Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

The next time the wall wtreet journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

People are complicated. Love is not.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Within six months Twitter will be fully self-driving.

Why did Dr. Oz lose? well, according to the exit polls, it’s because Fetterman won.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn.

Republicans seem to think life begins at the candlelight dinner the night before.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

I like you, you’re my kind of trouble.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

We cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation.

Fuck the extremist election deniers. What’s money for if not for keeping them out of office?

Whoever he was, that guy was nuts.

Something needs to be done about our bogus SCOTUS.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

Fuck these fucking interesting times.

Hot air and ill-informed banter

Accused of treason; bitches about the ratings. I am in awe.

My years-long effort to drive family and friends away has really paid off this year.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

If you’re pissed about Biden’s speech, he was talking about you.

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

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121Comments

  11. 11.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mnemosyne: Per the canon, Dracula could turn into a bat, a rat, and some other animals. Lions and bears were not among those animals. Do you really want to argue with an expert like Stoker?

  14. 14.

    Oatler.

    Christopher Lee showed us how they could be quite menacing unless faced with a cross, daylight or any other convenient plot device.

  16. 16.

    Omnes Omnibus

    @Mnemosyne: A wolf is neither a bear nor a lion. If you want to make an argument that bats are closer to dogs and wolves than rodents, I am willing to hear out your case. Bears and lions? We in Wisconsin have seen enough of them to know.

  19. 19.

    cain

    Haha, way to go putting a quote from Batman: The Animated Series! In one Batman comic, Batman saw his ex-gf he had feelings for kissing someone else, and his reaction was “It doesn’t matter! Nothing matters! Nothing matters, but the night, and the war that NEVER ends!” Crazy fuck.

    ETA clarification, grammar, other stuff

  20. 20.

    cain

    BTW if you have amazon prime, you can watch all of the Batman: The Animated series, arguably the greatest cartoon series ever made.

  25. 25.

    tobie

    Those bats look huge to me. Years ago I had a problem with bats in my attic and no one could figure out how they were getting into the house. To cut a long story short, the sixth and last time one flew into the house, I caught it (wearing ski gloves) and called the Baltimore health department to retrieve it. Credit to Baltimore: they tested the animal for rabies and verified within 12 hour that it was negative. But before the results of the rabies test could come in, they insisted I go to the hospital for rabies shots. I believe I got 15 or 19 injections that night followed up by single shots on three more occasions. I’ve never felt like a bat was cute after that experience.

  26. 26.

    Adam L Silverman

    @cain: Just a warning: While Timm did the story and the art for the new Batman & Harley Quinn, it is very, very, very strange. It’s like a crazy 90 minute conceptual mashup of the 60s Batman TV show, Batman the Animated Series, and Timm on way too many drugs trying to be risque in the dialogue he wrote.

  27. 27.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I adore bats, especially fruit bats and flying foxes, but really any of them. They are incredibly important to human comfort — they consume vast quantities of mosquitoes and other annoying bugs, and they are significant pollinators. Also, they are very cute :-)

    At least three people (including one BJ FP) sent me this video on FB. Glad to know I have the reputation of being a bat fan.

  28. 28.

    dmsilev

    @Mnemosyne:

    Dracula could also turn into a wolf. I rest my case.

    Look at the clip. Ignore the wings and focus on the head; looks a lot like a small dog.

    Very slightly more seriously, spending ten seconds on Wikipedia pulls up this:

    Bats are placental mammals. They were formerly grouped in the superorder Archonta, along with the treeshrews (Scandentia), colugos (Dermoptera), and the primates, because of the apparent similarities between Megachiroptera and such mammals. Genetic studies have now placed bats in the superorder Laurasiatheria, along with carnivorans, pangolins, odd-toed ungulates, even-toed ungulates, and cetaceans.[12][13][14][15] One study places Chiroptera as a sister taxon to the clade Perissodactyla (which includes horses and other odd-toed ungulates).[16] However, the first phylogenomic analysis of bats in 2013 shows as shown in the cladogram that Chiroptera is not sister to Perissodactyla, but is the sister clade to a larger group that includes ungulates and carnivores.[17]

    ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bat , scroll down to the Phylogeny section)

  33. 33.

    Mnemosyne

    @dmsilev:

    cetaceans

    Now I want to see a vampire movie where they can turn into dolphins. Or orcas. I’m not picky.

