Brian Smith
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onemorebrian.bsky.social
Brian Smith
@onemorebrian.bsky.social
170 followers 270 following 290 posts
Newspaper editor; fan of Peanuts and Pac-Man; pessimistic optimist ("The glass SHOULD be half full, but somebody probably drank it already").
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onemorebrian.bsky.social
Tagging @krisstraub.com with one of my favorite Chainsawsuit strips. The titles are gone now, but I'm pretty sure the one now at chainsawsuit.krisstraub.com/20161205.shtml was called "Poetry in Promotion":
A circa-2016 installment of Kris Straub's webcomic, Chainsawsuit. Panel 1: A man in a shirt and tie studies a GPS as he figures out his destination. An interstate sign is behind him, as is a fork in the road. "Two roads diverged in a yellow wood...and Garvin® made all the difference. --Robert Frost, GARVIN® GPS" Panel 2: A distinguished gentleman with glasses looks at the reader while standing in front of a refrigerator. "I have eaten the plums that were in the Frigidall®. --William Carlos Williams for FRIGIDALL Refrigerators with Maxi-Cold Technology" Panel 3: An outdoorsy-looking bearded fellow smiles in front of a shoe display. "For sale: Baby shoes. Huge selection -- Ernie Hemingway for ABIDAS KIDS®"
November 9, 2025 at 12:41 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
COUNTERPOINT: If I had a time machine, I would absolutely travel to August 1969 to see the production highlighted in this news item about Jonathan Harris visiting NASA in Houston:
From a news report published Aug. 24, 1969, about Jonathan Harris visiting NASA in Houston: "JONATHAN HARRIS, the ex-Dr. Smith of Lost in Space, was in Houston to do 'Damn Yankees' in the round with Rita Moreno and Gary Collins (only they updated it in Houston and called it 'Damn Cardinals' -- seriously!)
November 3, 2025 at 2:55 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
I agree, though I make an exception for "House of Svengoolie"'s Nostalgiaferatoo, whose deliberately unconvincing plastic ears are part of his charm.
IMP (left) and Nostalgiaferatoo in an interstitial from the "House of Svengoolie" presentation of "House of Wax" on MeTV
November 2, 2025 at 5:16 PM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
"The Ark fell to Earth with a mighty impact -- an impact that would not be matched for more than 4 million years, until the release of the unrelated Belgian techno anthem 'Pump Up the Jam.'"
Philomena Cunk, from "Cunk on Earth," a series which frequently segues into the unrelated 1989 Belgian techno anthem, "Pump Up the Jam."
October 24, 2025 at 3:19 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
I knew that the VHS version of 1989's "Batman" was revolutionary because it was priced at $25 max, but I'd forgotten that 1. it skipped the old theater/airline/premium cable/video rental model by going straight to "video sale," and 2. there were NOT a lot of other hit movies to buy that Christmas!
From the last week of December 1989, it's the top videocassette sales (mostly older films and music specials priced to own), as compared to the top videocassette rentals (mostly VHS tapes that cost $99.95). All ranked by Billboard magazine: VIDEOCASSETTE SALES: 1. Batman (Warner) 2. Bambi (Disney) 3. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Touchstone) 4. The Land Before Time (MCA) 5. The Wizard of Oz: The 50th Anniversary Edition (MGM-UA) 6. New Kids on the Block: Hangin' Tough Live (CBS) 7. New Kids on the Block: Hangin' Tough (CBS) 8. Lawrence of Arabia (RCA-Columbia) 9. Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (Family) 10. Gone With The Wind: The 50th Anniversary Edition (MGM-UA) 11. White Christmas (Paramount) 12. Frosty the Snowman (Family) 13. The Best of Eddie Murphy: Saturday Night Live (Paramount) 14. Paula Abdul: Straight Up (Virgin) 15. It's a Wonderful Life (Roach) VIDEOCASSETTE RENTALS 1. Batman (Warner) 2. Ghostbusters II (RCA-Columbia) 3. Scrooged (Paramount) 4. K-9 (MCA) 5. Say Anything (CBS-Fox) 6. Three Fugitives (Touchstone) 7. Working Girl (CBS-Fox) 8. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Touchstone) 9. Rain Man (MGM-UA) 10. Major League (Paramount)
October 22, 2025 at 2:04 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
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:
