Pop Culture and Predictive Programming: A Trip Down the Rabbit Hole

Today I stumbled across this clip from an old G.I. Joe cartoon:





and was amused by it's odd criticism of paper currency, and the economic themes present, especially for a children's program.  Now G.I. Joe was certainly a jingoistic/militaristic show in Reagan's decade of the 80's, but I never really considered the themes explored to be out of the ordinary until I stumbled across this article that looks at several weird plots by Cobra (the Joe's main bad guys):

How the Animated Series G.I. Joe Predicted Today’s Illuminati Agenda

This article introduced me to the notion of 'Predictive Programming' which is:

a technique based on planting ideas and concepts in the brains of viewers in order to make them seem normal and easily accepted when they actually happen

Interesting.  I Googled the term and was immediately dragged down Alice's rabbit hole into a conspiracy Wonderland.

The idea is that Predictive Programming has been inserted into television, movies and music videos, sometimes decades in advance, to prepare we, the people, for the ultimate results of the Illuminati's dire plots.  Here is another article concerning predictive programming, and YouTube is littered with video examples from all sorts of sources.

For example, during the Pro Wrestling boom of the 1980s Hulk Hogan and the 'Macho Man' Randy Savage united as a tag-team named the Mega Powers.  For a high profile match they were set to battle an evil tag-team comprised of The Big Boss Man and Hakeem the African Dream. The name of that tag team? The Twin Towers.  Now in fine wrestling tradition lots of interviews were given by the Mega Powers about how they were going to 'bring down' the Twin Towers, how the Towers would be 'demolished,' and how the Twin Towers team had committed a 'terrorist attack' on Savage and his lovely associate Miss Elizabeth.  Even stranger, Hogan and Savage would later join another wrestling stable, this time in the 1990s, called the New World Order.  The term 'New World Order' is a favorite of conspiracy theorists and researchers. It is used frequently in 9-11 conspiracy theories concerning that event being carried out, not by Islamic terrorists, but by Illuminized elites. Here's a video hitting the high points:

I will admit it's weird when it's all put together like that, but the context of history can make all sorts connections and coincidences into seeming conspiracies especially when you go looking for them. I'm a big fan of conspiracy theories, and I find them a window into an alternate reality (a Wonderland, if you will) that can make you wonder what the hell is really going on.

Do I believe that the Illuminati conspired to destroy the WTC and announced it via the WWF in the mid 80s or that G.I. Joe was predicting hordes of mind controlled celebrities?  Not really, but it's entertaining to take a trip down the rabbit hole and visit Wonderland once in a while. And it'll probably have me looking at my favorite TV shows from a different perspective for a few weeks.

Walt Disney's Sin City

I like a clever fake trailer and post these mashups from time to time.  This one is particularly well done.
Walt Disney's Sin City:



hat tip to Neatorama

You're the Last Airbender Charlie Brown

I'm a big fan of Avatar: The Last Airbender.  I was recently reading a Charlie Brown collection while my wife was watching the show, and the connection of two bald kids with the weight of the world on their shoulders clicked in my head.  I drew this little mashup immediately.  Apolgies to Charles Schulz

I thought of doing Linus as Sokka, and my daughter suggested Snoopy as Appa, which would mean Woodstock as Momo I suppose, but I never got that far. I'd watch this show, if someone ever made it.

Update: Apparently I'm not the first person to have this notion. Dragonstar10 at Deviant Art beat me to the punch by 4 whole years.

Stop me if you've heard this one...

Here's the trailer for The Change-Up starring Jason 'Silver Spoons' Bateman and Ryan 'Waiting' Reynolds:



Seem familiar?

Apparently this is the go-to concept when the well runs dry for a Hollywood screenwriter.















Did I miss any?

Context is Everything #39: H.P. on the Highway

Read a quote from Lovecraft the other day and it inspired this strip:

My dad was a big fan of the Burma-Shave road side rhymes and had dozens of them memorized.  They were long gone when I was a boy, but dad taught me a few of them and used to crack me up reciting them.  I have a couple of books compiling all the known signs from the Burma-Shave campaigns.  This one is the best.

Otter Disaster #46: World Domination

Bitstrips Design Challenge: World Domination

Otter Disaster #45: I've Ruined My Child Part XXVI

Being a nerd, I've exposed my daughter to all kinds of geeky stuff from which she will likely never recover...

