Peeve Farm

g r o t t o 1 1

Peeve Farm
Breeding peeves for show, not just to keep as pets

Brian Tiemann
Silicon Valley-based purveyor of a confusing mixture of Apple punditry and political bile.

btman at grotto11 dot com

On My Blog Menu:

InstaPundit
USS Clueless
James Lileks
Little Green Footballs
As the Apple Turns
Entropicana
Cold Fury
Capitalist Lion
Red Letter Day
Eric S. Raymond
Tal G in Jerusalem
Secular Islam
Aziz Poonawalla
Corsair the Rational Pirate
.clue

« ? Blogging Brians # »

Book Plug:

Buy it and I get
money. I think.
BSD Mall

10/20/2003 - 10/23/2003
10/13/2003 - 10/19/2003
10/6/2003 - 10/12/2003
9/29/2003 -  10/5/2003
9/22/2003 -  9/28/2003
9/15/2003 -  9/21/2003
  9/8/2003 -  9/14/2003
  9/1/2003 -   9/7/2003
8/25/2003 -  8/31/2003
8/18/2003 -  8/24/2003
8/11/2003 -  8/17/2003
  8/4/2003 -  8/10/2003
7/28/2003 -   8/3/2003
7/21/2003 -  7/27/2003
7/14/2003 -  7/20/2003
  7/7/2003 -  7/13/2003
6/30/2003 -   7/6/2003
6/23/2003 -  6/29/2003
6/16/2003 -  6/22/2003
  6/9/2003 -  6/15/2003
  6/2/2003 -   6/8/2003
5/26/2003 -   6/1/2003
5/19/2003 -  5/25/2003
5/12/2003 -  5/18/2003
  5/5/2003 -  5/11/2003
4/28/2003 -   5/4/2003
4/21/2003 -  4/27/2003
4/14/2003 -  4/20/2003
  4/7/2003 -  4/13/2003
3/31/2003 -   4/6/2003
3/24/2003 -  3/30/2003
3/17/2003 -  3/23/2003
3/10/2003 -  3/16/2003
  3/3/2003 -   3/9/2003
2/24/2003 -   3/2/2003
2/17/2003 -  2/23/2003
2/10/2003 -  2/16/2003
  2/3/2003 -   2/9/2003
1/27/2003 -   2/2/2003
1/20/2003 -  1/26/2003
1/13/2003 -  1/19/2003
  1/6/2003 -  1/12/2003
12/30/2002 -   1/5/2003
12/23/2002 - 12/29/2002
12/16/2002 - 12/22/2002
12/9/2002 - 12/15/2002
12/2/2002 -  12/8/2002
11/25/2002 -  12/1/2002
11/18/2002 - 11/24/2002
11/11/2002 - 11/17/2002
11/4/2002 - 11/10/2002
10/28/2002 -  11/3/2002
10/21/2002 - 10/27/2002
10/14/2002 - 10/20/2002
10/7/2002 - 10/13/2002
9/30/2002 -  10/6/2002
9/23/2002 -  9/29/2002
9/16/2002 -  9/22/2002
  9/9/2002 -  9/15/2002
  9/2/2002 -   9/8/2002
8/26/2002 -   9/1/2002
8/19/2002 -  8/25/2002
8/12/2002 -  8/18/2002
  8/5/2002 -  8/11/2002
7/29/2002 -   8/4/2002
7/22/2002 -  7/28/2002
7/15/2002 -  7/21/2002
  7/8/2002 -  7/14/2002
  7/1/2002 -   7/7/2002
6/24/2002 -  6/30/2002
6/17/2002 -  6/23/2002
6/10/2002 -  6/16/2002
  6/3/2002 -   6/9/2002
5/27/2002 -   6/2/2002
5/20/2002 -  5/26/2002
5/13/2002 -  5/19/2002
  5/6/2002 -  5/12/2002
4/29/2002 -   5/5/2002
4/22/2002 -  4/28/2002
4/15/2002 -  4/21/2002
  4/8/2002 -  4/14/2002
  4/1/2002 -   4/7/2002
3/25/2002 -  3/31/2002
3/18/2002 -  3/24/2002
3/11/2002 -  3/17/2002
  3/4/2002 -  3/10/2002
2/25/2002 -   3/3/2002
2/18/2002 -  2/24/2002
2/11/2002 -  2/17/2002
  2/4/2002 -  2/10/2002
1/28/2002 -   2/3/2002
1/21/2002 -  1/27/2002
1/14/2002 -  1/20/2002
  1/7/2002 -  1/13/2002
12/31/2001 -   1/6/2002
12/24/2001 - 12/30/2001
12/17/2001 - 12/23/2001

