Horsey Video

 

More parental translating, like the last comic. It has become part of Ori's bedtime to watch "the horsey video!" which honestly is rather calming and peaceful and he's learning Greek mythology so that's something ("the rainbow lady is Iris!"). This section has centaurs and unicorns and pegasi as well as other mythological figures, but my kiddo has focused on the horse-like ones.
Fantasia made in on our list of low-peril movies (both the 1940's version and the 2000 version) with only minor edits, mainly we skipped the demon part at the end of the original because wow that gets intense. We also skipped the soundtrack personification part because my kids totally lost interest. I don't believe we skipped anything in the 2000 version. I should share a list of all the low-peril movies/shows we've found that are not terribly dull. It's a fine line - not intense but also something needs to happen. 

Text:
O: Watch the horsey video!
L: Pastoral Suite Part 5 from Fantasia, coming right up.

Wonka and Goliath

 

A continuation from Tuesday, about the giraffe milk macaroon. Maybe Goliath was an early tester (think of the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory movie and what happened to the kids). Instead of just feeling ten feet tall, he actually became ten feet tall. 

Text:
Title: 1 Samuel 17
D: Wait a minute - did you give these to Goliath?!?
W: He put his hand into his pockolate and got himself some WONKA CHOCOLATE.

Summer Library Challenge

 

I did not read all of these but I did read one of them and I made a separate comic about it, which will be uploaded once I figure out how many comics I'll make in the summer reading booklet.
Explanation: All of the books mentioned were made into movies starring Matt Damon. My library does a summer reading challenge which is a booklet with about a dozen categories of books and five or so books in each category, and the goal is to read at least three books in different categories (don't have to be the ones listed, those are just samples) then you get a prize like a reusable bag or cup or notebook with the library logo on it. It's a nice way to expand your reading list and find some books that you might have overlooked otherwise.

Text:
A: Did you do the Library Summer Reading Challenge?
B: Yep! For sci-fi, I read The Martian. For spy/thriller, I read The Bourne Identity. And for voices of war, I read Saving Private Ryan.
A: Over-achiever.

Nueva Casablanca

 

I've done a comic using this quote before, see it here:  https://comics.comicaltruestory.com/2013/09/casablanca.html 

Explanation: There's a famous line from the movie Casablanca - "Here's looking at you, kid." A baby goat is called a kid. A rabbit can also be called a hare but I think there's a technical difference. So I flipped the quote around and used animals. Also, "nueva" means "new" in Spanish.

Text:
Title: Nueva Casablanca 
Rabbit: That baby goat has a mean stare.
Turtle: Kid's looking at you, hare. 

Fade to Black

 

And cut! Gotta get all spiffy for the holidays.

Explanation: A "fade" is a hairstyle for men. "Fade to black" is a cinematic idiom (often at the end of a scene) where the lighting fades all the way to dark. 

Text:
B: You want a trim and dye job?
C: Yep, make it fade to black. 

Tripping Like Javert

 

Yep, a Les Misérables reference. I don't recall what brought it to mind, but I was listening to Broadway soundtracks on a recent trip. I agree with the character above that that is a terrible metric. 

Text:
A: HAHA you tripped!
B: Well, I didn't fall as Lucifer fell so I'm good.
A: Sure thing Javert.
C: That is a HORRIBLE metric.

Man Myth Legend

I'd watch that movie. I just recently watched "The Ballad of Nessie" which is a short film on Disney+ and was a nice little animation. There are many movies about Nessie, so why not make another? I watched a fascinating documentary about the Loch Ness many years ago and I don't recall any identifying info about it other than the summary that there could be a whole school of Nessies deep in the Loch which has so many caverns and a totally uneven floor so you can't use sonar to find what's down there. Also, I made the fake movie title to a similar cadence of the main Narnia book. 

Explanation: "The man, the myth, the legend" is a way of describing a super cool person. If you think of it instead as three separate nouns, then you get a man (the person), a myth (Nessie), and a legend (the thing in the corner of a map that describes what's there). 

Text:
Title: Coming to a theater near you: The man, the Myth, and the Legend
*image of a person, the Loch Ness Monster, and a map with a legend*

Every Sequel Movie

Many movies fit this comic, but I needed a specific one where the main character was clear from a stick figure drawing so...

 

I haven't seen the latest Indiana Jones movie so I don't have a specific issue with it, but I believe the reviews agree with me here. I know why studios make the sequels, I mean why leave money on the table, but often it sours the whole series and you should just call it while people are asking for more rather than going until people are asking you for less. 

Explanation: Movies often wrap up their storylines in a nice way by the end of the movie, so when a sequel comes along it's like "forget that happy ending, we're using these characters more!"