    ETA: I read the same Wikipedia article, I just didn’t understand it.

  35. 35.

    Anne Laurie

    @Omnes Omnibus: Flying foxes. *Not* vampires, but they are the ones who spread Ebola and other hemorrhagic viruses to humans, so absolutely can be dangerous!

  38. 38.

    Adam L Silverman

    @dmsilev: Actually the bat’s head in the clip up top actually looks like my oldest dog Rosie. She’s part black lab, part german shepherd. And right now she’s sound asleep.

  41. 41.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Omnes Omnibus: I’ve read the first two: Anno Dracula and The Bloody Red Baron. I found them enjoyable. They are basically mashups. Newman brings in a ton of vampire mythos and then mashes up Dracula in London with the Ripper killings. The second one has Dracula involved in WW I. A lot of other gothic horror characters make an appearances.

  46. 46.

    dmsilev

    @Mnemosyne: Makes a hell of splash if they get their timing wrong and go whale-form while still at altitude. A splash of water if over the ocean, a splash of whale if over land (messy….).

    (there’s one scene towards the end of _Moana_ which illustrates case A, and I believe Douglas Adams covered case B in one of the Hitchhiker’s Guides books)

  47. 47.

    lamh36

    @Mnemosyne: oh yes. Noah was born 2 months early spent about 2 months in the NICU, but has been home now for about a month now. He’s doing great!!!

  52. 52.

    Mnemosyne

    @Omnes Omnibus:

    You may like it — Saberhagen does a good job of finding the various inconsistencies in Stoker’s book and re-framing it with Dracula as the hero.

    I suspect it was an unacknowledged source for Coppola’s version of Dracula since it has a lot of similarities in the plot. (No Keanu Reeves, thank god.)

  53. 53.

    Origuy

    So this happened in rural Lake County, north of the Napa Valley:

    A six-hour manhunt for a gunman that left local residents in lock-down mode in their Lake County homes ended with the arrest of a 43-year-old suspect, according to the Sheriff’s Department.

    A passing motorist was interviewed by reporters.

    He said the house where the gunman was believed to be located displayed a Confederate flag.

  55. 55.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: I keep meaning to read the other ones after those two, but never seem to get there.

    I’m also a huge Ripper history and mythos follower. So the mashup sounded interesting. I only found a small portion, basically a short chapter, to drag and be hard to follow. The remainder was interesting, especially how Newman wove in these other characters and threads from vampire mythology and pop culture, as well as other gothic horror characters.

  59. 59.

    Alternative Fax, a hip hop artist from Idaho

    @lamh36: You have the cutest nieces of anyone I know, online or in 3D. And I imagine Noah is about the cutest nephew I’ve seen, also, too!

  61. 61.

    Adam L Silverman

    @cain: Just came out last week. They had Kevin Conroy and Loren Lester as Batman and Nightwing. They got Melissa Rauch to do Harley Quinn. She was hit and miss. The entire thing is just weird. I can’t decide yet whether I like it or not. The musical scene (the video I posted the other night is the first of two songs in the musical scene) has a lot of Batman the Animated Series easter eggs in it in plain sight.

  62. 62.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Adam L Silverman: I’m also a huge Ripper history and mythos follower.
    Yeah, that’s another good source. Someone did a mash-up of the Ripper and Holmes, didn’t they? I can almost picture scenes from a movie I think I saw Foggy Victorian London is perfect for thriller/horror stories. As clever as the new BBC Holmes show is, I miss old London as a character.

  65. 65.

    divF

    @lamh36: Keep those cute kid pix coming !

    ETA: I’ve got a heavy work weekend ahead of me, so I can use all the cheering up I can get.

  66. 66.

    Mary G

    Horrible news: two volunteer rescuers killed in Harvey floodwaters after bringing families to safety. (WaPo)

    Details are horrifying. If Twitler tries to get credit for these heroes I’m going to snap.

  67. 67.

    cain

    @Adam L Silverman: The one reviewer didn’t like it at all, that it was overly sexist in a time when attitudes towards women are changing. (the reviewer was male) Yeah, so the reviewer agreed with you there.

  69. 69.

