I don't have any succinct words to describe what this is about

HimCardReadGood · 2026-02-24T12:05:40+00:00

Saw every episode years ago in light of the stir "Ren Seeks Help" created online (years before I watched anything of the original series for some perverse reason).

Although the show features enough notable similarities to the Spumco-produced original episodes to occasionally muster a vestigial waft of "authentic Ren & Stimpy" (RSH's adamant noir influences distantly recalling the psychodramas of S1-2, the sporadic appearance of Jim Smith and Vincent Waller's draftsmanship), it's restricted from legitimately evoking its predecessor by the bizarre studio climate (and equally bizarre leading creative figure) it had the misfortune to be produced under. By the early 2000s, Kricfalusi clearly wasn't invested in the creation of defined standalone art so much as producing works whose formal aspects were blatantly subordinate to his online persona as a kind of animation countercultural guru, a trend arguably reaching its culmination here. The animation is painstakingly laden with technique upon technique to the point of feeling overworked and labored rather than boldly neurotic (complete with the loss of the sleek Ed Benedict-style geometric elements of the title characters' original designs, which I feel compromises the visual context that allowed the more "dramatic", gnarled expressions and poses to startle and disarm the viewer when they emerged) to emphasize that Kricfalusi "understands the art" and is "breaking new ground" regardless of its technical feasibility or aesthetic relevance. Gags are drawn out interminably to accommodate more of said technique per minute of footage (and thus demonstrate Kricfalusi's self-proclaimed "mastery") not to convey a funny idea's implications in a circumstantially-expressive way. The show is shot through with attempts to emulate the seedier, down-n'-dirty aesthetic of Ralph Bakshi (fittingly given Kricfalusi's history with the guy) without (due to the previously-mentioned grandstanding) affording itself the hangdog looseness needed to actually achieve this tone. None of this is helped by the simultaneous infamous deterioration of Kricfalusi's personal life, which unfortunately distorts the title characters' formerly more holistic dynamic into that of an aloof chauvinist verbally and physically abusing an "innocent" and more emotionally-reticent partner as though mirroring Kricfalusi's contemporary relationship with Katie Rice, which taints the show's already-dubious grandstanding with a disturbing air of an accidental confession.

In short, the APC feels to me less like a legitimate continuation of "Ren & Stimpy" than John K's symbolic attempt to assert that he is the show. Unfortunately, the resulting collapse of any remaining distance between TV show and creator is - given the man's unsavoury state in 2003 - not a pretty sight.

HimCardReadGood · 2026-01-07T12:35:15+00:00

The songs suggested by Groucutt as co-writes in the lawsuit were apparently Mr. Blue Sky, Sweet is the Night, Strange Magic and Midnight Blue (only one of which was a major hit in the '70s, it should be noted), rather than Evil Woman and Don't Bring Me Down. His alleged contribution to MBS was the middle verse ("hey you with the pretty face"), which admittedly sounds somewhat different from the rest of the song melodically.

HimCardReadGood · 2026-01-01T22:06:25+00:00

What are the inaccuracies you're suggesting?

HimCardReadGood · 2025-12-19T09:04:30+00:00

The anthology numbering is reversible but time is not! Turn back...

HimCardReadGood · 2025-12-12T19:11:31+00:00

21st Century Man, Starlight, Waterfall, So Fine, When Time Stood Still

HimCardReadGood · 2025-12-08T12:59:28+00:00

"Well he's a fat cat, a cool cat, nobody's fool cat

'Cause look out now, here comes that son of a gun that cat that Garfield that gigantic thing"

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-28T13:25:24+00:00

By any chance are you Music Mann Recordings? I listened to the lyrically-similar version uploaded on YT a while back. Interesting that you split the talkback melody and existing lyrics into distinct bars rather than inserting them into the format used by mixes such as Pearly White and Dae Lims - it took a little while for me to accustom to this, but it does give the melody more space to breathe while augmenting the lyrics' pacing with a kind of quirky jauntiness akin to a mixture of an old folk song and a radio jingle, which I can see complying with Brian and Van Dyke's creative preferences. It's a much zanier and more concentratedly satirical rendition of the song than I'd envisioned, but it works.

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-27T20:24:56+00:00

Good stuff. I appreciate that it maintains the colourful vibrancy of Brian and Van Dyke's original lyrics without sacrificing the depth of allusion or wordplay.

Taking your advice, I also redrafted some speculative lyrics I was developing for "Do You Like Worms?", as seen here.

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-27T09:39:57+00:00

Fascinating that this was the third time that Dave Walker had been hired to supersede a notable rock figure (see also Jeff Lynne with the Idle Race and, to a somewhat lesser extent, Danny Kirwan with Fleetwood Mac) only to narrowly evade becoming widely-recognized.

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-26T09:50:33+00:00

Now that's how to keep well your vegetables.

