November 30, 2022

I love Crapston Villas

I'm in love with Crapston Villas, Sarah Ann Kennedy's extremely grimy stop-motion comedy series from the mid-90s. It's hard to believe a show this chaotic and nasty was ever allowed to exist, but I'm so glad it does. It's loud and abrasive but also honest and hilarious. I only discovered it last week, but it's now one of my favourite shows ever. I burned through the two series of 10x10 episodes quickly, despite knowing it would end on an unresolved cliffhanger (maybe the only fitting way to end a soap opera satire) and I'm currently experiencing post-Crapston withdrawals.




The visceral, tactile nature of stop-motion is perfect for this show. It amplifies how upsetting everything is.
The
pacing feels so unique & unencumbered by TV comedy conventions/expectations. There aren't always hard punchlines or buttons, it's more about bathing you in the squalid atmosphere and a constant barrage of funny weirdness.


The show makes great use of real-world imagery like magazine covers and t-shirts.

I'm impressed by the casual female nudity throughout the series, bare breasts are never a big deal or even acknowledged. Somehow even two decades later on Tuca & Bertie, we were still fighting for that.

Crapston breaks all the rules of TV animation and feels like a vital shock to the system, even all these years later. It's currently all on youtube (and on 4 on Demand if you're in the UK) so go check it out. It's definitely and aggressively not for everyone, by design, but I think even if you don't enjoy it yourself you can appreciate how special it is that something so weird, specific and unique was created.

November 21, 2022

Metal Gear Solid with Henry Shipes

A while ago I watched the documentary "Vernon, Florida" and became obsessed with the turkey hunter Henry Shipes, who keeps mentioning his buddy Snake. I thought it might be good to try cutting him into Metal Gear Solid cutscenes.