Jay Martin's "Tommy," a short-lived comic strip that debuted less than a year after "Calvin & Hobbes" ended, and which clearly tried to pick up Bill Watterson's baton and run with it. Here, in a dream, we see young Tommy, dressed smartly in a shirt, tie and suspenders, sitting behind a desk in an office. He's talking to Gus, his dream companion, a black humanoid blob with giant white eyes. He is ALSO dressed smartly and wearing suspenders. Tommy, pointing accusingly at Gus: "Let me put it this way, Gus. Even if I DO get this proposal out, and even if it IS accepted, and even if I DO get the Barkeley account...I STILL won't think this is a very good dream!" Gus, confused: "Even with the promotion?" Image saved from the St. Louis Post Dispatch, Dec. 24, 1996, courtesy Newspapers.com
October 20, 2025 at 4:02 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
I think I have to turn in some kind of MST3K badge, because the Spring Sprite was not the first Coily who popped into my head
An image from the early 1980s "Q*bert" cartoon, set in the vaguely 1950s town of Q*berg, featuring (from left) archnemesis Coily, his henchman Wrong-Way, his best girl Viper and his other henchman Ugg. (If you know the Q*bert video game, but you don't know about this cartoon, and you're trying to reconcile the color-change game with this image...please stop. It can't be done.)
October 18, 2025 at 7:46 PM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
I feel like too few people know about @ghweldon.bsky.social 's 2018 posts in which "Mr. and Mrs. Van Pelt are monsters" is the punchline.
From Glen Weldon, @ghweldon on Twitter, a story in six parts, shared on Oct. 18, 2018: 1. "Hey. Happy Halloween. I'm your neighbor? Ed Brown? Yeah, that's right, the house with the stoop. Right, and that low brick wall. Listen, uh. My son Charlie was here earlier? As a ghost? You ... gave him a rock? Can I ... talk to you outside a sec?" Glen Weldon 2. "No yeah hey, listen. I know, I KNOW, it wasn't just you. Turns out? Every house on this block gave him rocks. Damndest thing. And here's the other weird bit. All those houses? They all got these big, beautiful picture windows. Gorgeous things. A lot like yours." 3. "So yeah anyhoodle I'm just, you know, going door-to-door tonight, because I wanted to look the goddamn SOCIOPATHS who'd do that to a KID in their EVIL GODDAMN FACES oh and also of course to distract you while Charlie gets ready OKAY SON NOW THROW THROW LIKE THE WIND CHARLIE" From Glen Weldon, @ghweldon on Twitter, a story in six parts, shared on Oct. 18, 2018: 4. "That was impressive, He's a pitcher, you know. That thing had some moxie on it. NICE HUSTLE, SON. Oh and hey before I go did it even occur to you that maybe he was dressed up as the ghost of a Dalmatian? Hunh? Did that even occur to you, you fucking MONSTER?" 5. "Okay well have a good night. Hope you had fun. And do me a favor? I assume you all have some kind of neighborhood listserv of Facebook page so you can coordinate your emotional abuse of children like you did tonight? Send me an invite! Sounds fun!" 6. "Now if you'll excuse me I'm just gonna head off to the pumpkin patch to check on Linus because apparently the Van Pelts let him sleep out there without a tent or blankets SERIOUSLY WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS GODDAMN NEIGHBORHOOD"
October 15, 2025 at 1:39 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
I would LOVE to know how much money the network spent trying to create a rabid Ron DeSantis fanbase before they came back around to the whole "Trump's our man" thing.
Fox News, "One Nation with Brian Kilmeade," from March 2023. At left, host Kilmeade interviews Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, "catching up with him, in his hometown, on his personal 'Field of Dreams,'" asking DeSantis about his love of baseball and America, his family, and whether he was worried about being labeled by President Trump because "you're a governor and not a candidate yet." DeSantis then touts his record of achievement in the screengrab we see here, which is taken shortly before Kilmeade invites DeSantis out onto the field for a game of catch.
October 12, 2025 at 10:19 PM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
So this is how I flashed back to a three-decades-old installment of Jim Reddick's "Robotman" today.
