vs. Venom #1 from April 1994 is! Illustrator Jim Craig did a very good impression of Todd McFarlane, who’d left Marvel a couple of years prior to found the even-more-1990s publisher, Image Comics.

The only way it could be more a product of its decade is if it featured someone with a comically large sword (or a comically large number of regular swords) and pouches, pouches, pouches.

The comic starts with the classic team-up plotline of “first we fight because of some misunderstanding, but then we team up to take on a big bad villain.”

This being a comic from that era, writer Peter David managed to fit in an STD joke into the battle:

Excerpt from “Incredible Hulk vs. Venom,” issue 1. Hulk claps his hands together, creating a noise loud enough to take advantage of Venom’s weakness to sound. Hulk says “Which means all it should take to put an end to this gratuitous nonsense is a serious case of the clap.”
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In case you’re wondering why the Hulk is so quippy, it’s because Bruce Banner managed to merge his personality with Hulk’s, resulting in his becoming a big green scientist with a bad attitude. As for Venom, he’d already made the transition from villain to anti-hero.

Venom and Hulk are both in San Francisco to lend a hand after an earthquake. A local TV station gets a letter from someone going by the name of “Dr. Bad Vibes” — he claims responsibility for the earthquake, and unless his ransom demands are met, he’ll make an even bigger one!

Hulk and Venom barge into the TV station during a live  on-air reading of Dr. Bad Vibes’ ransom note and trash-talk him ’80s/’90s wrestler style. This scene also provides us with a view of Hulk’s totally ’90s “rad” haircut:

Page 28 from “Incredible Hulk vs. Venom,” issue 1. Features a scene where Venom and Hulk barge into a live TV news report and trash-talk “Dr. Bad Vibes.” They end their taunting with “We’re going to beat (clap) you up!”
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In case you’re too young to remember, Hulk and Venom’s simultaneous “beat (clap) you up!” line comes from the “Hans and Franz” skits from Saturday Night Live at the time:

In the end, Hulk and Venom find Dr. Bad Vibes, who actually can’t control earthquakes. He’s a delusional guy with a cardboard box labeled “Earthquake Machine.” He sent his threatening letter prior to the quake and by comic-book-coincidence, the earthquake followed, with “hilarity” soon ensuing:

Dr. Bad Vibes, a meek, broken man, holding a cardboard box labeled “Earthquake Machine.”

What a decade!

Categories
funny Geek

The title sequence for “Star Wars: Andor,” 1975 style!

“Andor” title card, done in a cheesy 1970s font reminiscent of “Space: 1999”.

What if Star Wars: Andor was broadcast in 1975 instead of 2022?

Auralnauts — the people who’ve been remixing Star Wars scenes to great effect for years — have answered this question by creating their own title sequence for Andor, and from the downscaled video, cheesy title graphics, 1970s synthpop, and Very Serious Narrator providing a summary of the show, it’s 1970s-a-riffic!

Andor’s face against a 1970s-style background of neon/laser trails.

“Starring Diego Luna” title card, with a suitably downscaled image of Andor shooting a laser pistol.

Title card: “Based on THX 1138 by George Lucas”

Here’s the video. Enjoy!