Dingy #13: Haunted House

Dingy #4: ...and Shinola

Dingy - A Dingbat Font Based Strip

I'm terribly excited that Bitstrips now allows users to utilize their own installed fonts in the comic builders.  This was hinted at last year, and I wrote about the possibilities presented by such a feature.  I am planning a prop font right now (a series of swords, guns and other weapons), and hope to have it finished in a week or so.  Fonts can now be layered behind other objects in Bitstrips, something not possible when the font feature was first teased, making the use of font-based custom objects even cooler.

In the meantime I've created a Dingbat Font based Gag Panel Strip called Dingy to play with the enhanced graphic possibilities of this new feature.  Kudos to the Core Matrix team for all the recent additions to the Bitstrips experience.  

Here's episode 1 of Dingy inspired by the lovely Mrs. Disaster-1955:

Aangst of the Orphans

Bitstrips Theme of the Day: Orphans

I take a little poke at the Hero's Journey at the expense of Avatar, Harry Potter and Star Wars:

Memories and Thoughts as the VHS Format Turns 33!

Today the VHS format turned 33! I was only four years old when VHS was introduced to the world in 1977. We wouldn't have one for about five more years, but I remember when we first got a VHS VCR in my house, we hooked it up and one of my sisters had rented an American Werewolf in London.

It must have been 1982,  I was only 9 at the time, but I remember watching that movie with my family, all the nudity, and violence intact from the theatrical release.  I was used to watching movies that had been cut to pieces, edited for content and length and appearing on network television.  We did not have cable so we had to drive 20 miles from Selden to Oberlin, Kansas to rent movies.  I don't remember too many of the films we rented, but I recall seeing Trading Places, one or two of the Friday the 13th films, and 16 Candles.  I specifically remember watching the George Romero/Stephen King comedy-horror masterpiece, Creepshow while a friend was over for a sleepover, and that we stayed up pretty much most of the night scared out of our young minds!

We didn't rent a whole lot in those days due to the distance involved in obtaining and returning videos, but mostly used the VCR for it's most revolutionary aspect, time shifting television, and allowing us to record one channel while watching another.  It's sometimes difficult to remember what a life-changing concept this was in the 1980s given the current age of DVRs and streaming web video.

As the youngest child of four it became very apparent that this was a tool designed for me.  I was often low man on the totem pole when it came to choosing viewing material, so the VCR guaranteed I'd never miss Automan, Misfits of Science, or Manimal, shows that my Knots Landing, Dallas loving sisters despised.

Once we moved to Oberlin in 1986 I had my first crack at Cable TV, and the VHS once again proved to be a world changer for me.  For whatever reason when we got cable we were not given a cable box for the channels beyond 13, but I quickly discovered the tuner in our VCR went up to 188, so all those upper tier channels became available.  I found the Discovery Channel (16) and Nickelodeon (33, I think).  Nickelodeon at the time featured the awesome, You Can't Do That on Television (check out the Pythonesque intro), Mr. Wizards World, and the surreal animated French adventure show Spartakus and the Sun Beneath the Sea. I wish they'd release that one in an English language DVD set, but alas, no.  Check out the awesome opening credits:

Check out some Spartakus episodes HERE!

I also remember using the VCR to record NBC's Friday Night Videos, and Night Flight on USA Network. We didn't have MTV in my home town (not even on the upper channels) so those two shows were my only real outlet to view music videos. Here's some Night Flight video about the movie Krull if you've forgotten this awesome 80s show:



Night Flight featured all kinds of video weirdness aside from music, and was my first exposure to the Church of the Subgenius.

I used the VCR to sample and save all kinds of shows and movies and I still have a collection of movies on tape, as well as three working VHS players (one is a DVD combo).  Somewhere in my stacks of old tapes I still have the pilot episode of Twin Peaks from the night it premiered, commercials and all.

VHS tape is truly a buyers market these days.  Thrift stores often have movies on videocassette for as little as $1 each, not just junk either, but major releases.  There is also a lot of stuff that was released on VHS that hasn't made the jump to DVD, so visit those thrift stores.  You can probably pick up a standard definition TV and VCR while you're there.

Last year the awesome website/podcast The Retroist did a great show on the VCR. You can listen to that show HERE.

Happy Birthday VHS, I'll never forget you!