Text:
Title: Every Sequel Movie
A: We need you to come back!
I: No, I'm retired.
A: But you were the best!
I: I know, it's called quitting while you're ahead.

Battleship with the Pimpernel, Part 2

 

Blog Update! Well, RSS Email update to be specific - if you have signed up to get my emails, so each time a new comic posts you get an email, you will see it coming from a new address. This is because I finally not only opened a specific ComicalTrueStory email account, but also fixed my MailChimp issue so now I can use the new account with the scheduled emails. So if you see something off with how the email is being sorted in your inbox, that could be the culprit. It's still me here! Just a new email address.

Happy Anniversary to my parents! When they came to visit recently, we watched this movie and I was inspired to write some comics. While the 1980's movie is great, my classic memory of The Scarlet Pimpernel is the Wishbone episode, which sadly isn't linked in the Wiki article so maybe I'll rectify that someday. 

Explanation: In the movie, the Scarlet Pimpernel's alter-ego Sir Percy likes to quote a poem about said Pimpernel: "They seek him here, they seek him there, those Frenches seek him everywhere...."

Text:
Title: Battleship with the Pimpernel, Part 2

C: C2
P: They seek him here, they seek him there-
C: Just say miss!

Battleship with the Pimpernel, Part 1

 

So we watched this classic film a little bit ago and I've never read the book so I can't say if it's a good rendition of the novel but it is a good movie. There is a bit of violence since it is the French Revolution so people are getting beheaded quite a bit. The Battleship game was invented in the early 1900's per Wiki, so they would not have been playing it during the French Revolution, but the actors could have been playing it in the 1980's while filming the movie. 

Explanation: In the 1980's movie The Scarlet Pimpernel, the main actor's catchphrase is "Sink me" said with an accent. In the table top game Battleship, your goal is to sink your opponent's battleships, and when you land enough hits they have to tell you it's sunk. 

Text:
Title: Battleship with the Pimpernel, Part 1
C: B5
P: Sink meh!

Advent is Out There

Oh, why didn't I post this on the first Sunday of Advent? That would be because I drew it that day. I tend to be inspired as a deadline passes, so I can either post it late (I think it works with Advent since it's so many weeks) or I can store it away for next year and hope I don't miss again. Sometimes I file comics all properly then forget to check my files when a holiday approaches then after the holiday I look and am disappointed in myself. But I get over it quickly and .... sometimes repeat the process.

Explanation: The movie Up uses the slogan "Adventure is out there!" in a fancy cursive script, and the main character Carl attaches a bunch of balloons to his house as a major plot point. The fourth Sunday before Christmas marks the start of the season of Advent. "Advent" and "Adventure" are similar words. 

Text:
Advent is out there!

Movie Time

 

Happy February to all! Happy Birthday to those born in this month, like my father-in-law, nephew, a few nieces, cousin, uncle, and the list really does go on - it's a popular month for birthdays!

This was an actual discussion from an evening recently. I believe we settled on a new TV series, possibly this is when we found Forged in Fire which, while Netflix only has one season and it's not the first and they start with a recap two-part champion episode so that was confusing, we have enjoyed watching it. Watching crafty people do their thing is enjoyable, even if one of the blacksmiths took a dig at crocheter. 

Text:
M: It's only 8pm - we have time for a movie!
L: But we don't have time to PICK a movie!
M: Yeah...

Sharknado 7

Figured I should post this one before they actually announce the next Sharknado, not even sure if they're still making more. I haven't seen any of them but I hear they're entertaining but low-quality production and plot-lines. So I probably will never watch any of them.

Text:
A: Did you hear that Steven King is directing the next Sharknado?
B: Yeah, "Sharknado 7: Now With Clowns."

Con Queso

Ok, I just really wanted to make a cheesy pun. :) :) :)

Peach Dragon

True story: NP (who is 14 yrs old) and I are walking through the mall and I see an ad for Pete's Dragon. I then comment that it's cool that the dragon is fuzzy this time, and NP says that it makes sense that he's fuzzy since peaches are fuzzy and it's called 'Peach Dragon' - he seriously thought that was the name of the film. So I made a comic (and corrected his misconception of the movie title).
This could be a cool movie - like a mash-up of James and the Giant Peach and Pete's Dragon... and that's all I have on the film treatment so far.

Inside Out

Who's your friend who likes to play :(

Fun fact: in France the movie is called "Vice-Versa".

World War AA

Everest 4D

Remember to wear a parka and snow gear for the realistic effects.

And now with a filter j/k new whiteboard:

The Hunt for Red Octobear

The text should be read in Sean Connery's voice.

And here it is not in orange!

Fievel Defects

And they have cats in America! How disappointing. Here's the first and second movie.