    Viva BrisVegas

    @Anne Laurie:

    Flying foxes. *Not* vampires, but they are the ones who spread Ebola and other hemorrhagic viruses to humans, so absolutely can be dangerous!

    In Australia, it’s lyssavirus and Hendra virus you have to watch out for. You really do not want to be handling flying foxes without good gloves, people have died.

    You also do not want to live next to a roost of these things. Ten thousand bats in a tree make more noise than a jet engine and smell way worse.

    At summer sunsets you can see miles long lines of these things flying across the sky as they head out to the orchards.

  70. 70.

    Frankensteinbeck

    I’ve been reading this article about the planning of the Charlottesville white power rally. It’s striking me what utter fucking poseurs these people are. They drape themselves in warrior mythology, talking about guns and armor and battle plans, but they’re whiny little cowards who don’t really do any of it.

    @Adam L Silverman:
    Bear in mind, Dini did the writing that made Batman: TAS so famous. Timm is Dini’s preferred artist.

  71. 71.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @Mary G: he didn’t say a word about the police officer who was killed on morning of his visit. It’s almost not worth typing, but just imagine if Obama had done that

  72. 72.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne: I’m honestly not sure. Classic Timm art? Yes. Conroy and Lester voicing Batman and Nightwing? Yes. Lighter tone with humor? Sure. Completely bonkers story, dialogue, etc? Still not sure. It is just strange. Wasn’t what I was expecting. With the exception of the adult themes, including adult themed humor/double entendres, etc, it is almost closer to one of the lighter Justice League Unlimited episodes.

  76. 76.

    OldDave

    Random free associations about bats:

    1) The Congress Avenue bridge in Austin, TX at sunset.
    2) The fruit bats at Disney’s Animal Kingdom park.
    3) Christopher Moore’s ‘Roberto’, companion and pet of character Tucker Case.
    4) … damn, I’ve forgotten. CRS strikes again.

  78. 78.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @OldDave: 3) Christopher Moore’s ‘Roberto’, companion and pet of character Tucker Case.

    I know Moore’s vampire books, but that doesn’t ring a bell. Which book is that?

  86. 86.

    Adam L Silverman

    @cain: Given how Harley has evolved as a character in the comics it is definitely several steps backwards for the character. Of course Timm is the guy that wrote a prologue into the animated movie of The Killing Joke with Barbara Gordon/Batgirl having a sexual relationship with Batman, so he may have simply found his inner Frank Miller.

    I honestly try not to go by reviewers. The art and animation are great. The overall plot is good. Some parts were excellent. But some parts were somewhere between meh and strange.

  88. 88.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I know in TAS continuity it is canon that at some point Barbara has sex with Batman, and the total failure of that relationship is why she stops officially associating with him. I’ve never seen the Killing Joke, but I provide this as possibly relevant continuity info.

  91. 91.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Frankensteinbeck: I’m aware. While Timm’s elseworld Justice League: Gods and Monsters last year was an interesting take on Batman, Wonder Woman, and Superman, he clearly would have been better off if he’d taken his idea to Dini and had Dini done the story.

  93. 93.

    Mnemosyne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    Adam, did you see “The Lego Batman Movie”? I watched it on an airplane and was unexpectedly charmed. I agree with the reviewers who said that it seemed that it “got” the characters far more than any of the live-action versions have.

  99. 99.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    @OldDave: ah, Island is one I’ve missed. I can’t remember Tucker Case but a bat named Roberto is ringing a vague bell now

  100. 100.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Frankensteinbeck: I’m aware and tracking. I’ve seen that episode of Batman The Animated Series and the references in Batman Beyond and Batman Beyond Return of the Joker.

    My understanding is that they decided they didn’t have enough material with The Killing Joke for a movie length animated story. So they decided to do a prologue written specifically for the animated movie focusing on Barbara Gordon. Initially this was promoted and reported as a way to flesh out Barbara Gordon/Batgirl as a character as she’s not been in any of the animated movies yet. Given how problematic The Killing Joke is given its subject matter, and how the editorial decisions on it were made allowing it to be problematic, the reveal that a 20 minute tack on up front to the actual story that basically reduced Barbara Gordon/Batgirl to a lovestruck sex object struck a lot of people wrong.