Four Bitstrips Creators You Should Check Out

I post a lot about comic creation site Bitstrips, and for good reason.  It's a ton of fun to make comics, it's a great creative outlet, and there is an awesome, creative community there.  I try to do at least one strip a week, outside of Major Spoilers Adventures, but am not as prolific as I'd like to be just because of personal time constraints, work, life, writer's block, etc. I've posted a lot of my own comics here, but today I want to show some of the creators that I really like.

This is by no means an all inclusive list of great creators, just the ones that I thought of today as I was putting this post together. Here are four Bitstrips authors whose work inspired, influenced or impressed me along with some of my favorite series of theirs:


1. Playtime with Perko by Uzi Bazooka



Very cool character designs in simple (but brilliant) microadventures. Uzi Bazooka uses a masterful storytelling style with minimal dialog to tell sweet, surreal, and funny tales. Uzi was my original friend on Bitstrips' social networking component.  Always encouraging to new users, he's also one of the site's most prolific creators.  He is also the bane of any trolls who find their way to the site.

Check out just a few of his many, many series: Average Joe (not for the faint of heart or easily offended) and 1-800-LUNATIC.

2. Boom Times By BoomMike



My personal favorite strip by Bitstrips master and all around nice guy, BoomMike.  Mike makes great characters, and uses Bitstrips to it's fullest for really great layouts in all his strips, but it really shines in this series.  The story is really great as well, as Boom is used as a pawn in a surreal and conspiratorial game where he has to learn the rules as he goes. It's very funny and suspenseful too.

The Skiordians from this series were the inspiration for Major Spoilers Adventures housekeeper, Edna.

Also check out Producteria, and one of Bitstrip's longest running and most acclaimed series, Local Patrol.

3. Art House Movie by ogreoregon



A fun little limited series that riffs on noir movies.  Only 15 episodes.  Ogre is a great Bitstripper with an eye for detail, effects and lighting.  She makes wonderful use of the available props to bring all sorts of wonderful things to life.

Also Check out Life in Asteroid City, and Joe's Meat Bar

4. What Makes Acea, 'Acea' by Acea



One of Bitstrips' original bio-comics, Acea tells tales from his youth that made him the person he is today.  Very personal stories, funny and often sad, are coupled with a 'soundtrack'.  Each strip has a song title and artist attached to it that sets the mood of that portion of the tale.  Kicked off a whole bio-comic fad on the site after it first appeared.

Acea has been doing short stories, told in 12 installments. Check out 12 Strip - All Beauty, No Brains... and
12 Strip - I Hate This Comic Shop

Cafe Press Fan Portal: Hot Tub Time Machine

Cafe Press has also partnered with MGM allowing fan created products for the much anticipated Hot Tub Time Machine:



Here's my t-shirt design inspired by the greatest movie of 2010:

Get yours here!

Cafe Press Fan Portal: Schoolhouse Rock!

Occasionally Cafe Press, home of Otter Disaster Designs, partners with certain media outlets to create fan portals allowing Cafe Press Shop owners to create designs based on existing media properties. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that a fan portal had been opened featuring the much beloved Schoolhouse Rock!

I put together this design based on my all time favorite School House Rock! song, No More Kings:

Purchase Here!


Here's the song and video:


I also did this design for another personal Schoolhouse Rock! favorite, Interjections!:

Purchase Here!


Here's the song and video:

Understanding (Online Services that Let You Build) Comics

Yesterday at comics guru Scott McCloud's website he posted a link to this video at Pixton.com, and asked creators their opinion.  A pretty interesting debate ensued in the comments thread, from haters, lovers, and the indifferent alike.  Bitstrips developer BA (you'll notice in the link to his profile that he is user 3!) jumped in to defend Pixton and Bitstrips as simply another tool with which to enjoy comics.  I threw in a few opinions as well as Bitstrips super-user and all-around nice guy BoomMike.

One commenter left this response to BA and mentions lo-fi web sensation XKCD:

BA: “accessible to everyone, rather than an elite few with the rare combination of talent and patience”

Yes, the elite world of webcomics, where there are absolutely no barriers of entry. Give me a break. Have you ever heard of XKCD? It has stick figures and gets like 40 million hits a month. That’s because he is a funny writer and knows his audience. I’m sure you know that, but the whole “access” angle is part of the sales pitch for your website.

If Pixton 2.0 allows people to scan in their own drawings and work with those, that might be something worth noting. This is just lame.

