“So how else have you fucked me on this deal?”
April 24, 2017 11:59 AM   Subscribe

Sean Tejaratchi, better known as the mind behind LiarTownUSA (previously), has produced a book. He is pleased to announce that the publisher "has honored my desire to keep all the bad words and bird dicks and lunchbox tits and other improprieties. I was not asked to change a single thing." [Readers who wish to avoid the eyestraining retro white-on-black page design should acquire the appropriate bookmarklet.]
posted by Johnny Wallflower (32 comments total) 30 users marked this as a favorite


 
Heck yeah! I think I just found my new motto in his interview with Steven Heller

"It’s one thing to intellectually understand I’m not magic and special and original, another to go ahead and intentionally rub my own face in it."
posted by redsparkler at 12:17 PM on April 24, 2017 [3 favorites]


yay! i will buy it
posted by Foci for Analysis at 12:19 PM on April 24, 2017


I love liartown so much. I messaged him on tumblr a couple months back asking about some larger images of his Craft God posters that we could print out and hang in my girlfriend's new yarn shop. He replied immediately with high resolution TIFFs without any of the aging applied so we could do it ourselves. Unfortunately we've been busy and haven't hung them yet but I'm looking forward to sending him pictures once they're up.

So yeah, not only hilarious, but a really nice person to boot.
posted by mikesch at 12:30 PM on April 24, 2017 [11 favorites]


I want Apple Cabin ads printed on newsprint. I have demands.
posted by user92371 at 12:33 PM on April 24, 2017 [11 favorites]


I'm afraid it makes me a bad person that I laughed so hard at 'Barbara Kruger's Big Book of Barbecue.' I wouldn't have worried if i had only chuckled politely . . .
posted by cron at 12:33 PM on April 24, 2017 [4 favorites]


I've never seen Ice-T in Law & Order SVU, and now Liartown's preemptively ruined it for me forever.

"It's called Brenda. Kids try it at parties, next thing they know they're online, gettin' paid to yell at their own genitals."

"They made him fight a newborn baby. Told him it was his own younger self, time-travelin' from the past, tryin' to take away his birthday."

"These dudes kidnap kids and teach 'em to play piano. The night before their big recital, they break their fingers."
posted by Doktor Zed at 1:13 PM on April 24, 2017 [11 favorites]


Yes, I am far less a fan of Tejaratchi than I used to be, but now I have Jeff Wysaski of Pleated Jeans/Obvious Plant to fill my creative fakery needs.
posted by oneswellfoop at 1:14 PM on April 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


it's 2017 so i just take it as given that anything i enjoy will come with at least a soupçon of reactionary bullshit

i still laugh at LiarTown a lot
posted by murphy slaw at 1:21 PM on April 24, 2017 [4 favorites]


Huzzah! Great news!
posted by Bob Regular at 1:45 PM on April 24, 2017


LiartownUSA is one of my favorite inernet things so I'll most definitely be picking this up. I really wish he would put out a Apple Cabin calendar again tho....shoulda gotten one when I had the chance.
posted by littlesq at 1:55 PM on April 24, 2017 [1 favorite]


littlesq, BF and I tried pestering Tejaratchi online into making a 2017 Apple Cabin calendar, to no avail. So we are just reusing the 2016 one. Kind of gets confusing when I'm actually trying to check a date on the calendar, but seeing that coupon for owl flutes again is worth it.
posted by queensissy at 2:08 PM on April 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


I learned yesterday that Sean Tejaratchi writes for A Prairie Home Companion. Not a name I expected to hear in the show's credits!
posted by pmdboi at 2:29 PM on April 24, 2017 [3 favorites]


every time I see something about Liartown for a few seconds I get really excited that Leisuretown is back, because I'm internet old
posted by slappy_pinchbottom at 2:42 PM on April 24, 2017 [7 favorites]


I'll forgive a lot for "Natural Men of The Civil War"
posted by thelonius at 2:55 PM on April 24, 2017 [3 favorites]


I have spent unreasonable amounts of time trying to come up with new Apple Cabin products. I will never top Vinegar Husbands.
posted by vorpal bunny at 3:38 PM on April 24, 2017 [2 favorites]


