I broke Google's AI Overview

A thing today reminded me of another thing

It's finally time for me to share a pandemic-era photo I stealthily took about a minute after I thought to myself, "OH MY GOD that poor man, how is he even able to...oh, no, wait..."

...I might remember Marvel's "Power Pack" too well.

When all the Bernie Madoff stuff was coming out 17 years ago, some internet-famous guy told his fans to stop calling it a "Ponzi scheme" because that "sounds like a Muppet." "Just call it a pyramid scheme!", he said! And the commentariat rose up, and they loudly taught him the difference.

Entirely too many things make me think of one of my all-time favorite Dave Barry quips: "Yes, Disney World is a 'dream vacation,' and here are some tips to help make it 'come true' for you! "WHEN TO GO: The best time to go, if you want to avoid huge crowds, is 1962."

A few years back, the local newspaper featured this dog photo in its "Dog of the Week" pet adoption feature, and it remains my benchmark for "Why is that perfectly harmless happy dog so UNNERVING"

I looked up George Washington University's Alexander Downes on Grokipedia today

Remembering today that the one "Dilbert" strip that I can still completely enjoy (and even love) is the one drawn by Bil Keane for the April 1, 1997, Great Comic Strip Switcheroo.

Oh, look, an excuse to dig up a 9-year-old photo from Professor Zuckerberg's Fantabulous Electronical Book of Countenances!

This seems like the perfect occasion to share my favorite-ever in-person comedy bit: Jo Firestone's 2018 performance at Blueberry Hill in her native St. Louis, which her grandparents attended. Her crowd work about St. Louis's signature food led to this (paraphrased) exchange (1 of 4):

I love this almost-4-year-old image because it make me think about what Norman Rockwell might have done differently, what other elements he might have introduced...but mostly, I love it because it's a friggin' PHOTOGRAPH OF REAL LIFE that somehow looks to me like a Norman Rockwell painting.

I'm not sure we're still supposed to quote "Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States" here in the 21st century, but, darn it, this quality comic brought back a memory:

I take some solace in knowing I can easily avoid the two songs I most vividly associate with retail trauma: Josh Kelley's "Everybody Wants You," and Wilson Phillips' "Silent Night."

@profanity.accountant I'm not expecting much!

A thing yesterday reminded me of another thing

oh hey i found the Cathy comic strip that 30 Rock featured (and photoshopped) www.gocomics.com/cathy/2010/1...

Apologies for quote-tweeting myself, but I put a LOT of work into the alt text for this reply, and I wanted it shared on my own feed. (I found out today that the internet has shockingly little information on the supporting cast of Jim Burnett and Johnny Sajem's "Winston.")

Literally my only memory of the NBC sitcom "Up All Night" is when the characters played by Christina Applegate and Maya Rudolph needed to look something up online: "Ooh! Search engine it! Search engine it!"

I know we try not to bring stuff from The Everything App over here...but I hope we can make an exception for this, one of my all-time favorite tweets, and the first thing I thought of when I saw the quoted post:

I finally had the free time today to track down one of my single favorite installments of any comic strip ever. It's from the largely forgotten "Tommy," by Jay Martin, which was running in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch when I saw this 29 years ago:

Fun idea: Use this site to find your account's score and then find a matching review out there on the web for any media of your choosing. bluefacts.app ...well. This is humbling.

Don't overthink it: what comic book panels/pages live in your head rent-free? Drop four and tag #comicsdna

Trekkies if you see this post your first experience with Star Trek. My first glimpse of the show was "Shore Leave" (I wondered for years about "the magic planet that made guns.") But my first episode was "Obsession," teaching me about half-crazed Kirk, Spock's copper-based blood, and redshirts.

A Linus Van Pelt account posting stuff like "seein my boo Sally tonite" inspired me to create a more accurate Linus account. I signed up, got an avatar, wrote a bio...and stressed myself out SO much over the perfect first tweet for my favorite Schulz creation that I shut it all down within an hour.