A Sunday installment of Jim Reddick's comic "Robotman," taken from the collection "Primary Crullers" and found online. Robotman and Monty, the human who'd eventually take over the strip, are preparing for game night. Monty: "I don't want to play any brainy games...no chess. No Scrabble. No Stratego." Robotman: "How about Monopoly?" Monty, thoughtfully: "Umm...OK." Robotman: "Monopoly it is." They sit down at the game table. Monty: "OK, let's see...I'll be the...umm...wheelbarrow." Robotman: "Really? The wheelbarrow? Are you sure you want to be the wheelbarrow?" Monty: "Why? What's wrong with the wheelbarrow?" Robotman: "Nothing. It's just a tad unusual." Monty: "Why?" Robotman: "Well, it's just that most people want to be the racing car or the terrier or the top hat or..." Monty: "Well, I LIKE the wheelbarrow." Robotman: "I've always thought people who choose the wheelbarrow have low self-esteem. Who would want to identify with a wheelbarrow?" Monty: "OK, OK. If it'll make you feel better, I'll be the shoe." Robotman: "Foot fettish." [sic] Monty turns away and folds his arms: "OK, that's it. I don't want to play anymore. You take all the fun out of games with your stupid analysis!" Robotman: "You're right...I'm sorry. Here, let's play something else. Um...how about 'Clue'?" Monty turns back around: "Wellll...OK." Robotman: "'Clue' it is, then." Monty: "I'll be Miss Scarlet..."
October 8, 2025 at 8:41 PM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
For some of us, Jennifer Aniston will always be Julia Duffy as Stephanie Vanderkellen as Allison Sugarbaker in DESIGNING WOMEN.

(actually Fox TV's THE EDGE, 1992)
A screenshot from Fox TV's sketch-comedy series "The Edge," episode 1, 1992. Jennifer Aniston plays Julia Duffy in the opening credits for the show's parody of season 6 of "Designing Women."
October 8, 2025 at 4:41 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
This bit from the Stan Lee-scripted "Amazing Spider-Man" annual 18 always confused me. Did Stan Lee think he needed to write this narration box? Did Danny Fingeroth or Jim Shooter think "We can't cut Stan's old-people talk" and write it themselves? In any event, it took me right out of the story.
From Amazing Spider-Man annual #18, plotted by Tom DeFalco and scripted by Stan Lee, it's Spider-Man punching Scorpion through a wall while J. Jonah Jameson gets his wife and son out of the way in the background. Jonah is saying, "That's it. Keep moving. Don't stop for anything." Spider-Man: "Surprised, Scorpy? Hey, you didn't think it would take me forever to shore up one little hunk of wall, didja? Why couldn't you have taken 'em to the middle of Times Square instead of a lonely alley? Us friendly neighborhood Spider-Men love an audience when we come on like gangbusters." Spider-Man, in the first-person narration box: "Actually, I'm not old enough to remember the 'Gangbusters' radio show, but Uncle Ben used to talk about it. Just thought you'd like to know."
October 6, 2025 at 7:02 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
One of my all-time favorite Peanuts strips is one that I barely understood as a kid beyond the basic "It's OK to be sad, don't be so hard on yourself" message. Later, I read it as "Adults will flat-out lie to you;" today, I read it as "I letter my own comic, and I have contempt for those who don't."
"Peanuts," Sept. 13, 1964. The first topper panel features Charlie Brown frantically running from a swarm of cursive letters; the second topper has him attempting to write lowercase b's, c's and d's in cursive, and muttering a rare lowercase "rats!" when they're not perfect. Panel 3: Charlie Brown struggles his way through writing capital letters A through N in cursive. Panel 4: Charlie Brown crumples the paper in frustration: "RATS! I just can't do it!!" Panel 5: Linus arrives: "What's the matter, Charlie Brown?" Charlie Brown: "I can't write like the teacher wants us to.." Panel 6: Charlie Brown shows Linus his cursive workbook: "Look at this book..see how nice all the letters are? I can't write like that! I never will be able to write like that!" Panels 7-9: Linus: "Of course you can't, Charlie Brown...neither could the person who wrote this book. What he did, you see, was take the best letters and make photostates of them. Then, from these photostats, he made a paste-up of the whole page, and printed it to look like it was done perfectly. You are a victim of studio technique." Panel 10, Charlie Brown looks straight at the reader: "Whom do I sue?"