    I was never really a fan of The Killing Joke. I thought the art in the book was great, but the storyline has always bothered me, even with the retrospect of how Barbara Gordon was resurrected/rehabilitated as Oracle. It is one of the graphic novels I’ve never bothered to reread. So I didn’t bother with the animated movie.

  101. 101.

    Omnes Omnibus

    I suppose it isn’t weird that a post with bats turns into a Batman anorak-fest around here.

  105. 105.

    Mnemosyne

    @Adam L Silverman:

    There’s a Lego TV show?

    Anyway, if you get a chance to catch it on cable some night, I recommend it. It’s obviously played for comedy and they take liberties with the canon (to say the least), but I think there’s a lot in there that “serious” Batman fans would like.

  106. 106.

    Adam L Silverman

    @Mnemosyne: There are several. There was a Lego Star Wars series. There are several direct to video/direct to TV Lego: Justice League and Lego: Batman family movies.

  107. 107.

    Lyrebird

    @Mnemosyne:

    There’s a Lego TV show?

    Ninjago on Cartoon Network – Thumbs down from both kid and me. I didn’t like the art, but it appealed at first to my young child. Plot and action were way too much all-stress-and-disaster-all-the-time for the kid’s liking. I’m not crazy about the mix of cutesy ultra-Lego “people” with the level of fear and violence, but I am very picky.

  111. 111.

    Mnemosyne

    @Lyrebird:

    You’ll probably like “Batman” better. They definitely emphasize humor and emotion over violence (though it’s a Batman movie, so there’s a certain amount of running-jumping-kicking-punching).

  112. 112.

    bemused senior

    There is a bat rescue near by, and I enjoyed when the specixxalist brought rescued bats to teach us park docents about them. She would let them hang by their tiny claws on her bra in her cleavage to warm up. They are beautiful and velvety to touch.

  113. 113.

    Lyrebird

    @Mnemosyne: Thanks for the review! someone gave us that Lego Batman movie, and kiddo (still remembering the TV show) just said nuh-uh. Maybe we’ll bring it out of the drawer again later.

    The TV episode we watched had a bunch of “you’ll never see Master Wu again!” type stuff. In our extended family, both the adopted and the bio cousins have Really Not Liked that kind of plot. (can you say Bambi? Opening of Ratatouille, whoops!!!!) But maybe other kids are fine with it.

    I think you would find the Ninjago plot and dialog formulaic as well. Classic Dora is terribly predictable, too, but the music is good, and they throw in little funny bits for the grownups, like “Coney Island” being filled with ice cream…

  114. 114.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Adam L Silverman:
    I am reminded: I have a weird specialized recommendation. For anyone who’s into comics lore, I suggest the show Batman: The Brave And The Bold. Standalone, it is vastly lower quality than TAS. Instead, it’s a weird collection of injokes from Batman’s history, using each episode to highlight some obscure and usually goofball stupid villain from the comics.

  115. 115.

    Mnemosyne

    @Lyrebird:

    I don’t think it’s too spoiler-y for me to reveal that Batman wants to do everything on his own, but ends up realizing that he needs other people to help him, so a good message for the kiddos in there in addition to being an entertaining movie. And people only die in the backstory.

  117. 117.

    Robert Sneddon

    @Adam L Silverman: If you’re a Ripper “fan”, have you read Roger Zelazny’s “A Night In The Lonesome October”? It’s a strange horror/comedy mashup story told from the point of view of Jack the Ripper’s dog, Snuff about the attempt by assorted mythical monsters to either bring on or avert a Lovecraftian apocalypse while a Great Detective (who likes dressing in women’s clothing as a disguise waaay too much) and his Bumbling Sidekick interfere. It makes an excellent read during the month of October, one chapter a day.

  118. 118.

    satby

    @SiubhanDuinne: I also love bats! When I lived in the country, I enjoyed sitting on my deck and watching them come out of the hollow trees where they nested and swoop around eating the hordes of mosquitoes from the wetland next door to me. I had to tell my country neighbors not to kill them; they tended to kill anything classed as a varmint as soon as they saw it, whether it was near their houses or not. They were surprised to hear that the bats ate almost their body weight in bugs every night.

  119. 119.

    Sab

    My15 year old lab/shepherd passed in March. She looked exactly like that fruit bat. I just showed this clip to my spouse, who shrieked “what the fuck is wrong with you. That’s not cute . It’s a bat!” Sigh.

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