Larry Gonick is a veteran American cartoonist best known for his delightful comic-book guides to science and history, many of which have previews online. Chief among them is his long-running
Cartoon History of the Universe (later
The Cartoon History of the Modern World), a sprawling multi-volume opus documenting everything from the Big Bang to the Bush administration. Published over the course of three decades, it takes a truly global view -- its time-traveling Professor thoroughly explores not only familiar topics like Rome and World War II but the oft-neglected stories of Asia and Africa, blending caricature and myth with careful scholarship (cited by
fun illustrated bibliographies) and tackling even the most obscure events
with intelligence and wit. This savvy satire carried over to Gonick's
Zinn-by-way-of-
Pogo chronicle
The Cartoon History of the United States, along with a bevy of
Cartoon Guides to other topics, including
Genetics, Computer Science, Chemistry, Physics, Statistics, The Environment, and (yes!)
Sex. Gonick has also maintained a few sideprojects, such as
a webcomic look at Chinese invention,
assorted math comics (
previously), the
Muse magazine mainstay
Kokopelli & Co. (featuring the shenanigans of his
"New Muses"), and
more. See also
these lengthy interview snippets, linked
previously. Want more? Amazon links to the complete oeuvre inside!
[more inside]
posted by Rhaomi
on Jun 6, 2011 -
29 comments
Criggo is a blog that posts amusing newspaper bloopers and oddities - bad headlines, poorly chosen pictures, strange advertisements, etc. The blog only has the past month's worth of posts, but it's archived in its entirety
here.
[more inside]
posted by flex
on Mar 25, 2011 -
15 comments
Social news site
Reddit recently held their
"Best of Reddit 2010" awards honoring key players in the site over the last year, including the progenitor of
the Rally to Restore Sanity, the clever drive-by cartoonist
Sure_Ill_Draw_That, unofficial image host
Imgur, and feel-good story of the year
"Today you, tomorrow me." But perhaps most interesting was the winner for Best Big Community:
FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU! Originally inspired by 4chan's popular
Rage Guy meme, F7U12 (for short) is a clearinghouse for user-made web comics, slice-of-life affairs that
tell a story or
share a common frustration using
a small collection of crudely drawn yet highly evocative facial expressions. Several have become small memes in their own right -- the wily
Trolldad, the doormat
Okay, the prideful
Fuck Yea, the melodramatic
Gasp. And
one comic, inspired by the warped text randomly generated by
reCAPTCHAs (
previously), has given us
Lord Inglip --
god of
a dark religion now
rivaling FSM whose
cryptic commands marshal
loyal armies of
gropagas,
falcows,
Sellicks, and...
canary into exploits both
monstrous and
inconvenient (
timeline,
wiki). Obey him --
or else! More fun with F7U12:
rage face origins,
rage faces in real life,
Twitter feed,
search comics,
create your own (
alternate).
posted by Rhaomi
on Feb 8, 2011 -
168 comments
Jerry Clower (
Wikipedia article) started telling his funny stories to boost sales when he was a seed and fertilizer salesman. He went on to become a successful comedian and Grand Ole Opry star.
[more inside]
posted by Daddy-O
on Aug 7, 2008 -
16 comments
"What are they talking about?" Was it just an April Fools' joke? Are they really gonna end
Red Vs. Blue: arguably the most successful
machinima series ever? Will Blood Gulch be silent of one-liners and snide comments once more, or is this a blatant attempt by
Rooster Teeth to drum up interest in their 100th episode? Considering the fact they started it four years ago
on April Fools Day, it's really hard to tell.
(surprise! no youtube links!)
posted by ZachsMind
on Apr 3, 2007 -
11 comments
Mediocre Films consists of films which are... mediocre, hence the name.
Night of the Zombie.
Batty Bat-Bat.
Gorgeous Tiny Chicken Machine Show. Granted, it's not
LG15 but I think that's what I like about it most. These short subject films are made by some guy named Greg, with help from other people whom you
may have never heard of before. Occasionally they also feature a guy named
Adam whom you might recognize but you may not be able to recall from where. It's funny. Well. I liked it. My girlfriend didn't. She said they were mediocre; to which I said,
"exactly!" Sheesh. Women.
posted by ZachsMind
on Mar 10, 2007 -
10 comments
Adult Swim Fix. Streaming full-length Adult Swim episodes twenty-four hours a day online. Seven archival episodes will be available at all times, while premieres will continue to debut on Fridays, two days before they appear on-air.
posted by ND¢
on Apr 27, 2006 -
24 comments
Anyone presently surfing the net at work may appreciate
Powerloafing w/ Cubicle Carl. This miniature sitcom about a guy who goofs off takes place entirely in a cubicle – an admittedly thin premise that delivers more comedy than expected, with the current episode placing that cubicle on the Starship Enterprise. It’s co-produced by an Emmy award winning
comedy writer, (Mr. Show, Chris Rock Show, Mad TV) and a group of alt-comedians you'll recognize if you're a comedy nerd, including: supernerd
Brian Posehn and supergeek
Blaine Capatch. Interesting side note: it’s shot on a
fake office set in a small apartment in North Hollywood. Everyone works for free, even the semi-celebs, and it’s
Creative Commons,. NSFW, due to undeniable goof-off element.
posted by Blingo
on Feb 2, 2006 -
15 comments
Sometimes movies don't finish
the way we'd like. Short, off-beat, animated re-imaginings of selected movie endings, in torrent and .wmv format. The
archives are yet young, but might be worth keeping an eye on for future chuckles.
posted by Gator
on Jan 25, 2006 -
11 comments