October 5, 2025 at 5:23 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
I'd still consider "Pearls Before Swine" one of my all-time favorite comic strips even if it had ended with this installment from almost 20 years ago.
"Pearls Before Swine," November 2005: Pig: "Well well well...if it's not my old nemesis, Annie May, the sea anemone...I see you're back to even the score." Annie May: "That's wrong, Pig. I want to bury the hatchet. I no longer want to be your enemy." Pig: "You'll always be my enemy, Annie May, the anemone." Annie May: "No, Pig...and to prove my goodwill, I'd like to offer you a two-night stay at a luxury hotel that features air-conditioning, an indoor swimming pool, and free movies, including Japanese anime..." Pig: "How DARE you try to bribe me with amenities like anime, Annie May, my sea anemone enemy." Rat, from out of nowhere: "ENOUGH!!!"
October 4, 2025 at 6:32 PM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
...and just like that, both preseason football AND "You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown" are ruined for me.
At left, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Mitch Trubisky wears a padded helmet as he calls signals in a drill during an NFL practice in Pittsbugh in a June 7, 2022, file photo. At right, Charlie Brown wears a scooped-out pumpkin for a helmet to win the big motocross race in 1975's "You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown." (Left, AP/Keith Srakocic; right, courtesy Lee Mendelson Film Productions, Bill Melendez Productions and whoever else owns this Charlie Brown special these days)
September 29, 2025 at 3:42 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
Tagging @damnyouwillis.bsky.social for full credit on this somewhat-related* "Joyce and Walky" strip.

* I will take any excuse to share this strip with anyone
A 2009 "Joyce and Walky" strip by David Willis, also found online in a 2021 upload at https://www.itswalky.com/comic/pie-chart/ . In panels 1 and 2, Walky holds up a pie chart: Walky: "I've made a pie chart that displays, organized by frequency, your most common utterances while we watch TV. This small piece over here is 'I missed that, what did they say?' This other small piece is 'Can we go back? I missed what they said.' This big piece is you asking me to explain stuff we don't know yet 'cuz it will be answered later in the story." Joyce counters with her own pie chart: "I've made a pie chart that notes where you'll be sleeping for the next week." The pie chart is a giant, unbroken circle that reads "Park Bench".
September 29, 2025 at 3:10 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
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.
My Bluesky account is a 4.0 -- a fine grade-point average but not exactly setting the world on fire here! The folks at the Internet Movie Database have given "Speed 2: Cruise Control" 4.0 stars out of 10. Remember the part of that movie where the 13-year-old deaf girl got a crush on Jason Patric's 30-year-old Alex Shaw? What the hell was THAT?
September 26, 2025 at 2:13 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
This shot of him from the teaser trailer ALONE
Patrick Stewart as Charles Xavier from "Logan" -- specifically screenshotted from the teaser trailer. Seriously, look up the "Logan" official trailer, the one set to Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt." At about 1:10 in, you get Logan smiling like "This is nice," then X-23 smiles and looks around like "I like this!"... ...and then here's Charles Xavier, looking like, "Perhaps we HAVE found some small respite from a world where my life's dream has been twisted and ruined, where my own failing body and mind have led to the deaths of people I loved. Yet I know, deep in my soul, that this moment is fleeting; this joy cannot last. They may THINK they understand the fragility of the moment, but they clearly can't comprehend the danger we are in, the horrible threat we've brought upon these innocent people. But can I, who've taken so much already, now take that joy from them? No. They deserve this time, this balm upon their souls, no matter the cost." That's how he looks. Then the trailer cuts to a truck.