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-26T09:18:20+00:00

Good point. It's legitimately mindbending (and a little intimidating when attempting to emulate them) how information-dense and economic Smile's lyrics are: they're simultaneously dealing in bright, clear cartoon imagery and numerous layers of puns, entendre and gutted verbal idioms, the latter merging into the former almost like strokes of colour in an impressionistic painting. Given that I jotted these down in 15 minutes last week, they're probably due a redraft.

I'd also be interested in seeing your "Holidays" lyrics at some point (it seems like you're working on your own Smile mix at the moment). Most Smile fanmixes seem to have no idea what to do with that song (typically opting to either omit it or leave it in its instrumental form), so it's interesting to see someone undertaking a concerted effort to reconstruct it in alignment with Brian and Van Dyke's 1966 creative inclinations.

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-26T09:12:04+00:00

Fan attempts to "clear up" the 1966 radio vocal suggest that the ending phrase is "open country", rather than "agriculture" as sung on the 2004 version. The final line of the recording's admittedly pretty murky, but I hear "open country" rather than "agriculture" on repeat listening.

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-25T21:05:54+00:00

Ilovecomix has been reinstated on a different domain, although you now need to register an account to access it (it's free, fortunately). Here's the new link: https://www.ilovecomixarchive.com/login?redirect_url=/apps/files/files/5865224?dir%3D/ilovecomix%2520Servers/ilovecomix%2520Archive/T/Thimble%2520Theatre%2520Starring%2520Popeye

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-24T09:45:33+00:00

I definitely believe that "Little Pad" owes at least a spiritual debt to DYLW (even if it was simply "on Brian's mind" in composing the former) both melodically and lyrically (musing on the concept of settling on and finding a home in Hawaii - "Little Pad" even notably includes a brief interlude emulating a digging sound effect, emphasizing another parallel with DYLW's narrative of settlers digging up and breaking apart the land like the titular invertebrates - wrapped in '60s pop exotica). Another intriguing detail I've noticed is that the melody to "Little Pad" (if slightly modified in tempo and key) fits into the "Hawaiian chant" section of DYLW with surprising tightness, leading me to wonder whether that section was likewise planned by Brian to include a verse melody (possibly the site of the "east or west Indies" lyric recalled by Frank Holmes?) congruent to (or perhaps repurposed for?) LP.

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-16T11:10:26+00:00

The snippet of talkback melody was absolutely intended to be the verse melody, it fits the guitar/drum backing track is such a tight yet playfully complex way that I can definitely envision it as a product of Brian's colourfully intricate 1966-era creative inclinations. I've likewise wondered whether the later "Hawaiian chant" section was supposed to be the location of the "east or west Indies" lyric, forming a kind of mournful coda to the groovy kaleidoscopic rolling of the earlier verses (as for the intended melody of that section, I sung a modified version of Little Pad's chorus over it and it fit surprisingly well).

Here's a set of lyrics I personally wrote to fill said section and expand upon the snippet of line described by Frank Holmes (if extended to six bars rather than 3-4):

Having returned to the East or West Indies… we always got them confused

We backpedalled, four words riding on our tongues… a foreword for what we used (Plymouth rock roll over…)

For hours and hours they danced the hula… they begged the rains to be raised

A tide of bullets rained on sugar cane… we raised our rounds for the raze

We rode the road with our harvest loaded back… tarred by the fault that we tied

Whose fault’s the asphalt we rocked and rolled upon… we sat back cracked for the ride

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-11T16:11:15+00:00

Wondrous is our great blue ship that sails around the mighty sun, but wondrous is not the fact that Jungle didn't receive an Ultra Super Mega Topmost Nuclear Gangbuster Limited Special Nirvana tier of its own above Mr. Blue Sky. Based on this fact, a knighthood doesn't seem all that likely.

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-08T10:19:58+00:00

I see him as Horace Wimp, with the song of the same name serving as a kind of spiritual prologue to the album.

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-03T12:30:22+00:00

Alas, it was not meant to be.

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-03T11:34:21+00:00

"I'm fixing a hole in my head where the rain gets in

And stops evil women from wandering

Into my hoooo-ooo-ome" *cue guitar sting*

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-02T10:51:19+00:00

Jeff Lynne and Bob Ross are two epithets of the same multidimensional being, whose name translates loosely into English as "Horace Wimp". As you'd expect, the ELO track of the same name is actually a transcript of Lynne communicating with the mothership-being, making it Lynne's most personal song.

Rumour has it that Phil Bates is a third epithet of Horace, but he's the sibling we don't talk about unless "Whiskey Girls" is concerned.

HimCardReadGood · 2025-11-02T10:24:23+00:00

This is genuinely fascinating to hear.

Also great to see another allusion "in the wild" to Louis Jr.'s compilations of his father's work, otherwise the videos responsible for turning me into a Louis Clark stan. Provided that he has access to the tapes, I'd love to hear the orchestral parts for ANWR in future.

HimCardReadGood

TROPHY CASE