The posters over on The Everything App are giving real Wayne McMurtry vibes today

A discussion of Marina Sirtis here reminded me that Deanna Troi's gray jumpsuit with the purple V-neck was exhibited at Seattle's Museum of Pop Culture in 2017. However, I forgot to take a photo of it; in true nerd fashion, I was too focused on the typos in the display.

Brak dreams of life with a big nose in the Feb. 22, 2013 "Cartoon Planet," an episode that also includes Brak's "Monkey Love," a review of "Family Haircuts Extreme" and sponsor Corman's Happy Doots. ("Zorak's Poetry Beat," featuring "Have Shouldn't I Something Ate I," got the copyright strike.)

The Feb. 1, 2013, "Cartoon Planet" features multiple new segments. Zorak reads "O, Maiden Fair" by John Crampstein, Brak tells a new joke (SPOILER: The punchline is "A stick?"), and Brak has advice for dating at fancy restaurants.

We're now into the 2013 episodes of Cartoon Network's "Cartoon Planet". However, most everything here is featured on earlier uploads, except for an "Incredible Crew" promo and a new sponsor, Mama's Hot-Doggity Famous Hot Dog Meal.

My latest upload of "Cartoon Planet" doesn't have any Brak/Zorak segments that aren't already in other videos I've uploaded...so this is the one that features all of the ads deemed fit to run on Cartoon Network at 8 p.m. Friday (7 p.m. Central), November 30, 2012.

In the Nov. 2, 2012, "Cartoon Planet," Zorak's controller runs out of juice, Brak gets two "Brak's Comedy Jokes" segments, and "Zorak's Poetry Beat" spotlights "one of the great poets of Minnesota." Sponsored by Uncle Flappy's Horse Pellets (fake) and "Wreck-It Ralph" (real, but confusing).

Every Brak and Zorak bit from the August 10, 2012 "Cartoon Planet" is here, including Brak's dream of the Kingdom of Kings, Brak's complaint letter to Mary's Quality Bicycle Bells, and Zorak's review of "Pasta Grandmas: Eat! Eat!" The episode kicks off with Brak's classic "Buster the Bear."

The corsage from the April 13, 2012, installment of "Brak's Dating Tips" is the thumbnail for this collection, which got copyright strikes that forced me to take out "Brak's Comedy Jokes" and Zorak's punk anthem, "Make You Go Splat."

The March 30, 2012, premiere of "Cartoon Planet" doesn't scream "Series premiere," but that's what it is! There were a number of possible thumbnails for this one, but the series came RIGHT out of the gate with "Pizza Song," and I thought it was important to celebrate that.

The April 20, 2012, installment of "Cartoon Planet" is the first to get copyright claims, forcing me to remove "Zorak's Poetry Beat" and "Make Stuff Happen On The T.V." That night's many "Level Up" promos, however, sailed through YouTube with no problem.

It's my first crack at distilling an entire 2012 "Cartoon Planet" episode down to the Brak, Zorak and network bits! It looks like I saved a dozen standard-definition episodes onto six DVDs, so I'll work on converting and uploading them over the next week or two.

I knew that "September 5" wouldn't win Best Original Screenplay once I saw that they didn't know the difference between "who's" and "whose."

Hi, I'm Brian, and "anaerobic" means "the opposite of aerobic," and "anarchy" means "the opposite of archy," and THAT'S how us students can remember that the correct spelling of the continent that's "the opposite of Arctic" is "Anarctica."

*pssssst* Hey You know that one project? That one you've wanted to write FOREVER except it's scary as hell & maybe you don't feel good enough or brave enough or strong enough? Spend 15 min on it today Keep the dream alive Even a pot on the back burner needs to occasionally be stirred

I just wanted to take a moment to applaud the @devonsanders.bsky.social bio. Signed, a guy who can't hear a Sade song without also hearing Sinbad ending his 1992 SNL monologue with "Sade is here, she's *fine*"

Hi everyone! I'm Brian, I'm basically friendly and supportive, and the best way I can think of to introduce myself is to share the most popular thing I ever put on Facebook. Please enjoy this installment of "Gloom, Despair, and Agony On Me" from a 1972 episode of "Hee Haw."