September 22, 2025 at 11:32 PM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
I've tagged Francesco Marciuliano before with this strip of his, so I won't do it again...but I do think about this 2010s-era "Medium Large" a lot, especially after the LA Times tweeted on March 13, 2020, "Column: Lighter traffic, easy restaurant reservations and other perks of the pandemic:"
A four-panel "Medium Large" strip by Francesco Marciuliano: Panel 1: An enthusiastic-looking woman on her phone. "You can seat 12 for dinner tonight? FANTASTIC!" Panel 2: A dreamily happy couple looking up, presumably at a theater marquee. Husband: "LOOK! Not a single summer blockbuster is sold out!" Panel 3: A man in a suit, driving in a convertible, clearly going fast because of the speed lines and the way his two strands of hair on his head are flapping in the wind. "MAN! I'm making great time without traffic!" Panel 4: A giddy-looking man is fanning through money. Narrator: "The upside to not being 'raptured.'" Man: "WOW! Check out all the cash some guy left in his pants!"
September 21, 2025 at 5:24 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
Tagging @billamend.bsky.social for one of my all-time favorite "FoxTrot"s, a July 1999 installment that was both a warning of what was to come AND a gentle reminder that the strip which sent Jason to the 1989 premiere of "Batman" was on an actively sliding time scale:
From "FoxTrot," July 20, 1999. Dad Roger sits at the computer while his 10-year-old son Jason helps him with his tech, giving his dad a thumbs-up. Jason: "I set your e-Lynchity brokerage account up so you can trade on margin." Roger: "What's that mean?" Jason: "It means you can buy stocks galore with borrowed money and after the stocks shoot up, you pocket the profits. It's foolproof!" Roger: "Unless the stocks go down, that is." Jason: "Stocks can go down?" Cut to the fourth panel, and Roger is on the phone. Jason is waving his hands at him, as if to say, "Stop." Roger: "Hello, e-Lynchity? Is there someone I could speak with who was born before the '90s?" Jason: "I'm telling you, Dad, stocks don't go down."
September 20, 2025 at 3:48 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
"Three-fifths" is not the first unintentional reference posted by a beloved internet personality, and it will not be the last
Two Feb. 26, 2021 tweets from Ryan North, beloved writer of "Dinosaur Comics," "The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl," "Fantastic Four" and other delightful things: 1: "I am looking to get a single English sentence translated into Mandarin Chinese and Hindi. Does anyone have any hookups for translators looking for, uh, a 14-word gig" (87 likes, 10 retweets, 9 comments, no bookmarks) 2. "UPDATE: I have googled it and now know what '14 words' refer to. IT IS NOT THAT, IT'S A DIFFERENT SENTENCE" (351 likes, 11 retweets, 14 comments, 2 bookmarks)
September 16, 2025 at 6:16 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
Thank you, sincerely, for calling people's attention to this matter
Kelly Hu poses at the 21st annual Asian American Awards at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Dec. 16, 2023. (Associated Press/Chris Pizzello)
September 11, 2025 at 3:13 AM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
(sighs, remembering that time I let Wizard Magazine talk me into buying JUSTICE LEAGUE QUARTERLY No. 13 for the Joseph Michael Linsner cover)
It's the cover to DC Comics' "Justice League Quarterly" No. 13, with art by Joseph Michael Linsner, a little more than a year before the release of his popular "Dawn" limited series. The cover features Maxima, probably the most "Dawn"-looking of DC's 1990s characters, in what looks like a playful chase with Captain Atom. The headline reads, "MAXIMUM Attraction!"
September 4, 2025 at 10:53 PM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
If I've learned anything from insurance commercials, it's that you can ONLY get away with turning two bullet points into three bullet points if you're listening to the reassuring tones of Alex Trebek AND you don't put the two identical points right next to each other.
September 3, 2025 at 11:28 PM
onemorebrian.bsky.social
I just had an "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" flashback.
From the "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" episode "Video Ouija," it's a screenshot from the video game "Insult Master," in which Meatwad (as the player on the right) has successfully incinerated the computer (player on the left) with his quality insults: Computer: "Hey man! You stole my wristwatch!" Meatwad: "You dumb! I already HAVE a wristwatch! You dumb!" (Announcer: "Buuuuuuurned!") Computer: "I saw you LOOKIN' at it!" Meatwad: "Yo MAMA you did!" (Announcer: "Classic comeback!") Meatwad then goes in for the kill -- "Yo mama yo mama yo mama yo mama" -- and the game is won! (Announcer: "Incineration! You're the Insult Master!")
August 30, 2025 at 9:58 PM