Apple Cabin invaded my brain so subtly that I have to double check to make sure I'm not ripping it off when I try to come up with a nonsense word for something.
posted by jason_steakums at 3:42 PM on April 24, 2017 [7 favorites]


I'm not going to let you forget Sean's old zine of black-and-white line art Crap Hound.
posted by larrybob at 5:17 PM on April 24, 2017 [3 favorites]


He's also a big fan of taking those darn Social Justice Likers down a peg
posted by Greg Nog at 1:03 PM on April 24 [9 favorites]


But is the joke LOL SJWs, or is the joke OMG JUXTAPOSITION OF HARD LEFT SENTIMENT AND TEH KITTEZ?
I like to think it's the latter.
posted by tantrumthecat at 5:30 AM on April 25, 2017


But is the joke LOL SJWs, or is the joke OMG JUXTAPOSITION OF HARD LEFT SENTIMENT AND TEH KITTEZ?
I like to think it's the latter.
posted by tantrumthecat at 5:30 AM on April 25 [+] [!]


I've mentioned this on here before, but I remember when Tejaratchi was the funniest guy on the Jim Goad message boards. :|
posted by Ennis Tennyone at 6:23 AM on April 25, 2017


I've mentioned this on here before, but I remember when Tejaratchi was the funniest guy on the Jim Goad message boards. :|
posted by Ennis Tennyone at 6:23 AM on April 25 [+] [!]


Hmmm... I guess that answers that. :(
posted by tantrumthecat at 8:09 AM on April 25, 2017


Well, that's disappointing.
posted by Johnny Wallflower at 8:48 AM on April 25, 2017


My mind is doing interesting acrobatics to try to justify his shittiness about "SJWs" and the fact that LiarTown USA seems to be my exact brand of humor, to the point where my ex and I used to giggle helplessly until we couldn't breathe and tears rolled down our faces whenever we'd look at the site together.

Worth noting that my current girlfriend, a much sweeter person, is mystified about why I find it so funny and whenever I try to share an Apple Cabin ad ('vinegar husbands' LOL) she looks at me like I'm from outer space.

As someone who spends a lot of time in queer/fat-positive spaces and witnesses all the gate-keeping and arguing that comes from that, and as someone was cold-shouldered out of a feminist book club because I'm kinky (which = tool of the patriarchy, I guess), part of me can understand the defensiveness. But dismissing the ideals behind social justice movements because of that toxicity isn't something I can reconcile.

Another pleasure, fucked up by learning more about the person behind it :/
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 8:52 AM on April 25, 2017 [5 favorites]


That's unfortunate, because I really enjoy LiarTown, so I guess this is gonna be one of those "separate The art from the artist" things, going forward.
posted by tantrumthecat at 8:54 AM on April 25, 2017


Over the past year I've printed out a few Apple Cabin ads and secretly posted them in various breakrooms/kitchens in my building near other menus and ads. One lasted three months, another two days.
posted by christopherious at 2:02 PM on April 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


> That's unfortunate, because I really enjoy LiarTown, so I guess this is gonna be one of those "separate The art from the artist" things, going forward.

Eh. I mean, its the art that people are talking about, but LiarTown is totally subversive, NSFW, crass, and somewhat offensive. I mean he also had a whole series of old timey gay erotica book covers penned by Dick Cheney. I don't really get the feeling that he's some kind of crypto-fascist reactionary, more that he is on the more punk-ish DIY side. I mean, he makes art that is blanketly offensive, so being occasionally offended is part and parcel of it.

Look, at least a quarter of it is old porn with funny captions. He's got a pic of a penis with hair coming out of it titled "unwanted thoughts", if you're cool with that, but offended by a picture of a kitten saying "fuck your privilege", then ... I don't know what to tell you. I don't think Mike Pence would be a fan.

Also, he mentions taking out things that are too dated or particularly policital for the book.
And of course, as so often comes up on MeFi: You can like problematic media. No one is ever going to make something that everybody likes.
posted by lkc at 3:04 PM on April 25, 2017


Yeah, no, lkc. It's not the funny porn captions that make him problematic. It's shit like the tweet by LiarTown's author telling people to stop giving a shit about gender politics (I'd fucking LOVE to, bro, but unfortunately those gender politics won't leave me the fuck alone) and then overreacting to criticism by Jezebel for that by making a graphic that makes their site seem like whiny lady babies who are too easily offended.

