tech guy in 2010: I am making a simple photo app so I can share photos of my meals
2024:
(via @kitosan)
STUFF I’VE WATCHED RECENTLY
Chihayafuru season 3: This is my favorite “sports” anime, about the Japanese card game karuta. It feels really weird that most of this season is about some matches that none of the main characters are actually participating in. New characters include a five-time Master who’s kind of a dirtbag everybody hates because he doesn’t love the cards in the same way they do, and a former Queen whose main characteristic is “Has Children.”
Emmy Awards: The joke is on me for watching awards shows in the first place, but I thought it was especially bad this year. Very sweaty joke in the opening about how Eugene Levy mistakenly thinks the plus in Apple TV+ is related to the LGBTQ+ community. I’m happy the shows I watched and liked (Hacks, Shogun) won though.
English Teacher: Pretty good so far! The coach character might be written a little too Ron Swanson-y in that he is a right-wing buffoon but he also has sage wisdom and you should Respect him.
Batman & Robin: It very much feels like a fake movie that you’d see in a TV show.
Frasier (2023): The characters frequent a bar named Mahoney’s (named after the late actor John Mahoney) and in a recent episode Frasier wants to eat at a fancy restaurant named Les Charles (named after the co-creator of Cheers). It reminds me of comic book media where characters are constantly going “meet me at the intersection of Perez and Wolfman!!!”
09/04/2017
01/02/2018
06/01/1999
I used to have this strip pinned to my wall when I was a kid because I thought it was amazing that not only was a comic referencing a show I liked, but also Fox’s ad campaign.
Blondie Watch
07/22/2024
Based on context clues I think you can firmly conclude that the Bumsteads are currently living in the year 2015.
From Zippy the Pinhead:
After Griffith criticized Scott Adams’ comic Dilbert for being “a kind of childish, depleted shell of a once-vibrant medium,” Adams responded a year and half later on May 18, 1998, with a comic strip called Pippy the Ziphead, “cramming as much artwork in as possible so no one will notice there’s only one joke… [and] it’s on the reader.” Dilbert notes that the strip is “nothing but a clown with a small head who says random things” and Dogbert responds that he is “maintaining his artistic integrity by creating a comic that no one will enjoy.”
05/18/1998
05/19/1998
At this point in time Dilbert was at the height of its popularity, its characters were appearing in Office Depot commercials, and there was a TV series adaptation set to premiere the following year. Imagine having all that success and still being this petty.
Mallard Fillmore Watch
07/06/2024
It’s wild that this can appear on the same page as Garfield
Performing so badly at a debate that the newspaper tells you to step down seems like something that would happen to Charlie Brown
I took a break from my chronological review of the 1940s Blondie film series to review Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter, a strange 1972 animated TV movie where all the King Features characters crossover, sort of a low-stakes predecessor to DC Comics’ Crisis on Infinite Earths.
Pepsi dropping out of second place immediately after they changed their logo is the ultimate vindication for the widely-mocked 2009 redesign
Everyday I go on the computer and I see a news story about a company laying off 1,000 employees
Then I see lanyard guys whining about how the stupid plebes just don’t understand that the economy is actually really great right now 
The internet is getting worse in many ways but on the positive side it helped me identify a song from a toy keyboard I used to have, a mystery that had eluded me since childhood. It’s “Spanish Coffee” by Frank Mills:
It turns out I’m not alone, a lot of people had been wondering about this song. I guess it always stood out in our minds because it had a dramatic opening and a moody, wistful melody that felt incongrous with Jingle Bells and whatever else was on that keyboard. It’s still unclear to me why this particular song was used – I’m assuming it’s public domain but couldn’t find verification – but it’s very satisfying to close the file on this mystery.
Back in 2000 Disney had to rush to make The Emperor’s New Groove‘s release date because they couldn’t break a contract with McDonald’s:
Allers: When they went with Mark’s version, the one thing they didn’t do was change the release date. So the Kingdom of the Sun release date became The Emperor’s New Groove release date.
Fullmer: We had a year, literally, to put that whole thing together. There’s a deadline because we got a McDonald’s Happy Meal that has to come on a certain date, and there are big fines to pay if you don’t do that.
Nowadays they just release Happy Meal toys for movies that won’t come out for another year.
Blondie Watch
Shocking development for this 93 year old comic strip: a named non-white character will be joining the cast, possibly for the first time ever.
04/23/2024
The search for a new employee will also provide fodder for humor as Blondie interviews applicants. The new pastry chef, a young woman, will also open up story possibilities. “She’s able to bring some spontaneity to the catering company,” Erwin said. “She’s able to understand social media that can help Blondie’s business grow.”
Coston said the character is of Indian descent, and it’s “a nice nod to our faithful fans,” in India.
The poll to name her is here. The choices are Prasha, Maya, Tanvi, Deeva, and Naya, which all seem very normal for a world where characters have names like Dagwood, Blondie Boopadoop, Alexander Hamilton Bumstead, Cookie, and Fred Fuddle.
The New York CRIMES fails to mention this is not the first time Blondie asked its readers to name a new character:
Finally, an election worth caring about.
Don’t know what that was all about
Recently I added Instagram and Threads accounts for rubbercat.net/simpsons to complement the existing Facebook and Twitter accounts. Yes, Social Media Bad, but I think it’s worthwhile to maintain a toehold in these communities. Anyway here are my impressions of the current posting landscape.
Bluesky: This is my preferred Twitter alternative since a lot of my internet friends are there, but there are some baffling UI decisions. I made a feed called McWorld that will show you people around the world posting about McDonald’s. It’s mostly Japanese people posting pictures of their meals (you have to specifically allow other languages in your settings to see this) and it’s very pleasant.
Instagram: It seems very counter-intuitive to have an account for your website on a platform that doesn’t let you post links. It’s nice to keep up with Simpsons accounts, though. I’m not sure exactly what to post there.
Mastodon: I’ve switched instances, my current profile is @robbercat@indieweb.social. I don’t think I have enough #content in me to sustain 10 or so different websites so lately I’ve been using it as sort of a catch-all hub for stuff I’ve posted elsewhere (or POSSE, as the kids say). I’ve always dug its “Federated” feed versus the algorithmic feeds on other platforms that are designed to make you mad about some culture war bullshit.
Threads: I joined mostly to follow ThatGuy3002. I find it very user-hostile; there’s no apparent way to make “Following” your default view so I have to click on it (which is hidden by the logo) every single time, lest I be exposed to what Max Read calls the gas-leak social network. It’s nice that I can follow some Threads users via Mastodon but they have to opt in and if they’re nerdy enough to do that they probably already have a presence on the fediverse anyway.
Tumblr: There was a period a couple months ago where the CEO was acting like a little freak. Seems like they managed to tranquilize him? I don’t know.
Twitter: My current least favorite “feature” is that if you have multiple accounts you’ll occasionally see a notification dot on one of them, so you check it out and it’s just… a random tweet. Usually from someone you don’t follow referring to something you have zero context for, and there’s no apparent way to turn this shit off. The other month on my Simpsons account I was alerted to a racist tweet from Anthony Cumia. I don’t follow Cumia, I don’t think I follow anyone who follows Cumia, and yet there it is.