Here is my response:

Jesse, isn’t XKCD exactly the point? That it doesn’t necessarily matter what tools you use if the ideas, writing, and execution are solid, and you communicate effectively?

Bitstrips and Pixton are as capable of conveying a message in comics form as XKCD. It’s the user of the tools and the message created with them, not the tools themselves. If there were 10,000 stick figure strips out there (and there may be) would that diminish XKCD? I could also mention Get Your War On and Dinosaur Comics as strips with a simplified artistic approach that communicate really well.

As BA mentioned there is a high signal to noise ration on these sites, but that is largely because they serve as a clearing house offering both a creative platform and storage/hosting for the strips. Maybe not everyone wants to get a blog or develop their own site and deal with hosting/coding/etc. These sites/services do lower that particular barrier to entry.

There are are probably more bad webcomics out there than good ones created using ‘traditional’ methods, but that is no reason to question the tools used to make them.

I’ve read some really good stuff at Bitstrips (among a lot of bad stuff), and there are some extremely creative and clever creators there. I’ve watched people start simply, and become more sophisticated in their approach to their strips in both the writing and the art. I hope I’ve made some enjoyable stuff there myself., and as I mentioned I’ve learned a lot about comics from making them that I wouldn’t have learned simply by reading them.

I’ve also seen a large sector of the user base push the tools in directions I’m not sure they were initially intended and I’ve witnessed the developers respond to the needs and desires of those users. Bitstrips continues to improve, and I hope there will come a day when I can use my own custom art as part of the experience.

I work to make my characters and scenes as distinct as possible to put my own stamp on them (a constant challenge for me). And believe it or not, there are certain creators who have a ’style’ and I can often pick them out of the crowd, even with the homogenized ‘house style’ that Bitstrips currently offers. BoomMike, who commented above is one of them. These sites are really in their infancy at this point, but they will increasingly become customizable and eventually you will be able to personalize the art to the point of making it uniquely your own.

The Power Cosmic - In T-shirt Form

Last week I posted about a cool Photoshop Filter that creates Kirby Dots. After playing around with it for a while it inspired a new comic book themed T-shirt design for Otter Disaster Designs called the Power Cosmic:

You can purchase this design HERE.  I've also created another Secret Origin shirt, this one inspired by the mutant X-men. 

One last design, adapted from a sketch by my Little Disaster is this Doodle Skull and Bones:

She drew it in pen on a scrap of paper a few weeks ago and I decided it would look great on a shirt.  Basically I just scanned the drawing, added some color (her choices), dropped in the circular background, and it was done.

Classic Atari Games From the Olden Days

Atari offers several of it's classic arcade and Atari 2600 games for play in your browser. Choose from Asteroids, Crystal Castles, Battlezone, and even Yars' Revenge! There is also a new online version of one of my all time favorite games Missle Command:


Play fun multiplayer games

You can play online in a cooperative mode with others or create your own match which provides an invite link so you can play with your pals.

Awesome Photoshop Filter Creates Kirby Dots!

Game company Octopus Motor, has created a really great Photoshop filter that allows you to create Kirby Dots!  Here's a quick image I worked up using my avatar from Bitstrips:

It allows you to adjust several variables including Maximum and Minimum dot size, distribution, softness of edges, and foreground and background colors. NEAT!
Download the filter HERE!
Tutorial on installing and using the filter HERE.

Heavy Metal Heritage: Metal as Religion? Part 2

I posted last week about British Metal fans trying to get 'Heavy Metal' recognized as a religion in the 2011 UK Census.

According to this article the UK census does not 'officially' recognize any religions and does not define what is or is not a religion, it only lists the percentages of respondents to a given religion, which is how Jedi Knight ended up 'recognized' in the 2001 Census.

The notion seems to be gaining steam though. There are almost 17,500 fans on the movement's Facebook page (as of this posting).

If any band embodies the notion of Heavy Metal as religion (or at least as lifestyle) it's the incomparable Manowar.  Here's Battle Hymn, from their 1982 debut album Battle Hymns:

I'd be willing to bet no other band has done as many metal songs about 'metal' than Manowar: Metal Daze, Gloves of Metal, Kings of Metal, Brothers of Metal, The Gods Made Heavy Metal, Metal Warriors, Die for Metal, and any number of songs about swords and steel.

 This blog post at the UK Guardian suggests some other musical forms that might also qualify.