Like, I don't think anyone here needs to be told that we can like things that are problematic. I like Jezebel and coincidentally they're super problematic and deserve to be made fun of, but it's sure as hell not because they call attention to sexism in the world like a guy claiming that the key to happiness is just not caring about gender politics. It's bullshit: if you stop getting upset about getting paid less than men and rape culture and street harassment then those things won't affect you... oh wait... maybe not caring about those things is this silly thing people call privilege?

My overall point is that people do deserve to be called out on utterly tone deaf tweets like Greg Nog linked above and it doesn't mean they're a bad person who should never dare make another funny graphic again. It's not enough that Mike Pence wouldn't like something, you don't get to be a hypocrite and claim SJW are overly sensitive losers when you react to criticism by creating things like the SJW kitten calendar, which is itself an overly sensitive move.

Super sick in general of people telling others not to be so sensitive when human beings are sensitive and prone to defensiveness no matter what their political leanings are: we're all reactionary, easily offended beings. People like Tejaratchi who pretend they're any different while using their space on the internet to obsess about those they disagree with are living in denial and don't need to be protected from criticism.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 4:32 PM on April 25, 2017 [6 favorites]


Also that SJW kittens thing is "fifth consecutive Redditor in a thread to make a 'TRIGGERED' crack" level low hanging fruit and Sean can obviously do better. So it sucks on multiple levels.
posted by jason_steakums at 5:28 PM on April 25, 2017


oh, hey, I somehow missed that.
twitter aint always great on my phone and I tend to back out when it gets locked loading. I get the "that's disappointing" comments. When I typed that original comment I was on a destress break of a long morning dealing with an HR issue of a coworker who has been making it clearer that he actually was raised in the wilderness by neo-nazis, said my extended family was descended from a bunch of cannibals and child killers, told his boss that he was sure that he must be illegal (who had a green card for like 10 years) -- and yknow, worse.

... so I'm really not trying to be insensitive and have certainly had enough of that shit lately.

I think I was just conflating his blood type identity stuff from a year or two ago which I found dumb, but not egregiously offensive, and was in a format that I've seen a lot of internet communique use, not just one particular viewpoint.

But I agree, I don't see why people feel the need to get on their soapbox just to tell you they don't give a shit about what you like, and neither should you. Apologies if I made it seem otherwise.
posted by lkc at 5:47 PM on April 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


lkc: Knowing now that you posted without seeing the links with the Twitter/LiarTown USA content I found so idiotic, your comment makes more sense and I apologize that we both didn't have the right context.

I preordered his book yesterday before reading the whole thread and I'm torn on cancelling the order or not. I hate Tumblr and have a hard time following LiarTown USA because of that format, and I've often wanted to be able to read it all in big chunks instead of reading what I can every couple months or more, but there are a lot of artists and funny people out there who seem more deserving of my money. It seems pretty clear that Tejaratchi doesn't want someone like me as a fan, so it seems weird for him to profit from my purchase, however small.
posted by the thorn bushes have roses at 6:34 PM on April 25, 2017 [1 favorite]


MeFi needs a group hug emoji. Y'all alright.
posted by lkc at 1:14 AM on April 26, 2017


Aw, why does nearly all great media have to secretly be terrible, though? :(
posted by sockermom at 5:27 AM on April 26, 2017 [1 favorite]


I unashamedly love the social justice kittens. My favorite is the little sad-looking fold who talks about drinking the tears of the oppressor. I don't think they particularly work as satire; it's too clumsy and obvious for that. And I don't particularly care about his intentions in making it, any more than I would if I felt harmed by the joke. The idea of sweet little kittens as mascots, pointing out microaggressions, captures something that isn't really a joke, because everyone loves kittens. The sweetness overcomes the caricatured expressions, and I find the whole thing far more benign than, say, the porn parodies, which creep me out on a visceral level, but which no one else seems to have a problem with.
posted by mittens at 6:03 AM on April 26, 2017 [2 favorites]


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