Are your kids old enough to learn about Cthulhu?

This just about takes the cake. H.P. Lovecraft's fantastic stories, though usually racist and unwieldy, almost always feature people going mad with the knowledge of older, as he would say eldritch, horrible creatures, to whom human beings are food. There's an endless parade of these creatures, but Cthulu is the famous one, even popping up in stories by Robert Howard and Clark Ashton, contemporary pulp-writers. This video blends the nauseating trend of 'baby' versions of known characters with it in a fantastic way. Hitting all the high points of the Ctulhu mythos and referencing the rest of Lovecraft's diverse collection of supernatural beings. The only one missing I'd still like to see is my favourite Shub-Niggurath, The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young. Anyway, this would make an awesomely subversive Saturday morning cartoon, kids need to know this stuff if they're ever going to summon a being from the beyond.

The trouble with Tribbles

I ran across an old star trek episode recently, and it was a lot better than I remembered. Aside from the above, most of what I remember from the show is the crew showing up on the same planet until Kirk fights, makes out with an alien or gives a hammy speech about freedom, while Spock raises an eyebrow and says: 'That's illogical' But it was an actual well-thought out TV episode with good writing, good acting, etc. It checked out as one of the best on the wikipedia page. I immediately sought out one of the worst, which was indeed terrible. But the ratio is pretty close to 50/50. There's such a thick layer of nerds, irony and self-parody on the whole franchise that you'd almost forget that it actually was pretty revolutionary, I mean the show is from the sixties and there's a black woman and an Asian dude as valuable crew members. Sure, they're secretary and driver, respectively, but still. Being produced by Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball might have had something to do with that.

Harry Potter and the welcome explanation

I think there's not enough serious literary criticism on youtube, but this comes close. I love the juxtaposition of Rammstein and what appears to be a cheery scrapbooking template. But seriously folks, I was mystified by how bad those last three Harry Potter books were, and mostly just toed the party line (I have friends who dressed up for the various releases) and agreed that it was awesome Harry defeated Evil, despite everything feeling kind of forced and weird. Luckily, this guy took it on himself to explain why that is. I'm not pretending I felt the calvinism, but there was something strange about all the righteous vengeance and suddenly straightforward plot. Now, all I have to do is internalise this argument and I can rain fiery hell down on Rowling apologists, if it deem it necessary. I can only tender the suggestion you do the same, hilarity is bound to ensue.

Favorite Issues nr. 1: Animal Man #5

This is probably my favourite single issue ever. I don't even own it, except as a trade paperback. It's some of Grant Morrison's first work in the U.S., a revival of an incredibly lame 1960's character. This was the first issue after the originally planned 4 issue miniseries proved successful. It's a bizzare retelling of the Prometheus myth with Wile E. Coyote as a protagonist, hoping to end the abstract violence cartoons inflict on each other and being cursed with real world suffering as a penance, and as his antagonist a gay trucker creating an elaborate deathtrap to catch him after his life spirals out of control. The titular hero only shows up at the end but is unable to read the scripture he's handed as the trucker, dying because of his own elaborate trap, kills the coyote at a crossroads, where he dies metaphorically. Animal man learns nothing and cartoon violence continues. This issue is weird, smart, funny and exciting and pretty much a statement of purpose for the rest of the series. Animals kill each other, human beings kill animals, the hero doesn't understand it, nor does he learn anything, the world is cruel and unjust because whoever runs it cares more about entertaining the audience than the happiness of those who have to live there.