Wednesday, October 22, 2003
00:07 - Hump Day	(top)
New Shows Night on Comedy Central. I was prepared to write off Kid Notorious as being little more than a thinly-veiled me-tooing of Gary the Rat, only with Robert! Evans! instead of... <mumbleKelseyGrammermumble>. And indeed there is plenty of that-- limited animation, overt late-night street-cred appeal, and a screechingly annoying cat sidekick whose character is limited to going "Meeew!" to punctuate sentences. But after a few minutes, it's obvious that this is at least considerably better produced than GTR-- presumably Comedy Central can afford to pay Flash animators a ton better than Spike TV can, and the writing is actually quite sharp. Even the cat is a lot better executed than was originally apparent-- it's not just an irritating foil, it's an actual source of laughs. And I find myself actually quite impressed by the animation. It's clear that it's not much more expensive to produce than South Park-- but it's actually very, very intricate compared to, say, Hanna-Barbera (either today's Adult Swim stuff that's deliberately campified, or the 70s stuff that just couldn't do any better). It's as complex in movement as South Park's animation has gotten, plus the benefit of some really excellent character designs-- real-person caricatures more realistic than I think I've ever seen in an art style this abstract. That plus the writing, which started making me laugh in spite of my skeptical self, and then eventually got to where I was genuinely enjoying it... much of the time, makes me think I'll give it a shot. Maybe. Speaking of South Park, this episode was one of the best ever-- it takes on the "metrosexual" movement, the whole "Queer Eye" phenomenon, and so forth. I think we've got our new chant for a while: Crab people... crab people... crab people... And incidentally, something that's been interesting to me for some time is that Trey and Matt have been exceedingly kind to Bush. They barely caricature him at all. In this episode, the Queer Eye guys give him a makeover-- and he never even has a speaking line. You'd think, this being South Park and all, that they'd skewer him like they've never skewered anyone before. These are the guys who did That's My Bush, for Pete's sake. But in South Park, Bush is portrayed as a bland, oldish, almost characterless Generic President, like Leslie Nielsen without the humor. It's awfully weird, since Bush is probably one of the more caricaturable Presidents we've had in a long time. (Certainly he's more actively caricatured than most.) I guess maybe Trey and Matt feel like they had their crack at Bush, in the live-action show, and now it just isn't funny anymore; or maybe they'd really rather just not spend time mocking him, because really-- how edgy would it be? It's not like mocking Bush is a subversive fringe thing, only engaged in by secretive and furtive independent films and stage comedians. You can change to any other channel at any time and see Bush mockery; so where's the challenge? And for that matter, maybe they even agree with him these days. Matt's appearance on Bowling for Columbine notwithstanding, it strikes me that the guys are the kind who feel there are more important things to cover these days than whether Bush has stumbled over another word this week. It's not for naught that we keep talking about South Park Republicans; the plotlines that the show keeps covering always seem to pursue the eventual moral of "Quit acting like such a pie-in-the-sky dumbass and use some common sense", and I've barely ever found myself disagreeing with the show's premises, once they're revealed. It's why I keep watching it. Anyway. Back to the crown molding. I might just be able to finish it tonight...